便携式选集
A Portable Anthology
便携式选集
A Portable Anthology
第五版
Fifth Edition
編輯
Edited by
副总统: Leasa Burton
Vice President: Leasa Burton
英语项目总监: Stacey Purviance
Program Director, English: Stacey Purviance
项目经理: John E. Sullivan III
Program Manager: John E. Sullivan III
内容开发总监: Jane Knetzger
Director of Content Development: Jane Knetzger
执行开发经理: Maura Shea
Executive Development Manager: Maura Shea
助理编辑:卡里·戈德芬
Assistant Editor: Cari Goldfine
媒体编辑总监:亚当·怀特赫斯特 (Adam Whitehurst)
Director of Media Editorial: Adam Whitehurst
媒体编辑:丹尼尔·约翰逊
Media Editor: Daniel Johnson
执行营销经理: Vivian Garcia
Executive Marketing Manager: Vivian Garcia
营销助理: Cecilia McGuinness
Marketing Assistant: Cecilia McGuinness
内容管理增强高级总监: Tracey Kuehn
Senior Director, Content Management Enhancement: Tracey Kuehn
高级执行编辑: Michael Granger
Senior Managing Editor: Michael Granger
出版服务高级经理: Andrea Cava
Senior Manager of Publishing Services: Andrea Cava
高级内容项目经理: Lidia MacDonald-Carr
Senior Content Project Manager: Lidia MacDonald-Carr
高级工作流程项目经理: Lisa McDowell
Senior Workflow Project Manager: Lisa McDowell
制片主管: Robin Besofsky
Production Supervisor: Robin Besofsky
设计、内容管理总监: Diana Blume
Director of Design, Content Management: Diana Blume
高级设计经理: William Boardman
Senior Design Manager: William Boardman
权利与许可主管:希拉里·纽曼
Director of Rights and Permissions: Hilary Newman
文本权限研究员: Arthur Johnson
Text Permissions Researcher: Arthur Johnson
照片许可编辑: Angela Boehler
Photo Permissions Editor: Angela Boehler
数字制作总监: Keri deManigold
Director of Digital Production: Keri deManigold
执行媒体项目经理: Michelle Camisa
Executive Media Project Manager: Michelle Camisa
项目管理: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Project Management: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
项目经理: Anandan Bommen,Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Project Manager: Anandan Bommen, Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
编辑服务: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Editorial Services: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
组成: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Composition: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
封面图片: middelveld/E+/Getty Images
Cover Image: middelveld/E+/Getty Images
版权所有 © 2021、2017、2013、2009 贝德福德/圣马丁。保留所有权利。除非法律允许或出版商书面明确允许,否则不得以任何形式或任何方式(电子、机械、影印、录音或其他方式)复制、存储在检索系统中或传输本书的任何部分。
Copyright © 2021, 2017, 2013, 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as may be permitted by law or expressly permitted in writing by the Publisher.
国会图书馆控制编号:2020936683
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936683
ISBN 978-1-319-49944-0(亚马逊)
ISBN 978-1-319-49944-0 (Amazon)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 25 24 23 22 21 20
致谢
Acknowledgments
文本致谢和版权出现在书后第 1378 – 87页,构成版权页的延伸。艺术致谢和版权出现在其涵盖的艺术作品选集的同一页上。
Text acknowledgments and copyrights appear at the back of the book on pages 1378–87, which constitute an extension of the copyright page. Art acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the art selections they cover.
如需了解详情,请写信至: Bedford/St. Martin's, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
《文学:便携选集》第五版以紧凑且价格合理的格式呈现了丰富而灵活的当代和古典小说、诗歌和戏剧选集,可供入门文学课程使用。故事、诗歌和戏剧按流派按时间顺序排列,并辅以编辑内容,为学习思考、阅读和写作文学的学生提供足够的帮助,而不会影响他们对文学作品的欣赏。
The fifth edition of Literature: A Portable Anthology presents, in a compact and highly affordable format, an ample and flexible collection of contemporary and classic fiction, poetry, and drama for introductory literature courses. Arranged chronologically by genre, the stories, poems, and plays are complemented by editorial matter that offers enough help for students learning to think, read, and write about literature without interfering with their enjoyment of the literary works.
在这些页面中,学生将发现各种各样的文学作品:
In these pages, students will discover a full array of literary works:
在本书的第一部分,学生将发现一个专门的章节,帮助他们仔细阅读文学作品并有效地撰写相关内容。该部分还以单独的一册书(《阅读和写作文学:便携指南》)供学生使用,讲解了如何批判性地思考、分析性地阅读和撰写各种常见的文学论文,从摘要到研究论文,并附有几篇学生论文样本作为范本。在本书的后面,除了每位作者的传记注释外,还有一个有用的文学术语词汇表。
In Part One of the book, students will find an entire section devoted to helping them read literature closely and write about it effectively. Also available to students as a separate volume (Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide), this section explains how to think critically, read analytically, and write a variety of commonly assigned essays about literature, from summaries to research papers, with several sample student papers included as models. At the back of the book, in addition to biographical notes on every author, there is a helpful glossary of literary terms.
虽然目录是按每个类型按时间顺序排列的,但我们认识到,组织文学课程有多种方式,因此为那些喜欢按主题教学的人提供了按形式和主题选择的替代目录。为了方便读者,我们继续在本书前面提供按字母顺序排列的作者列表。
While the table of contents is arranged chronologically within each genre, we recognize that there are multiple ways to organize a literature course, and therefore offer Selections by Form and Theme, an alternate table of contents for those who prefer to teach thematically. For our readers’ convenience, we continue to offer the alphabetical list of authors at the front of this book.
第五版经过了重大修订和更新,包含了大量文学选集,其中包括:
The fifth edition has been significantly revised and updated with a wide choice of literary selections that includes the following:
第一部分(原为第四部分):文学阅读与写作已精简并进行了修订,在论文、论证、释义和总结、阐释和分析以及理解和避免抄袭等部分中包含了更多图表和示例。两篇新的学生论文包括一篇回应论文以及一篇有充分记录的、基于来源的研究论文。此外,我们对文学批评和理论的介绍也进行了更新,包括关于生态批评的新部分。
Part One (formerly Part Four): Reading and Writing about Literature has been streamlined and revised to include more charts and examples in the sections on thesis, developing an argument, paraphrase and summary, explication and analysis, and understanding and avoiding plagiarism. Two new student essays include a response paper as well as a fully documented, source-based research paper. Additionally, our coverage of literary criticism and theory has been updated to include a new section on ecocriticism.
编辑们感谢以下人员对有关使用本书以前版本的体验的调查问卷所做的有益回答:西北州立大学的 Lisa Abney;南缅因社区学院的 Mike Bove;帕特里夏·科莱拉 (Patricia Colella),邦克山社区学院;苏珊娜·科普 (Suzanne Cope),莱斯利大学;霍华德·考克斯 (Howard Cox),安吉丽娜学院;艾丽莎·克鲁斯 (Alissa Cruz),蓝岭社区学院;理查德·迪亚兹-罗德里格斯 (Richard Diaz-Rodriguez),皇后区社区学院;约书亚·迪金森 (Joshua Dickinson),杰斐逊社区学院;雷吉娜·迪尔根 (Regina Dilgen),棕榈滩州立学院;梅根·弗里斯比 (Megan Frisbie),安吉丽娜学院;娜塔莉·古尔德 (Natalie Gould),格伦代尔社区学院;瑞安·霍拉丹 (Ryan Horadan),中央乔治亚技术学院;梅丽莎·乔德 (Melissa Joarder),特拉华县社区学院;杰西卡·林德伯格 (Jessica Lindberg),乔治亚高地学院;黛博拉·马尔 (Deborah Mael),纽伯里学院;斯蒂芬妮·马森 (Stephanie Masson),西北州立大学;安妮·麦克尔哈尼 (Anne McIlhaney),韦伯斯特大学;莫琳·萨尔泽 (Maureen Salzer),皮马社区学院;卡里·瑟 (Cary Ser),迈阿密戴德学院/肯德尔校区;艾米丽·罗宾斯·夏普 (Emily Robins Sharpe),基恩州立学院;大卫·希姆金 (David Shimkin),皇后区社区学院;布鲁克·泰勒 (Brooke Taylor),林登伍德大学-贝尔维尔分校;罗伯特·维特斯 (Robert Vettese),南缅因社区学院;雷切尔·沃尔 (Rachel Wall),乔治亚高地学院。
For their helpful responses to a questionnaire about their experiences using previous editions of the book, the editors are grateful to Lisa Abney, Northwestern State University; Mike Bove, Southern Maine Community College; Patricia Colella, Bunker Hill Community College; Suzanne Cope, Lesley University; Howard Cox, Angelina College; Alissa Cruz, Blue Ridge Community College; Richard Diaz-Rodriguez, Queensborough Community College; Joshua Dickinson, Jefferson Community College; Regina Dilgen, Palm Beach State College; Megan Frisbie, Angelina College; Natalie Gould, Glendale Community College; Ryan Horadan, Central Georgia Technical College; Melissa Joarder, Delaware County Community College; Jessica Lindberg, Georgia Highlands College; Deborah Mael, Newbury College; Stephanie Masson, Northwestern State University; Anne McIlhaney, Webster University; Maureen Salzer, Pima Community College; Cary Ser, Miami-Dade College/Kendall Campus; Emily Robins Sharpe, Keene State College; David Shimkin, Queensborough Community College; Brooke Taylor, Lindenwood University–Belleville; Robert Vettese, Southern Maine Community College; Rachel Wall, Georgia Highlands College.
编辑们要感谢 Macmillan Learning 的几位个人,包括 Leasa Burton、John Sullivan 和 Stacey Purviance,他们的远见卓识对第五版的形成起到了重要作用。感谢我们的编辑 Maura Shea,她的智慧、远见和对细节的严格关注使这项工作如此愉快,还要感谢我们的编辑助理 Cari Goldfine,她为准备手稿付出了巨大的努力。我们感谢 Arthur Johnson 在审批方面的工作以及 Vivian Garcia 的营销专业知识。我们特别感谢那些将手稿变成书籍的制作人员:Macmillan Learning 的 Michael Granger 和 Lidia MacDonald-Carr,以及 Lumina 的 Anandan Bommen。
The editors would like to thank several individuals at Macmillan Learning including Leasa Burton, John Sullivan, and Stacey Purviance, whose vision was instrumental in shaping the fifth edition. Thank you to our editor, Maura Shea, whose wisdom, foresight, and rigorous attention to detail made the work such a pleasure, and to our editorial assistant, Cari Goldfine, for her tremendous work on preparing the manuscript. We appreciate Arthur Johnson’s work in clearing permissions and Vivian Garcia’s marketing expertise. We especially appreciate those in production who turned the manuscript into a book: Michael Granger and Lidia MacDonald-Carr at Macmillan Learning, and Anandan Bommen at Lumina.
Joanne Diaz 负责编写本修订版第五版的所有章节。她感谢 Brandi Reissenweber、Katy Didden、Grace Talusan 和 Michael Theune 对新目录的建议。她还要感谢 Megan Baker 和 Erin Burnison 在手稿准备方面的帮助。在过去的版本中,小说部分由 Beverly Lawn 编写,诗歌部分由 Jack Ridl 和 Peter Schakel 编写,戏剧部分和阅读与写作文学部分由 Janet Gardner 编写。
Joanne Diaz prepared all sections of this revised fifth edition. She thanks Brandi Reissenweber, Katy Didden, Grace Talusan, and Michael Theune for their advice on the new table of contents. She would also like to thank Megan Baker and Erin Burnison for their help with manuscript preparation. In past editions, the fiction section was prepared by Beverly Lawn, the poetry section was prepared by Jack Ridl and Peter Schakel, and the drama section and the reading-and-writing-about-literature section were prepared by Janet Gardner.
从第一天起,我们的目标就很简单:提供基于阅读和写作教学最佳实践的鼓舞人心的资源。三十五年多来,贝德福德/圣马丁学院一直与该领域合作,倾听教师、学者和学生对作家需要的支持的意见。我们致力于帮助每一位写作指导老师充分利用我们的资源。
From day one, our goal has been simple: to provide inspiring resources that are grounded in best practices for teaching reading and writing. For more than thirty-five years, Bedford/St. Martin’s has partnered with the field, listening to teachers, scholars, and students about the support writers need. We are committed to helping every writing instructor make the most of our resources.
请联系贝德福德/圣马丁销售代表或访问macmillanlearning.com了解更多信息。
Contact your Bedford/St. Martin’s sales representative or visit macmillanlearning.com to learn more.
选择最适合您课程的格式,并询问为学生提供节省的包装选项。
Choose the format that works best for your course, and ask about our packaging options that offer savings for students.
打印
数字的
Digital
没有两个文学或写作课程或课堂是完全相同的。我们的课程解决方案团队将与您合作设计定制选项,为您的学生提供所需的资源。(以下选项需要最低入学人数。)
No two literature or writing programs or classrooms are exactly alike. Our Curriculum Solutions team works with you to design custom options that provide the resources your students need. (The options below require enrollment minimums.)
您在课程中有很多事情要做。我们希望您能够轻松找到所需的支持 — 并快速获得支持。
You have a lot to do in your course. We want to make it easy for you to find the support you need — and to get it quickly.
《文学:便携式选集》第五版教师资源包括样本教学大纲和过渡指南,以 PDF 格式提供,可从macmillanlearning.com下载。它们也可在 Achieve 中找到。
Instructor Resources for Literature: A Portable Anthology, Fifth Edition, include sample syllabi and a transition guide and are available as PDFs that can be downloaded from macmillanlearning.com. They are also available in Achieve.
(按作者姓名首字母排序)
(Arranged Alphabetically by Author’s Name)
“现在没人读书了。”
“Nobody reads anymore.”
“人们不知道如何写作。”
“People don’t know how to write.”
“我们正在成为一个文盲国家。”
“We’re becoming a nation of illiterates.”
也许你听过类似的哀叹。这些哀叹已经在我们的文化中回荡了好几年,甚至至少几十年。现代生活中缺乏读写能力的言论已被广泛报道,例如 2008 年 1 月,苹果联合创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯预测亚马逊的 Kindle 电子书阅读器注定会失败,因为“人们不再读书了”。(也许具有讽刺意味的是,他是在满屋子的记者面前说这番话的,他肯定知道这些作家会引用这些话,而且数百万人会阅读这些话。)如果我们认真对待这些警告,那么现代文化和现代教育似乎陷入了大麻烦。
Maybe you’ve heard laments like these. They have sounded through our culture for several years now, indeed for at least several decades. Proclamations on the sad lack of literacy in modern life have been widely reported, as in January 2008, when Apple cofounder Steve Jobs predicted that Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader was doomed to fail because “people don’t read anymore.” (Perhaps ironically, he said this in a room full of reporters and must have known that these writers were going to quote these words in print and that millions of people would read them.) If we take these warnings seriously, it would seem that modern culture and modern education are in big trouble.
但读写能力消亡的消息为时过早。事实上,我们可以很好地证明,阅读和写作在我们的日常生活中占据着比历史上任何时候都更重要的地位。我们整天都被书面信息轰炸。广告牌、产品包装、网站、博客、传单、维基百科、广告、餐厅菜单、电子邮件、短信、社交媒体更新——不胜枚举。即使在看电视——可以说是文学性最差的媒体时,我们也经常被赋予阅读任务;想想新闻广播时出现在屏幕底部的“爬行”更新、识别采访对象的字幕,甚至屏幕角落的电视台徽标。21 世纪初的普通北美人每天都会遇到数百条书面信息,我们大多数人阅读这些信息没有什么特别的问题。我们经常甚至没有注意到我们正在这样做。
But the news of the death of literacy is premature. In fact, we can make a good case that reading and writing occupy a more central place in our day-to-day lives than they have at any other point in history. We are bombarded all day long with written messages. Billboards, product packaging, websites, blogs, flyers, wikis, advertisements, restaurant menus, e-mails, text messages, social media updates — the list goes on and on. Even while watching TV, arguably the least literary of media, we are often given a reading task; think of the “crawl” of updates that appears at the bottom of the screen during newscasts, the captions that identify interview subjects, or even the station logos in the corner of the screen. The average North American in the early twenty-first century encounters hundreds of written messages every day, and most of us have no particular problem reading these messages. Often we don’t even notice that we are doing so.
同样,我们大多数人花在写作上的时间比历史上任何时候都要多。如今,绝大多数工作都需要一定程度的写作。有时,这种要求非常广泛,比如工程师要写复杂的项目报告,而一些与工作相关的写作则简单到每天发一封电子邮件与同事沟通。当然,学生会做笔记、完成家庭作业和写论文。即使在我们闲暇时间,我们可能会更新社交媒体、评论朋友的博客文章、发送短信或给家人或朋友写便条。
In a similar vein, most of us spend more time writing than people have at any earlier point in history. The vast majority of jobs these days require some amount of writing. Sometimes, this requirement is extensive, as when engineers write sophisticated reports on their projects, while some work-related writing is as simple as a daily e-mail to communicate with others on the job. Students, of course, take notes, complete homework assignments, and write papers. Even in our leisure time, we are likely to update our social media, comment on a friend’s blog post, send a text message, or write a note to a family member or friend.
如果您要列出一天中阅读和撰写的每件事的清单(当然,该清单必须包含您正在撰写的清单的条目),您可能会惊讶于一天结束时该清单的详尽程度。
If you were to keep a list of every single thing you read and wrote in a day (a list that would, of course, have to include an entry for the list you were writing), you might be surprised at how extensive that list is by the end of the day.
那么,如果读写能力在现代社会中依然存在,那么为什么还需要这样一本书呢?为什么大学要开设甚至要求开设文学课?难道我们对阅读和写作还不够了解吗?我们真的需要学习如何阅读和写作文学吗?人们需要学习这些技能的答案是,富有想象力的文学不同于我们每天阅读的大多数其他作品,阅读和写作文学需要并培养一套与我们在阅读维基百科文章或 Facebook 帖子时所具备的技能截然不同的技能。
So, if literacy is alive and well in the modern world, why is a book like this one necessary? Why do colleges and universities offer, or even require, literature classes? Don’t we already know enough about reading and writing? Do we really need to learn how to read and write about literature? The answer as to why people do need to learn these skills is that imaginative literature is different from most of the other writing we read every day, and reading and writing about literature requires, and builds, a very different set of skills than those we bring to a Wikipedia article or a Facebook post.
让我们花点时间思考一下我们为什么要读文学作品。当然,没有单一或简单的答案。人们读书是为了获得信息、娱乐、接触新思想或强化熟悉的概念。通常,人们读书只是为了欣赏一个好故事或了解其他人的想法和感受。但文学的作用远不止给我们一个引人入胜的情节或让我们了解作者的思想和情感——尽管在最好的情况下,它也能做到这些。文学探索更广阔的世界,以及人们与这个世界和彼此互动的方式。所以,即使我们读到的是完全虚构的,我们仍然可以了解现实生活。事实上,通过影响我们的思想和感受,文学也可以间接影响我们的行为。因此,文学不仅反映了我们的世界,甚至有助于塑造我们的世界。
Let’s take a moment to reflect on why we read literature. Of course, there is no single or simple answer. People read to be informed, to be entertained, to be exposed to new ideas, or to have familiar concepts reinforced. Often, people read just to enjoy a good story or to get a glimpse of how other people think and feel. But literature does much more than give us a compelling plot or a look into an author’s thoughts and emotions — although at its best it does these things as well. Literature explores the larger world and the ways in which people interact with that world and with one another. So even when what we read is entirely fictional, we nevertheless learn about real life. And, indeed, by affecting our thoughts and feelings, literature can indirectly affect our actions as well. Thus literature not only reflects but even helps to shape our world.
因此,文学不仅仅是信息性的,就像我们日常生活中阅读的很多东西一样。它经不起匆忙、分心或多任务的考验。它不是用来浏览或浏览的,因为我们要尽可能高效地寻找特定的事实或知识。相反,它是为持续阅读而设计的,这意味着为了公平起见,我们需要从头到尾阅读,并全神贯注地阅读。文学中最重要的东西很少被我们强调。我们必须用我们的智慧来弄清楚文学对我们的重要性,我们必须意识到,对于不同的读者来说,这种重要性可能有所不同。正因为如此,阅读文学作品有助于我们培养内省、持续关注和深度分析的技能,这些技能也可以帮助我们生活的其他领域。
Literature, then, is not merely informational, like so much of the reading we do in our everyday lives. It does not stand up well to haste, distractions, or multitasking. It is not meant to be browsed or skimmed as we search for particular facts or knowledge as efficiently as possible. Instead, it is designed for sustained reading, meaning that to do it justice we need to read it from beginning to end and give it our full attention for all that time. What is most important in literature is rarely highlighted for us. We must instead use our intelligence to figure out the significance the literature holds for us, and we must realize that this significance may be different for a different reader. Because of this, reading literature helps us develop the skills of introspection, sustained attention, and deep analysis, skills that can help us in other areas of our lives as well.
即使是喜欢阅读诗歌、故事或戏剧的学生也并不总是喜欢写这些内容。有些人声称,分析文学作品会扼杀他们从好故事中找到的乐趣。对于其他人来说,写文学作品的任务似乎令人生畏、令人沮丧,或者只是枯燥乏味。如果你也有这些偏见,在我们考虑写文学作品的价值时,请试着把它们放在一边。
Even students who enjoy reading poems, stories, or plays do not always enjoy writing about them. Some claim that having to analyze literature kills the fun they find in a good story. For others, the task of writing about literature can seem intimidating, frustrating, or just plain dull. If you share any of these prejudices, try to put them aside while we consider the value of writing about literature.
文学写作需要一套特殊的知识和技能。当你写一篇故事、一首诗或一部戏剧时,你需要特别注意语言,即文学的媒介。这既能磨练分析能力,也能磨练创造力。在这种写作中,你还需要密切注意自己对语言的使用——就像你必须注意故事、诗歌或戏剧的语言一样——这样做可能会产生连锁反应,改善你的写作。因此,文学写作可以帮助你变得更有思想、更善于表达,更能让自己被听到和理解,显然这些品质可以改善你在文学课堂之外的生活。而且,文学写作非但不会扼杀阅读的乐趣,反而可以增加阅读的乐趣,当你看到自己写得如此精良的论文时,你会有一种成就感。
Writing about literature requires a special set of knowledge and skills. When you write about a story, a poem, or a play, you need to be particularly attentive to language, the medium of literature. This hones both analytical ability and creativity. In this sort of writing, you also need to pay close attention to your own use of language — just as you must pay attention to the language of the story, poem, or play — and doing so may have ripple effects that improve all your writing. Writing about literature, then, can help make you more thoughtful and articulate, better able to make yourself heard and understood, and obviously those are qualities that can improve your life well beyond the bounds of your literature classroom. And, far from killing the enjoyment of reading, writing about literature can increase that enjoyment and provide a sense of accomplishment as you look at the well-crafted paper that you’ve written.
文学写作也有助于我们理解现实世界。通过迫使我们整理思路,清晰地表达我们的想法,写作有助于我们理清我们所知道和相信的东西。它让我们有机会影响读者的思维。更重要的是,我们实际上是在边写边学。在写作过程中,我们经常会有新的发现,并在各种想法之间建立新的联系。我们会发现并解决思维中的矛盾,在努力从混乱的印象中理出线性的意义时,我们会创造出全新的思路。因此,虽然阅读文学可以教会我们很多关于世界的知识,但文学写作往往能教会我们关于自己的知识。
Writing about literature also helps in the real world. By forcing us to organize our thoughts and state clearly what we think, writing an essay helps us clarify what we know and believe. It gives us a chance to affect the thinking of our readers. Even more important, we actually learn as we write. In the process of writing, we often make new discoveries and forge new connections between ideas. We find and work through contradictions in our thinking, and we create whole new lines of thought as we work to make linear sense out of an often chaotic jumble of impressions. So, while reading literature can teach us much about the world, writing about literature often teaches us about ourselves.
每个教室,就像任何环境中的每个群体一样,都是一个独特的世界,有自己的一套期望和社交互动。然而,大多数文学作品都有一些共同的特征。课程,可以被认为是大学文学课程的文化。
Every classroom, like every group of people in any setting, is its own unique world, with its own set of expectations and social interactions. However, there are certain features common to most literature classes, what might be considered the culture of a college or university literature class.
与校园里的其他课程不同,文学课并不是那种只要掌握了内容并且能够通过考试就可以随意出勤的课程。虽然你的课程可能有讲座部分,但几乎肯定会有大型讨论部分,即学生和老师之间就你读过的故事、诗歌和戏剧进行的交流。从某种意义上说,这些讨论是文学课中最重要的部分,无论你额外学习多少次或与同学分享笔记多少次都无法弥补缺课的损失。要跟上这些讨论,更不用说参与其中,你显然必须完成阅读。无论你的课程是否有规定的出勤政策,要想取得好成绩,你都需要到场并完成所有的阅读和写作作业——参与很重要。
Unlike some other classes on campus, a literature class is not the sort of class in which attendance is optional as long as you master the material and are able to pass the tests. Though your class may have a lecture component, it will almost certainly have a large discussion component as well, a give-and-take between students and instructor regarding the stories, poems, and plays you have read. In some ways, these discussions are the most important part of a literature class, and no amount of extra study on your own or sharing notes with a classmate can make up for having missed class. To follow these discussions, let alone to participate, you obviously will have to complete the reading. Whether or not your class has a stated attendance policy, to do well you need to be there and to be caught up with all reading and writing assignments — participation is important.
文学课上的讨论通常很有趣,因为没有两个人读完某篇文学作品后会有完全相同的印象。你可能不喜欢某个故事,但惊讶地发现大多数同学都喜欢它。一首诗可能会让你微笑,而你的一个同学却会哭泣。一个角色的动机对你来说可能很明显,但对其他人来说却令人困惑。这些差异的产生是因为每个读者都是独一无二的。因为你过着独特的生活,所以你对世界的了解与其他读者略有不同。你将这种个人历史和知识带到你的阅读中,连同你自己的思想和气质、你自己的好恶,甚至从过去的阅读中获得的所有知识。不同的观点在文学课上是有效的,每个读者都可以通过在课堂上发言来丰富对话。
Discussions in literature classes are usually interesting because no two people come away from a particular literary text with exactly the same impressions. You may dislike a particular story and be surprised to discover that most of your fellow students loved it. A poem may leave you smiling while it makes one of your classmates cry. A character’s motivation might seem obvious to you but baffle someone else. These differences arise because each reader is distinctive. Because you have lived a unique life, you have a knowledge of the world that is slightly different from any other reader’s. You bring this personal history and knowledge to your reading, along with your own mind and temperament, your own likes and dislikes, and even all the knowledge gained from your past reading. Differing opinions are valid in literature classes, and each reader is in a position to enrich the conversation by speaking up in class.
就像发言是参与的一部分一样,认真倾听也是参与的一部分。虽然认为你对文学作品的看法是合理的,但这并不意味着你只需要考虑自己的观点。倾听你的导师和同学的意见同样重要,尤其是当他们不同意你的观点时。如果你的立场有价值,那么他们的立场也有价值。也许他们看到了你错过的东西,或者他们认为你认为不重要的东西很重要。你可能会发现你的第一印象在讨论过程中发生了变化,或者你可能会发现你的第一印象越来越坚定。这两种结果都是你正在学习的好迹象。你在文学讨论中最重要的一点是愿意分享你自己的观点,同时保持向他人学习的开放态度。
Just as speaking up is part of participating, so, too, is attentive listening. While it is fair to regard your take on a piece of literature as valid, however, that doesn’t mean you need only consider your own opinions. Listening to what your instructor and classmates have to say is equally important, especially when they disagree with you. If your positions have value, so do theirs. Perhaps they have seen something you missed, or perhaps they consider crucial something that you had dismissed as unimportant. You may find your first impressions shifting during these discussions, or you may find them solidifying. Either of these outcomes is a good sign that you’re learning. The most important thing you bring to a literary discussion is a willingness to share your own perspectives while remaining open to the possibility of learning from others.
专心听讲的人往往是最擅长做笔记的人,而当你坐下来写论文时,拥有好的课堂笔记将非常有帮助。下一章将介绍这一重要技能。
Attentive listeners tend to make the best note-takers, and having good class notes will prove incredibly helpful when you sit down to write your papers. This important skill will be covered in the next chapter.
您可能已经注意到,到目前为止,很少有人谈论阅读和写作文学作品也可以很有趣。有些学生真的很喜欢阅读富有想象力的文学作品并撰写论文。如果您属于这一类,那么您很幸运;您的文学课会很有趣,而且——并非偶然——您可能会在课程中取得好成绩。但是,如果您从来都不喜欢阅读和写作文学作品,那么您可以花一点时间思考为什么您的一些同学喜欢这种工作,以及您可以做些什么来增加自己对文学的享受和对写作过程的投入。如果您能抛开以前在文学和写作方面可能遇到的任何负面经历,并以积极的心态对待您的任务,您会更快乐,写出更好的论文。当您接触到新作者、新角色和新场景以及新想法时,您的文学课可能会让您感到惊讶。它甚至可能成为您的最爱。
You may have noticed that little has been said so far about the idea that reading and writing about literature can also be fun. Some students really enjoy reading imaginative literature and writing papers about it. If you’re in that group, you’re lucky; your literature class will be fun and interesting for you, and — not incidentally — you’ll probably do good work in the course. If you’ve never been fond of reading and writing about literature, though, you might spend a little time thinking about why some of your classmates enjoy this sort of work as well as what you might do to increase your own enjoyment of literature and investment in the writing process. You’ll be happier and write better papers if you can put aside any previous negative experiences with literature and writing you may have had and approach your task with a positive mind-set. As you are introduced to new authors, new characters and settings, and new ideas, your literature class may surprise you. It could even end up being a favorite.
当然,文学写作始于阅读,因此,良好的阅读能力是成功写作的第一步。但什么是“良好的阅读”?一般来说,良好的阅读不是快速阅读。事实上,学生能收到的关于阅读的最好建议往往是放慢速度。良好的阅读就是集中注意力,如果你一边给朋友发短信一边阅读,或者急着完成作业然后去做“更重要”的事情,你就无法集中注意力。如果你留出充足的时间并尽量减少干扰,你将从阅读中获得更多收获,也可能享受更多的阅读乐趣。
Writing about literature begins, of course, with reading, so it stands to reason that good reading is the first step toward successful writing. But what exactly is “good reading”? Good reading, generally speaking, is not fast reading. In fact, often the best advice a student can receive about reading is to slow down. Reading well is all about paying attention, and you can’t pay attention if you’re texting a friend as you read or racing to get through an assignment and move on to “more important” things. If you make a point of giving yourself plenty of time and minimizing your distractions, you’ll get more out of your reading and probably enjoy it more as well.
最好的阅读往往是重读,最好的读者是那些愿意反复回头重读文学作品的人。专业文学评论家——毕竟,他们是最熟练的读者之一——在他们觉得有能力写出一篇作品之前,阅读一首特定的诗歌、一个故事或一个戏剧几十遍并不罕见。写得好的文学作品会奖励这种重读的意愿,让读者在每次阅读中不断发现新的东西。如果你有一本你一遍又一遍地读的最爱的书,或者一首你喜欢一遍又一遍地听的最爱的歌,你本能地理解这个道理。当然,现实中,在课堂上讨论或准备写作之前,你没有时间把每一篇指定的作品读很多遍,但如果你在第一次阅读时没有“理解”一篇文学作品,你不应该放弃或感到沮丧。如果这样做有助于你的理解,那就准备好回头重读关键章节,甚至整部作品。
The best reading is often rereading, and the best readers are those who are willing to go back and reread a piece of literature again and again. It is not uncommon for professional literary critics — who are, after all, some of the most skilled readers — to read a particular poem, story, or play literally dozens of times before they feel equipped to write about it. And well-written literature rewards this willingness to reread, allowing readers to continue seeing new things with each reading. If you have a favorite book you return to over and over, or a favorite song you like to listen to again and again, you intuitively understand this truth. Realistically, of course, you will not have the time to read every assigned piece many times before discussing it in class or preparing to write about it, but you should not give up or feel frustrated if you fail to “get” a piece of literature on the first reading. Be prepared to go back and reread key sections, or even a whole work, if doing so could help with your understanding.
最适合想象性文学作品(或其他任何复杂作品)的阅读方式有时被称为主动阅读或批判性阅读,尽管批判性阅读在这里不是指挑毛病,而是指深思熟虑。我们日常生活中的许多阅读都是被动和非批判性的。我们看路牌以了解自己身在何处;我们查看体育网站以了解自己喜欢的球队的表现;我们阅读包装以获取有关所用产品的信息。一般来说,我们被动地接受所有这些信息,而不会质疑或寻找更深层的含义。对于许多类型的阅读来说,这是完全合适的。问“为什么是松树街?”或“他们说这个罐子里有十二盎司苏打水是什么意思?”几乎没有意义。然而,还有另一种阅读方式,它涉及提出批判性问题并更深入地探究我们所读内容的含义。这种阅读方式最适合想象性文学作品(尤其是如果我们打算以后讨论或撰写该文学作品)。
The sort of reading that works best with imaginative literature — or any other complex writing — is sometimes called active reading or critical reading, though critical here implies not fault-finding but rather thoughtful consideration. Much of the reading we do in everyday life is passive and noncritical. We glance at street signs to see where we are; we check a sports website to find out how our favorite team is doing; we read packages for information about the products we use. And in general, we take in all this information passively, without questioning it or looking for deeper meaning. For many kinds of reading, this is perfectly appropriate. It would hardly make sense to ask, “Why is this Pine Street?” or “What do they mean when they say there are twelve ounces of soda in this can?” There is, however, another type of reading, one that involves asking critical questions and probing more deeply into the meaning of what we read. This is the kind of reading most appropriate to imaginative literature (especially if we intend to discuss or write about that literature later).
文学课上一直流传着一个错误观念,即阅读的目的是从文本中寻找“隐藏的含义”。不要被这个观念所欺骗。事实上,许多教师不喜欢“隐藏的含义”这个短语,因为它有令人不快和不准确的含义。首先,它暗示作者故意装模作样,故意让自己的作品难以理解或排斥读者。其次,它让阅读过程听起来像是在挖掘宝藏,而不是一个系统的智力过程。最后,这个短语暗示文本只有一个真实的含义,交流和理解只朝一个方向进行:从狡猾的作者到探索的读者。
There is a persistent myth in literature classes that the purpose of reading is to scour a text for “hidden meaning.” Do not be taken in by this myth. In fact, many instructors dislike the phrase hidden meaning, which has unpleasant and inaccurate connotations. First, it suggests a sort of willful subterfuge on the part of the author, a deliberate attempt to make his or her work difficult to understand or to exclude the reader. Second, it makes the process of reading sound like digging for buried treasure rather than a systematic intellectual process. Finally, the phrase implies that a text has a single, true meaning and that communication and understanding move in one direction only: from the crafty author to the searching reader.
事实上,文学文本中的含义并非隐藏,而你作为读者的工作不是去寻找它们。相反,如果你不能立即理解一段文本,那是因为你需要更积极地阅读,然后当你与文本合作以创建一致的解释时,意义就会在协作的努力中浮现出来。(这是读者反应批评的基础,在第 147-148 页进行了解释。)显然,积极阅读需要付出努力。如果你发现这种阅读很难,那就把它当作一个好兆头。这意味着你正在给予精心创作的诗歌、故事或戏剧对读者的要求的那种关注。你也不应该认为英语老师有一把钥匙,可以让他们解开文本的一个秘密真相。如果你的老师在一篇文学作品中看到的含义比你多或不同,这是因为他或她受过积极阅读的训练,可能比你花在文学作品上的时间要多得多,花在分配给你的特定文本上的时间也更多。
In truth, the meanings in literary texts are not hidden, and your job as a reader is not to root around for them. Rather, if a text is not immediately accessible to you, it is because you need to read more actively, and meaning will then emerge in a collaborative effort as you work with the text to create a consistent interpretation. (This is the basis of reader-response criticism, which is explained on pages 147–148.) Obviously, active reading requires effort. If you find this sort of reading hard, take that as a good sign. It means you’re paying the sort of attention that a well-crafted poem, story, or play requires of a reader. You also should not assume that English teachers have a key that allows them to unlock the one secret truth of a text. If, as is often the case, your instructor sees more or different meanings in a piece of literature than you do, this is because he or she is trained to read actively and has probably spent much more time than you have with literature in general and more time with the particular text assigned to you.
如果主动阅读的第一个建议是放慢速度,并知道需要进行第二次(甚至第三次)阅读,那么下一个建议是手拿钢笔或铅笔阅读,以便注释文本并做笔记。如果你看看你的导师或高级文学学生的文学教科书,你很可能会看到一些混乱的东西——单词和段落被圈出或划线,评论和问题潦草地写在页边空白处(技术上称为旁注),以及装饰页面的无法解释的标点符号或其他符号。你不应该将此解释为对文本或作者的不尊重,或思维混乱的表现。这只是文本注释,意味着有人一直在积极阅读。一个极端的例子可能是诗人和评论家塞缪尔·泰勒·柯尔律治,他不仅注释自己的书,还注释从朋友那里借来的书——这种习惯不太可能获得友谊——他的旁注实际上构成了他的整整一卷文集。
If the first suggestions for active reading are to slow down and to know that a second (or even a third) reading is in order, the next suggestion is to read with a pen or pencil in hand in order to annotate your text and take notes. If you look inside a literature textbook belonging to your instructor or to an advanced literature student, chances are you’ll see something of a mess — words and passages circled or underlined, comments and questions scrawled in the margins (technically called marginalia), and unexplained punctuation marks or other symbols decorating the pages. You should not interpret this as disrespect for the text or author or as a sign of a disordered mind. It is simply textual annotation, and it means that someone has been engaged in active reading. Perhaps an extreme example is the poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was famous for annotating not only his own books but also those he borrowed from friends — a habit unlikely to secure a friendship — and his marginalia actually make up one entire volume of his collected works.
如果你不熟悉文本注释,可能不知道从哪里开始。没有单一、广泛使用的注释系统,你几乎肯定会在练习主动阅读时开始开发自己的技巧。不过,这里有一些提示可以帮助你入门:
If you are not accustomed to textual annotation, it may be hard to know where to begin. There is no single, widely used system of annotation, and you will almost certainly begin to develop your own techniques as you practice active reading. Here, however, are a few tips to get you started:
学生 Rachel McCarthy 被要求朗读威廉·巴特勒·叶芝的诗歌《第二次降临》。以下是她在朗读这首诗时所做的一些注释:
Student Rachel McCarthy was assigned to read William Butler Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming.” Here are some of the annotations she made as she read the poem:
(1865–1939)
[1865–1939]
Rachel 的注释涵盖了所有内容,从主要内容点(例如叶芝对狮身人面像的暗示和gyre的定义),到她对叶芝在第二节中使用重复的观察。通过这种方式注释这首诗,Rachel 已准备好参与课堂和在线讨论,后来当她决定写一篇关于这首诗的论文时,她有了一些很好的起始笔记。
Rachel’s annotations cover everything from major points of content, like Yeats’s allusion to the sphinx and the definition of gyre, to her observations on Yeats’s use of repetition in the second stanza. Having annotated the poem in this way, Rachel was ready to participate in discussions both in the classroom and online, and later she had some good starting notes when she decided to write a paper about the poem.
记笔记是个好主意,特别是当你正在阅读一篇很难的文章或者你希望写点什么的时候,阅读时手边要放一本笔记本,这样就可以记下那些太长或太复杂而无法放在页边空白处的笔记。这些笔记应该包含什么?本质上,它们应该是你的旁注的更详尽版本。你应该记下任何不寻常的重复或并列,以及阅读时让你感到惊讶或失望的任何内容。记下那些看起来特别重要或特别令人困惑的段落(使用页码,也许在页边空白处放置一个星号或其他符号),并写几句话解释为什么这些段落对你来说很突出。提出大量的问题,正如本章后面所解释的那样。
Note-taking is a good idea, especially if you are reading a difficult text or one about which you expect to be writing, to keep a notebook handy as you read, a place to make notes that would be too long or complex to fit in the margins. What should these notes contain? Essentially, they should be more extensive versions of your marginalia. You should note any unusual repetitions or juxtapositions, as well as anything that surprises you or frustrates your expectations as you read. Note passages that seem particularly crucial, or particularly confusing (using page numbers, and perhaps placing an asterisk or other symbol in the margins), and write a few sentences explaining why these stood out for you. Ask plenty of questions, as explained later in this chapter.
你可能希望使用上课时随身携带的笔记本,这样在家阅读时就可以参考课堂笔记,并将阅读中的见解带到课堂讨论中。在课堂上,写下老师在黑板上写的任何信息或使用 PowerPoint 或其他演示软件的项目。如果他或她认为这些信息足够重要,值得写下来,你可能也应该这样做。你的课堂笔记应该包括新的术语或词汇,以及老师重复超过一两次的任何要点。一定要记下同学的评论,这些评论似乎对你不断演变的文献理解特别重要,特别是你不同意或自己不会想到的观点。一定要区分笔记中的哪些想法是你自己的想法,哪些是你从别人那里读到或听到的。现在对你来说可能很明显,但你能保证一个月后,当你写论文时,你会记得是谁提出了这个宝贵的见解吗?
You might want to use the same notebook that you keep with you in class so that you can make reference to your class notes while reading at home and bring the insights from your reading to your class discussions. In class, write down any information your instructor writes on the board or projects using PowerPoint or other presentation software. If he or she thought it was important enough to write down, you probably should, too. Your class notes should include new terminology or vocabulary, as well as any point the instructor repeats more than once or twice. Be sure to also take note of comments by your classmates that seem especially salient to your evolving understanding of the literature, particularly points you disagree with or would not have thought of on your own. Just be sure to distinguish which ideas in your notes are yours and which you read or heard from someone else. It may be obvious to you now, but can you guarantee that a month from now, when you’re writing a paper, you’ll remember who produced that gem of insight?
请记住,最擅长做笔记的人不一定是学期末积累了最多页笔记的人。好的笔记不需要是经过深思熟虑的段落或完整的句子。事实上,它们很少是这样的。做好笔记的关键是快速记笔记,尽量不要打断你的阅读或参与讨论。与注释文本一样,尝试开发自己的速记笔记方法。只要确保你写下的内容足以在几天、几周甚至几个月后回到笔记时唤起你的记忆即可。尽量在缩写的内容和方式上保持一致。不过,有一条具体的建议:最好在笔记中记下页码,参考正在讨论的特定行或段落。这样,你就可以毫无困难地将笔记与它们所参考的文本进行匹配。
Remember that the best note-takers are not necessarily those who have amassed the most pages of notes at the end of the term. Good notes don’t need to be well-reasoned paragraphs or even complete sentences. In fact, they seldom are. The key to taking good notes is to take them quickly, with minimal interruption to your reading or participation in a discussion. As with annotating texts, try to develop your own shorthand for note-taking. Just be sure that you write enough to jog your memory when you return to the notes days, weeks, or even months later. Try to be consistent in what and how you abbreviate. One specific piece of advice, though: it’s a good idea to jot down page numbers in your notes, referring to the specific lines or passages under discussion. That way, you’ll have no problem matching up the notes with the texts to which they refer.
你可能会被要求为你的班级写阅读日志。当然,你应该遵循老师的指导,但如果你不确定在阅读日志中写什么,可以把它看作是一个比注释和笔记更进一步的地方。尝试对你提出的问题的可能答案,最好是几个不同的答案。将你的想法从单个短语和句子扩展到整个段落,看看它们在这种更深入的探索下如何站得住脚。虽然阅读日志与个人日记或日记有很大不同,但它有时可以包含你对文学作品与你自己的生活和想法之间建立的任何联系的反思。一些老师要求学生使用互联网资源来回应他们的阅读,包括课程管理系统、电子邮件或博客文章。这些平台允许你建立一个回复档案,这样当你开始写论文草稿时,你就可以轻松地返回它们;此外,你可以回应其他学生发展他们的想法。以下是 Rachel 在她班的课程管理系统上发布的对“第二次降临”的回应:
You may be assigned to keep a reading journal for your class. Of course, you should follow your instructor’s guidelines, but if you aren’t sure what to write in a reading journal, think of it as a place to go a step further than you do in your annotations and notes. Try out possible answers, preferably several different ones, to the questions you have raised. Expand your ideas from single phrases and sentences into entire paragraphs, and see how they hold up under this deeper probing. Although a reading journal is substantially different from a personal journal or diary, it can at times contain reflections on any connections you make between a piece of literature and your own life and ideas. Some instructors ask students to respond to their readings with internet resources, including course management systems, e-mail messages, or blog entries. These platforms allow you to build an archive of your responses so that you can easily return to them when you begin writing a draft of your paper; in addition, you can respond to other students as they develop their ideas. Here is Rachel’s response to “The Second Coming” that she posted on the course management system for her class:
叶芝对未来的末世想象与《启示录》中所描述的截然不同。在这里,来自天堂和地狱的超自然力量并没有通过从天而降的烈火来催生世界末日;相反,第一节描述了世界在失控的情况下缓慢但不可避免地崩溃的过程。我们日常生活中习以为常的世界秩序只能勉强抑制混乱和灾难。
Yeats’s apocalyptic vision of the future is a fascinating departure from that described in the Book of Revelation. Here, supernatural forces from heaven and hell do not precipitate the End Times with fire raining down from the sky; rather, the first stanza illustrates the slow yet inevitable unraveling of the world as things spiral out of control. The orderly nature of the world that we take for granted on a day-to-day basis is only tenuously restraining chaos and disaster.
同样,我认为我在阅读这首诗时感到的焦虑可以归因于“野兽”(21)就在地球上,在沙漠的某个偏远角落等待时机。而且,它不仅始于地球,也可能始于我们。叶芝预言了这样一代人,“最好的人缺乏信念,而最坏的人充满激情”(7-8)。这可能意味着两种情况之一:要么人们已经放弃正义并心甘情愿地支持邪恶(或太懦弱而无法抗拒),要么热衷于行善的人和热衷于作恶的人之间没有区别。老实说,我不知道哪种解释更令人不寒而栗。
In a similar vein, I think some of the anxiety I felt while reading this poem can be attributed to the fact that the “rough beast” (21) is just here, on Earth, biding its time in some remote corner of a desert. And, not only does it begin on Earth, but it might possibly begin with us. Yeats predicts a generation of people where “the best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity” (7–8). This can mean one of two things: either people have given up on righteousness and support evil willingly (or are too spineless to resist), or there’s no distinction between people who are passionate about doing good and those who passionately commit evil. I honestly don’t know which is the more chilling interpretation.
最后,尽管叶芝对血色潮汐和沙漠中的野兽有着生动的描绘,但他也非常有效地运用了模棱两可的表达方式。回到《启示录》,野兽被详细地描述为七个头和十个角的动物器官的混合物;相比之下,叶芝的“粗野野兽”让我们用我们想象的任何可怕的形象来填补空白。当这个巨大、笨重的怪物阴影不祥地向一个沉睡的小村庄靠近时,那种对未知的恐惧感使叶芝的《第二次降临》通过颠覆我们的期望而成为一部精心制作的恐怖作品。
Finally, for all of Yeats’s vivid imagery about the blood-dimmed tide and the beast in the desert, he also employs ambiguity to great effect. Going back to Revelation, the beast is described at great length as an amalgam of animal parts with seven heads and ten horns; by contrast, Yeats’s “rough beast” leaves us to fill in the blanks with whatever terrifying image our imaginations can come up with. That dreaded feeling of the unknown, as this great, hulking shadow of a monster draws ominously towards a sleepy little village, is what makes Yeats’s “Second Coming” such a well-crafted exercise in horror by subverting our expectations.
在这篇简短的回复中,雷切尔重点讨论了她在《启示录》中看到的末日与叶芝在诗中描述的末日之间的区别。她重点讨论了叶芝的意象和典故,以便更好地理解这首诗为何如此令人不寒而栗。
In this brief response, Rachel focuses on the differences between the apocalypse that she sees in the Book of Revelation with the one that Yeats describes in his poem. She focuses on Yeats’s imagery and allusions in order to better understand why this poem is so chilling.
这种回应在 Rachel 为她的论文提出论点时非常有用。即使你的导师不要求你参与在线论坛或为你的课程写日记,许多学生也发现写日记是一种有用的工具,可以让他们从阅读中获得更多收获,更不用说当他们坐下来写论文时,日记可以为他们提供丰富的素材。
This kind of response will serve Rachel well when it’s time to generate a thesis for her paper on the subject. Even if your instructor doesn’t require online forum participation or a journal for your class, many students find keeping a journal a useful tool for getting more out of their reading, not to mention a wealth of material to draw from when they sit down to write a paper.
许多学生在阅读时不愿意使用字典或百科全书,他们认为他们应该能够从上下文中理解单词的含义,并且不想打断他们的阅读。但简单的事实是,并非所有单词都可以仅从上下文中定义,如果你愿意花一点精力查找不熟悉的单词,你将从阅读中获得更多。如果你正在阅读约翰·多恩的《告别辞:禁止哀悼》(第 574 页),而你不知道“告别辞”这个词的意思,那么你一开始就处于很大的劣势。快速查看印刷版或在线词典会告诉你,告别辞是在离别时发表的演讲(就像毕业生代表在毕业典礼上发表的演讲)。掌握了这一简单的信息,你开始阅读多恩的诗时就已经知道它是关于离开某人或某事的,理解这首诗就变得容易多了。请注意,本章前面对叶芝诗歌的注释包含了gyre的定义。
Many students are reluctant to use the dictionary or encyclopedia while reading, thinking they should be able to figure out the meanings of words from their context and not wanting to interrupt their reading. But the simple truth is that not all words are definable from context alone, and you’ll get much more out of your reading if you are willing to make the small effort involved in looking up unfamiliar words. If you are reading John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (p. 574) and you don’t know what the word valediction means, you’re starting at a big disadvantage. A quick look in a print or online dictionary would tell you that a valediction is a speech given at a time of parting (like the one a valedictorian gives at a graduation ceremony). Armed with that simple piece of information, you begin reading Donne’s poem already knowing that it is about leaving someone or something, and understanding the poem becomes much simpler. Notice that the annotations for the Yeats poem earlier in the chapter include a definition of gyre.
像大英百科全书在线(大多数大学图书馆提供的在线订阅服务)这样的百科全书也是一个有用的工具。当你阅读叶芝的诗时,如果你想阅读他的传记,大英百科全书在线可以为你的生活和工作提供传记和文化背景。或者,如果你想了解更多关于这首诗的韵律,你可以查找“抑扬格五音步”来了解它的用法,或者“无韵诗”来了解这种诗体的文化背景。大英百科全书在线经常提供进一步阅读的参考书目,所以它可以成为你开始研究的好地方。
An encyclopedia like Britannica Online (an online subscription service available at most university libraries) can also be a useful tool. As you’re reading Yeats’s poem, if you want to read his biography, Britannica Online can provide biographical and cultural context for his life and work. Or, if you want to learn more about the meter of the poem, you could look up “iambic pentameter” to develop an understanding of its use, or “blank verse” to learn about the cultural context of the verse form. Britannica Online often provides a bibliography for further reading, so it can be a good place to start your research.
关于文学的问题分为四类:关于文本的问题、关于作者的问题、关于作品的文化背景的问题以及关于读者的问题。我们将在接下来的几页中逐一讨论这些问题。
Questions about literature fall into one of four categories — questions about the text, about the author, about the cultural context of the work, and about the reader. We’ll discuss each of these in the next few pages.
关于文本的问题主要集中在体裁、结构、语言和风格等方面。关于文本的疑问有时(但并非总是)可以通过更深入地研究手头的故事、诗歌或戏剧来回答。你可以询问某些图像的存在——或者它们的缺失,如果你有理由期待它们出现,却发现它们并不在那里。有时作者会以令人吃惊或出乎意料的方式并置图像或语言,你可以询问这种并置的目的和效果。你可能会对作品上下文中特定单词的含义感到疑惑。(对于较古老的文学作品尤其如此,因为含义会随着时间而演变和变化,你今天知道的词在过去可能有非常不同的定义。)当看一首诗时,你可以询问声音、节奏、韵律等的目的和效果。
Questions about a text focus on issues such as genre, structure, language, and style. Queries regarding the text can sometimes, though not always, be answered with a deeper examination of the story, poem, or play at hand. You might ask about the presence of certain images — or about their absence, if you have reason to expect them and find that they are not there. Sometimes authors juxtapose images or language in startling or unexpected ways, and you might ask about the purpose and effect of such juxtaposition. You might wonder about the meanings of specific words in the context of the work. (This is especially true with older works of literature, as meanings evolve and change over time, and a word you know today might have had a very different definition in the past.) When looking at a poem, you might inquire about the purpose and effect of sound, rhythm, rhyme, and so forth.
你以前的经历会对你有很大帮助,包括你阅读文学作品的经历和日常生活中的经历。从个人经历中,你知道自己期望人们在特定情况下会如何思考和行动,你可以将这些期望与文学作品进行比较。什么可能促使人物或人物像他们那样思考和行动?你以前的阅读也为你设定了期望。文本如何满足或挫败了这些期望?这让你想起了哪些其他文学作品?哪些图像看起来引人注目或出乎意料?哪些文字看起来特别有力、奇怪或值得注意?
Your previous experiences are a big help here, including both your experiences of reading literature and your experiences in everyday life. You know from personal experience how you expect people to think and act in certain situations, and you can compare these expectations to the literature. What might motivate the characters or persons to think and act as they do? Your previous reading has likewise set up expectations for you. How does the text fulfill or frustrate these expectations? What other literary pieces does this remind you of? What images seem arresting or unexpected? Where do the words seem particularly powerful, strange, or otherwise noteworthy?
请注意一位读者在第一次阅读本·琼森的《我的第一个儿子》时在注释中提出的一些问题。
Notice some of the questions one reader asked in his annotations upon first reading Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son.”
(1572–1637)
[1572–1637]
学生对诗歌提出的问题大部分都是实质性的和困难的,需要大量的思考和解释才能得到答案。这些问题可以引发良好的讨论和写作。
The questions the student asks of the poem are, for the most part, substantial and difficult, and they will require a good deal of thinking and interpretation to get to an answer. These are the sorts of questions that prompt good discussions and good writing.
当我们思考作者和他们的作品之间的联系时,有两种相互矛盾的冲动在起作用。一种是想完全忽略作者的传记,只关注手头的作品;另一种是仔细研究作者的生活,看看是什么促使他或她写下某首诗、故事或戏剧。第一种冲动很容易理解。毕竟,我们不太可能问作者戏剧中的某句台词是什么意思,或者故事中的某个形象是否应该象征性地解读。文学作品是我们面前的东西,它的成败应由其自身的优点来决定。事实上,这是新批评的主要原则之一,新批评是一种主导了二十世纪大部分时间的文学批评的解读方法,我们将在第 140 页对此进行讨论。
When thinking about the connection between authors and the works they produce, two contradictory impulses come into play. One is the desire to ignore the biography of the author entirely and focus solely on the work at hand, and the other is to look closely at an author’s life to see what might have led him or her to write a particular poem, story, or play. It is easy to understand the first impulse. After all, we are not likely to ask an author what a certain line in a play means or whether an image in a story is supposed to be read symbolically. The work of literature is what we have before us, and it should stand or fall on its own merits. This was, in fact, one of the principal tenets of New Criticism, a method of interpretation that dominated literary criticism for much of the twentieth century and is discussed on page 140.
然而,我们无法否认,作家的生活确实会影响作家的表达。年龄、性别、宗教信仰、家庭结构和许多其他因素都会影响作家生活的方方面面,从主题选择到词语选择。因此,当我们试图更好地理解文学作品时,有时询问有关作者的问题也是适当的。然而,至关重要的是,我们要记住,作者写的一切都不能只看表面。例如,如果故事的叙述者或主角被父母殴打或忽视,我们不应该仓促得出结论说作者是一个受虐待的孩子。如果这个角色继续通过指出虐待来为自己的行为辩护,我们也不应该假设作者赞同这种辩护。换句话说,我们必须区分叙述声音和实际作者,以及书面内容和意图。
We cannot deny, however, that a writer’s life does affect that writer’s expression. Age, gender, religious beliefs, family structure, and many other factors have an impact on everything in an author’s life from topic choice to word choice. Therefore, it is sometimes appropriate to ask questions about an author as we try to come to a better understanding of a piece of literature. It is crucial, however, that we remember that not everything an author writes is to be taken at surface value. For instance, if the narrator or principal character of a story is beaten or neglected by his parents, we should not jump to the conclusion that the author was an abused child. And if this character then goes on to justify his own actions by pointing to the abuse, we should also not assume that the author endorses this justification. In other words, we must distinguish between narrative voice and the actual author as well as between what is written and what is meant.
对于我们已知的虚构故事和戏剧,传记与叙事的这种区分相对容易;一个角色说了什么并不一定意味着作者相信它。然而,诗歌有点棘手,因为它以直抒胸臆而闻名。然而,并非每首诗都准确表达了作者的思想或信仰。仅举两个例子,TS 艾略特的《J. 阿尔弗雷德·普鲁弗洛克的情歌》(第 655 页)表达的是虚构的普鲁弗洛克的想法,而不是艾略特自己的想法,罗伯特·布朗宁的许多诗都是戏剧性的独白,由与布朗宁本人截然不同的说话者讲述,包括凶残的贵族和腐败的神职人员。(这种独白的一个例子是第 61-63 页的《我的最后一位公爵夫人》。)
This separation of biography and narrative is relatively easy with stories and plays that we know to be fiction; just because a character says something doesn’t necessarily mean the author believes it. Poetry is a little trickier, though, because it has the reputation of being straight from the heart. Not every poem, however, is an accurate representation of the respective author’s thoughts or beliefs. To give just two examples, T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (p. 655) voices the thoughts of the fictional Prufrock, not of Eliot himself, and many of the poems of Robert Browning are dramatic monologues, delivered by speakers very different from Browning himself, including murderous noblemen and corrupt clergy. (An example of such a monologue is “My Last Duchess” on pages 61–63.)
我们都是特定时间和地点的生物,无论多么独特和反传统,没有人能够免受社会历史微妙而普遍的力量的影响。在这种情况下,许多关于文学的适当问题都涉及作品的文化背景。在一部文学作品创作时,历史上发生了什么?有没有战争或其他形式的社会动乱?作者社会中大多数人的生活水平如何?日常生活是什么样的?典型的宗教信仰和传统是什么?社会在权力关系、工作期望和教育可能性方面是如何组织的?典型的家庭结构如何?大家庭住在一起吗?家庭内部(和外部)的预期性别角色是什么?所有这些问题,以及许多其他问题,都会影响作者如何看待世界以及他们在写作中如何回应它。
We are all creatures of a particular time and place, and nobody, no matter how unique and iconoclastic, is immune to the subtle and pervasive force of social history. Many appropriate questions about literature, in this case, involve the cultural context of the work. What was going on in history at the time a piece of literature was written? Were there wars or other forms of social disruption? What was the standard of living for most people in the author’s society? What was day-to-day life like? What were the typical religious beliefs and traditions? How was society organized in terms of power relations, work expectations, and educational possibilities? How about typical family structure? Did extended families live together? What were the expected gender roles inside (and outside) the family? All of these issues, and many more besides, have an impact on how authors see the world and how they respond to it in their writing.
当你阅读和思考文学作品时,你需要考虑另一个文化背景——你自己的文化。作为二十一世纪的美国居民,你的阅读和理解会受到什么影响?我们和过去的作家和读者一样,受到历史、文化和生活方式的影响,但我们很难看到这一点,因为主流的生活方式往往看起来是“自然的”甚至是“普遍的”。事实上,阅读文学作品的一大好处是,它教会我们历史,帮助我们理解和欣赏不同的文化,其中最重要的是我们自己的文化。
As you read and ask questions of literature, you have another cultural context to be concerned with — your own. How does being a resident of twenty-first-century America affect your reading and understanding? We are every bit as influenced by issues of history, culture, and lifestyle as were authors and readers of the past, but it is harder for us to see this, since the dominant way of living tends to seem “natural” or even “universal.” Indeed, one of the great benefits of reading literature is that it teaches us about history and helps us understand and appreciate diverse cultures, not the least of which is our own.
在询问和回答有关本·琼森的文化(十七世纪的英格兰)的以下问题时,细心的《我的第一个儿子》读者还会注意到我们当今社会的特点,其中儿童死亡相对罕见,家庭角色可能有所不同,宗教态度和信仰更加多样化。
In asking and answering the following questions about Ben Jonson’s culture (seventeenth-century England), an attentive reader of “On My First Son” will also note features of our own present-day society, in which childhood death is relatively rare, family roles may be different, and religious attitudes and beliefs are considerably more diverse.
除了私人日记,所有作品都是要有人阅读的,而目标读者会对作品的创作产生很大的影响。想想你发给朋友的短信和你为课程写的论文在语气和结构上的差异,你就会知道目标读者对作品的影响。因此,当你试图更全面地理解一部作品时,值得考虑作品最初的目标读者。目标读者是谁?他们真的是在文献首次出版时阅读该文献的人吗?文献的结构和内容如何满足或辜负读者的期望?最初的读者是如何反应的?这部作品广受欢迎吗?还是只有某些读者喜欢它?也有批评者吗?这部作品有争议吗?
Except in the case of private diaries, all writing is intended to be read by somebody, and an intended audience can have a big influence on the composition of the writing in question. Think about the differences in tone and structure between a text message you send to a friend and a paper you write for a course, and you’ll get some idea of the impact of intended audience on a piece of writing. It is therefore worth considering a work’s originally intended readers as you seek to understand a piece more fully. Who were the intended readers? Were they actually the people who read the literature when it was first published? How are readers’ expectations fulfilled or disappointed by the structure and content of the literature? How did the original readers react? Was the work widely popular, or did only certain readers enjoy it? Did it have detractors as well? Was there any controversy over the work?
当然,任何文学作品除了最初的读者外,还有当代读者,包括你自己。人们常说,伟大的文学作品经得起时间的考验,能够跨越文化,与不同类型的人对话,但你对一部作品的反应可能与它的原始读者截然不同,特别是如果你与这部作品在时间或文化上相距甚远。在欧洲和美国的早期世纪,几乎所有受过教育的人都非常熟悉《圣经》以及希腊和罗马古代的故事和神话。因此,作家可以假设读者具备这些知识,并在作品中大量引用这些来源的故事和人物。今天,许多读者对这些来源不那么熟悉,我们经常需要脚注或其他学习辅助工具的帮助才能理解这些引用。因此,对一部作品的原始读者来说可能很有趣和有启发性的内容,有时对后来的读者来说可能是乏味或令人沮丧的。如果我们要批判性地阅读一部作品,我们必须同时考虑过去和现在的读者。
Of course, in addition to the original readers of any work of literature, there are also contemporary readers, including yourself. It is often said that great literature stands the test of time and can cross cultures to speak to many different sorts of people, but your reaction to a work may be very different from that of its original audience, especially if you are far removed from the work by time or culture. In earlier centuries in Europe and America, nearly all educated people were very familiar with the Bible and with stories and myths from Greek and Roman antiquity. Writers, therefore, could assume such knowledge on the part of their readers and make liberal references in their work to stories and characters from these sources. Today, many readers are less familiar with these sources, and we often need the help of footnotes or other study aids to understand such references. So what might have been enjoyable and enlightening for the original readers of a work might sometimes be tedious or frustrating for later readers. If we are to read a work critically, we must keep both past and present audiences in mind.
以下前三个问题涉及《我的第一个儿子》的原始观众,而后两个问题将这个观众与当代观众进行了比较。
The first three of the following questions deal with the original audience of “On My First Son,” while the final two compare this audience and a contemporary one.
回顾这些有关琼森诗歌的问题——关于文本、作者、文化背景和读者——你会注意到它们之间存在许多差异。有些可以用简单的“是”或“否”来回答(这句引语是男孩的墓志铭吗?),而其他一些则需要更复杂的回答(琼森时代的罪恶观念是什么?)。其他一些则是猜测、意见或解释的问题(当代读者对这首诗的解读与过去的读者有什么不同吗?)。有些可以通过重读和思考来回答(孩子的死亡怎么能被认为是公平的?),而其他一些则需要讨论(有孩子的读者对这首诗的反应是否不同?)或研究(这首诗首次发表在哪里?)。
Looking over these questions about Jonson’s poem — about the text, the author, the cultural context, and the reader — you will note that there are many differences among them. Some can be answered with a simple yes or no (Is the quotation the boy’s epitaph?), while others require much more complex responses (What was the conception of sin in Jonson’s time?). Others are matters of conjecture, opinion, or interpretation (Do contemporary readers read this poem differently than past readers might have?). Some can be answered simply by rereading and considering (How can a child’s death ever be considered fair?), while others require discussion (Do readers with children respond to the poem differently?) or research (Where was the poem first published?).
对于某些问题,你可能有暂时的答案,就像那位提出这些问题的读者一样,她提出上帝和命运都是将孩子“借给”父亲的潜在人选。但是,你一开始无法回答其他问题。如果你真的对其中任何一个感到好奇,那就做一些非正式的研究来开始构思答案。在大多数教科书中的作者简介或注释中可以找到一些基本信息。例如,你可以在那里了解到琼森的出生和去世的日期,以及一些关于他的生活和家庭的基本事实。快速浏览一下有信誉的参考书或网站可以提供更有价值的背景信息,比如琼森也失去了他的第一个女儿,并且他还写了一首关于她去世的诗。
For some inquiries, you may have tentative answers, as did the reader who asked these questions when she proposed both God and fate as potential candidates for who “lent” the child to the father. However, you won’t be able to answer others at first. If you are genuinely curious about any of them, do a little informal research to begin formulating answers. Some basic information can be found in the brief biographies or notes about authors that appear in most textbooks. There you could learn, for instance, the dates of Jonson’s birth and death and some basic facts about his life and family. A quick look at a reputable reference work or website could provide still more valuable background information, like the fact that Jonson also lost his first daughter and that he wrote a poem about her death as well.
只需提出一些问题,您就已经在理解和解读一首诗或其他文学作品方面取得了很大进展。如果您带着这样的问题清单去上课,您将随时准备参与讨论,而到了写论文的时候,您将拥有丰富的素材可供借鉴。
Having simply formulated some questions, you’ve already gone a long way toward understanding and interpreting a poem or other work of literature. If you bring such a list of questions with you to class, you will be more than ready to contribute to the discussion, and when the time comes to write an essay, you will have a rich mine of source material from which to draw.
专家通常将写作过程分为三个主要部分:写作前、草稿和修订(包括编辑)。但请记住,对于大多数人来说,这个过程并不像图中显示的那么线性,而且这三个部分并不总是以直截了当的方式发生。例如,您可能在完成草稿过程之前就开始修订部分草稿。或者您可能会发现自己在草稿的相当后期陷入困境,并决定重新审视您的写作前阶段。不要认为这三个步骤需要一次完成一个。不同的项目可能需要不同的策略,如果您允许自己根据要完成的特定任务的需求来回切换这些步骤,您会更享受这个过程。
Experts often divide the writing process into three major components: prewriting, drafting, and revision (which includes editing). Bear in mind, though, that the process for most people is not as linear as this suggests, and the three components don’t always happen in a straightforward fashion. For instance, you might begin revising a partial draft before completing the drafting process. Or you may find yourself stuck at a fairly late point in the draft and decide to revisit your prewriting. Don’t think that these three steps need to be completed one at a time. Different projects will likely call for different strategies, and you’ll enjoy the process more if you allow yourself to go back and forth between the steps according to the needs of the particular assignment you’re trying to complete.
写作前准备是您在开始实际撰写论文草稿之前所做的一切。它包括注释和质疑文本、做笔记和参与课堂活动以及与您的导师和/或同学讨论作业。它还包括本章中涵盖的特定主题:选择主题、提出论点和论点、收集支持以及提出论文的组织策略。
Prewriting is everything that you do before beginning an actual draft of your paper. It includes annotating and questioning texts, taking notes and participating in class, and discussing the assignment with your instructor and/or classmates. It also includes specific topics covered in this chapter: choosing a topic, developing an argument and a thesis, gathering support, and proposing a paper’s organizational strategy.
显然,论文主题的选择至关重要,因为其他一切都取决于最初的决定。你的导师可能会指定一个特定的主题,或者选择权可能留给你。选择主题最重要的建议是写一些你真正感兴趣的东西。如果你的导师让你的班级选择,很可能他或她真的想看到各种各样的主题和方法,并希望你找到一个适合你的主题。
Obviously, your choice of a topic for your paper is of key importance, since everything else follows from that first decision. Your instructor may assign a specific topic, or the choice may be left to you. The most important piece of advice for choosing a topic is to write about something that genuinely interests you. If your instructor gives your class a choice, chances are that he or she really wants to see a variety of topics and approaches and expects you to find a topic that works for you.
即使你的导师指定了一个相当具体的主题,你仍然需要花一点时间去思考和处理它。你希望你的论文与众不同,你应该尽一切努力使作业成为你自己的。当你收到作业时,考虑一下它可能与你自己的兴趣有什么关系,以及你可以如何利用你的背景和知识以新颖有趣的方式处理这个主题。
Even if your instructor assigns a fairly specific topic, you still need to spend a little time thinking about and working with it. You want your paper to stand out from the rest, and you should do whatever you can to make the assignment your own. When you receive an assignment, give some thought as to how it might relate to your own interests and how you might call upon your background and knowledge to approach the topic in fresh and interesting ways.
最后,如果你已经付出了一些思考和努力,但仍然不知道该写什么,请记住,你不需要孤军奋战——寻求指导和帮助。与班上的其他学生交谈,看看他们决定写什么;虽然你当然不想简单地抄袭别人的主题,但听听别人的想法往往能激发出新的想法。别忘了你的导师。大多数老师都非常乐意花一点时间帮助你想出一个主题和一种方法,帮助你写出一篇好论文。
Finally, if you’ve put in some thought and effort but still don’t know what to write about, remember that you do not need to go it alone — seek out guidance and help. Talk with other students in your class and see what they have decided to write about; although of course you don’t want simply to copy someone else’s topic, hearing what others think can often spark a fresh idea. And don’t forget your instructor. Most teachers are more than happy to spend a little time helping you come up with a topic and an approach that will help you write a good paper.
除了摘要(简要回顾文本最重要的观点)之外,所有关于文学的写作在某种程度上都是一种论证形式。不过,在继续之前,让我们先消除“论证”一词的一些负面含义。在日常使用中,这个词可以表示激烈的口头争吵,它表明两个(或更多)人越来越愤怒,而且随着时间的推移,他们往往变得口齿不清,言语更加粗鲁。它暗示着战斗,并暗示过程中的另一方是对手。在这种争论中,有赢家也有输家。
With the possible exception of a summary (a brief recap of a text’s most important points), all writing about literature is, to some degree, a form of argument. Before proceeding, though, let’s dispel some of the negative connotations of the word argument. In everyday usage, this term can connote a heated verbal fight, and it suggests two (or more) people growing angry and, often, becoming less articulate and more abusive as time passes. It suggests combat and implies that the other party in the process is an opponent. In this sort of argument, there are winners and losers.
显然,当我们说你将要就文学进行辩论时,我们想的并不是这个。辩论的另一种更传统的意义是指作者或演讲者试图确立某一立场的有效性。换句话说,当你写一篇论文时,你要努力说服读者,你所说的是有效的和有说服力的。读者不是敌人,不是要粉碎和驳斥其观点的人,而是你有机会影响其思想和感受的人。你不是在与读者争论;相反,你是在利用你的辩论能力帮助读者看到你的立场的逻辑和价值。
Clearly this is not what we have in mind when we say you will be writing argumentatively about literature. Used in a different, more traditional sense, argument refers to a writer’s, or speaker’s, attempt to establish the validity of a given position. In other words, when you write a paper, you work to convince your reader that what you are saying is valid and persuasive. The reader is not the enemy, not someone whose ideas are to be crushed and refuted, but rather a person whose thoughts and feelings you have a chance to affect. You are not arguing against your reader; rather, you are using your argumentative abilities to help your reader see the logic and value of your position.
因此,要开始撰写文学论证,你必须采取立场并提出要点。这个主要要点将成为你论文的论点。区分主题和论点很重要;你的主题是你将关注的问题或领域,而你的论点是关于这个主题的陈述。
To begin writing a literary argument, then, you must take a position and have a point to make. This principal point will be the thesis of your paper. It is important to distinguish between a topic and a thesis; your topic is the issue or area upon which you will focus your attention, and your thesis is a statement about this topic.
以下是学生日记中威廉·巴特勒·叶芝的《第二次降临》主题的一个例子:
Here is an example of a topic for William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming” from a student journal:
主题:我对叶芝如何运用《启示录》的意象很感兴趣。
Topic: I am interested in how Yeats uses imagery of the Apocalypse.
以下是关于此主题的论文论点陈述的示例:
Here is an example of a thesis statement for a paper on this topic:
论点:“第二次降临”打破了基督教的启示录模型,从而挑战读者去面对一个令人不安的前景,即我们现在所理解的世界将很快面临彻底的毁灭。
Thesis: “The Second Coming” disrupts Christian models of the Apocalypse, and in doing so challenges the reader to grapple with the uncomfortable prospect that the world as we understand it right now will soon face utter annihilation.
将您的论点表述为一个完整的句子可能会有所帮助,其中主题是主语,后面跟着一个谓语,该谓语对您的主题做出肯定的陈述或主张。这是您的论文陈述,它可能会出现在论文的开头。因此,论文的首要目的是解释、辩护并最终证明其论点的真实性。
It might help to phrase your thesis as a complete sentence in which the topic is the subject, followed by a predicate that makes a firm statement or claim regarding your topic. This is your thesis statement, and it will probably appear toward the beginning of your paper. The foremost purpose of a paper, then, is to explain, defend, and ultimately prove the truth of its thesis.
在思考论文的初步论点时,请牢记以下准则:
Keep the following guidelines in mind as you think about a tentative thesis for your paper:
让我们来看看两位学生是如何为他们的论文提出有力、可行的论点的。雷切尔·麦卡锡知道她想写威廉·巴特勒·叶芝如何处理诗歌中的意象。然而,她第一次尝试的论点太过薄弱和笼统:
Let us take a look at how two students arrived at strong, workable theses for their papers. Rachel McCarthy knew that she wanted to write about how William Butler Yeats dealt with imagery in his poetry. Her first attempt at a thesis, however, was far too weak and general:
叶芝的诗歌包含一些历史上最令人难忘的意象。
Yeats’s poems feature some of the most haunting imagery ever written.
这与其说是一篇论文陈述,不如说是一种观察和观点。从阅读中我们只知道雷切尔对叶芝的强大形象很感兴趣。她需要一个更具体、更有争议的论文:
This is not so much a thesis statement as an observation and opinion. All we know from reading it is that Rachel is interested in Yeats’s powerful imagery. She needs a thesis that is both more specific and more controversial:
叶芝的诗歌以非常规的方式运用了世界末日的意象。
Yeats’s poems use imagery of the apocalypse in unconventional ways.
这个版本稍微好一点,因为它更加集中,但 Rachel 还没有说出任何有争议的内容。以下是 Rachel 论文的最终版本:
This version is a little better because it is more focused, but Rachel hasn’t said anything contestable yet. Here is the final version of Rachel’s thesis:
保罗·迪恩认为,叶芝的“扩大的螺旋”是历史变迁的隐喻,揭示了诗歌中潜在的统一性;然而,我认为,在《第二次降临》中,叶芝使用了不团结和混乱的意象,以营造“第二次降临”的恐怖感,从而利用了读者对未知的恐惧。
Paul Deane suggests that Yeats’s “widening gyre” is a metaphor for historical change that reveals an underlying unity in the poem; however, I would argue that in “The Second Coming,” Yeats uses imagery of disunity and chaos in order to create a feeling of horror of “The Second Coming,” thus exploiting readers’ fears of the unknown.
这里我们有一个更强有力的论点。它通过专注于一首诗来限制论文的范围,它提出了与学术来源不同的断言,并说明了为什么这一点对读者很重要(因为我们可能想了解叶芝是如何设想启示录的)。
Here we have a much stronger thesis. It limits the paper’s scope by focusing on a single poem, it makes an assertion that differs from a scholarly source, and it shows why this point is significant to a reader (because we might want to understand how Yeats envisioned the Apocalypse).
这是提炼和发展论点过程的另一个例子。当梅兰妮·史密斯第一次决定写两个十九世纪故事中的男性角色时,她提出了以下论点:
Here is one more example of the process of refining and developing a thesis. When she first decided to write about the male characters in two nineteenth-century stories, Melanie Smith came up with the following thesis:
夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼的《黄色壁纸》和凯特·肖邦的《一小时的故事》中的故事,丈夫对妻子的控制欲很强。
The husbands in the stories “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are very controlling of their wives.
这个论点不够充分,因为它只是陈述事实,任何读过这些故事的人都会立即明白这一点。梅兰妮没有理由为之辩护,也没有理由证明这一点,所以她再思考了一下,完善了她的暂定论点:
This is not an adequate thesis because it is simply a statement of fact, something that will be immediately obvious to anyone who has read the stories. It left Melanie with nothing to defend, no point to prove, so she gave it a little more thought and refined her tentative thesis:
尽管《黄色壁纸》和《一小时的故事》中的丈夫控制欲很强,但实际上他们并不像表面上看起来那么糟糕。
Though the husbands in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour” are controlling, they are not really as bad as they first appear.
此时,作者肯定是朝着正确的方向前进了。这个版本表明她有特定的解释和观点,不一定每个读过这些故事的人都认同这一点。然而,它仍然没有给读者太多关于论文内容的指导。最后,梅兰妮需要两句话来正确阐述她的论点:
At this point, the writer is definitely moving in the right direction. This version shows that she has a particular interpretation and a point to make, one that is not necessarily shared by everyone who reads the stories. However, it still doesn’t give a reader much guidance about what to expect in the paper. In the end, Melanie needed two sentences to get her thesis right:
以现代标准来看,两位主人公的丈夫,尤其是《黄色壁纸》中的约翰,似乎对妻子的控制力几乎令人难以忍受。然而,从十九世纪末的角度来看,他们的行为却截然不同。
By modern standards, the husbands of the two protagonists, particularly John in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” seem almost unbearably controlling of their wives. From the vantage point of the late nineteenth century, however, their behavior looks quite different.
这个版本更清晰、更精确。读完这篇论文后,我们的注意力更加集中,对整篇论文的内容有了很好的了解。(请参阅第 81-83 页的 Melanie 完整论文。)
This version is much clearer and more precise. After reading this thesis, we are much more focused and have a good sense of what to expect in the paper as a whole. (See pages 81–83 for Melanie’s full essay.)
你会注意到,在这次讨论中,短语“暂定论点”出现了好几次。暂定这个词很重要。当你开始收集支持并撰写论文时,你的论点将帮助你明确地专注于你的任务,并找出你的想法、观察和问题中哪些与手头的项目相关。但你也应该保持开放的心态,意识到你的论点可能会随着你的写作而演变。你可能会以微妙或不那么微妙的方式改变焦点,你甚至可能在写作时完全改变主意,因此需要从头开始创建一个新的论点。如果发生这种情况,不要认为这是失败。相反,这意味着你成功地从写作经验中学到了一些真正的东西,这就是文学课程的意义所在。
You will note that in this discussion the phrase tentative thesis has come up several times. The word tentative is important. As you start to gather support and to write your paper, your thesis will help you focus clearly on your task and sort out which of your ideas, observations, and questions are relevant to the project at hand. But you should keep an open mind as well, realizing that your thesis is likely to evolve as you write. You are likely to change the focus in subtle or not so subtle ways, and you might even change your mind completely as you write and therefore need to create a new thesis from scratch. If this happens, don’t regard it as a failure. On the contrary, it means you have succeeded in learning something genuine from the experience of writing, and that is what a literature course is all about.
一旦你拟定了一个初步论点,就该考虑你需要的证据或支持,以便让读者相信该论点的有效性。但究竟什么才算支持?你可以在论文中提供什么证据来证明你的论点是正确的?基本上,所有支持都来自以下三个来源之一:
Once you have crafted a tentative thesis, it is time to think about the evidence or support you will need to convince your reader of the claim’s validity. But what exactly counts as support? What can you include in your paper as evidence that your thesis is true? Essentially, all support comes from one of three sources:
为你的论文收集支持性想法的最好方法之一就是头脑风暴。你可以在确定主题和论点之前,独自或与同学一起进行头脑风暴,探索写作中可能遵循的许多线索。在头脑风暴收集证据时,想法是快速写下你想到的每一个想法,每一个可能包含在论文草稿中的想法。在这个过程中不要自我审查。允许自己写下所有让你感兴趣、困惑或高兴的事情。稍后你将有充足的机会修剪你的重复、离题或较弱想法的列表。目前,让想法流动起来,尽可能多地在纸上或笔记中写下来。
One of the best ways to gather supporting ideas for your paper is brainstorming. You can brainstorm — alone or with classmates — even before settling on your topic and thesis, to explore the many possible threads that you could follow in your writing. When brainstorming to gather evidence, the idea is to write down, very quickly, every idea that comes to you, every possible idea that might be included in the draft of your paper. Don’t censor yourself during this process. Allow yourself to write down everything that interests, puzzles, or delights you. Later you will have ample opportunity to prune your list of repetitions, tangents, or weaker ideas. For the time being, just let the ideas flow, and get as many as you can down on a piece of paper or as you can down in your notes.
确定要使用的证据后,就该开始对其进行分类和组织了。组织任何论文的原则都是段落的顺序,因此在此阶段,您应该在段落内容层面进行思考。请记住,每个段落都应包含一个主要思想以及足够的证据和解释来支持该思想。这些段落级思想加在一起,会引导读者找到论文的最终要点——您的论点。因此,组织论文内容的第一步是将类似的想法聚集在一起,以开始塑造各个段落的内容。第二阶段是确定这些段落出现的顺序。
Once you’ve determined what evidence to use, it is time to begin sorting and organizing it. The principle for organizing any paper is the sequence of paragraphs, so at this stage you should be thinking at the level of paragraph content. Remember that each paragraph should contain one main idea and sufficient evidence and explanation to support that idea. When added together, these paragraph-level ideas lead a reader to your paper’s ultimate point — your thesis. So the first stage of organizing the content of your essay is to cluster together similar ideas in order to begin shaping the substance of individual paragraphs. The second stage is to determine the order in which these paragraphs will appear.
对于大多数作家来说,创建某种大纲是完成将证据组织成论文逻辑顺序任务的最佳方法。过去,你可能被要求写一个正式的大纲,包括罗马数字和大写字母。如果这种方法有助于组织你的想法,请继续使用它。然而,对于许多作家来说,非正式的大纲同样有效,而且不那么麻烦。要构建一个非正式的大纲,只需记下一个标题,总结你打算写的每个段落的主题。然后将你收集的证据——文献中的引文或释义、分析的想法等等——归类到标题下的组中。
For most writers, creating some version of an outline is the best way to approach the task of organizing evidence into a logical sequence for a paper. In the past, you may have been asked to write a formal outline, complete with roman numerals and capital letters. If this technique has been helpful in organizing your thoughts, by all means continue to use it. For many writers, however, an informal outline works just as well and is less cumbersome. To construct an informal outline, simply jot down a heading that summarizes the topic of each paragraph you intend to write. Then cluster your gathered evidence — quotations or paraphrases from the literature, ideas for analysis, and so on — into groups under the headings.
以下是莎士比亚第 116 首十四行诗论文的非正式大纲示例。(完整论文见第 95-97 页。)在此大纲中,学生重点关注诗中的积极和消极语言,以及它如何得出比他在其他爱情诗中看到的更有趣的爱情定义。
The following is an example of an informal outline for a paper on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. (The full paper appears on pages 95–97.) In this outline, the student focuses on the positive and negative language in the poem and how it results in a more interesting definition of love than he had seen in other love poems.
- 介绍
- 两种典型的爱情诗:快乐和悲伤
- 十四行诗 116 更加复杂和有趣
- 暂定论点:这首十四行诗通过包含消极和积极的形象和语言,对爱情给出了复杂而现实的定义。
- 诗中生动的形象
- 正面/预期:“明星”、“永恒的印记”、“红润的嘴唇和脸颊”
- 负面/意外:“镰刀”(死亡)、“流浪的树皮”(迷失的船)、“暴风雨”
- 负面语言
- 单词/短语:“让我不要”、“爱不是”、“从不”、“也不”、“不”等。
- 抽象:“改变”、“障碍”、“错误”
- 结论
- 爱永远不会改变
- 莎士比亚的定义在 400 年后仍然适用
- Introduction
- Two kinds of typical love poems: happy and sad
- Sonnet 116 is more complex and interesting
- Tentative thesis: By including both negative and positive images and language, this sonnet gives a complex and realistic definition of love.
- Vivid images in poem
- Positive/expected: “star,” “ever-fixèd mark,” “rosy lips and cheeks”
- Negative/unexpected: “sickle” (deathlike), “wandering bark” (lost boat), “tempests”
- Negative language
- Words/phrases: “Let me not,” “Love is not,” “never,” “nor,” “no,” etc.
- Abstractions: “alteration,” “impediments,” “error”
- Conclusion
- Love never changes
- Shakespeare’s definition still works some 400 years later
显然,这不是正式的提纲。但它确实将类似的项目和想法归类在一起,并为作者提供了一个基本结构,供他遵循,以便进入写作过程的下一个阶段——草稿。
Obviously, this is not a formal outline. It does, however, group similar items and ideas together, and it gives the writer a basic structure to follow as he moves on to drafting, the next stage of the composing process.
总结一下,你有一个主题、一个暂定论点、收集的证据,以及上述证据的大纲或暂定结构。现在是时候开始写初稿了。每个作家都有自己略有不同的写作过程。有些人从论文的开头开始,以清晰、有条理的方式一直写到结尾。其他人从第一个正文段落开始,把引言留到以后。还有一些人把论文的零碎部分乱序写,让整体结构在以后显现出来。
To recap, you have a topic, a tentative thesis, gathered evidence, and an outline or tentative structure in mind for said evidence. It is time to begin writing your first draft. Every writer has his or her own slightly different process for getting the words down on paper. Some begin at the beginning of the paper and work straight through to the end in a clear, organized fashion. Others begin with the first body paragraph and save the introduction for later. Still others write bits and pieces of the paper out of order and allow the overall structure to emerge at a later time.
有些作家声称,他们在最后一分钟工作得更好,在迫在眉睫的最后期限的压力下注意力会更集中。然而,这几乎总是为马虎的工作习惯找借口,拖延很少甚至永远不会带来优秀的论文。当习惯性拖延者改变他们的工作方法,给自己更多的时间在一个项目上时,他们经常会惊讶地发现这个过程更令人愉快,他们努力的最终成果比他们过去所做的更好。早点开始,稳步工作——事实证明这是值得的。
Some writers claim that they work better at the last minute and focus better under the pressure of a looming deadline. This, however, is almost always a justification for sloppy work habits, and procrastination rarely if ever results in a superior paper. When habitual procrastinators change their working methods and give themselves more time on a project, they are frequently surprised to discover that the process is more enjoyable and the final product of their efforts better than what they have produced in the past. Start early and work steadily — it will prove more than worth it.
尝试快速撰写初稿。你不需要把每个句子都写得恰到好处——这就是写作的修改阶段的目的。你现在要做的只是把尽可能多的好的原始材料混合在一起,看看哪些是可行的。不要太担心风格、过渡、语法等等。事实上,你甚至不需要从头开始,也不需要一直写到结尾。如果你在某一部分卡住了,那就继续写。你随时可以回来,稍后再填补空白。引言可能特别棘手,特别是因为你还没有完成文章,也不知道你要介绍的是什么。一些作家发现从文章的主体开始更容易,或者写一个简短、草率的引言作为占位符。草稿完成后,你可以回去写真正的引言。
Try writing your first draft fairly quickly. You don’t need to get every sentence just right — that’s what the revision phase of writing is for. What you want now is just to get as much good raw material as possible into the mix and see what works. Don’t worry too much yet about style, transitions, grammar, and so forth. In fact, you don’t even need to start at the beginning or work right through to the end. If you get stuck on one part, move on. You can always come back and fill in the gaps later. Introductions can be especially tricky, particularly since you haven’t yet finished the essay and don’t really know what it is you’re introducing. Some writers find it easier to start with the body of the essay, or to write a short, sloppy introduction as a placeholder. You can go back and work on the real introduction when the draft is complete.
当然,理想情况下,论文的所有部分都应同样引人入胜且精雕细琢,但论文中的某些部分最常给作者和读者带来麻烦,这些方面可能需要您多加注意。最典型的麻烦点是引言和结论段落以及连接段落的过渡句。虽然没有一个公式可以帮助您驾驭这些领域,因为每个写作情况和每篇论文都不同,但我们会提供一些通用指南,帮助您思考可能出现在这些领域的问题。
Ideally, of course, all of the parts of your paper will be equally compelling and polished, but there are certain points in a paper that most often cause trouble for writers and readers, and these points may require a little additional attention on your part. The most typical trouble spots are introductory and concluding paragraphs and the transitional sentences that connect paragraphs. Although there is no one formula to help you navigate these waters, as each writing situation and each paper are different, we offer some general guidelines that can help you think through the problems that might arise in these areas.
本质上,引言有两个作用:首先,它既能让人了解你的主题,也能让人了解你对这个主题的处理方式,这就是为什么你通常会将你的论文陈述作为引言的一部分。其次,引言能吸引读者的兴趣,让他们想继续阅读并了解你的论文要表达什么。有效引言的一些常用策略是从一个探索性的反问、生动的描述或有趣的引语开始。糟糕的引言往往泛泛而谈或只谈与论文真正主题无关的哲学思想。不要原地踏步:要具体,马上切入正题。
Essentially, an introduction accomplishes two things: First, it gives a sense of both your topic and your approach to that topic, which is why it is common to make your thesis statement a part of the introduction. Second, an introduction grabs your readers’ interest and makes them want to read on and find out what your paper has to say. Some common strategies used in effective introductions are to begin with a probing rhetorical question, a vivid description, or an intriguing quotation. Weak introductions tend to speak in generalities or in philosophical ideas that are only tangentially related to the real topic of your paper. Don’t spin your wheels: get specific and get to the point right away.
请看一下学生对苏珊·格拉斯佩尔 (Susan Glaspell) 的《Trifles》一书的评论文章中的引言:
Consider this introduction from a student essay on Susan Glaspell’s Trifles:
合法性和道德之间有什么关系?苏珊·格拉斯佩尔的短剧《琐事》让我们思考这个问题,但它没有给出明确的答案。这部剧既是谋杀悬疑,又是两性之战,让读者面对并质疑许多有关法律、道德和人际关系的问题。在警长妻子彼得斯夫人的故事中,这部剧记录了一个女人的道德历程,从对法律的明确信仰到对道德的更情境化的看法。在故事结束之前,这个曾经有法律意识的女人甚至愿意掩盖真相,让某人逃脱谋杀罪。
What is the relationship between legality and morality? Susan Glaspell’s short play Trifles asks us to ponder this question, but it provides no clear answers. Part murder mystery, part battle of the sexes, the play makes its readers confront and question many issues about laws, morals, and human relationships. In Mrs. Peters, a sheriff’s wife, the play chronicles one woman’s moral journey from a certain, unambiguous belief in the law to a more situational view of ethics. Before it is over, this once legally minded woman is even willing to cover up the truth and let someone get away with murder.
学生在论文一开始就提出了一个哲学问题,然后给出了一个尝试性的答案。(本文全文刊登在第 101-104 页。)
The student poses a philosophical question at the very beginning of the paper and then offers a tentative answer. (This paper appears in its entirety on pages 101–104.)
结论部分应该给读者一些新的思考,让他们在读完文章后不会忘记。有些作者喜欢用结论部分来回顾引言中首次提出的想法、引语或形象,从而营造出一种完整和自我满足的满足感。
Your conclusion should give your reader something new to think about, a reason not to forget your essay as soon as the reading is done. Some writers like to use the conclusion to return to an idea, a quotation, or an image first raised in the introduction, creating a satisfying feeling of completeness and self-containment.
以下取自同一篇学生论文的例子中,请注意学生在结论中如何对论文开头的问题给出暂定的答案:
In the following example from the same student paper, note how the student offers a tentative answer in her conclusion to the question that began the essay:
最后,彼得斯太太屈服于她认为情感上正确的事情,而不是法律允许的事情。她与黑尔太太合作掩盖动机证据并藏匿死去的金丝雀。虽然时间不长,但她已经经历了重大转变。正如县检察官所说,她可能“嫁给了法律”,但她也脱离了旧理想。当她试图掩盖证据时,舞台指导说她“崩溃了”,黑尔太太不得不帮助她。等她振作起来时,她这个新女人将与以前截然不同。她和读者现在身处一个法律与道德关系比她想象的要复杂得多的世界。
In the end, Mrs. Peters gives in to what she believes to be emotionally right rather than what is legally permissible. She collaborates with Mrs. Hale to cover up evidence of the motive and hide the dead canary. Though very little time has gone by, she has undergone a major transformation. She may be, as the county attorney says, “married to the law,” but she is also divorced from her old ideals. When she tries to cover up the evidence, a stage direction says she “goes to pieces,” and Mrs. Hale has to help her. By the time she pulls herself together, the new woman she is will be a very different person from the old one. She, along with the reader, is now in a world where the relationship between legality and morality is far more complex than she had ever suspected.
有些作家会用结论来表明其主张的含义或文学与现实生活的联系。这是给人留下良好印象的机会,所以不要用简单的总结和重述来浪费时间。
Some writers use the conclusion to show the implications of their claims or the connections between the literature and real life. This is your chance to make a good final impression, so don’t waste it with simple summary and restatement.
每个段落都围绕一个不同的想法,过渡部分的作用是展示这些独立的想法是如何相互关联的,使两个段落的并列在读者和作者看来都合乎逻辑。当你认为过渡部分效果不佳时,你应该问自己的第一个问题是,为什么一个段落以这种特定的顺序跟在另一个段落后面?改变某些段落的位置是否更有意义,或者这真的是论文这一部分的最佳组织策略吗?一旦你知道你的论文为什么是这样的结构,过渡部分就会变得容易写得多,只需向你的读者展示你已经知道的联系即可。当你开始写每个新段落时,考虑一下它和前一段之间的联系,并尝试在开头句中明确这些联系。
Each paragraph is built around a different idea, and the job of the transitions is to show how these separate ideas are related to one another, to make the juxtaposition of two paragraphs seem as logical to a reader as it is to the writer. When you think a transition isn’t working effectively, the first question you should ask yourself is, why does one paragraph follow another in this particular order? Would it make more sense to change the placement of some paragraphs, or is this really the best organizational strategy for this portion of the paper? Once you know why your paper is structured as it is, transitions become much easier to write, simply making apparent to your audience the connections you already know to be there. As you begin each new paragraph, give some consideration to the links between it and the previous paragraph, and try to make those links explicit in the opening sentence.
一旦你有了完整的或接近完整的草稿,就该开始考虑修改了。尽量避免将修改视为查找和修复错误的常见陷阱。修改远不止于此。看看这个词的各个部分,你就会发现“重新审视”的意思是“再次审视”,而写作过程的修改阶段正是你重新审视草稿并对其各个方面做出真正实质性改进的机会,从组织到语气再到词汇选择。大多数成功的作家会告诉你,真正的工作是在修改阶段完成的,写作在此阶段成形并开始以最终形式呈现。大多数专业作家花在修改上的时间比写初稿的时间要多得多。不要忽略这一部分或试图匆匆完成。
Once you have a complete, or near-complete, draft, it’s time to begin thinking about revision. Try to avoid the common pitfall of thinking of revision as locating and fixing mistakes. Revision is far more than this. Looking at the parts of the word, you can see that re-vision means “seeing again,” and indeed the revision stage of the writing process is your chance to see your draft anew and make real and substantial improvements to every facet of it, from its organization to its tone to your word choices. Most successful writers will tell you that it is in the revision stage that the real work gets done, where the writing takes shape and begins to emerge in its final form. Most professional writers spend much more time revising than they do writing the first draft. Don’t skimp on this part of the process or try to race through it.
草稿完成后,最好不要立即开始进行重大修改。休息一下。锻炼身体、吃饭,做一些完全不同的事情来清理思绪。如果可能的话,将草稿搁置至少一天,这样当你重新阅读时,就会有全新的视角,并开始真正地重新审视它。打印出你的草稿。试图在屏幕上进行认真的修改通常不是一个好主意——当我们阅读打印的页面时,我们的看法会有所不同,而且我们通常会看到更多。用手中的笔阅读,并像阅读文学作品一样注释文本,寻找论点的优缺点。这里列出的过程包括三个阶段:全局修订或大规模修订;局部修订或小规模修订;以及最终编辑和校对。如果你以前没有这样做过,那么对论文进行三次修改可能看起来是一项艰巨的工作,但请记住,大多数专业作家修改作品的次数远不止这些。修改是写出最好的论文的真正关键。
It is a good idea not to start a major revision the minute a draft is complete. Take a break. Exercise, have a meal, do something completely different to clear your mind. If possible, put the draft aside for at least a day, so that when you return to it you’ll have a fresh perspective and can begin truly reseeing it. Print out your draft. Attempting serious revision on-screen is generally a bad idea — we see differently, and we usually see more, when we read off a printed page. Read with a pen in your hand and annotate your text just the way you would a piece of literature, looking for the strengths and weaknesses of your argument. The process laid out here consists of three phases: global revisions, or large-scale revisions; local revisions, or small-scale revisions; and the final editing and proofreading. If you haven’t done so before, revising your paper three times may seem like a lot of work, but bear in mind that most professional writers revise their work many more times than that. Revision is the real key to writing the best paper you can.
第一次修改时(这是整个过程的大规模、整体部分),不要太担心单词选择、标点符号等细节。太多学生过于关注这些问题,以致于忽略了全局。细节很重要,但你以后会深入处理它们。你不会想花时间把一个句子的措辞弄得恰到好处,后来才发现它所在的段落削弱了你的论点,需要删除。所以首先,看看整体情况——论文的论点、组织和基调。虽然在阅读时做一些小的改进没有错,但此时你不应该关心段落大小。以下是一些你可以全局修改论文的方法。
On a first pass at revision — the large-scale, global part of the process — don’t worry too much about details like word choice, punctuation, and so forth. Too many students focus so much on these issues that they miss the big picture. The details are important, but you will deal with them in depth later. You wouldn’t want to spend your time getting the wording of a sentence just right only to decide later that the paragraph it is in weakens your argument and needs to be deleted. So at first, look at the overall picture — the argument, organization, and tone of the paper as a whole. While there’s nothing wrong with making a few small improvements as you read, nothing smaller than a paragraph should concern you at this point. Here are some possibilities for how you might revise your paper globally.
完成第一次大规模修改后,你很可能会对自己的论文内容和结构更有信心。论点和重点很有力,证据很充分,主要观点也很清晰。打印出新版本,如果可以的话再休息一下,准备进入第二阶段的修改,即在单词、短语和句子的局部层面进行的修改。
Once you have completed your first, large-scale revision, chances are you will feel more confident about the content and structure of your paper. The thesis and focus are strong, the evidence is lined up, and the major points are clear. Print out the new version, take another break if you can, and prepare to move on to the second phase of revision, the one that takes place at the local level of words, phrases, and sentences.
这里的重点是风格和清晰度。您在此阶段所做的更改类型基本上是第一轮修订中所做的更改的小规模版本:添加、删减、重新组织和澄清。
The focus here is on style and clarity. The types of changes you will make in this stage are, essentially, small-scale versions of the changes you made in the first round of revision: adding, cutting, reorganizing, and clarifying.
第二次修改论文并达到满意的内容和风格后,就到了最后修改的时候了。这是使论文“正确”的地方。
Once you have revised your essay a second time and achieved both content and a style that please you, it’s time for a final edit. This is where you make it “correct.”
这是学生关于《哈姆雷特》的文章中一段需要最后编辑的段落。请注意学生在完成该段落之前必须进行的修改类型。
Here is a paragraph ready for final editing from a student essay on Hamlet. Notice the kinds of corrections that the student will have to make before the paragraph is done.
“本段内容如下。超自然领域对复仇悲剧的影响,除了鬼魂的出现和存在之外,还有其他方面。这里,单词“relm”被划了下划线。附带的注释为:拼写:“realm。”本段继续。在《哈姆雷特》中,对最终赦免的宗教关注既激起了哈姆雷特的复仇欲望,也使他在实施复仇时犹豫不决。哈姆雷特的父亲不仅被谋杀,而且在他罪恶的花朵盛开时也被斩首,//被赶出家门,失望,被遗弃,//没有清算,而是被送到[他的]账户//带着[他]头上的所有[他]的缺陷(1.5.77至80)。附带的注释为:记得在直接引用周围添加引号。本段继续。对于哈姆雷特的父亲来说,被谋杀是双重灾难;不仅是他的生命戛然而止。在“戛然而止”一词后面有一个句号,下划线表示了生命戛然而止。随附的注释写道,这应该是连接两个句子片段的逗号。段落继续。但他必须在炼狱中烧掉“在自然生活中犯下的恶毒罪行”,然后才能进入天堂(1.5.13)。正常的死亡将使他获得最终的赦免,从而直接进入天堂。同样的担忧使哈姆雷特的父亲之死更加可怕,也使哈姆雷特错过了向父亲的凶手实施报复的绝佳机会。哈姆雷特发现克劳迪斯独自一人正在祈祷。杀死一个正在祈祷的人意味着杀死一个所有罪孽都已赦免的人。哈姆雷特观察克劳迪斯并推理道:“一个恶棍杀死了我的父亲,为此,我,他唯一的儿子,将这个恶棍送入天堂。” (3.3.76 至 78)哈姆雷特对超自然来世的担忧影响了他实施复仇。 附带的注释写道,“这个句号应该放在括号外,在幕、场和行号之后。”
"The paragraph reads as follows. The supernatural relm affects the revenge tragedy in other ways than the appearance and presence of ghosts. Here, the word, ""relm,"" is underlined. An accompanying annotation reads, Spelling: ""realm."" The paragraph continues. In Hamlet, the religious concern with final absolution both inflames Hamlet’s desire for revenge and causes him to hesitate in carrying out revenge. Not only has Hamlet’s father been murdered, but he was also Cut off even in the blossoms of [his] sin, slash Unhousled, disappointed, unanel’d, slash No reck’ning made, but sent to [his] account slash With all [his] imperfections on [his] head (1.5.77 to 80). An accompanying annotation reads, Remember to add quotation marks around the direct quotation. The paragraph continues. For Hamlet’s father, being murdered is doubly disastrous; not only is his life cut short. There is a period after the word, ""cut short."" It is underlined. An accompanying annotation reads, This should be a comma joining two sentence fragments. The paragraph continues. But he must burn away “the foul crimes done in [his] days of nature” in purgatory before he can be granted access to heaven (1.5.13). A normal death would have afforded him final absolution, and thus a direct route to heaven. The same concern that makes Hamlet’s father’s death even more terrible also causes Hamlet to pass on a perfect opportunity to exact revenge on his father’s murderer. Hamlet finds Claudius praying, alone. To kill a man in prayer means to kill a man who has had all his sins absolved. Hamlet observes Claudius and reasons: “A villain kills my father, and for that, slash I, his sole son, do this same villain send slash To heaven.” (3.3.76 to 78) Hamlet’s concern for the supernatural afterlife affects his carrying out revenge. An accompanying annotation reads, This period belongs outside the parentheses, after the act, scene, and line number."
最后,在修改论文时,要寻求帮助。这样做既不是作弊,也不是承认失败。事实上,专业作家一直都在这样做。尽管作家们总是给人一种孤立无援的印象,但大多数成功的作家都会在各个阶段寻求建议。更重要的是,他们愿意听取建议,如果所写内容似乎没有传达出他们想要表达的意思,他们就会重新思考。
One final word of advice as you revise your paper — ask for help. Doing so is neither cheating nor an admission of defeat. In fact, professional writers do it all the time. Despite the persistent image of writers toiling in isolation, most successful writers seek advice at various stages. More important, they are willing to listen to that advice and to rethink what they have written if it seems not to be communicating what they had intended.
有些教师会在课堂上安排草稿研讨会,有时称为同伴编辑,在研讨会上,你可以与同学一起工作,互相帮助改进正在进行的工作。 此类研讨会可以从两个方面为你带来好处。 首先,你的同学可以对你提出批评和建议,告诉你在重读时可能遗漏了什么。 其次,阅读和讨论他人的论文将有助于你成长为一名作家,向你展示处理某个主题的各种方法。 如果你真的很喜欢同学论文的某些内容 — — 比如生动的介绍或有效的幽默运用 — — 请记下它在论文中的作用,并考虑将类似的东西融入你自己未来的论文中。 当然,我们并不是提倡抄袭同学;相反,我们要指出的是,你可以从别人的写作中学到很多东西。
Some instructors give class time for draft workshops, sometimes called peer editing, in which you work with your fellow students, trying to help one another improve your work-in-progress. Such workshops can benefit you in two ways. First, your classmates can offer you critiques and advice on what you might have missed in your own rereading. Second, reading and discussing papers other than your own will help you grow as a writer, showing you a variety of ways in which a topic can be approached. If you really like something about a peer’s paper — say, a vivid introduction or the effective use of humor — make note of how it works within the paper and consider integrating something similar into a future paper of your own. We are not, of course, advocating copying your classmates; rather, we are pointing out that you can learn a lot from other people’s writing.
您的导师可能会为您提供有关在其他人的草稿中寻找什么内容的指导,或者您可能或多或少地依靠自己。无论哪种情况,请牢记以下一般指导原则:
Your instructor may give you guidelines regarding what to look for in others’ drafts, or you may be left more or less on your own. In either case, keep these general guidelines in mind:
即使你的课程没有包括研讨会时间,你仍然可以使用校园里提供的许多资源。找到班上的一两个其他成员,举办自己的同伴研讨会,阅读和批评彼此的草稿。一定要在截止日期之前安排这样的会议,以便你有足够的时间来实施你收到的任何好的修改建议。许多校园也有写作或辅导中心,这些中心的导师通常是写作熟练的高级学生,可以提供很多帮助。再次记住,你应该在论文截止日期之前提前预约导师,你不应该指望导师或导师为你修改或“修复”你的论文。这最终是你的工作。当然,你也可以在写作过程的任何阶段联系你的导师,寻求建议和帮助。
Even if your class does not include workshop time, you can still use the many resources available to you on campus. Find one or two other members of your class and conduct your own peer workshop, reading and critiquing one another’s drafts. Be sure to arrange such a meeting far enough in advance of the due date so that you will have ample time to implement any good revision advice you receive. Many campuses also have writing or tutoring centers, and the tutors in these centers, often advanced students who are skilled writers, can offer a good deal of help. Remember, again, that you should make an appointment to see a tutor well in advance of the paper’s due date, and you should not expect a tutor or mentor to revise or “fix” your paper for you. That is, ultimately, your job. And, of course, you can also approach your instructor at any phase of the writing process and ask for advice and help.
但请记住,无论您从哪里寻求建议,论文的最终责任都在您自己。您从同学、导师、朋友甚至您的导师那里得到的任何建议和帮助都只是建议和帮助。这是您的论文,您必须决定要遵循哪些建议,忽略哪些建议,以及如何实施更改以改进您的论文。关键是要保持开放的心态,从所有可用资源寻求帮助,并给自己足够的时间将您的初稿变成一份让您真正感到自豪的最终论文。
But remember, no matter where you turn for advice, the final responsibility for your paper is yours. Any advice and help you receive from classmates, tutors, friends — or even your instructor — is just that: advice and help. It is your paper, and you must be the one to make the decisions about which advice to follow and which to ignore, and how to implement changes to improve your paper. The key is to keep an open mind, seek help from all available sources, and give yourself plenty of time to turn your first draft into a final paper that makes you truly proud.
每种文学类型(小说、诗歌和戏剧)都为作家提出了略有不同的假设、机会和问题,后面的部分将对此进行更详细的介绍。但是,以下一般原则可以帮助您撰写任何形式的文学作品:
Each genre of literature — fiction, poetry, and drama — poses its own, slightly different set of assumptions, opportunities, and problems for writers, which are covered in more detail in the sections that follow. However, the following general principles can help you as you write about any form of literature:
当朱丽叶看到罗密欧已死时,她用罗密欧的刀自杀了。
When she sees that Romeo is dead, Juliet kills herself with his knife.
有时候,你会想要引用你引用的文献,你也可能想要引用一些二手研究资料。引用可以让你的论文以你正在讨论的文献为基础,并防止你的论点过于抽象。它们还让文献作者有机会用他或她自己的语言来展现自己,表明你尊重和欣赏作者的作品。引用可以给你的写作带来重点、多样性和特殊性。不过,在使用引用时要有选择性,这样论文的主导声音就是你自己的,而不是别人的话的拼凑。以下是帮助你将引用有效地融入论文的一般建议。
At some point, you will want to quote the literature you are citing, and you might also want to quote some secondary research sources as well. Quotations ground your paper in the literature you are discussing and prevent your argument from being overly abstract. They also allow the author of the literature a chance to shine through in his or her own words, showing that you respect and appreciate the author’s work. Quotations bring emphasis, variety, and specificity to your writing. Be selective, though, in your use of quotations so that the dominant voice of the paper is your own, not a patchwork of the words of others. Here is general advice to help you integrate quotations effectively into your essays.
尽量避免引用。有时作者只是从原文中摘取一个句子,在其周围加上引号,并在后面的句子中标明来源(如果有的话)。这样做会让读者感到困惑,读者会暂时思考引文来自哪里以及你为什么要引用它。除了可能造成困惑之外,这样的引用读起来会很尴尬和不连贯,因为另一个作者的话和你的话之间没有过渡。
Try to avoid floating quotations. Sometimes writers simply lift a sentence out of the original, put quotation marks around it, and identify the source (if at all) in a subsequent sentence. Doing so can create confusion for a reader, who is momentarily left to ponder where the quotation comes from and why have you quoted it. In addition to potentially causing confusion, such quoting can read as awkward and choppy, as there is no transition between another writer’s words and yours.
至少使用一个引用来源的引文——即在包含引文的句子中注明来源,通常用引导短语。这样,读者就能立即知道谁最初写了或说了引用的内容,并且知道(或至少预期)你会接着评论。它还能让你的文字和引文之间的过渡更加顺畅。
Use at least an attributed quotation — that is, one that names the source within the sentence containing the quotation, usually in a lead-in phrase. This way the reader knows right away who originally wrote or said the quoted material and knows (or at least expects) that your commentary will follow. It also provides a smoother transition between your words and the quotation.
| 问题:浮动报价 | 解决方案:使用引导短语 |
|---|---|
| “我遇见了一位来自古老国度的旅人。”这是雪莱的诗《奥兹曼迪亚斯》的开头。 | 雪莱在他的诗《奥兹曼迪亚斯》中这样开头: “我遇见了一位来自古老国度的旅人。” |
尽可能使用综合引用。为此,请将引用作为自己句子的一部分,如上表中的引导短语所示。这是最难的引用,因为它要求你使引用的内容在语法上与自己的句子相符,但清晰和犀利的散文所带来的回报通常值得花额外的时间修改句子。
Whenever possible, use an integrated quotation. To do this, make the quotation a part of your own sentence, as shown in the lead-in phrase in the table above. This is the hardest sort of quoting to do since it requires that you make the quoted material fit in grammatically with your own sentence, but the payoff in clarity and sharp prose is usually well worth the extra time spent on sentence revision.
有时,特别是当你有效地使用综合引语时,你会发现需要稍微修改一下你引用的单词。当然,你应该尽可能保持引语的准确性,但偶尔你的句子的时态、观点或语法与被引用材料的时态、观点或语法之间的差异将需要进行一些修改。当你引用已经包含引语的段落,或需要将引号与其他标点符号组合时,可能会出现其他困难。当出现这些情况时,下面的指导原则应该会很有用。以下引用文本的例子都取自《哈姆雷特》中的这段原文,特别是哈姆雷特和他的朋友霍雷肖在墓地里看着掘墓人挖出古老头骨的场景:
Sometimes, especially when you are using integrated quotations effectively, you will find that you need to slightly alter the words you are quoting. You should, of course, keep quotations exact whenever possible, but occasionally the disparity between the tense, point of view, or grammar of your sentence and that of the quoted material will necessitate some alterations. Other difficulties can arise when you quote a passage that already contains a quotation or when you need to combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks. When any of these situations arise, the following guidelines should prove useful. The following examples of quoted text are all drawn from this original passage from Hamlet, specifically the scene in which Hamlet and his friend Horatio are watching a gravedigger unearth old skulls in a cemetery:
哈姆雷特:那个头骨里有舌头,还能唱歌。那个流氓把它摔倒在地,好像那是该隐的下颚骨,是他第一次谋杀!这可能是一个政客的脑袋,现在这头驴子正在征服他,一个可以绕过上帝的政客,不是吗?
霍拉旭:也许吧,大人。
哈姆雷特:或者一个朝臣,可以说“早上好,亲爱的大人!您好吗,亲爱的大人?”这可能是我的某某大人,当他想乞求我的某某大人的马时,却称赞了他的马,不是吗?(5.1.70-80)
Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if ’twere Cain’s jaw-bone, that did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now o’erreaches, one that would circumvent God, might it not?
Horatio: It might, my lord.
Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say “Good morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, sweet lord?” This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that prais’d my Lord Such-a-one’s horse when ’a meant to beg it, might it not? (5.1.70–80)
如果你为了使引文清晰且语法上与自己的写作一致而更改了引文中的任何内容或添加了单词,则需要向读者表明你添加或更改了什么。方法是将单词括在方括号内,以将其与原文区分开来。例如,如果你觉得哈姆雷特将掘墓人称为“这头驴子”不清楚,你可以用自己的单词替换来澄清,如下面的第一个示例所示,或者在原始引文中添加标识短语,如第二个示例所示:
If you ever alter anything in a quotation or add words to it in order to make it clear and grammatically consistent with your own writing, you need to signal to your readers what you have added or changed. This is done by enclosing your words within square brackets in order to distinguish them from those in the source. If, for instance, you feel Hamlet’s reference to the gravedigger as “this ass” is unclear, you could clarify it either by substituting your own words, as in the first example below, or by adding the identifying phrase to the original quote, as in the second example:
哈姆雷特想知道“掘墓人现在所占领的是不是一个政客的脑袋”(5.1.73-74)。
哈姆雷特想知道“这头驴子(掘墓人)现在所攀爬的是不是一个政客的脑袋”(5.1.73-74)。
Hamlet wonders if it is “the pate of a politician, which [the gravedigger] now o’erreaches” (5.1.73–74).
Hamlet wonders if it is “the pate of a politician, which this ass [the gravedigger] now o’erreaches” (5.1.73–74).
为了使引用的内容集中,有时您需要省略对您的观点没有帮助的单词、短语甚至整个句子。任何省略都用省略号或三个间隔的句号表示,并在其周围加上方括号。(必须使用方括号来区分您自己的省略号与原始来源中可能出现的省略号。)
To keep a quotation focused, you will sometimes want to omit words, phrases, or even whole sentences that do not contribute to your point. Any omission is signaled by ellipses, or three spaced periods, with square brackets around them. (The brackets are required to distinguish your own ellipses from any that might occur in the original source.)
哈姆雷特怀疑这个头骨“可能是一个政客的脑袋[...],他会规避上帝”(5.1.73–74)。
Hamlet wonders if the skull “might be the pate of a politician […] that would circumvent God” (5.1.73–74).
通常没有必要在引文的开头使用省略号,因为读者会认为您只引用了相关的部分文本,但是,如果在最后引用的句子末尾删除了单词,则 MLA 样式建议在引文的末尾使用省略号。
It is usually not necessary to use ellipses at the beginning of a quotation, since a reader assumes you are quoting only a relevant portion of text, but MLA style recommends using ellipses at the end of a quotation if words are dropped at the end of the final quoted sentence.
如果您引用的材料本身包含引文,则内部引文将用单引号引起来,而不是用标准的双引号将整个引文括起来。
If you are quoting material that itself contains a quotation, the internal quotation is set off with single quotation marks rather than the standard double quotation marks that will enclose the entire quotation.
哈姆雷特怀疑自己看到的是不是一个“朝臣的头骨,上面会说‘早上好,亲爱的大人!您好,亲爱的大人?’”(5.1.76–77)。
Hamlet wonders if he might be looking at the skull “of a courtier, which could say ‘Good morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, sweet lord?’” (5.1.76–77).
当您引用的文本仅包含原文中已用引号括起来的材料时,标准双引号就足够了。
When the text you’re quoting contains only material already in quotation marks in the original, the standard double quotation marks are all you need.
哈姆雷特想知道这位朝臣是否曾说过:“早上好,亲爱的大人!您好吗,亲爱的大人?”(5.1.76-77)。
Hamlet wonders if the courtier once said, “Good morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, sweet lord?” (5.1.76–77).
当引文末尾出现句号或逗号时,应始终将其放在结束引号内,除非引文后跟有括号内的文内引用,如下所示。在这种情况下,句号应放在括号后面。
When a period or a comma comes at the end of a quotation, it should always be placed inside the closing quotation marks, except when the quotation is followed by a parenthetical in-text citation, as shown below. In this case the period should follow the parenthesis.
哈姆雷特沉思着,这个头骨可能属于“某某勋爵,他称赞了某某勋爵的马”(5.1.78-79)。
Hamlet muses that the skull might have belonged to “my Lord Such-a-one, that prais’d my Lord Such-a-one’s horse” (5.1.78–79).
在下一个例子中,“once”后面的逗号也在引号内,尽管在莎士比亚原文中“once”后面是一个句号。
In this next example, the comma following “once” is also within the quotation marks, even though in Shakespeare’s original “once” is followed by a period.
“那个头骨里有一条舌头,可以唱歌,”哈姆雷特沉思道。
“That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once,” muses Hamlet.
如果问号和感叹号是原引文的一部分,则应将其放在引号内;如果问号和感叹号是您自己的句子的一部分,但不是您所引用的段落的一部分,则应将其放在引号外。在第一个例子中,问题是哈姆雷特的问题,因此问号必须放在引号内。
Question marks and exclamation points are placed inside the quotation marks if they are part of the original quotation and outside the marks if they are part of your own sentence but not part of the passage you are quoting. In this first example, the question is Hamlet’s, and so the question mark must be placed within the quotation marks.
哈姆雷特问霍雷肖,这个头骨“是不是某某君主,他本想向某某君主乞求马,却夸奖了他的马,对吧?”(5.1.78–79)。
Hamlet asks Horatio if the skull “might be my Lord Such-a-one, that prais’d my Lord Such-a-one’s horse when ’a meant to beg it, might it not?” (5.1.78–79).
在第二个例子中,问题是论文作者的问题,因此问号放在引号外面。
In this second example, the question is the essay writer’s, and so the question mark is placed outside the quotation marks.
为什么哈姆雷特会如此不安,觉得这个头骨“可能是一个政客的脑袋”?(5.1.73)
Why is Hamlet so disturbed that this skull “might be the pate of a politician”? (5.1.73)
这类标点符号的细节是出了名的难记,所以如果你在阅读后不久就开始忘记这些高度专业化的规则,你不应该感到沮丧。至少要知道在哪里可以找到它们,并在校对论文时这样做。愿意关注细节是认真的学生的标志,并使写作看起来精致、专业。此外,你使用引文越多,记住规则就越容易。
These sorts of punctuation details are notoriously hard to remember, so you should not feel discouraged if you begin forgetting such highly specialized rules moments after reading them. At least know where you can look them up, and do so when you proofread your paper. A willingness to attend to detail is what distinguishes serious students and gives writing a polished, professional appearance. Also, the more you work with quotations, the easier it will be to remember the rules.
下列准则不仅适用于引用故事,也适用于引用任何散文作品(无论是小说还是非小说)。
The guidelines that follow should be used not only when you quote from stories, but also for when you quote from any prose work, be it fiction or nonfiction.
对于四行或更少的短引文,请将引文与您自己的文本一起运行,并使用引号来表示引文的开始和结束。
For short quotations of four lines or fewer, run the quotation in with your own text using quotation marks to signal the beginning and the end of the quotation.
年轻的古德曼布朗注意到,被他的同伴触碰过的树枝“变得奇怪地枯萎了,就像被阳光照射了一周一样”。
Young Goodman Brown notices that the branches touched by his companion “became strangely withered and dried up, as with a week’s sunshine.”
如果文本中的引文超过四行,请将其从文章中分离出来,方法是另起一行,并从左边距缩进一英寸,如下所示。这称为块引文:
When a quotation is longer than four lines in your text, set it off from your essay by beginning a new line and indenting it one inch from the left margin only, as shown here. This is called a block quotation:
年轻的古德曼布朗注意到他的同伴有些奇怪:
一路上,他折下一根枫树枝做手杖,开始剥去树枝和小树枝,树枝上沾满了晚露。他的手指一碰到树枝,树枝就变得枯萎了,就像被阳光晒了一周一样。就这样,两人继续前行……,直到突然……古德曼·布朗坐在一棵树桩上,不愿再往前走。(9)
Young Goodman Brown then notices something strange about his companion:
As they went, he plucked a branch of maple to serve for a walking stick, and began to strip it of the twigs and little boughs, which were wet with evening dew. The moment his fingers touched them they became strangely withered and dried up, as with a week’s sunshine. Thus the pair proceeded, …, until suddenly, … Goodman Brown sat himself down on the stump of a tree and refused to go any farther. (9)
请注意,块引用中不使用引号。缩进足以向读者表明这是引文。
Note that no quotation marks are used with block quotations. The indentation is sufficient to signal to your readers that this is a quotation.
对于最多三行的引文,请将文本直接放入您自己的诗中,使用引号,就像引用散文一样。但是,由于诗中行尾的位置可能很重要,因此您需要指出它们出现的位置。这是通过在换行符出现的地方添加一个斜线标记来实现的,两边各有一个空格。(有些学生一开始觉得这看起来很别扭,但你很快就会习惯的。你的导师希望你尊重诗人对换行符的选择。):
For quotations of up to three lines, run the text right into your own, using quotation marks just as you would with a prose quotation. However, since the placement of line endings can be significant in a poem, you need to indicate where they occur. This is done by including a slash mark, with a single space on each side, where the line breaks occur. (Some students find this awkward-looking at first, but you will quickly get used to it. Your instructor will expect you to honor the poet’s choices regarding line breaks.):
在《驶向拜占庭》中,叶芝将一位老人描述为“一个微不足道的东西,一根棍子上的破烂外套”(第 9-10 行)。
In “Sailing to Byzantium,” Yeats describes an old man as “a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick” (lines 9–10).
对于四行或以上的引文,请“块化”材料,将其从左边距移开半英寸,复制原始的所有换行符。请勿在块引用中使用引号:
For quotations of four lines or more, “block” the material, setting it off a half an inch from the left margin, duplicating all line breaks of the original. Do not use quotation marks with block quotations:
在《伊尼斯弗里岛》的第一节中,叶芝表达了回归简单乡村生活的愿望:
- 我现在就起身,去伊尼斯弗里岛,
- 在那里用粘土和枝条建造了一间小屋,
- 我要在那里种九排豆子,为蜜蜂建一个蜂巢,
- 独自生活在蜜蜂嗡嗡作响的林间空地里。
In the very first stanza of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” Yeats expresses a desire to return to a simple country life:
- I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
- And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
- Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
- And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
当你引用一段只有一个说话人的戏剧短文时,要把引用的文字当成散文小说来对待:
When you quote a short passage of drama with a single speaker, treat the quoted text just as you would prose fiction:
诺拉在《玩偶之家》中说的第一句话是“海伦,把圣诞树藏好。一定要确保孩子们在今晚装饰好圣诞树之前看不到它。”
Nora’s first words in A Doll House are “Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed.”
对于较长的引文,或者涉及多个角色的引文,您需要将引文分成几部分。每段对话的开头都应在左边距处缩进半英寸,用大写字母输入角色的名字,后面跟着句号。角色的后续台词应再缩进四分之一英寸。(文字处理器的“悬挂缩进”功能可用于实现此效果,而无需缩进每一行。)与小说或诗歌一样,不要对整段引文使用引号:
For a longer quotation, or a quotation of any length involving more than one character, you will need to block off the quotation. Begin each separate piece of dialogue indented a half an inch from the left margin with the character’s name, typed in capital letters, followed by a period. Subsequent lines of the character’s speech should be indented an additional a quarter of an inch. (Your word processor’s “hanging indent” function is useful for achieving this effect without having to indent each separate line.) As with fiction or poetry, do not use quotation marks for block quotations:
我们在诺拉和她丈夫的第一次冲突中看到了他们之间的紧张关系:
诺拉:“是的,不过,托尔瓦德,今年我们确实可以放纵一下了。这是我们第一次不需要节俭的圣诞节。”
海尔茂:“不过,你知道的,我们不能乱花钱。”
诺拉:“是的,托尔瓦德,我们现在可以更鲁莽一点,不是吗?”(1.1)
We see the tension between Nora and her husband in their very first confrontation:
NORA. “Yes but, Torvald, this year we really can let ourselves go a little. This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise.”
HELMER. “Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly.”
NORA. “Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we?” (1.1)
许多较古老的戏剧,包括古典希腊戏剧和莎士比亚及其同时代人的许多作品,至少有一部分是用诗体写成的。当你引用诗体戏剧时,你必须尊重行尾,就像你引用诗歌一样。下面的例子显示了一个简短的引文,其中的斜线表示行尾:
Many older plays, including classical Greek drama and much of the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, are written at least partly in poetic verse. When you quote a verse drama, you must respect the line endings, just as you do in quoting poetry. The example below shows a short quotation with slash marks that indicate line endings:
哈姆雷特最著名的独白是这样开头的:“生存还是毁灭,这是一个问题:/承受命运的残酷打击/是否在心灵上更为高尚”(3.1.56-58)。
Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy begins, “To be, or not to be, that is the question: / Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (3.1.56–58).
第二个例子展示了一个较长的、以诗歌形式呈现的块引用:
This second example shows a longer, block quotation in verse form:
然后哈姆雷特开始了他最著名的独白:
- 生存还是毁灭,这是一个问题:
- 是否在心灵上忍受痛苦更为高尚
- 命运的箭和毒箭,
- 或拿起武器对抗无数的烦恼,
- 并通过反对来结束他们。(3.1.56–60)
Hamlet then begins his most famous soliloquy:
- To be, or not to be, that is the question:
- Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
- The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
- Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
- And by opposing end them. (3.1.56–60)
如果导师给你指示了你的论文应该是什么样子,请严格遵循。如果没有,那么美国现代语言协会 (MLA) 推荐的以下基本格式指南在大多数情况下都很有效。MLA 风格最全面的指南是MLA 手册,第 8 版(2016 年)。这里的指导原则是可读性——你希望论文的外观尽可能不分散人们对内容的注意力。
If your instructor gives you directions about what your paper should look like, follow them exactly. If not, the following basic guidelines on format, recommended by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA), will work well in most instances. The most comprehensive guide to MLA style is MLA Handbook, 8th Edition (2016). The guiding principle here is readability — you want the look of your paper to distract as little as possible from the content.
请参阅本书中的学生论文样本,了解正确的 MLA 格式示例。这些基本准则应该可以帮您应对大多数情况,但如果您对格式有任何疑问,请咨询您的导师,了解他的偏好。
See the sample student papers in this book for examples of correct MLA-style formatting. These basic guidelines should carry you through most situations, but if you have any questions regarding format, ask your instructor for his or her preferences.
文学课上,你很可能会遇到各种各样的写作作业,从简短的个人回应到长篇文学研究论文,应有尽有。每项作业都为你提供了两个机会。首先,写一篇(或多篇)文学作品会迫使你比简单的阅读更仔细地思考,因此你最终会学到更多关于故事、诗歌或戏剧的知识。其次,写作是你与导师,甚至可能是同学分享想法的最佳机会,这样你也能影响别人的思维。每次接到新作业时,问问自己:“我从上一项作业中学到了什么,可以应用到这项作业中?”本章概述了你可能会接到的一些作业(总结、回应、解释、分析、比较和对比以及论文考试),提供了每项作业的示例,并演示了每项技能如何建立在前一项技能的基础上。
Chances are you will encounter a variety of writing assignments in your literature class, possibly ranging from a brief personal response to an extended literary research paper. Each assignment offers you two opportunities. First, writing about a particular piece (or multiple pieces) of literature forces you to think more closely than a simple reading does, so you will end up learning more about the story, poem, or play. Second, writing is your best opportunity to share your thoughts with your instructor, and possibly your classmates, so you can have an impact on someone else’s thinking as well. Each time you get a new assignment, ask yourself, “What did I learn from the last assignment that I might apply to this one?” This chapter outlines some of the assignments you might be given (summary, response, explication, analysis, comparison and contrast, and essay exams), provides examples of each, and demonstrates how each skill might build on the previous skill.
摘要是对文学作品中最重要的点(情节、人物等)的简要回顾。例如,为了证明你已经理解了一个故事或戏剧,你可能会被要求在课堂讨论之前总结其情节作为家庭作业。纳撒尼尔·霍桑的《年轻的古德曼·布朗》(第 155 页)的摘要如下:
A summary is a brief recap of the most important points — plot, character, and so on — in a work of literature. To demonstrate that you have understood a story or play, for instance, you may be asked to summarize its plot as homework before class discussions. A summary of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” (p. 155) follows:
纳撒尼尔·霍桑的《年轻的古德曼·布朗》以 17 世纪的马萨诸塞州塞勒姆为背景,讲述了主人公离开年轻的妻子费丝,在夜晚的森林中参加神秘约会时的命运。他在险恶的森林中遇到的角色没有名字,但霍桑暗示他可能就是魔鬼本人。当他们继续深入森林,执行不明但可能不洁的使命时,古德曼·布朗的疑虑越来越深,尤其是当他们在去参加同一个会议的路上遇到他的同乡时——古德曼·布朗认为这些人都是虔诚的基督徒。但当费丝加入他们时,布朗不顾一切地决定参加。在仪式上,新的皈依者被叫上前来,但当他和费丝走上前去接受血涂油礼时,他反抗并敦促费丝反抗。很快,他发现自己独自一人在森林里,第二天早上他回到镇上,不确定这一切是否只是一场梦,他发现自己对邻居和妻子产生了怀疑和警惕。他的“信仰”已被腐蚀,直到生命的尽头,他仍然是一个充满怨恨和不信任的人:“他临终的时刻是黑暗的。”
Set in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” follows the fortunes of the title character when he leaves his young wife, Faith, for a mysterious rendezvous in a forest at night. The character he meets in the forbidding woods is unnamed, but Hawthorne hints that he may be the Devil himself. As they proceed deeper into the forest on their unspecified but presumably unholy errand, Goodman Brown’s misgivings increase, especially when they encounter his fellow townsfolk — people Goodman Brown thought were good Christians — en route to the same meeting. But when they are joined by Faith, Brown recklessly resolves to participate. At the ceremony, the new converts are called forth, but as he and Faith step forward to be anointed in blood, he rebels and urges Faith to resist. Instantly he finds himself alone in the forest, and when he returns to town the next morning, uncertain whether it was all a dream, he finds himself suspicious and wary of his neighbors and his wife. His “Faith” has been corrupted, and to the end of his days he remains a bitter and untrusting man: “his dying hour was gloom.”
摘要可以比上面的例子更长或更短,这取决于你的目的。请注意,解释被保持在最低限度(“他的‘信仰’已被破坏”),摘要以现在时态叙述(“他回到了城镇”;“他仍然是一个充满怨恨和不信任的人”)。
A summary can be longer or shorter than the above example, depending on your purpose. Notice that interpretation is kept to a minimum (“His ‘Faith’ has been corrupted”) and the summary is recounted in the present tense (“he returns to town”; “he remains a bitter and untrusting man”).
虽然摘要不是文学课程中经常需要你完成的一种写作作业,但总结是一项你需要培养的技能。能够专注于文本中最重要的部分,了解什么是最重要的,这很有用。简短的摘要,无论是文学作品(或作品的一部分)还是关于文学的评论文章,通常都用作更复杂论文的支持证据的一部分。当你在关于文学作品的论文中使用二手资料时——比如当你写一篇文学研究论文时——你的读者很可能没有读过你读过的批评文章。因此,你可能需要为读者简要总结这些批评文章的论点。问问自己,“我的读者需要知道什么才能理解我的论点,我需要提供什么证据才能让他们相信我的观点?”相应地进行总结。
While a summary is not a kind of writing assignment that you will likely have to produce often in a literature course, summarizing is a skill you will need to develop. It is useful to be able to focus on the most important parts of a text, knowing what is most vital. Short summaries, either of a work (or part of a work) of literature or of critical essays about literature, are commonly used as part of the supporting evidence in more complex papers. When you are using secondary sources in a paper about a literary work — as when you write a literary research paper — chances are that your audience has not read the critical essays you have read. Therefore, you may need to briefly summarize for your readers the arguments of those critical essays. Ask yourself, “What do my readers need to know to follow my argument, and what evidence do I need to provide to convince them of my point of view?” Summarize accordingly.
回应论文的目的有两个:1)描述你对某项阅读作业的个人反应,2)解释你为什么会有这种反应。当然,我们对文学作品的反应往往是多种多样且复杂的,所以你需要有选择性地写作。不要试图解释你在阅读时产生的每一个反应和每一个想法。相反,选择一个你在阅读时产生的重要想法并深入探讨它。
The goal of a response paper is twofold: 1) to describe your personal response to a particular reading assignment, and 2) to explain why you had this reaction. Of course, our reactions to literature are often multiple and complex, so you need to be selective in what you write. Don’t try to explain every response and every thought you had while reading. Rather, choose one significant thought you had while reading and explore that in depth.
回应论文通常比较不正式,不一定遵循其他类型文献论文中常见的论点和支持模型。回应论文通常相当简短,而且由于您写的是个人回应,因此通常可以使用第一人称代词“我”。但请记住,这不仅仅是一篇探索自己生活和思想的个人文章。请将文献作为主要焦点。由于回应论文没有硬性规定,请务必仔细阅读导师的指示并严格遵守。
Response papers in general are somewhat informal and do not necessarily follow the thesis-and-support model common in other types of literature papers. Response papers are often fairly brief, and since you are writing about your personal responses, it’s generally OK to use the first-person pronoun I. Remember, though, that this is not simply a personal essay in which you explore your own life and thoughts. Keep the literature as the main focus. Since there are no hard-and-fast rules about response papers, be sure to read your instructor’s directions carefully and follow them closely.
阅读完 Zora Neale Hurston 的短篇小说《汗水》(第 313 页)后,花点时间思考一下你自己对它的反应以及这种反应的来源。然后阅读并考虑以下学生的回应论文:
After reading Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” (p. 313), take a moment to consider your own response to it and where that response comes from. Then read and consider the following student response paper:
“正文如下。Taylor Plantan 教授 Diaz English 170 2020 年 4 月 1 日。标题(居中对齐)为“对“汗水”的回应”。第一段写道,佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿的《汗水》中的主人公迪莉亚·琼斯似乎害怕一切,从最小的蚯蚓到她虐待她的丈夫,至少一开始是这样。然而,当她面对丈夫的身体和心理虐待时,她胆怯的天性很快就被她的坚韧所掩盖。虽然她看起来冷漠,但我认为迪莉亚实际上是假装漠不关心,这给了她在故事中的力量。迪莉亚偶尔脱离外在的情感,这让她能够继续努力维持她为自己设想的生活。换句话说,她没有让愤怒吞噬她,分散她对眼前的体力、文字工作的注意力,而是保持冷静,让自己有机会在与自己和丈夫内心的婚姻和个人恶魔作斗争时也做一些比喻性的工作。这段对应的注释是:“一开始,泰勒关注的是她最感兴趣的事情:也就是说,迪莉亚看起来如此顺从,但她是如何首先,她其实有她自己的坚强方式。”第二段写道,“迪莉娅面对生活复杂情况的方式不仅令人耳目一新,而且发人深省。像大多数人一样,当我发现自己陷入争论时,我的激烈程度只会随着谈话的进行而增长。我的能量和情感建立在对方的基础上,反过来,我也会助长他的热情;然而,最终我们还是达成了谅解,以便继续过好这一天。迪莉娅选择了另一种策略:她没有把精力耗费在愤怒上,而是选择继续工作,几乎完全无视她的丈夫。与本段相对应的注释是:“泰勒考虑了自己的经历,以及它们与她在文中看到的经历有何不同。”第三段写道:“叙述者用全知的视角来揭露迪莉亚的内心想法和冲突。经过一整天与丈夫的斗争并完成工作后,迪莉亚准备上床睡觉,这时她回忆起了婚姻中的场景:结婚仅两个月后,他就对她进行殴打,赛克斯花光了她辛苦赚来的钱,以及他与伯莎的婚外情。这种进入迪莉亚心灵的邀请塑造了读者如何理解她作为一个角色的动机。通过迪莉亚的这段注释对应写道:“泰勒用故事中的细节来证明她的观点。””
"Text reads as follows. Taylor Plantan Professor Diaz English 170 1 April 2020. The title (center-aligned) reads, A Response to “Sweat.” The first paragraph reads, Delia Jones, the protagonist of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat,” seems to fear everything from the tiniest earthworm to her abusive husband, at least initially. However, her timid nature is quickly overshadowed by her resilience when she is faced with her husband’s physical and psychological abuse. Though she appears apathetic, I think Delia actually feigns indifference, which gives her power in the story. Delia’s occasional detachment from outward emotion allows her to continue to work to support the life she envisions for herself. In other words, rather than letting her rage consume and distract her from the physical, literal work that is at hand, she remains calm, giving herself the chance to also do the figurative work in battling the internal matrimonial and personal demons within herself and her husband. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Early on, Taylor focuses on what she’s most interested in: namely, how Delia, who seems so submissive at first, is actually quite strong in her own way.” The second paragraph reads, Delia’s way of confronting life’s complications is not only refreshing but also enlightening. Like most people, when I find myself in arguments, my intensity only grows as the conversation progresses. My energy and emotion build off of the other person, and I conversely feed his or her fervor; however, an understanding is eventually realized in order to move on with the day. Delia chooses another strategy: instead of exhausting her energy on anger, she chooses to continue with her work, nearly ignoring her husband completely. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Taylor considers her own experiences and how they differ from what she sees in the text.” The third paragraph reads, The narrator uses omniscience in order to bring Delia’s internal thoughts and conflicts to light. After a long day of battling with her husband and completing her work, Delia is retiring to bed when she recalls scenes from her marriage: the beating he gave her after just two months of marriage, the way Sykes has spent her hard-earned money, and his extramarital affair with Bertha. This invitation into Delia’s psyche shapes how readers understand her motivations as a character. Through Delia’s The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Taylor uses specifics from the story to demonstrate her point.”"
“文本内容如下。回忆录,我们能够超越情节事件和对话的简单转述;我们了解了迪莉亚婚姻的历史、赛克的性格缺陷,以及多年来慢慢包裹着她的冷酷。通过脱离对话,叙述者能够揭示迪莉亚的心态和她应对当天事件的方式。下一段写道,此时,迪莉亚的婚姻没有爱,被赛克对其他女人的欲望所吞噬。唯一能让她继续下去的是她对因果报应和“她的小家”的宗教信仰,以及它对“她的旧时光”的承诺(赫斯顿 315)。爬上床,赛克斯用他所知道的唯一方式祝迪莉亚晚安:今天最后一次威胁她。迪莉亚没有挑起另一场争吵,而是翻了个身,对自己“对他过去或所做的一切的胜利漠不关心”感到满意(315)。对应于本段内容为:“即使在这种非正式回应中,泰勒也引用了文本证据来支持她的想法。”最后一段内容如下。迪莉娅擅长将所有挫折都区分开来,这对我来说相当了不起。迪莉娅假装漠不关心以保护自己,她的性格具有特别的深度和韧性。她对工作的奉献精神,以确保更好的未来,压倒了她与自己丈夫的婚姻纽带。在故事的结尾,她更感兴趣的是保留自己作为房主和养家糊口者的地位,而不是传统的顺从妻子的角色。迪莉娅不会本能地竭尽全力取悦她的丈夫。在故事的结尾,迪莉娅更感兴趣的是充分实现房主的角色,而不是继续扮演传统的顺从妻子的角色。迪莉娅在家里发现蛇后惊慌失措地逃跑了,但在她有时间反思之后,她“安静了”,充满了“连贯的思想”,滋生了“冷酷、血腥的愤怒”(321)。当赛克斯回到家时,迪莉娅着眼于独立的最终目标,意识到接下来会发生什么发生在赛克斯身上并允许它发生,甚至在赛克斯因蛇咬而死时短暂地看着他的眼睛。与本段相对应的注释是:“泰勒在回应论文的结尾提出了一个更长的论文的有趣想法:迪莉亚对经济独立的承诺压倒了她的婚姻纽带。”此外,一段文字(居中对齐)写着,引用的作品。带有悬挂缩进的条目内容如下。赫斯顿,佐拉·尼尔。“汗水。”文学:便携式选集,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁,2021 年,第 313 至 22 页。”
"Text reads as follows. recollections, we are able to see beyond the simple relaying of plot events and dialogue; we gain the history of Delia’s marriage, Syke’s character flaws, and the hardness that has slowly encased her over the years. By shifting away from the dialogue, the narrator is able to reveal Delia’s mindset and the way in which she grapples with the day’s events. The next paragraph reads, At this point, Delia’s marriage is absent of love and consumed by Syke’s lust for other women. The only thing that keeps her going is her religious faith in karma and “her little home” and the promise it holds for “her old days” (Hurston 315). Crawling into bed, Sykes wishes Delia goodnight the only way he knows how: by threatening her one last time for the day. Instead of provoking another fight, Delia simply turns over, satisfied by her “triumphant indifference to all that he was or did” (315). The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Even in this informal response, Taylor cites textual evidence to support her ideas.” The last paragraph reads as follows. Delia is an expert in compartmentalizing all of her frustration, and it is quite remarkable to me. Feigning indifference to protect herself, Delia has a particular depth and resilience to her character. Her dedication to her work to secure a better future overpowers her matrimonial bond to her own husband. By the end of the story, she is more interested in retaining her status as the home owner and breadwinner than the traditional role of a subservient wife. Delia does not instinctively go out of her way to please her husband. By the end of the story, Delia is more interested in fully realizing the role of home owner than in continuing the traditional role of a subservient wife. The discovery of the snake in her house sends Delia fleeing in fright, but after she has time to reflect she is “quiet,” and full of “coherent thought” that feeds a “cold, bloody rage” (321). When Sykes returns home, Delia, with her eye on the ultimate goal of independence, realizes what is going to happen to Sykes and allows it to happen, even momentarily looking him in the eye as he dies from the snake bite. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Taylor ends her response paper by landing on an interesting idea for a longer paper: Delia’s commitment to financial independence overpowers her matrimonial bond.” Further, a text (center-aligned) reads, Works cited. An entry with hanging indent reads as follows. Hurston, Zora Neale. “Sweat.” Literature: A Portable Anthology, edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, pp. 313 to 22."
一项常见的作业是对一首诗或短篇散文进行阐释或仔细阅读。顾名思义,阐释将文学作品中隐含或微妙的内容明确化。文学语言往往含义丰富,阐释时的任务就是将含义展开并展示给读者。阐释使您可以“揭开”诗歌、故事或戏剧的面纱,观察机器的运作方式,这是理解复杂文学作品的关键。阐释的主要技巧是仔细阅读;事实上,阐释和仔细阅读是如此紧密相关,以至于许多作家几乎可以互换使用这两个词。在撰写此类论文时,您将研究一篇文学作品,特别注意语言的元素,例如句子结构、风格、意象、比喻语言(如明喻和隐喻)、词汇选择,甚至语法和标点符号。阐释的任务有两个:指出特定的、突出的风格元素,并解释这些元素在文本中的目的和效果。
One common assignment is to perform an explication or a close reading of a poem or short prose passage. As the word implies, an explication takes what is implicit or subtle in a work of literature and makes it explicit and clear. Literary language tends to be densely packed with meaning, and your job as you explicate it is to unfold that meaning and lay it out for your reader. Explication allows you to “pop open the hood” of the poem, story, or play in order to observe how the machine works, and it is the key to understanding a complex literary work. The principal technique of explication is close reading; indeed, explication and close reading are so closely related that many writers use the words virtually interchangeably. When you write this sort of paper, you will examine a piece of literature, paying special attention to such elements of the language as sentence structure, style, imagery, figurative language (such as similes and metaphors), word choice, and perhaps even grammar and punctuation. The job of an explication is twofold: to point out particular, salient elements of style, and to explain the purpose and effect of these elements within the text.
当被分配解释或仔细阅读时,你可能会倾向于逐行浏览文本,指出出现的有趣风格特征。然而,以这种方式撰写的论文可能只不过是用更平淡的语言对文献进行总结或重述。更好的想法是将你要关注的文献的各种特征分离出来,然后分别处理每个特征的具体内容和含义。
When assigned an explication or a close reading, you might be tempted to simply walk through a text line by line, pointing out interesting features of style as they occur. A paper written in this way, though, can devolve into little more than summary or restatement of the literature in more prosaic language. A better idea is to isolate the various features of the literature on which you will focus and then deal separately with the specifics and implications of each.
以下论文是学生论文的范例,该论文对文学文本进行了阐释。首先,看一下罗伯特·赫里克的《朱莉娅的衣服》,然后阅读学生的论文。
The paper that follows is an example of a student essay that provides an explication of a literary text. First, take a look at Robert Herrick’s “Upon Julia’s Clothes,” and then read the student’s paper.
(1591–1674)
[1591–1674]
当我的朱莉娅穿上丝绸时,
When as in silks my Julia goes,
然后,然后(我想)多么甜蜜地流淌
Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows
她的衣服都液化了。
That liquefaction of her clothes.
接下来,当我放眼望去,
Next, when I cast mine eyes, and see
5那勇敢的振动自由地向各个方向移动,
5That brave vibration each way free,
啊,那光芒多么吸引我啊!
O how that glittering taketh me!
[1648]
[1648]
“正文如下。杰西卡·巴恩斯教授怀特英语 108 2020 年 3 月 13 日。标题(居中对齐)为:诗歌在运动:赫里克的《朱莉娅的衣服上》。第一段写道,罗伯特·赫里克的《朱莉娅的衣服》短短六行,歌颂了演讲者欲望对象的身体感官。这首诗的结构像贝壳一样,分为两部分。在第一节中,演讲者做了一个看似简单的观察:当朱莉娅走过时,她的丝绸衣服似乎像液体一样流动。然而,在第二节中,他提供了第二个观察:当朱莉娅的身体“从衣服中自由出来”(2.5)时,演讲者完全被朱莉娅“勇敢的震动”(2.6)的美丽所征服。与此段相对应的注释是:“杰西卡的介绍清楚地阐述了她论文的重点和结构。”第二段写道,赫里克使用了几种倒装句法来强调某些意象。例如,在第 1 行中,赫里克将“我的朱莉娅走了”倒装为“穿着丝绸”,以强调“丝绸”对朱莉娅的性感的重要性。他在第 2 至第 3 行中又做了一次倒装。这些诗行的意思如下:“然后,然后(我认为)她衣服上的液化物甜蜜地流淌着。”赫里克重新排列了句子,以强调流动的甜蜜,并将重点放在诗行末尾的“流动”和“衣服”上。与本段相对应的注释为:“在本段中,杰西卡关注一个特定的语言特征,即句法,并从赫里克的诗中提供了几个例子。”第三段写道,赫里克还对抑扬格四音步的韵律做了一些改变,以在诗歌的严格形式中创造出不同的诗行。在第二行中,他重复了两次“then”。这样做,他迫使读者在每个“then”之间深深地停顿,并鼓励读者思考诗人一开始决定重复这个词的原因。在第六行,赫里克也交替加快和减慢了诗行的节奏。诗行开头的感叹“O”表明说话者完全被朱莉娅的美貌迷住了。这是一个长音,在诗行的开头减慢了读者的速度;此外,它还为诗行的第一个音节提供了重音,而不是一个非重音音节,后面跟着一个非重音音节。与本段相对应的注释为:“本段探讨了一种不同的语言特征,即诗歌韵律。”
"Text reads as follows. Jessica Barnes Professor White English 108 13 March 2020. The title (center-aligned) reads, Poetry in Motion: Herrick’s ""Upon Julia’s Clothes.” The first paragraph reads, In its brief six lines, Robert Herrick’s “Upon Julia’s Clothes” is a celebration of the physical sensuousness of the speaker’s object of desire. The poem is structured like a seashell with two parts. In the first stanza, the speaker makes a seemingly simple observation: when Julia walks past, her silken clothes seem to flow as if they’re liquid. In the second stanza, though, he provides a second observation: when Julia’s body is “each way free” (2.5) of the clothing, the speaker is completely overtaken by the beauty of Julia’s “brave vibration” (2.6). The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Jessica’s introduction lays out clearly the focus and structure of her paper.” The second paragraph reads, Herrick provides several inversions of syntax to place emphasis on certain images. For example, in line 1, Herrick inverts “my Julia goes” with “in silks” to emphasize the importance of “silks” to Julia’s sensuality. He creates another inversion in lines 2 to 3. The sense of the lines is as follows: “Then, then (methinks) that liquefaction of her clothes flows sweetly.” Herrick rearranges the sentence to emphasize the sweetness of the flowing and to place the emphasis on “flows” and “clothes” at the ends of the lines. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “In this paragraph, Jessica focuses on a specific language feature, syntax, and provides several examples from Herrick’s poem.” The third paragraph reads, Herrick also provides several changes in the iambic tetrameter meter to create varied lines within the poem’s strict form. In line 2, he repeats “then” two times. In doing so, he forces the reader to pause deeply between each “then” and encourages the reader to meditate on the poet’s decision to repeat the word in the first place. In line 6, too, Herrick alternately accelerates and decelerates the tempo of the line. The exclamatory “O” at the beginning of the line suggests that the speaker has been utterly charmed by Julia’s beauty. It is a long sound that slows the reader down at the beginning of the line; in addition, it provides a stress on the first syllable of the line, instead of an unstressed syllable followed by a The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “This paragraph examines a different language feature, poetic meter.”"
“第一段内容如下。重读一个音节(例如,参见第 5 行的“那勇敢的震动”)。“Glittering”也破坏了该行严格的四音步。它的三个音节被压缩成两个简短的音节(“glittering”),以便下一个重音可以落在“taketh me”上,这强调了说话者完全被 Julia 的裸体所淹没的事实。与此段相对应的注释是:“Jessica 开始将她对特定语言特征的观察与一些初步分析联系起来。”粗体字包括 brave、bra 和 vibration,glittering 和 taketh me 中的单词 glitt。最后一段写道:最终,这首诗表明,朱莉娅的美丽是无法用言语形容的。我们无法知道朱莉娅是真的脱掉了衣服,还是在说话者的想象中脱掉了衣服。无论如何,这首诗提供了许多与第 6 行的“O”相对应的声音。第一节中所有行末的韵都与“O”押韵:goes、flows、clothes。这些词中的每一个都强调了朱莉娅闪闪发光的美丽和她动作的力量的重要性。第二节行末的“ee”韵——see、free、me——强调了这样一种观点,即朱莉娅在赤身裸体时的自由也释放了诗人想象或看到她身体“勇敢的振动”的乐趣。与本段相对应的注释是:“最后的语言特征本文研究的是元音的重复。”此外,还有一段文字(居中对齐),内容为“引用的作品。赫里克,罗伯特。《朱莉娅的衣服上》。《文学:便携式选集》,由珍妮特·E·加德纳等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁,2021 年,第 58 页。”
"The first paragraph reads as follows. stressed one (see, for example, “That brave vibration” in line 5). “Glittering” also disrupts the strict tetrameter of the line. Its three syllables are compressed into two brief syllables (“glittering”) so that the next accent can fall on “ taketh me,” which emphasizes the fact that the speaker is totally overwhelmed by Julia’s naked body. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Jessica begins to tie up her observations about specific language features with some preliminary analysis.” The words brave, bra from the word, vibration, glitt from glittering, and tak from taketh me are in boldface. The last paragraph reads, Ultimately, the poem reveals that Julia’s beauty is beyond words. We cannot know whether Julia has actually taken her clothes off, or whether she has done so in the imagination of the speaker. Either way, the poem provides many sounds that mirror the “O” of line 6. The end rhyme for all of the lines in the first stanza rhyme with the “O”: goes, flows, clothes. Each of these words reinforces the importance of Julia’s shimmering beauty, and the power of her movements. The “ee” rhymes at the ends of the lines in stanza 2 — see , free , me — reinforce the idea that Julia’s freedom in her nakedness also frees the poet’s pleasure in imagining, or seeing, the “brave vibration” of her body. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The final language feature the paper examines is the repetition of vowel sounds.” Further, a text (center-aligned) reads, Works cited. Herrick, Robert. “Upon Julia’s Clothes.” Literature: A Portable Anthology, edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, p. 58."
分析,顾名思义,就是将某事物拆开,检查各个部分如何相互关联以及如何在整体中发挥作用。文学分析可以让你仔细阅读文本,专注于某个特定元素,并提出支持你分析的论点。在仔细阅读时,开始分离出你最感兴趣的文本关键方面——例如,人物塑造、语气、对话或意象——并开始问关于该元素的“如何?”或“为什么?”问题。然后,从文本中收集证据,以便为你的“如何?”或“为什么?”问题制定答案。
To analyze, by definition, is to take something apart and examine how the individual parts relate to one another and function within the whole. Literary analysis allows you to closely read a text, focus in on one particular element, and create a thesis that argues for your analysis. As you read closely, start to isolate the key aspects of the text that interest you most — for example, characterization, tone, dialogue, or imagery — and begin to ask “How?” or “Why?” questions about that element. Then, gather evidence from the text in order to formulate an answer to your “How?” or “Why?” question.
这就是阐释与分析的不同之处:
Here, then, is how explication differs from analysis:
| 解释 | 分析 |
|---|---|
| 仔细阅读文学文本。这是你“打开”诗歌、故事或戏剧的“引擎盖”,以观察机器如何运作的地方。这是你梳理任何给定段落中含义层次的机会。阐释是理解复杂文学作品的关键,也是分析的第一步。 | 仔细阅读文学文本,重点关注文本中的一个元素及其在整体中的作用。良好的分析始于“如何”或“为什么”的问题。然后,您尝试使用文本中的论点和证据来回答这个问题。 |
以下是学生论文的分析示例。首先,看一下罗伯特·布朗宁的《我的最后一位公爵夫人》,然后阅读学生的论文。
Here is an example of a student essay that provides an analysis. First, take a look at Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” then read the student’s paper.
费拉拉
Ferraraa
这是我的最后一位公爵夫人,画在墙上,
That’s my last Duchessb painted on the wall,
她看上去就像活着一样。我叫道
Looking as if she were alive. I call
这件作品现在是一个奇迹:Frà Pandolf 的c手
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’sc hands
忙碌了一天,她就站在那里。
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
5你能坐下来看看她吗?我说
5Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” 的设计,从未读过
“Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read
像你一样的陌生人,那张如画的面容,
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
它那深邃而热情的真诚目光,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
但他们转向我(因为没有人
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
10我为你拉上了帷幕,但我)
10The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
仿佛他们要问我,如果他们敢的话,
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
这样的目光是如何出现的?所以,不是第一次
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
你是不是要转过身来问这个问题?先生,
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
只有她丈夫的存在,才叫那个地方
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
15公爵夫人脸上的喜悦:也许
15Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
潘多夫神父偶然说:“她的斗篷
Frà Pandolf chanced to say “Her mantle laps
在我女士的手腕上画太多了”,或者“画
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
决不能指望重现那种微弱
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
半红晕沿着她的喉咙消失”:这样的东西
Half-flush that dies along her throat”: such stuff
20她想,这是礼貌,而且足够了
20Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
唤起那片欢乐。她有
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
一颗心——我该怎么说呢?——太快高兴了,
A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad,
太容易被打动了;她喜欢什么就什么
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
她注视着四周,目光四处扫视。
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
二十五先生,这都是一样!我对她怀有恩情,
25Sir, ’twas all one! My favor at her breast,
西方白昼渐渐消逝,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
樱桃树枝上有些爱管闲事的傻瓜
The bough of cherries some officious fool
为她驯服的果园里的白骡子
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
她骑着马绕着露台转了一圈——
She rode with round the terrace — all and each
三十会得到她同样的赞许,
30Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
或者至少脸红。她感谢男人,——好!但感谢
Or blush, at least. She thanked men, — good! but thanked
不知何故——我不知道为什么——好像她排名
Somehow — I know not how — as if she ranked
我送给你的九百年历史的名字
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
任何人的礼物。谁会屈尊责怪
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
三十五这种小事?你甚至有本事
35This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
在言语上 — — (我没有) — — 表达你的意愿
In speech — (which I have not) — to make your will
对这样的人很清楚,并说,“就是这样
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
或者你让我厌恶;你错过了,
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
或者超过标准”——如果她让
Or there exceed the mark” — and if she let
40她自己也受过这样的教训,也没有明确地
40Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
她确实聪明,并且找了借口,
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
——即使这样也需要弯腰;我选择
— E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
永远不要弯腰。噢,先生,她笑着说,毫无疑问,
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
当我经过她的时候;但她没有
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
四十五还是一样微笑?笑容渐渐扩大;我发出了命令;
45Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
然后所有的笑容都消失了。她站在那里
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
仿佛活着。你不高兴起来吗?我们会见面的
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
那么,下面的公司。我再说一遍,
The company below, then. I repeat,
伯爵知道你的主人的慷慨
The Count your master’s known munificence
50有足够的理由证明没有正当的借口
50Is ample warrant that no just pretence
我的嫁妆是不允许的;
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
尽管他美丽的女儿本人,正如我所承认的
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
我的目标是出发。不,我们走吧
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
一起下来,先生。不过,注意海王星,
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
55驯服海马,虽然很罕见,
55Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
哪位因斯布鲁克的克劳斯为我铸造了青铜雕像!
Which Claus of Innsbruckd cast in bronze for me!
[1842年]
[1842]
a费拉拉:这首诗取材于十六世纪意大利费拉拉公爵阿方索二世生活中发生的事件。
aFerrara: The poem is based on the events that occurred in the life of Alfonso II, duke of Ferrara in Italy, in the sixteenth century.
b 1. 最后一位公爵夫人:费拉拉的第一任妻子卢克雷齐娅在结婚三年后于 1561 年去世,享年 17 岁。
b1. last Duchess: Ferrara’s first wife, Lucrezia, died in 1561 at age seventeen after three years of marriage.
c 3. Frà Pandolf:潘多夫兄弟,小说画家。
c3. Frà Pandolf: Brother Pandolf, a fiction painter.
d 56. 因斯布鲁克的克劳斯:一位虚构的雕塑家。
d56. Claus of Innsbruck: A fictional sculptor.
“段落上方的文字为,亚当·沃克布莱特菲尔德教授英语 203 2020 年 2 月 22 日标题(居中对齐)为,被占有的需要所占有:布朗宁的“我的最后一位公爵夫人”。第一段写道,在《我的最后一位公爵夫人》中,罗伯特·布朗宁笔下的公爵在讨论公爵夫人的肖像时,流露出了嫉妒和背叛的情绪。在他的戏剧性独白中,公爵作为贵族绅士的公众形象因他对已故公爵夫人的真实感受的揭露而破灭。公爵透露了最令他心烦意乱的事情:他已故妻子对他以外的人的宽容微笑和关注。虽然公爵批评了公爵夫人的放荡,但这首诗对戏剧性讽刺的运用表明,他自己的嫉妒和控制她的欲望才是这首诗的核心问题。与此段相对应的注释是:“引言中列出了要分析的诗歌,并清楚地解释了本文的重点将是公爵的嫉妒本性。”
"Text above the paragraph reads, Adam Walker Professor Blitefield English 203 22 February 2020 The title (center-aligned) reads, Possessed by the Need for Possession: Browning’s “My Last Duchess.” The first paragraph reads, In “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning’s duke reveals his feelings of jealousy and betrayal as he discusses the duchess’s portrait. In his dramatic monologue, the duke’s public persona as an aristocratic gentleman is shattered by the revelations of his actual feelings about his dead duchess. The duke reveals what upsets him most: his late wife’s liberal smiles and attentions to others besides himself. Though the duke offers a critique of his duchess’s wantonness, the poem’s use of dramatic irony reveals that it is his own jealousy and desire to control her that is the poem’s central problem. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The introduction names the poem to be analyzed and clearly explains that the focus of the paper will be the duke’s jealous nature.”"
“第一段写道,公爵反复提醒人们注意他眼中公爵夫人的轻率行为。当公爵在肖像中描述妻子红润的脸颊时,他想象公爵夫人坐在弗拉·潘道夫面前,以及她如何看待他的关注:“她认为,这些东西/是礼貌,足以唤起那一丝快乐”(第 19-21 行)。据公爵说,公爵夫人误以为画家的关注是礼貌。她脸颊上的红晕,或者说“快乐之点”(21),对公爵来说太放肆了。公爵承认,公爵夫人为他的求爱而脸红,但她也为画家、“西边落下的阳光”(26)、一枝樱桃和一头白骡子而脸红。公爵夫人的目光是无差别的:她欣赏任何让她高兴的东西,无论是人类、动物或有机体。这激怒了公爵,他认为他的“九百年老名字”(33)应该让他在公爵夫人眼中更有价值。与本段相对应的第一个注释是:“亚当引用了诗中的特定诗句来证明他的观点。在每种情况下,他都将引文干净利落地融入自己的散文中。”与本段相对应的第二个注释是:“引文后面紧接着对其在论文中目的的解释。”第二段是,最终,公爵觉得有必要控制公爵夫人对吸引她的事物的参与,他觉得有必要用命令来限制公爵夫人的脸红:“这长大了;我下达了命令;/然后所有的微笑都停止了。她站在那里/好像还活着”(45-47)。与诗中其他诗行的修辞相比,这些诗行简洁而迅速。即便如此,它们在某些方面是最重要的。是什么让笑容止住了?是公爵夫人生前沉默了?还是她的死让她停止了微笑?公爵为什么需要这幅与公爵夫人生前相似的肖像?与这一段相对应的注释是:“亚当使用反问句来提供文体多样性并让读者思考。”第三段是这样的,最终,展示这幅肖像是公爵向伯爵的使者展示他的财产——以及他对财产的掌控——的一种方式。当公爵邀请使者下楼时,他已经将他未来的新娘描述为一种财产:我再说一遍,伯爵,你主人众所周知的慷慨大方,足以保证我任何正当的嫁妆请求都不会被拒绝;尽管我一开始就宣称,他美丽的女儿本人就是我的目的。 (48–53)与本段对应的注释为:“请注意,长引文被阻止(从左边距缩进)并且没有使用引号。””
"The first paragraph reads, The duke repeatedly calls attention to what he sees as the duchess’s indiscretions. When the duke describes his wife’s red cheeks in the portrait, he imagines the duchess as she sat for Fra Pandolf, and how she might have regarded his attention: “such stuff / Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough / For calling up that spot of joy” (lines 19–21). According to the duke, the duchess mistook the painter’s attentions as courtesies. Her blush, or “spot of joy” (21) on her cheeks, was too wanton for the duke. The duke admits that the duchess blushed at his own advances, but she also blushed at the painter, the “dropping of the daylight in the West” (26), a bough of cherries, and a white mule. The duchess’s gaze is an indiscriminate one: she appreciates whatever pleases her, whether it be human, animal, or organic. This infuriates the duke, who thinks that his “nine-hundred-years-old name” (33) ought to make him more valuable in the eyes of the duchess. The first annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Adam quotes specific lines from the poem in order to demonstrate his point. In each case, he integrates the quotation cleanly into his own prose.” The second annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The quotation is immediately followed by an explanation of its purpose in the paper.” The second paragraph reads, Eventually, the duke feels the need to control the duchess’s engagement with what attracts her, and he feels compelled to restrict the duchess’s blushes with commands: “This grew; I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands / As if alive” (45–47). These lines are concise and quick compared with the rhetoric of the other lines in the poem. Even so, they are in some ways the most important. What made the smiles stop? Was the duchess silenced in life? Or was it her death that stopped the smiling? And why does the duke need this portrait that resembles the duchess when she was alive? The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Adam uses rhetorical questions to provide stylistic variety and to get the reader thinking.” The third paragraph reads, Ultimately, the showing of the portrait is a way for the duke to show his possessions — and his command of his possessions — to the envoy of the Count. As the duke invites the envoy to come downstairs, he already characterizes his future bride as a kind of possession: I repeat, The Count your master’s known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretence Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. (48–53) The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Note that the long quotation is blocked (indented from the left margin) and does not use quotation marks.”"
该段内容为,在提到他将收到的丰厚嫁妆后,公爵停顿下来,说他发现“他 [伯爵] 美丽的女儿本身”如此引人注目。即便如此,公爵表示他将对她施加与他已故妻子相同的控制。虽然公爵批评了公爵夫人的放荡,但这首诗运用了戏剧性的讽刺,表明他自己的嫉妒和控制她的欲望才是这首诗的核心问题。最后,她也面临着变成海马的风险,需要海神尼普顿的驯服。与本段相对应的注解为:“亚当的结束语暗示了这首诗的最后几行。”引用作品:布朗宁,罗伯特。“我的最后一位公爵夫人。”文学:便携式选集,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣。 Martin's,2021 年,第 613 至 15 页。
The paragraph reads, After alluding to the generous dowry that he will receive, the duke checks himself by saying that it is “his [the Count’s] fair daughter’s self” that he has found so compelling. Even so, the duke suggests that he will exert the same controls on her that he exerted on his late wife. Though the duke offers a critique of his duchess’s wantonness, the poem’s use of dramatic irony reveals that it is own jealousy and desire to control her that is the poem’s central problem. In the end, she runs the same risk of becoming a sea horse that requires Neptune’s taming. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Adam’s concluding sentence alludes to the final lines of the poem.” Works cited: Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess.” Literature: A Portable Anthology , edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, pp. 613 to 15.
另一种常见的论文作业是比较和对比论文。你可能会被要求在一部文学作品中进行比较和对比——比如,在故事或戏剧中的两个角色之间进行比较和对比。更常见的作业是要求你比较和对比两个或多个故事、诗歌或戏剧中的某个特定元素——人物、背景、风格、语气等等。比较强调两个或多个项目之间的相似之处,而对比则突出它们的差异。虽然有些论文两者都做,但一篇文章通常只强调其中之一。
Another common paper assignment is the comparison-and-contrast essay. You might be asked to draw comparisons and contrasts within a single work of literature — say, between two characters in a story or play. Even more common is an assignment that asks you to compare and contrast a particular element — characters, setting, style, tone, and so on — in two or more stories, poems, or plays. A comparison emphasizes the similarities between two or more items, while a contrast highlights their differences. Though some papers do both, it is typical for an essay to emphasize one or the other.
如果允许您选择文学作品进行对比和比较,请小心选择具有足够共同点的作品,以使这种比较有趣且有效。即使亨利克·易卜生的《玩偶之家》和雪莉·杰克逊的《彩票》是您的最爱,也很难想象一篇重点突出的论文来比较这两部作品,因为它们在作者、历史、主题或风格方面几乎没有任何共同之处,因为它们是在不同流派、不同世纪和不同大陆创作的。选择两首 17 世纪的诗歌或两个爱情故事会更有意义。
If you are allowed to choose the works of literature for a comparison-and-contrast paper, take care to select works that have enough in common to make such a comparison interesting and valid. Even if Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” are your favorites, it is difficult to imagine a well-focused paper comparing these two, as they share virtually nothing in terms of authorship, history, theme, or style, having been written in different genres, in different centuries, and on different continents. It would make far more sense to select two seventeenth-century poems or two love stories.
以下论文比较了罗伯特·布朗宁的《我的最后一位公爵夫人》(第 61-63 页)和克里斯蒂娜·罗塞蒂的《死后》。首先,阅读罗塞蒂的诗;然后阅读以下学生论文:
The paper that follows compares Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” (pp. 61–63) and Christina Rossetti’s “After Death.” First, read Rossetti’s poem; then read the following student paper:
[1830–1894]
[1830–1894]
窗帘半拉着,地板被扫过
The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept
厚厚地铺在我躺着的床上,
Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay,
常春藤的阴影从格子间悄悄爬过。
Where through the lattice ivy-shadows crept.
5他俯身看着我,以为我睡着了
5He leaned above me, thinking that I slept
我听不见他的声音,但我听见他说:
And could not hear him; but I heard him say,
“可怜的孩子,可怜的孩子。”当他转身离开时
“Poor child, poor child”: and as he turned away
周围一片寂静,我知道他哭了。
Came a deep silence, and I knew he wept.
他没有碰裹尸布,也没有掀起裹尸布的褶皱
He did not touch the shroud, or raise the fold
10遮住我的脸,或握住我的手,
10That hid my face, or take my hand in his,
或者弄乱我头上光滑的枕头:
Or ruffle the smooth pillows for my head:
他不爱我活着;但爱我死了之后
He did not love me living; but once dead
他可怜我,这真是太好了。
He pitied me; and very sweet it is
要知道,尽管我很冷,但他依然温暖。
To know he still is warm though I am cold.
[1849]
[1849]
五月:用于五一节庆祝活动的绿色或开花的树枝。
amay: Green or flowering branches used for May Day celebrations.
段落上方的文字为,托德·鲍恩,哈里森教授,英语 215,2021 年 5 月 12 日标题为“死者的代言人:《我的最后一位公爵夫人》和《死后》中的叙述者。”第一段写道,在《我的最后一位公爵夫人》中,罗伯特·布朗宁创造了一位公爵,他对妻子的严格控制——以及他对自己贵族地位的专注——揭示了一个厌恶女性的性格。布朗宁的戏剧独白与克里斯蒂娜·罗塞蒂的《死后》形成鲜明对比,在一首十四行诗中,演讲者从死里复活,揭示她对爱人的观察。布朗宁和罗塞蒂在他们的诗中使用了两种截然不同的称呼方式,暗示了维多利亚时代父权社会中传统婚姻或男女关系对女性的限制。与本段相对应的注释是:“托德的简明介绍列出了他要比较的作者和诗歌,以及本文对这些诗歌的某些共同特征的关注。”第二段写道:“通过诗歌的不同视角,布朗宁和罗塞蒂创造了完全不同的死后女性形象。在《我的最后一位公爵夫人》中,公爵用他亡妻的真实肖像来描述一个对奉承她的男人过于随意微笑的女人。公爵说:“她有一颗心——我该怎么说呢?——太快高兴了,太容易被打动了;她喜欢她所看的一切,她的目光无处不在”(第 21-24 行)。在公爵漫长的戏剧独白中,公爵沉思了公爵夫人对别人微笑而背叛他的几个时刻;然而,作为读者,我们永远无法听到公爵夫人对这个故事的看法。与此段相对应的注释是:“前两段正文分别关注其中一首诗,提供了具体证据(主要是引文)和对证据的分析。”第三段写道:“然而,在罗塞蒂的《死后》中,情况发生了逆转:死去的女人可以向为她的死而悲伤的男人说话。在这样做的过程中,她仔细观察了情人的行为,而情人认为她只是一具没有生命的尸体。在这首小十四行诗的每一行中,演讲者都观察着那个俯身在她身上的男人,说着“可怜的孩子,可怜的孩子”(第 7 行),然后转身离开,没有真正触碰她的身体。即便如此,女人也暗示这比她活着的时候有所改善:“他不爱活着的我;但一旦我死了/他可怜我”(12-13)。演讲者的最后一对对句尤其令人不寒而栗:“和
Text above the paragraph reads, Todd Bowen, Professor Harrison, English 215, 12 May 2021 The title reads, “Speakers for the Dead: Narrators in “My Last Duchess” and “After Death.”” The first paragraph reads, In “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning creates a duke whose tight control over his wife — and his preoccupation with his own noble rank — reveal a misogynistic character. Browning’s dramatic monologue stands in stark contrast to Christina Rossetti’s “After Death,” a sonnet in which the speaker comes back from the dead to reveal what she observes about her lover. Using two very different modes of address in their poems, Browning and Rossetti suggest the restrictions placed on women in traditional marriages or male/female relationships in the Victorian patriarchal society. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Todd’s concise introduction names the authors and poems that will be the subject of his comparison, as well as the paper’s focus on certain shared features of the poems.” The second paragraph reads, Through the distinct perspectives of their poems, Browning and Rossetti create completely different portraits of women after death. In “My Last Duchess,” the duke uses the actual portrait of his dead wife to describe a woman who smiled too liberally at men who fawned over her. The duke says, “She had / A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad, / Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er / She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (lines 21–24). Throughout his long dramatic monologue, the duke meditates on several moments when the duchess betrays him by smiling at others; however, we as readers never get to hear the duchess’s side of the story. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The first two body paragraphs each focus on one of the poems, providing a combination of specific evidence — mostly in the form of quotations — and analysis of this evidence.” The third paragraph reads, In Rossetti’s “After Death,” however, the tables are turned: the dead woman gets to speak back to the man who performs his grief over her death. In doing so, she carefully observes the behavior of her lover, who thinks that she is merely a lifeless corpse. In each line of the small sonnet, the speaker observes the man as he leans above her, says “Poor child, poor child” (line 7), and then turns away without actually touching her body. Even so, the woman suggests that this is an improvement from when she was alive: “He did not love me living; but once dead / He pitied me” (12–13). The speaker’s final couplet is especially chilling: “and
“第一段写道,非常甜蜜/知道他仍然温暖,尽管我很冷漠”(13-14)。演讲者说,知道这个男人比她活得长是“甜蜜的”。她没有解释这种甜蜜,但也许是因为她能以一种她在世时从未有过的方式观察他的情绪。与此段相对应的注释是:“请注意,托德区分了诗人罗塞蒂和诗歌的演讲者。”第二段写道,罗塞蒂的《死后》和布朗宁的《我的最后一位公爵夫人》一起读时,就像姊妹篇,彼此之间都像在呼唤和回应。布朗宁笔下的公爵拒绝发表任何超出自己之外的言论,在画像和观看画像的访客的沉默中滔滔不绝。他的故事是他唯一想讲述的故事,即使他的讲话暴露了他自己的缺点。罗塞蒂笔下的女人提供了另一种死亡和哀悼的视角,因为女人从死者的角度说话,揭示了为她哀悼的男人的缺点。通过对声音和视角的不同运用,这两首诗都对维多利亚时期社会对女性自主权的限制提出了批评。与本段相对应的注释是:“结论段落包含了对这两首诗进行实际比较的核心。”引用作品:罗伯特·布朗宁。《我的最后一位公爵夫人》。 《文学:便携式选集》,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年,第 613-15 页。罗塞蒂,克里斯蒂娜。“死后。” Gardner 等人,第 66 页。
"The first paragraph reads, very sweet it is / To know he still is warm though I am cold” (13–14). The speaker says that it is “sweet” to know that the man has outlived her. She doesn’t explain this sweetness, but perhaps it is because she can observe his emotion in a way that she never could have while she was alive. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Note that Todd distinguishes between the poet Rossetti and the speaker of the poem.” The second paragraph reads, When read together, Rossetti’s “After Death” and Browning’s “My Last Duchess” function as companion pieces, each speaking to the other in a kind of call-and-response. Browning’s duke shuts down any speech beyond his own, talking at length in the silence of the portrait and the visitor who looks at it. His story is the only story that he wants to present, even if his speech reveals his own shortcomings. Rossetti’s woman provides an alternative perspective of death and mourning as the woman speaks from the dead to reveal the shortcomings of the man who mourns her. Through their distinct uses of voice and perspective, both poems provide critiques on the societal limits placed on women’s agency in the Victorian period. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The concluding paragraph contains the heart of the actual comparison of the poems.” Works cited: Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess.” Literature: A Portable Anthology, edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, pp. 613–15. Rossetti, Christina. “After Death.” Gardner et al., p. 66."
克服论文考试可能带来的压力的关键是做好准备并且了解对你的期望。
The key to getting through the potentially stressful situation of an essay exam is to be prepared and to know what will be expected of you.
准备工作分为两种形式:了解材料和预测问题。了解材料首先要跟上整个学期的所有阅读和家庭作业。你不可能在考试前一天晚上阅读几周或几个月的材料并希望记住所有内容。考试前几天不应该用来赶上进度,而应该用来复习——重新阅读阅读材料、略读或重读关键段落,以及研究课堂笔记。如果可能的话,最好将学习时间分成可管理的时间段。考试前三个晚上每晚复习两个小时比考试前夕的一次六个小时的临时抱佛脚要有效得多。
Preparation takes two forms: knowing the material and anticipating the questions. Knowing the material starts with keeping up with all reading and homework assignments throughout the term. You can’t possibly read several weeks’ or months’ worth of material the night before the test and hope to remember it all. The days before the test should be used not for catching up but for review — revisiting the readings, skimming or rereading key passages, and studying your class notes. It’s best to break up study sessions into manageable blocks if possible. Reviewing for two hours a night for three nights before the exam will be far more effective than a single six-hour cram session on the eve of the test.
预测考试中可能出现的问题有点棘手,但还是可以做到的。哪些主题和问题在课堂讲座或讨论中反复出现?你在课堂笔记中看到了哪些模式?你的老师强调了哪些要点?这些是最有可能出现在考试中的主题。尽管你可能认为如此,但老师很少会故意提出晦涩难懂的考试问题,试图让学生犯难或暴露他们的无知。大多数情况下,老师都在为你提供一个展示你所知道知识的机会,你应该准备好抓住这个机会。
Anticipating the questions that might be on the exam is a bit trickier, but it can be done. What themes and issues have come up again and again in class lectures or discussions? What patterns do you see in your class notes? What points did your instructor stress? These are the topics most likely to appear on the exam. Despite what you might think, it is very rare that an instructor poses intentionally obscure exam questions in an attempt to trip up students or expose their ignorance. Most often, the instructor is providing you with an opportunity to demonstrate what you know, and you should be ready to take that opportunity.
考试可能是开卷考试,也可能是闭卷考试;提前了解考试形式,以便制定计划并进行相应的学习。在开卷考试中,考试期间可以使用课本。如果你知道考试是开卷考试,你也可以在课本上记下重要的笔记,以便在需要时可以随时找到。不过,要谨慎使用课本——只要能找到你知道的证据就行。对于闭卷考试,你只能依靠记忆,但你仍然应该尽可能具体地引用文献、使用人物名称、回忆情节元素等。
Your exam may be open-book or closed-book; find out in advance which it will be, so that you can plan and study accordingly. In an open-book exam, you are allowed to use your textbook during the exam. If you know the exam is going to be open-book, you might also jot down any important notes in the book itself, where you can find them readily if you need them. Use your textbook sparingly, though — just enough to find the evidence you know to be there. For a closed-book exam, you have to rely on your memory alone, but you should still try to be as specific as possible in your references to the literature, using character names, recalling plot elements, and so forth.
当你坐下来参加考试时,你可能会有立即开始写作的冲动,因为你的时间有限。抑制这种冲动,先通读整个考试,特别注意指导部分。考试通常会给你提供选择,例如“回答以下三个问题中的两个”,或“选择一首诗作为答案的基础”。一旦你确定了对你的要求,在开始写作之前,再花几分钟计划你的答案。记下一些笔记或非正式的大纲可能需要一点时间,但它可能会节省你写作的时间。如果你要写多篇文章,注意不要重复自己的话,也不要就任何一篇文学作品写多篇文章。这样做的目的是向你的老师展示你对课程材料的掌握,为了有效地做到这一点,你应该展示令人印象深刻的知识广度。
When you sit down to take the exam, you may have the urge to start writing right away, since your time is limited. Suppress that urge and read through the entire exam first, paying special attention to the instruction portion. Often the exam will offer you choices, such as “Answer two of the following three questions,” or “Select a single poem as the basis of your answer.” Once you are certain what is expected of you, take a few more minutes to plan your answers before you start writing. A few jotted notes or an informal outline may take a moment, but it will likely save you time as you write. If you are writing more than one essay, take care not to repeat yourself or to write more than one essay about any one piece of literature. The idea is to show your instructor your mastery of the course material, and to do so effectively, you should demonstrate an impressive breadth of knowledge.
当你开始写作时,请记住,老师对考试答案的期望与对课外论文的期望不同。他们知道在限时考试中你没有时间进行研究或大量修改。清晰和简洁是关键;不需要优雅的散文风格(当然,如果你能做到,那将是一个惊喜)。有效的论文答案通常比其他类型的有效写作更公式化,依赖于直截了当的介绍、简单的正文段落和简短的结论的模式。
When you do begin writing, bear in mind that instructors have different expectations for exam answers than they do for essays written outside of class. They know that in timed exams you have no time for research or extensive revisions. Clarity and concision are the keys; an elegant prose style is not expected (though, of course, it will come as a pleasant surprise if you can manage it). Effective essay answers are often more formulaic than other sorts of effective writing, relying on the schematic of a straightforward introduction, simple body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion.
你的引言应该简洁明了。通常只需要几句话,并且应该避免华丽的辞藻或离题。最好的策略通常是重复说明作为开场白。论文答案的正文段落也应该简单,并且通常(但并非总是)比你在家里写的论文更简短。它们仍然应该尽可能具体,参考甚至引用文献来说明你的观点。就像在一篇更完整的论文中一样,尽量避免泛泛而谈;使用具体的例子和证据。论文考试的结论通常很简短,通常只有一两句话的总结。
Your introduction should be simple and to the point. A couple of sentences is generally all that is needed, and these should avoid rhetorical flourishes or digressions. Often the best strategy is to parrot back the instructions as an opening statement. Body paragraphs for essay answers should also be simple and will often, though not always, be briefer than they would be in an essay you worked on at home. They should still be as specific as possible, making reference to and perhaps even quoting the literature to illustrate your points. Just as in a more fully developed essay, try to avoid dwelling in generalities; use specific examples and evidence. Conclusions for essay exams are usually brief, often just a sentence or two of summary.
最后,考试当天要带上手表,密切关注时间。充分利用时间,合理安排时间。如果你有一小时写两个答案,不要在第一题上花四十五分钟。即使时间紧迫,也要留出几分钟校对答案。尽可能整洁清晰地进行修改。注意时间,但不要关注同学的进度。专注于自己的进度。不要因为别人经常使用他或她的书就觉得你也需要这样做。如果有人提前结束并离开,不要认为这是你落后了,或者你不如那个人效率低下或聪明的标志。没有充分利用考试时间的学生往往准备不足;他们往往会写出模糊和不成熟的答案,不应该成为你的榜样。
Finally, take a watch with you on exam day and keep a close eye on the time. Use all the time you are given and budget it carefully. If you have an hour to write two answers, don’t spend forty-five minutes on the first. Even though you will likely be pressed for time, save a few minutes at the end to proofread your answers. Make any corrections as neatly and legibly as possible. Watch the time, but try not to watch your classmates’ progress. Keep focused on your own process. Just because someone else is using his or her book a lot, you shouldn’t feel you need to do the same. If someone finishes early and leaves, don’t take this as a sign that you are running behind or that you are less efficient or less smart than that person. Students who don’t make full use of their exam time are often underprepared; they tend to write vague and underdeveloped answers and should not be your role models.
诗歌开卷作文考试为学生提供了几个选项,包括“选择不同诗人的两首诗,每首诗都涉及时间主题,并比较作者如何呈现这一主题。” 一名学生选择了威廉·莎士比亚的《第 73 首十四行诗》(第 569 页)和罗伯特·赫里克的《致处女,珍惜时间》(第 576 页)。阅读这两首诗,然后阅读学生的作文考试答案。
An open-book essay exam on poetry gave students several options, including “Select two poems by different poets, each of which deals with the theme of time, and compare how the authors present this theme.” A student chose William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 (p. 569) and Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (p. 576). Read the two poems and then the student’s essay exam answer.
(1564–1616)
[1564–1616]
那时你也许会从我身上看到
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
当黄叶或无叶或少叶垂下时,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
在那些迎着严寒颤抖的树枝上,
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
空荡荡的唱诗班[1]已毁,昔日甜美的鸟儿曾在此歌唱。
Bare ruined choirs,[1] where late° the sweet birds sang.
5在我身上你看到了这样一天的黄昏
5In me thou seest the twilight of such day
日落西山之后,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
渐渐地黑夜将把这一切带走,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
死亡的第二个自我,将一切都封存于安息之中。
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
在我身上你看到了这样一团火焰
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
10在他青春的灰烬上,
10That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
就像它必须死去的床,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
被它所滋养的东西所消耗。
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
你察觉到这一点,你的爱就更加强烈,
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
去爱那你不久后就要离开的地方。
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
[1609]
[1609]
[1]唱诗班摊位/最近
[1]choir stalls/lately
(1591–1674)
[1591–1674]
趁你们还可以的时候,采集玫瑰花蕾,
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
旧时光仍在飞逝;
Old time is still a-flying;
这朵今天微笑的花
And this same flower that smiles today
明天就会死去。
Tomorrow will be dying.
5天上的光辉之灯,太阳,
5The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
他越往上爬,
The higher he’s a-getting,
他的比赛越快结束,
The sooner will his race be run,
天色已近日落。
And nearer he’s to setting.
最好的年龄是第一个,
That age is best which is the first,
10当青春和热血愈加温暖;
10When youth and blood are warmer;
但花光了,更糟糕的是,
But being spent, the worse, and worst
时代仍然在前者之后。
Times still succeed the former.
那么不要害羞,利用你的时间,
Then be not coy, but use your time,
趁你还来得及,赶紧结婚吧;
And while ye may, go marry;
15因为你曾经失去过青春,
15For having lost but once your prime,
你可以永远逗留。
You may forever tarry.
[1648]
[1648]
“段落上方的文字写着:“期中作文:选项 2”第一段写道,莎士比亚的 73 首十四行诗(“一年中的那个时刻,你可能在我身上看到”)和赫里克的“致处女,珍惜时间”都涉及时间的主题,特别是时间对爱情的影响。虽然它们的重点和风格存在重要差异,但这两首诗都敦促读者好好去爱,充分利用他们剩下的时间。与此段相对应的注释是:“介绍性段落很简短,重申了任务,并添加了具体内容以开始关注论文。”第二段写道,两首诗都通过一系列隐喻来表达对时间的看法,事实上,它们使用了一些来自自然的相同隐喻。赫里克以玫瑰花蕾的形象开始,玫瑰花蕾绽放,然后迅速枯萎。莎士比亚的第一个隐喻也来自植物世界,在这种情况下,一棵树在秋天落叶。在十四行诗中,当诗人将树枝称为“合唱团”(第 4 行)时,自然世界甚至与教堂的精神世界联系在一起。两首诗还将生命比作一天,落日象征着死亡。在十四行诗的结尾,莎士比亚将生命比作一团火,在青春时期熊熊燃烧,然后在人接近死亡时冷却下来。虽然赫里克没有具体提到火,但他在提到“当青春和血液更温暖的时候”(3.10)时也遵循了类似的推理。与本段相对应的第一个注释是:“两个正文段落也相当简短,但它们给出了许多具体信息用诗歌中的例子来说明,而不是依靠概括。”与本段相对应的第二个注释是:“因为这是一场开卷考试,所以学生甚至可以在答案中加入简短的引语。””
"Text above the paragraph reads, “Midterm essay: option number 2” The first paragraph reads, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 (“That time of year thou mayst in me behold”) and Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” both deal with the theme of time, and particularly the effect that time has on love. Though there are important differences in their focus and style, both poems urge their readers to love well and make the most of the time they have left. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The introductory paragraph is brief and restates the assignment, adding in specifics to begin focusing the essay.” The second paragraph reads, Both poems make their points about time through a series of metaphors, and in fact they use some of the same metaphors from nature. Herrick begins with the image of rosebuds, which bloom and then die quickly. Shakespeare’s first metaphor is also drawn from the world of plants, in this case a tree losing its leaves in the autumn. In the sonnet, the natural world is even connected to the spiritual world of church when the poet refers to the branches of the tree as “choirs” (line 4). Both poems also compare life to a single day, with the setting sun symbolizing death. Toward the end of his sonnet, Shakespeare writes of life as a fire that burns brightly in youth and then cools as a person nears death. While Herrick does not refer to fire specifically, he follows a similar line of reasoning when he mentions a time “When youth and blood are warmer” (3.10). The first annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The two body paragraphs are also fairly brief, but they give lots of specific examples from the poems rather than relying on generalizations.” The second annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Because this was an open-book exam, the student was even able to incorporate brief quotations in her answer.”"
第一段写道,两首诗最显著的区别在于说话者和隐含听众的性格。赫里克向“处女”们提出了关于时间的本质及其对爱情的影响的建议。他告诉她们“去结婚”(4.14),但没有具体说明她们应该和谁结婚,或者她们应该如何选择这些伴侣。另一方面,莎士比亚的诗似乎是写给一个与说话者有某种关系的“你”,也就是叙述这首诗的“我”。当他敦促听众“去爱你不久就要离开的那口井”(14)时,他指的是自己是爱的对象。与这一段相对应的注释是:“结构清晰明了,一个正文段落比较了两首诗的相似之处,另一个段落对比了关键的不同之处。”第二段写道,最后,差异最终掩盖了主题和目的表面上的相似之处。赫里克的诗相对缺乏具体性,给人的感觉就像是长辈(也许是叔叔)给任何年轻男女的善意建议。莎士比亚的诗则更加亲密,而且最终略显阴暗。这段注释写道:“结论的形式和目的也很简单;它用新的语言重申了正文段落的要点,并使对比更加明确。”
The first paragraph reads, The most significant difference between the two poems lies in the characters of the speaker and the implied listener. Herrick offers his advice about the nature of time and its effect on love to “the Virgins” generally. He tells them to “go marry” (4.14) but he offers no specifics about whom they should be marrying or how they might choose these mates. Shakespeare’s poem, on the other hand, seems to be addressed to a single “you” who is in some sort of relationship with the speaker, the “me” who narrates the poem. When he urges the listener “To love that well which thou must leave ere long” (14), he is referring to himself as the object of love. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The organization is clear and straightforward, with one body paragraph comparing similarities between the poems and one contrasting a key difference.” The second paragraph reads, In the end, the differences end up overshadowing the superficial similarities of theme and purpose. Herrick’s poem, with its relative lack of specificity, comes across as the sort of kindly advice an older person, perhaps an uncle, might give to any young man or woman. Shakespeare’s is a more intimate, and ultimately somewhat darker, poem. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “The conclusion is also simple in form and purpose; it restates the main points of the body paragraphs in new language and makes the contrast more explicit.”
小说长期以来一直被分解并按照所有故事共有的特定元素进行讨论,当您撰写关于故事的文章时,您很可能会关注其中的一个或多个元素。(请参阅主动阅读问题:小说,第 10 页,了解写作时要考虑的问题。)
Fiction has long been broken down and discussed in terms of specific elements common to all stories, and chances are you will be focusing on one or more of these when you write an essay about a story. (See Questions for Active Reading: Fiction, p. 10 for questions to consider when you write.)
小说最常见的元素是情节、人物、观点、背景、主题、象征和风格。如果你不知道该如何写一个故事,那么一个好的开始就是将这些元素分离出来,看看它们对读者的影响,以及它们如何结合起来创造出一个特定故事的独特作品。
The elements of fiction most commonly identified are plot, character, point of view, setting, theme, symbolism, and style. If you find yourself wondering what to write about a story, a good place to begin is isolating these elements and seeing how they work on a reader and how they combine to create the unique artifact that is a particular story.
虽然在某种程度上,我们读故事都是为了知道接下来会发生什么,但事实上,情节通常是小说中最无趣的元素。没有小说写作经验的学生往往会花太多时间复述情节。你可以避免这种情况,只要记住你的读者也会读过相关文学作品,不需要彻底重述发生的事情。一般来说,读者只需要一些关于你将要写的情节关键点的小提醒,这些应该可以作为分析和讨论的跳板。不过,写情节有时是有意义的,尤其是当情节出乎你的意料时,例如,重新安排事件的时间顺序或以非现实的方式呈现事物。当故事中出现这种情况时,情节可能确实成为分析的沃土,并可能成为一篇有趣论文的基础。
While on some level we all read stories to find out what happens next, in truth, plot is usually the least interesting of the elements of fiction. Students who have little experience writing about fiction tend to spend too much time retelling the plot. You can avoid this by bearing in mind that your readers will also have read the literature in question and don’t need a thorough replay of what happened. In general, readers just need small reminders of the key points of plot about which you will write, and these should serve as springboards into analysis and discussion. Still, writing about the plot sometimes makes sense, especially when the plot surprises your expectations by, for instance, rearranging the chronology of events or otherwise presenting things in nonrealistic ways. When this happens in a story, the plot may indeed prove fertile ground for analysis and may be the basis of an interesting paper.
许多有趣的文章分析了个别人物的行为、动机和发展。作者如何向读者揭示人物?人物在故事过程中如何成长和发展?读者必须仔细研究文本对人物提供的见解,但有时读者必须考虑遗漏的内容。读者对人物有什么未明确写出的推断?人物避免说什么?人物对他人或自己隐瞒了什么秘密?这些问题可以成为分析的沃土。虽然最明显的人物通常是主角,但不要让你的想象力止步于此。通常,反派甚至次要人物都可以成为有趣的研究对象。还要记住,人物可能一开始是反派人物,然后在叙述者或其他人物或读者眼中经历转变。你在写论文时的工作是考虑这些转变,并尝试理解为什么文本会探讨这些复杂的人物发展。
Many interesting essays analyze the actions, motivations, and development of individual characters. How does the author reveal a character to the reader? How does a character grow and develop over the course of a story? Readers have to carefully examine what insights the text provides about a character, but sometimes readers have to consider what’s left out. What does the reader have to infer about the character that isn’t explicitly written? What does the character refrain from saying? What secrets do characters keep from others, or from themselves? These questions can be fertile ground for analysis. Although the most obvious character to write about is usually the protagonist, don’t let your imagination stop there. Often the antagonist or even a minor character can be an interesting object of study. Keep in mind, too, that characters can start out as antagonistic figures and experience a transformation in the eyes of the narrator or other characters, or in the eyes of the reader. Your job in writing a paper is to consider these transformations and try to understand why a text explores these complex character developments.
与人物相关的是视角问题。讲述故事的视角会对我们如何看待它产生很大的影响。有时故事是用第一人称讲述的,从其中一个人物的视角讲述。无论这个人物是主要人物还是次要人物,我们必须始终记住,第一人称叙述者并不可靠,因为他们无法获得所有重要信息,而且他们自己的意图往往会扭曲他们看待事件的方式。第三人称叙述者可能是无所不知的,知道与故事相关的一切;也可能是有限的,例如,只知道主角的想法和动机,但不知道其他任何人物的想法和动机。当你阅读故事时,问问自己这个视角有什么作用,以及为什么作者选择从特定的角度来讲述故事。
Related to character is the issue of point of view. The perspective from which a story is told can make a big difference in how we perceive it. Sometimes a story is told in the first person, from the point of view of one of the characters. Whether this is a major character or a minor character, we must always remember that first-person narrators can be unreliable, as they do not have access to all vital information, and their own agendas can often skew the way they see events. A third-person narrator may be omniscient, knowing everything pertinent to a story; or limited, knowing, for instance, the thoughts and motives of the protagonist but not of any of the other characters. As you read a story, ask yourself what the point of view contributes and why the author may have chosen to present the story from a particular perspective.
有时,场景仅仅是故事的背景,但地点往往在我们理解作品时起着重要作用。约翰·契弗选择二十世纪中叶的曼哈顿中城作为其短篇小说《重聚》(第 335 页)的背景。这是探索城市空间及其对故事中父子关系的影响的完美环境,如果故事背景设在太平洋西北地区,情节很可能会发生截然不同的变化。阅读时,问问自己场景有多重要,以及它为故事增添了什么意义。请记住,场景既指时间,也指地点。
Sometimes a setting is merely the backdrop for a story, but often place plays an important role in our understanding of a work. John Cheever chooses Midtown Manhattan in the mid-twentieth century as the setting of his story “Reunion” (p. 335). It is the perfect milieu for an exploration of urban space and its effects on the relationship between the father and son in that story, and the plot very likely would have taken a very different turn if the story had been set, say, in the Pacific Northwest. As you read, ask yourself how significant a setting is and what it adds to the meaning of a story. Remember that setting refers to time as well as place.
所有短篇小说至少有一个主题——一个抽象的概念,如爱情、战争、友谊、复仇或艺术——通过情节、人物等栩栩如生地呈现出来。确定一个或多个主题是理解故事的首要关键之一,但不是终点。注意一下主题是如何展开的。它是明显的还是微妙的?哪些动作、事件或符号使你明白主题?通常,故事的驱动力是作者想要传达有关特定主题的愿望,让读者以某种方式思考和感受。首先问问自己,作者似乎在谈论爱情、战争或你已注意到的任何主题;其次,你是否同意作者的看法;最后,为什么或为什么不。
All short stories have at least one theme — an abstract concept such as love, war, friendship, revenge, or art — brought to life and made real through the plot, characters, and so on. Identifying a theme or themes is one of the first keys to understanding a story, but it is not the end point. Pay some attention to how the theme is developed. Is it blatant or subtle? What actions, events, or symbols make the theme apparent to you? Generally, the driving force of a story is the author’s desire to convey something about a particular theme, to make readers think and feel in a certain way. First ask yourself what the author seems to be saying about love or war or whatever themes you have noted; second, whether you agree with the author’s perceptions; and finally, why or why not.
有些学生在老师或同学开始谈论象征意义时会感到沮丧。我们怎么知道作者是想进行象征性解读?也许那朵花只是一朵真正的花,而不是像有些读者坚持的那样,是青春、生命和再生的象征。即使它是一种象征,我们怎么知道我们解读得正确?虽然很多花只是花,学生也应该谨慎识别象征,但故事中的图像越突出,就越有可能被象征性地解读。细心的作家会选择最具影响力的文字和图像,让它们充满尽可能多的意义,并邀请读者去解读它们。当约翰·斯坦贝克将他的故事命名为“菊花”时,我们最好问一问,这些花真的只是植物吗,或者我们是否被要求寻找更大的意义。
Some students get frustrated when their instructors or their classmates begin to talk about symbolism. How do we know that an author intended a symbolic reading? Maybe that flower is just a real flower, not a stand-in for youth or for life and regeneration as some readers insist. And even if it is a symbol, how do we know we are reading it correctly? While it’s true that plenty of flowers are simply flowers, and while students should identify symbols with caution, the more prominent an image in a story, the more likely it is meant to be read symbolically. Careful writers choose their words and images for maximum impact, filling them with as much meaning as possible and inviting their readers to interpret them. When John Steinbeck entitles his story “The Chrysanthemums,” we would do well to ask if the flowers are really just plants or if we are being asked to look for a greater significance.
这里要分离出的小说的最后一个元素是风格,有时也被称为语气或语言。一段文字可能让你觉得悲伤或轻松,正式或随意。它可能让你感到怀旧,也可能让你心潮澎湃。不过,更困难的是分离出造成特定语气或效果的语言元素。寻找产生这些效果的典型风格元素。措辞是高雅而艰深的,还是平凡而简单的?句子是长而复杂,还是短而中肯?有对话吗?如果有,说这段对话的人物给人留下什么印象?风格在整个故事中保持一致吗,还是有所变化?作者省略了什么?密切关注这些语言问题将使你更深入地了解一个特定故事是如何达到其效果的。
The final element of fiction isolated here is style, sometimes spoken of under the heading of tone or language. A text may strike you as sad or lighthearted, formal or casual. It may make you feel nostalgic, or it may make your heart race with excitement. Somewhat more difficult, though, is isolating the elements of language that contribute to a particular tone or effect. Look for characteristic stylistic elements that create these effects. Is the diction elevated and difficult, or ordinary and simple? Are the sentences long and complex, or short and to the point? Is there dialogue? If so, how do the characters who speak this dialogue come across? Does the style stay consistent throughout the story, or does it change? What does the author leave out? Paying close attention to linguistic matters like these will take you far in your understanding of how a particular story achieves its effect.
阅读夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼的《黄色壁纸》(第 196 页)和凯特·肖邦的《一小时的故事》(第 180 页),我们在下面进行了注释。这两个故事都探讨了女性身份和自由的问题。有关有助于您思考小说元素如何在这些故事中发挥作用的问题,请参阅《主动阅读问题:小说》,第 10 页。
Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (p. 196) and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” (p. 180), which we have annotated below. Both stories explore issues of women’s identities and freedom. For questions that will help you consider how the elements of fiction work in these stories, see Questions for Active Reading: Fiction, p. 10.
(1851–1904)
[1851–1904]
由于知道马拉德夫人患有心脏病,所以他们尽可能小心翼翼地以温和的方式告诉她丈夫去世的消息。
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.
是她姐姐约瑟芬告诉她的,她断断续续地用含蓄的暗示告诉了她。她丈夫的朋友理查兹也在那里,就在她身边。当收到铁路灾难的消息时,他正在报社,布伦特利·马拉德的名字位列“遇难者”名单之首。他只花了一点时间通过第二封电报来确认消息的真实性,并赶紧抢在任何不那么细心、不那么温柔的朋友之前带走了这个悲伤的消息。
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed.” He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
她的家人和朋友似乎认为她很娇气。
Her family and friends seem to think she’s delicate.
她没有像许多女人一样听到这个故事,她无法理解其中的意义。她立刻扑在姐姐怀里,突然间,疯狂地哭了起来。当悲伤的风暴平息后,她独自回到了自己的房间。她不想让任何人跟随她。
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.
敞开的窗户对面,放着一张舒适宽敞的扶手椅。她坐了进去,身体的疲惫感萦绕在她的全身,似乎已经蔓延到她的灵魂。
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
她看见屋前空旷的广场上,树梢因春天的新生而颤动。空气中弥漫着雨水的清香。下面的街道上,一个小贩正在叫卖货物。远处有人在唱歌,歌声隐约传到她耳中,无数只麻雀在屋檐上叽叽喳喳地叫着。
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
多么美好的一天。肖邦为什么要花这么长的时间在这么短的故事里描述它,尤其是一个关于死亡的故事?
A beautiful day. Why does Chopin take the time to describe it in such a short story, especially one about a death?
在她窗户对面的西边,厚厚的云层之间,偶尔露出几片蓝天。
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
她坐着,头仰靠在椅垫上,一动不动,只有当她抽泣起来时,她才会颤抖,就像一个哭着睡着的孩子在梦中继续抽泣一样。
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who had cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.
她很年轻,面容清秀、平静,脸上的线条透露出一种压抑,甚至还透露出某种力量。但现在她的眼睛里却有一种呆滞的凝视,目光凝视着远处的一片蓝天。那不是沉思的目光,而是表明她暂时停止了理智的思考。
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.
有什么东西正在向她袭来,她正恐惧地等待着。那是什么?她不知道;它太微妙、太难以捉摸,无法说出。但她感觉到它从天空中爬出来,通过空气中的声音、气味和色彩向她靠近。
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.
不祥之兆。会发生什么?是身体上的还是情感上的?
Ominous. What could be coming? Something physical or emotional?
现在她的胸部剧烈起伏。她开始意识到这个正在向她靠近并想要占据她的东西,她努力用自己的意志将它击退——尽管她的两只白皙纤细的手无能为力。
Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will — as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.
当她放纵自己时,她微张的双唇中悄悄吐出了几个字。她一遍又一遍地低声念道:“自由,自由,自由!”她眼中空洞的目光和恐惧的神情消失了。她的眼睛依然敏锐而明亮。她的脉搏跳动得很快,奔腾的血液温暖着她身体的每一寸,让她感到放松。
When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.
她没有停下来问自己是不是被一种巨大的喜悦所笼罩。清晰而崇高的认知使她认为这个建议微不足道。
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
怎么会是喜悦呢?她的情绪似乎瞬息万变,甚至对她自己来说也难以跟上。
How could it be joy? Her emotions seem quick to change and hard to keep up with, even for her.
她知道,当她看到那双温柔的双手在死亡中合拢时,她会再次哭泣;那张从未用爱意注视过她的脸,僵硬、灰暗、死寂。但她看到,在那痛苦的时刻之后,未来漫长的岁月将完全属于她。她张开双臂迎接他们。
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
在未来的岁月里,没有人会为她而活,她会为自己而活。没有强大的意志会让她盲目地坚持自己的意志,而男人和女人都认为他们有权将个人意志强加给同胞。在她那短暂的顿悟时刻,无论出于善意还是恶意,这种行为都同样被视为罪行。
There would be no one to live for her during those coming years: she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
他们的婚姻不幸福吗?她的朋友和家人会这么认为吗?她的丈夫会这么认为吗?
Was their marriage unhappy? Would her friends and family think so? Would her husband have thought so?
然而她曾经爱过他——有时。但通常她并不爱他。那又有什么关系呢!她突然意识到,在这种自我肯定的占有欲面前,爱情这个未解之谜算什么呢?这种自我肯定是她生命中最强烈的冲动!
And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
“自由!身体和灵魂都自由了!”她不停地低声说。
“Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.
约瑟芬跪在关着的门前,嘴唇贴在钥匙孔上,恳求她进来。“路易丝,开门!我求求你,开门吧——你会生病的。你在干什么,路易丝?看在上帝的份上,开门吧。”
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door — you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”
“走开。我不会让自己生病的。”不;她正透过那扇敞开的窗户,享受生命的灵丹妙药。
“Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.
她是否变得更自信了?更坚强了?
Has she become more assertive? Stronger?
她幻想着未来的日子。春天、夏天,还有她自己的各种日子。她轻轻地祈祷,希望生命能够长久。就在昨天,她还战栗地想到,生命能够长久。
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
她终于站起来,在姐姐的恳求下开了门。她眼中闪烁着狂热的胜利之光,不知不觉地像个胜利女神。她搂着姐姐的腰,一起走下楼梯。理查兹站在楼下等着她们。
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister’s importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister’s waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.
有人用钥匙打开前门。进来的是布伦特利·马拉德,他有点风尘仆仆,镇定自若地背着旅行包和雨伞。他离事故现场很远,甚至不知道那里发生了事故。他惊讶地站在那里,听着约瑟芬的尖叫声,听着理查兹迅速地挡住他,不让妻子看到他。
Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his gripsack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.
但理查兹来得太晚了。
But Richards was too late.
医生赶来时,他们说她死于心脏病——死于致命的喜悦。
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease — of joy that kills.
令人惊讶且讽刺的结局。
Surprising, ironic ending.
[1894年]
[1894]
梅兰妮·史密斯的任务是比较和对比凯特·肖邦的《一小时的故事》和夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼的《黄色墙纸》中她选择的元素,并得出一些关于十九世纪生活的结论。梅兰妮没有研究女主角,而是选择关注故事中的次要男性角色。她逐一进行了比较,旨在证明这些男人并不是坏人,尽管她在课堂上听到了他们的不同看法。相反,他们受到社会训练的引导,行为方式在当时是完全可以接受的,即使现在的读者会觉得他们很压抑。
Melanie Smith was given the assignment to compare and contrast an element of her choosing in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and to draw some conclusions about life in the nineteenth century. Rather than examining the female protagonists, Melanie chose to focus on the minor male characters in the stories. She wrote a point-by-point comparison designed to demonstrate that these men, despite the opinions of them that she heard expressed in class, were not bad people. Rather, they were led by their social training to behave in ways that were perfectly acceptable in their day, even if they now strike readers as oppressive.
段落上方的文字为,Melanie Smith 哈勒特教授,英语 109,2020 年 5 月 17 日。标题为,坏婚姻中的好丈夫。第一段内容为,当 21 世纪的读者第一次接触早期文学作品时,我们很容易将自己的行为标准应用于人物和情境。凯特·肖邦的《一小时的故事》和夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼的《黄色壁纸》就是两个很好的例子。这两部作品均由 19 世纪最后十年的美国女性创作,让我们得以了解当时中产阶级女性的生活,尤其是婚姻。按照现代标准,两位主角的丈夫,尤其是《黄色壁纸》中的约翰,似乎对妻子的控制欲几乎令人难以忍受。然而,从 19 世纪末的角度来看,他们的行为看起来截然不同。两个男人本质上都是善意的,并努力做个好丈夫。他们唯一真正的罪行是过于执着于维多利亚时代关于女性和婚姻的传统观念。这段文字对应的注释是:“梅兰妮表示她将专注于这两个故事,并声称她将继续支持这两个故事。”
Text above the paragraph reads, Melanie Smith Professor Hallet, English 109, 17 May 2020. The title reads, Good Husbands in Bad Marriages. The first paragraph reads, When twenty-first-century readers first encounter literature of earlier times, it is easy for us to apply our own standards of conduct to the characters and situations. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” offer two good examples of this. Both written by American women in the last decade of the nineteenth century, the stories give us a look into the lives, and especially the marriages, of middle-class women of the time. By modern standards, the husbands of the two protagonists, particularly John in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” seem almost unbearably controlling of their wives. From the vantage point of the late nineteenth century, however, their behavior looks quite different. Both men are essentially well meaning and try to be good husbands. Their only real crime is that they adhere too closely to the conventional Victorian wisdom about women and marriage. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Melanie signals that she will focus on these two stories and makes a claim about them that she will go on to support.”
第一段写道:首先,这两个人在社区中都备受尊敬。《黄色墙纸》中的约翰被描述为“一位地位很高的医生”,他“非常害怕迷信,公开嘲笑任何无法感觉、看到和用数字记录下来的事物”(196-197)。这些正是我们可能期望在一位受人尊敬的医生身上发现的品质,即使在今天也是如此。《一小时的故事》中的布伦特利·马拉德靠什么谋生,这一点不太清楚。(事实上,肖邦的故事太短了,我们对任何一个角色都了解甚少。)但他和他的妻子似乎住在一所舒适的房子里,他们被家人和朋友包围着,这表明他们过着安全、人脉广泛的生活。在十九世纪,一个男人最重要的工作是照顾他的妻子和家人,这两个故事中的男人似乎都很好地完成了这项工作。这段注释的注释是:“梅兰妮对男性角色共同点的第一次观察。”第二段写道,除了为他们提供舒适的生活之外,似乎两个男人都爱他们的妻子。当她相信丈夫已经去世时,马拉德夫人想到了他“善良、温柔的双手,在死亡中合拢;那张脸上从未有过的爱意”(181)。她自己对他的爱不太确定,这也许就是为什么当他死时她感到“自由”(181),但他对她的爱似乎是真诚的。《黄色壁纸》中约翰的情况要复杂一些。对于现代读者来说,他对待妻子似乎更像是一个孩子,而不是一个成年女性。他对她的行为非常克制,有一次他甚至称她为“小女孩”(203)。但他也称她为“我的宝贝”和“亲爱的”(204),她也承认,“他非常爱我”(202)。当他不得不离开她时,他甚至让妹妹来照顾她,这是一种善意的举动,即使这看起来有点像他不信任他的妻子。如果叙述者有能力了解情况,并且不怀疑丈夫的爱,我们有什么权利去评判呢?对应于本段的注释是“平稳过渡到下一个要点”。第三段是这样的,在一定程度上,我们必须承认,两位丈夫都因为过度保护而压迫了他们的妻子。这两个故事的部分意义在于表明,即使是当今可以接受的、所谓的好婚姻,也可能对女性过于限制。对应于本段的注释是“梅兰妮确立了两位丈夫之间的相似之处。”
The first paragraph reads, To begin with, both men are well respected in their communities. John in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is described as “a physician of high standing” who has “an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (196-197). These are just the qualities that we might expect to find in a respectable doctor, even today. It is less clear what Brently Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” does for a living. (In fact, Chopin’s story is so short that we learn fairly little about any of the characters.) But he and his wife seem to live in a comfortable house, and they are surrounded by family and friends, suggesting a secure, well-connected lifestyle. In the nineteenth century, a man’s most important job was to take care of his wife and family, and both men in these stories seem to be performing this job very well. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Melanie’s first observation about what the male characters have in common.” The second paragraph reads, In addition to providing a comfortable life for them, it also seems that both men love their wives. When she believes her husband has died, Mrs. Mallard thinks of his “kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (181). Her own love for him is less certain, which may be why she feels “free” (181) when he dies, but his love for her seems genuine. The case of John in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a bit more complicated. To a modern reader, it seems that he treats his wife more like a child than a grown woman. He puts serious restraints on her actions, and at one point he even calls her “little girl” (203). But he also calls her “my darling” and “dear” (204), and she does admit, “He loves me very dearly” (202). When he has to leave her alone, he even has his sister come to look after her, which is a kind gesture, even if it seems a bit like he doesn’t trust his wife. If the narrator, who is in a position to know, doesn’t doubt her husband’s love, what gives us the right to judge it? The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “A smooth transition into the next point.” The third paragraph reads, To a certain extent, we must admit that both husbands do oppress their wives by being overprotective. Part of the point of both stories is to show how even acceptable, supposedly good marriages of the day could be overly confining to women. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Melanie establishes a similarity between the husbands.”
第一段写道,当我们看到约翰对妻子的限制有多严格时,这一点尤其明显——甚至禁止她去看望表亲或写信——每个人都希望她服从他的要求。虽然马拉德夫人并没有像《黄色壁纸》的叙述者那样被限制在房子或房间里,但她还是呆在屋子里,渴望地望着窗外,这时她意识到自己想要自由。但读者不应该责怪丈夫,因为他们真的不是故意要压迫她们。与本段相对应的注释是:“梅兰妮对男性角色共同点的第一次观察。”第二段写道,事实上,两位妻子的身体都有些虚弱。马拉德夫人“患有心脏病”(180),《黄色壁纸》的叙述者似乎有很多身体和精神上的问题,所以她们的丈夫担心她们也就不足为奇了。导致这些男人如此行事的并不是邪恶意图,而只是无知。约翰看起来不像布伦特利那么无辜,因为他太傲慢了,而且他对妻子的行为和行动施加了如此多的限制,但这种态度在当时很正常,作为一名医生,约翰似乎在做他认为最好的事情。与本段相对应的注释是“妻子之间的一个相似之处”。第三段写道,故事中的所有其他角色都认为这两个男人都是好丈夫,充满爱心,这表明社会会认可他们的行为。即使是这些压迫性婚姻的受害者妻子自己,也根本不责怪男人。《黄色壁纸》的叙述者甚至认为她没有更多地感激约翰的关爱是“忘恩负义的”(198)。一旦我们理解了这一点,读者也不应该太快责怪男人。真正的责任在于社会,它让这些男人认为女人是脆弱的,需要保护免受世界的伤害。男人可能是造成女性苦难的直接原因,但真正的原因要深远得多,与文化态度以及男人如何被培养来保护和供养女性有关。与此段相对应的注释是:“梅兰妮回到了她最初的主张。”
The first paragraph reads, This is especially obvious when we see how much John restricts his wife — forbidding her even to visit her cousins or to write letters — and how everyone expects her to submit to his demands. Though Mrs. Mallard isn’t literally confined to a house or a room the way the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is, she stays inside the house and is looking out the window longingly when she realizes she wants to be free. But it is important for a reader not to blame the husbands, because they really don’t intend to be oppressive. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Melanie’s first observation about what the male characters have in common.” The second paragraph reads, In fact, it is true that both of the wives are in somewhat frail health. Mrs. Mallard is “afflicted with a heart trouble” (180), and the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” seems to have many physical and mental problems, so it is not surprising that their husbands worry about them. It is not evil intent that leads the men to act as they do; it is simply ignorance. John seems less innocent than Brently because he is so patronizing and he puts such restrictions on his wife’s behavior and movement, but that kind of attitude was normal for the day, and as a doctor, John seems to be doing what he really thinks is best. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “A point of similarity between the wives.” The third paragraph reads, all the other characters in the stories see both men as good and loving husbands, which suggests that society would have approved of their behavior. Even the wives themselves, who are the victims of these oppressive marriages, don’t blame the men at all. The narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” even thinks she is “ungrateful” (198) for not appreciating John’s loving care more. Once we understand this, readers should not be too quick to blame the men either. The real blame falls to the society that gave these men the idea that women are frail and need protection from the world. The men may be the immediate cause of the women’s suffering, but the real cause is much deeper and has to do with cultural attitudes and how the men were brought up to protect and provide for women. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Melanie returns to her original claim.”
“这段文字写道,生活在一个社会中的大多数人看不到这个社会传统思维和生活方式的缺陷。我们现在知道,女性有能力和独立,像保护孩子一样保护她们最终弊大于利。但在维多利亚时代晚期,这种想法对大多数人(无论男女)来说要么愚蠢,要么危险地激进。然而,像这样的故事可以帮助他们的原始读者开始思考这些所谓的美好婚姻是多么的局限。幸运的是,肖邦和吉尔曼等作家不时出现,向我们展示我们传统思维中的问题,这样社会就可以向前发展,我们就可以开始明白,即使是最善意的行为有时也应该受到质疑。与这段文字相对应的注释是:“梅兰妮的结论主张文学能够挑战现状。” 引用作品:肖邦,凯特。“一小时的故事。” 《文学:便携式选集》,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年,第 180-182 页。Gilman,Charlotte Perkins。“黄色壁纸。”Gardner 等人,第 196-210 页。
"The paragraph reads, Most people who live in a society don’t see the flaws in that society’s conventional ways of thinking and living. We now know that women are capable and independent and that protecting them as if they were children ultimately does more harm than good. But in the late Victorian era, such an idea would have seemed either silly or dangerously radical to most people, men and women alike. Stories like these, however, could have helped their original readers begin to think about how confining these supposedly good marriages were. Fortunately, authors such as Chopin and Gilman come along from time to time and show us the problems in our conventional thinking, so society can move forward and we can begin to see how even the most well-meaning actions should sometimes be questioned. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Melanie’s conclusion argues for the idea that literature is capable of challenging the status quo.” Work cited: Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Literature: A Portable Anthology , edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, pp. 180-182. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gardner et al., pp. 196-210."
诗歌可以分为几个主要的子流派和类型。例如,叙事诗讲述一个故事。史诗是叙事诗的一个子流派,是一首叙述英雄事件的长诗。抒情诗表达了特定诗人或演说者的个人思想和感受。许多其他类型的诗歌都有悠久的历史。
Poetry may be divided into several major subgenres and types. A narrative poem, for instance, tells a story. An epic, a subgenre of narrative, is a long poem that narrates heroic events. A lyric poem expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of a particular poet or speaker. And many other types of poems have venerable histories.
和故事一样,在准备写诗时,你应该注意某些元素。有时这些元素与小说相同。例如,一首叙事诗会有情节、背景和人物,所有的诗都是从特定的角度讲述的。只要小说的任何元素能帮助你理解一首诗,就一定要在分析中运用它们。然而,诗歌确实为读者带来了一系列特殊的关注点,诗歌的元素经常为分析提供丰富的依据。
As with stories, you should be aware of certain elements as you prepare to write about poetry. Sometimes these elements are the same as for fiction. A narrative poem, for instance, will have a plot, setting, and characters, and all poems speak from a particular point of view. To the extent that any of the elements of fiction help you understand a poem, by all means use them in your analysis. Poetry, however, does present a special set of concerns for a reader, and elements of poetry frequently provide rich ground for analysis.
首先,考虑一下这首诗的说话人。想象有人在大声朗诵这首诗。说话的人是谁?说话人在哪里?他或她的心情如何?有时,说话的人是诗人,但诗歌常常从不同的角度讲述,就像短篇小说可能从与作者截然不同的角度讲述一样。这种情况并不总是很明显,但有些诗人会在标题中表明说话人是谁,例如“热情的牧羊人对他的爱人说”(第 567 页)和“J. Alfred Prufrock 的情歌”(第 655 页)。注意那些能帮助你识别说话人的迹象,记住有些诗不止一个人在说话。
First, consider the speaker of the poem. Imagine that someone is saying the words of this poem aloud. Who is speaking, where is this speaker, and what is his or her state of mind? Sometimes, the voice is that of the poet, but frequently a poem speaks from a different perspective, just as a short story might be from a point of view very different from the author’s. It’s not always apparent when this is the case, but some poets will signal who the speaker is in a title, such as “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (p. 567) and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (p. 655). Be alert to signals that will help you recognize the speaker, and remember that some poems have more than one speaker.
还要注意诗中的其他人物,尤其是隐含的听众。这首诗是写给“你”的吗?如果这首诗是大声朗诵的,那么应该由谁来听呢?马修·阿诺德在他的诗《多佛海滩》(第 628 页)的开头写道:“来到窗前,夜晚的空气很甜美!”他给了我们如何阅读这首诗的重要线索。我们应该想象说话者和隐含的听众一起在一个房间里,窗户向夜晚敞开。当我们继续阅读时,我们可以寻找进一步的线索,了解这两个人是谁,以及他们为什么在这个晚上在一起。许多诗歌在说话者的“我”和听众的“你”之间建立了一种关系;然而,情况并非总是如此。有时说话者并没有向“你”说话,而是提供了一种更哲学的冥想,而这种冥想并没有明确地针对听众。考虑一下效果:他们感觉更抽象了吗?它们是否脱离了时间和地点的物质条件?它们是否提供了确定性或解决方案?关于说话者和听众的问题对于你对诗歌的分析至关重要。
Be attentive also to any other persons in the poem, particularly an implied listener. Is there a “you” to whom the poem is addressed? If the poem is being spoken aloud, who is supposed to hear it? When, early in his poem “Dover Beach” (p. 628), Matthew Arnold writes, “Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!” he gives us an important clue as to how to read the poem. We should imagine both the speaker and the implied listener together in a room, with a window open to the night. As we read on, we can look for further clues as to who these two people are and why they are together on this night. Many poems create a relationship between the “I” of the speaker and the “you” of the listener; however, that is not always the case. Sometimes the speaker does not address a “you” and instead provides a more philosophical meditation that isn’t explicitly addressed to a listener. Consider the effect: Do they feel more abstract? Are they detached from the material conditions of time and place? Do they provide certainty or resolution? The questions about the speaker and the listener are crucial to your analysis of poetry.
正如你应该接受故事中经常有象征这一观点一样,你也应该特别关注诗歌中的意象。尽管诗歌经常涉及爱情或死亡等宏大主题,但它们很少在这些抽象概念上停留太久。相反,最好的诗歌试图通过创造直接吸引感官的生动形象来使抽象概念具体化。一首写得好的诗歌会为细心的读者提供视觉、声音、味觉、气味和感觉。分离出这些意象,思考一下它们让你想到什么,让你有什么感觉。它们是典型的还是意料之外的?
Just as you should be open to the idea that there are frequently symbols in stories, you should pay special attention to the images in poems. Although poems are often about such grand themes as love or death, they rarely dwell long in these abstractions. Rather, the best poetry seeks to make the abstraction concrete by creating vivid images appealing directly to the senses. A well-written poem will provide the mind of an attentive reader with sights, sounds, tastes, scents, and sensations. Isolate these images and give some thought to what they make you think and how they make you feel. Are they typical or unexpected?
请欣赏约翰·多恩的《明天好》中的以下摘录:
Consider the following excerpt from John Donne’s “The Good-Morrow”:
- 我的脸出现在你的眼中,你的脸出现在我的眼中,
- 真诚朴实的心安息在脸上;
- 哪里可以找到更好的两个半球,
- 没有尖锐的北方,没有衰落的西方?(第 15-18 行)
- My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
- And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
- Where can we find two better hemispheres,
- Without sharp north, without declining west? (lines 15–18)
在上面的诗句中,多恩赞美了说话者和他心仪对象之间的爱情,将恋人的脸比作地球仪上的两个“半球”。在这首诗的其他地方,多恩使用了从航海和制图世界借用的意象;在这里,他认为恋人的脸比探险家和学者用来理解世界的任何工具都更先进。通过研究一首诗中的意象、它们的位置、并置和效果,你将对理解整首诗大有裨益。
In the above lines, Donne celebrates the love between the speaker and his object of desire, comparing the faces of the lovers to two “hemispheres” on globes. Elsewhere in the poem, Donne uses imagery that is borrowed from the world of navigation and mapping; here, he suggests that the lovers’ faces are an improvement upon whatever instruments explorers and learned men use to understand the world. By examining the images in a poem, their placement, juxtaposition, and effect, you will have gone a long way toward understanding the poem as a whole.
在所有体裁中,诗歌是最自觉地强调语言的体裁,因此有必要特别注意诗歌的声音。事实上,大声朗读一首诗几次总是一个好主意,让你有机会体验声音在诗歌意义中所起的作用。
Of all the genres, poetry is the one that most self-consciously highlights language, so it is necessary to pay special attention to the sounds of a poem. In fact, it is always a good idea to read a poem aloud several times, giving yourself the opportunity to experience the role that sound plays in the poem’s meaning.
20 世纪之前,许多用英语写的诗歌都以某种形式押韵,当代诗人仍在尝试押韵的效果。在我们 21 世纪的人们听来,押韵可能显得生硬或过时,但请记住,押韵在其创作的文化背景中具有强大的社会意义。即使在今天,押韵仍然是流行歌曲中一种可行且重要的惯例,毕竟流行歌曲也是一种诗歌形式。在阅读诗歌时,问问自己押韵是如何起作用的。它们是否创造了并置?意义的对齐?随着诗歌的发展,这种关系会产生什么效果?
Much of the poetry written in English before the twentieth century was written in some form of rhyme, and contemporary poets continue to experiment with its effects. Rhymes may seem stilted or old-fashioned to our twenty-first-century ears, but keep in mind that rhymes have powerful social meanings in the cultural context in which they’re written. And even today rhyme remains a viable and significant convention in popular songs, which are, after all, a form of poetry. As you read poems, ask yourself how rhymes work. Do they create juxtapositions? Alignments of meaning? And what is the effect of that relationship as the poem progresses?
虽然看诗行的结尾来了解诗人如何使用声音很重要,但看诗行内部也很重要。诗人使用押韵或重复的元音来创造听觉效果。请考虑杰拉德·曼利·霍普金斯的《上帝的宏伟》中的以下结尾:
While it is important to look at the end of a line to see how the poet uses sounds, it is also important to look inside the line. Poets use assonance, or repeated vowel sounds, to create an aural effect. Consider the following closing lines from Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “God’s Grandeur”:
- 尽管黑色西部的最后一丝灯光也消失了
- 哦,早晨,在东方的棕色边缘,泉水涌出——
- 因为圣灵在弯曲的
- 世界怀着温暖的胸怀和啊!明亮的翅膀。(第 11-14 行)
- And though the last lights off the black West went
- Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
- Because the Holy Ghost óver the bent
- World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings. (lines 11–14)
在这些诗行中,霍普金斯特别关注“ee”和“oh”的发音。注意第 12 行中的“brink”、“eastward”和“springs”,以及第 14 行中“wings”中“ee”音的延续。注意第 12 行中的“Oh”一词,以及第 13 行中的“Holy”、“Ghost”和“over”一词。阅读每一行时,问问自己:诗人为什么要将这些发音对齐?这些发音加快了诗行的节奏还是减慢了节奏?这些发音和词语揭示了诗人对“上帝的伟大”的赞美的哪些方面?
Throughout these lines, Hopkins pays special attention to the “ee” and “oh” sounds. Notice “brink,” “eastward,” and “springs” in line 12, and then the continuation of the “ee” sound in “wings” in line 14. Notice the word “Oh” in line 12, and then the words “Holy,” “Ghost,” and “over” in line 13. As you read through each line, ask yourself: Why does the poet align these sounds? Do these sounds speed up the tempo of the line, or slow it down? What do these sounds — and words — reveal about the poet’s praise of “God’s Grandeur”?
诗人还使用辅音,即重复的辅音,来创造辅音之间的对齐和并列。请看克里斯托弗·马洛的《热情的牧羊人对他的爱》(第 567 页)中的开篇诗句:
Poets also use consonance, repeated consonant sounds, to create alignments and juxtapositions among consonants. Consider these first lines from Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (p. 567):
- 来和我一起生活,做我的爱人,
- 我们将证明所有的快乐(第 1-2 行)
- Come live with me and be my love,
- And we will all the pleasures prove (lines 1–2)
在第一行中,马洛将“live”与“love”对齐,以表明同居与浪漫之间存在着一种等式。在第二行中,他将“pleasures prove”中的p音对齐;此外, “love”和“prove”的斜韵也创造了行间的意义。爱情中有什么“证据”?爱情会让说话者感到最有活力吗?
In line 1, Marlowe aligns “live” with “love” to suggest that there is an equation between cohabitation and romance. In line 2, he aligns the p sound in “pleasures prove”; in addition, though, the slant rhyme of “love” and “prove” also creates meaning between the lines. What “proof” is there in love? Is love what will make the speaker feel most alive?
英语诗歌既有重音节又有音节。也就是说,诗人在创作每一行诗时既计算重音的数量,也计算音节的数量。音节和重音的模式有诸如抑扬格五音步和长短格四音步之类的名称,而且每种音节都有自己独特的属性和效果。您的文学老师可能会帮助您了解音节的具体内容,或者您可以在网上找到几个网站来解释确定诗歌音节的艺术——称为韵律。无论您是否清楚地理解了英语诗歌的众多音节,当您阅读一首诗时,请听听每一行以找出它包含多少个重音和音节。如果您能确定那个音节,请思考诗人如何使用——以及颠覆——该公式作为诗歌策略的一部分。
Poetry written in English is both accentual and syllabic. That is, poets count the number of accents as well as the number of syllables as they create each line of poetry. Patterns of syllable and accent have names like iambic pentameter and dactylic tetrameter, and each meter has its own unique properties and effects. Your literature instructor may help you learn about the specifics of meter, or you can find several sites online that explain the art — called scansion — of determining the meter of a poem. Whether or not you have a clear understanding of the many meters of poetry in English, when you read a poem, listen to each line to find out how many accents and syllables it contains. If you can determine what that meter is, consider how the poet uses — and subverts — that formula as part of a strategy for the poem.
用英语写作的诗人使用来自不同传统的几十种传统形式。其中最常见的形式是十四行诗、维拉内拉诗和民谣诗,但是种类太多,无法在此一一列举。当你阅读传统形式的诗歌时,可以将该形式视为一种模板,诗人可以在其中安排和探索具有挑战性的情感和智力材料。例如,十四行诗具有简洁的十四行结构,使诗人能够在非常紧凑的空间中阐述宗教、浪漫或哲学论点。当你阅读十四行诗时,你可能会问自己:它的形式与民谣等较长、更具叙事性的形式有何不同?本章后面的两首样诗提供了一个很好的机会来比较短小、非常传统的形式与较长的形式。
Poets writing in English use dozens of traditional forms from a variety of traditions. Some of the most common of these forms are the sonnet, the villanelle, and the ballad, but there are too many to name here. As you read a poem in a traditional form, think of the form as a kind of template in which poets arrange and explore challenging emotional and intellectual material. A sonnet, for example, has a concise fourteen-line structure that allows the poet to address a religious, romantic, or philosophical argument in a very compressed space. As you read a sonnet, you might ask yourself: What does its form accomplish that is different from a longer, more narrative-driven form like a ballad? The two sample poems later in this chapter provide a good opportunity to compare a short, highly conventional form with a longer one.
还要注意的是,许多当代诗人都用自由诗体写作,这意味着他们不一定在诗歌中使用严格的传统形式或韵律。这并不意味着自由诗体诗人的写作没有规则;它只是意味着诗人根据每首诗的独特需求创建自己的系统。
Note, too, that many contemporary poets write in free verse, which means that they don’t necessarily use a strict traditional form or meter for their poems. That doesn’t mean that the free verse poet is writing without rules; it just means that the poet is creating his or her own system for the unique needs of each poem.
诗节是指将诗行组合成一个整体。诗节一词源自意大利语“房间”。阅读诗歌时,将每节想象成一个房间,有各自的对应关系,并思考该节如何产生独特的效果。有时一节可能只有一行;有时诗人会创建一连串没有节间断的诗行。所有这些选择都会为诗歌读者带来独特的效果。
A stanza is any grouping of lines of poetry into a unit. The term stanza comes from the Italian word for “room.” As you read poetry, imagine each stanza as a room with its own correspondences and relationships, and consider how that stanza creates a singular effect. Sometimes a stanza can be one line long; sometimes the poet creates a block of lines with no stanza breaks. All of these choices create distinct effects for readers of poetry.
行线——即诗人如何在诗中使用换行符——是诗歌的重要组成部分。诗人有时会在行末使用标点符号,但更常见的是,他们会将行末停顿与跨行行混合使用。跨行行是指行末未使用逗号、破折号或句号停顿。其含义会延伸到下一行,产生加速和强度的效果。诗人还会在行间使用停顿来创造行线模式的变化。停顿是由逗号、冒号、分号、破折号、句号或空格造成的深度停顿。
Lineation — or how a poet uses the line breaks in the poem — is a crucial component of poetry. Sometimes poets use punctuation at the ends of lines, but more often they mix end-stopped lines with enjambed lines. Enjambment occurs when the line is not end-stopped with a comma, dash, or period. Its meaning spills over onto the next line, creating the effect of acceleration and intensity. Poets also use caesuras in the middle of their lines to create variety in the pattern of the line. A caesura is a deep pause created by a comma, colon, semicolon, dash, period, or white space.
花几分钟阅读威廉·莎士比亚的十四行诗 116和 TS 艾略特的《J. 阿尔弗雷德·普鲁弗洛克的情歌》,并考虑学生对诗歌的注释。这两首诗都很复杂,尽管方式截然不同。你在这些诗中注意到了哪些诗歌元素?除了注释中提到的那些,你还有什么见解?(见主动阅读问题:诗歌,第 14 页。)
Take a few minutes to read William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 and T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and consider the student annotations that accompany the poems. Both of these poems are complex, though in very different ways. What elements of poetry do you notice in these poems? What insights do you have in addition to those suggested by the annotations? (See Questions for Active Reading: Poetry, p. 14.)
(1564–1616)
[1564–1616]
“十四行诗的内容如下。让我不要在真心相爱的婚姻中承认障碍。爱不是爱,当它发现改变时,它会改变,或者用移除者弯曲来移除。哦,不,它是一个永远固定的标记(5),它看着暴风雨,从不动摇;它是每艘流浪船的星星,(上标度数符号)它的价值是未知的,虽然它的高度被测量。(上标度数符号)爱不是时间的傻瓜,虽然玫瑰色的嘴唇和脸颊在他弯曲的镰刀的指南针内;(10)爱不会随着他短暂的时光和星期而改变,但即使在毁灭的边缘也会坚持下去。(上标度数符号)如果这是错误的,并且在我身上得到证实,我永远不会写,也没有人爱过。十四行诗底部的注释注释定义显示了十四行诗中三个上标度数符号的对应定义,如下所示。第七行,树皮:船;第八行,被采取:被测量;行12、末日:审判日。在上述十四行诗中,“让我不要对真心相爱的人结婚”这句话的注释是:“和声:婚姻/思想。”在婚姻和思想中,字母m被加了下划线。“承认障碍。爱不是爱,当它发现改变时会改变,或弯曲以去除”这句话的注释是:“重复:爱/爱,改变/改变,去除/去除。”这句话的注释是:“看着暴风雨,从不动摇”这句话的注释是:“抽象的想法变成了具体的形象:暴风雨,船只。”这句话的注释是:“爱不是时间的傻瓜,尽管红润的嘴唇和脸颊”这句话的注释是:“红润的嘴唇和脸颊:经典的爱情诗意象。”这句话的注释是:“在他弯曲的镰刀的指南针内来”这句话的注释是:“镰刀是死亡的意象,对爱情诗来说并不常见。”短语“如果这是错误的,并且被证实,那么我永远不会写出来,也不会有人爱过。”有一个注释,写着“最后的韵是斜韵。”
"The sonnet reads as follows. Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O, no, it is an ever-fixèd mark (5) That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, (superscript degree symbol) Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. (superscript degree symbol) Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come; (10) Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (superscript degree symbol) If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. The gloss note definitions at the bottom of the sonnet shows the corresponding definitions to three superscript degree symbols in the sonnet, as follows. Line seven, Bark: Ship; Line eight, taken: Is measured; Line 12, doom: Judgement Day. In the above sonnet, the phrase “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” has an annotation that reads, “Consonance: marriage/minds.” The letter m is underlined in marriage and minds. The phrase “Admit impediments. Love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove” has an annotation that reads, “Repetition: love/love, alters/alteration, remover/remove.” The phrase “That looks on tempests and is never shaken” has an annotation that reads, “Abstract ideas become specific images: tempests, ships.” The phrase “Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks” has annotation that reads, “Rosy lips and cheeks: classic love poem images."" The phrase “Within his bending sickle’s compass come” has an annotation that reads, “Sickle is a death image, unusual for a love poem.” The phrase “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” has an annotation that reads, “Final rhyme is slant rhyme.”"
7. 树皮:船
7. bark: Ship
8. 已测量
8. taken: Is measured
12. 末日:审判日
12. doom: Judgment Day
注释的学生注意到了这首诗的结构特征(例如从抽象语言到具体语言的转变)和小规模的语言特征,例如谐音和单个单词的重复。这为理解这首诗提供了一个良好的开端;回答主动阅读问题:诗歌(第 14 页)将加深这种理解,使撰写关于这首诗的论文变得更加容易。
The student who annotated noticed both structural features of the poem (such as the move from abstract to concrete language) and small-scale language features, such as consonance and repetitions of individual words. This provides a good beginning to understanding the poem; answering the Questions for Active Reading: Poetry (p. 14) will deepen that understanding, making it easier to write a paper about the poem.
(1888–1965)
[1888–1965]
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
一个 che mai Tornasse al mondo 的人物,
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse。
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fonto
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non Torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza 主题 d'infamia ti rispondo。
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.
脚注说这是但丁的《地狱篇》。演讲者身处地狱。为什么要用地狱作为“情歌”的开头?
Footnote says this is from Dante’s Inferno. The speaker is in hell. Why start a “love song” with hell?
那你和我,我们走吧,[1]
Let us go then, you and I,[1]
当夜幕降临在天空
When the evening is spread out against the sky
就像躺在桌子上注射麻醉剂的病人;
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
让我们穿过几条半荒废的街道,
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
5窃窃私语声渐渐消退
5The muttering retreats
在廉价酒店度过的一夜不眠之夜
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
还有用牡蛎壳做成的锯末餐馆:[2]
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:[2]
街道就像一场乏味的争论
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
险恶用心
Of insidious intent
10让你思考一个难以回答的问题……
10To lead you to an overwhelming question …
哦,不要问“那是什么?”
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
让我们去拜访一下吧。[3]
Let us go and make our visit.[3]
谈论米开朗基罗。
Talking of Michelangelo.
15黄色的雾气在窗玻璃上摩擦,
15The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
黄色的烟雾在窗玻璃上摩擦着
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
用舌头舔舐着夜色的角落,[5]
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,[5]
徘徊在排水沟里的水池上,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
让烟囱里落下的煤灰落在它的背上,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
20从露台上溜过去,突然一跃,
20Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
那是一个温和的十月夜晚,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
在屋子里卷了一会儿,就睡着了。[6]
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.[6]
确实会有时间
And indeed there will be time
对于沿街飘来的黄色烟雾,
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
二十五用背摩擦着窗玻璃;
25Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
会有时间的,会有时间的[7]
There will be time, there will be time[7]
准备好一张脸去迎接你所遇见的面孔;
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
会有时间去杀戮和创造,
There will be time to murder and create,
以及所有工作和手上的日子的时间
And time for all the works and daysa of hands
三十那将问题抛到你的盘子上;
30That lift and drop a question on your plate;
你的时间和我的时间,[8]
Time for you and time for me,[8]
还有时间去犹豫一百次,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
经过上百次的设想和修改,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
在吃烤面包和喝茶之前。
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
谈论米开朗基罗。
Talking of Michelangelo.
确实会有时间
And indeed there will be time
思考“我敢吗?”以及“我敢吗?”
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
是时候转身走下楼梯了,
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
40我的头发中间有一块秃斑——
40With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(他们会说:“他的头发怎么越来越稀疏了?”)[10]
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)[10]
我的晨礼服,衣领紧贴着下巴,
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
我的领带华丽而朴素,但用一根简单的别针固定——
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(他们会说:“但是他的胳膊和腿多么细啊!”)
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
四十五我敢吗
45Do I dare
扰乱宇宙?[11]
Disturb the universe?[11]
一分钟后就有时间
In a minute there is time
对于一分钟就能推翻的决定和修改。
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
50经历过傍晚、早晨、下午,
50Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
我用咖啡勺来衡量我的生活;
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
我知道那些声音随着垂死的陨落而消逝
I know the voices dying with a dying fallb
远处房间里传来音乐声。
Beneath the music from a farther room.
那么我该如何推测呢?
So how should I presume?
55我已经认识了这些眼睛,认识了它们一切——
55And I have known the eyes already, known them all —
那双用固定的语气注视着你的眼睛,
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
当我被制定出来,四肢伸展地躺在针上,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
当我被钉在墙上,扭动着身子时,[13]
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,[13]
那我该如何开始
Then how should I begin
60把我的日子和人生的所有残局都吐出来?
60To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
我又该如何推测呢?
And how should I presume?
我已经了解了这些武器,了解了它们的一切——
And I have known the arms already, known them all —
戴着手镯的白皙而裸露的手臂
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(但在灯光下,垂下浅棕色的头发!)
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
65这是衣服上的香水吗
65Is it perfume from a dress
这是否让我离题太远了?
That makes me so digress?
扶手放在桌子上,或者围在披肩上。
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
• • •
• • •
70我该说,我曾在黄昏时穿过狭窄的街道
70Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
看着烟从烟斗里升起
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
那些身着衬衫、探出窗外的孤独男人?……
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? …
在寂静的海面上疾驰而过。
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
• • •
• • •
75下午、晚上,睡得如此安详!
75And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
用修长的手指抚平,
Smoothed by long fingers,
睡着了……累了……或者装病了,
Asleep … tired … or it malingers,
躺在地板上,就在你和我身边。
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
喝完茶、吃完蛋糕、吃完冰淇淋,
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
80有实力将这一时刻推向危机吗?
80Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
尽管我曾哭泣、禁食、哭泣、祈祷,
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
虽然我看见我的头(已经有点秃了)被放在盘子里端进来,c [16]
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,c[16]
我不是先知——这也没什么大不了的;
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;
我曾目睹我伟大时刻的闪烁,
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
85我看见永恒的仆人抓住我的外衣,窃笑着,[17]
85And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,[17]
简而言之,我很害怕。
And in short, I was afraid.
毕竟,这值得吗?
And would it have been worth it, after all,
喝完杯子、果酱、茶之后,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
在瓷器中,在关于你和我的谈话中,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
90值得吗?
90Would it have been worth while,
带着微笑咬牙坚持,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
把宇宙挤成一个球
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
为了解决这个问题,
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus,d come from the dead,[18]
95回来告诉你一切,我会告诉你一切”——
95Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all” —
如果一个人在头边放一个枕头,
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
应该说:“我根本不是这个意思。”
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.
根本不是那样。”
That is not it, at all.”
毕竟,这值得吗?
And would it have been worth it, after all,
100值得吗?
100Would it have been worth while,
日落之后,院子里,街道上洒满雨水,[19]
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,[19]
小说之后,茶杯之后,拖曳在长裙之后,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the
地面 -
floor —
还有这些吗?——
And this, and so much more? —
我根本无法准确表达我的意思!
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
105但就像一盏魔灯把神经投射到屏幕上的图案一样:
105But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
是否值得
Would it have been worth while
如果一个人放下枕头或扔掉披肩,
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
然后转向窗户说:[20]
And turning toward the window, should say:[20]
“根本不是那样,
“That is not it at all,
110我根本不是这个意思。”
110That is not what I meant, at all.”
• • •
• • •
不!我不是哈姆雷特王子,也不该是哈姆雷特王子。[21]
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;[21]
我是一位侍从领主,一位会做
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
为了推动进程,开始一两个场景,
To swell a progress,e start a scene or two,
给王子出谋划策,毫无疑问,这是一个容易的工具,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
115恭敬,乐于助人,
115Deferential, glad to be of use,
精明、谨慎、细心;
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
充满高句丽,但有点愚钝;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
有时,确实,几乎荒谬——
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous —
有时,几乎就是愚人。
Almost, at times, the Fool.
我要把裤脚卷起来穿。
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
我将穿着白色法兰绒裤子,在海滩上漫步。
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
我听过美人鱼们互相唱歌。
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
125我不认为他们会为我唱歌。
125I do not think that they will sing to me.
我看见他们乘着波涛向大海驶去[24]
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves[24]
梳理波浪吹回来的白发
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
当风吹来,水就变成白色和黑色。
When the wind blows the water white and black.
130被戴着红色和棕色海藻花环的海女
130By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
直到人类的声音将我们唤醒,我们便溺毙了。[26]
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.[26]
[1915年]
[1915]
a 29. 工作与日子:《工作与日子》是希腊诗人赫西奥德(公元前八世纪)创作的一首关于农业的说教诗的标题,其中包括在适当的时间完成每项任务的指导。
a29. works and days: Works and Days is the title of a didactic poem about farming by the Greek poet Hesiod (eighth century b.c.e.) that includes instruction about doing each task at the proper time.
b 52. 垂死的衰落:暗指莎士比亚的《第十二夜》(1.1.4):“又是那首曲子!它垂死的衰落”(一种逐渐消失的节奏)。
b52. a dying fall: An allusion to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (1.1.4): “That strain [of music] again! It had a dying fall” (a cadence that falls away).
c 82. 头……盘子:作为在希律王面前跳舞的奖励,他的继女莎乐美要求将施洗约翰的头放在盘子里献给她(马太福音 14 :1-12;马可福音 6 :17-28)。
c82. head … platter: As a reward for dancing before King Herod, Salome, his stepdaughter, asked for the head of John the Baptist to be presented to her on a platter (Matthew 14:1–12; Mark 6:17–28).
d 94. 拉撒路:要么是乞丐拉撒路(在路加福音 16:19-31 中他没有从死里复活),要么是耶稣的朋友拉撒路(在约翰福音 11:1-44 中他从死里复活)。
d94. Lazarus: Either the beggar Lazarus, who in Luke 16:19–31 did not return from the dead, or Jesus’ friend Lazarus, who did (John 11:1–44).
e 113. 进展:皇家宫廷进行的礼仪旅行。
e113. progress: Ceremonial journey made by a royal court.
[1]这个“你”是谁?他们要去哪里?
[1]Who is this “you”? Where are they going?
[2]场景肮脏、破旧。令人沮丧。
[2]Setting grubby and seedy. Depressing.
[3]他们要拜访谁?为什么?
[3]Who are they visiting? Why?
[4]新场景,在一个房间里。拜访“那些女人”?
[4]New setting, in a room. Visiting “the women”?
[5]雾像一种动物,几乎是一个角色。
[5]Fog like an animal, almost a character.
[6]不规则地押韵。
[6]Uses rhyme in irregular pattern.
[7]这里有很多重复,好像他对这些想法很执着,无法放手。
[7]Lots of repetition here, as if he’s fixated on these ideas and can’t let go.
[8]他似乎对时间很痴迷,想知道时间有多少。
[8]He seems obsessed with time and how much of it there is.
[9]又重复了一遍。同一个女人?同一个房间?
[9]Another repetition. Same women? Same room?
[10]外貌描述:年老、瘦弱、衣着讲究。缺乏安全感。优柔寡断。
[10]Physical description: aging, thin, well dressed. Insecure. Indecisive.
[11]他怎么能“扰乱宇宙”呢?
[11]How could he “disturb the universe”?
[12]他似乎对生活感到厌倦。也许感到抑郁?
[12]He seems bored with his life. Maybe depressed?
[13]像虫子一样。更不安全?
[13]Like a bug. More insecurity?
[14]他在这一部分问了很多问题。也许他对自己没有信心。女人似乎让他没有安全感。
[14]He asks many questions in this section. Maybe unsure of self. Women seem to make him insecure.
[15]之前他就像一只虫子,现在他就像一只螃蟹。
[15]Earlier he was like a bug, now like a crab.
[16]许多断开的身体部位:眼睛、手臂、爪子、头!
[16]Lots of disconnected body parts: eyes, arms, claws, head!
[17]永恒步兵=死亡?他又觉得有人在嘲笑他。
[17]Eternal Footman = Death? Again, he thinks someone is laughing at him.
[18]更多关于死亡的事情。这里死了谁?普鲁弗洛克本人?
[18]More about death. Who is dead here? Prufrock himself?
[19]日落和茶杯看起来比之前阴森的城市景观更美丽、更甜美。又一个新场景?它们如何联系在一起?
[19]Sunsets and teacups seem so much nicer, sweeter than the grim cityscape earlier. Another new setting? How do they connect?
[20]谁在重复这句话?“我不是那个意思”=误解。
[20]Who is repeating this? “That is not what I meant” = misunderstanding.
[21]为什么要拿自己和哈姆雷特相比?他又不是王子?又不出名?
[21]Why compare self to Hamlet? He’s not a prince? Not famous?
[22]担心衰老。他多大了?
[22]Worry about aging. How old is he?
[23]桃子?这么大胆吗?
[23]A peach? How is that daring?
[24]背景再次变化:现在是海滩。
[24]Setting changes again: now a beach.
[25]在水下(就像之前的螃蟹一样)。
[25]Underwater (like the crab earlier).
[26]叫醒我们?这一切都是梦吗?一场噩梦?
[26]Wake us? Is this all a dream? A nightmare?
第一次阅读时,学生对这首诗的复杂性感到困惑,并确信这首诗超出了她的理解范围。然而,在第二次阅读时对其进行了注释后,她意识到自己从中得到的收获比她最初认为的要多得多,并且她开始对演讲者和背景形成一些有趣的想法。当她的班级讨论这首诗时,她对讨论提出了深刻的评论。以下问题建立并深化了这些见解。
On a first reading, the student was baffled by the complexities of this poem and felt certain that it was over her head. After annotating it on a second read through, however, she realized that she had gotten far more out of it than she originally believed and that she had begun to develop some interesting ideas about the speaker and the setting. When her class discussed the poem, she had insightful comments to add to the discussion. The following questions build on and deepen these insights.
下文论文的作者帕特里克·麦考克尔接到任务,仔细阅读他班上学习过的一首诗歌。他首先需要挑选一首诗,然后选择其语言的具体特征进行分离和分析。他选择了莎士比亚的十四行诗116(第 570 页),因为他觉得这首诗对爱情给出了有趣而平衡的定义。重读这首诗后,他对几个意想不到的消极甚至令人不安的形象产生了兴趣,这些形象似乎与这首关于爱情这种积极情感的诗格格不入。
Patrick McCorkle, the author of the paper that follows, was given the assignment to perform a close reading of one of the poems his class had studied. He needed first to pick a poem and then to choose specific features of its language to isolate and analyze. He chose Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 (p. 570) because it seemed to him to offer an interesting and balanced definition of love. After rereading the poem, he became interested in several unexpectedly negative, even unsettling images that seemed out of place in a poem about the positive emotion of love.
“段落上方的文字为:“帕特里克·麦考克尔,鲍勃布里克教授,英语 102,2020 年 1 月 10 日。标题为“莎士比亚定义爱情”。第一段写道,从最早的书面押韵诗到最新的广播热曲,爱情是诗歌的永恒主题之一。大多数爱情诗似乎分为两类。要么诗人用夸张的措辞歌颂心爱的人和无尽的爱情欢乐,要么诗人以如此痛苦和痛苦哀叹爱情的消逝,仿佛生命的终结。然而,任何恋爱过的人都会告诉你,这两种观点都是有限和不完整的,真正的爱情既不是完全快乐的,也不是完全悲伤的。在第 116 首十四行诗“让我不要为真心相爱的婚姻献上什一税”中,莎士比亚创造了一个更现实的爱情形象。通过平衡消极的形象和语言,这首十四行诗比之前和之后的数千首歌曲和诗歌做得更好,定义了爱情的所有复杂性和矛盾性。与本段相对应的注释是:“帕特里克确定了他的主题并陈述了他的论点。”第二段写道,和许多诗歌一样,十四行诗 116 依靠一系列视觉形象为读者描绘生动的画面,但并非所有这些形象都是我们在一首赞美持久爱情的诗歌中所期望的。读者可以很容易地想象出“一个永远固定的标记”(第 5 行)、“暴风雨”、“星星”、“流浪的树皮”(一艘迷失在海上的船)(6-7)、“红润的嘴唇和脸颊”(8)和“弯曲的镰刀”(9)。其中一些,如星星和红润的嘴唇,正是我们通常在欢乐的爱情诗中发现的那种阳光、积极的形象。然而,其他的则更出乎意料。例如,鲜花和春天的形象是快乐爱情诗的标准内容,但镰刀与秋天和一年的死亡有关,并以死神的形式隐喻死亡本身。同样,在狂风暴雨中颠簸的船并不是对快乐诗歌的典型诗意描绘爱情。本段对应的注释为:“帕特里克介绍了这首诗的矛盾意象。”第三段写道:“这样的画面似乎很难提供一个乐观的爱情形象,事实上,它们可能更适合于家庭。”本段对应的注释为:“帕特里克解释了这种意象的效果。””
"Text above the paragraph reads, “Patrick McCorkle, Professor Bobrick, English 102, 10 January 2020. The title reads, “Shakespeare Defines Love.” The first paragraph reads, From the earliest written rhymes to the latest radio hit, love is among the eternal themes for poetry. Most love poetry seems to fall into one of two categories. Either the poet sings the praises of the beloved and the unending joys of love in overly exaggerated terms, or the poet laments the loss of love with such bitterness and distress that it seems like the end of life. Anyone who has been in love, though, can tell you that both of these views are limited and incomplete and that real love is neither entirely joyous nor entirely sad. In Sonnet 116, “Let me not tithe marriage of true minds,” Shakespeare creates a more realistic image of love. By balancing negative with positive images and language, this sonnet does a far better job than thousands of songs and poems before and since, defining love in all its complexities and contradictions. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Patrick identifies his topic and states his thesis.” The second paragraph reads, Like many poems, Sonnet 116 relies on a series of visual images to paint vivid pictures for the reader, but not all of these images are what we might expect in a poem celebrating the pleasures of lasting love. A reader can easily picture “an ever-fixèd mark” (line 5), a “tempest,” a “star,” a “wandering bark” (a boat lost at sea) (6–7), “rosy lips and cheeks” (8), and a “bending sickle” (9). Some of these, like stars and rosy lips, are just the sort of sunny, positive images we typically find in love poems of the joyous variety. Others, though, are more unexpected. Flowers and images of springtime, for instance, are standard issue in happy love poetry, but a sickle is associated with autumn and the death of the year, and metaphorically with death itself in the form of the grim reaper. Likewise, a boat tossed in a raging tempest is not exactly the typical poetic depiction of happy love. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Patrick introduces the poem’s contradictory imagery.” The third paragraph reads, Such pictures would hardly seem to provide an upbeat image of what love is all about, and in fact they might be more at home The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Patrick explains the effect of this imagery.”"
第一段写道,这是一首关于失去爱情的悲伤诗歌。但这些暴风雨和镰刀比许多不太好的爱情诗中的心和花更现实。事实上,它们表明诗人认识到所有关系中都会发生的糟糕时刻,即使是那些足以激发爱情十四行诗的强烈关系。负面形象因其发生的背景而得到缓和。例如,“流浪的树皮”可能代表着麻烦和损失,但爱情本身被视为引领船只安全回到平静水域的星星。与此同时,心爱的人“红润的嘴唇和脸颊”可能会褪色,但真正的爱情甚至比死亡的镰刀的打击更持久,持续到“末日的边缘”(12)。第二段写道,正如正面和负面形象并列一样,正面和负面的语言也是如此。十四行诗 116 的前四行由两个句子组成,都是否定的,以“让我不要”和“爱不是”开头。前几行的否定词继续出现在“谁的价值不明”(8)和“爱情不是时间的傻瓜”(9)等短语中。从这里开始,这首诗继续停留在抽象的概念中,例如“改变”(3)、“障碍”(2)和“错误”(13)。这些都不是爱情诗的读者在之前的阅读中所期待的,我们甚至可能想知道诗人是否认为爱情这件事值得这么麻烦。这种奇怪而出乎意料的语言一直延续到诗的最后一行,其中包含不少于三个否定词:“从不”、“也不”和“不”。与这一段相对应的注释是:“帕特里克将诗中的直接引用融入到他的细读中。”第三段写道,读者可能会问,预期的对爱情的积极描述在哪里?夏日的天空、微笑和笑声在哪里?显然,莎士比亚并不想让读者沉浸在恋人幸福的美好形象中。但最终,尽管负面形象和文字占主导地位,这首诗还是传达了一种充满希望的基调。关于爱情不是什么以及它不能做什么的含糊其辞与积极的词语和短语相平衡,清楚地说明了爱情是什么:“它是永恒的标记”(5)和“它是星星”(7)。爱情似乎并不能让我们的生活完美,但它给了我们力量、稳定和方向,让我们度过艰难时期。
The first paragraph reads, in one of the sad poems about the loss of love. But these tempests and sickles are more realistic than the hearts and flowers of so many lesser love poems. In fact, they show that the poet recognizes the bad times that occur in all relationships, even those strong enough to inspire love sonnets. And the negative images are tempered because of the contexts in which they occur. The "wandering bark,” for instance, might represent trouble and loss, but love itself is seen as the star that will lead the boat safely back to calm waters. Meanwhile, the beloved’s “rosy lips and cheeks” may fade, but real love outlives even the stroke of death's sickle, lasting “to the edge of doom” (12). The second paragraph reads, Just as positive and negative images are juxtaposed, so are positive and negative language. The first four lines of Sonnet 116 are made up of two sentences, both negatives, beginning with the words “Let me not” and “Love is not.” The negatives of the first few lines continue in phrases like “Whose worth’s unknown” (8) and “Love’s not time’s fool” (9). From here, the poem goes on to dwell in abstract ideas such as “alteration” (3), “impediments” (2), and “error” (13). None of this is what readers of love poems have been led to expect in their previous reading, and we might even wonder if the poet finds this love thing worth the trouble. This strange and unexpected language continues on through the last line of the poem, which contains no fewer than three negative words: “never,” “nor,” and “no.” The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Patrick integrates direct quotations from the poem into his close reading.” The third paragraph reads, Where, a reader might ask, are the expected positive descriptions of love? Where are the summer skies, the smiles and laughter? Clearly, Shakespeare doesn’t mean to sweep his readers up in rosy images of a lover’s bliss. Ultimately, though, even with the preponderance of negative images and words, the poem strikes a hopeful tone. The hedging about what love isn’t and what it can't do are balanced with positive words and phrases, saying clearly what love is: “it is an ever-fixed mark” (5) and “it is the star” (7).Love, it would seem, does not make our lives perfect, but it gives us the strength, stability, and direction to survive the bad times.
“第一段写道,尽管莎士比亚创作十四行诗已经过去了四百多年,但有些东西从未改变,其中之一就是人类复杂情感的本质。莎士比亚仅用十四行诗就成功了,而多年来许多其他人却没有做到,他为爱情提供了一个比人们通常在单一的、严格的快乐或悲伤的诗歌中看到的更令人满意的定义。他所描述的爱情是那种不是每个人都有幸找到的——“真心相通”——复杂、令人不安、非常真实。与本段相对应的注释是:“在他的结论中,帕特里克认为这首诗之所以成功,是因为他讨论过的并置。”引用作品:莎士比亚,威廉。“十四行诗 116。”文学:便携式选集,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁,2021 年,第 570 页。”
"The first paragraph reads, Though more than four hundred years have passed since Shakespeare wrote his sonnets, some things never change, and among these is the nature of complex human emotions. In a mere fourteen lines, Shakespeare succeeds where many others have failed through the years, providing a much more satisfying definition of love than one normally sees in one-dimensional, strictly happy or sad poetry. The love he describes is the sort that not everyone is lucky enough to find — a “marriage of true minds” — complicated, unsettling, and very real. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “In his conclusion, Patrick suggests that the poem is successful because of the juxtapositions he has discussed.” Works cited: Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116.” Literature: A Portable Anthology, edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, p. 570."
西方传统中最早的文学批评家可能是亚里士多德,他在公元前五世纪开始解释悲剧体裁的力量,他确定了戏剧的六个要素,并分析了每个要素对整个戏剧运作的贡献。亚里士多德认为所有戏剧都具有的共同要素是情节、人物塑造、主题、措辞、旋律和场面。其中一些与散文小说和诗歌的基本组成部分相同或非常相似,但其他一些要么是戏剧所独有的,要么在戏剧文本中以不同的方式表达。(见主动阅读问题:戏剧,第 16 页。)
Perhaps the earliest literary critic in the Western tradition was Aristotle, who, in the fifth century b.c.e., set about explaining the power of the genre of tragedy by identifying the six elements of drama and analyzing the contribution each of these elements makes to the functioning of a play as a whole. The elements that Aristotle identified as common to all dramas were plot, characterization, theme, diction, melody, and spectacle. Some of these are the same as or very similar to the basic components of prose fiction and poetry, but others are either unique to drama or expressed differently in dramatic texts. (See Questions for Active Reading: Drama, p. 16.)
情节、人物和主题这几个词在戏剧和小说中的含义基本相同,尽管它们的呈现方式有所不同。故事讲述的是一系列事件,而戏剧则展示的是这些事件的实时发生。散文小说中可以用描述性段落传达的信息必须在戏剧中通过对话来传达(在较小程度上,通过舞台指导以及戏剧开头有时会出现的布景和人物描述来传达)。本章后面的“如何阅读剧本”一节提供了理解戏剧这些特殊特征的建议和忠告。
The words plot, character, and theme mean basically the same thing in drama as they do in fiction, though there is a difference in how they are presented. A story tells you about a series of events, whereas a play shows you these events happening in real time. The information that might be conveyed in descriptive passages in prose fiction must be conveyed in a play through dialogue (and to a lesser extent through stage directions and the set and character descriptions that sometimes occur at the start of a play). The “How to Read a Play” section later in this chapter gives suggestions and advice for understanding these special features of drama.
亚里士多德所说的措辞,指的是剧作家选择让角色说出的特定词语。在一部写得好的戏剧中,不同的角色会有不同的说话方式,而这些方式会告诉我们很多关于他们的性格和个性的信息。一个角色听起来很正式、很有教养吗?另一个角色讲俚语或方言吗?有人说话犹豫不决或断断续续,可能表示心不在焉或紧张吗?练习时要注意这些细微差别。记住,仅仅因为一个角色说了什么,并不意味着它是真的。就像在现实生活中一样,一些角色可能会说错话,或者他们可能在隐瞒真相,甚至在撒谎。
When Aristotle speaks of diction, he means the specific words that a playwright chooses to put into the mouth of a character. In a well-written play, different characters will have different ways of speaking, and these will tell us a good deal about their character and personality. Does one character sound very formal and well educated? Does another speak in slang or dialect? Does someone hesitate or speak in fits and starts, perhaps indicating distraction or nervousness? Practice paying attention to these nuances. And keep in mind that just because a character says something, that doesn’t make it true. As in real life, some characters might be mistaken in what they say, or they may be hiding the truth or even telling outright lies.
场面是指我们去看戏剧时在舞台上实际看到的东西——服装、演员的动作、布景、灯光等等。所有这些细节都会影响我们如何理解和解读戏剧的信息。如果扮演哈姆雷特的演员穿着破洞牛仔裤和 T 恤,或者现代军装,而不是传统的文艺复兴时期的紧身上衣和长筒袜,哈姆雷特著名的“生存还是毁灭”独白就会在观众中产生不同的共鸣。阅读剧本时,重要的是要记住,剧本不是只供阅读,而是要在剧院的公共环境中在舞台上观看。在阅读时牢记这一点,并试着想象真实演出的场面,这将极大地增加你对戏剧的享受。有关此类阅读的具体建议可在本章的“如何阅读剧本”部分找到。
Spectacle refers to what we actually see onstage when we go to a play — the costumes, the actors’ movements, the sets, the lights, and so forth. All of these details make a difference in how we understand and interpret a play’s message. Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy will resonate differently with an audience if the actor playing Hamlet is wearing ripped jeans and a T-shirt, or a modern military uniform, rather than the conventional Renaissance doublet and hose. When reading a play, it is important to remember that it was not written to be read only, but rather so that it would be seen onstage in the communal setting of a theater. Reading with this in mind and trying to imagine the spectacle of a real production will increase your enjoyment of plays immensely. Specific suggestions for this sort of reading can be found in the “How to Read a Play” section of this chapter.
亚里士多德完全忽略了背景,但背景在戏剧中和在小说中同样重要。但同样,在戏剧中,背景必须在舞台上展示或通过人物的话语来暗示,而不是像在故事或诗歌中那样进行描述。现代戏剧的文本通常(但不总是)以对舞台、家具、主要道具等的详细描述开头,这对于帮助你想象一场演出非常有用。这些在旧戏剧中往往缺失,所以在某些情况下,你必须发挥想象力来填补这些空白。在《哈姆雷特》第四幕中,人物一会儿在城堡里,一会儿又在风吹拂的平原上。然而,读者意识到这种转变的唯一方法是密切关注人物用来表示场景变化的言语和动作。
A setting, which Aristotle ignores completely, is just as important in drama as it is in fiction. But again, in drama it must be either displayed onstage or alluded to through the characters’ words rather than being described as it might be in a story or a poem. The texts of modern plays often (though not always) begin with elaborate descriptions of the stage, furniture, major props, and so forth, which can be very useful in helping you picture a production. These tend to be absent in older plays, so in some cases you will have to use your imagination to fill in these gaps. In act 4 of Hamlet, the characters are in a castle one moment and on a windswept plain the next. The only way a reader can be aware of this shift, though, is by paying close attention to the words and actions that characters use to signal a change of locale.
我们中很少有人会像带着小说去海滩一样为了消遣而阅读剧本。这并不奇怪:事实上,大多数剧作家从未打算让读者以这种方式阅读他们的剧本。戏剧是一门活生生的艺术,如果你阅读剧本,你只能了解戏剧对各个时期的所有文化如此重要的原因之一。剧本是为舞台而写的,主要是为了在现场表演中体验。这意味着,作为一名读者,你必须特别注意剧本中语言的细微差别,这通常意味着想象在某个特定的台词段落中舞台上可能发生的事情。以这种方式运用你的想象力——实际上,在你的脑海中上演剧本——将帮助你解决阅读剧本时固有的一些困难。
Very few of us read plays for pleasure in the same way that we might take a novel with us to the beach. This isn’t surprising: most playwrights, in fact, never intend for their plays to be read in this way. Drama is a living art, and if you read the play text on the page, you are getting only one part of what has made drama so important to all cultures across many time periods. Plays are written for the stage and are meant to be experienced primarily in live performance. This means that as a reader you must be especially attentive to nuances of language in a play, which often means imagining what might be happening onstage during a particular passage of speech. Using your imagination in this way — in effect, staging the play in your mind — will help you with some of the difficulties inherent in reading plays.
如果你有机会看到你正在研究的剧本的电影版本,一定要观看。但请记住,剧本通常会经过大量改写才能改编成电影,所以你仍然需要阅读原版剧本,也许还要比较舞台版和电影版。如果你正在阅读莎士比亚的戏剧,你通常可以从几个电影版本中选择,其中许多可能在你的图书馆收藏中。当然,现场戏剧与电影不同。查看当地剧院的列表,看看他们正在上演什么;你可能会发现一个剧团正在表演你必须为你的班级阅读的剧本。
If you have access to a film version of the play that you are examining, be sure to watch it. Do bear in mind, though, that play scripts usually undergo substantial rewriting to adapt them for film, so you will still need to read the play in its original form, perhaps making comparisons between the stage and film versions. If you are reading a Shakespeare play, you can usually choose from several film versions, many of which might be in your library’s collection. Live drama, of course, is different from film. Check the listings of local theaters to see what they are staging; you might find that a theater company is performing the play that you have to read for your class.
一些最熟练的剧本阅读者是剧院导演。这些专业人士已经发展出阅读剧本的能力,并立即在脑海中看到和听到剧本在舞台上可能呈现和听起来的多种可能性。导演明白,剧本只是一个大型协作过程的一部分,涉及剧作家、导演、设计师、演员、后台工作人员和观众。每部新剧都与以前的剧作不同——有时差别很大——而且每个剧本都为创意舞台提供了几乎无限的可能性。通过改变剧本的外观和感觉,导演在剧本上打上自己的个人印记,以独特的方式与观众联系,帮助观众理解剧作家和导演的信息。主动阅读:戏剧问题(第 16 页)是导演在阅读剧本时会考虑的问题。当您为文学课阅读剧本时,这些问题可以帮助您形成一致而有力的解释。
Some of the most skilled readers of plays are theater directors. These professionals have developed the ability to read a play and instantly see and hear in their minds the many possibilities for how the play might look and sound onstage. Directors understand that a play script is just one piece of a large, collaborative process involving playwright, director, designers, actors, backstage crew, and audience. Every new production of a play is different — sometimes vastly different — from the productions that have gone before, and every play script yields nearly endless possibilities for creative staging. By altering the look and feel of a play, a director puts his or her individual stamp on it, connecting with the audience in a unique way and helping that audience understand the playwright’s and the director’s messages. The Questions for Active Reading: Drama (p. 16) are the sort that a director would consider when reading a play. As you read plays for your literature class, these questions can help you formulate a consistent and strong interpretation.
莎拉·约翰逊可以自由选择论文的主题和重点。在学习文学课的同一学期,她选修了一门伦理学哲学课,在课上她了解到了情境伦理学的概念,即外部压力常常导致人们以他们通常认为不道德的方式行事,通常是为了防止或减轻更严重的邪恶。当莎拉阅读苏珊·格拉斯佩尔的戏剧《琐事》(第 1033 页)时,这个哲学概念浮现在她的脑海中。她注意到彼得斯太太这个角色最终确实表现出了她自己可能从未想象过的行为。这似乎是一个有趣的概念,因此莎拉决定追溯彼得斯太太背离她最初的道德确定性的过程。
Sarah Johnson was free to choose the topic and focus of her paper. In the same semester as her literature class, she was enrolled in a philosophy course on ethics where she was introduced to the idea of situational ethics, the notion that exterior pressures often cause people to act in ways they might normally deem unethical, often to prevent or allay a worse evil. This philosophical concept was on Sarah’s mind when she read Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles (p. 1033). She noticed that the character of Mrs. Peters does indeed end up behaving in a way she would probably never have imagined for herself. This seemed an interesting concept to pursue, so Sarah decided to trace the development of Mrs. Peters’s journey away from her original moral certainty.
段落上方的文字写着:“莎拉·约翰逊,莱利教授,英语 253,2021 年 10 月 24 日。”标题写着“琐事中的道德模糊性和性格发展”。第一段写道,合法性和道德之间的关系是什么?苏珊·格拉斯佩尔的短剧《琐事》要求我们思考这个问题,但没有提供明确的答案。这部剧既是谋杀之谜,又是两性之战,让读者面对和质疑许多关于法律、道德和人际关系的问题。这部剧以警长妻子彼得斯太太的形象,记录了一个女人的道德之旅,从对法律的某种明确的信仰到对道德更具情境化的看法。在它结束之前,这个曾经有法律意识的女人甚至愿意掩盖真相,让某人逃脱谋杀罪,从而表明仁慈在这部剧中提供了自己的正义形式。与本段相对应的注释是:“莎拉马上就把注意力集中在彼得斯太太身上。”第二段写道:在戏剧的开头,彼得斯夫人认为法律、真理和道德是一回事。尽管它们从来都不是无情的。
Text above the paragraph reads, “Sarah Johnson, Professor Riley, English 253, 24 October 2021.” The title reads, “Moral Ambiguity and Character Development in Trifles.” The first paragraph reads, What is the relationship between legality and morality? Susan Glaspell’s short play Trifles asks us to ponder this question, but it provides no clear answers. Part murder mystery, part battle of the sexes, the play makes its readers confront and question many issues about laws, morals, and human relationships. In the person of Mrs. Peters, a sheriff’s wife, the play chronicles one woman’s moral journey from a certain, unambiguous belief in the law to a more situational view of ethics. Before it is over, this once legally minded woman is even willing to cover up the truth and let someone get away with murder, thus demonstrating that mercy provides its own form of justice in this play. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Sarah focuses on Mrs. Peters right away.” The second paragraph reads, At the beginning of the play, Mrs. Peters believes that law, truth, and morality are one and the same. Though never unkind.
第一段写道,彼得斯太太起初坚信男人们会找到真相,罪犯会受到应有的惩罚。黑尔太太觉得男人们在赖特太太废弃的房子里寻找对她不利的证据时“有点鬼鬼祟祟”,但彼得斯太太向她保证“法律就是法律”(1037,1039)。并不是说彼得斯太太对女性的同情心比她的同伴要小,而是她对执法人员的同情心更强,因为她的道德观是如此绝对。当男人们嘲笑女性对缝纫和家务等所谓琐事的兴趣时,黑尔太太很生气。但彼得斯太太坚信法律必须胜出,她为他们辩护,说:“这不过是他们的职责而已”,后来又说:“他们心里有非常重要的事情”(1037 至 1039)。与此段相对应的注释为:“萨拉直接引用剧本中的语句来支持她的主张。”第二段为:“当她试图遵守法律的要求时,舞台指导将彼得斯太太描述为“公事公办”,她试图保持怀疑态度,等待真相浮出水面。当被问及她是否认为赖特太太杀死了她的丈夫时,她说:“哦,我不知道。”她似乎在试图说服自己,在罪证确凿之前,被告是无辜的,尽管她承认丈夫认为这“对她来说很糟糕”。她似乎已经吸收了丈夫的态度和价值观,并与她对这个案件的感受保持着某种法律上的距离。第三段为:“黑尔太太不太相信那些男人或法律的正义性。”甚至在这两个女人发现谋杀的可能动机之前,黑尔太太就已经篡改证据,撕掉了那些表明赖特太太激动的乱七八糟的缝纫针脚。彼得斯太太说:“我认为我们不应该碰东西”(1039),但她没有采取任何更强有力的行动来阻止黑尔太太,而黑尔太太则继续缝补针脚。此时,我们看到她第一次开始动摇她之前坚定的对是非对错立场。第四段写道,彼得斯太太并不是对赖特太太所过的艰苦生活没有同情心。她和黑尔太太一起担心被告女人的冷冻果酱罐、半熟的面包和未完成的被子。但她试图像男人们一样认为
The first paragraph reads, Mrs. Peters is at first firm in her belief that the men will find the truth and that the crime will be punished as it should be. Mrs. Hale feels the men are “kind of sneaking ” as they look about Mrs. Wright's abandoned house for evidence against her, but Mrs. Peters assures her that “the law is the law” (1037, 1039). It is not that Mrs. Peters is less sympathetic toward women than her companion, but she is even more sympathetic toward the lawmen, because her version of morality is so absolute. When the men deride the women’s interest in so-called trifles, like sewing and housework, Mrs. Hale takes offense. But Mrs. Peters, convinced that the law must prevail, defends them, saying, “It’s no more than their duty,” and later, “They’ve got awful important things on their minds” (1037 to 1039). The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Sarah uses direct quotations from the play text as backup for her claims.” The second paragraph reads, As she attempts to comply with the requirements of the law, Mrs. Peters is described in a stage direction as “businesslike,” and she tries to maintain a skeptical attitude as she waits for the truth to emerge. Asked if she thinks Mrs. Wright killed her husband, she says, “Oh, I don’t know.” She seems to be trying to convince herself that the accused is innocent until proven guilty, though she admits that her husband thinks it “looks bad for her.” She seems to have absorbed her husband’s attitudes and values and to be keeping a sort of legalistic distance from her feelings about the case. The third paragraph reads, Mrs. Hale is less convinced of the rightness of the men or the law. Even before the two women discover a possible motive for the murder, Mrs. Hale is already tampering with evidence, tearing out the erratic sewing stitches that suggest Mrs. Wright was agitated. Mrs. Peters says, “I don’t think we ought to touch things” (1039), but she doesn’t make any stronger move to stop Mrs. Hale, who continues to fix the sewing. At this point, we see her first beginning to waver from her previously firm stance on right and wrong. The fourth paragraph reads, It is not that Mrs. Peters is unsympathetic to the hard life that Mrs. Wright has led. She worries with Mrs. Hale about the accused woman’s frozen jars of preserves, her half-done bread, and her unfinished quilt. But she tries to think, like the men, that
“第一段写道,这些事情都是“小事”,重要的是法律真相。但当她看到一只脖子被扭断的鸟时,事情开始发生重大变化。她想起了小时候杀死她小猫的那个男孩,她对赖特太太的同情开始转变为同理心。这种同理心足以促使她对那些人说了第一个谎。当县检察官看到空鸟笼时,她证实了黑尔太太关于一只猫抓鸟的故事,尽管她知道家里没有猫。与本段相对应的注释是:“在本段中,莎拉分析了剧本文本中的一个转折点:彼得斯太太经历转变的时刻。”第二段写道,即使在她达到同情的程度之后,彼得斯太太仍然努力保持她以前的思维方式和生活方式。再次与黑尔太太独处时,她坚定地说:“我们不知道是谁杀了那只鸟”(1042),尽管令人信服的证据指向约翰·赖特。更重要的是,她谈到赖特本人时说:“我们不知道是谁杀了他。我们不知道”(1043)。但她的重复和舞台指导中描述的“提高的声音”表明她变得多么激动。作为一名法律信徒,她应该确信每个人在被证明有罪之前都是无辜的,但她认为自己知道真相,也许这是她一生中第一次,法律真理与道德真理不一致。当她想到赖特太太在心爱的宠物死后被迫居住的房子一片寂静时,她的同情心进一步加深,这只宠物给原本阴暗的生活带来了歌声。她知道赖特太太。赖特没有孩子,她现在不仅记得童年小猫的死,还记得第一个孩子死后自己家里可怕的寂静。当她说“我知道什么是寂静。(让自己冷静下来。)法律必须惩罚犯罪,黑尔夫人”(1043)时,她的两种思维方式之间出现了危机。这也许是编年史中人物成长中最重要的一句话。首先,她表达了对她认为是凶手的女人的新同情;然后,正如舞台指示所说,她试图让自己冷静下来,回到她不久前感到的舒适的道德确定性。然而,为时已晚。与本段相对应的注释是:“在这里和其他地方,萨拉依靠舞台指示作为她对彼得斯夫人的指控的证据。””
"The first paragraph reads, these things are “trifles” and that what matters is the legal truth. But when she sees a bird with a wrung neck, things begin to change in a major way. She remembers the boy who killed her kitten when she was a child, and the sympathy she has felt for Mrs. Wright begins to turn to empathy. The empathy is enough to prompt her first lie to the men. When the county attorney spies the empty birdcage, she corroborates Mrs. Hale’s story about a cat getting the bird, even though she knows there was no cat in the house. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “In this paragraph, Sarah analyzes a turning point in the play text: a moment in which Mrs. Peters experiences a transformation.” The second paragraph reads, Even after she has reached that point of empathy, Mrs. Peters tries hard to maintain her old way of thinking and of being. Alone again with Mrs. Hale, she says firmly, “We don’t know who killed the bird” (1042), even though convincing evidence points to John Wright. More important, she says of Wright himself, “We don’t know who killed him. We don’t know ” (1043). But her repetition and her ""rising voice,” described in a stage direction, show how agitated she has become. As a believer in the law, she should feel certain that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but she thinks she knows the truth, and, perhaps for the first time in her life, legal truth does not square with moral truth. Her empathy deepens further still when she thinks about the stillness of the house in which Mrs. Wright was forced to live after the death of her beloved pet, which brought song to an otherwise grim life. She knows Mrs. Wright is childless, and she now remembers not just the death of her childhood kitten but also the terrible quiet in her own house after her first child died. She reaches a moment of crisis between her two ways of thinking when she says, “I know what stillness is. (Pulling herself back.) The law has got to punish crimes, Mrs. Hale”(1043). This is perhaps the most important line in the chronicle other growth as a character. First she expresses her newfound empathy with the woman she believes to be a murderer; then, as the stage directions say, she tries to pull herself back and return to the comfortable moral certainty that she felt just a short time before. It is too late for that, though. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Here and elsewhere, Sarah relies on stage directions as evidence for her claims about Mrs. Peters.”"
本段内容如下。最后,彼得斯太太屈服于她认为情感上正确的事情,而不是法律允许的事情。她与黑尔太太合作掩盖动机证据并藏匿死去的金丝雀。虽然时间不长,但她已经经历了重大转变。她可能如县检察官所说“嫁给了法律”(1044),但她也脱离了旧理想。当她试图掩盖证据时,舞台指导说她“崩溃了”(1044),黑尔太太不得不帮助她。等她振作起来时,她这个新女人将与以前截然不同。她和读者现在处在一个合法性和道德关系比她曾经怀疑的要复杂得多的世界里。与本段相对应的注释是:“萨拉将这段话单独列出来,以强调彼得斯太太的复杂性。”引用作品:格拉斯佩尔,苏珊。《琐事》。 《文学:便携式选集》,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年,第 1033 至 44 页。
The paragraph reads as follows. In the end, Mrs. Peters gives in to what she believes to be emotionally right rather than what is legally permissible. She collaborates with Mrs. Hale to cover up evidence of the motive and hide the dead canary. Though very little time has gone by, she has undergone a major transformation. She may be, as the county attorney says, “married to the law” (1044), but she is also divorced from her old ideals. When she tries to cover up the evidence, a stage direction says she “goes to pieces” (1044), and Mrs. Hale has to help her. By the time she pulls herself together, the new woman she is will be a very different person from the old one. She, along with the reader, is now in a world where the relationship between legality and morality is far more complex than she had ever suspected. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Sarah isolates this passage to emphasize the complexity of Mrs. Peters.” Works cited: Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature: A Portable Anthology , edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, pp. 1033 to 44.
撰写文学研究论文需要与撰写其他论文相同的技能——选择主题、发展论点、收集和组织支持等等。研究写作与其他写作的主要区别在于支持来源的数量和类型。所有关于文学的写作都始于主要来源——写作所依据的诗歌、故事或戏剧。研究论文还包含次要来源,例如传记、历史和评论文章。
Writing a literary research paper draws on the same set of skills as writing any other paper — choosing a topic, developing a thesis, gathering and organizing support, and so on. The main difference between research writing and other sorts of writing lies in the number and types of sources from which one’s support comes. All writing about literature begins with a primary source — the poem, story, or play on which the writing is based. Research papers also incorporate secondary sources, such as biographical, historical, and critical essays.
当你开始撰写研究论文时,最重要的是要记住,你正在撰写一个批判性论点。你的论文不应该读起来像其他人对文献的评论的总结。相反,它应该以基于你自己的想法的主张开始和结束,并且需要一个清晰、重点突出的论点。主要和次要来源都是为了支持你的论点,而不是接管论文。
As you begin the process of research writing, the most important thing to remember is that you are writing a critical argument. Your paper should not end up reading like a summary of what others have said about the literature. Rather, it should begin and end by making a claim based on your own ideas, and it needs a clear, sharply focused thesis. The sources, both primary and secondary, are there to support your thesis, not to take over the paper.
下面列出的方法看起来非常线性和直接:找到并评估论文的来源,阅读并做笔记,然后撰写一篇整合这些来源材料的论文。实际上,这个过程很少,如果有的话,会如此简洁。在阅读和写作过程中,你会发现知识上的差距,或者你会问自己需要更多研究的新问题。要灵活。请记住,研究过程是递归的,要求作者在各个阶段之间来回移动。自然,这意味着对于研究写作,甚至比其他类型的写作更应该尽早开始,给自己足够的时间来完成项目。
The method laid out below seems very linear and straightforward: find and evaluate sources for your paper, read them and take notes, and then write a paper integrating material from these sources. In reality, the process is rarely, if ever, this neat. As you read and write, you will discover gaps in your knowledge, or you will ask yourself new questions that will demand more research. Be flexible. Keep in mind that the process of research is recursive, requiring a writer to move back and forth between various stages. Naturally, this means that for research writing, even more than for other kinds of writing, you should start early and give yourself plenty of time to complete the project.
对于许多学生来说,研究或多或少等同于谷歌搜索。人们可能很容易认为,任何人想要的所有信息都可以在网上找到,公众可以轻松、方便地获取。但就文学研究而言,情况并非如此。确实,有很多网站和新闻组致力于文学人物,但这些网站上提供的信息类型往往局限于一个狭窄的范围——作者的基本传记、情节摘要等——而且信息质量参差不齐。虽然网站上确实存在严肃的文学学术研究,但在大多数情况下,专有的在线数据库(可通过图书馆门户网站获取)和印刷书籍和期刊仍然是更好的信息来源。
For many students, research is more or less synonymous with a Google search. It may be easy to think that all the information anybody could ever want is available online and readily and easily accessible to the public. But when it comes to literary research, this is not the case at all. True, there are plenty of websites and newsgroups devoted to literary figures, but the type of information available on these sites tends to be limited to a narrow range — basic biographies of authors, plot summaries, and so forth — and the quality of information is highly variable. Though serious literary scholarship does exist on the website, proprietary online databases (available through a library portal) and print books and journals are still the better sources for you in most cases.
您可以使用学院或大学图书馆提供的在线索引和数据库开始查找研究论文的资料来源。这些服务对期刊和杂志文章进行分类和索引,以帮助研究人员找到他们想要的内容。虽然使用这些索引与使用互联网搜索引擎有些相似,但两者不应混淆。互联网链接到一系列文档 - 有些质量非常高,有些则毫无用处 - 这些文档免费向公众提供。相比之下,学院、大学和许多公共图书馆需要支付费用才能让其用户访问各种索引和数据库中更专业和经过严格审查的资料来源。当您使用这些服务时,您可以放心,您找到的任何文章都由可靠、受人尊敬的来源发布。
You can begin to locate sources for your research paper by using the online indexes and databases available through your college or university library. These services sort and index journal and magazine articles to help researchers find what they are looking for. Although using these indexes is somewhat similar to using an internet search engine, the two should not be confused. The internet links to an array of documents — some of very high quality, some worse than useless — that are available for free to the public. By contrast, college, university, and many public libraries pay a fee to allow their users access to the more specialized and highly vetted sources found in various indexes and databases. When you use these services, you are assured that any articles you locate have been published by reliable, respected sources.
您的图书馆可能订阅了数十个涵盖许多知识领域的数据库。以下是一些对文学研究最有用的数据库:
Your library probably subscribes to dozens of databases covering many fields of knowledge. These are some of the most useful ones for literary research:
这些索引只是文学研究中最常用的索引的样本。根据你的特定主题或兴趣,你可能会被众多更专业的索引所吸引,例如GenderWatch(针对与女权主义和其他性别问题相关的主题)、GreenFile(针对环境主题)和Hispanic American Periodicals Index,仅举几例。
These indexes are just a sampling of those most generally applicable to literary research. Depending on your particular topic or interests, you may find yourself drawn to one of the many more specialized indexes, such as GenderWatch (for topics related to feminism and other gender issues), GreenFile (for environmental topics), and Hispanic American Periodicals Index, to name just a few.
如果您不知道如何访问或使用这些资源,请咨询您所在大学图书馆的值班参考图书管理员。帮助学生找到他们需要的东西是这个人的主要工作,您可能会从他或她那里学到很多东西。您的图书管理员和您的导师都可以推荐额外的索引,以引导您找到好的二手资料。数据库和索引的一大优势是可以根据多种标准对结果进行过滤和排序。您可以找到在特定年份或特定语言中撰写的文章;您可以选择只查看经过同行评审的文章(该过程可确保学术合法性);或者您可以选择许多其他过滤器中的任意一个来帮助您找到所需的内容。
If you do not know how to access or use these sources, ask the reference librarian on duty at your college library. Helping students find what they need is this person’s principal job, and you will likely learn a lot from him or her. Both your librarian and your instructor can also suggest additional indexes to point you toward good secondary sources. One of the great advantages of databases and indexes is that results can be filtered and sorted according to a wide array of criteria. You can find articles written in a particular year or in a particular language; you can choose to look only at articles that have been peer reviewed (the process that assures scholarly legitimacy); or you can select any of a number of other filters to help you find exactly what you need.
开始搜索时,请使用非常具体的搜索词,这样数据库才能集中于您真正需要的内容,并滤除不相关的材料。假设您正在研究莎士比亚十四行诗中的爱情本质。如果搜索关键字或主题“莎士比亚”,将得到数千条结果,其中许多结果与您的研究无关。但是,同时搜索“莎士比亚”和“十四行诗”,您会更接近想要的结果,而搜索“莎士比亚”、“十四行诗”和“爱情”得到的结果会少得多,但结果更好,也更有针对性。如果搜索得到的结果比预期的少,请换个词再试一次(例如,用“爱情”代替“浪漫”)。请保持耐心,遇到困难时,不要害怕向您的导师或图书管理员寻求帮助。
When you begin searching, use fairly specific search terms to help the database focus on what you really need and to filter out irrelevant material. Let’s say you are researching the nature of love in Shakespeare’s sonnets. If you perform a search on the keyword or topic Shakespeare, you will get many thousands of hits, many of them about topics unrelated to yours. Searching on both the words Shakespeare and sonnet, however, will get you closer to what you want, while searching on Shakespeare, sonnet, and love will yield far fewer and far better, more targeted results. If your search nets you fewer results than you expected, try again with different terms (substitute romance for love, for example). Be patient, and don’t be afraid to ask your instructor or librarian for help if you are experiencing difficulty.
屏幕上显示满屏结果后,您就可以访问正文、摘要或引文。有些结果会提供文章全文的链接;只需点击链接,您就可以在屏幕上阅读文章、打印出来或通过电子邮件发送给自己。通常,会提供摘要的链接,摘要是整篇文章内容的简要摘要(通常只有几句话)。阅读摘要是了解是否值得为您的论文寻找整篇文章的好方法。引文仅提供有关文章的最基本信息 — 标题、作者、出版日期和页码 — 然后,您需要自己查找和阅读整篇文章。
Once you have a screen full of results, you will be able to access a text, an abstract, or a citation. Some results will give you a link to the complete text of an article; just click on the link, and you can read the article on-screen, print it out, or e-mail it to yourself. Frequently, a link is provided to an abstract, a brief summary (generally just a few sentences) of the content of the full article. Reading an abstract is a good way of finding out whether it is worth tracking down the whole article for your paper. A citation gives only the most basic information about an article — its title, its author, the date of publication, and its page numbers — and it is up to you to then find and read the whole article.
您可能很容易就只选择那些可以立即获得全文版本的文章。不要掉入这个陷阱。即使在这个电子时代,学者和专家仍然会写书,以及为学术期刊撰写文章,而这些文章并不总是有电子版本。许多最好的文学研究资料只有印刷版,而获得这些资料的唯一方法是按照引文的线索,在图书馆书架上找到书籍或期刊。如果标题或摘要看起来很有希望,就去检索这篇文章。如果您认为起床和追踪期刊是令人沮丧或耗时的,想象一下,在没有很好的资料来源的情况下试图撰写研究论文会是多么令人沮丧和耗时。
It may be tempting to settle on only those articles available immediately in full-text versions. Don’t fall into this trap. Even in this electronic age, scholars and specialists still write books, as well as articles for academic journals that are not always available in electronic versions. Many of the best sources of literary research are available only in print, and the only way to obtain these is to follow the citation’s lead and locate the book or journal in the library stacks. If a title or an abstract looks promising, go and retrieve the article. If you think getting up and tracking down a journal is frustrating or time-consuming, imagine how frustrating and time-consuming it will be to attempt to write a research paper without great sources.
此时,您应该意识到您的搜索可能会找到两种期刊之间的区别:杂志,面向普通读者;学术期刊,由各个学术领域的专家撰写并供其阅读。例如, 《科学美国人》是一本备受推崇的杂志,在报摊上出售,而《物理化学杂志》是一本学术期刊,通常只能通过订阅获得,主要由化学家和化学系学生阅读。在文学研究领域,有数百种期刊,从涵盖一般时期或主题的出版物(《美国文学现实主义》、《现代戏剧》)到专门针对特定作家的出版物(《沃尔特·惠特曼评论》、《梅尔维尔学会摘录》)。
At this point, you should be aware of the distinction between two types of periodicals that your search may lead to: magazines, which are directed at a general readership, and scholarly journals, which are written by and for specialists in various academic fields. Scientific American, for instance, is a well-respected magazine available on newsstands, whereas The Journal of Physical Chemistry is a scholarly journal, generally available only by subscription and read mainly by chemists and chemistry students. In the field of literary studies, there are hundreds of journals, ranging from publications covering a general period or topic (American Literary Realism, Modern Drama) to those devoted to specific authors (Walt Whitman Review, Melville Society Extracts).
虽然《时代》和《新闻周刊》等杂志有时是合适的研究来源,你当然不应该排除它们,但最复杂的文学批评往往出现在期刊上。如果你不确定你正在看的是否是学术期刊,请寻找以下典型特征:
While magazines like Time and Newsweek are sometimes appropriate research sources, and you certainly should not rule them out, the most sophisticated literary criticism tends to appear in journals. If you are uncertain whether you are looking at a scholarly journal, look for the following typical characteristics:
如前所述,许多学者仍然以纸质书籍的形式出版他们最重要的作品,而寻找这些作品的地方就是您所在学院或大学图书馆的目录。(无论公共图书馆管理得如何,也很少提供大学水平研究所需的专门资料。)首先寻找一两本关于您主题的好书。书籍在研究的早期阶段很有用,可以帮助您集中精力并完善思路。如果您有足够的时间进行此过程,请带一两本书回家并浏览它们以确定哪些部分对您最有用。当您返回图书馆进行更多研究时,您将更清楚地了解自己在寻找什么,因此将更有效地完成其余搜索。还要记住遵循脚注:即使一本书或一篇文章没有提供您所需的确切信息,它们也可能会将您推荐给其他做过有助于您完成论文工作的作者。
As mentioned earlier, many scholars still publish their most important work in print books, and the place to look for these is in your college or university library’s catalog. (Public libraries, no matter how well run, seldom carry the sorts of specialized sources needed for college-level research.) Start by looking for one or two good books on your topic. Books can be useful at the early stages of your research to help you focus and refine your thinking. If you have given yourself sufficient time for the process, take a book or two home and skim them to determine which parts would be most useful for you. When you return to the library to perform more research, you will have a clearer sense of what you are looking for and therefore will be more efficient at completing the rest of your search. Remember, too, to follow the footnotes: even if a book or article doesn’t give you exactly what you need, they might refer you to other authors who have done work that will help you arrive at your thesis.
如果您找到了一条有希望的线索,但发现您的图书馆没有某本书或没有订阅所需的期刊,您仍然可能很幸运。几乎所有图书馆都提供馆际互借服务,该服务可以从其他图书馆的大型网络中查找书籍和文章,并将其发送到您的所在机构,通常是免费的。当然,这个过程需要时间——通常是几天到几周——这也是尽早开始研究的另一个原因。
If you find a promising lead but discover that your library doesn’t have a particular book or has no subscription to the needed periodical, you still may be in luck. Nearly all libraries offer interlibrary loan services, which can track down books and articles from a large network of other libraries and send them to your home institution, generally free of charge. Of course, this process takes time — usually, a couple of days to a couple of weeks — and this is yet another reason to get started as early as possible on your research.
最后,如果你在寻找书籍和期刊时没有得到你想要的所有结果,请记住,如果你在搜索时有策略,互联网可以为你提供一些有用的资料。一定要向你的导师或参考图书管理员询问权威网站。你的图书馆管理员可能已经在图书馆的网站上创建了一个特殊页面,提供英语学生最佳网站的链接。如果你使用该网站进行研究,请特别寻找由教授或研究人员撰写并由学院和大学维护的学术网站。例如,如果你想研究威廉·布莱克的诗歌和艺术作品,你可以查看威廉·布莱克档案馆,这是一个由国会图书馆和北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校赞助的在线项目,网址为www.blakearchive.org/blake/。如果您有兴趣了解更多有关沃尔特·惠特曼的生活和作品,请访问沃尔特·惠特曼档案馆,这是一项由埃德·福尔瑟姆和肯尼斯·M·普莱斯开发和编辑的项目,他们两人都是著名的惠特曼学者,网址为www.whitmanarchive.org/。如果您想阅读 1603 年印刷的《哈姆雷特》,请访问大英图书馆的网站:www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/homepage.html。在线学术期刊以及专门针对特定作者、文学流派或时期的讨论组或新闻组也可能有用。
Lastly, if your quest for books and periodicals has not yielded all the results you want, remember that the internet can yield some powerful material, if you are strategic in your search. Be sure to ask your instructor or reference librarian about authoritative websites. Your librarian may have already created a special page on the library’s website that provides links to the best websites for students of English. If you use the website for your research, look especially for scholarly sites, written by professors or researchers and maintained by colleges and universities. For example, if you want to research the poetry and artwork of William Blake, you might check the William Blake Archive, an online project sponsored by the Library of Congress and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, at www.blakearchive.org/blake/. If you are interested in learning more about Walt Whitman’s life and work, check the Walt Whitman Archive, a project developed and edited by Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price, both of whom are eminent Whitman scholars, at www.whitmanarchive.org/. If you want to read the 1603 printing of Hamlet, check the British Library’s website: www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/homepage.html. Also of potential use are the online equivalents of scholarly journals, as well as discussion groups or newsgroups dedicated to particular authors, literary schools, or periods.
如何知道你有足够的资料来源?许多教师会为研究论文指定最低数量的资料来源,许多学生找到正好是这个数量的资料来源后就不再寻找了。最好的办法是,当你认为有足够的材料来写一篇高质量的论文时,就停止寻找资料来源。事实上,收集太多资料来源而最终没有全部使用要比收集太少资料而发现自己在写作时想要更多信息要好得多。请记住,除了论文中实际引用的内容之外的任何“额外”研究都不是浪费精力——你阅读的每一条信息都有助于你获得背景知识和对主题的整体理解,使你的最终论文听起来更聪明、更有见地。
How do you know when you have enough sources? Many instructors specify a minimum number of sources for research papers, and many students find exactly that number of sources and then look no further. Your best bet is to stop looking for sources when you think you have enough material to write a top-quality paper. Indeed, it is far better to gather up too many sources and end up not using them all than to get too few and find yourself wanting more information as you write. And remember that any “extra” research beyond what you actually cite in your paper isn’t really wasted effort — every piece of information you read contributes to your background knowledge and overall understanding of your topic, making your final paper sound smarter and better informed.
在查找研究资料时,您应该进行持续的评估,以确定潜在资料的可靠性及其是否适合您的特定主题和需求。请牢记以下问题,以帮助您评估印刷资料和电子资料:
As you locate research sources, you should engage in a continual process of evaluation to determine both the reliability of the potential source and its appropriateness to your particular topic and needs. Keep the following questions in mind to help you evaluate both print and electronic sources:
现在你有一堆文章和电子资料的打印件,也许还有一两本书。你如何利用这些来获得论文所需的支持?
You now have a stack of articles and printouts of electronic sources, and perhaps a book or two as well. How do you work through these to get the support you need for your paper?
如果你用手写笔记,最好为每个来源单独留出一页。如果你用电脑记笔记,请为你阅读的每个新来源单独留出一个文件或部分。
If you are taking notes by hand, it’s a good idea to start a separate page for each source. If you are using a computer to take notes, start a separate file or section for each new source you read.
笔记通常分为四类:引用、释义、总结和评论。
Notes will generally fall into one of four categories: quotations, paraphrases, summaries, and commentaries.
虽然引用很有用,而且你几乎肯定会在论文中引用几段,但要克制住抄写大量原文的冲动。过于依赖引用的论文读起来会很不舒服,因为在你的文章和你引用的不同作者的文章之间来回切换,会导致风格混乱或不连贯。直接引用只用于那些特别相关的段落,而你自己根本无法想象这些段落的措辞会如此清晰或优雅。当你记下引用时,一定要记下它在源材料中出现的页面,以便以后能够准确地引用它。
While quotations are useful, and you will almost certainly incorporate several into your paper, resist the urge to transcribe large portions of text from your sources. Papers that rely too heavily on quotations can be unpleasant reading, with a cluttered or choppy style that results from moving back and forth between your prose and that of the various authors you quote. Reserve direct quoting for those passages that are especially relevant and that you simply can’t imagine phrasing as clearly or elegantly yourself. When you do make note of a quotation, be sure to note the pages on which it appears in the source material so that later you will be able to cite it accurately.
最常见的是,你应该以释义或摘要的形式做笔记。释义就是用自己的话表达从来源中得出的想法或观点。一般来说,释义的长度与被释义的段落长度大致相同,而摘要则短得多,可以抓住段落的总体要点,同时省略支持细节。以下是大英百科全书在线版威廉·巴特勒·叶芝传记中的一段简短段落,后面是释义和摘要:
Most often, you should take notes in the form of a paraphrase or a summary. To paraphrase, simply put an idea or opinion drawn from a source into your own words. Generally, a paraphrase will be about equal in length to the passage being paraphrased, while a summary will be much shorter, capturing the overall point of a passage while leaving out supporting details. Here is a brief passage from Encyclopedia Britannica Online’s biography of William Butler Yeats, followed by a paraphrase and a summary:
通常,人们会认为叶芝会认同他的新教传统——在以罗马天主教为主的爱尔兰人口中,新教代表着一个强大的少数派——但他没有。事实上,他与爱尔兰的两种历史传统都格格不入——他与罗马天主教徒不同,因为他无法分享他们的信仰;他与新教徒不同,因为他对他们对物质成功的关注感到厌恶。他觉得,叶芝最大的希望是培育一种比天主教或新教更深刻的传统——一种隐秘的爱尔兰传统,它主要存在于其幸存的习俗、信仰和圣地的人类学证据中,这种传统更像是异教而不是基督教。
Normally, Yeats would have been expected to identify with his Protestant tradition — which represented a powerful minority among Ireland’s predominantly Roman Catholic population — but he did not. Indeed, he was separated from both historical traditions available to him in Ireland — from the Roman Catholics, because he could not share their faith, and from the Protestants, because he felt repelled by their concern for material success. Yeats’s best hope, he felt, was to cultivate a tradition more profound than either the Catholic or the Protestant — the tradition of a hidden Ireland that existed largely in the anthropological evidence of its surviving customs, beliefs, and holy places, more pagan than Christian.
| 释义 | 概括 |
|---|---|
| 天主教和新教都不是叶芝的有用宗教典范。在罗马天主教中,他看到了一种不属于他的宗教,而在新教中,他看到了一种与世俗成功相符的宗教。相反,叶芝从异教爱尔兰的古老信仰和习俗中寻找意义,为他的生活和工作创造意义。 | 叶芝对古代爱尔兰的异教习俗比对新教或罗马天主教更感兴趣。 |
释义和总结通常比引用更胜一筹,原因有二。首先,如果你能自信地总结或释义,那么你就知道自己确实理解了所读内容。其次,总结或释义更容易从笔记转移到论文中,而且与你的个人散文风格相得益彰。(有关总结用法的更多信息,请参阅第 54-55 页。)与引用一样,记下总结和释义所来自的源材料的页码。
Paraphrasing and summarizing are usually superior to quoting for two reasons. First, if you can summarize or paraphrase with confidence, then you know you have really understood what you have read. Second, a summary or paraphrase will be more easily transferred from your notes to your paper and will fit in well with your individual prose style. (For more on the use of summary, see pages 54–55.) Just as with quotations, make a note of the page numbers in the source material from which your summaries and paraphrases are drawn.
最后,你可以将一些笔记写成评论。当你读到一些有趣的东西时,你可以记录下你的反应。你是强烈同意还是强烈反对?为什么?源材料和你的主题或暂定论点之间到底有什么联系?做大量的评论将有助于你将自己的想法放在首位,并使你的论文不会沦为其他作者的优先事项清单。一定要仔细注意你是在评论,而不是总结或解释。当你起草论文时,你需要仔细区分哪些想法是你自己的想法,哪些想法是从别人那里借来的。
Finally, some of your notes can be written as commentaries. When something you read strikes you as interesting, you can record your reaction to it. Do you agree or disagree strongly? Why? What exactly is the connection between the source material and your topic or tentative thesis? Making copious commentaries will help you keep your own ideas in the forefront and will keep your paper from devolving into a shopping list of other writers’ priorities. Be sure to note carefully when you are commenting rather than summarizing or paraphrasing. When you draft your paper, you will want to distinguish carefully between which ideas are your own and which are borrowed from others.
在记下阅读内容时,记录来源的作者、标题和出版信息也很重要,以便以后用于编制参考文献列表或参考书目。没有什么比不得不在计算机上追溯您的研究步骤,甚至不得不返回图书馆,只是为了获得页码或来源的完整标题更令人沮丧的了。大多数有成就的研究人员实际上是在研究过程中整理他们的参考文献列表,而不是等到论文起草完毕。这样的策略将确保您拥有所需的所有信息,并且它将使您免于在过程结束时必须一次性创建所有列表的艰苦(且可能乏味)任务。
As you take notes on the substance of your reading, it is also essential that you record the source’s author, title, and publication information for later use in compiling your works cited list, or bibliography. Nothing is more frustrating than having to retrace your research steps on a computer, or even to return to the library, just to get a page reference or the full title of a source. Most accomplished researchers actually put together their works cited list as they go along rather than waiting until the essay is drafted. Such a strategy will ensure that you have all the information you need, and it will save you from the painstaking (and potentially tedious) task of having to create the list all at once at the end of your process.
经过看似很长时间的收集和处理资料之后,您现在可以开始实际撰写论文了。
After what may seem like a long time spent gathering and working with your sources, you are now ready to begin the actual writing of your paper.
首先重新审视你的临时论点。现在你已经阅读了很多资料,对你的话题有了更多的了解,你提出的论点是否仍然令人信服且合适?你是否需要改进或修改它,以便考虑到你学到的信息和遇到的意见?如果有必要——通常是必要的——改进或修改你的临时论点,这样它就能帮助你在写作时保持专注。(有关如何写出好的论点的建议,请参阅第 27-31 页。)
Start by looking again at your tentative thesis. Now that you have read a lot and know much more about your topic, does your proposed thesis still seem compelling and appropriate? Do you perhaps need to refine or modify it in order to take into account the information you have learned and opinions you have encountered? If necessary — and it usually is — refine or revise your tentative thesis so that it can help you stay focused as you write. (For advice on what makes a good thesis, see pages 27–31.)
就像任何其他论文一样,您需要组织证据来支持您的论点。遵循您在撰写其他论文时成功使用的任何组织过程,同时记住这次您可能会有更多、更复杂的证据要处理。您可能需要一个大纲——正式或非正式的——来帮助您以连贯和合理的顺序排列您的材料。但是,再次强调,灵活性是这里的关键。当您开始按照大纲进行工作时,如果您开始理解某种不同的组织策略,请修改您的大纲,而不是将您的想法强加到预先设想的格式中。
Just as with any other essay, you will need to organize the evidence in support of your thesis. Follow whatever process for organization you have used successfully in writing other papers, while bearing in mind that this time you will probably have more, and more complex, evidence to deal with. You will likely need an outline — formal or informal — to help you put your materials in a coherent and sensible order. But, once again, flexibility is the key here. As you begin to work your way through the outline, if some different organizational strategy begins to make sense to you, revise your outline rather than forcing your ideas into a preconceived format.
研究论文的实际起草过程可能是与其他论文最相似的部分。尽量快速流畅地写作,确保在修改阶段能够添加示例、补充说明、消除冗余并改进文风。与其他论文一样,您可能希望从头到尾直接写作,或者您可能希望将诸如引言之类的难懂段落留到最后。有趣的是,许多作者发现研究论文的起草过程实际上比其他论文的起草过程要快一些,这主要是因为他们大量的研究工作使他们对主题非常熟悉,因此他们有丰富的写作思路。
The actual drafting of the research paper is probably the part you will find most similar to writing other papers. Try to write fairly quickly and fluently, knowing you can and will add examples, fill in explanations, eliminate redundancies, and work on style during the revision phase. As with your other papers, you may want to write straight through from beginning to end, or you may want to save difficult passages like the introduction for last. Interestingly, many writers find that the process of drafting a research paper actually goes a bit more quickly than does drafting other papers, largely because their considerable research work has left them so well versed in the topic that they have a wealth of ideas for writing.
在撰写研究论文时,引用可能会拖慢您的速度,因为您提供引用是为了让读者知道哪些想法是您自己的,哪些来自外部来源。在开始撰写论文之前,请熟悉MLA 文内引用的惯例(请参阅第 121-24 页)。每次在论文中加入引文、释义或摘要时,您都需要引用作者姓名和源材料中的相关页码(如果有)。但是,不要在这个阶段纠结于如何格式化和标点引用。以后会有时间敲定这些细节,并且在写作时将注意力集中在大局上很重要。
What might slow you down as you draft your research papers are the citations, which you provide so that a reader knows which ideas are your own and which come from outside sources. Before you begin drafting, familiarize yourself with the conventions for MLA in-text citations (see pages 121–24). Each time you incorporate a quotation, paraphrase, or summary into your essay, you will need to cite the author’s name and the relevant page numbers (if available) from the source material. Do not, however, get hung up at this stage trying to remember how to format and punctuate citations. There will be time to hammer out these details later, and it is important as you write to keep your focus on the big picture.
在修改过程中,你应该着眼于全面整合源材料。引文、释义或摘要与你的论文之间的所有联系是否清晰?你是否提供了足够的评论来解释所有源材料的纳入?哪些观点来自哪些研究来源是否绝对清楚?最重要的是,这篇论文是否仍然是一个重点突出的论点,旨在让读者相信你原始论点的有效性?牢记这些问题,你就可以像对待其他论文一样做出全面的修改决定——增加什么、删减什么、如何重组等等。(请参阅第 36-38 页,了解要查找的内容。)
As you go through the revision process, you should do so with an eye toward full integration of your source material. Are all connections between quotations, paraphrases, or summaries and your thesis clear? Do you include sufficient commentary explaining the inclusion of all source material? Is it absolutely clear which ideas come from which research source? Most important, is the paper still a well-focused argument, meant to convince an audience of the validity of your original thesis? Bearing these questions in mind, you will be ready to make the same sorts of global revision decisions that you would for any other paper — what to add, what to cut, how to reorganize, and so forth. (See pages 36–38 for a reminder of what to look for.)
在最终编辑和校对阶段,请进行一次编辑检查,仅用于检查引文和文档格式。确保每个引文都准确无误。确保对来源的每个引用都有适当的文内引文,并且引用的作品列表(参考书目)完整且正确。使用本书中的指南或其他适当资源仔细检查您发现的任何手稿格式和标点符号问题。在投入大量时间和精力研究和撰写论文之后,如果因为一些小的不准确或错误而降低其有效性,那将是一种遗憾。
During the final editing and proofreading stage, include one editorial pass just for checking quotations and documentation format. Make sure each quotation is accurate and exact. Ensure that each reference to a source has an appropriate in-text citation and that your list of works cited (bibliography) is complete and correct. Double-check any manuscript format and punctuation issues you find with the guidelines included in this book or with another appropriate resource. After putting so much time and effort into researching and writing your paper, it would be a shame to have its effectiveness diminished by small inaccuracies or errors.
每个人都知道剽窃是错误的。购买或借用他人的作品、从网站下载全部或部分论文以及类似行为都是应受谴责的。大多数学院和大学都有学术诚信准则,禁止此类行为,并对违反准则的学生处以严厉处罚——在某些情况下包括开除学籍。许多教育工作者认为这些处罚还不够严厉。教师往往不仅对剽窃的学生感到愤怒,而且感到困惑。除了明显的作弊和撒谎错误(没有人喜欢被骗)之外,剽窃的学生还失去了学习机会,浪费了学生和教师的时间。
Everyone knows that plagiarism is wrong. Buying or borrowing someone else’s work, downloading all or part of a paper from the website, and similar practices are beyond reprehensible. Most colleges and universities have codes of academic honesty forbidding such practices and imposing severe penalties — including expulsion from the institution in some cases — on students who are caught breaking them. Many educators feel these penalties are, if anything, not severe enough. Instructors tend to be not only angered but also baffled by students who plagiarize. In addition to the obvious wrongs of cheating and lying (nobody likes being lied to), students who plagiarize are losing out on a learning opportunity, a waste of the student’s, and instructor’s, time.
然而,并不是每个人都清楚什么是剽窃,很多剽窃行为实际上可能是学生无意为之。剽窃的实际定义将有助于澄清什么是剽窃:
Not everyone, though, is altogether clear on what plagiarism entails, and a good deal of plagiarism can actually be unintentional on the part of the student. A working definition of plagiarism will help to clarify what plagiarism is:
有些行为是显而易见的。你知道让朋友帮你做作业或者从网站下载论文并当作自己的论文提交是作弊行为。但是清单上的第一项和最后一项并不是那么明确或不言自明。把别人的想法当作自己的想法究竟是什么意思?许多学生认为,只要他们用自己的话重新表述一个想法,他们就已经尽到避免抄袭的责任了;然而,他们错了。读者会合理地认为,你论文中的所有内容都是你自己思考的产物,而不仅仅是你自己的措辞,除非你通过记录来源与他人分享荣誉。无论如何表述,原创想法都属于最先想到并写下来的人;事实上,在这种情况下,占有的概念是如此强烈,以至于适用于这种所有权的术语是知识产权。
Some of this is obvious. You know it is cheating to have a friend do your homework or to download a paper from the website and submit it as your own. But the first and last items on the list are not as clear-cut or self-explanatory. What exactly does it mean to present someone else’s ideas as your own? Many students believe that as long as they rephrase an idea into their own words, they have done their part to avoid plagiarism; however, they are mistaken. Readers reasonably assume that everything in your paper is a product of your own thinking, not just your own phrasing, unless you share credit with another by documenting your source. No matter how it is phrased, an original idea belongs to the person who first thought of it and wrote it down; in fact, the notion of possession in this context is so strong that the term applied to such ownership is intellectual property.
打个比方,假设你发明了一种革命性的产品,申请了专利,并开始销售。下周,你发现你的邻居生产了同样的产品,涂上了不同的颜色,改了名字,并且卖得非常好。你的邻居为产品使用了新的名字和颜色,难道就不该被算作窃取了你的创意吗?当然不是。你的知识产权,即产品背后的创意,已经被窃取了。如果你从别人那里收集了一条信息、一个观点,甚至一个抽象的概念,用自己的语言表达出来,并在论文中“出售”它而没有给予适当的认可,那么你也犯了剽窃罪。
As an analogy, imagine you have invented a revolutionary product, patented it, and put it up for sale. The next week, you find that your neighbor has produced the same product, painted it a different color, changed the name, and is doing a booming business selling the product. Is your neighbor any less guilty of stealing your idea just because he or she is using a new name and color for the product? Of course not. Your intellectual property, the idea behind the product, has been stolen. And you are no less guilty of plagiarism if you glean a piece of information, an opinion, or even an abstract concept from another person, put it into your own words, and “sell” it in your paper without giving proper credit.
比如说,你找到了这一段关于威廉·巴特勒·叶芝的文字:
Let us say, for example, that you find this passage about William Butler Yeats:
叶芝生性虔诚,但无法接受正统基督教,他一生都在探索神秘哲学,寻找一种可以取代失落宗教的传统。他加入了神智学会和金色黎明教团,这两个团体对东方神秘主义很感兴趣,后来他发展出一套私人的符号和神秘思想体系。
Religious by temperament but unable to accept orthodox Christianity, Yeats throughout his life explored esoteric philosophies in search of a tradition that would substitute for a lost religion. He became a member of the Theosophical Society and the Order of the Golden Dawn, two groups interested in Eastern occultism, and later developed a private system of symbols and mystical ideas.
这张图表摘自这段话,提供了抄袭的例子以及如何避免抄袭:
Drawing from this passage this chart provides an example of plagiarism as well as how to avoid it:
| 剽窃 | 正确使用来源 |
|---|---|
| 叶芝一生虔诚,探索过各种各样的信仰实践。他加入了神智学会和金色黎明会,这两个团体对东方神秘主义很感兴趣。后来,他发展了自己的私人宗教体系。 | 叶芝拒绝接受爱尔兰的基督教,但他对神秘主义和东方哲学产生了兴趣。从这些来源中,他发展了自己的神秘符号系统,并将其运用在诗歌中。 |
左栏抄袭的例子过于依赖原文,而右栏的散文则利用了原文的元素并添加了其他信息。但是,两段文字的基本思路和中心思想大致相同。如果你的散文与作者或评论家的散文过于相似,而你又不承认原始出处,这就是抄袭。
The example of plagiarism in the left column relies too heavily on the original text, whereas the prose in the right column uses elements of the original and adds other information as well. However, the essential line of reasoning and the central point of both passages are largely the same. If your prose too closely resembles the prose of the author or critic and you do not acknowledge the original source, this is plagiarism.
最后,让我们看看清单上的最后一项:未经相关教师的明确许可,为多个课程提交同一篇论文。有时,你会发现两门或多门课程的主题有很大的重叠。例如,文学课包含历史、心理学、社会学和其他学科的元素,有时你可能会发现自己在具有共同特征的课程中从事写作项目。在这种情况下,你可能会想让你的研究和写作发挥双重作用,这不一定有什么问题。但是,如果你想为多个课程写一篇关于一个主题的论文,请先与两位教师明确这些计划。当然,即使你对两个作业使用相同的研究来源,你也几乎肯定需要写两篇单独的论文,每篇论文都根据各个课程和学科的要求进行调整。
Finally, let’s look at the last item on the list: submitting the same paper for more than one class without the express permission of the instructors involved. Sometimes, you will find substantial overlap in the subject matter of two or more of your classes. A literature class, for instance, has elements of history, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines, and once in a while you might find yourself working on writing projects in courses that share common features. You might be tempted to let your research and writing in such a case do double duty, and there is not necessarily anything wrong with that. However, if you wish to write a paper on a single topic for more than one class, clear these plans with both instructors first. And, of course, even if you use the same research sources for both assignments, you will almost certainly need to write two separate essays, tailoring each to meet the specifications of individual classes and disciplines.
任何从其他来源借用的内容都需要记录下来。显然,你应该记录来自主要或次要来源的每一个直接引用,无论长度多少。同样重要的是记录你所有的释义和想法、信息和观点的总结,并注明作者和页码。经验法则是,如果你不是自己编造的,你应该记录下来。
Everything borrowed from another source needs to be documented. Obviously, you should document every direct quotation of any length from primary or secondary sources. Equally important is the documentation of all your paraphrases and summaries of ideas, information, and opinions, citing authors and page numbers. The rule of thumb is that if you didn’t make it up yourself, you should probably document it.
上句中的“可能”一词表明有例外,事实也确实如此。您不需要记录谚语(“活着,也让别人活着。”)或非常熟悉的引语(“我有一个梦想......”),尽管对于后一种情况,您可能希望在文本中提及说话者。您也不需要记录任何可以被视为常识的信息。这里的常识不仅指您期望几乎每个成年人立即知道的信息(例如,莎士比亚写了《哈姆雷特》或乔治华盛顿是美国第一任总统)。常识还包括您可以在一般或专业参考书中查找的无可争议的信息。街上的普通人可能无法告诉您 TS 艾略特出生于 1888 年,但您不需要说出这条信息来自哪里,因为它对任何想要找到它的人来说都是广为人知的。
The word probably in the previous sentence suggests that there are exceptions, and indeed there are. You do not need to document proverbial sayings (“Live and let live.”) or very familiar quotations (“I have a dream …”), though in the case of the latter you may want to allude to the speaker in your text. You also do not need to document any information that can be considered common knowledge. Common knowledge here refers not only to information that you would expect nearly every adult to know immediately (that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, for instance, or that George Washington was the first president of the United States). Common knowledge also encompasses undisputed information that you could look up in a general or specialized reference work. The average person on the street probably couldn’t tell you that T. S. Eliot was born in 1888, but you don’t need to say where that piece of information comes from, as it is widely available to anyone who wishes to find it.
运用你的常识和公平感来做出是否记录某些内容的必要决定。如有疑问,请咨询你的导师,并记住,记录不必要的内容总比犯剽窃罪要好。
Use both your common sense and your sense of fairness to make any necessary decisions about whether or not to document something. When in doubt, ask your instructor, and remember, it’s better to document something unnecessarily than to be guilty of plagiarism.
本节包含有关如何记录以下内容的信息:
This section includes information on how to document the following:
有些学生似乎认为英语教师觉得脚注、参考书目和文本引文很有趣。事实上,很少有人比那些必须教英语的人更清楚格式和文档对作家来说是多么乏味。你的老师很可能会坚持要求你记录你的资料来源。要求记录至少有三个原因。首先,公平竞争的意识要求我们对那些对我们有益的想法给予适当的赞扬。其次,通过记录你的资料来源,你可以让你的读者自己找到资料来源,如果他们对你的论文中的某些内容感兴趣,就可以跟进。第三,记录你的资料来源,并准确地记录,可以提高你作为作家的可信度,突出你的专业性和严谨性。
Some students seem to believe that English teachers find footnotes and bibliographies and textual citations fun and interesting. In truth, few people know better than those who have to teach it how tedious format and documentation can be for a writer. Chances are your instructor will insist that you document your sources. There are at least three reasons for requiring documentation. First, a sense of fair play demands that we give proper credit to those whose ideas benefit us. Second, by documenting your sources, you make it possible for your readers to find the sources themselves and follow up if they become interested in something in your paper. Third, documenting your sources, and doing it accurately, enhances your credibility as a writer by highlighting your professionalism and thoroughness.
记录来源的形式和公式有很多种——社会科学中常用的 APA(美国心理学会)格式、生命科学中使用的 CBE(生物学编辑委员会)格式、历史中使用的芝加哥格式(芝加哥格式手册)格式等等。每个系统都强调了与特定领域专家最相关的信息类型。如果你过去收到过关于研究项目记录格式的相互矛盾的指示——在文内参考资料中包含日期或不包含日期;使用脚注或使用尾注——你很可能正在努力在不同文献系统中。人文学科中最常用的格式是 MLA,即现代语言协会开发的系统。
There are many different forms and formulas for documenting sources — the APA (American Psychological Association) format commonly used in the social sciences, the CBE (Council of Biology Editors) format used in the life sciences, the Chicago (Chicago Manual of Style) format used in history, and so on. Each system highlights the type of information most relevant to experts in a particular field. If you have received contradictory instructions about documentation format for research projects in the past — include dates in your in-text references or don’t; use footnotes or use endnotes — chances are you were working in different documentation systems. The format most often used in the humanities is MLA, the system developed by the Modern Language Association.
MLA 格式由两个主要元素组成:文内引用和参考文献列表(书目)。文内引用是在每个引文、释义或摘要后面的括号内引用,并尽可能简要地提供来源信息,通常是作者姓氏和页码。参考文献列表位于论文末尾,提供有关所有使用来源的更详细信息。这样做的目的是,读者在看到文本中的括号引用时,可以轻松转到参考文献列表,并获取有关材料来源的出版物类型、出版日期等的完整详细信息。(有些作者使用 MLA 格式的第三个元素,即内容尾注,它位于论文末尾和参考文献列表之间,包含不易整合到论文中的额外信息。虽然您可以根据需要使用尾注,但它们不是必需的。)
MLA format is comprised of two main elements: in-text citations and a works cited list (bibliography). In-text citations are parenthetical references that follow each quotation, paraphrase, or summary and give the briefest possible information about the source, usually the author’s last name and a page number. The works cited list, which comes at the end of the paper, gives more detailed information about all sources used. The idea is that a reader coming across a parenthetical reference in your text can easily turn to the works cited list and get full details about the type of publication from which the material comes, the date of publication, and so on. (Some writers use a third element of MLA style, content endnotes, which come between the end of the paper and the works cited list and contain extra information not readily integrated into the paper. Although you may use endnotes if you wish, they are not necessary.)
以下页面描述了您可能遇到的主要来源类型以及如何在研究论文正文和参考文献列表中引用这些来源。但是,此处的信息并不详尽。如果您想引用此处未涵盖的来源,或者如果您想了解有关 MLA 样式和引用格式的更多信息,请参阅以下书籍:
The following pages describe the major types of sources you are likely to encounter and how to reference those sources both in the text of your research paper and in your works cited list. The information here, however, is not exhaustive. If you want to cite a source not covered here, or if you would like more information about MLA style and citation format, turn to the following book:
MLA 手册,第 8 版。现代语言协会,2016 年。
MLA Handbook, 8th edition. Modern Language Association, 2016.
文内引用的目的是在文章正文中对来源进行非常简短的确认。在 MLA 格式中,文内引用采用简短的括号插入的形式,直接跟在每句引文、释义或摘要之后。有些学生一开始会觉得这些插入有点让人分心,但你很快就会发现你逐渐习惯了,而且它们很快不会减慢你的阅读或理解速度。以下文内引用的解释和示例应该涵盖了你会遇到的大多数情况。
The purpose of an in-text citation is to give a very brief acknowledgment of a source within the body of your essay. In MLA format, in-text citations take the form of brief parenthetical interruptions directly following each quotation, paraphrase, or summary. Some students find these interruptions a bit distracting at first, but you will quickly find that you grow accustomed to them and that soon they will not slow your reading or comprehension. The following explanations and examples of in-text citations should cover most instances you will encounter.
通常,引文会包含被引作者的姓氏和页码。此处的第一个示例是直接引用,第二个示例是释义。
Typically, a citation will contain the last name of the author being cited and a page number. The first example here shows a direct quotation, the second a paraphrase.
一位评论家认为《Top Girls》 “不仅是对资产阶级女权主义的批判” (Munk 33)。
当英国羊毛需求旺盛时,沼泽地很富饶,但多年来,它们一直是英格兰最贫穷的地区之一(张伯伦 13)。
One reviewer referred to Top Girls as, “among other things, a critique of bourgeois feminism” (Munk 33).
When English wool was in demand, the fens were rich, but for many years now they have been among the poorest regions in England (Chamberlain 13).
在您的文本中看到这些参考文献时,您的读者就会知道他们可以转到您的作品引用列表并找出 Munk 和 Chamberlain 的全名、他们所写作品的标题以及作品的出版地点、时间和媒体。
Coming across these references in your text, your readers will know that they can turn to your works cited list and find out the full names of Munk and Chamberlain, the titles of what they have written, and where, when, and in what medium the works were published.
如果您已经在自己的文本中指明了作者,例如在引导短语中,则无需在括号中重复该名称,因为您的读者已经知道在您的参考文献列表中要查找哪位作者。在这种情况下,括号中的引用只需包含页码。已经给出的两个示例可以重写如下:
If you have already named the author in your own text, for instance in a lead-in phrase, you do not need to repeat the name in parentheses, as your reader will already know which author to look for in your works cited list. In this case, the parenthetical reference need only contain the page number. The two examples already given could be rewritten as follows:
评论家埃里卡·蒙克 (Erika Munk) 将《Top Girls》称为“对资产阶级女权主义的批判”(33)。
玛莎·张伯伦 (Martha Chamberlain) 写道,当英国羊毛需求旺盛时,沼泽地就很富饶,但多年来,它们一直是英格兰最贫穷的地区之一 (13)。
Reviewer Erika Munk referred to Top Girls as, “among other things, a critique of bourgeois feminism” (33).
Martha Chamberlain writes that when English wool was in demand, the fens were rich, but for many years now they have been among the poorest regions in England (13).
您可能会想要对一段扩展内容做一个简要总结,在这种情况下,您可能需要引用总结材料的全部页面。
You may find yourself wanting to make a brief summary of an extended passage, in which case you might need to cite the inclusive pages of the summarized material.
正如伊丽莎白·麦克伦南在《月亮属于每个人》(137–99)中记载的那样,约翰·麦格拉斯的苏格兰剧团因政府补贴的终止而破产。
John McGrath’s Scottish theater company was destroyed by the end of government subsidies, as Elizabeth MacLennan chronicles in The Moon Belongs to Everyone (137–99).
许多电子出版物没有页码。如果您引用这些来源之一,只需在引文或摘要前用括号或提示短语注明作者姓氏即可。
Many electronic publications do not have page numbers. If you are citing one of these sources, simply give the author’s last name either in parentheses or in a signal phrase before the quotation or summary.
评论家指出“狄金森拒绝公开承认信仰,以便允许她加入教会”(Yezzi)。
Critics have noted that “Dickinson declined to make the public confession of faith that would admit her to the church” (Yezzi).
或者
or
大卫·耶兹 (David Yezzi) 写道:“狄金森拒绝公开承认信仰,以便允许她加入教会。”
David Yezzi writes that “Dickinson declined to make the public confession of faith that would admit her to the church.”
有时,几个不同的来源说的是大致相同的事情,或者至少您想要引用的部分有很大的重叠。以下是处理这种情况的两种方法;使用最适合您需求的一种。
Sometimes several different sources say roughly the same thing, or at least there is substantial overlap in the parts you want to cite. Following are two ways of handling this situation; use whichever one best suits your needs.
剧中的这一段落引起了许多批评性的猜测,尤其是弗洛伊德派批评家(Anders 19;Olsen 116;Smith 83–84;Watson 412)。
许多弗洛伊德批评家都对这段话进行了评论,包括安德斯(19)、奥尔森(116)、史密斯(83–84)和沃森(412)。
This particular passage in the play has been the source of much critical speculation, especially by Freudian critics (Anders 19; Olsen 116; Smith 83–84; Watson 412).
A number of Freudian critics have commented on this passage, including Anders (19), Olsen (116), Smith (83–84), and Watson (412).
一个作者就同一主题撰写多本书或多篇文章是很常见的,你可能想在论文中使用其中的多个。在这种情况下,标题的缩写版本必须出现在括号中的引用中,以显示引用或引用了作者的哪部作品。在关于剧作家 Caryl Churchill 的文章和书籍的引文中,作者均为 Geraldine Cousin,人们会给出作品标题的第一个单词(除了the、a等)。如下所示,Common和Churchill分别是文章和书籍标题中的第一个单词:
It is common for one author to write multiple books or articles on the same general topic, and you might want to use more than one of them in your paper. In this case, a shortened version of the title must appear in the parenthetical reference, to show which work by the author is being quoted or cited. In the citations for an article and a book about playwright Caryl Churchill, both by the author Geraldine Cousin, one would give the first word of the work’s title (other than the, a, and so forth). As seen below, Common and Churchill are the first words in the title of the article and the book, respectively:
丘吉尔声称,她在沼泽地遇到的一位工头向她表达了这种情感(Cousin,“Common”6)。
丘吉尔在访问沼泽地时在笔记本中记录了她看到婴儿车停在妇女们劳作的田地周围的情景(Cousin, Churchill 47)。
Churchill claims that this sentiment was expressed to her by one of the gangmasters she encountered in the fens (Cousin, “Common” 6).
Churchill’s notebooks from her visit to the fens record her seeing baby prams parked around the fields in which the women worked (Cousin, Churchill 47).
注意作者姓名和书名之间的逗号。请注意,这些缩写标题的格式(斜体或引号)与引用作品列表或您文章中的其他地方的格式相同,文章使用引号,书籍使用斜体(或下划线)。
Note the comma between the author’s name and the title. Note that these shortened titles are formatted (with italics or quotation marks) just as they would be in the works cited list or elsewhere in your writing, in quotation marks for an article and in italics (or underscored) for a book.
如果作者以信号短语命名,则只需在括号中注明缩写标题和页码。
If the author is named in a signal phrase, only the shortened title and page number are needed in the parenthetical reference.
鲁比·科恩 (Ruby Cohn) 说:“暴力是芬河畔这些残酷生活中唯一的解决办法” ( 《Retreats》 139)。
“Violence,” says Ruby Cohn, “is the only recourse in these brutalized lives on the Fen” (Retreats 139).
查尔斯·莫泽在其关于玛格丽特·撒切尔的书第 58 页中写道:
On page 58 of his book about Margaret Thatcher, Charles Moser writes:
1983 年 6 月,撒切尔在议会演讲中表示:“回归维多利亚价值观将鼓励个人责任感、个人主动性、自尊心以及对他人及其财产的尊重。”
In a speech to Parliament in June of 1983, Thatcher said, “A return to Victorian values will encourage personal responsibility, personal initiative, self-respect, and respect for others and their property.”
假设您没有撒切尔的原始演讲文本,而且莫泽没有引用您可以找到的主要来源。但莫泽是一位可靠的作者,因此您相信撒切尔的引言是准确的,并希望在您的论文中使用其中的一部分。这可以通过在您的文本中提供原始演讲者的名字(在本例中为玛格丽特·撒切尔)并在括号引用中使用缩写qtd. in和您从其处获得引言的作者(在本例中为查尔斯·莫泽)来实现。
Let us say you do not have the text of Thatcher’s original speech and that Moser doesn’t make reference to a primary source that you can track down. But Moser is a reliable author, so you believe the Thatcher quotation is accurate and want to use a portion of it in your paper. This is done by giving the original speaker’s name (in this case Margaret Thatcher) in your text and using the abbreviation qtd. in and the author from whom you got the quote (in this case Charles Moser) in the parenthetical citation.
撒切尔声称,这些“维多利亚价值观”将“鼓励个人责任、个人主动性、自尊和尊重他人”(引自 Moser 58)。
These “Victorian values,” Thatcher claimed, would “encourage personal responsibility, personal initiative, self-respect, and respect for others” (qtd. in Moser 58).
最好在研究过程中就开始准备参考文献列表,每次找到可能对你有用的资料来源时添加新条目。这样,在完成论文时,你只需编辑已有的列表,确保它包含所有必要的条目,没有多余的条目,并检查每个条目的准确性和格式。如果你等到最后才创建参考文献列表,你就必须在最疲惫的时候从头开始编制整个列表,因此最无法将注意力集中在这项必要的详细工作上。
It is a good idea to begin preparing your works cited list during the research process, adding new entries each time you find a source that might be useful to you. That way, when the time comes to finalize your paper, you can just edit the list you already have, making sure it contains all the necessary entries and no extraneous ones, and checking each for accuracy and format. If you wait until the end to create your works cited list, you will have to compile the whole list from scratch at a time when you are most tired and therefore least able to focus your attention on this necessary, detailed work.
有许多在线资源可帮助您编写和格式化引用的作品。其中最受尊敬的两个是easybib.com 和citationmachine.net。这些网站允许您从菜单中选择来源类型,然后在表单中输入有关作者姓名、标题等的信息。输入所有信息后,软件会格式化和适当地标点,然后您就可以将其保存到文档中。您可以选择 MLA、APA 或其他流行格式。大多数教师不介意您使用这些服务(如果您不确定您的教师对此有何看法,请询问),但需要注意一点。这些服务可以格式化和标点,但不能校对。它们将使用您输入的准确信息,因此您必须在提交信息进行格式化之前仔细检查其准确性。许多文字处理程序也有参考书目生成器,但这些通常不适合专业的学术资料,因此不推荐使用。
A number of online resources exist to help you compose and format your works cited. Two of the best respected are easybib.com and citationmachine.net. These sites allow you to select the type of source from a menu and then enter information about author names, titles, and so on in a form. Once all the information is entered, the software formats and punctuates it appropriately, and you can then save it to your document. You can choose from MLA, APA, or other popular formats. Most instructors do not mind you using these services (ask if you are unsure how your instructor feels about this), but a word of caution is needed. These services can format and punctuate, but they cannot proofread. They will use the information exactly as you enter it, so you must double-check for accuracy before submitting the information for formatting. Many word-processing programs also have bibliography generators, but these are usually not adequate for specialized, scholarly sources and are therefore not recommended.
要列出您引用的作品中的书籍,请按照以下顺序和格式尽可能多地提供以下可用且适当的信息。每个引用作品条目都有三个基本部分或容器:
To list books in your works cited, include as much of the following information as is available and appropriate, in the following order and format. Each works cited entry has three basic parts, or containers:
作者姓名。作品名称。出版信息。
Author’s Name. Title of Work. Publication Information.
直接从书的标题页复制条目,这比封面或其他书目提供的信息更完整、更准确。以下示例涵盖了您可能遇到的大多数类型的书籍。
Copy your entries directly from the book’s title page, which provides more complete and accurate information than does a cover or another bibliography. The following examples cover most of the sorts of books you are likely to encounter.
最简单的条目是一位作者撰写的单卷书,不属于系列丛书的一部分,并且没有额外的编辑者、翻译者或编纂者。
The simplest entry is a single-volume book by a single author, not part of a series, and without additional editors, translators, or compilers.
谢尔曼·阿莱克西。《一个兼职印第安人的绝对真实日记》。Little, Brown,2007 年。
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little, Brown, 2007.
如果一本书除了作者之外还有编辑、翻译或编译者,则请在书名和出版商之间通过角色和姓名来识别此人。
If a book has an editor, a translator, or a compiler in addition to an author, identify this person by role and by name, between the book’s title and publisher.
西巴尔德,WG,《土星光环》。迈克尔·赫尔斯译,新方向出版社,1998 年。
Sebald, W. G. The Rings of Saturn. Translated by Michael Hulse, New Directions, 1998.
以下示例引用了一位作者撰写的第三版书籍。
The following example cites a third-edition book by a single author.
Richter, David H. 《批判传统:古典文本与当代趋势》。第三版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2007 年。
Richter, David H. The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. 3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.
请注意,以下示例中只有第一作者的姓名以倒序显示。UP(无句号)是 University Press 的缩写。还请注意,引用系列丛书时会包含系列名称“牛津莎士比亚主题”。
Note that in the following example only the first author’s name appears in reverse order. UP (with no periods) is the abbreviation for University Press. Note also the series title, Oxford Shakespeare Topics, is included when citing a book in a series.
Gurr, Andrew 和 Mariko Ichikawa。《莎士比亚剧院的舞台表演》。牛津大学出版社,2000 年。牛津莎士比亚主题。
Gurr, Andrew, and Mariko Ichikawa. Staging in Shakespeare’s Theaters. Oxford UP, 2000. Oxford Shakespeare Topics.
如果一本书的标题页上列出了三位或更多作者或编辑者,您可以列出所有姓名,也可以只给出第一位姓名,后跟et al . (拉丁语,表示“和其他人”)。
If three or more authors or editors are listed on a book’s title page, you can list all names or give only the name of the first, followed by et al. (Latin for “and others”).
加德纳,珍妮特·E. 等人,编辑。《文学:便携式选集》。第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年。
Gardner, Janet E., et al., editors. Literature: A Portable Anthology. 5th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021.
只需包含所有其他信息,从标题开始。
Simply include all the other information, beginning with the title.
吉尔伽美什:新英文版。斯蒂芬·米切尔译,免费,2006 年。
Gilgamesh: A New English Version. Translated by Stephen Mitchell, Free, 2006.
团体作者是指一本书的作者是某个组织而非个人。这在政府和非营利组织的出版物中尤其常见。
Corporate authorship refers to a book that lists an organization rather than an individual as its author. This is especially common with publications from government and nonprofit organizations.
人口普查局。《美国历史统计,1789-1945:美国统计摘要补充》。政府印刷局,1945 年。
Bureau of the Census. Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789–1945: A Supplement to the Statistical Abstract of the United States. Government Printing Office, 1945.
如果您引用同一作者的多个作品,请按标题字母顺序排列条目。对于同一作者的第二个及所有后续条目,请用三个连字符替换作者姓名。
If you cite more than one work by a single author, alphabetize the entries by title. For the second and all subsequent entries by the same author, replace the author’s name with three hyphens.
布鲁姆,哈罗德。《哈姆雷特:无限诗集》。Riverhead -Penguin 出版社,2003 年。
---。莎士比亚的诗歌和十四行诗。切尔西,1999 年。布鲁姆的主要诗人。
Bloom, Harold. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. Riverhead-Penguin, 2003.
---. Shakespeare’s Poems and Sonnets. Chelsea, 1999. Bloom’s Major Poets.
以下第一个例子是来自文学选集的引文;第二个例子是来自学术著作的引文,其中每一章都是由不同的作者撰写的。所引用的作品或章节的标题通常用引号括起来。但是,如果作品是戏剧或小说,则应将其标题改为斜体。
The first example that follows is a citation from a literature anthology; the second is from a scholarly work in which each chapter is written by a different author. The title of the work or chapter being cited is usually enclosed in quotation marks. However, if the piece is a play or novel, you should italicize its title instead.
鲍德温,詹姆斯。《桑尼的蓝调》。《文学:便携选集》,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年,第 358–84 页。
Keyishian, Harry。“莎士比亚与电影类型:以哈姆雷特为例。”《剑桥莎士比亚电影指南》,由 Russell Jackson 编辑,剑桥大学出版社,2000 年,第 72-81 页。
Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” Literature: A Portable Anthology, edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021, pp. 358–84.
Keyishian, Harry. “Shakespeare and the Movie Genre: The Case of Hamlet.” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film, edited by Russell Jackson, Cambridge UP, 2000, pp. 72–81.
如果您引用单个选集或合集中的两部或两部以上作品,则可以创建交叉引用,引用整个合集的完整出版信息,并仅使用编辑者的姓名和选集或合集中特定作品的页码来交叉引用各个作品。
If you cite two or more works from a single anthology or collection, you can create a cross-reference, citing the full publication information for the collection as a whole and cross-referencing the individual pieces using only the name of the editor and page numbers of the particular work within the anthology or compilation.
肖邦,凯特。“一小时的故事。”加德纳等,第 180-82 页。
加德纳,珍妮特·E. 等人,编辑。《文学:便携式选集》。第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年。
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins。“黄色壁纸。” Gardner 等,第 196-210 页。
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Gardner et al., pp. 180–82.
Gardner, Janet E., et al., editors. Literature: A Portable Anthology. 5th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gardner et al., pp. 196–210.
引用字典、百科全书或其他专业参考书的材料的格式与文集中的作品的格式类似,但省略了参考书编辑者的姓名。通常,此类参考文章都是匿名的。第一个例子是印刷书籍中的签名文章,第二个例子是电子百科全书中的匿名条目。
The format for citing material from dictionaries, encyclopedias, or other specialized reference works is similar to that for a work in an anthology, but the name of the reference work’s editor is omitted. Often, such reference articles are anonymous anyway. The first example is for a signed article in a print book, the second for an anonymous entry in an electronic encyclopedia.
布朗,安德鲁。“索福克勒斯。”剑桥戏剧指南。剑桥大学出版社,1988 年,第 899-900 页。
杜兰特,艾米·M。“芬恩·麦克·卡姆海尔。”神话百科全书,2011 年 4 月 17 日,www.pantheon.org/articles/f/finn_mac_cumhail.html。
Brown, Andrew. “Sophocles.” The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge UP, 1988, pp. 899–900.
Durante, Amy M. “Finn Mac Cumhail.” Encyclopedia Mythica, 17 Apr. 2011, www.pantheon.org/articles/f/finn_mac_cumhail.html.
在作者姓名之后,给出所引用书籍部分的名称,大写但不斜体也不加引号,后面跟着书名和所有相关的出版信息。
After the author’s name, give the name of the part of the book being cited, capitalized but neither italicized nor in quotation marks, followed by the title of the book and all relevant publication information.
邓纳姆,莉娜。序言。《说谎者俱乐部》,玛丽·卡尔著,企鹅经典出版社,2015 年,第 xi-xiii 页。
Dunham, Lena. Foreword. The Liars’ Club, by Mary Karr, Penguin Classics, 2015, pp. xi–xiii.
大多数学术期刊每年出版几期,并在整个期刊中连续分页。(换句话说,如果一期在第 230 页结束,下一期将从第 231 页开始。)您的参考文献条目应列出作者、文章标题、期刊标题、卷号、期号、季节或月份和年份以及页码。请严格遵循此处显示的标点符号。
Most scholarly journals publish several issues in each annual volume and paginate continuously throughout the entire volume. (In other words, if one issue ends on page 230, the next will begin with page 231.) Your works cited entry should list the author, article title, journal title, volume number, issue number, the season or month and year and page numbers. Follow the punctuation shown here exactly.
福奎阿,艾米。“‘眉头的皱痕’:托妮·莫里森《天堂》中的天意与实用主义。”《中西部季刊》,第 54 卷,第 1 期,2012 年秋季,第 38-52 页。
Fuqua, Amy. “ ‘The Furrow of His Brow’: Providence and Pragmatism in Toni Morrison’s Paradise.” Midwest Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 1, Autumn 2012, pp. 38–52.
对于杂志上的文章,省略卷号和期号(如果有),并包含出版日期。此处的第一个示例显示了月刊、双月刊或季刊的格式;第二个示例包括日期和月份,适用于周刊和双周刊。
For an article in a magazine, omit the volume and issue numbers (if given) and include the date of publication. The first example here shows the format for a monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly magazine; the second, which includes the date as well as the month, is appropriate for weekly and biweekly magazines.
Bryan, Christy。“象牙崇拜”。《国家地理》,2012 年 10 月,第 28-61 页。
Grossman, Lev。“一个明星的诞生。” 《时代》,2015 年 11 月 2 日,第 30-39 页。
Bryan, Christy. “Ivory Worship.” National Geographic, Oct. 2012, pp. 28–61.
Grossman, Lev. “A Star Is Born.” Time, 2 Nov. 2015, pp. 30–39.
当报纸被分成几部分时,请记下标明该部分的字母或数字,作为页码的一部分。报纸和一些杂志经常将文章放在不连续的页面上。在这种情况下,请只给出第一页的页码,后面跟着加号 (+)。
When a newspaper is separated into sections, note the letter or number designating the section as a part of the page reference. Newspapers and some magazines frequently place articles on nonconsecutive pages. When this happens, give the number of the first page only, followed by the plus sign (+).
Sherry, Allison。“志愿者的个人风格将高科技数据转化为选票。” 《丹佛邮报》,2012 年 10 月 30 日,第 1A+ 页。
Sherry, Allison. “Volunteers’ Personal Touch Turns High-Tech Data into Votes.” The Denver Post, 30 Oct. 2012, pp. 1A+.
要引用评论,您必须在评论标题和期刊标题之间包含所评论作品的标题和作者。后面的第一个条目是报纸上的书评。第二个是杂志上的电影评论,其中包含导演的名字。
To cite a review, you must include the title and author of the work being reviewed between the review title and the periodical title. The first entry that follows is for a book review in a newspaper. The second is a review of a film in a magazine that includes the director’s name.
沃尔顿,詹姆斯。“高贵而又饱受战争摧残的灵魂。” 《骨钟与斯莱德大宅》评论,大卫·米切尔著,《纽约书评》,2015 年 12 月 3 日,第 55-58 页。
Lane, Anthony。“电影中的电影。”评论《逃离德黑兰》(本·阿弗莱克执导)和《险恶》(斯科特·德里克森执导),《纽约客》,2012 年 10 月 15 日,第 98-99 页。
Walton, James. “Noble, Embattled Souls.” Review of The Bone Clocks and Slade House, by David Mitchell, The New York Review of Books, 3 Dec. 2015, pp. 55–58.
Lane, Anthony. “Film within a Film.” Review of Argo, directed by Ben Affleck, and Sinister, directed by Scott Derrickson, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2012, pp. 98–99.
有时,在线资源不会列出完整引文所需的所有信息。例如,它们通常是匿名的,并且并不总是记录撰写或更新的日期。请使用以下格式提供尽可能多的信息。尽可能使用永久链接(也称为数字对象标识符或 DOI)代替 URL。请注意,研究人员访问文档的日期是可选的。对于没有出版日期的在线资源,请将其包括在内。
Sometimes online sources do not list all the information required for a complete citation. They are, for instance, frequently anonymous, and they do not always record the dates when they were written or updated. Give as much of the information as you can find, using the formats that follow. Whenever possible, include permalinks (also known as Digital Object Identifiers, or DOIs) in place of URLs. Note that the date the researcher accessed the document is optional. Include it for online sources that do not have a publication date.
当您通过在线索引或数据库( MLA 国际书目、JSTOR等)访问文章时,请将其视为印刷资料,并添加数据库的标题(斜体)和永久链接或 URL。
When you access an article through an online index or database (MLA International Bibliography, JSTOR, etc.), treat it as you would a print source, with the addition of the title of the database (italicized), and the permalink or URL.
Bottomore,Stephen。“电影摄影的浪漫。” 《电影史》,第 24 卷,第 3 期,2012 年 7 月,第 341-44 页。JSTOR ,doi:10.2979/filmhistory.24.3.341 。
Bottomore, Stephen. “The Romance of the Cinematograph.” Film History, vol. 24, no. 3, July 2012, pp. 341–44. JSTOR, doi:10.2979/filmhistory.24.3.341.
在线学术项目或数据库的完整条目包括编辑的姓名;项目(斜体);赞助组织或机构的名称;项目最近更新的日期;以及永久链接或 URL。
A full entry for an online scholarly project or database includes the editor’s name; the title of the project, italicized; the name of the sponsoring organization or institution; the date of the project’s most recent update; and the permalink or URL.
Folsom,Ed,Kenneth M. Price 编辑。沃尔特·惠特曼档案。沃尔特·惠特曼档案,2016 年 4 月,whitmanarchive.org。
Folsom, Ed, and Kenneth M. Price, editors. The Walt Whitman Archive. Walt Whitman Archive, April 2016, whitmanarchive.org.
以下第一篇文章来自一本在线学术期刊;第二篇文章来自一本在线流行杂志。
The first entry that follows is from an online scholarly journal; the second entry is from an online popular magazine.
Bryson, Devin。“新塞内加尔文化哲学的兴起?” 《非洲研究季刊》,第 14 卷,第 3 期,2014 年 3 月,第 33-56 页,asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Volume-14-Issue-3-Bryson.pdf。
Leonard, Andrew。“监视州立高中。” Salon,2012 年 11 月 27 日,www.salon.com/2012/11/27/the_surveillance_state_high_school/。
Bryson, Devin. “The Rise of a New Senegalese Cultural Philosophy?” African Studies Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 3, Mar. 2014, pp. 33–56, asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Volume-14-Issue-3-Bryson.pdf.
Leonard, Andrew. “The Surveillance State High School.” Salon, 27 Nov. 2012, www.salon.com/2012/11/27/the_surveillance_state_high_school/.
尽可能多地包含以下信息:文档或网站的作者;文档标题(带引号)(如果网站分为多个单独的文档);网站名称(斜体);赞助组织或机构;创建日期或最近更新日期;以及永久链接或 URL。如果网站没有正式名称,请提供简短的识别短语(既不带斜体也不带引号),如下面第二个示例所示。
Include as much of the following information as appropriate and available: the author of the document or site; the document title, in quotation marks (if the site is divided into separate documents); the name of the site, italicized; the sponsoring organization or institution; the date of creation or most recent update; and the permalink or URL. If the site has no official title, provide a brief identifying phrase, neither italicized nor in quotation marks, as in the second example below.
Railton, Stephen。《马克·吐温在他的时代》。Stephen Railton / 弗吉尼亚大学图书馆,2012 年,twain.lib.virginia.edu/。
Bae, Rebecca。主页。爱荷华州立大学,2015 年,www.engl.iastate.edu/rebecca-bae-directory-page/。
Railton, Stephen. Mark Twain in His Times. Stephen Railton / U of Virginia Library, 2012, twain.lib.virginia.edu/.
Bae, Rebecca. Home page. Iowa State U, 2015, www.engl.iastate.edu/rebecca-bae-directory-page/.
对于网站上的单个页面,列出作者(如果有),然后列出整个网站的其余信息,如上所述。
For an individual page on a website, list the author (if given), followed by the rest of the information for the entire website, as above.
Enzinna, Wes。“叙利亚未知的革命。”普利策危机报道中心,2015 年 11 月 24 日,pulitzercenter.org/projects/middle-east-syria-enzinna-war-rojava。
Enzinna, Wes. “Syria’s Unknown Revolution.” Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, 24 Nov. 2015, pulitzercenter.org/projects/middle-east-syria-enzinna-war-rojava.
博客引用的条目包括博客作者的姓名(或在线用户名)、帖子标题、博客标题、发布日期以及永久链接或 URL。
An entry for a blog citation includes the blogger’s name (or online handle), the title of the posting, the blog title, the date of posting, and the permalink or the URL.
Cimons, Marlene。“为什么城市可能是解决气候危机的关键。” Thinkprogress.org,美国进步中心行动基金,2015 年 12 月 10 日,thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/12/10/3730938/cities-key-to-climate-crisis/。
Cimons, Marlene. “Why Cities Could Be the Key to Solving the Climate Crisis.” Thinkprogress.org, Center for American Progress Action Fund, 10 Dec. 2015, thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/12/10/3730938/cities-key-to-climate-crisis/.
贝德福德英语。“斯泰西·科克伦 (Stacey Cochran) 探索课堂上和作家中的反思性写作:ow.ly/YkjVB。” Facebook,2016 年 2 月 15 日,www.facebook.com/BedfordEnglish/posts/10153415001259607。
Bedford English. “Stacey Cochran explores Reflective Writing in the classroom and as a writer: ow.ly/YkjVB.” Facebook, 15 Feb. 2016, www.facebook.com/BedfordEnglish/posts/10153415001259607.
好奇号火星车。“你能看到我挥手吗?如何在夜空中发现#Mars:youtu.be/hv8hVvJlcJQ。” Twitter,2015 年 11 月 5 日上午 11:00,twitter.com/marscuriosity/status/672859022911889408。
Curiosity Rover. “Can you see me waving? How to spot #Mars in the night sky: youtu.be/hv8hVvJlcJQ.” Twitter, 5 Nov. 2015, 11:00 a.m., twitter.com/marscuriosity/status/672859022911889408.
提供作者姓名、从主题行中获取的帖子标题(引号内)、论坛所在网站的标题(斜体)、网站赞助商、帖子日期以及永久链接或 URL。如果帖子没有标题,请使用标识短语online posting。
Give the author’s name, the title of the posting (in quotation marks) taken from the subject line, the title of the site on which the forum is found (italicized), the sponsor of the site, the date of posting, and the permalink or URL. If the posting has no title, use the identifying phrase online posting.
罗宾·格里菲斯。“为阅读教师写作。”发展数字素养,NCTE,2015 年 10 月 23 日,ncte.connectedcommunity.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=1693&MID=24520&tab=digestviewer&CommunityKey=628d2ad6-8277-4042-a376-2b370ddceabf。
Robin, Griffith. “Write for the Reading Teacher.” Developing Digital Literacies,NCTE, 23 Oct. 2015, ncte.connectedcommunity.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=1693&MID=24520&tab=digestviewer&CommunityKey=628d2ad6-8277-4042-a376-2b370ddceabf.
仅当您主要提及某个人的作品时,才以作者或其他人的名字(导演、解说员等)开头。否则,以片段或剧集的标题(如果合适)开头,用引号引起来;节目名称(斜体);系列剧名称(如果适用),斜体;网络名称;以及播出日期。
Begin with the name of the author or another individual (director, narrator, and so forth), only if you refer primarily to the work of a particular individual. Otherwise, begin with the title of a segment or episode (if appropriate), in quotation marks; the title of the program, italicized; the title of the series (if applicable), italicized; the name of the network; and the date of broadcast.
“大学校园里的言论自由”。《华盛顿日报》,由 C-SPAN 的 Peter Slen 讲述,2015 年 11 月 27 日。
特雷弗·诺亚每日秀。喜剧中心,2015 年 11 月 18 日。
“Free Speech on College Campuses.” Washington Journal, narrated by Peter Slen, C-SPAN, 27 Nov. 2015.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Comedy Central, 18 Nov. 2015.
电影引用以斜体电影名称开头,后跟导演姓名、主要演员姓名、电影制片厂名称和上映年份。
Film citations begin with the film title, which is italicized, followed by the name of the director, the names of the featured key performers, the name of the movie studio, and the year of release.
《鸟人》(或《无知的意外美德》)。导演为亚历桑德罗·冈萨雷斯·伊纳里图,演员为迈克尔·基顿、艾玛·斯通、扎克·加利费安纳基斯、爱德华·诺顿和娜奥米·沃茨,福克斯探照灯,2014 年。
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, performances by Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, and Naomi Watts, Fox Searchlight, 2014.
以被采访人的名字开头。对于已发表的采访,如果有标题,请用引号引起来(如果没有标题,则使用Interview 的名称,既不用引号也不用斜体),然后是采访者的姓名和出版信息。以下第一个例子是针对杂志上发表的采访。第二个例子是针对研究论文作者亲自进行的采访,并给出被采访人的姓名。
Begin with the name of the person interviewed. For a published interview, give the title, if any, in quotation marks (if there is no title, simply use the designation Interview, neither in quotation marks nor italicized), followed by the name of the interviewer, and publication information. The first example that follows is for an interview published in a magazine. The second example is for an interview conducted personally by the author of the research paper and gives the name of the person interviewed.
韦丁顿,莎拉。“莎拉韦丁顿:仍在为罗诉韦德案辩护。”米歇尔·科特女士采访,2013 年冬季,第 32-35 页。
Akufo,Dautey。个人采访,2016 年 4 月 11 日。
Weddington, Sarah. “Sarah Weddington: Still Arguing for Roe.” Interview by Michele Kort, Ms., Winter 2013, pp. 32–35.
Akufo, Dautey. Personal interview, 11 Apr. 2016.
要引用您参加过的演讲或讲座,请使用以下格式,列出演讲者的姓名;演讲标题(用引号引起来)(如果已宣布或发布);赞助组织;地点;日期;以及描述性标签,如地址或讲座。
To cite a speech or lecture that you’ve attended, use the following format, listing the speaker’s name; the title of the presentation, in quotation marks (if announced or published); the sponsoring organization; the location; the date; and a descriptive label such as Address or Lecture.
史密斯,安娜·迪佛。“在路上:寻找美国性格。”国家人文基金会,约翰·肯尼迪表演艺术中心,华盛顿,2015 年 4 月 6 日。演讲。
Smith, Anna Deavere. “On the Road: A Search for American Character.” National Endowment for the Humanities, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, 6 Apr. 2015. Address.
一般来说,你不需要引用课堂讲座;引用或以其他方式提及老师在课堂上讲的内容,你只需在论文正文中注明老师即可。
Generally speaking, you do not need to cite a class lecture; to quote or otherwise refer to something an instructor says in class, you may do so simply by crediting the instructor in the text of your essay.
信件有三种类型:已出版、未出版(存档)和个人信件。已出版的信件包括作者姓名、收件人姓名(引号内)、信件日期、信件编号(如果由编辑指定)以及信件所在的书籍或期刊的出版信息。
There are three kinds of letters: published, unpublished (in archives), and personal. A published letter includes the writer’s name, the recipient’s name (in quotation marks), the date of the letter, the number of the letter (if assigned by the editor), and publication information for the book or periodical in which it appears.
沃顿,伊迪丝。《致亨利·詹姆斯的信》,1915 年 2 月 28 日。 《亨利·詹姆斯和伊迪丝·沃顿:书信,1900-1915》,莱尔·H·鲍尔斯编辑,斯克里布纳出版社,1990 年,第 323-326 页。
Wharton, Edith. Letter to Henry James, 28 Feb. 1915. Henry James and Edith Wharton: Letters, 1900–1915, edited by Lyall H. Powers, Scribner, 1990, pp. 323–26.
引用未发表的信件时,请提供作者姓名、材料标题或描述(例如,致哈夫洛克·埃利斯的信)、日期以及分配给该材料的任何识别号。请包括收藏该材料的图书馆或机构的名称。
In citing an unpublished letter, give the writer’s name, the title or a description of the material (for example, Letter to Havelock Ellis), the date, and any identifying number assigned to it. Include the name of the library or institution housing the material.
桑格,玛格丽特。写给哈夫洛克·埃利斯的信。1924 年 7 月 14 日。玛格丽特·桑格论文,索菲亚·史密斯收藏,史密斯学院。
Sanger, Margaret. Letter to Havelock Ellis. 14 July 1924. Margaret Sanger Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
要引用您亲自收到的信件,请注明作者、名称“致 [此处应注明作者姓名]”以及发送日期。要引用您亲自收到的电子邮件,请注明作者、主题行作为标题、收件人以及发送日期。
To cite a letter you received personally, include the author, the designation “Letter to [author’s name should go here],” and the date posted. To cite an e-mail you received personally, include the author, the subject line as the title, who the message was received by, and the date it was sent.
格林,巴克莱。致作者的信。2015 年 9 月 1 日。
Thornbrugh, Caitlin。“Coates 讲座。”Rita Anderson 于 2015 年 10 月 20 日收到。
Green, Barclay. Letter to the author. 1 Sept. 2015.
Thornbrugh, Caitlin. “Coates Lecture.” Received by Rita Anderson, 20 Oct. 2015.
请提供艺术家的姓名、作品名称(斜体)、创作日期、创作媒介,如果您亲眼见过原作,请提供收藏该作品的机构名称和位置。如果您在网上看到该作品,请务必提供永久链接或 URL。
Give the artist’s name, the title of the artwork (in italics), the date of composition, the medium of composition, and, if you saw the original artwork in person, the name and location of the institution that houses the artwork. If you saw the artwork online, be sure to provide the permalink or the URL.
戈雅、弗朗西斯科.查理四世的家族。 1800 年。布面油画。马德里普拉多博物馆。
克拉夫,查尔斯。《1 月 21 日》。1988–89 年,奥马哈乔斯林艺术博物馆,www.joslyn.org/collections-and-exhibitions/permanent-collections/modern-and-contemporary/charles-clough-january-twenty-first/。
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Clough, Charles. January Twenty-First. 1988–89, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, www.joslyn.org/collections-and-exhibitions/permanent-collections/modern-and-contemporary/charles-clough-january-twenty-first/.
在选择研究论文主题时,Rachel McCarthy 回忆起她觉得叶芝的诗《第二次降临》(第 638 页)非常有趣,这首诗使用了如此深刻的启示录意象和典故。Rachel 决定看看专业文学评论家对这个主题的看法,以及他们的想法与她自己的想法有多接近。她的论文结合了对主要文学文本的仔细阅读和对二手资料的研究。
When choosing a research paper topic, Rachel McCarthy recalled how interesting she had found Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming” (p. 638), which used such visceral imagery of — and allusions to — the Apocalypse. Rachel decided to see what professional literary critics had to say on the subject and how closely their ideas matched her own. Her paper, which follows, combines a close reading of the primary literary text with research from secondary sources.
段落上方的文字为:Rachel McCarthy,Diaz 教授,英语 204,2021 年 4 月 2 日。标题为:叶芝的《第二次降临》中不断扩大的混沌旋涡。第一段内容为:虽然 1919 年威廉·巴特勒·叶芝写下《第二次降临》时天文学家并不知道,但我们生活在一个不断膨胀的宇宙中,就像叶芝的“不断扩大的旋涡”(1) 一样,预计它会持续膨胀,直到宇宙最终热寂。然而,当叶芝写下这首伟大的诗时,他已经发展出了一种以旋涡形式呈现的历史时代理论。在他的日记中,他设想了两个相互关联的圆锥体,代表着对立的特征——事实与情感、艺术与道德、主观性与客观性等等——在历史的不同时期,不同的特征比另一种特征更受重视 (Unterecker 25)。词汇和语言学研究员保罗·迪恩 (Paul D. Deane) 认为,叶芝对这种循环意象的使用强调了“粗野的野兽”所带来的新的、颠倒的世界秩序。即便如此,这首诗还是发生在一个不断扩大的漩涡中,这表明叶芝的漩涡不同阶段之间的正常运动出现了惊人的偏离。保罗·迪恩认为,叶芝的“不断扩大的漩涡”是历史变化的隐喻,揭示了这首诗中潜在的统一性;然而,我认为在《第二次降临》中,叶芝使用了不团结和混乱的意象来营造“第二次降临”的恐怖感,从而利用了读者对未知的恐惧。” 与本段相对应的第一个注释是:“雷切尔专注于一首叶芝的诗。” 与本段相对应的第二个注释是:“雷切尔展示了她是如何与一位学者交谈的,然后她以那次谈话为基础,提出了一个有争议的论文陈述。”第二段写道,从一开始,这首诗就通过营造一种无助和不确定的感觉来营造紧张气氛。猎鹰不再在应该控制猎鹰的猎鹰人的听力范围内;历史的漩涡不断扩大,直到“世界陷入纯粹的无政府状态”(叶芝 4)。这首诗缺乏统一的韵律或押韵格式来引导读者;至于背景,我们只知道“纯真的仪式”正在“无处不在”被淹没(6)。与本段相对应的注释是:“在这里和其他地方,雷切尔直接引用了叶芝的诗来证实她的主张。”
Text above the paragraph reads, Rachel McCarthy, Professor Diaz, English 204, 2 April 2021. The title reads, The Widening Gyres of Chaos in Yeats’s: “The Second Coming.” The first paragraph reads, Although unknown to astronomers in 1919 when William Butler Yeats wrote “The Second Coming,” we live in an ever-expanding universe, which, much like Yeats’ “widening gyre” (1), is predicted to keep expanding until the eventual heat death of the cosmos. However, when Yeats wrote his great poem, he had already developed a theory of historical epochs that took the shape of gyres. In the pages of his journal, he envisioned two interlocking cones representing opposing traits — facts vs. emotions, art vs. morals, subjectivity vs. objectivity, and so on — with different traits being valued more than the other at various points in history (Unterecker 25). Paul D. Deane, a researcher in vocabulary and linguistics, argues that Yeats’s use of this cyclical imagery underscores the new, inverted world order that is ushered in by the “rough beast.” Even so, the poem takes place in a widening gyre, which suggests an alarming departure from the normal movement between different stages of Yeats’ gyre. Paul Deane suggests that Yeats's "widening gyre” is a metaphor for historical change that reveals an underlying unity in the poem; however, I would argue that in “The Second Coming,” Yeats uses imagery of disunity and chaos in order to create a feeling of horror of “The Second Coming,” thus exploiting readers’ fears of the unknown.” The first annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Rachel focuses on one Yeats poem.” The second annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Rachel demonstrates how she is in conversation with a scholar, and then she builds upon that conversation to create a contestable thesis statement.” The second paragraph reads, From the start, the poem builds tension by establishing a sense of helplessness and uncertainty. The falcon is no longer within earshot of the falconer who is supposed to control the bird; and the gyre of history widens until “mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” (Yeats 4). The poem lacks a unifying meter or rhyme scheme to orient readers; and as for setting, we only know that the “ceremony of innocence” is being drowned “everywhere” (6). The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Here and elsewhere, Rachel uses direct quotations from Yeats’s poem in order to substantiate her claims.”
第一段写道,一个怪物潜伏在“沙漠的某处”,“目光空洞,如太阳般冷酷无情”(13、15)。迪恩观察到,这个怪物的“身体中心,也就是它的躯干,是狮子而不是人”,因此“既没有心脏也没有灵魂”(639-40),所以它无法怜悯人类。我认为,这种缺乏中心身份的特点更使狮身人面像成为神秘的象征,因为希腊神话中的狮身人面像以在吞噬受害者之前向他们出谜语而闻名。第二段写道,尽管怪物的存在令人恐惧,但这首诗并没有暗示怪物应该为世界末日负责;灾难只是莫名其妙地发生了。第一节中反复出现的被动短语“被释放”(5-6)强化了这样一种观点,即事情已经完全失控,没有任何明显的行动者。第二节坚持认为“第二次降临肯定就在眼前”(10),这应该标志着这场混乱的转折点,就像十四行诗中的伏尔塔,天上的力量到来,结束了第一节中可怕的现实。当野兽醒来时,这只会增加日益加剧的焦虑。虽然这首诗以“事情正在分崩离析”和“中心无法维持”的明确断言开始(4),但它以一个无法解决叙事张力的问题结束:“什么粗野的野兽,它的时辰终于到了,/懒洋洋地走向伯利恒去出生?” (21–22)。在《第二次降临》这首诗中,迫在眉睫的灾难是唯一可以确定的事情,我们再也无法确定基督是否真的会降临。这段注释如下:“雷切尔提供了一个想法与另一个想法之间的平稳过渡。”第三段写道:“我们理解世界的框架依赖于周期——战争与和平、生与死、地球绕太阳的轨道——叶芝利用这些周期为敌基督者创造了一个扭曲的新约版本。”迪恩指出,从盲目盘旋在猎鹰人周围的猎鹰到盘旋在野兽上空的沙漠鸟,循环意象的多种用法表明,一个曾经以基督教为中心的世界正重新以一个“没有道德平衡”的生物为中心,而这个生物只能“增加边缘的道德失衡”(640)。对周期性的关注……与本段相对应的注释是:“在这里,雷切尔依靠她在字典和圣经中的研究来加深她分析的复杂性。”
The first paragraph reads, while a monster lurks “somewhere in the sands of the desert” with a “gaze blank and pitiless as the sun” (13, 15). Deane observes that this monster’s “physical center, its torso, is that of a lion, nota man,” and consequently “lacks both a heart and soul” (639–40),hence its inability to feel pity for humankind. I would argue that this absence of a central identity adds to the sphinx being a symbol of mystery, as sphinxes from Greek mythology are famous for posing riddles to their victims before devouring them. The second paragraph reads, Yet despite the terrifying presence of the monster, the poem does not suggest that the monster is to blame for the Apocalypse; disaster just inexplicably happens . The repetition of the passive phrase “is loosed” (5–6) in the first stanza reinforces this idea that things have spiraled completely out of control, without any apparent agent of action. The second stanza’s insistence that "surely the Second Coming is at hand” (10) should mark a turning point in this chaos, like a volta in a sonnet, when heavenly forces arrive to put an end to the horrific reality of the first stanza. When the beast awakens instead, this only adds to the mounting anxiety. Whereas the poem begins with definitive assertions that “things[are falling] apart” and “the centre cannot hold” (4), it ends with a question that fails to resolve the narrative tension: “What rough beast, its hour come round at last,/Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” (21–22). With looming disaster being the only certainty in a poem titled “The Second Coming,” we can no longer be certain if Christ is indeed coming at all. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Rachel provides a smooth transition between one idea and the next.” The third paragraph reads, Our framework for understanding the world relies on cycles — war and peace, birth and death, the Earth’s orbit around the sun — which Yeats leverages in order to create a distorted version of the New Testament for the Antichrist. Deane notes multiple uses of circular imagery, from the falcon blindly circling the falconer to the desert birds that circle over the beast, signifying how a world once centered around Christianity is re-centering itself around a creature with “no moral balance,” who can only “increase the moral imbalance of the periphery” (640). The focus on cyclical…The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Here, Rachel relies upon her research in the dictionary and the Bible in order to deepen the complexity of her analysis.”
第一段写道,由于基督再临预示着一个循环,所以动议是有道理的,正如基督两千年前来过一样,他也会再次来。在这里,历史正在重演,但有一个更黑暗的转折。在“无罪仪式”中,天主教的洗礼圣礼中,圣水被血潮取代;同样,沙漠,施洗约翰出现并宣告弥赛亚即将到来的精神纯洁之地,被改造成世界末日怪物的统治地。“黑暗再次降临”(18),演讲者补充道,暗指耶稣被钉在十字架上时黑暗笼罩着耶路撒冷(新牛津注释圣经,马太福音 27.45)。最明显的是,野兽正准备在伯利恒代替基督诞生。简而言之,野兽通过将熟悉的图像和想法扭曲成噩梦来颠覆我们的期望。 Apokalypsis 是希腊语中“启示”的意思(“启示录,名词”),第二节的恳求“肯定有某种启示即将来临;/肯定第二次降临即将来临” (9-10) 具有双重含义。令我们恐惧的是,由于野兽的存在,摆脱邪恶和邪恶本身似乎交织在一起。第二段写道,野兽之所以令人恐惧,是因为它能够打破我们有序世界所依赖的循环,在诗歌的结尾创造出一个充满不确定性和恐惧的新时代。迪恩将这个结尾解释为“粗野的野兽从沙漠、从事物的边缘懒洋洋地走来,来到最中心,像基督一样诞生,用它自己可怕的社会和道德秩序取代基督教社会的自愿服从”(640)。然而,这种认为野兽已成为人类生存新中心的结论忽略了我们所理解的人类生存即将终结的事实。是的,旧秩序已经终结,野兽的“时辰终于到来”(19)就是一个信号,但野兽并没有开辟新的时辰。相反,它不祥地“懒洋洋地向伯利恒走去”(20)。在一首旋转的螺旋和盘旋的沙漠鸟的诗中,我们第一次看到一个生物朝着一个方向有目的地移动。与本段相对应的注释是:“雷切尔再次表明她正在与一位学者交谈,并表明她的解读与他的不同之处。”
The first paragraph reads, motion makes sense, given that the Second Coming promises a cycle, that just as Christ was here two thousand years ago, so too will he come again. And here, history is repeating itself, but with a darker twist. In the “ceremony of innocence,” the Catholic sacrament of Baptism, holy water is replaced with a tide of blood; similarly, the desert, a place of spiritual purity from which John the Baptist emerged to announce the coming of the Messiah, is remade into the dominion of world-ending monsters. “Darkness drops again” (18), the speaker adds, alluding to how darkness fell over Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Matt. 27.45). And most overtly, the beast is preparing to be born in Bethlehem in Christ’s place. In short, the beast subverts our expectations by twisting familiar images and ideas into something nightmarish. Apokalypsis is the Greek word for “revelation” (“apocalypse, noun”), giving a double meaning to the second stanza’s plea that “surely some revelation is at hand; / Surely the Second Coming is at hand” (9–10). Much to our horror, deliverance from evil and that evil itself seem to be intertwined because of the beast. The second paragraph reads, What makes the beast horrifying is its ability to break apart the cycles upon which our orderly world depends, creating a new era of uncertainty and fear by the poem’s end. Deane interprets this ending as “the rough beast slouching in from the desert, from the edge of things, to the very center, to be born as Christ was, replacing the willing obedience of Christian society with its own horrific social and moral order” (640). However, this conclusion that the beast has become the new center of human existence ignores the fact that human existence as we understand it is coming to an end. The old order of things has come to an end, yes, signaled by the fact that the beast’s “hour [has] come round at last” (19), but the beast does little to carve out a new one. Instead, it ominously “slouches towards Bethlehem” (20). For the first time in a poem of turning gyres and circling desert birds, we are instead given a creature moving purposefully in a single direction. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “Again, Rachel shows that she is in conversation with a scholar and demonstrates how her reading differs from his.”
第一段写道:“时间的自然秩序也在这里被打破,野兽自相矛盾地准备着诞生,我们再也不知道它到达伯利恒后会发生什么。”与《启示录》中“从海中升起,长着十只角和七个头”的野兽相比,它头戴犄角,嘴里说着亵渎的话语,拥有“熊脚”和“狮子口”(《新牛津圣经注释》,启示录 13.1-3),叶芝笔下的“粗野的野兽”似乎故意缺乏想象力,但它的模糊性更增加了它的恐怖,因为它的存在超出了我们有限的想象力。正如漩涡正在超越其自然极限一样,这头野兽也在颠覆我们的期望,以创造一个黑暗而不可知的新未来。第二段写道,《启示录》的目的是给一群因罗马帝国的宗教迫害而面临不确定未来的人带来希望,但叶芝的目的似乎不是安慰。相反,他故意让我们迷失方向,因为他留下的问题比答案还多。他对未来的悲观看法甚至似乎没有警告,因为似乎没有什么可以避免它。然而,这似乎正是叶芝的观点:世界末日是无法避免的。它将完全出乎意料,我们甚至可能无法区分我们世界的救世主和毁灭者。然而,在一个被后世界末日反乌托邦迷住的时代,我们相信我们知道世界末日会是什么样子。我们期待着无政府状态,血色潮汐。此外,乐观主义者相信,只要有足够的远见和决心,人类的一小部分就能在世界末日来临之前幸存下来。然而,末日是创世的固有组成部分,没有办法为此做好准备。叶芝的诗引起了不适,因为我们被迫接受日常生活中脆弱的无常。这些模式将在世界末日到来之前很久就崩溃,因为气候变化、自动化或任何数量的不可预见的变化都会导致我们生活所围绕的中心崩溃。虽然启示录可能承诺一个天堂般的新世界,但“第二次降临”挑战我们首先面对一个令人不安的前景,即我们现在所理解的世界将很快面临彻底毁灭。这段注释对应着:“在她的结论中,雷切尔强化了她的观点:这首诗为读者做好了应对世界末日不可避免的不确定性的准备。”
The first paragraph reads, Here, the natural order of time also breaks down, as the beast paradoxically prepares itself to be born, and we no longer know what to expect once it arrives at Bethlehem. Compared with the beast in Revelation, which rises “out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads” crowned with horns and blasphemous words, and possesses “feet like a bear’s” and “the mouth of a lion” (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Rev. 13.1–3), Yeats’ “rough beast” seems purposefully unimaginative, yet its ambiguity adds to its horror, as it exists beyond our limited imaginations. Just as the gyre is widening beyond its natural limits, so too is the beast subverting our expectations in order to create a new future which is dark and unknowable.The second paragraph reads, The purpose of the Book of Revelation was to bring hope to a group of people faced with an uncertain future due to religious persecution under the Roman Empire, but reassurance does not seem to be Yeats’ aim. Instead, he intentionally disorients us as he leaves more questions than answers. His bleak vision of the future does not even appear to come with a warning, for it seems that nothing can be done to avert it. And yet this seems to be precisely Yeats’ point: the Apocalypse cannot be averted. It will be entirely unexpected, and we may not even be able to distinguish between our world’s Savior and its Destroyer. In an age fascinated by post-apocalyptic dystopias, however, we believe we know what the Apocalypse will look like. We expect the anarchy, the blood-dimmed tides. Moreover, optimists believe that with enough foresight and determination, a sliver of humanity can survive whatever Armageddon has to throw at us. However, an end is hardwired into the fabric of Creation, and there is no way to prepare for it. Yeats’ poem elicits discomfort because we are forced to come to terms with the fragile impermanence of our routine lives. These patterns will fall apart long before the End Times, as climate change, automation, or any number of unforeseen changes will cause the centres around which we have built our lives to fall apart. While Revelation might promise a heavenly new world, “The Second Coming” challenges us to first grapple with the uncomfortable prospect that the world as we understand it right now will soon face utter annihilation. The annotation corresponding to this paragraph reads, “In her conclusion, Rachel reinforces her claim: that the poem prepares readers for the inevitable uncertainties of the world’s end.”
“引用的作品(居中对齐)。“启示录,名词。” Merriam-Webster dot com 词典,Merriam-Webster,2019 年,https 冒号斜线斜线 www dot Merriam-webster dot com 斜线词典/启示录。《圣经》。新牛津注释版,第 4 版,牛津大学出版社,2010 年。Deane,Paul D. 1995。“叶芝《第二次降临》中的中心与边缘隐喻。”《语用学杂志》第 24 卷,第 6 期,1995 年 12 月,第 627–42 页。叶芝,William Butler。“第二次降临。” 《文学:便携式选集》,由 Janet E. Gardner 等人编辑,第 5 版,贝德福德/圣马丁出版社,2021 年,第 638 页。所有条目均采用悬挂缩进。右侧的注释写道:“Rachel 使用了多种来源,包括一本词典、一本学术圣经和一篇学术文章。”
"Works cited (center-aligned). “Apocalypse, noun.” Merriam-Webster dot com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 2019, h t t p s colon slash slash w w w dot Merriam-webster dot com slash dictionary/apocalypse. The Bible. New Oxford Annotated Version, 4th ed., Oxford U P, 2010. Deane, Paul D. 1995. “Metaphors of Center and Periphery in Yeats’ The Second Coming.” Journal of Pragmatics vol. 24, no. 6, Dec. 1995, pp. 627–42. Yeats, William Butler. “The Second Coming.” Literature: A Portable Anthology, edited by Janet E. Gardner et al., 5th edition, Bedford/St. Martins, 2021, p. 638. All the entries utilize a hanging indent. An annotation on the right reads, “Rachel employs a variety of sources including a dictionary, a scholarly bible and a scholarly article.”"
无论何时,只要你坐下来写文学作品,甚至与同学讨论一个故事、戏剧或诗歌,你都是在扮演文学评论家的角色。文学评论包括从热情洋溢的评论到尖锐的批评,再到深思熟虑和平衡的解读。批评可以分为两大类:评价性和解释性。评价性批评旨在确定一部作品的成就以及它在不断发展的文学史中应占据什么位置。书评是最常见的评价性批评形式。解释性批评包括所有试图解释、分析、澄清或质疑文学意义和重要性的写作。虽然你可能在文学课上进行一定程度的评价性批评,尽管你对文学价值的态度可能会在你的写作中表现出来,但你在课堂上写的批评主要还是解释性。
Anytime you sit down to write about literature, or even to discuss a story, play, or poem with your classmates, you are acting as a literary critic. Literary criticism includes everything from a glowing review to a scathing attack, to a thoughtful and balanced interpretation. Criticism can be broken down into two broad categories: evaluative and interpretive. Evaluative criticism seeks to determine how accomplished a work is and what place it should hold in the evolving story of literary history. Book reviews are the most common form of evaluative criticism. Interpretive criticism comprises all writing that seeks to explain, analyze, clarify, or question the meaning and significance of literature. Although you may engage in a certain amount of evaluative criticism in your literature class, and while your attitude about the value of literature will likely be apparent in your writing, the criticism you write for class will consist largely of interpretation.
包括你在内的所有文学评论家都是从某种文学理论开始的。正如你可能不认为自己是文学评论家一样,你可能也不认为自己在使用文学理论。但每次你写文学作品时,你都会这样做,熟悉一些最流行的理论类型是个好主意。这种熟悉将帮助你理解为什么这么多受人尊敬的文学评论家似乎意见不一,为什么他们对同一部文学作品的分析如此不同。它也可能有助于解释为什么你在对某个故事、诗歌或戏剧的解读上可能与你的同学甚至你的导师意见相左。也许你只是从不同的理论基础开始。如果你理解了这个基础,你将能够更雄辩地解释你的想法。
All literary critics, including you, begin with some form of literary theory. Just as you may not have thought of yourself as a literary critic, you probably haven’t thought of yourself as using literary theory. But you are doing so every time you write about literature, and it is a good idea to become familiar with some of the most prevalent types of theory. This familiarity will help you understand why so many respected literary critics seem to disagree with one another and why they write such different analyses of the same work of literature. It may also help to explain why you might disagree with your classmates, or even your instructor, in your interpretation of a particular story, poem, or play. Perhaps you are simply starting from a different theoretical base. You will be able to explain your thinking more eloquently if you understand that base.
文学理论以极其晦涩难懂而闻名。事实上,以下几页中讨论的理论(有时称为批评流派)都很复杂,但这里介绍的都是最基本的、最精简的形式。因此,这些解释必然是不完整和有选择性的。你不应该觉得现在就需要掌握文学理论的复杂性。你只需要知道这些不同流派的存在,并在阅读和写作时留意它们。这样做会让你更好地了解你正在阅读和听到的有关你探索的文学的内容,并使你的写作更加明智和清晰。除了这里描述的流派和分支流派之外,还有许多其他流派和分支流派,但这些是最重要的——在你继续探索文学时最有可能遇到的流派。
Literary theory has the reputation of being incredibly dense and difficult. Indeed, the theories — sometimes called schools of criticism — discussed in the following pages are all complex, but here they are presented in their most basic, stripped-down forms. As such, these explanations are necessarily incomplete and selective. You should not feel you need to master the complexities of literary theory right now. You need only be aware of the existence of these various schools and watch for them as you read and write. Doing so will give you a better sense of what you’re reading and hearing about the literature you explore, and it will make your writing more informed and articulate. There are many other schools and subschools in addition to those described here, but these are the most significant — the ones you are most likely to encounter as you continue to explore literature.
重点关注牙买加·金凯德的《女孩》(第 461 页)、 TS 艾略特的《J. 阿尔弗雷德·普鲁弗洛克的情歌》(第 655 页)和其他作品,每篇条目的最后一段提供了一些批判性阅读的方向,并将特定的批判理论应用于分析。虽然这些注释绝不是详尽无遗的,但它们可能有助于激发论文的灵感,或者至少对所讨论的文献和理论提供更深入的见解。
Focusing on Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” (p. 461), T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (p. 655), and other works, the last paragraph of each entry offers a few directions one might take in a critical reading, with the specific critical theory applied to the analysis. While these notes are by no means exhaustive, they might help spark ideas for a paper, or at least grant greater insight into the literature and theory discussed.
在二十世纪的大部分时间里,文学批评被各种理论所主导,这些理论可以广义地定义为形式主义和新批评。(新批评已不再是新鲜事物,尽管它在 20 世纪 70 年代开始变得不再突出,但它的名字仍然存在。)形式主义批评家将注意力集中在文学文本的形式要素上——诸如结构、语气、人物、背景、符号和语言特征等。阐释和细读(在第 58-60 页解释)是形式主义批评的技巧。虽然诗歌在结构上相当自觉地采用形式主义,最明显地适合形式主义类型的批评,但散文小说和戏剧也经常通过这种视角来审视。
For a large part of the twentieth century, literary criticism was dominated by various types of theory that can broadly be defined as Formalism and New Criticism. (New Criticism is no longer new, however, having begun to fall out of prominence in the 1970s, but its name lives on.) Formalist critics focus their attention on the formal elements of a literary text — things like structure, tone, characters, setting, symbols, and linguistic features. Explication and close reading (explained on pages 58–60) are techniques of Formalist criticism. While poetry, which is quite self-consciously formal in its structure, lends itself most obviously to Formalist types of criticism, prose fiction and drama are also frequently viewed through this lens.
形式主义和新批评最显著的特征或许是它们关注文本本身而不是文本外的因素。形式主义批评家感兴趣的是文本各部分如何相互关联以及与整体如何关联,他们试图通过展开和研究这些关系来创造意义。他们不考虑关于作者、读者、历史或文化以及文学文本与其他文本或艺术品的关系的问题。您很可能在高中或大学时就写过一些形式主义批评。如果您曾经写过关于象征主义、人物发展或诗歌中声音模式与意义之间关系的论文,那么您就是形式主义批评家。
Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of Formalism and New Criticism is that they focus on the text itself and not on extratextual factors. Formalist critics are interested in how parts of a text relate to one another and to the whole, and they seek to create meaning by unfolding and examining these relationships. Excluded from consideration are questions about the author, the reader, history or culture, and the relationship of the literary text to other texts or artwork. Chances are you have written some Formalist criticism yourself, either in high school or in college. If you have ever written a paper on symbolism, character development, or the relationship between sound patterns and sense in a poem, you have been a Formalist critic.
牙买加金凯德 (Jamaica Kincaid) 的短篇小说《女孩》的形式主义批评家可能会选择关注这篇独白的演讲者所使用的语言如何体现她的性格,而 TS 艾略特 (TS Eliot) 的《J. 阿尔弗雷德普鲁弗洛克的情歌》的形式主义批评家可能会关注艾略特在诗中对押韵和韵律的不规则使用。
A Formalist critic of Jamaica Kincaid’s story “Girl” might choose to focus on how the language used by the speaker of this monologue illuminates her character, while a Formalist critic of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” might focus on Eliot’s irregular use of rhyme and meter in the poem.
你是否曾在课堂上讨论过文学作品,其焦点是文学或文化中女性的角色,或男女之间的关系?如果是这样,那么你就参与了女权主义批评。自从读者开始对性别角色感兴趣以来,某种形式的女权主义批评就一直存在,但该学派在 20 世纪 70 年代开始崭露头角,当时现代女权运动正在蓬勃发展。当时的大多数女权主义批评显然与提高人们对父权制的认识有关,许多女性感到被困在父权制中。一些女权主义批评家试图揭示文学文本如何展示不同时期和文化中女性的压抑和无能为力。其他人则有着几乎相反的议程,展示女性文学人物如何克服她们周围的性别歧视权力结构并在她们的世界中行使权力。还有一些人着眼于文学史,试图重新发现和推广女性作品,因为与男性作品相比,她们的作品不太可能被视为“伟大的”文学作品。
Have you ever had a classroom discussion of a piece of literature in which the focus was on the roles of women in the literature or the culture, or on the relationships between men and women? If so, you have engaged in feminist criticism. Some version of feminist criticism has been around for as long as readers have been interested in gender roles, but the school rose to prominence in the 1970s at the same time the modern feminist movement was gaining steam. Most feminist criticism from this time was clearly tied to raising consciousness about the patriarchy in which many women felt trapped. Some feminist critics sought to reveal how literary texts demonstrated the repression and powerlessness of women in different periods and cultures. Others had a nearly opposite agenda, showing how female literary characters could overcome the sexist power structures that surround them and exercise power in their worlds. Still, others looked to literary history and sought to rediscover and promote writing by women whose works had been far less likely than men’s to be regarded as “great” literature.
然而不久之后,一些批评家开始指出,女性并不是唯一感受到社会压力要遵守性别角色的人。多年来,人们通常期望男性成为好的供养者,要坚强(身体和情感上都要坚强),要或多或少地把问题和感受藏在心里。尽管期望不同,但男性在思考和行为方式上所受的社会影响并不亚于女性,这些社会期望也体现在文学作品中。近年来,女权主义批评已扩展为性别批评。任何强调性别角色或两性关系的文学批评都可以是一种性别批评,无论它是否由明显的女权主义议程推动。
Before long, however, some critics began to point out that women were not alone in feeling social pressure to conform to gender roles. Over the years, men have usually been expected to be good providers, to be strong (both physically and emotionally), and to keep their problems and feelings more or less to themselves. Though the expectations are different, men are socialized no less than women to think and behave in certain ways, and these social expectations are also displayed in works of literature. Feminist criticism has expanded in recent years to become gender criticism. Any literary criticism that highlights gender roles or relationships between the sexes can be a type of gender criticism, whether or not it is driven by an overt feminist agenda.
对于女权主义批评家来说,故事《女孩》显然是最佳选择,因为它关注的是一个年轻女孩如何适应社会对女性的家庭角色。性别批评家可能也会对《普鲁弗洛克》感兴趣,以及这首诗中年迈的朗诵者如何感受到自己的男子气概受到质疑。
The story “Girl” would be an obvious choice for a feminist critic, since it focuses on how a young girl is socialized into the domestic roles expected of women in her society. A gender critic might also be interested in “Prufrock” and in the ways that the poem’s aging speaker feels his masculinity called into question.
酷儿理论是近年来兴起的批判学派之一,其根源在于对性别的批判兴趣。该理论在 20 世纪 90 年代开始流行,当时一些同性恋文学评论家认为需要一种能反映他们自身特殊情况和观点的批判学派。一些酷儿理论家坚持认为,性取向——甚至是性别的二元划分本身——是文化建构的,而不是由出生时的身体特征决定的。许多这样的评论家和理论家试图颠覆文化规范,这种规范认为某些性取向、婚姻和家庭习俗等是“正常的”或“自然的”,而其他则是“异常的”。
Queer theory is one of the more recent critical schools to emerge out of critical interest in gender. It came into prominence in the 1990s, when some gay and lesbian literary critics perceived a need for a critical school that reflected their own particular circumstances and viewpoints. Some queer theorists insist that sexuality — or even the binary male/female division of gender itself — is culturally constructed rather than determined by physical characteristics present at birth. Many of these critics and theorists seek to destabilize the cultural norm that suggests that certain sexual preferences, marriage and family customs, and so forth are “normal” or “natural,” while others are “deviant.”
与所有文学评论家一样,酷儿理论家的关注点也大不相同。有些人对研究已知为 LGBTQIA+ 社区成员的作家所写的文学文本感兴趣,尤其是如果这些作家过去曾因其性别认同而受到贬低。其他酷儿理论家对所有作家所写的文学作品中 LGBTQIA+ 角色的描绘感兴趣,无论他们的身份如何。还有一些人在长期被认为是异性恋规范的经典文学作品中寻找“酷儿潜台词”。(后一类包括许多评论家,他们曾问过莎士比亚笔下的哈姆雷特是否与他的密友霍雷肖之间有着超越传统异性恋友谊的关系。)
Queer theorists, like all literary critics, differ substantially in their focus. Some are interested in studying literary texts written by authors known to be members of the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly if these authors have been devalued in the past because of their sexual identity. Other queer theorists are interested in portrayals of LGBTQIA+ characters in literature written by all authors, regardless of their identification. Still others seek a “queer subtext” in canonical works of literature that have long been considered hetero-normative. (Included in this latter category are the many critics who have asked whether Shakespeare’s Hamlet had something more than a traditional heterosexual friendship with his close confidant Horatio.)
乍一看,牙买加·金凯德的《女孩》似乎不太适合用酷儿理论来研究。但酷儿理论家可能感兴趣的是,叙述者如何抹去了同性恋的可能性,以及年轻女孩被认为对“码头老鼠男孩”感兴趣,需要知道“如何爱一个男人”,尽管她从未表达过这些异性恋冲动。
At first glance, Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” might not look like a promising candidate for examination by queer theory. But a queer theorist might, in fact, be interested in how the very possibility of homosexuality is erased by the narrator, the way the young girl is assumed to have an interest in “wharf-rat boys” and a need to know “how to love a man,” though she never expresses these heterosexual urges.
正如女权主义批评和酷儿理论因文化中广泛的政治转变而获得成功一样,马克思主义批评也是如此,它最初试图利用文学和批评来推进社会主义政治纲领。早期的马克思主义批评始于卡尔·马克思 (1818-1883) 的观点,他坚持认为人类互动是由经济驱动的,人类进步的基本模式是建立在不同社会阶层之间的权力斗争之上。因此,对马克思主义批评家来说,文学只是另一个战场,是个人不断追求物质利益的另一个场所。文学人物可以分为强大的压迫者和他们无能为力的受害者,可以通过研究文学情节和主题来揭示驱动他们的经济力量。根据这一模型,写作和阅读文学的行为本身可以被描述为生产和消费,一些马克思主义批评家研究了推动教育、出版和文学品味的外部力量。
Just as feminist criticism and queer theory came into their own because of broad political shifts in the culture, so, too, did Marxist criticism, which originally sought to use literature and criticism to forward a socialist political program. Early Marxist critics began with Karl Marx’s (1818–1883) insistence that human interactions are economically driven and that the basic model of human progress is based on a struggle for power between different social classes. For Marxist critics, then, literature was just another battleground, another venue for the ongoing quest for individual material gain. Literary characters could be divided into powerful oppressors and their powerless victims, and literary plots and themes could be examined to uncover the economic forces that drove them. According to this model, the very acts of writing and reading literature can be characterized as production and consumption, and some Marxist critics have studied the external forces that drive education, publication, and literary tastes.
你不再需要成为一名坚定的马克思主义者才能参与马克思主义批评;你只需要承认社会经济力量确实影响着人们的生活。如果你注意到文学作品中人物之间的权力不平等,如果你质疑作者的阶级或教育背景如何影响其作品,或者如果你相信某种类型的文学作品——比如莎士比亚十四行诗或西部小说——对特定社会背景的读者更有吸引力,那么你至少在某种程度上参与了马克思主义批评。
You no longer have to be a committed Marxist to engage in Marxist criticism; all you need to do is acknowledge that socioeconomic forces do, in fact, affect people’s lives. If you notice inequalities in power between characters in a work of literature, if you question how the class or educational background of an author affects his or her work, or if you believe that a certain type of literature — a Shakespearean sonnet, say, or a pulp western novel — appeals more to readers of a particular social background, then you are, at least in part, engaging in Marxist criticism.
社会阶级角色是马克思主义批评家的主要兴趣之一,这一主题在《女孩》中人物看似朴素的处境(其中阶级和性别有明显的重叠)中可见一斑,在《普鲁弗洛克》中展现的更具资产阶级色彩的瓷茶杯和香水裙世界中也可见一斑。
Social class roles, one of the primary interests of Marxist critics, are visible in the apparently modest circumstances of the characters in “Girl” (where class and gender have a clear overlap) as well as in the more bourgeois world of porcelain teacups and perfumed dresses on display in “Prufrock.”
文化研究是各种批评实践的统称,其中一些批评实践表面上看起来似乎彼此没有什么共同之处。理解文化研究的最好方法或许是从这样的观念开始:某些文本在我们的社会中享有特权,而另一些文本则被排斥或嘲笑。特权文本是所谓的伟大文学作品,通常出现在选集和课程大纲中。事实上,当我们听到“文学”这个词时,我们想象的可能就是这些作品。所有其他作品——从低俗的浪漫小说到汽车保险杠贴纸上的口号——都属于第二类文本,即那些通常被传统文学评论家忽视的文本。
Cultural studies is the general name given to a wide variety of critical practices, some of which might seem on the surface to have little in common with one another. Perhaps the best way to understand cultural studies is to begin with the notion that certain texts are privileged in our society while others are dismissed or derided. Privileged texts are the so-called great works of literature commonly found in anthologies and on course syllabi. Indeed, when we hear the word literature, these are probably the works we imagine. All other writing — from pulp romance novels to the slogans on bumper stickers — belongs to a second category of texts, those generally overlooked by traditional literary critics.
文化研究的一个主要趋势是试图拓宽经典——那些被反复阅读和教授并被视为人类经验最美好表达的文本。批评家指出,经典作家——莎士比亚、弥尔顿、济慈、斯坦贝克——往往(除了明显的例外)来自社会的一个相当狭窄的阶层:他们通常是中产阶级到中上阶层、受过良好教育的异性恋白人男性。因此,一些文化批评家寻找并赞扬历史上处于弱势地位的群体的作品,如非裔美国人或同性恋作家。其他文化研究的支持者将注意力转向各种社会“局外人”的作品,如囚犯、学童或精神病患者。这种拓宽经典的尝试旨在为学生和学者提供关于艺术和文学的更具包容性的定义。
One major trend in cultural studies is the attempt to broaden the canon — those texts read and taught again and again and held up as examples of the finest expressions of the human experience. Critics have pointed out that canonical authors — Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Steinbeck — tend (with obvious exceptions) to be from a fairly narrow segment of society: they are usually middle- to upper-middle-class, well-educated, heterosexual white males. Some cultural critics, therefore, have sought out and celebrated the writing of historically disadvantaged groups such as African Americans or gay and lesbian authors. Other proponents of cultural studies turn their attention to the works of various social “outsiders,” like prisoners, schoolchildren, or mental patients. This attempt at broadening the canon is designed to provide students and scholars alike with a more inclusive definition of what art and literature are all about.
文化评论家力图模糊或抹去文学界人士心中“高雅”艺术与“低俗”艺术之间的界限。一些文化评论家认为,所有文本在某种程度上都是文化的艺术表达,因此任何文本都可以为我们提供关于人类经验的重要见解。因此,文化评论家可能会选择研究电影和电视节目、广告、宗教小册子、涂鸦和漫画书等作品,而不是传统的文学对象。这些文本——以及您能想到的几乎任何其他视觉或文字作品——都像十四行诗或古典小说一样受到严格审查。一些文化评论家建议英语系应该成为文化研究系,其中嘻哈文化课程将与维多利亚诗歌课程一样受到重视。
Cultural critics seek to blur or erase the line separating “high” art from “low” art in the minds of the literary establishment. Some cultural critics believe that all texts are to some extent artistic expressions of a culture and that any text can therefore give us vital insights into the human experience. Rather than traditional literary objects, then, a cultural critic might choose to study such things as movies and television shows, advertisements, religious tracts, graffiti, and comic books. These texts — and virtually any other visual or verbal works you can imagine — are submitted to the same rigorous scrutiny as a sonnet or a classic novel. Some cultural critics suggest that English departments should become departments of cultural studies, in which a course on hip-hop culture would be valued as much as a course on Victorian poetry.
TS 艾略特的诗作,包括《J. 阿尔弗雷德·普鲁弗洛克的情歌》,在二十世纪初的文学经典中占有重要地位。文化评论家可能会试图解释艾略特如何以及为何与高雅文化如此紧密地联系在一起。
The poems of T. S. Eliot, including “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” occupy an important place in the early twentieth-century literary canon. A cultural critic might seek to explain how and why Eliot came to be so firmly associated with high culture.
文化研究的一个非常活跃的分支是后殖民批评,它关注的是来自世界各地前英国殖民地(以及其他殖民地,主要是欧洲殖民地)的文学作品。后殖民批评与印度次大陆(印度、巴基斯坦和孟加拉国)、非洲和中东大部分地区、亚洲部分地区(如新加坡和越南)、加勒比地区和拉丁美洲联系最为密切。在这些地方,本土作家的态度、品味和文学传统往往与他们以前的殖民统治者截然不同。后殖民批评力求发现这些态度和品味,恢复殖民时期被忽视或压制的文学史,并颂扬讲故事、戏剧和诗歌等本土文化。同时,它试图了解更强大的殖民国家的占领如何扰乱和改变了特定地方的历史进程。
One very active branch of cultural studies is postcolonial criticism, which focuses on writing from former British (and other, mostly European) colonies around the world. Postcolonial criticism is most strongly associated with the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh), large portions of Africa and the Middle East, parts of Asia (such as Singapore and Vietnam), the Caribbean, and Latin America. In such places, indigenous authors often possess attitudes, tastes, and literary traditions very different from those of their former colonial masters. Postcolonial criticism seeks to discover these attitudes and tastes, to recover literary history that was ignored or suppressed during the colonial period, and to celebrate indigenous cultures of storytelling, drama, and poetry. At the same time, it attempts to understand how occupation by a more powerful colonizing nation disrupted and changed the course of history in a particular place.
在殖民环境中,统治集团的成员往往认为,这些态度是自然而普通的,但实际上,这些态度可能更适合理解为种族主义、阶级主义和/或宗教不宽容,例如,他们认为土著传统与帝国主义更“文明”的文化相比是“迷信”或“原始”的。后殖民理论家要求充分尊重和理解土著态度和习俗。后殖民文学理论处于一个更大的运动中,旨在理解殖民文化对历史、艺术、建筑、政治、法律、哲学、社会学、性别和种族关系以及日常生活的影响。
In a colonial setting, members of the ruling group tend to see as natural and ordinary attitudes that might be better understood as racist, classist, and/or religiously intolerant, such as assuming that indigenous traditions are “superstitious” or “primitive” compared to the more “civilized” culture of the imperialists. Postcolonial theorists demand that indigenous attitudes and customs be treated with full respect and understanding. Postcolonial literary theory is situated within a larger move to comprehend the effect of colonial culture on history, art, architecture, politics, law, philosophy, sociology, sex and race relations, and daily life.
阅读《女孩》的后殖民批评家可能会把注意力集中在语言和文化的细节上——例如本纳音乐,或黑鸟可能真的是灵魂的信念——这表明故事发生在特定的后殖民加勒比背景中。
A postcolonial critic reading “Girl” would likely focus his or her attention on the details of language and culture — benna music, for instance, or the belief that blackbirds might really be spirits — that indicate that the story is in a particular postcolonial Caribbean setting.
如果您曾经写过一篇涉及阅读作者生平背景资料的研究论文,那么您就已经参与了某种形式的历史批评。文学学者长期以来一直阅读历史书籍和各种历史文献——从报纸文章到私人信件——以深入了解一部作品的创作和意义。文学重印本和选集经常出现的解释性脚注就是这种侦查方式的明显表现之一。事实上,如果我们不了解某些文学作品写作和首次阅读的时代背景,那么它们几乎是无法解释的。如果您不知道沃尔特·惠特曼的《当丁香花最后一次在门廊盛开时》是一首为亚伯拉罕·林肯遇刺而写的挽歌,那么您很难理解这首诗,因为诗中并没有出现总统的名字和他的死因。
If you have ever written a research paper that involved some background reading about the life and times of an author, you have already engaged in a form of historical criticism. Literary scholars have long read history books and various sorts of historical documents — from newspaper articles to personal letters — to gain insights into the composition and significance of a given work. The explanatory footnotes that often appear in literary reprints and anthologies are one obvious manifestation of this type of sleuthing. Indeed, some works of literature would be virtually inexplicable if we did not understand something of the times in which they were written and first read. If you did not know that Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” was an elegy written upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, it would be difficult to make any sense at all of the poem, since neither the president’s name nor the cause of his death actually appear in the poem.
同样,历史学家长期以来一直求助于文学作品和视觉艺术,以深入了解他们所研究的时期。虽然档案和当代文献可以告诉我们很多关于历史的广泛信息——战争、领导人、当时的争议——但通常很难从这些文献中看到普通人的生活是什么样的,因为他们的内心生活通常没有被记录下来。例如,我们可能能够从教区的埋葬记录中了解到英国历史上某个特定时期儿童死亡率有多高,但只有当我们读到本·琼森的诗《我的第一个儿子》(第 576 页)时,我们才会开始理解这种死亡率可能如何影响失去孩子的父母。同样,詹姆斯·乔伊斯的短篇小说《阿拉比》中的几页可能比几卷社会历史更能告诉我们 20 世纪初都柏林青春期男孩的生活和思想。
Likewise, historians have long turned to literary works and the visual arts in order to gain insights into the periods they study. While archives and contemporary documents can teach us a lot about the broad sweep of history — wars, leaders, the controversies of the day — it is often difficult to see from these documents what life was like for ordinary people, whose interior lives were not often documented. We may be able to learn from parish burial records, for example, how common childhood mortality was at a particular time in English history, but only when we read Ben Jonson’s poem “On My First Son” (p. 576) do we begin to understand how this mortality may have affected the parents who lost their children. Likewise, the few pages of James Joyce’s story “Araby” may tell us more about how adolescent boys lived and thought in early twentieth-century Dublin than would several volumes of social history.
历史批评的一个流派,即新历史主义,既考虑历史对文学的启示,也考虑文学对历史的启示。 (新历史主义出现于 20 世纪 60 年代,和新批评一样,这个流派的名称不再像以前那么准确。)新历史主义者有时会同时阅读文学和非文学文本,试图了解彼此如何相互阐释。通常,新历史主义者会研究许多不同类型的文件 — — 政府记录、期刊、私人日记、销售单据 — — 以尽可能地重现作者及其原始读者所处的丰富文化背景。 通过这样做,他们寻求为现代读者提供与文学作品的原始读者一样丰富和知情的阅读体验。
One school of historical criticism, known as New Historicism, takes account of both what history has to teach us about literature and what literature has to teach us about history. (New Historicism has been around since the 1960s, and as with New Criticism, the name of the school is no longer as accurate as it once was.) New Historicists are sometimes said to read literary and nonliterary texts in parallel, attempting to see how each illuminates the other. Typically, New Historicists examine many different types of documents — government records, periodicals, private diaries, bills of sale — in order to re-create, as much as possible, the rich cultural context that surrounded both an author and that author’s original audience. In doing so, they seek to give modern audiences a reading experience as rich and informed as the original readers of a literary work.
《普鲁弗洛克》的历史评论家也许能够解开某些对当代读者意义不大的台词或形象的含义。例如,当普鲁弗洛克描述他的“领带华丽而朴素,但用一根简单的别针来彰显”时(第 43 行),或者说“我要把裤脚卷起来穿”(第 121 行),他到底想表达什么。
A historical critic of “Prufrock” might be able to untangle the meaning of certain lines or images that have little meaning for contemporary readers. These would include, for instance, what Prufrock means when he describes his “necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin” (line 43) or says, “I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled” (121).
在二十一世纪初期,我们很容易低估精神分析学家西格蒙德·弗洛伊德(1856-1939)的理论对我们理解人类行为和动机的巨大影响。对许多现代读者来说,弗洛伊德似乎没什么可说的;他的作品过于关注性,并且完全受他所生活的维也纳资产阶级社会规范的束缚。但是,如果你曾经想知道梦的隐藏意义是什么,或者某人是否有潜意识的行动动机,那么你就受到了弗洛伊德思想的影响。弗洛伊德推广了这样的观念:心灵可以分为有意识和无意识的部分,而我们往往最强烈地受到潜意识的激励。他教我们从外显和隐蔽的欲望(在弗洛伊德的语言中通常称为显性和隐性)的角度来思考人类行为的基础。
Early in the twenty-first century, it is easy to underestimate the enormous influence that the theories of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) have had on our understanding of human behavior and motivation. For many modern readers, Freud seems to have little to say; his work is too focused on sex and too thoroughly bound by the norms of the bourgeois Viennese society in which he lived. But if you have ever wondered what the buried significance of a dream was or whether someone had a subconscious motivation for an action, you have been affected by Freudian thinking. Freud popularized the notions that the mind can be divided into conscious and unconscious components and that we are often motivated most strongly by the unconscious. He taught us to think in terms of overt and covert desires (often referred to in Freudian language as the words manifest and latent) as the basis of human actions.
和二十世纪的许多思想运动一样,心理学,特别是弗洛伊德心理学,对文学批评产生了重大影响。最典型的精神分析文学批评考察文学人物的内在心理状态、欲望和动机。(事实上,弗洛伊德本人曾以莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》为例,哈姆雷特的生活被精神分析学家称为俄狄浦斯情结的心理所支配——这种情结对母亲的性欲产生了不健康但并不罕见的兴趣。)心理批评的另一个主题是作者。批评家可能会研究驱使作者写出特定故事或诗歌的潜意识冲动。最后,批评家可能会研究读者的心理,试图确定是什么吸引我们或排斥我们某些文学主题或形式。如果文学的这些方面曾经让你感兴趣,那么你就参与了精神分析文学批评。
Like many intellectual movements of the twentieth century, psychology, and specifically Freudian psychology, has had a major influence on literary criticism. The most typical psychoanalytic literary criticism examines the internal mental states, the desires, and the motivations of literary characters. (In fact, Freud himself used Shakespeare’s Hamlet as an example of a man whose life was ruled by what the psychoanalyst called an Oedipal complex — man’s unhealthy, but not uncommon, interest in his mother’s sexuality.) Another subject of psychological criticism can be the author. A critic may examine the possible unconscious urges that drove an author to write a particular story or poem. Finally, a critic might examine the psychology of readers, trying to determine what draws us to or repels us from certain literary themes or forms. If any of these aspects of literature have ever interested you, you have engaged in psychoanalytic literary criticism.
心理评论家对文学作品的解读通常就像心理学家解读梦境或愿望一样。他们经常特别关注象征,将其视为更深层、不太明显的含义的明显表现。他们还关注人物、作者或读者未说明的动机和潜意识状态。弗洛伊德并不是唯一一位经常在文学分析中使用其思想的心理学理论家。其他重要人物包括卡尔·荣格 (1875-1961),他提出了集体无意识的概念以及原型对我们思维的影响,以及雅克·拉康 (1901-1981),他对潜意识和语言的本质特别感兴趣。然而,你不需要精通复杂的精神分析理论,就可以对人类心灵的内部运作或它们在文学中的表现方式感兴趣。
Psychological critics often interpret literature as a psychologist might interpret a dream or a wish. Special attention is often paid to symbols as the manifest representation of a deeper, less obvious meaning. Attention is also focused on the unstated motives and unconscious states of mind of characters, authors, or readers. Freud is not the only psychological theorist whose ideas are frequently used in literary analysis. Other important figures include Carl Jung (1875–1961), who gave us the notion of the collective unconscious and the influence of archetypes on our thinking, and Jacques Lacan (1901–1981), who had a special interest in the unconscious and the nature of language. However, you don’t need to be well versed in the intricacies of psychoanalytic theory in order to be interested in the inner workings of the human mind or the ways in which they manifest themselves in literature.
《普鲁弗洛克》的叙述者是心理学研究的绝佳对象,表现出许多社交焦虑、抑郁和其他可识别的心理状况的迹象。或者,这首诗的荣格批评家可能会关注诗歌开头的动物迷雾或结尾处出现的美人鱼等原型象征。
The narrator of “Prufrock” is an excellent candidate for psychological study, displaying many signs of social anxiety, depression, and other recognizable psychological conditions. Or a Jungian critic of this poem might focus on archetypal symbols such as the animalistic fog early in the poem or the mermaids that appear near the end.
您肯定听过这个老问题:如果森林里有一棵树倒下,没有人听到,那棵树发出声音了吗?让我们重新表述这个问题:如果一本书放在书架上,没有人读它,它还是一本书吗?如果您使用读者反应批评,您对这个问题的回答将是响亮的“不”。当然,书作为物理对象存在,是一叠装订封面并印有符号的纸。但是,正如读者反应批评家所说,作为一件艺术品或意义的渠道,没有读者,任何文本都不存在。
You no doubt have heard the old question: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did the tree make a sound? Let us rephrase that question: If a book sits on a shelf and nobody reads it, is it still a book? If you use reader-response criticism, your answer to that question will be a resounding no. Of course, the book exists as a physical object, a sheaf of paper bound in a cover and printed with symbols. But, as reader-response critics say, as a work of art or a conduit for meaning, no text exists without a reader.
根据各种读者反应批评理论,文本不是作者用来填充意义的容器,而是作者与读者之间的互动,除非读者对其提出自己独特的见解,否则文本永远不完整。这些见解来自多个来源,包括读者的生活经历,以及他或她的信仰、价值观、阅读时的心理状态,当然还有以前的阅读经验。阅读不是被动地试图理解文本中的内容,而是一种创造行为,与写作本身一样重要。读者反应批评家试图理解我们从纸上的文字中获取意义的过程。如果你曾经想知道为什么同学或朋友在故事或诗歌中看到的东西与你完全不同,那么你就是一名读者反应批评家。
A text, according to the various theories of reader-response criticism, is not a container filled with meaning by its author but rather an interaction between an author and a reader, and it can never be complete unless readers bring to it their own unique insights. These insights come from a number of sources, including the reader’s life experience, as well as his or her beliefs, values, state of mind at the time of the reading, and, of course, previous reading experience. Reading is not a passive attempt to understand what lies within a text but an act of creation, no less so than the writing itself. Reader-response critics try to understand the process by which we make meaning out of words on a page. If you have ever wondered why a classmate or friend saw something entirely different than you did in a story or poem, then you have been a reader-response critic.
与读者反应批评相关的两个关键词是空白和过程。空白是文本没有告诉我们的事情,我们需要自己填补和解决。比如说,你读了一个从孩子的角度讲述的故事,但作者从未明确提到孩子的年龄。那么,你在阅读时如何想象叙述者?你注意他或她的行为和想法,并将其与你认识的真实孩子的经历以及你读过其故事的其他孩子的经历进行比较。通过这样做,你填补了文本中的空白并帮助巩固了文本的含义。然而,想象一下,随着故事的继续,新的线索出现了,你需要调整对孩子年龄的假设。这强调了阅读是一个过程的观点,即文本的含义不是固定和完整的,而是随着阅读过程中文本的展开而不断发展的。
Two key terms associated with reader-response criticism are gaps and process. Gaps are those things that a text doesn’t tell us, that we need to fill in and work out for ourselves. Let us say, for instance, that you read a story told from the perspective of a child, but the author never explicitly mentions the child’s age. How, then, do you imagine the narrator as you read? You pay attention to his or her actions and thoughts, and you compare this to your experience of real children you have known and others whose stories you have read. In doing so, you fill in a gap in the text and help solidify the text’s meaning. Imagine, though, that as the story continues, new clues emerge and you need to adjust your assumptions about the child’s age. This highlights the idea that reading is a process, that the meaning of the text is not fixed and complete but rather evolving as the text unfolds in the time it takes to read.
一些读者反应批评家关注文本含义随时间变化的方式。为了说明这个想法,让我们看一个具体的例子。凯特·肖邦的短篇小说《觉醒》于 1899 年首次出版,当代读者往往认为这本书对女主人公性行为的处理很微妙,甚至是看不见的。这些读者经常会震惊或好笑地得知,这本书在出版时被广泛谴责为低俗和过于露骨。期望和品味会随着时间和地点而改变,我们可以通过研究社会对艺术作品的反应来了解很多关于社会的信息。因此,读者反应批评家有时会要求我们审视自己对文学的反应,并询问它们与早期读者的反应如何匹配(如果有的话)。当我们观察19 世纪末和 21 世纪初对《觉醒》的反应时,我们不仅了解肖邦的文化,也了解我们自己的文化。
Some reader-response critics focus on the ways that meanings of a text change over time. To illustrate this idea, let us look at a specific example. Contemporary readers of Kate Chopin’s short novel The Awakening, first published in 1899, tend to find the book’s treatment of the heroine’s sexuality subtle or even invisible. Such readers are often shocked or amused to learn that the book was widely condemned at the time of its publication as tasteless and overly explicit. Expectations and tastes change over time and place, and we can tell a lot about a society by examining how it responds to works of art. Reader-response critics, therefore, sometimes ask us to look at our own reactions to literature and to ask how, if at all, they match up with those of earlier readers. When we look at reactions to The Awakening at the end of the nineteenth century and then at the beginning of the twenty-first century, we learn not only about Chopin’s culture but also about our own.
顾名思义,结构主义关注的是帮助我们理解和解释文学文本的结构。这听起来像是回到了形式主义,正如我们前面所看到的,形式主义研究文本的形式和语言元素。但结构主义批评家所审查的元素完全是另一种顺序——即,我们思维的结构,而不是诗歌、故事和戏剧的内部结构。结构主义批评实际上源于 20 世纪中叶人类学家、语言学家和哲学家的工作,他们试图了解人类的思维和交流方式。该运动的核心基本见解是认识到我们无法孤立地理解任何东西,而是我们知识的每一部分都是关联网络的一部分。例如,“吉姆是个好父亲吗?”为了对这个问题做出简单的“是”或“否”的回答,我们必须考虑“好”与“坏”的范围、我们的文化对父亲的期望,以及我们所知道的吉姆与他孩子的关系。
Structuralism, as the name implies, is concerned with the structures that help us understand and interpret literary texts. This may sound like a return to Formalism, which, as we saw earlier, examines the formal and linguistic elements of a text. But the elements scrutinized by structuralist critics are of a different order entirely — namely, the structures that order our thinking rather than the interior architecture of poems, stories, and plays. Structuralist criticism actually derives from the work of anthropologists, linguists, and philosophers of the mid-twentieth century who sought to understand how humans think and communicate. The basic insight at the heart of the movement is the realization that we understand nothing in isolation but rather that every piece of our knowledge is part of a network of associations. Take, for instance, the question “Is Jim a good father?” In order to form a simple yes or no answer to this question, we must consider, among other things, the spectrum of “good” and “bad,” the expectations our culture holds for fathers, and all we know of Jim’s relationship with his children.
对于结构主义文学批评家来说,回答有关文学的问题时,同样需要关注背景。两种不同类型的背景尤其重要——文化背景和文学背景。文化背景是指对作者(和读者)文化各个方面的理解,例如历史、政治、宗教、教育、工作和家庭的组织结构。文学背景是指影响我们解读文本能力的所有相关文本,包括文学和非文学文本。作者读过什么可能会影响文本的创作?我们读过什么可能会影响我们的解读?文本体裁的规范是什么?这部文学作品如何符合或打破这些规范?
For a structuralist literary critic, questions about literature are answered with the same sort of attention to context. Two different types of context are especially salient — the cultural and the literary. Cultural context refers to an understanding of all aspects of an author’s (and a reader’s) culture, such as the organizing structures of history, politics, religion, education, work, and family. Literary context refers to all related texts, literary and nonliterary, that affect our ability to interpret a text. What had the author read that might have affected the creation of the text? What have we read that might affect our interpretation? What are the norms of the textual genre, and how does this piece of literature conform to or break from those norms?
因此,根据结构主义批评家的观点,我们只有将文本置于更广泛的文化背景(读者和作者)和其他文本(文学和非文学)中才能理解文本。例如,要充分理解莎士比亚写给神秘“黑发女士”的一首爱情十四行诗,我们需要了解浪漫爱情的惯例、文化公认的美丽标准中黑发和白发女性的概念,以及莎士比亚时代英国男女之间可接受的互动。我们还需要将这首十四行诗与爱情诗的历史、十四行诗形式的发展以及莎士比亚 154 首十四行诗系列中的其他作品联系起来。
According to structuralist critics, then, we can understand a text only by placing it within the broader contexts of culture (that of both the reader and the author) and other texts (literary and nonliterary). To fully understand one of Shakespeare’s love sonnets to the mysterious “dark lady,” for example, we would need to understand the conventions of romantic love, the conceptions of dark versus fair women in culturally accepted standards of beauty, and the acceptable interactions between men and women in Shakespeare’s England. We would also need to relate the sonnet to the history of love poems generally, to the development of the sonnet form specifically, and to the other works in Shakespeare’s cycle of 154 sonnets.
因此,从结构主义的角度解读《普鲁弗洛克》,我们很可能会考虑到 1915 年这首诗首次发表时流行的诗歌类型,以及艾略特(他既写诗歌也写文学评论)最欣赏的具体诗歌和诗人。
A structuralist reading of “Prufrock,” then, would be likely to consider, among other things, the types of poetry that were in vogue in 1915, when the poem was first published, as well as the specific poems and poets that Eliot, who wrote literary criticism as well as poetry, most admired.
后结构主义,毫不奇怪,它始于结构主义的洞见,但更进了一步。如果像结构主义者所坚持的那样,我们只能根据其他事物来理解事物,那么也许理解就没有中心点,而只有无穷无尽的相互联系的思想网络,这些思想网络引向其他思想,进而引向其他思想。这是后结构主义批评的出发点,它认为没有文本具有固定或真实的意义,因为没有任何意义存在于它所连接的其他意义网络之外。因此,意义(包括文学意义)随着我们对世界的理解的变化而不断变化和改变。后结构主义最著名的版本是解构主义,这是一门哲学和文学批评学派,最早在法国流行起来,旨在通过破坏现实具有任何稳定存在的概念来颠覆西方哲学的根本基础。
Poststructuralism, it will come as no surprise, begins with the insights of structuralism but carries them one step further. If, as the structuralists insist, we can understand things only in terms of other things, then perhaps there is no center point of understanding but only an endlessly interconnected web of ideas leading to other ideas leading to still other ideas. This is the starting point of poststructuralist criticism, which posits that no text has a fixed or real meaning because no meaning exists outside the network of other meanings to which it is connected. Meaning, then, including literary meaning, is forever shifting and altering as our understanding of the world changes. The best-known version of poststructuralism is deconstruction, a school of philosophy and literary criticism that first gained prominence in France and that seeks to overturn the very basis of Western philosophy by undermining the notion that reality has any stable existence.
当然,在最糟糕的情况下,这种思想流派会导致最狡猾的相对主义。我对这首诗或这部戏剧的看法有什么关系?我想我想要的,你想你想要的。也许下周我会想些不同的东西。谁在乎?每种解释都具有同等价值,没有一种解释具有任何实际价值。然而,在最好的情况下,后结构主义批评可以引导人们深入了解文学。它提醒我们,文本中的意义取决于各种外部理解;它允许同时存在多种解释,甚至相互矛盾的解释;并且,通过坚持没有绝对的文本和意义,它允许人们以一种玩笑的方式对待即使是最“严肃”的文学对象。事实上,解构主义批评的一个反复出现的主题是法语术语jouissance,通常被翻译为bliss,指的是自由奔放、近乎性爱的文学语言享受。
At its worst, of course, this school of thought leads to the most slippery sort of relativism. What does it matter what I think of this poem or this play? I think what I want; you think what you want. Perhaps next week I will think something different. Who cares? Every interpretation is of equal value, and none has any real value at all. At its best, though, poststructuralist criticism can lead toward truly valuable insights into literature. It reminds us that meaning within a text is contingent on all sorts of exterior understandings; it allows for several interpretations, even contradictory interpretations, to exist simultaneously; and, by insisting that no text and no meaning are absolute, it allows for a playful approach to even the most “serious” of literary objects. Indeed, one of the recurrent themes of deconstructionist criticism is the French term jouissance, often translated as bliss, which refers to a free-spirited, almost-sexual enjoyment of literary language.
如此简要地描述了解构之后,我们最好消除人们对该词的一个常见误解。近年来,学术界内外的许多人都开始将解构一词用作分析的同义词。例如,你可能会听到“我们在课堂上彻底解构了那首诗——我现在理解得更清楚了”,或者“辩护律师解构了检察官的论点”。在这两种情况下,说话者的意思可能与解构的文学批评实践几乎没有任何关系。当我们拆开一个文本或一个论点并仔细检查各个部分时,我们不是在解构,而是在分析。
Having thus briefly described deconstruction, we would do well to dispel a common misconception about the word. In recent years, many people, both within and outside academia, have begun to use the word deconstruct as a synonym for analyze. You might hear, for instance, “We completely deconstructed that poem in class — I understand it much better now,” or “The defense attorney deconstructed the prosecutor’s argument.” In both these cases, what the speaker likely means has little if anything to do with the literary critical practice of deconstruction. When we take apart a text or an argument and closely examine the parts, we are engaging not in deconstruction but in analysis.
从解构主义的角度解读《女孩》,可能会让我们对性别差异、阶级结构、或长辈对年轻人进行社会化的必要性的信念基础产生质疑。
A deconstructionist reading of “Girl” might call into question the very basis for our belief in gender divisions, class structure, or the need for the socialization of young people by their elders.
在人类历史的大部分时间里,读者和作家都关注环境与人类体验的关系。作家们往往将环境视为人类行为展开的背景,或视为一种需要征服、驯服和利用其资源的力量。生态批评试图通过提出一个简单的问题来彻底挑战这一范式:如果我们重新考虑自然和环境作为我们的主要兴趣点,甚至将其作为我们关注的焦点,文学及其解读将会发生什么?生态批评是一种必然的跨学科批评形式。它借鉴了环境研究、生物学、哲学和自然历史等领域,以研究人类与自然的互动。它是一种广泛的探究模式,吸收了许多理论框架,包括女权主义批评、文化研究、种族理论、后殖民研究和马克思主义批评。
For much of human history, readers and writers have focused on the environment as it relates to human experience. Quite often, writers have largely treated the environment as a backdrop against which human action unfolds or as a force to be conquered, tamed, and exploited for its resources. Ecocriticism seeks to radically challenge that paradigm by asking a simple question: what would happen to literature — and its interpretation — if we were to reconsider, and perhaps foreground, nature and the environment as our primary site of interest? Ecocriticism is a necessarily interdisciplinary form of criticism. It draws from the fields of environmental studies, biology, philosophy, and natural history in order to investigate human interactions with nature. It is a broad mode of inquiry that has absorbed a number of theoretical frameworks, including feminist criticism, cultural studies, race theory, postcolonial studies, and Marxist criticism.
生态批评可以为自然写作提供有用的解读。例如,通过生态批评阅读亨利·戴维·梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》,读者如何理解梭罗在处理康科德河和梅里马克河的景观时如何借鉴美国例外主义的主题?通过生态批评阅读威廉·华兹华斯的《丁登寺》,读者如何将在大自然中行走视为一种有价值的自我发现形式?生态批评还可以用于几千年前的文本,例如希伯来圣经中的《创世纪》。例如,《创世纪》中的创世故事如何为许多人至今仍依赖的以人为中心的宇宙奠定基础?在阅读玛丽·奥利弗、朱莉安娜·斯帕尔和罗斯·盖伊等当代诗人的近期作品时,生态批评也非常有价值。例如,罗斯·盖伊的《一个小小的必要事实》(第 795 页)如何以新颖而引人注目的方式揭示种族与环境之间的交集?
Ecocriticism can provide useful readings of nature writing. For example, how might an ecocritical reading of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden provide readers with an understanding of how Thoreau drew upon motifs of American exceptionalism in his treatment of the landscape of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers? How might an ecocritical reading of William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” allow readers to consider walking in nature as a valuable form of self-discovery? Ecocriticism can also be used for texts that are several thousand years old, such as the Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible. For example, how do the creation stories in Genesis lay a foundation for a human-centered universe that many people rely on to this day? Ecocriticism can be very valuable when reading more recent work by contemporary poets such as Mary Oliver, Juliana Spahr, and Ross Gay, as well. For example, how might Ross Gay’s “A Small Needful Fact” (p. 795) reveal the intersections between race and the environment in new and compelling ways?
近年来,生态批评家对被称为“人类世”的时代特别感兴趣,即人类活动直接影响环境的时期。一些科学家和历史学家指出,工业革命是人类世时代的开始,而另一些人则将研究时间推得更远,认为 16 世纪的欧洲殖民标志着人类世的开始。近年来,生态批评一直试图研究工业化、技术和资本主义力量如何影响我们讲述故事的方式,以及我们的故事将如何必然受到气候变化的影响。
In recent years, ecocritics have become particularly interested in the era referred to as the Anthropocene — that period during which human activity has directly affected the environment. Some scientists and historians point to the Industrial Revolution as the beginning of the Anthropocene era, while others push even further into the past, suggesting that European colonization in the sixteenth century marked the beginning of the Anthropocene. In recent years, ecocriticism has sought to investigate how industrialization, technology, and the forces of capitalism have affected how we tell our stories, and how our stories will necessarily be influenced by the inevitability of climate change.
这些只是文学理论和批评的众多种类中的一部分。此外,你还可能遇到宗教(例如基督教、穆斯林或佛教)批评;比较文学,比较来自不同语言和/或文化的相关作品;基于种族和民族的各种批评研究流派;等等。甚至还有文学评论家使用复杂的计算机程序进行文本分析。
These are only some of the many varieties of literary theory and criticism. In addition, you might encounter religious (for example, Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist) criticism; comparative literature, which compares related works from different languages and/or cultures; various schools of critical inquiry based on race and ethnicity; and many, many more. There are even literary critics who perform textual analysis using sophisticated computer programs.
现在,您可能想知道自己是哪种文学批评家。您可能觉得自己今天是形式主义者,明天是心理批评家。这并不奇怪,您也不必担心;这些学派并不相互排斥。事实上,大多数专业批评家都会以最适合其当前需求的方式混合和搭配各种学派。例如,新批评家的细读技巧经常被那些强烈反对新批评立场(即不考虑社会和政治背景)的人采用。如果您想写关于莫泊桑的短篇小说《项链》中卢瓦泽尔夫人的社会衰落,您很可能会发现自己处于马克思主义-女权主义-新历史主义批评家的位置。这很好。如果你运用马克思主义、女权主义和新历史主义的知识进行写作,那么与没有任何文学理论基础相比,你几乎肯定会写出一篇条理更清晰、信息量更大、更全面的论文。
By now you may be wondering what sort of literary critic you are. You may feel that you have been a Formalist one day and a psychological critic the next. This is not surprising, and it should cause you no worry; none of these schools are mutually exclusive. Indeed, most professional critics mix and match the various schools in whatever way best suits their immediate needs. The close-reading techniques of the New Critics, for instance, are frequently adopted by those who would fervently reject the New Critical stance that social and political context be excluded from consideration. If you wished to write about the social decline of Mme. Loisel in Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Necklace,” you might well find yourself in the position of a Marxist–feminist–New Historicist critic. That’s fine. Writing with the knowledge that you are drawing from Marxism, feminism, and New Historicism, you will almost certainly write a better-organized, better-informed, and more thorough paper than you would have had you begun with no conscious basis in literary theory.
看看你对文学作品所做的注释和笔记、你在课堂上所做的笔记以及你写过的任何考试或论文。是否有特定的主题和问题让你不断回味,特定的体裁或文学特征让你一直感兴趣?如果是这样,你可能已经初步回答了这个问题:我是哪种文学评论家?
Take a look at the annotations and notes you have made on literary works, the notes you have taken in class, and any exams or papers you have written. Are there particular themes and issues to which you keep returning, particular genres or literary features that continue to attract or interest you? If so, you may have the beginning of an answer to the question: What sort of literary critic am I?
(1804-1864)
[1804–1864]
日落时分,年轻的古德曼·布朗走上萨勒姆村的街道;跨过门槛后,他又把头缩了回去,与年轻的妻子亲吻道别。而妻子费丝(Faith)——这个名字很贴切——也把她美丽的头伸到街上,任由风吹动她帽子上的粉色丝带,同时她呼唤着古德曼·布朗。
Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street at Salem village; but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown.
“亲爱的,”当她的嘴唇靠近他的耳朵时,她轻声而悲伤地低语道,“请你推迟你的旅程直到日出,今晚睡在自己的床上。一个孤独的女人有时会被这样的梦想和想法所困扰,以至于她害怕自己。亲爱的丈夫,请在这一夜和我在一起,一年中所有的夜晚。”
“Dearest heart,” whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, “prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afeared of herself sometimes. Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year.”
“亲爱的,我的费丝,”年轻的古德曼·布朗回答道,“一年中所有的夜晚,只有这一夜我必须离开你。我的旅程,正如你所说的,来回的旅程,必须在现在和日出之间完成。怎么,我可爱美丽的妻子,你已经怀疑我了,我们结婚才三个月?”
“My love and my Faith,” replied young Goodman Brown, “of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done ’twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married?”
“那么上帝保佑你!”戴着粉红丝带的费丝说道,“愿你回来时一切都好。”
“Then God bless you!” said Faith, with the pink ribbons, “and may you find all well when you come back.”
“阿门!”布朗大人喊道。“亲爱的费丝,祈祷吧,黄昏时分就去睡觉,这样你就不会受到伤害了。”
“Amen!” cried Goodman Brown. “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee.”
于是他们分手了。年轻人继续往前走,快要拐过礼拜堂的拐角时,他回头一看,发现费思的头仍然在向他望来,虽然她身上系着粉红色的丝带,但她的神情却依然忧郁。
So they parted; and the young man pursued his way until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.
“可怜的小费丝!”他心想,因为他的心在痛。“我真是太可怜了,竟然让她去做这样的差事!她还谈到了梦想。我觉得她说话时脸上带着忧虑,好像一个梦警告了她今晚要做什么工作。但是不,不;她一想到这些就会死。好吧,她是人间一位受祝福的天使,过了今晚,我会紧紧抓住她的裙子,跟着她去天堂。”
“Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too. Methought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done to-night. But no, no; ’t would kill her to think it. Well, she’s a blessed angel on earth, and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.”
有了对未来的这个良好决心,布朗先生觉得自己有理由加快脚步去完成他目前的邪恶计划。他走上了一条荒凉的道路,森林里所有最阴暗的树木都遮住了道路,这些树木勉强让开一条路让这条狭窄的小路穿过,然后又立刻关上了。这条路非常孤寂;在如此孤寂的地方还有一种特殊之处,那就是旅行者不知道谁可能被无数的树干和头顶上浓密的树枝遮住了;因此,他可能迈着孤独的脚步穿过了看不见的人群。
With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind. It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveller knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.
“每棵树后面可能都藏有一个邪恶的印第安人,”古德曼·布朗自言自语道,他恐惧地朝身后看了一眼,又补充道,“要是魔鬼就在我身边怎么办呢?”
“There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,” said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!”
他转过头,走过一条小路的拐弯处,再次向前看去,看见一个男人的身影,穿着庄重体面的衣服,坐在一棵老树的脚下。古德曼·布朗走近时,他站了起来,和他并肩向前走去。
His head being turned back, he passed a crook of the road, and, looking forward again, beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree. He arose at Goodman Brown’s approach and walked onward side by side with him.
“你迟到了,古德曼·布朗,”他说。“我经过波士顿的时候,老南方的钟声刚好敲响,那是整整十五分钟前的事了。”
“You are late, Goodman Brown,” said he. “The clock of the Old South was striking as I came through Boston, and that is full fifteen minutes agone.”
“费丝耽误了我一会儿,”年轻人回答道,声音有些颤抖,这是由于他的同伴的突然出现造成的,尽管这并不完全出乎意料。
“Faith kept me back a while,” replied the young man, with a tremor in his voice, caused by the sudden appearance of his companion, though not wholly unexpected.
此时,森林里已是暮色浓重,而他们两人所走的那部分则是最深的一片。据我们所知,第二个旅行者大约五十岁,似乎与布朗大人属于同一阶层,而且与布朗大人颇为相似,不过也许表情比相貌更相似。不过,他们还是可能被误认为是父子。然而,尽管年长的那位穿着和年轻人一样朴素,举止也一样朴实,但他却有一种难以形容的风度,仿佛一个通晓世事的人,如果有机会在总督的餐桌上或威廉国王的宫廷里,他不会感到尴尬。但他身上唯一引人注目的地方是他的手杖,它的形状像一条巨大的黑蛇,做工非常精巧,几乎可以看到它像一条活蛇一样扭动着。当然,这一定是由于光线不明而造成的视觉错觉。
It was now deep dusk in the forest, and deepest in that part of it where these two were journeying. As nearly as could be discerned, the second traveller was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features. Still they might have been taken for father and son. And yet, though the elder person was as simply clad as the younger, and as simple in manner too, he had an indescribable air of one who knew the world, and who would not have felt abashed at the governor’s dinner table or in King William’s court, were it possible that his affairs should call him thither. But the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light.
“来吧,布朗先生,”他的旅伴喊道,“对于旅程的开始来说,这样的步调太无聊了。如果你这么快就累了,就拿着我的手杖吧。”
“Come, Goodman Brown,” cried his fellow-traveller, “this is a dull pace for the beginning of a journey. Take my staff, if you are so soon weary.”
“朋友,”对方停下脚步说道,“既然在这里遇见了你,我便遵守了约定,现在我要回到我来的地方。对于你所关心的事情,我有些顾虑。”
“Friend,” said the other, exchanging his slow pace for a full stop, “having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return whence I came. I have scruples touching the matter thou wot’st of.”
“你这么说吗?”蛇先生微笑着回答道。“我们还是继续走吧,边走边推理;如果我说服不了你,你就回头。我们离森林只有一小段路了。”
“Sayest thou so?” replied he of the serpent, smiling apart. “Let us walk on, nevertheless, reasoning as we go; and if I convince thee not thou shalt turn back. We are but a little way in the forest yet.”
“太远了!太远了!”那位好人惊呼道,下意识地又继续往前走。“我父亲从来没有进过森林做这种事,他的父亲也没有。自从殉道者时代以来,我们一直是一群诚实的人和善良的基督徒;我是布朗家族中第一个走这条路并坚持下去的人吗?”——
“Too far! too far!” exclaimed the goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk. “My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept” —
“你会说,这样的伙伴,”年长者观察着,理解着他停顿的原因。“说得好,布朗先生!我和你的家人很熟悉,就像和清教徒中的任何一个人一样;这可不是小事。我帮过你祖父,他是一名警官,在塞勒姆的街道上狠狠地鞭打那个贵格会女人;在菲利普国王的战争中,是我带给你父亲一个松脂结,在我家的壁炉里点燃,放火烧了一个印第安村庄。他们俩都是我的好朋友;我们沿着这条路愉快地散步过很多次,午夜过后又高高兴兴地回来。为了他们,我很乐意和你做朋友。”
“Such company, thou wouldst say,” observed the elder person, interpreting his pause. “Well said, Goodman Brown! I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in King Philip’s war.a They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you for their sake.”
“如果真如你所说,”布朗先生回答道,“我很惊讶他们从未谈论过这些事情;或者说,我并不惊讶,因为哪怕是一点点这样的谣言也会把他们赶出新英格兰。我们是一群虔诚的人民,而且善于行善,不能容忍这种邪恶。”
“If it be as thou sayest,” replied Goodman Brown, “I marvel they never spoke of these matters; or, verily, I marvel not, seeing that the least rumor of the sort would have driven them from New England. We are a people of prayer, and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.”
“不管是不是邪恶,”手持扭曲手杖的旅行者说道,“我在新英格兰有很多熟人。许多教堂的执事都和我一起喝过圣餐酒;不同城镇的行政委员推选我担任主席;议会和众议院的大多数成员都坚定地支持我的利益。州长和我也是——但这些都是国家机密。”
“Wickedness or not,” said the traveller with the twisted staff, “I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest. The governor and I, too — But these are state secrets.”
“真的吗?”布朗先生惊愕地看着他那位泰然自若的同伴。“不过,我和州长及议会没有任何关系;他们有自己的行事方式,对我这样一个普通农民来说,他们没有规矩可循。但是,如果我继续和你在一起,我怎么会见到塞勒姆村那位善良的老人,我们的牧师?哦,他的声音会让我发抖,无论是安息日还是演讲日。”
“Can this be so?” cried Goodman Brown, with a stare of amazement at his undisturbed companion. “Howbeit, I have nothing to do with the governor and council; they have their own ways, and are no rule for a simple husbandman like me. But, were I to go on with thee, how should I meet the eye of that good old man, our minister, at Salem village? Oh, his voice would make me tremble both Sabbath day and lecture day.”
到目前为止,这位年长的旅行者一直严肃地听着;但现在他突然爆发出抑制不住的欢笑,他剧烈地摇晃着身体,连他那根蛇一样的手杖似乎也跟着扭动起来。
Thus far the elder traveller had listened with due gravity; but now burst into a fit of irrepressible mirth, shaking himself so violently that his snake-like staff actually seemed to wriggle in sympathy.
“哈!哈!哈!”他一遍又一遍地喊道,然后镇定下来,“好吧,继续说,古德曼布朗,继续说;但是,求求你,别笑死我了。”
“Ha! ha! ha!” shouted he again and again; then composing himself, “Well, go on, Goodman Brown, go on; but, prithee, don’t kill me with laughing.”
“好吧,那就赶紧结束这件事吧,”古德曼·布朗相当恼火地说道,“因为我的妻子费丝。这会伤透她的心,而我宁愿伤透我自己的心。”
“Well, then, to end the matter at once,” said Goodman Brown, considerably nettled, “there is my wife, Faith. It would break her dear little heart; and I’d rather break my own.”
“不,如果真是这样,”另一个人回答道,“那就走你的路吧,布朗先生。我可不想让二十个像我们前面这个一瘸一拐的老女人伤害费丝。”
“Nay, if that be the case,” answered the other, “e’en go thy ways, Goodman Brown. I would not for twenty old women like the one hobbling before us that Faith should come to any harm.”
他一边说话,一边用手杖指向路上的一位女性身影,古德曼·布朗认出那位女性非常虔诚,是一位模范女士,他年轻时曾受过她的教导,现在,她与牧师和执事古金一起,仍然是他的道德和精神顾问。
As he spoke he pointed his staff at a female figure on the path, in whom Goodman Brown recognized a very pious and exemplary dame, who had taught him his catechism in youth, and was still his moral and spiritual adviser, jointly with the minister and Deacon Gookin.
“真是奇怪,古蒂·克洛伊斯居然在夜幕降临时在荒野中走了这么远,”他说。“不过,朋友,如果你允许的话,我会抄近路穿过树林,直到把这个基督教女人甩在身后。她对你来说是个陌生人,她可能会问我和谁在一起,要去哪里。”
“A marvel, truly that Goody Cloyse should be so far in the wilderness at nightfall,” said he. “But with your leave, friend, I shall take a cut through the woods until we have left this Christian woman behind. Being a stranger to you, she might ask whom I was consorting with and whither I was going.”
“那就这样吧,”他的旅伴说道。“带你去树林吧,我来负责带路。”
“Be it so,” said his fellow-traveller. “Betake you to the woods, and let me keep the path.”
于是,年轻人转过身去,但小心地看着他的同伴,他轻轻地沿着路走去,直到他离老妇人只有一棍子那么远。与此同时,她正全力以赴,对于一个如此年老的女人来说,速度快得惊人,一边走一边嘟囔着一些含糊不清的话——无疑是在祈祷。旅行者伸出手杖,用似乎是蛇尾的东西碰了碰她枯萎的脖子。
Accordingly the young man turned aside, but took care to watch his companion, who advanced softly along the road until he had come within a staff’s length of the old dame. She, meanwhile, was making the best of her way, with singular speed for so aged a woman, and mumbling some indistinct words — a prayer, doubtless — as she went. The traveller put forth his staff and touched her withered neck with what seemed the serpent’s tail.
“魔鬼!”虔诚的老太太尖叫道。
“The devil!” screamed the pious old lady.
“那么古蒂·克洛伊斯认识她的老朋友吗?”旅行者面对着她,倚着他那根扭动的手杖,观察道。
“Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend?” observed the traveller, confronting her and leaning on his writhing stick.
“啊,真的,真是您吗?”好心的妇人叫道。“是的,确实是,而且跟我以前说闲话的古德曼·布朗一模一样,他就是现在这个傻瓜的祖父。但是——您相信吗?——我的扫帚奇怪地不见了,我怀疑是被那个没被绞死的巫婆古蒂·科里偷走了,而且当时我全身都涂满了小茴香、金合欢和狼毒的药水。” ——
“Ah, forsooth, and is it your worship indeed?” cried the good dame. “Yea, truly is it, and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is. But — would your worship believe it? — my broomstick hath strangely disappeared, stolen, as I suspect, by that unhanged witch, Goody Cory, and that, too, when I was all anointed with the juice of smallage, and cinquefoil, and wolf’s bane”b —
“混合了优质小麦和新生婴儿的脂肪,”老古德曼布朗的身影说道。
“Mingled with fine wheat and the fat of a new-born babe,” said the shape of old Goodman Brown.
“啊,您知道秘方,”老太太咯咯笑着说道。“所以,正如我所说的,我已经准备好参加聚会了,但没有马可骑,所以我决定步行去;因为他们告诉我,今晚会有一位不错的年轻人被带去领圣餐。不过现在请您伸出你的手来,我们很快就会到那里。”
“Ah, your worship knows the recipe,” cried the old lady, cackling aloud. “So, as I was saying, being all ready for the meeting, and no horse to ride on, I made up my mind to foot it; for they tell me there is a nice young man to be taken into communion to-night. But now your good worship will lend me your arm, and we shall be there in a twinkling.”
“那不可能,”她的朋友回答道。“我可能不会把胳膊给你,克劳斯小姐;但如果你愿意的话,这是我的手杖。”
“That can hardly be,” answered her friend. “I may not spare you my arm, Goody Cloyse; but here is my staff, if you will.”
说罢,他把杖扔在她脚下,也许它就在那里获得了生命,因为它是它的主人以前借给埃及贤者的杖之一。然而,古德曼·布朗却没有意识到这一点。他惊讶地抬起眼睛,再低头一看,既没有看到古蒂·克洛伊斯,也没有看到蛇杖,只有他的旅伴,他平静地等着他,仿佛什么事都没发生过一样。
So saying, he threw it down at her feet, where, perhaps, it assumed life, being one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the Egyptian magi. Of this fact, however, Goodman Brown could not take cognizance. He had cast up his eyes in astonishment, and, looking down again, beheld neither Goody Cloyse nor the serpentine staff, but his fellow-traveller alone, who waited for him as calmly as if nothing had happened.
“那个老妇人教了我教义问答,”年轻人说道;这句简单的评论却蕴含着深远的意义。
“That old woman taught me my catechism,” said the young man; and there was a world of meaning in this simple comment.
他们继续往前走,年长的旅行者鼓励他的同伴加快速度,坚持走下去,他讲得如此巧妙,以至于他的论据似乎更像是从听众的心中涌现出来的,而不是他自己提出的。他们走着走着,他折了一根枫树枝做手杖,开始剥去树枝和小树枝,树枝上沾满了晚露。他的手指一碰到树枝,树枝就奇怪地枯萎了,就像被一周的阳光晒干了一样。就这样,两人以轻松的步伐继续前行,直到突然,在路边一个阴暗的凹陷处,古德曼·布朗坐在一棵树桩上,拒绝再往前走。
They continued to walk onward, while the elder traveller exhorted his companion to make good speed and persevere in the path, discoursing so aptly that his arguments seemed rather to spring up in the bosom of his auditor than to be suggested by himself. As they went, he plucked a branch of maple to serve for a walking stick, and began to strip it of the twigs and little boughs, which were wet with evening dew. The moment his fingers touched them they became strangely withered and dried up as with a week’s sunshine. Thus the pair proceeded, at a good free pace, until suddenly, in a gloomy hollow of the road, Goodman Brown sat himself down on the stump of a tree and refused to go any farther.
“朋友,”他固执地说,“我已下定决心。我不会再为这个任务让步了。如果一个可怜的老妇人真的选择堕入地狱,而我以为她会去天堂,那该怎么办?这就是我要抛弃我亲爱的费丝去追她的理由吗?”
“Friend,” he said, stubbornly, “my mind is made up. Not another step will I budge on this errand. What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven: is that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go after her?”
“你慢慢就会明白的,”他的熟人平静地说道。“坐在这儿休息一会儿;当你想再走动的时候,我的手杖可以帮你。”
“You will think better of this by and by,” said his acquaintance, composedly. “Sit here and rest yourself a while; and when you feel like moving again, there is my staff to help you along.”
他没有再说一句话,就把枫树枝扔给了同伴,然后迅速消失得无影无踪,仿佛消失在越来越深的黑暗中。年轻人在路边坐了一会儿,为自己鼓掌,想着自己在早上散步时会问心无愧地迎接牧师,也不会躲避善良的老执事古金的目光。而他今晚会睡得多么安稳啊,本来他应该如此邪恶地度过,但现在在费思的怀抱中,他可以如此纯洁、如此甜蜜地度过!在这些愉快而值得称赞的沉思中,布朗先生听到了路上马蹄声,他认为最好躲进森林边缘,他意识到自己来这里的罪恶目的,尽管现在他很高兴地放弃了。
Without more words, he threw his companion the maple stick, and was as speedily out of sight as if he had vanished into the deepening gloom. The young man sat a few moments by the roadside, applauding himself greatly, and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet the minister in his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of good old Deacon Gookin. And what calm sleep would be his that very night, which was to have been spent so wickedly, but so purely and sweetly now, in the arms of Faith! Amidst these pleasant and praiseworthy meditations, Goodman Brown heard the tramp of horses along the road, and deemed it advisable to conceal himself within the verge of the forest, conscious of the guilty purpose that had brought him thither, though now so happily turned from it.
马蹄声和骑马人的声音传来,两个声音低沉而苍老,一边走近一边严肃地交谈。这些混杂的声音似乎沿着道路传来,离年轻人的藏身处只有几码远;但是,毫无疑问,由于那个地方的黑暗太深,无论是旅行者还是他们的马都看不见。虽然他们的身影擦过路边的小树枝,但看不出他们一刻也没有阻挡他们必定经过的那片明亮天空的微弱光芒。古德曼布朗一会儿蹲下,一会儿踮起脚尖,拨开树枝,把头尽量探出去,却连一个影子都看不见。这让他更加恼火,因为他可以发誓,如果真有这样的事发生,他一定认出了牧师和执事古金的声音,他们正安静地慢跑着,就像他们参加某种圣职任命或教会会议时习惯做的那样。就在他们还在听得见的时候,其中一名骑手停下来拨动一根树枝。
On came the hoof tramps and the voices of the riders, two grave old voices, conversing soberly as they drew near. These mingled sounds appeared to pass along the road, within a few yards of the young man’s hiding-place; but, owing doubtless to the depth of the gloom at that particular spot, neither the travellers nor their steeds were visible. Though their figures brushed the small boughs by the wayside, it could not be seen that they intercepted, even for a moment, the faint gleam from the strip of bright sky athwart which they must have passed. Goodman Brown alternately crouched and stood on tiptoe, pulling aside the branches and thrusting forth his head as far as he durst without discerning so much as a shadow. It vexed him the more, because he could have sworn, were such a thing possible, that he recognized the voices of the minister and Deacon Gookin, jogging along quietly, as they were wont to do, when bound to some ordination or ecclesiastical council. While yet within hearing, one of the riders stopped to pluck a switch.
“牧师先生,”那声音听起来像执事的声音,“我宁愿错过圣职晚宴,也不愿错过今晚的聚会。他们告诉我,我们社区的一些人将从法尔茅斯和更远的地方来到这里,还有一些人从康涅狄格州和罗德岛来到这里,此外还有几位印第安巫师,他们按照自己的方式,几乎和我们当中最优秀的人一样懂得魔鬼的手段。此外,还有一位美丽的年轻女子要参加圣餐。”
“Of the two, reverend sir,” said the voice like the deacon’s, “I had rather miss an ordination dinner than to-night’s meeting. They tell me that some of our community are to be here from Falmouth and beyond, and others from Connecticut and Rhode Island, besides several of the Indian powwows, who, after their fashion, know almost as much deviltry as the best of us. Moreover, there is a goodly young woman to be taken into communion.”
“很好,执事古金!”牧师用庄严而苍老的语气回答道。“快点,不然我们就迟到了。你知道,在我落地之前什么也做不了。”
“Mighty well, Deacon Gookin!” replied the solemn old tones of the minister. “Spur up, or we shall be late. Nothing can be done, you know, until I get on the ground.”
马蹄又发出了咔哒声,那些声音在空旷的空气中传来,听起来非常奇怪,穿过森林,这里从来没有教堂聚会,也没有基督徒孤独地祈祷。那么,这些圣徒们要去哪里呢?他们要深入异教徒的荒野?年轻的古德曼·布朗抓住一棵树支撑自己,他正准备倒在地上,他感到虚弱,心里的沉重痛苦使他不堪重负。他抬头望向天空,怀疑头顶上是否真的有天堂。然而,那里有蓝色的拱门,星星在拱门中闪烁。
The hoofs clattered again; and the voices, talking so strangely in the empty air, passed on through the forest, where no church had ever been gathered or solitary Christian prayed. Whither, then, could these holy men be journeying so deep into the heathen wilderness? Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree for support, being ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburdened with the heavy sickness of his heart. He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really was a heaven above him. Yet there was the blue arch, and the stars brightening in it.
“有天堂在上,有信仰在下,我将坚定地抵抗魔鬼!”古德曼·布朗喊道。
“With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!” cried Goodman Brown.
正当他凝视着苍穹深处,举起双手祈祷时,一朵云,尽管没有风,却匆匆掠过天顶,遮住了明亮的星星。蓝天仍然清晰可见,除了头顶上方,这团黑色的云正迅速向北移动。空中,仿佛从云层深处传来一阵混乱而可疑的声音。有一次,听者觉得他能分辨出他自己镇上居民的口音,男人和女人,有虔诚的,也有不信教的,其中许多人他在圣餐桌上见过,还看到其他人在酒馆里闹事。下一刻,声音变得如此模糊,他怀疑自己是否只听到了古老森林的低语,没有风的低语。然后传来一阵更响亮的熟悉的声音,塞勒姆村每天都在阳光下听到,但直到现在才从夜幕中传来。有一个年轻女子的声音,发出哀叹,却带着一种难以言喻的悲伤,恳求一些恩惠,也许,得到这些恩惠会令她痛苦;而所有看不见的群众,无论是圣人还是罪人,似乎都在鼓励她继续前进。
While he still gazed upward into the deep arch of the firmament and had lifted his hands to pray, a cloud, though no wind was stirring, hurried across the zenith and hid the brightening stars. The blue sky was still visible, except directly overhead, where this black mass of cloud was sweeping swiftly northward. Aloft in the air, as if from the depths of the cloud, came a confused and doubtful sound of voices. Once the listener fancied that he could distinguish the accents of towns-people of his own, men and women, both pious and ungodly, many of whom he had met at the communion table, and had seen others rioting at the tavern. The next moment, so indistinct were the sounds, he doubted whether he had heard aught but the murmur of the old forest, whispering without a wind. Then came a stronger swell of those familiar tones, heard daily in the sunshine at Salem village, but never until now from a cloud of night. There was one voice, of a young woman, uttering lamentations, yet with an uncertain sorrow, and entreating for some favor, which, perhaps, it would grieve her to obtain; and all the unseen multitude, both saints and sinners, seemed to encourage her onward.
“费丝!”古德曼·布朗用痛苦和绝望的声音大喊道;森林里的回声嘲笑着他,喊着:“费丝!费丝!”仿佛迷茫的可怜虫正在荒野各处寻找她。
“Faith!” shouted Goodman Brown, in a voice of agony and desperation; and the echoes of the forest mocked him, crying, “Faith! Faith!” as if bewildered wretches were seeking her all through the wilderness.
悲伤、愤怒和恐惧的哭喊声仍旧刺破夜空,不幸的丈夫屏住呼吸等待回应。一声尖叫声立刻被更大的低语声淹没,消失在远处的笑声中,乌云散去,古德曼·布朗头顶上空一片清澈寂静的天空。但空中有东西轻轻飘落,挂在树枝上。年轻人抓住它,看到一条粉色丝带。
The cry of grief, rage, and terror was yet piercing the night, when the unhappy husband held his breath for a response. There was a scream, drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away, leaving the clear and silent sky above Goodman Brown. But something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of a tree. The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon.
“我的信仰消失了!”他愣了一会儿后喊道。“世上没有善,罪恶也不过是个名字。来吧,魔鬼,这个世界是给你的。”
“My Faith is gone!” cried he after one stupefied moment. “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”
布朗先生绝望得发疯了,他放声大笑,抓起手杖,再次出发,速度之快让他仿佛在林间小道上飞奔,而不是在行走或奔跑。道路变得越来越荒凉,越来越模糊,最后消失了,只剩下他留在黑暗荒野的中心,他仍然以凡人本能向前冲刺,这种本能引导着凡人走向邪恶。整个森林里充斥着可怕的声音——树木的吱吱声、野兽的嚎叫声和印第安人的叫喊声;有时风声像远处教堂的钟声一样响起,有时在旅行者周围发出巨大的吼声,仿佛整个大自然都在嘲笑他。但他自己才是这场景中最可怕的,他并没有因为其他的恐怖而退缩。
And, maddened with despair, so that he laughed loud and long, did Goodman Brown grasp his staff and set forth again, at such a rate that he seemed to fly along the forest path rather than to walk or run. The road grew wilder and drearier and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness, still rushing onward with the instinct that guides mortal man to evil. The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds — the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts, and the yell of Indians; while sometimes the wind tolled like a distant church bell, and sometimes gave a broad roar around the traveller, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn. But he was himself the chief horror of the scene, and shrank not from its other horrors.
“哈!哈!哈!”古德曼·布朗在风中大笑时大叫道。“让我们听听谁笑得最响。别想用你的恶作剧吓唬我。来吧,女巫,来吧,巫师,来吧,印第安巫师,来吧,魔鬼本人,古德曼·布朗来了。你不如怕他,就像他怕你一样。”
“Ha! ha! ha!” roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him. “Let us hear which will laugh loudest. Think not to frighten me with your deviltry. Come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself, and here comes Goodman Brown. You may as well fear him as he fear you.”
事实上,在整个闹鬼的森林里,没有什么比古德曼布朗的身影更可怕的了。他飞奔在黑松林中,疯狂地挥舞着他的手杖,一会儿发泄出可怕的亵渎之语,一会儿大笑起来,森林里的所有回声都像恶魔一样在他周围笑着。这个魔鬼在自己的形态下并不像他在人类心中狂怒时那么可怕。就这样,这个魔鬼加速前进,直到他在树林中颤抖着,看到面前有一道红光,就像是空地上被砍倒的树干和树枝被点燃,在午夜时分,它们可怕的火焰直冲云霄。他停了下来,在驱使他继续前进的暴风雨的间歇,听到远处传来一首似乎是赞美诗的歌声,庄严地滚动着,伴随着许多人的歌声。他知道这首曲子;这是村里礼拜堂合唱团里熟悉的歌声。歌词渐渐沉寂,随着合唱而延长,不是人声,而是黑暗荒野里所有的声音,一起发出可怕的和谐声。古德曼·布朗大声喊叫,他的喊声与沙漠的喊声交织在一起,他自己的耳朵听不见。
In truth, all through the haunted forest there could be nothing more frightful than the figure of Goodman Brown. On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him. The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man. Thus sped the demoniac on his course, until, quivering among the trees, he saw a red light before him, as when the felled trunks and branches of a clearing have been set on fire, and throw up their lurid blaze against the sky, at the hour of midnight. He paused, in a lull of the tempest that had driven him onward, and heard the swell of what seemed a hymn, rolling solemnly from a distance with the weight of many voices. He knew the tune; it was a familiar one in the choir of the village meeting-house. The verse died heavily away, and was lengthened by a chorus, not of human voices, but of all the sounds of the benighted wilderness pealing in awful harmony together. Goodman Brown cried out, and his cry was lost to his own ear by its unison with the cry of the desert.
在沉默的间隙中,他偷偷地向前走,直到光线完全照进他的眼睛。在一片空地的尽头,被森林的黑墙包围着,一块岩石耸立着,看起来有些粗鲁、自然,就像一座祭坛或讲道台,周围有四棵燃烧的松树,树顶燃烧着,树干却没有被触及,就像晚会上的蜡烛。岩石顶上长满了茂密的树叶,全都着火了,在夜空中高高地燃烧着,断断续续地照亮了整个田野。每根垂下的树枝和树叶花彩都在燃烧。随着红光的升起和落下,无数的会众交替地闪耀出来,然后消失在阴影中,又仿佛从黑暗中长出来,一下子挤满了这片孤独的森林的中心。
In the interval of silence he stole forward until the light glared full upon his eyes. At one extremity of an open space, hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest, arose a rock, bearing some rude, natural resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting. The mass of foliage that had overgrown the summit of the rock was all on fire, blazing high into the night and fitfully illuminating the whole field. Each pendent twig and leafy festoon was in a blaze. As the red light arose and fell, a numerous congregation alternately shone forth, then disappeared in shadow, and again grew, as it were, out of the darkness, peopling the heart of the solitary woods at once.
古德曼·布朗说道:“这是一群严肃而又黑暗的人。”
“A grave and dark-clad company,” quoth Goodman Brown.
事实上,他们的确如此。在他们中间,在阴暗与辉煌之间来回颤抖着,出现了第二天在省议会上看到的面孔,还有一些面孔,每个安息日,都虔诚地仰望天空,仁慈地看着拥挤的长椅,站在全国最神圣的讲坛上。有人断言州长夫人也在场。至少有她熟悉的贵妇、受人尊敬的丈夫的妻子、寡妇、一大群人、年老的处女,都是声名显赫的,还有美丽的年轻女孩,她们害怕自己的母亲会发现她们。要么是突然闪过昏暗田野的光芒让古德曼布朗眼花缭乱,要么是他认出了塞勒姆村的二十名以特别圣洁而闻名的教会成员。善良的老执事古金已经到达,等候在那位可敬的圣人、他受人尊敬的牧师身边。但是,这些严肃、有名望、虔诚的人、教会的长老、贞洁的女士和露水的处女,却不敬地与这些生活放荡的男人和名声不佳的女人交往,这些可怜的人沉迷于一切卑鄙肮脏的恶行,甚至被怀疑犯下可怕的罪行。奇怪的是,好人并不畏惧坏人,罪人也不畏惧圣人。在他们脸色苍白的敌人中间还散布着印第安牧师或巫师,他们经常用比英国巫术更可怕的咒语吓唬他们的家乡森林。
In truth they were such. Among them, quivering to and fro between gloom and splendor, appeared faces that would be seen next day at the council board of the province, and others which, Sabbath after Sabbath, looked devoutly heavenward, and benignantly over the crowded pews, from the holiest pulpits in the land. Some affirm that the lady of the governor was there. At least there were high dames well known to her, and wives of honored husbands, and widows, a great multitude, and ancient maidens, all of excellent repute, and fair young girls, who trembled lest their mothers should espy them. Either the sudden gleams of light flashing over the obscure field bedazzled Goodman Brown, or he recognized a score of the church members of Salem village famous for their especial sanctity. Good old Deacon Gookin had arrived, and waited at the skirts of that venerable saint, his revered pastor. But, irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes. It was strange to see that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners abashed by the saints. Scattered also among their pale-faced enemies were the Indian priests, or powwows, who had often scared their native forest with more hideous incantations than any known to English witchcraft.
“但是信仰在哪里呢?”古德曼·布朗想着;当希望涌入他的心中时,他却颤抖起来。
“But where is Faith?” thought Goodman Brown; and, as hope came into his heart, he trembled.
赞美诗又唱起一节,旋律缓慢而哀伤,像虔诚的爱,但与表达我们本性所能想到的所有罪恶的词语相连,并暗中暗示了更多。恶魔的知识对凡人来说是深不可测的。一节又一节的歌声唱完;沙漠的合唱仍在歌声中高亢,就像一架巨大的风琴发出的最深沉的音调;随着这首可怕的赞歌的最后一声响起,传来了一种声音,仿佛咆哮的风、奔腾的溪流、嚎叫的野兽,以及荒野中所有其他的声音都在与罪人的声音交织在一起,向万物之王致敬。四棵燃烧的松树喷出更高的火焰,在邪恶的集会上空的烟雾中隐约可见恐怖的形状和面孔。与此同时,岩石上的火苗喷出红色火焰,在岩石底部形成一道流动的拱门,拱门上出现了一个人影。带着敬畏的语气,这个人影无论在服装还是举止上,都与新英格兰教堂里某个庄严的神职人员有几分相似。
Another verse of the hymn arose, a slow and mournful strain, such as the pious love, but joined to words which expressed all that our nature can conceive of sin, and darkly hinted at far more. Unfathomable to mere mortals is the lore of fiends. Verse after verse was sung; and still the chorus of the desert swelled between like the deepest tone of a mighty organ; and with the final peal of that dreadful anthem there came a sound, as if the roaring wind, the rushing streams, the howling beasts, and every other voice of the unconcerted wilderness were mingling and according with the voice of guilty man in homage to the prince of all. The four blazing pines threw up a loftier flame, and obscurely discovered shapes and visages of horror on the smoke wreaths above the impious assembly. At the same moment the fire on the rock shot redly forth and formed a flowing arch above its base, where now appeared a figure. With reverence be it spoken, the figure bore no slight similitude, both in garb and manner, to some grave divine of the New England churches.
“把皈依者带出来!”一个声音回荡在田野里,传进森林。
“Bring forth the converts!” cried a voice that echoed through the field and rolled into the forest.
听到这句话,布朗先生从树荫下走出来,走向会众。他内心邪恶的一面使他感到与会众之间有一种令人厌恶的兄弟情谊。他几乎可以发誓,他已故父亲的身影在烟雾中低头,示意他走上前去。与此同时,一个面带绝望神情的女人伸出手警告他后退。那是他的母亲吗?但是,当牧师和善良的老执事古金抓住他的手臂,把他带到燃烧的岩石上时,他无力后退一步,甚至无法反抗。一个戴着面纱的女子的身影也走了过来,她被古迪·克洛伊斯——那位虔诚的教义问答教师——和玛莎·卡里尔——牵着,后者得到了魔鬼的承诺,将成为地狱女王。她是一个猖獗的女巫。而那些改宗者就站在火焰的穹顶下。
At the word, Goodman Brown stepped forth from the shadow of the trees and approached the congregation, with whom he felt a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart. He could have well-nigh sworn that the shape of his own dead father beckoned him to advance, looking downward from a smoke wreath, while a woman, with dim features of despair, threw out her hand to warn him back. Was it his mother? But he had no power to retreat one step, nor to resist, even in thought, when the minister and good old Deacon Gookin seized his arms and led him to the blazing rock. Thither came also the slender form of a veiled female, led between Goody Cloyse, that pious teacher of the catechism, and Martha Carrier, who had received the devil’s promise to be queen of hell. A rampant hag was she. And there stood the proselytes beneath the canopy of fire.
“欢迎你们,我的孩子们,”黑影说道,“加入你们种族的交流。你们在年轻时就发现了你们的天性和命运。我的孩子们,回头看看吧!”
“Welcome, my children,” said the dark figure, “to the communion of your race. Ye have found thus young your nature and your destiny. My children, look behind you!”
他们转过身来;然后,他们看见了那些恶魔崇拜者,仿佛在一片火焰中闪现;每一张脸上都闪耀着欢迎的微笑。
They turned; and flashing forth, as it were, in a sheet of flame, the fiend worshippers were seen; the smile of welcome gleamed darkly on every visage.
“那里,”那黑色身影继续说道,“都是你们从小就崇敬的人。你们认为他们比你们神圣,逃避自己的罪孽,拿他们正直的生活和虔诚向上的祈祷做对比。然而,他们都在我的礼拜会上。今晚,你们将获准了解他们的秘密行为:教堂里长着白胡子的长老们如何对家里的年轻女仆低声说着淫秽的话;有多少妇女渴望穿上寡妇的丧服,在睡前给丈夫喝饮料,让他在她怀里睡到天亮;没有胡子的年轻人如何急于继承父亲的财富;美丽的少女——不要脸红,可爱的姑娘们——如何在花园里挖好小坟墓,邀请我这个唯一的客人参加一个婴儿的葬礼。你们人类之心对罪恶的同情,你们将嗅出所有发生过犯罪的地方——无论是教堂、卧室、街道、田野还是森林,你们将欣喜地看到整个地球上只有一处罪恶的污点,一处巨大的血迹。远不止这些。你们将洞察每个人内心深处的罪恶之谜,所有邪恶手段的源泉,它无穷无尽地提供着比人类力量——比我最大的力量——所能表现出来的邪恶冲动还要多。现在,我的孩子们,互相看看吧。”
“There,” resumed the sable form, “are all whom ye have reverenced from youth. Ye deemed them holier than yourselves and shrank from your own sin, contrasting it with their lives of righteousness and prayerful aspirations heavenward. Yet here are they all in my worshipping assembly. This night it shall be granted you to know their secret deeds: how hoary-bearded elders of the church have whispered wanton words to the young maids of their households; how many a woman, eager for widows’ weeds, has given her husband a drink at bedtime and let him sleep his last sleep in her bosom; how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their fathers’ wealth; and how fair damsels — blush not, sweet ones — have dug little graves in the garden, and bidden me, the sole guest, to an infant’s funeral. By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places — whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest — where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot. Far more than this. It shall be yours to penetrate, in every bosom, the deep mystery of sin, the fountain of all wicked arts, and which inexhaustibly supplies more evil impulses than human power — than my power at its utmost — can make manifest in deeds. And now, my children, look upon each other.”
他们照做了。借着地狱火炬的光芒,这个可怜的男人看见了他的费思,而他的妻子和丈夫,都在那座不洁的祭坛前颤抖。
They did so; and, by the blaze of the hell-kindled torches, the wretched man beheld his Faith, and the wife her husband, trembling before that unhallowed altar.
“瞧,你们就站在这里,我的孩子们,”那身影用一种深沉而庄严的声音说道,绝望的可怕令他几乎感到悲伤,仿佛他曾经天使般的天性还能为我们这个悲惨的种族哀悼。“你们彼此依靠,仍然希望美德并非全是一场梦。现在你们醒悟了。邪恶是人类的本性。邪恶一定是你们唯一的幸福。欢迎再次加入你们种族的交流,我的孩子们。”
“Lo, there ye stand, my children,” said the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelic nature could yet mourn for our miserable race. “Depending upon one another’s hearts, ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream. Now are ye undeceived. Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race.”
“欢迎光临,”恶魔崇拜者们用绝望和胜利的呼喊重复道。
“Welcome,” repeated the fiend worshippers, in one cry of despair and triumph.
他们就站在那里,似乎是这个黑暗世界里唯一一对还在作恶边缘犹豫不决的夫妇。岩石中自然地刻着一个盆。盆里装的是水吗?被那刺眼的光线染红了吗?还是血?或许是液体火焰?邪恶的形态就在这里伸手,准备在他们的额头上打下洗礼的印记,让他们成为罪恶之谜的参与者,比他们自己更清楚别人在行为和思想上犯下的秘密罪行。丈夫看了一眼脸色苍白的妻子,费丝看了一眼他。下一眼,他们俩会变成多么肮脏的恶人,他们所揭露的和所看到的都让他们不寒而栗!
And there they stood, the only pair, as it seemed, who were yet hesitating on the verge of wickedness in this dark world. A basin was hallowed, naturally, in the rock. Did it contain water, reddened by the lurid light? or was it blood? or, perchance, a liquid flame? Herein did the shape of evil dip his hand and prepare to lay the mark of baptism upon their foreheads, that they might be partakers of the mystery of sin, more conscious of the secret guilt of others, both in deed and thought, than they could now be of their own. The husband cast one look at his pale wife, and Faith at him. What polluted wretches would the next glance show them to each other, shuddering alike at what they disclosed and what they saw!
“费丝!费丝!”丈夫喊道,“仰望天堂,抵抗邪恶。”
“Faith! Faith!” cried the husband, “look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one.”
他不知道费思是否听从了。话音刚落,他就发现自己置身于寂静的夜晚和孤独之中,听着风声穿过森林渐渐消逝。他摇摇晃晃地靠在岩石上,感觉它又冷又潮湿;一根垂下来的树枝,原本完全着火了,却将最冷的露水洒在他的脸颊上。
Whether Faith obeyed he knew not. Hardly had he spoken when he found himself amid calm night and solitude, listening to a roar of the wind which died heavily away through the forest. He staggered against the rock, and felt it chill and damp; while a hanging twig, that had been all on fire, besprinkled his cheek with the coldest dew.
第二天早上,年轻的古德曼·布朗慢慢地来到塞勒姆村的街道上,茫然地环顾四周。这位善良的老牧师正沿着墓地散步,想吃早餐并思考他的布道,他经过古德曼·布朗时,为他祝福。他躲开了这位可敬的圣人,仿佛要避开诅咒。老执事古金正在做家庭礼拜,他祈祷的神圣话语从敞开的窗户传了进来。“巫师向什么神祈祷?”古德曼·布朗说道。古迪·克洛伊斯,这位优秀的老基督徒,站在清晨的阳光下,对一个给她送来一品脱早晨牛奶的小女孩进行教义问答。古德曼·布朗把孩子从魔鬼的手中抢了过来。在礼拜堂拐角处,他看见费丝的头上系着粉红色缎带,焦急地向前望着,一见到他,她便欣喜若狂,沿着街道蹦蹦跳跳地走过去,差点当着全村人的面亲吻她的丈夫。但古德曼·布朗严厉而悲伤地看着她的脸,没有打招呼就走了过去。
The next morning young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street of Salem village, staring around him like a bewildered man. The good old minister was taking a walk along the graveyard to get an appetite for breakfast and meditate his sermon, and bestowed a blessing, as he passed, on Goodman Brown. He shrank from the venerable saint as if to avoid an anathema. Old Deacon Gookin was at domestic worship, and the holy words of his prayer were heard through the open window. “What God doth the wizard pray to?” quoth Goodman Brown. Goody Cloyse, that excellent old Christian, stood in the early sunshine at her own lattice, catechizing a little girl who had brought her a pint of morning’s milk. Goodman Brown snatched away the child as from the grasp of the fiend himself. Turning the corner by the meeting-house, he spied the head of Faith, with the pink ribbons, gazing anxiously forth, and bursting into such joy at sight of him that she skipped along the street and almost kissed her husband before the whole village. But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting.
古德曼·布朗是否在森林里睡着了,并且做了一个关于女巫聚会的狂梦?
Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting?
如果你愿意的话,那就这样吧;但是,唉!对于年轻的古德曼布朗来说,这是一个不祥之兆的梦。从那个可怕的梦的那个晚上起,他变成了一个严肃、悲伤、阴暗、沉思、多疑、甚至绝望的人。安息日,当会众正在唱圣歌时,他无法倾听,因为罪恶的赞歌大声冲进他的耳朵,淹没了所有神圣的曲调。当牧师在讲台上,手放在打开的《圣经》上,充满力量和热情的口才,讲述我们宗教的神圣真理,圣人般的生活和胜利的死亡,以及未来无法言喻的幸福或痛苦时,古德曼布朗就会脸色苍白,唯恐屋顶会轰然倒塌,砸中这个灰色的亵渎者和他的听众。他常常在半夜突然醒来,从信仰的怀抱中退缩;早晨或傍晚,当家人跪下祈祷时,他皱着眉头,喃喃自语,严厉地看着他的妻子,然后转过身去。当他长寿后,一具白发苍苍的尸体被抬进坟墓,后面跟着费思,一个老妇人,还有孩子和孙子,一个盛大的队伍,还有不少邻居,他们没有在他的墓碑上刻下充满希望的诗句,因为他临终的时刻是阴郁的。
Be it so if you will; but, alas! it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream. On the Sabbath day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and fervid eloquence, and, with his hand on the open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers. Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom.
[1835年]
[1835]
a菲利普国王:万帕诺亚格人的一位酋长,向新英格兰殖民者发动了战争(1675 年至 1676 年)。
aKing Philip: A Wampanoag chief, waged war against the New England colonists (1675–1676).
b欧芹、委陵菜和狼毒:这三种植物有时与巫术有关。欧芹指欧芹和芹菜的变种;委陵菜指复叶植物,每片复叶有五片小叶;狼毒指叶子呈暗绿色且叶色发黄的植物,有时被称为冬小麦或乌头。
bSmallage, cinquefoil, and wolf’s bane: Three plants sometimes associated with witchcraft. Smallage refers to varieties of parsley and celery; cinquefoil to plants with compound leaves, each having five leaflets; wolf’s bane to plants with dull green leaves and yellow foliage, sometimes called winter wheat or aconite.
(1809–1849)
[1809–1849]
福图纳托对我的千百次伤害,我已尽我所能地忍受;但当他胆敢侮辱我时,我发誓要报仇。然而,你非常了解我的性格,不会认为我发出了威胁。我最终会报仇的;这一点已经明确了——但正是这种明确的决心让我不敢冒险。我不仅要惩罚,而且要惩罚得肆无忌惮。当报应降临到报应者身上时,错误就得不到纠正。同样,当报应者未能让犯错者感受到自己的痛苦时,错误也得不到纠正。
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled — but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
必须明白,我无论用言语还是行动都没有让福图纳托怀疑我的善意。我继续像往常一样对他微笑,而他没有意识到我现在的微笑是因为想到了他的牺牲。
It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.
福图纳托虽然在其他方面值得尊敬甚至令人畏惧,但他也有弱点。他以自己对葡萄酒的鉴赏能力而自豪。很少有意大利人拥有真正的鉴赏家精神。他们的热情大多是为了迎合时间和机会——欺骗英国和奥地利的百万富翁。在绘画和宝石方面,福图纳托和他的同胞一样是个江湖郎中——但在陈年葡萄酒方面,他是真诚的。在这方面,我和他并没有实质性的不同:我自己对意大利葡萄酒很在行,只要有机会就会大量购买。
He had a weak point — this Fortunato — although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity — to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack — but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially: I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
那是狂欢节最疯狂的一个晚上,黄昏时分,我遇见了我的朋友。他热情地向我打招呼,因为他喝了很多酒。他穿着杂色衣服。他穿着一件紧身的条纹连衣裙,头上戴着圆锥形的帽子和铃铛。我很高兴见到他,我想我永远都不会停止握住他的手。
It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.
我对他说:“亲爱的福图纳托,你很幸运。你今天看上去真是太好了!但我收到了一管被认为是阿蒙蒂拉多酒的东西,我对此表示怀疑。”
I said to him: “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipea of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.”
“怎么可能?”他说,“阿蒙蒂拉多酒?烟斗?不可能!而且是在狂欢节期间!”
“How?” said he. “Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!”
“我对此表示怀疑,”我回答道,“我太愚蠢了,竟然没有和你商量就全额付了阿蒙蒂拉多酒的价格。当时找不到你,我担心会失去这笔交易。”
“I have my doubts,” I replied; “and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain.”
“阿蒙蒂拉多!”
“Amontillado!”
“我对此表示怀疑。”
“I have my doubts.”
“阿蒙蒂拉多!”
“Amontillado!”
“我必须让他们满意。”
“And I must satisfy them.”
“阿蒙蒂拉多!”
“Amontillado!”
“既然你订了婚,我就去卢凯西了。如果说有谁有挑剔的毛病,那一定是他。他会告诉我——”
“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me ——”
“卢切西 (Luchesi) 无法区分阿蒙蒂拉多 (Amontillado) 和雪利酒 (Sherry)。”
“Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”
“但有些傻瓜会认为他的品味和你一样。”
“And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.”
“来吧,我们走吧。”
“Come, let us go.”
“去哪儿?”
“Whither?”
“去你的金库。”
“To your vaults.”
“我的朋友,不,我不会破坏你的好意。我看你有一个约会。卢切西——”
“My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi ——”
“我没有约会;——来吧。”
“I have no engagement; — come.”
“我的朋友,不。我看你不是因为订婚,而是患上了严重的感冒。地下室潮湿得让人受不了。上面覆盖着硝石。” b
“My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.”b
“不管怎样,我们还是走吧。寒冷算不了什么。阿蒙蒂拉多酒!你被骗了。至于卢切西,他分不清雪利酒和阿蒙蒂拉多酒。”
“Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado.”
福尔图纳托说着抓住了我的胳膊。我戴上黑色丝绸面具,将一件C型长袍紧紧裹在身上,让他赶紧带我回我的宫殿。
Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelairec closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.
家里没有侍从,他们都跑去寻欢作乐了。我告诉他们我早上才回来,并明确命令他们不要离开家。我很清楚,这些命令足以确保我一转身,他们就会立即消失。
There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.
我从烛台上取下两根火炬,把其中一根递给福图纳托,鞠躬送他穿过几间房间,来到通往地下室的拱门。我走下一段又长又弯的楼梯,请他小心谨慎地跟上。我们终于走到了楼梯的底部,一起站在蒙特雷索尔家族地下墓穴潮湿的地面上。
I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.
我的朋友步履蹒跚,随着步伐,帽子上的铃铛叮当作响。
The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.
“烟斗?”他问道。
“The pipe?” said he.
“还在前面,”我说道,“不过请注意看这些洞壁上闪烁着的白色网状结构。”
“It is farther on,” said I; “but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls.”
他转过身来,用那双透着醉意的薄雾般的眼眸看着我。
He turned toward me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.
“硝石?”他终于问道。
“Nitre?” he asked, at length.
“硝石,”我回答道。“你咳嗽多久了?”
“Nitre,” I replied. “How long have you had that cough?”
“呃!呃!呃!——呃!呃!呃!——呃!呃!呃!——呃!呃!呃!——呃!呃!呃!——呃!呃!呃!”
“Ugh! ugh! ugh! — ugh! ugh! ugh! — ugh! ugh! ugh! — ugh! ugh! ugh! — ugh! ugh! ugh!”
我可怜的朋友好几分钟都无法回复。
My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.
“没什么,”他最后说道。
“It is nothing,” he said, at last.
“来吧,”我果断地说,“我们回去吧,你的健康很重要。你很富有,受人尊敬,受人爱戴,你很幸福,就像我曾经那样。你是一个值得怀念的人。对我来说这没什么。我们回去吧,你会生病,我不能负责。此外,还有卢切西——”
“Come,” I said, with decision, “we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi —”
“够了,”他说,“咳嗽不算什么,它不会要了我的命。我不会死于咳嗽。”
“Enough,” he said; “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.”
“没错——没错,”我回答道,“我其实并不想不必要地惊吓你,但你应该采取适当的预防措施。喝一口这种梅多克酒可以让我们免受潮湿。”
“True — true,” I replied; “and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily; but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.”
这时,我敲掉了一个瓶颈,然后从模具上的一长排瓶子中抽出了它。
Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.
“喝吧,”我说道,并把酒递给他。
“Drink,” I said, presenting him the wine.
他斜眼看去,把铃铛举到唇边。他停了下来,亲切地向我点头,铃铛叮当作响。
He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.
他说:“我为我们周围安葬的人们干杯。”
“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose around us.”
“祝您长命富贵。”
“And I to your long life.”
他再次抓住我的手臂,我们继续前行。
He again took my arm, and we proceeded.
他说:“这些墓穴非常大。”
“These vaults,” he said, “are extensive.”
我回答道:“蒙特雷索家族是个大家族,人口众多。”
“The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous family.”
“我忘记你的手臂了。”
“I forget your arms.”
“一只巨大的人脚,出现在蔚蓝色的田野中;这只脚踩碎了一条猖獗的蛇,蛇的毒牙嵌在它的脚后跟上。”
“A huge human foot d’or,d in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.”
“那座右铭呢?”
“And the motto?”
“尼莫,我不受惩罚。” e
“Nemo me impune lacessit.”e
“好!”他说。
“Good!” he said.
酒在他的眼中闪闪发光,铃铛叮当作响。梅多克酒让我的幻想也变得热烈起来。我们穿过了堆满骨头的墙壁,酒桶和大桶混杂在地下墓穴的最深处。我再次停下来,这次我大胆地抓住了福图纳托的胳膊肘。
The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.
“硝石!”我说,“你看,它越来越大了。它像苔藓一样挂在穹顶上。我们在河床下面。水滴在骨头间滴落。来吧,我们赶快回去,不然就太迟了。你的咳嗽——”
“The nitre!” I said; “see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river’s bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough ——”
“没什么,”他说,“我们继续吧。不过先喝一口梅多克葡萄酒。”
“It is nothing,” he said; “let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc.”
我打开一瓶德格拉夫酒递给他。他一口气喝光了。他的眼睛里闪烁着凶光。他大笑着,用我听不懂的手势把酒瓶往上扔。
I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grâve. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upward with a gesticulation I did not understand.
我惊讶地看着他。他又做了一次那个动作——一个怪诞的动作。
I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement — a grotesque one.
“你不明白吗?”他说。
“You do not comprehend?” he said.
我回答道:“我不会。”
“Not I,” I replied.
“那么你就不属于兄弟会了。”
“Then you are not of the brotherhood.”
“如何?”
“How?”
“你不是共济会的成员。”
“You are not of the masons.”
“是的,是的,”我说,“是的,是的。”
“Yes, yes,” I said; “yes, yes.”
“你?不可能!泥瓦匠?”
“You? Impossible! A mason?”
“石匠。”我回答道。
“A mason,” I replied.
“一个迹象,”他说。
“A sign,” he said.
“就是这个,”我回答道,从我的roquelaire褶皱下拿出一把泥刀。
“It is this,” I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire.
“你开玩笑,”他惊呼道,往后退了几步。“但我们还是去喝阿蒙蒂拉多吧。”
“You jest,” he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. “But let us proceed to the Amontillado.”
“就这样吧,”我说着,把工具放回斗篷下面,再次伸出胳膊给他。他沉重地靠在胳膊上。我们继续寻找阿蒙蒂拉多酒。我们穿过一排低矮的拱门,往下走,再往前走,再往下走,来到一个很深的墓穴,里面的空气很污浊,我们的火炬与其说是燃烧着,不如说是发光着。
“Be it so,” I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
在墓穴的最远端,似乎还有另一个不那么宽敞的墓穴。墓穴的墙壁上排列着人类遗骸,一直堆到头顶的拱顶,就像巴黎的大型地下墓穴一样。这个内部墓穴的三面仍然以这种方式装饰。从第四面开始,骨头被推倒了,杂乱地躺在地上,在某一处形成了一个相当大的土堆。在骨头移开后露出的墙壁内,我们看到了一个静止的内部凹处,深约四英尺,宽三英尺,高六七英尺。它似乎本身没有特别的用途,只是构成了墓穴屋顶两个巨大支撑之间的间隙,背后是一堵坚固的花岗岩围墙。
At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.
福尔图纳托举起昏暗的手电筒,试图窥探凹陷的深度,但徒劳无功。微弱的光线使我们无法看到凹陷的尽头。
It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavored to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see.
“继续,”我说,“这是阿蒙蒂拉多酒。至于卢切西——”
“Proceed,” I said; “herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchesi ——”
“他是个无知的人,”我的朋友打断道,他摇摇晃晃地向前走去,我紧随其后。一瞬间,他已经走到了壁龛的尽头,发现他的前进被岩石阻止了,傻乎乎地站在那里,不知所措。一会儿,我把他铐在了花岗岩上。花岗岩表面有两个铁钉,彼此相距约两英尺,水平排列。其中一个挂着一条短链,另一个挂着一把挂锁。把链子绕在他的腰上,几秒钟就把链子锁上了。他太震惊了,无法抗拒。我抽出钥匙,从凹处退了回去。
“He is an ignoramus,” interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess.
“把手伸过墙去,”我说,“你肯定会感觉到硝石的。确实很潮湿。我再一次恳求你回来。不?那我就得离开你了。但我必须先尽我所能地照顾你。”
“Pass your hand,” I said, “over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.”
“阿蒙蒂拉多酒!”我的朋友惊呼道,他还没有从惊讶中回过神来。
“The Amontillado!” ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment.
“没错,”我回答道,“阿蒙蒂拉多酒。”
“True,” I replied; “the Amontillado.”
我一边说着,一边忙着清理我之前提到的那堆骨头。把它们扔到一边,很快就发现了一些建筑石料和灰泥。有了这些材料和泥刀,我开始用力地堵住壁龛的入口。
As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.
我刚砌好第一层砖石,就发现福图纳托的醉意已经大为消退。最早的迹象是凹陷深处传来的低沉的呻吟声。那不是醉汉的叫喊声。然后是长时间的顽固沉默。我砌了第二层、第三层、第四层,然后我听到了链条剧烈的震动声。噪音持续了几分钟,在此期间,为了更满意地倾听它的声音,我停止了工作,坐在骨头上。当叮当声终于平息时,我重新拿起泥刀,一气呵成地完成了第五层、第六层和第七层。现在墙几乎与我的胸口齐平。我再次停下来,把火炬举到砖石上方,将几束微弱的光线投射到里面的雕像上。
I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the masonwork, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within.
一连串尖锐的尖叫声突然从被锁链束缚的身影喉咙中爆发出来,似乎猛烈地向后推去。有那么一瞬间,我犹豫了——我颤抖了。我拔出剑,开始在凹处摸索;但想到一瞬间,我又恢复了信心。我把手放在地下墓穴的坚固结构上,感到很满意。我重新走近墙壁。我回应了那个吵闹的人的叫喊。我回应——我帮助——我在音量和力量上超越了他们。我这样做了,吵闹的人安静下来了。
A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated — I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall. I replied to the yells of him who clamored. I reechoed — I aided — I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamorer grew still.
现在是午夜,我的任务即将结束。我已经完成了第八、第九和第十层。最后一层和第十一层也完成了一部分;只剩下一块石头需要安装和抹灰。我努力承受着它的重量;我把它部分地放到了预定的位置。但是这时从壁龛里传来一声低沉的笑声,让我的头发都竖了起来。接着是一个悲伤的声音,我很难辨认出那是高贵的福图纳托的声音。那声音说——
It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said —
“哈!哈!哈!——呵!呵!——真是个绝妙的笑话——绝妙的玩笑。我们会在宫殿里边喝酒边开怀大笑——呵!呵!呵!”
“Ha! ha! ha! — he! he! — a very good joke indeed — an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo — he! he! he! — over our wine — he! he! he!”
“阿蒙蒂拉多!”我说。
“The Amontillado!” I said.
“嘿!嘿!嘿!——嘿!嘿!嘿!——是的,阿蒙蒂拉多酒。但是现在还不晚吗?福图纳托夫人和其他人不是在宫殿里等我们吗?我们走吧。”
“He! he! he! — he! he! he! — yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone.”
“是的,”我说,“我们走吧。”
“Yes,” I said, “let us be gone.”
“看在上帝的份上,蒙特雷索!”
“For the love of God, Montresor!”
“是的,”我说道,“看在上帝的份上!”
“Yes,” I said, “for the love of God!”
但我听了这些话,却徒劳无功。我变得不耐烦了。我大声喊道:
But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud:
“福尔图纳托!”
“Fortunato!”
没有回应。我又叫了一声:
No answer. I called again:
“福尔图纳托!”
“Fortunato!”
仍然没有回应,我把火把从剩下的洞里伸进去,让它掉进去。回应的只有叮当响的铃铛声。我的心感到难受——因为地下墓穴太潮湿了。我赶紧结束我的劳动。我把最后一块石头推回原位;我把它抹上了灰泥。在新的砖石上,我重新竖起了古老的骨头城墙。半个世纪以来,没有凡人打扰过它们。安息吧!f
No answer still, I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick — on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my labor. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I reerected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!f
[1846年]
[1846]
烟斗:一个大桶。
aPipe: A large cask.
b硝石:硝酸钾,或硝石;十八世纪末人们认为它是空气和植物中的一种元素。
bNitre: Potassium nitrate, or saltpeter; believed at the end of the eighteenth century to be an element in air and plants.
c Roquelaire:斗篷。
cRoquelaire: A cloak.
d D'or:黄金。
dD’or: Of gold.
e Nemo me impune lacessit:任何人伤害我都不会免受惩罚(拉丁语);苏格兰王室的座右铭。
eNemo me impune lacessit: No one wounds me with impunity (Latin); the motto of the Scottish royal arms.
f Inpace requiescat:“愿他安息”(拉丁语)。
fIn pace requiescat: “May he rest in peace” (Latin).
(1842–1914)
[1842–1914]
一名男子站在阿拉巴马州北部的一座铁路桥上,俯视着二十英尺以下湍急的水流。这名男子双手背在身后,手腕被绳子绑住。一根绳子松松地绕在他的脖子上。绳子系在他头顶上方一根结实的横木上,绳子松垂到膝盖处。支撑铁路金属的枕木上放着几块松散的木板,为他和行刑者提供了立足之地。行刑者是两名联邦军队的士兵,由一名中士指挥,中士在平民生活中可能是副警长。在同一个临时平台上不远处,有一名身穿同级制服的军官,全副武装。他是一名上尉。桥梁两端各有一名哨兵,手持步枪,保持“支撑”姿势,即垂直于左肩前方,击锤放在前臂上,前臂垂直于胸前。这是一种正式而不自然的姿势,要求身体挺直。这两个人的职责似乎并不是了解桥中心发生什么事;他们只是封锁了横跨桥梁的踏板的两端。
A man stood upon a railroad bridge in Northern Alabama, looking down into the swift waters twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope loosely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head, and the slack fell to the level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners — two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant, who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff. At a short remove upon the same temporary platform was an officer in the uniform of his rank, armed. He was a captain. A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as “support,” that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest — a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body. It did not appear to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at the centre of the bridge; they merely blockaded the two ends of the foot plank which traversed it.
除了一个哨兵,看不到任何人;铁路径直延伸到森林里,延伸一百码,然后拐弯消失不见。毫无疑问,前面还有一处哨所。溪流的另一边是空地——一个缓坡,顶部用垂直的树干围成一个栅栏,上面有步枪射击孔,只有一个炮眼,一门铜炮的炮口从炮眼中伸出,指挥着桥梁。桥梁和堡垒之间的斜坡中间是观众——一个步兵连排成一排,处于“检阅休整”状态,枪托放在地上,枪管略微向后倾斜,靠在右肩上,双手交叉放在枪托上。一名中尉站在队伍的右侧,剑尖抵在地上,左手放在右手上。除了桥中央的四个人之外,没有一个人动。连队面朝桥梁,冷漠地盯着,一动不动。哨兵面向河岸,仿佛是装饰桥梁的雕像。船长双臂交叉站着,沉默不语,观察着下属的工作,但没有做出任何表示。死神是一位尊贵的人物,当他到来时,即使是最熟悉他的人,也要以正式的尊重来迎接他。在军事礼仪中,沉默和坚定是尊重的表现形式。
Beyond one of the sentinels nobody was in sight; the railroad ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards, then, curving, was lost to view. Doubtless there was an outpost further along. The other bank of the stream was open ground — a gentle acclivity crowned with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loop-holed for rifles, with a single embrasure through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon commanding the bridge. Midway of the slope between bridge and fort were the spectators — a single company of infantry in line, at “parade rest,” the butts of the rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock. A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Excepting the group of four at the centre of the bridge not a man moved. The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless. The sentinels, facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge. The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates but making no sign. Death is a dignitary who, when he comes announced, is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.
被绞死的男子看上去大约三十五岁。从他穿着种植园主的衣服来看,他是个平民。他相貌英俊——鼻梁挺直,嘴巴坚毅,额头宽阔,长长的黑发从额头向后梳,垂在耳后,一直垂到合身的礼服领子上。他留着小胡子和尖胡子,但没有络腮胡;他的眼睛很大,是深灰色的,脸上带着一种和蔼的表情,这在脖子上缠着麻绳的人身上很难想象。显然,这不是一个粗俗的刺客。自由的军事法规规定可以绞死各种各样的人,绅士也不例外。
The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his dress, which was that of a planter. His features were good — a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitted frock coat. He wore a moustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark grey and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp. Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of people, and gentlemen are not excluded.
准备工作完成后,两名士兵退到一边,各自拉开自己站着的木板。中士转身向上尉敬礼,然后站在上尉身后,上尉也退后一步。这两个动作让死刑犯和中士分别站在一块木板的两端,这块木板横跨桥梁的三根横木。平民站着的那一端几乎(但还差一点)到达了第四根横木。这块木板原本靠上尉的体重固定住,现在由中士来支撑。中士一发出信号,中士就会退到一边,木板就会倾斜,死刑犯就会倒在两根横木之间。他认为这个安排简单有效。他的脸没有被蒙住,眼睛也没有被包扎。他看了一会儿自己“不稳的脚步”,然后把目光转向脚下湍急的溪水。一块飘动的浮木吸引了他的注意,他的目光顺着水流向下游。它看起来移动得多么缓慢啊!真是缓慢的溪流啊!
The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth. This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former, the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties. The arrangement commended itself to his judgment as simple and effective. His face had not been covered nor his eyes bandaged. He looked a moment at his “unsteadfast footing,” then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!
他闭上眼睛,把最后的思念集中在妻儿身上。被朝阳染成金黄色的河水、下游不远处河岸下弥漫的薄雾、堡垒、士兵、那块浮木 —— 所有这些都分散了他的注意力。现在他意识到一种新的干扰。一种他无法忽视或理解的声音打断了他对亲人的思念,那是一种尖锐、清晰、金属般的敲击声,就像铁匠的锤子敲击铁砧的声音;它有同样的清脆感。他想知道那是什么,是远在天涯还是近在咫尺 —— 似乎两者兼而有之。它有规律地重复出现,但像丧钟一样缓慢。他焦急地等待着每一次敲击,而且 —— 他不知道为什么 —— 心里充满了忧虑。沉默的间隔越来越长;拖延变得令人发狂。随着声音越来越少,它们的强度和尖锐程度也越来越大。它们像刀子刺入一样刺痛他的耳朵;他害怕自己会尖叫起来。他听到的是手表的滴答声。
He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of driftwood — all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith’s hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by — it seemed both. Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell. He awaited each stroke with impatience and — he knew not why — apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer; the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.
他睁开眼睛,再次看到身下的水。“如果我能解放双手,”他想,“我就可以挣脱绳索,跳进溪流。通过潜水,我可以躲过子弹,然后奋力游到河岸,躲进树林,逃回家。感谢上帝,我的家还在他们的防线之外;我的妻子和孩子们仍然在侵略者最远的进攻范围之外。”
He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. “If I could free my hands,” he thought, “I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets, and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods, and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader’s farthest advance.”
这些想法,在这里要用文字记录下来,它们不是从这个注定要死的人的脑子里产生的,而是闪现在他脑子里的,上尉向军士点了点头。军士让开了一边。
As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it, the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.
佩顿·法夸尔是阿拉巴马州一个古老而受人尊敬的家族的富裕种植园主。他是一个奴隶主,并且像其他奴隶主一样,是一个政治家,他自然是一个原始的分裂主义者,并热心致力于南方事业。由于某种专横的因素(这里无需赘述)阻止他加入英勇的军队,该军队在科林斯陷落之前打了一场灾难性的战役,他对这种不光彩的限制感到恼火,渴望释放自己的精力,享受士兵的更广阔的生活,获得出人头地的机会。他觉得,这个机会会到来的,就像战争时期所有人一样。与此同时,他尽其所能。只要符合一个内心是军人的平民的性格,他愿意为南方提供任何卑微的援助,任何危险的冒险他都愿意承担。他真诚地、无条件地认同“爱情和战争中一切都是公平的”这一明显是邪恶的格言的至少一部分。
Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner, and, like other slave owners, a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth,a and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. That opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in war time. Meanwhile he did what he could. No service was too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war.
一天晚上,法夸尔和他的妻子正坐在庄园入口附近的一张简陋长椅上,一位身穿灰色制服的士兵骑马来到门口,向他要水喝。法夸尔夫人非常高兴地用她白皙的手给他送水。当她去取水时,她的丈夫走近这位满身灰尘的骑兵,热切地询问前线的消息。
One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a grey-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was gone to fetch the water, her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front.
“北方军正在修铁路,”那人说,“准备再次进攻。他们已经到达猫头鹰溪桥,修好了,并在对岸建起了栅栏。指挥官发布了一项命令,到处都张贴着,宣布任何扰乱铁路、桥梁、隧道或火车的平民将被立即绞死。我看到了命令。”
“The Yanks are repairing the railroads,” said the man, “and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order, and built a stockade on the other bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels, or trains, will be summarily hanged. I saw the order.”
“到猫头鹰溪大桥还有多远?”法夸尔问道。
“How far is it to the Owl Creek bridge?” Farquhar asked.
“大约三十英里。”
“About thirty miles.”
“小溪这边没有军队吗?”
“Is there no force on this side the creek?”
“距离铁路半英里的地方只有一个哨岗,桥梁这一端只有一个哨兵。”
“Only a picket post half a mile out, on the railroad, and a single sentinel at this end of the bridge.”
“假设一名男子——一名平民,同时也是绞刑的学生——能够躲过哨岗,甚至战胜哨兵,”法夸尔笑着说,“他能做什么呢?”
“Suppose a man — a civilian and student of hanging — should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel,” said Farquhar, smiling, “what could he accomplish?”
士兵想了想。“我一个月前去过那儿,”他回答道。“我发现去年冬天的洪水把大量的浮木冲到了桥这头的木墩上。现在这些浮木已经干了,会像麻屑一样燃烧。”
The soldier reflected. “I was there a month ago,” he replied. “I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow.”
女士现在送来了水,士兵喝了。他郑重地向她道谢,向她丈夫鞠躬,然后骑马离开。一个小时后,夜幕降临,他再次经过种植园,向北沿着他来的方向前进。他是一名联邦侦察兵。
The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband, and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout.
a科林斯:密西西比州科林斯战役(1862 年 10 月 3 日至 4 日)以联邦军队对同盟军队的决定性胜利而告终。
aCorinth: The Battle of Corinth, Mississippi (October 3–4, 1862) ended in a decisive victory for the Union forces over the Confederate forces.
当佩顿·法夸尔从桥上垂直坠落时,他失去了知觉,就像一个已经死去的人。他从这种状态中醒来——在他看来,这已经是很久之后的事了——喉咙被一阵剧痛压住,接着是窒息感。剧烈的剧痛似乎从他的脖子向下穿过他身体和四肢的每一根纤维。这些疼痛似乎沿着清晰的分支线闪烁,并以难以想象的快速周期跳动。它们就像脉动的火焰流,把他加热到无法忍受的温度。至于他的头部,他除了一种充盈的感觉之外什么也感觉不到——充血。这些感觉没有伴随思想。他天性中理智的部分已经被抹去;他只拥有感觉的能力,而感觉是一种折磨。他意识到了运动。他被一片发光的云雾笼罩着,而他现在只是云雾中炽热的心脏,没有任何物质实体,他像一个巨大的钟摆一样,在难以想象的摆动弧中摇摆。然后突然间,可怕的突然间,他周围的光亮随着一声巨响向上射出;他耳中传来一声可怕的咆哮,一切都变得寒冷而黑暗。思维能力恢复了;他知道绳子断了,他掉进了溪流里。没有进一步的勒死;脖子上的套索已经让他窒息,使水无法进入他的肺部。死于悬在河底——这个想法在他看来是荒谬的。他在黑暗中睁开眼睛,看到头顶上有一道光亮,但那是多么遥远,多么难以接近!他仍在下沉,因为那道光亮越来越暗,直到变成一道微光。然后,天色开始变亮,他知道自己正在向水面上升——他很不情愿地知道这一点,因为他现在非常舒服。“被吊死和淹死,”他想,“那还不算太糟;但我可不想被枪杀。不;我不要被枪杀;那不公平。”
As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge, he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. From this state he was awakened — ages later, it seemed to him — by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fibre of his body and limbs. These pains appeared to flash along well-defined lines of ramification, and to beat with an inconceivably rapid periodicity. They seemed like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature. As to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of fullness — of congestion. These sensations were unaccompanied by thought. The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment. He was conscious of motion. Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck was already suffocating him, and kept the water from his lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river — the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the blackness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface — knew it with reluctance, for he was now very comfortable. “To be hanged and drowned,” he thought, “that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair.”
他没有意识到自己在用力,但是手腕处传来的一阵剧痛提醒他,他正在试图挣脱自己的双手。他全神贯注地挣扎,就像一个懒汉观看杂耍演员的绝技一样,对结果并不感兴趣。多么辉煌的努力!——多么壮观,多么超人的力量!啊,这是一次伟大的尝试!好极了!绳子掉了;他的胳膊分开,向上飘浮,在渐亮的光线中,两边的手依稀可见。他带着新的兴趣看着他们先是一只,然后是另一只,扑向他脖子上的套索。他们把绳子扯开,凶猛地推到一边,绳子的波动就像水蛇一样。“放回去,放回去!”他觉得自己对着自己的手喊了这些话,因为套索解开后,他经历了迄今为止最可怕的剧痛。他的脖子疼得厉害;他的脑袋像着火了一样;他那一直微微跳动的心脏猛地一跳,试图从嘴里涌出来。他的整个身体都因无法忍受的痛苦而痛苦不堪!但他那不听话的手不听命令。它们用力地拍打着水面,快速地向下拍打,把他逼到了水面。他感到自己的头浮了出来;阳光刺得他睁不开眼睛;他的胸部痉挛地膨胀着,在极度痛苦中,他的肺部吞没了一股空气,他立刻尖叫着把空气呼了出来!
He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He gave the struggle his attention, as an idler might observe the feat of a juggler, without interest in the outcome. What splendid effort! — what magnificent, what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched them with a new interest as first one and then the other pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of a water-snake. “Put it back, put it back!” He thought he shouted these words to his hands, for the undoing of the noose had been succeeded by the direst pang which he had yet experienced. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire; his heart, which had been fluttering faintly, gave a great leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body was racked and wrenched with an insupportable anguish! But his disobedient hands gave no heed to the command. They beat the water vigorously with quick, downward strokes, forcing him to the surface. He felt his head emerge; his eyes were blinded by the sunlight; his chest expanded convulsively, and with a supreme and crowning agony his lungs engulfed a great draught of air, which instantly he expelled in a shriek!
他现在完全恢复了身体的感官。它们确实异常敏锐和警觉。他的身体系统在可怕的混乱中,某种东西使它们变得如此高尚和精炼,以至于它们能够记录下以前从未察觉到的事物。他感觉到脸上的涟漪,听到它们击中时发出的不同声音。他看着溪岸上的森林,看到一棵树,看到树叶和每片树叶的脉络——看到它们上面的昆虫,蝗虫,身体鲜艳的苍蝇,灰色的蜘蛛在树枝间伸展着网。他注意到一百万片草叶上所有露珠的棱镜色彩。在溪流漩涡上飞舞的蚊蚋的嗡嗡声,蜻蜓翅膀的拍打声,水蜘蛛腿的划动声,就像桨一样,它们划动着小船——所有这些都构成了可听见的音乐。一条鱼从他眼前滑过,他听见它身体劈开水面的声音。
He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf — saw the very insects upon them, the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies, the grey spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies’ wings, the strokes of the water spiders’ legs, like oars which had lifted their boat — all these made audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water.
他面朝溪流浮出水面;一瞬间,眼前的世界似乎慢慢旋转起来,他自己成了中心点,他看到了桥、堡垒、桥上的士兵、船长、中士、两名士兵,他的刽子手。他们的身影映衬在蓝天上。他们大喊大叫,打着手势,指着他;船长拔出了手枪,但没有开火;其他人手无寸铁。他们的动作怪诞可怕,身形巨大。
He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round, himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort, the soldiers upon the bridge, the captain, the sergeant, the two privates, his executioners. They were in silhouette against the blue sky. They shouted and gesticulated, pointing at him; the captain had drawn his pistol, but did not fire; the others were unarmed. Their movements were grotesque and horrible, their forms gigantic.
突然,他听到一声尖锐的枪响,有什么东西猛地落在离他头部几英寸远的水面上,水花溅到他的脸上。他听到第二声枪响,看到一名哨兵肩扛着步枪,枪口冒出一团淡淡的蓝烟。水中的人看到桥上的人的眼睛透过步枪的瞄准器盯着他的眼睛。他注意到那是一只灰色的眼睛,他记得曾经读到过灰色的眼睛最敏锐,所有著名的神枪手都有这种眼睛。然而,这一次他射偏了。
Suddenly he heard a sharp report and something struck the water smartly within a few inches of his head, spattering his face with spray. He heard a second report, and saw one of the sentinels with his rifle at his shoulder, a light cloud of blue smoke rising from the muzzle. The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a grey eye, and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.
一个反向漩涡将法夸尔卷起,使他转了半圈;他又一次望向堡垒对面河岸上的森林。他身后传来一声清脆高亢的单调歌声,穿过水面传来,声音清晰无比,穿透并压制了所有其他声音,甚至连他耳边的涟漪声都听不进去。虽然他不是士兵,但他经常去军营,知道那句刻意拖长、送气的歌声意味着什么;岸上的中尉正在参加上午的工作。这些残酷的话语多么冷酷无情——多么平静的语调,预示着并迫使士兵们保持平静——多么精确的间隔:
A counter swirl had caught Farquhar and turned him half round; he was again looking into the forest on the bank opposite the fort. The sound of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears. Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the lieutenant on shore was taking a part in the morning’s work. How coldly and pitilessly — with what an even, calm intonation, presaging and enforcing tranquility in the men — with what accurately-measured intervals fell those cruel words:
“全体人员注意……肩部武器……准备……瞄准……开火。”
“Attention, company…. Shoulder arms…. Ready…. Aim…. Fire.”
法夸尔潜入水中——尽可能深地潜入水中。水声在他耳中咆哮,就像尼亚加拉瀑布的声音,但他听到了齐射的沉闷雷声,他再次浮出水面,碰到了闪闪发光的金属碎片,这些金属碎片非常扁平,正在缓慢地向下摆动。有些金属碎片碰到了他的脸和手,然后掉下来,继续下沉。有一块金属卡在他的衣领和脖子之间;它热得让人不舒服,他把它抓了出来。
Farquhar dived — dived as deeply as he could. The water roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dulled thunder of the volley, and rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent. One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably warm, and he snatched it out.
当他浮出水面,大口喘气时,他发现自己已经在水下待了很长时间了;他明显已经游到了下游,离安全更近了。士兵们几乎已经重新装弹完毕;金属通条从枪管中拔出,在空中旋转,插入枪托,在阳光下闪闪发光。两名哨兵又各自开火,但毫无效果。
As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther down stream — nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. The two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.
被追捕的人回头看到了这一切;他现在正顺着水流奋力游动。他的大脑和他的手臂和腿一样充满活力;他的思维速度快如闪电。
The hunted man saw all this over his shoulder; he was now swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as energetic as his arms and legs; he thought with the rapidity of lightning.
“军官,”他推断道,“不会再犯严厉军官的错误了。躲避齐射和躲避单发子弹一样容易。他可能已经下令随意开火。上帝保佑,我无法躲避他们所有人!”
“The officer,” he reasoned, “will not make the martinet’s error a second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a single shot. He has probably already given the command to fire at will. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!”
在他两码之内传来一声骇人的水花声,接着是一声巨大的水流声,声音渐渐减弱,似乎穿过空气传回堡垒,最后在爆炸中消逝,激起了河水的深处!一片水流在他上方弯曲,落在他身上,让他看不见,窒息了他!大炮也参与了这场游戏。当他摇头摆脱被水击中的骚动时,他听到被弹开的炮弹在前方空中嗡嗡作响,一瞬间,它就劈啪作响,把远处森林里的树枝都打碎了。
An appalling splash within two yards of him, followed by a loud rushing sound, diminuendo, which seemed to travel back through the air to the fort and died in an explosion which stirred the very river to its deeps! A rising sheet of water, which curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! The cannon had taken a hand in the game. As he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water, he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond.
“他们不会再这么做了,”他想,“下次他们会用葡萄弹。我必须盯着枪,烟雾会通知我——报告来得太晚了,它落后于导弹。这是一把好枪。”
“They will not do that again,” he thought; “the next time they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me — the report arrives too late; it lags behind the missile. It is a good gun.”
突然,他感觉自己像陀螺一样在旋转。水、河岸、森林、远处的桥梁、堡垒和人类——一切都混杂在一起,变得模糊不清。物体只用颜色来表示;他所能看到的只有圆形的水平彩色条纹。他被卷入了一个漩涡,被旋转着向前推进,速度之快让他感到头晕目眩。不一会儿,他被抛在小溪左岸——南岸——的沙砾上,身后是一个突出的部分,可以躲避敌人的攻击。他的动作突然停止,一只手在沙砾上擦伤,这让他恢复了过来,高兴得哭了起来。他把手指插进沙子里,一把抓起沙子扔到自己身上,大声地为它祈祷。它看起来像金子、钻石、红宝石、绿宝石;他想不出有什么美丽的东西不像它。河岸上的树木是巨大的园林植物;他注意到树丛排列整齐,闻到了花香。奇异的玫瑰色光线透过树干之间的空隙照耀着他,风吹过树枝,奏出埃奥利亚竖琴的音乐。他不想彻底逃脱,他满足于留在那个迷人的地方,直到被抓回。
Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round — spinning like a top. The water, the banks, the forest, the now distant bridge, fort, and men — all were commingled and blurred. Objects were represented by their colors only; circular horizontal streaks of color — that was all he saw. He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration which made him giddy and sick. In a few moments he was flung upon the gravel at the foot of the left bank of the stream — the southern bank — and behind a projecting point which concealed him from his enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel, restored him and he wept with delight. He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like gold, like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks, and the wind made in their branches the music of æolian harps. He had no wish to perfect his escape, was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.
头顶上方树枝间一阵霰弹的嗖嗖声把他从梦中惊醒。困惑的炮手向他发出了一声随意的告别。他跳起身,冲上斜坡,冲进森林。
A whizz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. He sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest.
他整天都在旅行,根据太阳的圆缺来安排行程。森林似乎无穷无尽;他找不到任何一处空隙,甚至连一条樵夫的路都没有。他不知道自己住在如此荒凉的地方。这一启示让人觉得有些不可思议。
All that day he travelled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman’s road. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was something uncanny in the revelation.
夜幕降临时,他疲惫不堪,脚酸脚痛,饥肠辘辘。想到妻子和孩子,他又继续前行。最后,他找到了一条路,他知道这是一条正确的路。这条路像城市街道一样宽阔笔直,但似乎从未有人走过。路边没有田地,也没有人居住。甚至连狗叫声也听不到有人居住。大树的黑色树干在两边形成一道笔直的墙,在地平线上终止于一个点,就像透视课上的一张图。当他透过树林的裂缝往上看时,头顶上闪烁着巨大的金色星星,这些星星看起来很陌生,组成了奇怪的星座。他确信这些星星排列的顺序有着某种秘密而邪恶的意义。两边的树林里充满了奇怪的声音,其中——一次、两次、一次又一次——他清楚地听到了一种未知语言的低语。
By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untravelled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. The black bodies of the great trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which — once, twice, and again — he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.
他的脖子很疼,他把手伸过去,发现脖子肿得厉害。他知道脖子上被绳子勒伤的地方有一圈黑痕。他的眼睛很堵,再也闭不上眼睛了。他的舌头因为口渴而肿胀,他把舌头从牙齿间伸进凉爽的空气中,缓解了发烧。草皮多么柔软地铺在这条人迹罕至的大道上!他再也感觉不到脚下的路了!
His neck was in pain, and, lifting his hand to it, he found it horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from between his teeth into the cool air. How softly the turf had carpeted the untravelled avenue! He could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet!
毫无疑问,尽管他痛苦不堪,但他还是在行走中睡着了,因为现在他看到的是另一番景象——也许他只是从谵妄中恢复过来。他站在自己家门口。一切都和他离开时一样,在早晨的阳光下明亮而美丽。他一定旅行了一整夜。当他推开大门,走过宽阔的白色人行道时,他看到女人的衣服在飘动;他的妻子看起来清新、凉爽、甜美,从阳台上走下来迎接他。她站在台阶底部等着他,脸上带着难以言喻的喜悦微笑,举止优雅而高贵。啊,她多么美丽!他向前冲去,伸出双臂。当他正要拥抱她时,他感到脖子后面猛地一击;一道耀眼的白光在他周围闪耀,伴随着大炮轰鸣般的声音——然后一切都陷入黑暗和寂静!
Doubtless, despite his suffering, he fell asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene — perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have travelled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the verandah to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her, he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him, with a sound like the shock of a cannon — then all is darkness and silence!
佩顿·法夸尔已经死了;他的脖子被折断,尸体在猫头鹰溪桥的木桥下轻轻地左右摇摆。
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.
[1891年]
[1891]
(1851–1904)
[1851–1904]
由于知道马拉德夫人患有心脏病,所以他们尽可能小心翼翼地以温和的方式告诉她丈夫去世的消息。
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.
是她姐姐约瑟芬告诉她的,她断断续续地用含蓄的暗示告诉了她。她丈夫的朋友理查兹也在那里,就在她身边。当收到铁路灾难的消息时,他正在报社,布伦特利·马拉德的名字位列“遇难者”名单之首。他只花了一点时间通过第二封电报来确认消息的真实性,并赶紧抢在任何不那么细心、不那么温柔的朋友之前带走了这个悲伤的消息。
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed.” He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
她没有像许多女人一样听到这个故事,她无法理解其中的意义。她立刻扑在姐姐怀里,突然间,疯狂地哭了起来。当悲伤的风暴平息后,她独自回到了自己的房间。她不想让任何人跟随她。
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.
敞开的窗户对面,放着一张舒适宽敞的扶手椅。她坐了进去,身体的疲惫感萦绕在她的全身,似乎已经蔓延到她的灵魂。
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
她看见屋前空旷的广场上,树梢因春天的新生而颤动。空气中弥漫着雨水的清香。下面的街道上,一个小贩正在叫卖货物。远处有人在唱歌,歌声隐约传到她耳中,无数只麻雀在屋檐上叽叽喳喳地叫着。
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
在她窗户对面的西边,厚厚的云层之间,偶尔露出几片蓝天。
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
她坐着,头仰靠在椅垫上,一动不动,只有当她抽泣起来时,她才会颤抖,就像一个哭着睡着的孩子在梦中继续抽泣一样。
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who had cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.
她很年轻,面容清秀、平静,脸上的线条透露出一种压抑,甚至还透露出某种力量。但现在她的眼睛里却有一种呆滞的凝视,目光凝视着远处的一片蓝天。那不是沉思的目光,而是表明她暂时停止了理智的思考。
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.
有什么东西正在向她袭来,她正恐惧地等待着。那是什么?她不知道;它太微妙、太难以捉摸,无法说出。但她感觉到它从天空中爬出来,通过空气中的声音、气味和色彩向她靠近。
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.
现在她的胸部剧烈起伏。她开始意识到这个正在向她靠近并想要占据她的东西,她努力用自己的意志将它击退——尽管她的两只白皙纤细的手无能为力。
Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will — as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.
当她放纵自己时,她微张的双唇中悄悄吐出了几个字。她一遍又一遍地低声念道:“自由,自由,自由!”她眼中空洞的目光和恐惧的神情消失了。她的眼睛依然敏锐而明亮。她的脉搏跳动得很快,奔腾的血液温暖着她身体的每一寸,让她感到放松。
When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.
她没有停下来问自己是不是被一种巨大的喜悦所笼罩。清晰而崇高的认知使她认为这个建议微不足道。
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
她知道,当她看到那双温柔的双手在死亡中合拢时,她会再次哭泣;那张从未用爱意注视过她的脸,僵硬、灰暗、死寂。但她看到,在那痛苦的时刻之后,未来漫长的岁月将完全属于她。她张开双臂迎接他们。
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
在未来的岁月里,没有人会为她而活,她会为自己而活。没有强大的意志会让她盲目地坚持自己的意志,而男人和女人都认为他们有权将个人意志强加给同胞。在她那短暂的顿悟时刻,无论出于善意还是恶意,这种行为都同样被视为罪行。
There would be no one to live for her during those coming years: she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
然而她曾经爱过他——有时。但通常她并不爱他。那又有什么关系呢!她突然意识到,在这种自我肯定的占有欲面前,爱情这个未解之谜算什么呢?这种自我肯定是她生命中最强烈的冲动!
And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
“自由!身体和灵魂都自由了!”她不停地低声说。
“Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.
约瑟芬跪在关着的门前,嘴唇贴在钥匙孔上,恳求她进来。“路易丝,开门!我求求你,开门吧——你会生病的。你在干什么,路易丝?看在上帝的份上,开门吧。”
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door — you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”
“走开。我不会让自己生病的。”不;她正透过那扇敞开的窗户,享受生命的灵丹妙药。
“Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.
她幻想着未来的日子。春天、夏天,还有她自己的各种日子。她轻轻地祈祷,希望生命能够长久。就在昨天,她还战栗地想到,生命能够长久。
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
她终于站起来,在姐姐的恳求下开了门。她眼中闪烁着狂热的胜利之光,不知不觉地像个胜利女神。她搂着姐姐的腰,一起走下楼梯。理查兹站在楼下等着她们。
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister’s importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister’s waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.
有人用钥匙打开前门。进来的是布伦特利·马拉德,他有点风尘仆仆,镇定自若地背着旅行包和雨伞。他离事故现场很远,甚至不知道那里发生了事故。他惊讶地站在那里,听着约瑟芬的尖叫声,听着理查兹迅速地挡住他,不让妻子看到他。
Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his gripsack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.
但理查兹来得太晚了。
But Richards was too late.
医生赶来时,他们说她死于心脏病——死于致命的喜悦。
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease — of joy that kills.
[1894年]
[1894]
(1860–1904)
[1860–1904]
康斯坦斯·加内特译,1899 年
TRANSLATED BY CONSTANCE GARNETT, 1899
据说海滨出现了一位新人:一位女士带着一条小狗。德米特里·德米特里奇·古罗夫当时已经在雅尔塔呆了两个星期,对那里的生活相当熟悉,他开始对新来的人感兴趣。他坐在韦尔内的帐篷里,看见一位中等身材、戴着贝雷帽的金发年轻女子在海滨散步;一条白色的博美犬在她身后跑着。
It was said that a new person had appeared on the sea-front: a lady with a little dog. Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov, who had by then been a fortnight at Yalta, and so was fairly at home there, had begun to take an interest in new arrivals. Sitting in Verney’s pavilion, he saw, walking on the sea-front, a fair-haired young lady of medium height, wearing a béret; a white Pomeranian dog was running behind her.
后来,他每天都会在公园和广场上遇见她好几次。她总是独自一人散步,总是戴着同一顶贝雷帽,总是带着同一只白狗;没有人知道她是谁,大家都叫她“带狗的女士”。
And afterwards he met her in the public gardens and in the square several times a day. She was walking alone, always wearing the same béret, and always with the same white dog; no one knew who she was, and every one called her simply “the lady with the dog.”
“如果她独自一人来到这里,没有丈夫或朋友,那么认识她也无妨,”古罗夫想道。
“If she is here alone without a husband or friends, it wouldn’t be amiss to make her acquaintance,” Gurov reflected.
他不到四十岁,但有一个十二岁的女儿,还有两个在校的儿子。他很早就结婚了,当时他还是一名二年级的学生,现在他的妻子看起来比他大一倍。她是一个身材高挑、挺拔的女人,长着一双黑眉毛,稳重而有尊严,而且,正如她自己所说,她是一个知识分子。她读了很多书,使用拼音拼写,称呼她的丈夫不是德米特里,而是德米特里,他暗自认为她不聪明、狭隘、粗俗,怕她,不喜欢待在家里。他很久以前就开始对她不忠——经常对她不忠,可能就是因为这个原因,他几乎总是说女人的坏话,当着他的面谈论她们时,他习惯称她们为“下等人”。
He was under forty, but he had a daughter already twelve years old, and two sons at school. He had been married young, when he was a student in his second year, and by now his wife seemed half as old again as he. She was a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, staid and dignified, and, as she said of herself, intellectual. She read a great deal, used phonetic spelling, called her husband, not Dmitri, but Dimitri, and he secretly considered her unintelligent, narrow, inelegant, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home. He had begun being unfaithful to her long ago — had been unfaithful to her often, and, probably on that account, almost always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked about in his presence, used to call them “the lower race.”
他觉得自己受过如此痛苦的教育,以至于他可以随心所欲地称呼她们,然而,如果没有“下等人”,他就过不了两天。在男人的社会里,他感到无聊,不像自己,和他们在一起时,他冷漠而沉默寡言;但是当他和女人在一起时,他感到自由,知道该对她们说什么,该如何表现;即使他沉默不语,他和她们在一起也很自在。在他的外表、性格和整个天性中,有一种吸引女人、难以捉摸的魅力,让她们对他产生好感;他知道这一点,似乎也有某种力量把他吸引到她们身边。
It seemed to him that he had been so schooled by bitter experience that he might call them what he liked, and yet he could not get on for two days together without “the lower race.” In the society of men he was bored and not himself, with them he was cold and uncommunicative; but when he was in the company of women he felt free, and knew what to say to them and how to behave; and he was at ease with them even when he was silent. In his appearance, in his character, in his whole nature, there was something attractive and elusive which allured women and disposed them in his favour; he knew that, and some force seemed to draw him, too, to them.
经验屡屡重演,而且是真正痛苦的经验,早已使他明白,和正派人,尤其是莫斯科人在一起——他们总是行动迟缓,优柔寡断——每一种亲密关系,起初都如此愉快地丰富了生活,并显得轻松而迷人,但不可避免地会发展成一个极其复杂的常规问题,从长远来看,情况会变得无法忍受。但是,每次遇到一个有趣的女人,这种经验似乎就从他的记忆中消失了,他渴望生活,一切都显得简单而有趣。
Experience often repeated, truly bitter experience, had taught him long ago that with decent people, especially Moscow people — always slow to move and irresolute — every intimacy, which at first so agreeably diversifies life and appears a light and charming adventure, inevitably grows into a regular problem of extreme intricacy, and in the long run the situation becomes unbearable. But at every fresh meeting with an interesting woman this experience seemed to slip out of his memory, and he was eager for life, and everything seemed simple and amusing.
一天晚上,他在花园里吃饭,戴贝雷帽的女士慢慢地走到他旁边的桌子旁。她的表情、步态、衣着和发型都告诉他,她是一位女士,已经结婚,第一次来雅尔塔,而且是独自一人,她在那里很无聊……关于雅尔塔等地不道德的故事在很大程度上是不真实的;他鄙视这些故事,并且知道这些故事大多是由那些如果可以犯罪就很乐意犯罪的人编造出来的;但是当那位女士在离他三步远的旁边桌子坐下时,他想起了这些关于轻松征服女人、山间旅行的故事,突然间,一个诱人的念头占据了他的心,那就是与一个他不知道名字的陌生女人展开一场短暂而短暂的恋情,一场浪漫的罗曼史。
One evening he was dining in the gardens, and the lady in the béret came up slowly to take the next table. Her expression, her gait, her dress, and the way she did her hair told him that she was a lady, that she was married, that she was in Yalta for the first time and alone, and that she was dull there…. The stories told of the immorality in such places as Yalta are to a great extent untrue; he despised them, and knew that such stories were for the most part made up by persons who would themselves have been glad to sin if they had been able; but when the lady sat down at the next table three paces from him, he remembered these tales of easy conquests, of trips to the mountains, and the tempting thought of a swift, fleeting love affair, a romance with an unknown woman, whose name he did not know, suddenly took possession of him.
他向那只博美犬招手,哄骗它,当那只狗走近他时,他朝它摇了摇手指。那只博美犬咆哮起来,古罗夫又朝它摇了摇手指。
He beckoned coaxingly to the Pomeranian, and when the dog came up to him he shook his finger at it. The Pomeranian growled: Gurov shook his finger at it again.
那位女士看了他一眼,马上就低下了眼睛。
The lady looked at him and at once dropped her eyes.
“他不咬人,”她红着脸说道。
“He doesn’t bite,” she said, and blushed.
“我可以给他一根骨头吗?”他问道。当她点头时,他礼貌地问道,“你在雅尔塔待了很久了吗?”
“May I give him a bone?” he asked; and when she nodded he asked courteously, “Have you been long in Yalta?”
“五天。”
“Five days.”
“我在这里已经呆了两个星期了。”
“And I have already dragged out a fortnight here.”
一阵短暂的沉默。
There was a brief silence.
“时间过得很快,但是这里却很无聊!”她没有看他,说道。
“Time goes fast, and yet it is so dull here!” she said, not looking at him.
“说这里很无聊只是一种时尚。一个外省人住在别廖夫或日德拉不会觉得无聊,而当他来到这里时,就会说‘哦,太无聊了!哦,太尘土了!’人们会以为他来自格林纳达。”
“That’s only the fashion to say it is dull here. A provincial will live in Belyov or Zhidra and not be dull, and when he comes here it’s ‘Oh, the dullness! Oh, the dust!’ One would think he came from Grenada.”
她笑了。然后两人继续默默地吃饭,像陌生人一样,但饭后他们并肩而行;他们之间开始轻松愉快地交谈,这是自由自在的人的谈话,对他们来说,去哪里、谈论什么都无所谓。他们边走边谈论海上奇怪的光:海水是柔和温暖的淡紫色,月亮在上面映出一道金色的条纹。他们谈论炎热的一天过后天气多么闷热。古罗夫告诉她,他来自莫斯科,他获得了艺术学位,但在银行任职;他曾受过歌剧演唱的培训,但放弃了,他在莫斯科有两所房子……他从她那里得知,她在彼得堡长大,但两年前结婚后一直住在S——,她将在雅尔塔再待一个月,她的丈夫也需要休假,也许可以来接她。她不确定丈夫是在皇家部门任职还是在省议会任职——她为自己的无知感到好笑。古罗夫还得知,她叫安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜。
She laughed. Then both continued eating in silence, like strangers, but after dinner they walked side by side; and there sprang up between them the light jesting conversation of people who are free and satisfied, to whom it does not matter where they go or what they talk about. They walked and talked of the strange light on the sea: the water was of a soft warm lilac hue, and there was a golden streak from the moon upon it. They talked of how sultry it was after a hot day. Gurov told her that he came from Moscow, that he had taken his degree in Arts, but had a post in a bank; that he had trained as an opera-singer, but had given it up, that he owned two houses in Moscow…. And from her he learnt that she had grown up in Petersburg, but had lived in S —— since her marriage two years before, that she was staying another month in Yalta, and that her husband, who needed a holiday too, might perhaps come and fetch her. She was not sure whether her husband had a post in a Crown Department or under the Provincial Council — and was amused by her own ignorance. And Gurov learnt, too, that she was called Anna Sergeyevna.
后来,他在旅馆房间里想着她——想着她第二天一定会见到他;这一定会发生的。他上床睡觉时,他想着她最近还是个在校的女孩,像他自己的女儿一样学习;他回忆起她笑声和与陌生人说话时仍然显露出的羞怯和僵硬。这一定是她一生中第一次独自一人,被人跟踪、注视和交谈,而这仅仅是出于一个她几乎猜不到的秘密动机。他想起了她纤细、精致的脖子,还有她那双可爱的灰色眼睛。
Afterwards he thought about her in his room at the hotel — thought she would certainly meet him next day; it would be sure to happen. As he got into bed he thought how lately she had been a girl at school, doing lessons like his own daughter; he recalled the diffidence, the angularity, that was still manifest in her laugh and her manner of talking with a stranger. This must have been the first time in her life she had been alone in surroundings in which she was followed, looked at, and spoken to merely from a secret motive which she could hardly fail to guess. He recalled her slender, delicate neck, her lovely grey eyes.
“不管怎样,她身上有令人可悲的地方,”他想着,然后睡着了。
“There’s something pathetic about her, anyway,” he thought, and fell asleep.
他们认识已经有一个星期了。那天是假日。屋里闷热难耐,街上风把尘土卷得团团转,把人们的帽子都吹掉了。天气很干燥,古罗夫常常到凉亭里去,催安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜喝糖浆和水,或者吃点冰块。真不知道该干什么好。
A week had passed since they had made acquaintance. It was a holiday. It was sultry indoors, while in the street the wind whirled the dust round and round, and blew people’s hats off. It was a thirsty day, and Gurov often went into the pavilion, and pressed Anna Sergeyevna to have syrup and water or an ice. One did not know what to do with oneself.
傍晚,风势稍稍减弱,他们走到防波堤上看轮船进港。港口周围走动着许多人,他们聚集在一起迎接某人,手捧鲜花。雅尔塔的衣着讲究的人群有两个特点非常引人注目:年长的女士们打扮得像年轻人,还有许多将军。
In the evening when the wind had dropped a little, they went out on the groynea to see the steamer come in. There were a great many people walking about the harbor; they had gathered to welcome some one, bringing bouquets. And two peculiarities of a well-dressed Yalta crowd were very conspicuous: the elderly ladies were dressed like young ones, and there were great numbers of generals.
由于海浪汹涌,轮船迟到了,太阳落山后才到,绕了好久才到达防波堤。安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜透过望远镜望着轮船和乘客,仿佛在寻找熟人,当她转向古罗夫时,她的眼睛里闪着光。她说了很多话,问了一些不相关的问题,下一刻就忘了自己问了什么;然后,她在人群中把望远镜扔了。
Owing to the roughness of the sea, the steamer arrived late, after the sun had set, and it was a long time turning about before it reached the groyne. Anna Sergeyevna looked through her lorgnette at the steamer and the passengers as though looking for acquaintances, and when she turned to Gurov her eyes were shining. She talked a great deal and asked disconnected questions, forgetting next moment what she had asked; then she dropped her lorgnette in the crush.
欢乐的人群开始散去,天色昏暗,看不清人们的脸。风已完全停了,但古罗夫和安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜仍然站在那里,仿佛在等着有人从轮船上下来。安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜现在沉默不语,她闻着花香,没有看古罗夫。
The festive crowd began to disperse; it was too dark to see people’s faces. The wind had completely dropped, but Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna still stood as though waiting to see some one else come from the steamer. Anna Sergeyevna was silent now, and sniffed the flowers without looking at Gurov.
“今晚天气好多了,”他说。“我们现在去哪儿?开车去个地方好吗?”
“The weather is better this evening,” he said. “Where shall we go now? Shall we drive somewhere?”
她没有回答。
She made no answer.
然后他全神贯注地看着她,突然用手臂搂住她,亲吻她的嘴唇,呼吸着花香和湿气;他立刻环顾四周,焦急地想知道是否有人看到了它们。
Then he looked at her intently, and all at once put his arm round her and kissed her on the lips, and breathed in the moisture and the fragrance of the flowers; and he immediately looked round him, anxiously wondering whether any one had seen them.
“我们去你的酒店吧,”他轻声说道。两人都快步走去。
“Let us go to your hotel,” he said softly. And both walked quickly.
房间里很闷热,弥漫着她在日本商店买的香水味。古罗夫望着她,心里想:“世上的人真是千差万别啊!”他从过去的经历中,记得一些心地善良的女人,她们爱他时兴高采烈,感激他给她们带来的幸福,不管这种幸福是多么短暂;也记得一些像他妻子那样的女人,她们爱时毫无真情实感,说些多余的话,装模作样,歇斯底里,脸上的表情让人觉得那不是爱情,也不是激情,而是某种更重要的东西;还记得两三个非常漂亮、冷漠的女人,他在她们的脸上瞥见了一种贪婪的表情——一种固执的欲望,想从生活中攫取比它所能给予的更多的东西,这些女人反复无常、不加思索、专横跋扈、愚蠢,已经不再年轻,当古罗夫对她们冷淡时,她们的美貌激起他的仇恨,他觉得她们亚麻布衣服上的花边就像鳞片。
The room was close and smelt of the scent she had bought at the Japanese shop. Gurov looked at her and thought: “What different people one meets in the world!” From the past he preserved memories of careless, good-natured women, who loved cheerfully and were grateful to him for the happiness he gave them, however brief it might be; and of women like his wife who loved without any genuine feeling, with superfluous phrases, affectedly, hysterically, with an expression that suggested that it was not love nor passion, but something more significant; and of two or three others, very beautiful, cold women, on whose faces he had caught a glimpse of a rapacious expression — an obstinate desire to snatch from life more than it could give, and these were capricious, unreflecting, domineering, unintelligent women not in their first youth, and when Gurov grew cold to them their beauty excited his hatred, and the lace on their linen seemed to him like scales.
但在这种情况下,她仍然有羞怯、缺乏经验的年轻人的僵硬、尴尬的感觉;还有一种惊慌的感觉,好像有人突然敲门一样。安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜——“带狗的女人”——对所发生之事的态度有点奇怪,非常严肃,好像这是她摔倒的缘故——看起来是这样,而且很奇怪,很不合时宜。她的脸垂下来,脸色苍白,长发在脸的两侧悲哀地垂下来;她以沮丧的姿态沉思着,就像一幅老式画中的“罪人女人”。
But in this case there was still the diffidence, the angularity of inexperienced youth, an awkward feeling; and there was a sense of consternation as though some one had suddenly knocked at the door. The attitude of Anna Sergeyevna — “the lady with the dog” — to what had happened was somehow peculiar, very grave, as though it were her fall — so it seemed, and it was strange and inappropriate. Her face dropped and faded, and on both sides of it her long hair hung down mournfully; she mused in a dejected attitude like “the woman who was a sinner” in an old-fashioned picture.
“这是不对的,”她说。“现在你会第一个鄙视我。”
“It’s wrong,” she said. “You will be the first to despise me now.”
桌上放着一只西瓜。古罗夫切了一块,不慌不忙地吃了起来。接下来的沉默持续了至少半个小时。
There was a water-melon on the table. Gurov cut himself a slice and began eating it without haste. There followed at least half an hour of silence.
安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜很感人,她身上有一种善良、朴实、没有经历过太多世事的女人的纯洁。桌上点燃的那根孤零零的蜡烛,微弱的光线照在她的脸上,但显然她很不开心。
Anna Sergeyevna was touching; there was about her the purity of a good, simple woman who had seen little of life. The solitary candle burning on the table threw a faint light on her face, yet it was clear that she was very unhappy.
“我怎么能鄙视你呢?”古罗夫问道。“你不知道自己在说什么。”
“How could I despise you?” asked Gurov. “You don’t know what you are saying.”
“上帝原谅我吧,”她眼含泪水说道。“这太可怕了。”
“God forgive me,” she said, and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s awful.”
“你似乎觉得自己需要被原谅。”
“You seem to feel you need to be forgiven.”
“原谅?不。我是个坏女人,下流的女人。我鄙视自己,也不想为自己辩解。我欺骗的不是我的丈夫,而是我自己。而且不只是现在,我欺骗自己已经很久了。我的丈夫也许是个好人,诚实的人,但他是个奴才!我不知道他在那里做什么,他的工作是什么,但我知道他是个奴才!我二十岁的时候嫁给了他。我一直被好奇心折磨着;我想要更好的东西。‘一定有另一种生活’,我对自己说。我想活下去!活下去,活下去!……我被好奇心驱使着……你不明白,但是,我向上帝发誓,我无法控制自己;我出了点问题:我无法克制自己。我告诉我丈夫我病了,然后就来到这里……我一直在这里走来走去,好像我发疯了一样; ……而现在我已经变成了一个粗俗、可鄙的女人,任谁都会鄙视。”
“Forgiven? No. I am a bad, low woman; I despise myself and don’t attempt to justify myself. It’s not my husband but myself I have deceived. And not just now; I have been deceiving myself for a long time. My husband may be a good, honest man, but he is a flunkey! I don’t know what he does there, what his work is, but I know he is a flunkey! I was twenty when I was married to him. I have been tormented by curiosity; I wanted something better. ‘There must be a different sort of life,’ I said to myself. I wanted to live! To live, to live! … I was fired by curiosity … you don’t understand it, but, I swear to God, I could not control myself; something happened to me: I could not be restrained. I told my husband I was ill, and came here…. And here I have been walking about as though I were dazed, like a mad creature; … and now I have become a vulgar, contemptible woman whom any one may despise.”
古罗夫听她说话已经觉得厌烦了。她那天真的语气,这种出乎意料、不合时宜的冷漠令他厌烦;要不是她眼里含着泪水,他也许会以为她在开玩笑,或者在演戏。
Gurov felt bored already, listening to her. He was irritated by the naïve tone, by this remose, so unexpected and inopportune; but for the tears in her eyes, he might have thought she was jesting or playing a part.
“我不明白,”他轻声说道。“你想要什么?”
“I don’t understand,” he said softly. “What is it you want?”
她把脸埋在他的胸前,紧紧地贴着他。
She hid her face on his breast and pressed close to him.
“请相信我,请相信我,我恳求你……”她说。“我热爱纯洁、诚实的生活,我厌恶罪恶。我不知道自己在做什么。普通人会说:‘魔鬼欺骗了我。’现在我可以这样说,魔鬼欺骗了我。”
“Believe me, believe me, I beseech you …” she said. “I love a pure, honest life, and sin is loathsome to me. I don’t know what I am doing. Simple people say: ‘The Evil One has beguiled me.’ And I may say of myself now that the Evil One has beguiled me.”
“嘘,嘘!……”他喃喃道。
“Hush, hush! …” he muttered.
他看着她那呆滞而惊恐的眼睛,亲吻了她,轻声而深情地说话,渐渐地她得到了安慰,又恢复了快乐;他们都笑了起来。
He looked at her fixed, scared eyes, kissed her, talked softly and affectionately, and by degrees she was comforted, and her gaiety returned; they both began laughing.
后来他们出海的时候,海滨空无一人。小镇上长满了柏树,气氛死寂,但海浪仍在岸边拍打着,一艘驳船在海浪中摇晃,上面有一盏灯笼,昏昏欲睡地闪烁着。
Afterwards when they went out there was not a soul on the sea-front. The town with its cypresses had quite a deathlike air, but the sea still broke noisily on the shore; a single barge was rocking on the waves, and a lantern was blinking sleepily on it.
他们找到一辆出租车,开车前往奥雷安达。
They found a cab and drove to Oreanda.
“我刚才在门厅里发现了您的姓氏:牌子上写着——冯·狄德里茨,”古罗夫说。“您的丈夫是德国人吗?”
“I found out your surname in the hall just now: it was written on the board — Von Diderits,” said Gurov. “Is your husband a German?”
“不,我相信他的祖父是德国人,但他本人是东正教俄罗斯人。”
“No; I believe his grandfather was a German, but he is an Orthodox Russian himself.”
在奥列安达,他们坐在离教堂不远的长椅上,低头望着大海,一言不发。雅尔塔在晨雾中若隐若现,白云静静地停在山顶上。树叶一动不动,蚱蜢叽叽喳喳,海浪从下面发出单调空洞的声音,诉说着和平,诉说着等待着我们的永恒睡眠。当这里没有雅尔塔,没有奥列安达时,海浪的声音一定是这样的;现在海浪的声音也是这样的,当我们都不复存在时,海浪的声音也会同样冷漠而单调。在这种坚定不移中,在这种对我们每个人的生死的完全漠不关心中,也许隐藏着我们永恒救赎的保证,生命在地球上不断运动的保证,不断走向完美的保证。古罗夫坐在一位年轻女子身旁,她在黎明时分显得如此美丽,在这神奇的环境中——大海、山脉、云朵、开阔的天空——她感到心旷神怡、着迷不已。他想,其实只要我们仔细思考,这个世界上的一切都是美好的:除了我们自己在忘记人类尊严和生存的更高目标时所想或所为之外的一切。
At Oreanda they sat on a seat not far from the church, looked down at the sea, and were silent. Yalta was hardly visible through the morning mist; white clouds stood motionless on the mountain-tops. The leaves did not stir on the trees, grasshoppers chirruped, and the monotonous hollow sound of the sea rising up from below, spoke of the peace, of the eternal sleep awaiting us. So it must have sounded when there was no Yalta, no Oreanda here; so it sounds now, and it will sound as indifferently and monotonously when we are all no more. And in this constancy, in this complete indifference to the life and death of each of us, there lies hid, perhaps, a pledge of our eternal salvation, of the unceasing movement of life upon earth, of unceasing progress towards perfection. Sitting beside a young woman who in the dawn seemed so lovely, soothed and spellbound in these magical surroundings — the sea, mountains, clouds, the open sky — Gurov thought how in reality everything is beautiful in this world when one reflects: everything except what we think or do ourselves when we forget our human dignity and the higher aims of our existence.
一个男人走到他们面前——可能是看守——看了他们一眼就走开了。这个细节也显得神秘而美丽。他们看到一艘轮船从西奥多西亚驶来,船灯在黎明的光芒中熄灭了。
A man walked up to them — probably a keeper — looked at them and walked away. And this detail seemed mysterious and beautiful, too. They saw a steamer come from Theodosia, with its lights out in the glow of dawn.
“草上有露水,”安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜沉默了一会儿说道。
“There is dew on the grass,” said Anna Sergeyevna, after a silence.
“是的。该回家了。”
“Yes. It’s time to go home.”
他们回到了城里。
They went back to the town.
后来,他们每天十二点在海边见面,一起吃午饭、晚饭,一起散步,一起欣赏大海。她抱怨自己睡不好,心跳得厉害;问着同样的问题,一会儿是嫉妒,一会儿是担心他不够尊重她。他常常在广场或花园里,当他们身边没有人的时候,突然把她拉到身边,热烈地吻她。完全是无所事事,这些吻是在光天化日下进行的,他害怕被人看见,四处张望,热气腾腾,海水的气味,以及在他面前来来往往的衣冠楚楚、吃得饱饱的闲人,让他焕然一新;他告诉安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜她有多漂亮,多迷人。他热情奔放,一步也离不开她,而她则常常陷入沉思,不断催促他承认自己不尊重她,一点也不爱她,只把她当成一个普通女人。他们几乎每天晚上都很晚才开车出城,去奥雷安达或瀑布;这次探险总是很成功,风景总是给他们留下了宏伟而美丽的印象。
Then they met every day at twelve o’clock on the sea-front, lunched and dined together, went for walks, admired the sea. She complained that she slept badly, that her heart throbbed violently; asked the same questions, troubled now by jealousy and now by the fear that he did not respect her sufficiently. And often in the square or gardens, when there was no one near them, he suddenly drew her to him and kissed her passionately. Complete idleness, these kisses in broad daylight while he looked round in dread of some one’s seeing them, the heat, the smell of the sea, and the continual passing to and fro before him of idle, well-dressed, well-fed people, made a new man of him; he told Anna Sergeyevna how beautiful she was, how fascinating. He was impatiently passionate, he would not move a step away from her, while she was often pensive and continually urged him to confess that he did not respect her, did not love her in the least, and thought of her as nothing but a common woman. Rather late almost every evening they drove somewhere out of town, to Oreanda or to the waterfall; and the expedition was always a success, the scenery invariably impressed them as grand and beautiful.
他们正等着她丈夫回来,可丈夫却来信说他的眼睛出了问题,恳求妻子尽快回家。安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜赶紧走了。
They were expecting her husband to come, but a letter came from him, saying that there was something wrong with his eyes, and he entreated his wife to come home as quickly as possible. Anna Sergeyevna made haste to go.
“我要走了,这是一件好事,”她对古罗夫说。“这是命运的安排!”
“It’s a good thing I am going away,” she said to Gurov. “It’s the finger of destiny!”
她坐马车去,他陪她一起去。他们开了一整天的车。当她进入快车的车厢,第二声铃响起时,她说:
She went by coach and he went with her. They were driving the whole day. When she had got into a compartment of the express, and when the second bell had rung, she said:
“让我再看你一眼……再看你一眼。没错。”
“Let me look at you once more … look at you once again. That’s right.”
她没有流泪,只是悲伤得像病了一样,脸部颤抖。
She did not shed tears, but was so sad that she seemed ill, and her face was quivering.
“我会记住你……想着你,”她说。“愿上帝与你同在;祝你幸福。不要记恨我。我们永远分开了——这是必然的,因为我们本不该见面。好吧,愿上帝与你同在。”
“I shall remember you … think of you,” she said. “God be with you; be happy. Don’t remember evil against me. We are parting forever — it must be so, for we ought never to have met. Well, God be with you.”
火车迅速开动,车灯很快就消失不见,一分钟后,车声消失得无影无踪,仿佛一切都合谋要尽快结束这种甜蜜的狂喜和疯狂。古罗夫独自留在站台上,凝视着漆黑的远方,听着蚱蜢的叽叽喳喳和电线的嗡嗡声,感觉自己好像才刚刚醒来。他沉思着,想到他生命中又有一段插曲或冒险,而它也结束了,只剩下回忆……他感动、悲伤,并意识到一丝悔恨。这个他再也见不到的年轻女子和他在一起并不幸福;他对她真诚地热情而亲切,但是在他的举止、语气和爱抚中,却有一丝淡淡的讽刺,一个比她大一倍的幸福男人的粗鲁傲慢。她一直说他善良、卓越、高尚;显然,他给她的感觉和实际情况不一样,所以他无意中欺骗了她……
The train moved off rapidly, its lights soon vanished from sight, and a minute later there was no sound of it, as though everything had conspired together to end as quickly as possible that sweet delirium, that madness. Left alone on the platform, and gazing into the dark distance, Gurov listened to the chirrup of the grasshoppers and the hum of the telegraph wires, feeling as though he had only just waked up. And he thought, musing, that there had been another episode or adventure in his life, and it, too, was at an end, and nothing was left of it but a memory…. He was moved, sad, and conscious of a slight remorse. This young woman whom he would never meet again had not been happy with him; he was genuinely warm and affectionate with her, but yet in his manner, his tone, and his caresses there had been a shade of light irony, the coarse condescension of a happy man who was, besides, almost twice her age. All the time she had called him kind, exceptional, lofty; obviously he had seemed to her different from what he really was, so he had unintentionally deceived her….
车站这边已经弥漫着秋天的气息,夜晚有些寒冷。
Here at the station was already a scent of autumn; it was a cold evening.
“我该往北走了,”古罗夫一边走下站台,一边想。“是时候了!”
“It’s time for me to go north,” thought Gurov as he left the platform. “High time!”
防波堤:在海岸边修建的用于控制侵蚀的墙或堤坝。
aGroyne: A wall or jetty built out from a shore to control erosion.
在莫斯科的家里,一切都是冬天的常态;炉子生着暖气,早晨孩子们吃早饭准备上学时,天还黑着,保姆会把灯点亮一会儿。霜冻已经开始了。当第一场雪落下,在第一天乘雪橇时,看到白色的土地、白色的屋顶,呼吸着柔软、美味的空气,真是令人愉快,这个季节让人想起了青春岁月。老菩提树和桦树,白霜覆盖,显得很和蔼可亲;它们比柏树和棕榈树更贴近人的心,靠近它们,人就不会想起大海和高山。
At home in Moscow everything was in its winter routine; the stoves were heated, and in the morning it was still dark when the children were having breakfast and getting ready for school, and the nurse would light the lamp for a short time. The frosts had begun already. When the first snow has fallen, on the first day of sledge-driving it is pleasant to see the white earth, the white roofs, to draw soft, delicious breath, and the season brings back the days of one’s youth. The old limes and birches, white with hoar-frost, have a good-natured expression; they are nearer to one’s heart than cypresses and palms, and near them one doesn’t want to be thinking of the sea and the mountains.
古罗夫出生在莫斯科,他在一个寒冷的天气来到莫斯科,当他穿上皮大衣,戴着暖和的手套,沿着彼得罗夫卡街散步,当星期六晚上听到钟声响起时,他最近的旅行和他所见过的地方对他来说就失去了一切魅力。他渐渐地融入了莫斯科的生活,贪婪地每天读三份报纸,并宣称他原则上不读莫斯科的报纸!他已经渴望上餐馆、俱乐部、晚宴、周年纪念会,他为招待著名的律师和艺术家,以及在医生俱乐部和教授打牌而感到荣幸。他已经可以吃满满一盘咸鱼和卷心菜了……
Gurov was Moscow born; he arrived in Moscow on a fine frosty day, and when he put on his fur coat and warm gloves, and walked along Petrovka, and when on Saturday evening he heard the ringing of the bells, his recent trip and the places he had seen lost all charm for him. Little by little he became absorbed in Moscow life, greedily read three newspapers a day, and declared he did not read the Moscow papers on principle! He already felt a longing to go to restaurants, clubs, dinner-parties, anniversary celebrations, and he felt flattered at entertaining distinguished lawyers and artists, and at playing cards with a professor at the doctors’ club. He could already eat a whole plateful of salt fish and cabbage….
他想,再过一个月,安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜的形象就会笼罩在他的记忆中,只有偶尔才会像别人一样,带着动人的微笑出现在他的梦中。但是一个多月过去了,真正的冬天来了,一切在他的记忆中仍然清晰,仿佛他和安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜只是昨天才分开。他的记忆越来越生动。每当他在寂静的夜晚听到书房里传来孩子们备课的声音,或者当他在餐馆里听歌声或风琴声,或者风暴在烟囱里咆哮时,他的记忆中突然浮现出一切:在防波堤上发生的事情,清晨山上雾气弥漫,从狄奥多西亚开来的轮船,还有那些吻。他会在房间里走来走去,回想着这一切,面带微笑;然后他的记忆变成了梦,在他的幻想中,过去和未来交织在一起。安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜并没有梦到他,而是像影子一样到处跟着他,缠着他。他闭上眼睛,看见她,仿佛她活生生地出现在他面前,在他看来,她比实际更美丽、更年轻、更温柔;他想象自己比在雅尔塔时更美丽。晚上,她从书架、壁炉、角落里偷偷地向他张望——他听到她的呼吸声,衣服轻轻的沙沙声。他在街上观察女人,寻找像她一样的人。
In another month, he fancied, the image of Anna Sergeyevna would be shrouded in a mist in his memory, and only from time to time would visit him in his dreams with a touching smile as others did. But more than a month passed, real winter had come, and everything was still clear in his memory as though he had parted with Anna Sergeyevna only the day before. And his memories glowed more and more vividly. When in the evening stillness he heard from his study the voices of his children, preparing their lessons, or when he listened to a song or the organ at the restaurant, or the storm howled in the chimney, suddenly everything would rise up in his memory: what had happened on the groyne, and the early morning with the mist on the mountains, and the steamer coming from Theodosia, and the kisses. He would pace a long time about his room, remembering it all and smiling; then his memories passed into dreams, and in his fancy the past was mingled with what was to come. Anna Sergeyevna did not visit him in dreams, but followed him about everywhere like a shadow and haunted him. When he shut his eyes he saw her as though she were living before him, and she seemed to him lovelier, younger, tenderer than she was; and he imagined himself finer than he had been in Yalta. In the evenings she peeped out at him from the bookcase, from the fireplace, from the corner — he heard her breathing, the caressing rustle of her dress. In the street he watched the women, looking for some one like her.
他被一种强烈的渴望折磨着,想向某个人吐露他的回忆。但是在家里,他不可能谈论他的爱情,外面也没有人;他不能和他的房客或银行里的任何人交谈。他能谈什么呢?那么,他恋爱了吗?他和安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜的关系有什么美好、诗意、有教育意义或只是有趣的事情吗?他除了含糊地谈论爱情、谈论女人之外,什么也谈不上,而且没有人猜出他的意思;只有他的妻子皱着黑眉毛说:“德米特里,你根本不适合扮演一个色狼的角色。”
He was tormented by an intense desire to confide his memories to some one. But in his home it was impossible to talk of his love, and he had no one outside; he could not talk to his tenants nor to any one at the bank. And what had he to talk of? Had he been in love, then? Had there been anything beautiful, poetical, or edifying or simply interesting in his relations with Anna Sergeyevna? And there was nothing for him but to talk vaguely of love, of woman, and no one guessed what it meant; only his wife twitched her black eyebrows, and said: “The part of a lady-killer does not suit you at all, Dimitri.”
一天晚上,他和一位官员从医生俱乐部出来,两人刚好在打牌,他忍不住说道:
One evening, coming out of the doctors’ club with an official with whom he had been playing cards, he could not resist saying:
“如果您知道我在雅尔塔认识了一位多么迷人的女人就好了!”
“If only you knew what a fascinating woman I made the acquaintance of in Yalta!”
官员上了雪橇,正要驶走,突然转身喊道:
The official got into his sledge and was driving away, but turned suddenly and shouted:
“德米特里·德米特里奇!”
“Dmitri Dmitritch!”
“什么?”
“What?”
“你今晚说得对:鲟鱼的味道有点太浓了!”
“You were right this evening: the sturgeon was a bit too strong!”
这些话,本来很平常,但不知为什么却激起了古罗夫的愤慨,让他觉得这些话很下流、很肮脏。多么野蛮的举止,多么粗俗的人!多么无聊的夜晚,多么乏味、平淡无奇的日子!打牌的狂热、暴饮暴食、酗酒、老是谈论同一件事。无用的追求和老是谈论同一件事的谈话,占据了人们大部分的时间和精力,最后只剩下卑微、受限制、毫无价值、微不足道的生活,无法逃避或摆脱——就像身处疯人院或监狱一样。
These words, so ordinary, for some reason moved Gurov to indignation, and struck him as degrading and unclean. What savage manners, what people! What senseless nights, what uninteresting, uneventful days! The rage for card-playing, the gluttony, the drunkenness, the continual talk always about the same thing. Useless pursuits and conversations always about the same things absorb the better part of one’s time, the better part of one’s strength, and in the end there is left a life grovelling and curtailed, worthless and trivial, and there is no escaping or getting away from it — just as though one were in a madhouse or a prison.
古罗夫一夜没睡,心里满腔愤慨。第二天他整天头痛。第二天晚上他睡得不好,坐在床上,想着事情,或者在房间里走来走去。他厌倦了他的孩子,厌倦了银行;他不想去任何地方,也不想谈论任何事情。
Gurov did not sleep all night, and was filled with indignation. And he had a headache all next day. And the next night he slept badly; he sat up in bed, thinking, or paced up and down his room. He was sick of his children, sick of the bank; he had no desire to go anywhere or to talk of anything.
12 月假期,他准备出门旅行,告诉妻子他要去彼得堡为一位年轻朋友办点事——然后他就动身去了 S ——。去干什么?他自己也不太清楚。他想见见安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜,和她谈谈——如果可能的话,安排一次见面。
In the holidays in December he prepared for a journey, and told his wife he was going to Petersburg to do something in the interests of a young friend — and he set off for S ——. What for? He did not very well know himself. He wanted to see Anna Sergeyevna and to talk with her — to arrange a meeting, if possible.
第二天早上,他到达了 S ——,在旅馆里订了一间最好的房间,房间里铺着灰色的军用布,桌子上放着一个灰色的墨水瓶,上面布满了灰尘,上面装饰着一个骑在马上的人像,手拿帽子,头被打断了。旅馆门房向他提供了必要的信息:冯·迪德里茨住在老贡恰尔尼街的一所自己的房子里——离旅馆不远:他很富有,生活很奢侈,有自己的马;镇上的每个人都认识他。门房念出他的名字是“德里德里茨”。
He reached S —— in the morning, and took the best room at the hotel, in which the floor was covered with grey army cloth, and on the table was an inkstand, grey with dust and adorned with a figure on horseback, with its hat in its hand and its head broken off. The hotel porter gave him the necessary information; Von Diderits lived in a house of his own in Old Gontcharny Street — it was not far from the hotel: he was rich and lived in good style, and had his own horses; every one in the town knew him. The porter pronounced the name “Dridirits.”
古罗夫不慌不忙地来到老贡恰尔尼街,找到了那栋房子。房子对面是一道长长的灰色篱笆,上面钉满了钉子。
Gurov went without haste to Old Gontcharny Street and found the house. Just opposite the house stretched a long grey fence adorned with nails.
“人们见到这样的栅栏都会逃跑,”古罗夫心里想,他的目光从栅栏移到房子的窗户,又移回栅栏。
“One would run away from a fence like that,” thought Gurov, looking from the fence to the windows of the house and back again.
他想:今天是假期,丈夫大概在家。无论如何,走进屋子里惹她不高兴也是不明智的。如果他给她送个纸条,那纸条可能会落到她丈夫手里,那就把一切都毁了。最好还是听天由命吧。于是他沿着篱笆走来走去,等待机会。他看见一个乞丐走进门,狗朝他扑过来;一个小时后,他听到钢琴声,声音很微弱,模糊不清。可能是安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜在弹琴。前门突然打开,一个老妇人走了出来,后面跟着那只熟悉的白色博美犬。古罗夫正要叫那条狗,但他的心却跳得厉害,激动得想不起那条狗的名字了。
He considered: to-day was a holiday, and the husband would probably be at home. And in any case it would be tactless to go into the house and upset her. If he were to send her a note it might fall into her husband’s hands, and then it might ruin everything. The best thing was to trust to chance. And he kept walking up and down the street by the fence, waiting for the chance. He saw a beggar go in at the gate and dogs fly at him; then an hour later he heard a piano, and the sounds were faint and indistinct. Probably it was Anna Sergeyevna playing. The front door suddenly opened, and an old woman came out, followed by the familiar white Pomeranian. Gurov was on the point of calling to the dog, but his heart began beating violently, and in his excitement he could not remember the dog’s name.
他走来走去,越来越讨厌那道灰色的篱笆,现在他烦躁地想安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜已经把他忘了,也许已经和别人玩了,而这对于一个从早到晚除了那道该死的篱笆什么都不看的年轻女人来说,这很自然。他回到旅馆房间,在沙发上坐了很久,不知道该做什么,然后吃了晚饭,睡了个长长的午觉。
He walked up and down, and loathed the grey fence more and more, and by now he thought irritably that Anna Sergeyevna had forgotten him, and was perhaps already amusing herself with some one else, and that that was very natural in a young woman who had nothing to look at from morning till night but that confounded fence. He went back to his hotel room and sat for a long while on the sofa, not knowing what to do, then he had dinner and a long nap.
“这真是愚蠢又令人担忧!”他醒来时看着漆黑的窗户,心里想道:天已经黑了。“不知为何,我睡得这么香。晚上我该怎么办呢?”
“How stupid and worrying it is!” he thought when he woke and looked at the dark windows: it was already evening. “Here I’ve had a good sleep for some reason. What shall I do in the night?”
他坐在床上,床上盖着医院里常见的那种廉价的灰色毯子,他苦恼地自嘲道:
He sat on the bed, which was covered by a cheap grey blanket, such as one sees in hospitals, and he taunted himself in his vexation:
“这位女士带着狗,就这样结束了……这场冒险就这样结束了……你现在的处境真不错……”
“So much for the lady with the dog … so much for the adventure…. You’re in a nice fix….”
那天早上,在车站,一张大字海报引起了他的注意。《艺伎》即将首次公演。想到这一点,他便去了剧院。
That morning at the station a poster in large letters had caught his eye. The Geisha was to be performed for the first time. He thought of this and went to the theatre.
“她很有可能去参加首场演出,”他想。
“It’s quite possible she may go to the first performance,” he thought.
剧院里座无虚席。像所有外省剧院一样,吊灯上方笼罩着一层雾气,楼座上人声嘈杂,焦躁不安;前排的本地花花公子在演出开始前就站起来,双手背在身后;总督包厢里,总督的女儿戴着一条围巾,坐在前排座位上,而总督本人则谦逊地躲在幕布后面,只露出双手;乐队在调音,调了很久;舞台幕布摇曳不定。观众们不断进场,纷纷就座,古罗夫则热切地注视着他们。
The theatre was full. As in all provincial theatres, there was a fog above the chandelier, the gallery was noisy and restless; in the front row the local dandies were standing up before the beginning of the performance, with their hands behind them; in the Governor’s box the Governor’s daughter, wearing a boa, was sitting in the front seat, while the Governor himself lurked modestly behind the curtain with only his hands visible; the orchestra was a long time tuning up; the stage curtain swayed. All the time the audience were coming in and taking their seats Gurov looked at them eagerly.
安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜也进来了。她坐在第三排,古罗夫一看见她,心就揪起来,他清楚地明白,对他来说,世界上没有一个人比她更亲近,更珍贵,更重要;她,这个小女人,一点也不出众,在外省的人群中迷失了方向,手里拿着一副粗俗的长柄望远镜,现在占据了他的整个生活,是他的悲伤和快乐,是他现在所希望的唯一的幸福,在低劣的乐队和可怜的外省小提琴的演奏声中,他想她是多么可爱。他想着,梦想着。
Anna Sergeyevna, too, came in. She sat down in the third row, and when Gurov looked at her his heart contracted, and he understood clearly that for him there was in the whole world no creature so near, so precious, and so important to him; she, this little woman, in no way remarkable, lost in a provincial crowd, with a vulgar lorgnette in her hand, filled his whole life now, was his sorrow and his joy, the one happiness that he now desired for himself, and to the sounds of the inferior orchestra, of the wretched provincial violins, he thought how lovely she was. He thought and dreamed.
一个留着小胡子、身材高大、驼背的年轻人和安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜一起走了进来,坐在她旁边。他每走一步都低下头,似乎不停地鞠躬。很可能这就是在雅尔塔时,安娜在一时愤慨中称他为奴仆的那个丈夫。他那修长的身材、络腮胡子和头上那一小块秃斑,确实带有奴仆的谄媚之气。他的笑容甜美可人,他的纽扣洞里有一个像侍者号码一样的显赫徽章。
A young man with small side-whiskers, tall and stooping, came in with Anna Sergeyevna and sat down beside her; he bent his head at every step and seemed to be continually bowing. Most likely this was the husband whom at Yalta, in a rush of bitter feeling, she had called a flunkey. And there really was in his long figure, his side-whiskers, and the small bald patch on his head, something of the flunkey’s obsequiousness; his smile was sugary, and in his buttonhole there was some badge of distinction like the number on a waiter.
第一个休息时间,丈夫出去抽烟了,她一个人留在她的座位上。古罗夫也坐在座位上,他走到她面前,强颜一笑,声音颤抖地说:
During the first interval the husband went away to smoke; she remained alone in her stall. Gurov, who was sitting in the stalls, too, went up to her and said in a trembling voice, with a forced smile:
“晚上好。”
“Good-evening.”
她看了他一眼,脸色苍白,然后又惊恐地看了他一眼,不敢相信自己的眼睛,紧紧握住扇子和长柄眼镜,显然在竭力克制自己,不让自己晕过去。两人都沉默不语。她坐着,他站着,被她的慌乱吓坏了,不敢在她旁边坐下。小提琴和笛子开始调音。他突然感到害怕,好像包厢里所有的人都在看着他们。她站起来,快步走到门口,他跟着她,两人都漫无目的地沿着走廊走着,上上下下,穿着律师、学者和公务员制服、戴着徽章的人影在他们眼前飞快地闪过。他们瞥见了贵妇人和挂在衣钩上的皮大衣;风吹在她们身上,带来一股陈腐的烟草味。古罗夫的心跳得厉害,心里想:
She glanced at him and turned pale, then glanced again with horror, unable to believe her eyes, and tightly gripped the fan and the lorgnette in her hands, evidently struggling with herself not to faint. Both were silent. She was sitting, he was standing, frightened by her confusion and not venturing to sit down beside her. The violins and the flute began tuning up. He felt suddenly frightened; it seemed as though all the people in the boxes were looking at them. She got up and went quickly to the door; he followed her, and both walked senselessly along passages, and up and down stairs, and figures in legal, scholastic, and civil service uniforms, all wearing badges, flitted before their eyes. They caught glimpses of ladies, of fur coats hanging on pegs; the draughts blew on them, bringing a smell of stale tobacco. And Gurov, whose heart was beating violently, thought:
“天哪!这些人和这个管弦乐队怎么会在这里!……”
“Oh, heavens! Why are these people here and this orchestra! …”
此刻他回想起,在车站送安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜离开时,他以为一切都结束了,他们再也不会见面了。可他们离终点还很远呢!
And at that instant he recalled how when he had seen Anna Sergeyevna off at the station he had thought that everything was over and they would never meet again. But how far they were still from the end!
她在狭窄、阴暗的楼梯上停了下来,楼梯上写着“通往露天剧场”。
On the narrow, gloomy staircase over which was written “To the Amphitheatre,” she stopped.
“你把我吓坏了!”她喘着粗气说道,脸色依然苍白,不知所措。“哦,你把我吓坏了!我快要死了。你来干什么?为什么?”
“How you have frightened me!” she said, breathing hard, still pale and overwhelmed. “Oh, how you have frightened me! I am half dead. Why have you come? Why?”
“但是你要明白,安娜,你要明白……”他急忙低声说道,“我恳求你明白……”
“But do understand, Anna, do understand …” he said hastily in a low voice. “I entreat you to understand….”
她满怀恐惧、恳求和爱意看着他;她全神贯注地看着他,以便更清晰地记住他的容貌。
She looked at him with dread, with entreaty, with love; she looked at him intently, to keep his features more distinctly in her memory.
“我太不幸了,”她继续说,没有理会他的话。“我一直只想着你;我只活在对你的思念中。我想忘记你,忘记你;但是,为什么,哦,为什么,你来了?”
“I am so unhappy,” she went on, not heeding him. “I have thought of nothing but you all the time; I live only in the thought of you. And I wanted to forget, to forget you; but why, oh, why, have you come?”
楼上的楼梯平台上,有两个小学生正一边抽烟一边往下看,但是古罗夫并不在意这些,他把安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜拉到身边,开始亲吻她的脸、她的脸颊和她的手。
On the landing above them two schoolboys were smoking and looking down, but that was nothing to Gurov; he drew Anna Sergeyevna to him, and began kissing her face, her cheeks, and her hands.
“你在干什么,你在干什么!”她惊恐地喊道,把他推开。“我们疯了。今天就走,马上走……我以一切神圣的名义恳求你,我恳求你……有人朝这边过来了!”
“What are you doing, what are you doing!” she cried in horror, pushing him away. “We are mad. Go away to-day; go away at once…. I beseech you by all that is sacred, I implore you…. There are people coming this way!”
有人正从楼梯上走上来。
Some one was coming up the stairs.
“你必须走,”安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜低声说,“你听见了吗,德米特里·德米特里奇?我要到莫斯科来看你。我从来没有幸福过,现在我很痛苦,我永远、永远都不会幸福,永远都不会!别让我再受苦了!我发誓我要到莫斯科来。但是现在我们分开吧。我亲爱的、善良的、亲爱的,我们必须分开了!”
“You must go away,” Anna Sergeyevna went on in a whisper. “Do you hear, Dmitri Dmitritch? I will come and see you in Moscow. I have never been happy; I am miserable now, and I never, never shall be happy, never! Don’t make me suffer still more! I swear I’ll come to Moscow. But now let us part. My precious, good, dear one, we must part!”
她握了握他的手,开始快步下楼,回头看了他一眼,从她的眼睛里,他可以看出她确实不开心。古罗夫站了一会儿,听了听,然后,等到一切声音都消失了,他才找到外套,走出了剧院。
She pressed his hand and began rapidly going downstairs, looking round at him, and from her eyes he could see that she really was unhappy. Gurov stood for a little while, listened, then, when all sound had died away, he found his coat and left the theatre.
安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜开始到莫斯科来看望他。两三个月后,她离开 S —— 一次,告诉丈夫她要去看医生,因为身体有病——她丈夫相信她,不相信她。在莫斯科,她住在斯拉维亚巴扎尔旅馆,立即派一个戴红帽子的人去见古罗夫。古罗夫去看望她,莫斯科没有人知道这件事。
And Anna Sergeyevna began coming to see him in Moscow. Once in two or three months she left S ——, telling her husband that she was going to consult a doctor about an internal complaint — and her husband believed her, and did not believe her. In Moscow she stayed at the Slaviansky Bazaar hotel, and at once sent a man in a red cap to Gurov. Gurov went to see her, and no one in Moscow knew of it.
有一次,在一个冬天的早晨,他正要这样去见她(信使在前一天晚上他外出时就来了)。他的女儿和他一起走着,他想送她去学校:学校就在路上。雪花纷纷扬扬地落下来,湿漉漉的。
Once he was going to see her in this way on a winter morning (the messenger had come the evening before when he was out). With him walked his daughter, whom he wanted to take to school: it was on the way. Snow was falling in big wet flakes.
“气温比冰点高出三度,却下起了雪,”古罗夫对女儿说。“融雪只在地球表面,在大气层更高的地方,温度完全不同。”
“It’s three degrees above freezing-point, and yet it is snowing,” said Gurov to his daughter. “The thaw is only on the surface of the earth; there is quite a different temperature at a greater height in the atmosphere.”
“那为什么冬天没有雷雨呢,爸爸?”
“And why are there no thunderstorms in the winter, father?”
他也解释了这一点。他边说边想,他要去见她,但没有任何活人知道,也许永远也不会知道。他有两种生活:一种是公开的,所有想知道的人都能看到和知道,充满了相对的真实和相对的虚假,就像他的朋友和熟人的生活一样;另一种生活则秘密进行。由于某种奇怪的、也许是偶然的情况,一切对他来说必不可少的、有趣的和有价值的东西,一切他真诚而没有欺骗自己的东西,一切构成他生活核心的东西,都对别人隐藏了起来;而他身上一切虚假的东西,他用来隐藏自己以掩盖真相的外壳——例如,他在银行的工作、他在俱乐部的讨论、他的“下等人种”、他与妻子一起参加周年庆典——所有这些都是公开的。他以自己为标准来评判他人,不相信自己所看到的一切,始终相信每个人都在秘密和夜幕的掩护下拥有自己真实、最有趣的生活。所有个人生活都建立在秘密的基础上,也许正是由于这个原因,文明人才如此紧张地渴望个人隐私得到尊重。
He explained that, too. He talked, thinking all the while that he was going to see her, and no living soul knew of it, and probably never would know. He had two lives: one, open, seen and known by all who cared to know, full of relative truth and of relative falsehood, exactly like the lives of his friends and acquaintances; and another life running its course in secret. And through some strange, perhaps accidental, conjunction of circumstances, everything that was essential, of interest and of value to him, everything in which he was sincere and did not deceive himself, everything that made the kernel of his life, was hidden from other people; and all that was false in him, the sheath in which he hid himself to conceal the truth — such, for instance, as his work in the bank, his discussions at the club, his “lower race,” his presence with his wife at anniversary festivities — all that was open. And he judged others by himself, not believing in what he saw, and always believing that every man had his real, most interesting life under the cover of secrecy and under the cover of night. All personal life rested on secrecy, and possibly it was partly on that account that civilised man was so nervously anxious that personal privacy should be respected.
古罗夫把女儿送去学校后,继续去斯拉维亚市场。他脱下楼上的皮大衣,上楼,轻轻敲门。安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜穿着他最喜欢的灰色连衣裙,旅途劳累,焦虑不安,从昨晚开始就一直在等他。她脸色苍白,看着他,没有笑容,他刚一进门,她就扑到他怀里。他们的吻很慢,很长,好像他们两年没见面了。
After leaving his daughter at school, Gurov went on to the Slaviansky Bazaar. He took off his fur coat below, went upstairs, and softly knocked at the door. Anna Sergeyevna, wearing his favourite grey dress, exhausted by the journey and the suspense, had been expecting him since the evening before. She was pale; she looked at him, and did not smile, and he had hardly come in when she fell on his breast. Their kiss was slow and prolonged, as though they had not met for two years.
“嗯,你那边怎么样了?”他问。“有什么消息吗?”
“Well, how are you getting on there?” he asked. “What news?”
“等一下,我会直接告诉你……我不能说话。”
“Wait; I’ll tell you directly…. I can’t talk.”
她哭得说不出话来。她转过身去,用手帕捂住眼睛。
She could not speak; she was crying. She turned away from him, and pressed her handkerchief to her eyes.
“让她哭个够吧。我坐下来等着。”他想着,然后坐到了一把扶手椅上。
“Let her have her cry out. I’ll sit down and wait,” he thought, and he sat down in an arm-chair.
然后他按铃叫人给他送茶来,他喝茶的时候,她站在窗边背对着他。她哭得如此伤心,她痛苦地意识到他们的生活如此艰难;他们只能偷偷见面,像小偷一样躲避别人!他们的生活难道没有被打碎吗?
Then he rang and asked for tea to be brought him, and while he drank his tea she remained standing at the window with her back to him. She was crying from emotion, from the miserable consciousness that their life was so hard for them; they could only meet in secret, hiding themselves from people, like thieves! Was not their life shattered?
“来吧,停下来!”他说。
“Come, do stop!” he said.
他很清楚,他们的爱情不会很快结束,他看不到爱情的尽头。安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜对他越来越依恋。她崇拜他,对她说他们的爱情终有一天会结束,这简直是不可思议的;而且,她也不会相信!
It was evident to him that this love of theirs would not soon be over, that he could not see the end of it. Anna Sergeyevna grew more and more attached to him. She adored him, and it was unthinkable to say to her that it was bound to have an end some day; besides, she would not have believed it!
他走到她面前,抓住她的肩膀,说了一些亲热而鼓舞人心的话,就在这时,他在镜子里看到了自己。
He went up to her and took her by the shoulders to say something affectionate and cheering, and at that moment he saw himself in the looking-glass.
他的头发已经开始变白了。他觉得很奇怪,在过去的几年里,他变得如此苍老,如此憔悴。他的手放在肩膀上,温暖而颤抖。他同情这个生命,它仍然如此温暖可爱,但可能已经离开始像他自己的生命一样凋谢和枯萎不远了。她为什么那么爱他?在女人眼里,他总是和他本来的样子不一样,她们爱的不是他本人,而是她们想象出来的那个男人,她们一生都在热切地寻找他;后来,当她们意识到自己的错误时,她们还是一样爱他。她们中没有一个人和他在一起过得幸福。时间流逝,他认识了她们,和她们相处,分开了,但他从来没有爱过;那是你喜欢的任何东西,但不是爱。
His hair was already beginning to turn grey. And it seemed strange to him that he had grown so much older, so much plainer during the last few years. The shoulders on which his hands rested were warm and quivering. He felt compassion for this life, still so warm and lovely, but probably already not far from beginning to fade and wither like his own. Why did she love him so much? He always seemed to women different from what he was, and they loved in him not himself, but the man created by their imagination, whom they had been eagerly seeking all their lives; and afterwards, when they noticed their mistake, they loved him all the same. And not one of them had been happy with him. Time passed, he had made their acquaintance, got on with them, parted, but he had never once loved; it was anything you like, but not love.
直到现在,当他的头发已经花白时,他才真正地坠入爱河——这是他一生中第一次。
And only now when his head was grey he had fallen properly, really in love — for the first time in his life.
他和安娜·谢尔盖耶芙娜彼此相爱,就像非常亲近的人,就像夫妻,就像亲密的朋友。他们觉得命运注定了他们彼此相爱,他们不明白为什么他有妻子,而她有丈夫。他们就像一对候鸟,被困在不同的笼子里,被迫生活。他们原谅了彼此过去所犯的羞耻之事,原谅了现在的一切,并感到这份爱改变了他们两人。
Anna Sergeyevna and he loved each other like people very close and akin, like husband and wife, like tender friends; it seemed to them that fate itself had meant them for one another, and they could not understand why he had a wife and she a husband; and it was as though they were a pair of birds of passage, caught and forced to live in different cages. They forgave each other for what they were ashamed of in their past, they forgave everything in the present, and felt that this love of theirs had changed them both.
以前他心情低落的时候,会用脑海中浮现的任何争论来安慰自己,但现在他不再关心争论,他感到深深的同情,他想要真诚而温柔……
In moments of depression in the past he had comforted himself with any arguments that came into his mind, but now he no longer cared for arguments; he felt profound compassion, he wanted to be sincere and tender….
“别哭,亲爱的,”他说。“你已经哭够了,够了……现在我们谈谈,想个办法。”
“Don’t cry, my darling,” he said. “You’ve had your cry; that’s enough…. Let us talk now, let us think of some plan.”
然后他们花了很长时间在一起商量,讨论如何避免保密、欺骗、住在不同的城镇和长时间不见面。他们怎样才能摆脱这种无法忍受的束缚?
Then they spent a long while taking counsel together, talked of how to avoid the necessity for secrecy, for deception, for living in different towns and not seeing each other for long at a time. How could they be free from this intolerable bondage?
“怎么办?怎么办?”他抱住头问道。“怎么办?”
“How? How?” he asked, clutching his head. “How?”
似乎过不了多久他们就会找到答案,开始一段崭新而精彩的生活;但他们俩都清楚,他们面前的路还很漫长,最复杂、最艰难的部分才刚刚开始。
And it seemed as though in a little while the solution would be found, and then a new and splendid life would begin; and it was clear to both of them that they had still a long, long road before them, and that the most complicated and difficult part of it was only just beginning.
[1899年]
[1899]
(1860–1935)
[1860–1935]
像约翰和我这样的普通人很少能在夏天保留祠堂。
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.
一座殖民地豪宅、一处世袭庄园、一座鬼屋,我想这就是浪漫幸福的顶峰——但这对命运的要求太高了!
A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity — but that would be asking too much of fate!
但我仍会自豪地宣称,这件事确实有些奇怪。
Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it.
否则,为什么会以如此低廉的价格出租?为什么这么长时间无人居住?
Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted?
当然,约翰会嘲笑我,但在婚姻中,这是意料之中的事。
John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.
约翰是个极端务实的人。他无法容忍信仰,极其厌恶迷信,而且他公开嘲笑任何无法感知、无法看到、无法用数字表达的事物。
John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.
约翰是一名医生,也许——(当然,我不会对活人说这些,但这只是纸上谈兵,让我心里松了一口气)——也许这就是我不能更快康复的一个原因。
John is a physician, and perhaps — (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) — perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.
你看,他不相信我病了!
You see, he does not believe I am sick!
那我们能做什么呢?
And what can one do?
如果一位资深的医生,同时也是某人的丈夫,向朋友和亲戚保证,自己实际上没有什么问题,只是暂时的神经抑郁——有点歇斯底里的倾向——你该怎么办?
If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression — a slight hysterical tendency — what is one to do?
我的兄弟也是一名医生,而且地位很高,他也说了同样的话。
My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.
因此,我服用磷酸盐或亚磷酸盐(不管是哪一种),以及补药、旅行、空气和锻炼,并且绝对禁止“工作”,直到我康复为止。
So I take phosphates or phosphites — whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again.
就我个人而言,我不同意他们的想法。
Personally, I disagree with their ideas.
就我个人而言,我相信有趣的工作、令人兴奋的事情和变化会给我带来好处。
Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.
但该怎么办呢?
But what is one to do?
尽管他们反对,我还是写了一段时间;但这确实让我精疲力尽——必须非常狡猾地写作,否则会遭到强烈反对。
I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal — having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.
我有时会想,如果我受到的反对少一些,受到的社会刺激多一些,那我的处境会怎样——但约翰说,我能做的最糟糕的事情就是思考我的处境,我承认这总是让我感觉很糟糕。
I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus — but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.
因此我就不多说了,直接说房子的事吧。
So I will let it alone and talk about the house.
最美的地方!这里非常僻静,远离道路,距离村庄有三英里。这让我想起你读到的英国地方,因为那里有篱笆、围墙和可以锁的大门,还有许多独立的小房子,供园丁和居民居住。
The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people.
这里有一座美丽的花园!我从未见过这样的花园——宽阔而阴凉,两旁都是用木箱铺成的小径,两旁是长长的葡萄藤覆盖的凉亭,凉亭下有座椅。
There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden — large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them.
那里也曾经有温室,但是现在都破损了。
There were greenhouses, too, but they are all broken now.
我认为,这其中存在一些法律问题,与继承人和共同继承人有关;无论如何,这个地方已经空置多年了。
There was some legal trouble, I believe, something about the heirs and co-heirs; anyhow, the place has been empty for years.
我担心这会破坏我的幽灵气质,但我不在乎——这房子有些奇怪——我能感觉到。
That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don’t care — there is something strange about the house — I can feel it.
一个月夜里,我甚至对约翰这么说过,但他说我感觉像是有气流,然后关上了窗户。
I even said so to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window.
我有时会无缘无故地对约翰发脾气。我敢肯定,我以前从来没有这么敏感过。我认为这是由于我的神经状况。
I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition.
但是约翰说,如果我这样想,我就会忽视适当的自我控制;所以我尽力控制自己——至少在他面前,这让我非常累。
But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself — before him, at least, and that makes me very tired.
我一点也不喜欢我们的房间。我想要一间楼下朝向广场的房间,窗户上到处都是玫瑰花,还有漂亮的老式印花布挂饰!但约翰不同意。
I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! but John would not hear of it.
他说房间只有一个窗户,容不下两张床,如果他再住一张床的话,附近的空间也不够。
He said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near room for him if he took another.
他非常细心和慈爱,如果没有特别的指示,他几乎不让我动。
He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.
我每天的每个小时都有一个时间表;他承担了我所有的照顾,因此,如果我不更加珍惜他,我就会感到自己是多么的忘恩负义。
I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more.
他说我们来这里完全是为了我,让我好好休息,尽情呼吸新鲜空气。“亲爱的,你的锻炼取决于你的体力,”他说,“你的食物取决于你的食欲;但你可以随时呼吸新鲜空气。”所以我们住在房子顶上的育婴室。
He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get. “Your exercise depends on your strength, my dear,” said he, “and your food somewhat on your appetite; but air you can absorb all the time.” So we took the nursery at the top of the house.
这是一间宽敞通风的房间,几乎占据了整个楼层,窗户通透,空气清新,阳光充足。我猜想,它首先是托儿所,然后是游戏室和健身房;因为窗户上装有防小孩子使用的铁栏,墙上有铁环和其他东西。
It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore. It was nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.
油漆和纸张看起来就像是男校用的。我的床头周围,我伸手够到的地方,以及房间另一边低处的一处地方,纸张都大片脱落了。我这辈子从没见过比这更糟糕的纸张了。
The paint and paper look as if a boys’ school had used it. It is stripped off — the paper — in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down. I never saw a worse paper in my life.
这些庞大而华丽的图案之一犯下了所有艺术上的罪孽。
One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.
它单调乏味,让人的眼睛在追随时感到困惑,它又明显到不断激起人们的厌烦和激发人们去研究,而当你沿着那些不确定的曲线走一小段距离时,它们会突然自杀——以离谱的角度冲下去,在前所未闻的矛盾中自我毁灭。
It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide — plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.
这种颜色令人厌恶,几乎令人作呕;它是一种阴燃的肮脏的黄色,在缓慢转动的阳光下奇怪地褪色。
The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.
在某些地方,它呈现一种暗淡而鲜艳的橙色,在其他地方,它呈现一种病态的硫磺色调。
It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.
难怪孩子们讨厌它!如果我必须长期住在这个房间里,我自己也会讨厌它。
No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long.
约翰来了,我必须把这个放下——他不想让我写一个字。
There comes John, and I must put this away, — he hates to have me write a word.
我们来这里已经两个星期了,从第一天起我就再也没有想过要写点东西。
We have been here two weeks, and I haven’t felt like writing before, since that first day.
现在我正坐在窗边,在这间糟糕的育儿室里,除了缺乏力气,没有什么可以妨碍我随心所欲地写作。
I am sitting by the window now, up in this atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing as much as I please, save lack of strength.
约翰整天都不在,当病情严重时,有时甚至要晚上外出。
John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.
我很高兴我的情况并不严重!
I am glad my case is not serious!
但这些神经问题却令人极其沮丧。
But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing.
约翰不知道我到底遭受了多少痛苦。他知道没有理由遭受痛苦,这让他很满意。
John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.
当然只是紧张而已。这确实让我很紧张,以至于无法尽到我的职责!
Of course it is only nervousness. It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way!
我本想给约翰提供真正的帮助和安慰,但现在我却成了他的负担!
I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!
没有人会相信,为了完成我力所能及的一点点事情——穿衣、招待客人、整理东西,需要付出多大的努力。
Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able, — to dress and entertain, and order things.
幸好玛丽对孩子这么好。真是个可爱的孩子!
It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby!
但我不能和他在一起,这让我很紧张。
And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous.
我想约翰一生中从来都不会紧张。他因为这张壁纸而嘲笑我!
I suppose John never was nervous in his life. He laughs at me so about this wallpaper!
起初他想重新给房间贴墙纸,但后来他说我被这件事冲昏了头脑,对于一个神经质的病人来说,没有什么比屈服于这种幻想更糟糕的了。
At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterward he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies.
他说换了墙纸之后,就会是沉重的床架,然后是装有栅栏的窗户,然后是楼梯口的门,等等。
He said that after the wallpaper was changed it would be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on.
“你知道这地方对你有好处,”他说,“而且说真的,亲爱的,我不想为了三个月的租金而装修房子。”
“You know the place is doing you good,” he said, “and really, dear, I don’t care to renovate the house just for a three months’ rental.”
“那我们就下楼去吧,”我说,“那里有非常漂亮的房间。”
“Then do let us go downstairs,” I said, “there are such pretty rooms there.”
然后他把我抱在怀里,叫我一只幸运的小鹅,还说如果我愿意的话,他可以到地下室去,把我的房子刷成白色。
Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down cellar, if I wished, and have it white-washed into the bargain.
但他关于床、窗户和其他东西的说法是相当正确的。
But he is right enough about the beds and windows and things.
这是一个通风且舒适的房间,正如任何人所希望的那样,当然,我不会傻到因为一时兴起而让他感到不舒服。
It is an airy and comfortable room as anyone need wish, and, of course, I would not be so silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim.
我真的越来越喜欢这个大房间了,除了那张可怕的纸。
I’m really getting quite fond of the big room, all but that horrid paper.
透过一扇窗户,我可以看到花园、那些神秘的浓荫凉亭、缤纷的古老花朵、灌木丛和粗糙的树木。
Out of one window I can see the garden, those mysterious deep-shaded arbors, the riotous old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees.
从另一边望出去,我可以看到海湾和庄园的私人小码头的美景。从房子那里延伸出一条美丽的林荫小路。我总是幻想看到人们在这些小径和凉亭中行走,但约翰告诫我不要幻想。他说,以我的想象力和编故事的习惯,像我这样的神经质弱点肯定会导致各种兴奋的幻想,我应该用我的意志和良好的判断力来抑制这种倾向。所以我试了试。
Out of another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.
我有时想,只要我身体好到能写一点儿,就能缓解思绪的压力,让我得到休息。
I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.
但我发现当我尝试的时候我会非常累。
But I find I get pretty tired when I try.
工作上得不到任何建议和陪伴,真是令人沮丧。当我真正康复时,约翰说我们会邀请亨利表哥和朱莉娅来长期拜访;但他说,他宁愿在我的枕头套里放烟花,也不愿让我现在就和那些令人振奋的人在一起。
It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work. When I get really well, John says we will ask Cousin Henry and Julia down for a long visit; but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now.
我希望我能快点康复。
I wish I could get well faster.
但我不能去想这些。在我看来,这份报纸似乎知道自己的影响有多么恶劣!
But I must not think about that. This paper looks to me as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!
有一个反复出现的地方,图案就像断掉的脖子一样耷拉着,两只凸出的眼睛倒挂着盯着你。
There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down.
我对它的无礼和永恒感到愤怒。它们上下左右爬行,那些荒谬的、不眨眼的眼睛无处不在。有一个地方,两个宽度不匹配,眼睛沿着线上下移动,一只眼睛比另一只眼睛高一点。
I get positively angry with the impertinence of it and the everlastingness. Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere. There is one place where two breadths didn’t match, and the eyes go all up and down the line, one a little higher than the other.
我以前从未见过无生命的东西有如此多的表情,我们都知道它们有多少表情!我小时候常常躺在床上睡不着觉,从空白的墙壁和朴素的家具中获得的乐趣和恐惧比大多数孩子在玩具店里找到的还要多。
I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have! I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy-store.
我记得我们那又大又旧的衣柜的把手曾经有过一种善意的眨眼,有一把椅子似乎总是像一个强大的朋友。
I remember what a kindly wink the knobs of our big, old bureau used to have, and there was one chair that always seemed like a strong friend.
我过去总觉得,如果其他任何东西看起来太凶猛,我总是可以跳到那把椅子上并且安全。
I used to feel that if any of the other things looked too fierce I could always hop into that chair and be safe.
然而,这个房间里的家具并不比不协调更糟糕,因为我们必须把所有东西都从楼下搬过来。我想,当这里被用作游戏室时,他们不得不把育儿用品搬出去,这也不足为奇!我从未见过孩子们在这里把这里弄得如此糟糕。
The furniture in this room is no worse than inharmonious, however, for we had to bring it all from downstairs. I suppose when this was used as a playroom they had to take the nursery things out, and no wonder! I never saw such ravages as the children have made here.
正如我之前所说,墙纸已被撕破了好几处,而且比兄弟之间还粘得更紧——他们一定既有毅力,又有仇恨。
The wallpaper, as I said before, is torn off in spots, and it sticketh closer than a brother — they must have had perseverance as well as hatred.
地板到处都是划痕、凹坑和裂痕,灰泥也到处被挖掉,我们在房间里发现的只有这张又大又重的床,看起来好像经历过战争。
Then the floor is scratched and gouged and splintered, the plaster itself is dug out here and there, and this great heavy bed, which is all we found in the room, looks as if it had been through the wars.
但我一点也不介意——只是那张纸而已。
But I don’t mind it a bit — only the paper.
约翰的妹妹来了。她真是个可爱的女孩,对我又那么关心!我可不能让她发现我在写信。
There comes John’s sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing.
她是一个完美而又热情的管家,她不希望有更好的职业。我确实相信她认为是写作让我感到恶心!
She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick!
但我可以在她外出时写作,并从这些窗户看到远处的她。
But I can write when she is out, and see her a long way off from these windows.
其中一条路可以俯瞰整条公路,是一条绿荫成荫的蜿蜒小路,还有一条路可以俯瞰整个乡村。乡村也很美丽,到处都是高大的榆树和柔软的草地。
There is one that commands the road, a lovely shaded winding road, and one that just looks off over the country. A lovely country, too, full of great elms and velvet meadows.
这种壁纸有一种不同色调的子图案,特别令人讨厌,因为你只能在特定的光线下才能看到它,而且看得不清楚。
This wallpaper has a kind of sub-pattern in a different shade, a particularly irritating one, for you can only see it in certain lights, and not clearly then.
但在那些没有褪色、阳光正好的地方,我能看到一种奇怪的、令人恼火的、无形的身影,似乎在那愚蠢而显眼的正面设计后面鬼鬼祟祟地徘徊。
But in the places where it isn’t faded and where the sun is just so — I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design.
楼梯上有姐姐!
There’s sister on the stairs!
好吧,七月四日已经过去了!人们都走了,我累坏了。约翰认为见见人可能会对我有好处,所以我们就让妈妈、内莉和孩子们在这里待了一个星期。
Well, the Fourth of July is over! The people are all gone and I am tired out. John thought it might do me good to see a little company, so we just had mother and Nellie and the children down for a week.
当然我什么也没做。现在珍妮负责一切。
Of course I didn’t do a thing. Jennie sees to everything now.
但它还是让我感到疲倦。
But it tired me all the same.
约翰说如果我不加快速度的话他就会在秋天把我送去威尔米切尔。
John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchella in the fall.
但我根本不想去那里。我有一个朋友曾经被他控制过,她说他就像约翰和我的兄弟一样,甚至更像!
But I don’t want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John and my brother, only more so!
此外,走这么远也是一件非常艰巨的任务。
Besides, it is such an undertaking to go so far.
我觉得似乎不值得为任何事情付出努力,我变得非常烦躁和抱怨。
I don’t feel as if it was worthwhile to turn my hand over for anything, and I’m getting dreadfully fretful and querulous.
我会无缘无故地哭泣,并且大多数时间都会哭泣。
I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time.
当然,当约翰在这里或其他任何人时,我不会这样做,但当我独自一人时,我不会这样做。
Of course I don’t when John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone.
现在我一个人待着。约翰经常因为严重的病例留在城里,珍妮很乖,只要我想,她就会让我一个人待着。
And I am alone a good deal just now. John is kept in town very often by serious cases, and Jennie is good and lets me alone when I want her to.
因此,我会在花园里或那条可爱的小路上散步,坐在玫瑰花丛下的门廊上,或者在这里躺下。
So I walk a little in the garden or down that lovely lane, sit on the porch under the roses, and lie down up here a good deal.
尽管贴了壁纸,我还是越来越喜欢这个房间了。也许是因为壁纸。
I’m getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper.
它就这么萦绕在我的脑海里!
It dwells in my mind so!
我躺在这张无法移动的大床上——我相信它是被钉死的——然后按照这个模式躺上几个小时。我向你保证,这就像体操一样好。我从底部开始,从那边没人碰过的角落开始,我第一千次下定决心,我要按照这个毫无意义的模式躺到某个地方。
I lie here on this great immovable bed — it is nailed down, I believe — and follow that pattern about by the hour. It is as good as gymnastics, I assure you. I start, we’ll say, at the bottom, down in the corner over there where it has not been touched, and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion.
我对设计原理略知一二,我知道这个东西不是按照任何辐射定律、交替定律、重复定律、对称定律或任何其他我听说过的定律排列的。
I know a little of the principle of design, and I know this thing was not arranged on any laws of radiation, or alternation, or repetition, or symmetry, or anything else that I ever heard of.
当然,它是通过宽度重复的,但不是其他方式。
It is repeated, of course, by the breadths, but not otherwise.
从一个角度看,每一面都是独立的,臃肿的曲线和华丽的装饰——一种带有震颤性谵妄的“堕落的罗马式建筑” ——在孤立的愚昧之柱中蹒跚而行。
Looked at in one way each breadth stands alone, the bloated curves and flourishes — a kind of “debased Romanesque” with delirium tremens — go waddling up and down in isolated columns of fatuity.
但另一方面,它们却是斜着连接的,蔓延的轮廓在巨大的斜波中奔腾而去,给人一种恐怖的视觉效果,就像一大群打滚的海草在追逐。
But, on the other hand, they connect diagonally, and the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing sea-weeds in full chase.
整个事物也是水平进行的,至少看起来是这样,我竭尽全力试图辨别它在那个方向进行的顺序。
The whole thing goes horizontally, too, at least it seems so, and I exhaust myself in trying to distinguish the order of its going in that direction.
他们使用水平宽度来表示饰带,这更加增添了混乱。
They have used a horizontal breadth for a frieze, and that adds wonderfully to the confusion.
房间的一端几乎完好无损,当十字光渐渐暗淡、低垂的太阳直射在那里时,我几乎可以想象到它终究还是辐射——无尽的怪诞景象似乎围绕着一个共同的中心形成,然后一头扎进同样令人分心的深渊。
There is one end of the room where it is almost intact, and there, when the crosslights fade and the low sun shines directly upon it, I can almost fancy radiation after all, — the interminable grotesques seem to form around a common centre and rush off in headlong plunges of equal distraction.
跟着它走让我很累。我想我会小睡一会儿。
It makes me tired to follow it. I will take a nap I guess.
我不知道为什么我应该写这个。
I don’t know why I should write this.
我不想。
I don’t want to.
我感觉我做不到。
I don’t feel able.
我知道约翰会认为这很荒谬。但我必须以某种方式说出我的感受和想法——这真是一种解脱!
And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way — it is such a relief!
但付出的努力比得到的救援更大。
But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief.
现在,我有一半的时间非常懒惰,经常躺着。
Half the time now I am awfully lazy, and lie down ever so much.
约翰说我不能失去体力,并让我服用鱼肝油和大量补品和其他东西,更不用说啤酒、葡萄酒和半熟肉了。
John says I mustn’t lose my strength, and has me take cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things, to say nothing of ale and wine and rare meat.
亲爱的约翰!他非常爱我,不想让我生病。前几天,我试图和他进行一次真诚、合理的谈话,告诉他我多么希望他能让我去拜访亨利表哥和朱莉娅。
Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia.
但他说我没法去,到了那里之后也无法忍受;而我也没有为自己提出很好的辩护,因为在我结束之前我就哭了。
But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished.
对我来说,要想理清思绪需要付出很大努力。我想,这只是因为我神经衰弱。
It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight. Just this nervous weakness I suppose.
亲爱的约翰将我抱在怀里,把我抱上楼,放在床上,坐在我身边给我读书,直到我头累了。
And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it tired my head.
他说我是他的宝贝、他的安慰、他的一切,为了他,我必须好好照顾自己,保持健康。
He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well.
他说除了我自己没有人可以帮助我摆脱这种困境,我必须运用我的意志和自制力,不要让任何愚蠢的幻想占据我心。
He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me.
有一点令人欣慰,那就是宝宝健康快乐,而且不必用可怕的墙纸占据这个育儿室。
There’s one comfort, the baby is well and happy, and does not have to occupy this nursery with the horrid wallpaper.
如果我们没有使用它,那个幸运的孩子就会被它困住!真是幸运的逃脱!为什么,我不会让我的孩子,一个易受影响的小东西,住在这样一个房间里。
If we had not used it, that blessed child would have! What a fortunate escape! Why, I wouldn’t have a child of mine, an impressionable little thing, live in such a room for worlds.
我以前从来没有想过这一点,但幸运的是约翰毕竟把我留在这里,你看,我比婴儿更容易忍受这一切。
I never thought of it before, but it is lucky that John kept me here after all, I can stand it so much easier than a baby, you see.
当然,我再也没有向他们提起过这件事——我太聪明了,但我仍然保持警惕。
Of course I never mention it to them any more — I am too wise, but I keep watch of it all the same.
墙纸上有些东西除了我之外没人知道,或者永远不会知道。
There are things in the wallpaper that nobody knows but me, or ever will.
在那外部模式背后,模糊的形状每天都变得越来越清晰。
Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day.
它的形状总是一样的,只是数量很多。
It is always the same shape, only very numerous.
这就像一个女人弯下腰,在那个图案后面爬行。我一点也不喜欢。我想知道——我开始想——我希望约翰能带我离开这里!
And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder — I begin to think — I wish John would take me away from here!
和约翰谈论我的情况非常困难,因为他非常聪明,而且他非常爱我。
It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so.
但我昨晚尝试过了。
But I tried it last night.
那是月光。月亮就像太阳一样照耀着四周。
It was moonlight. The moon shines in all around just as the sun does.
有时候我不愿看到它,它爬得很慢,而且总是从这扇窗户或那扇窗户进来。
I hate to see it sometimes, it creeps so slowly, and always comes in by one window or another.
约翰睡着了,我不想叫醒他,所以我保持静止,看着月光照在起伏的墙纸上,直到我感到毛骨悚然。
John was asleep and I hated to waken him, so I kept still and watched the moonlight on that undulating wallpaper till I felt creepy.
身后那淡淡的身影,仿佛晃动着花纹,想要出去一般。
The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out.
我轻轻地起身,去摸索那张纸是否动了,当我回来时,约翰已经醒了。
I got up softly and went to feel and see if the paper did move, and when I came back John was awake.
“怎么了,小姑娘?”他说。“别这样走来走去——你会着凉的。”
“What is it, little girl?” he said. “Don’t go walking about like that — you’ll get cold.”
我认为这是一个谈话的好时机,所以我告诉他我在这里确实没有收获,我希望他带我离开。
I thought it was a good time to talk, so I told him that I really was not gaining here, and that I wished he would take me away.
“哎呀,亲爱的!”他说道,“我们的租约还有三周就到期了,我实在想不出怎么才能提前离开。
“Why, darling!” said he, “our lease will be up in three weeks, and I can’t see how to leave before.
“修复工作不是在家里完成的,我现在也不可能离开城镇。当然,如果你有危险,我可以而且会离开,但你真的好多了,亲爱的,不管你是否能看出来。我是一名医生,亲爱的,我知道。你的皮肤和肤色都在增加,你的食欲也更好了,我真的对你感到放心多了。”
“The repairs are not done at home, and I cannot possibly leave town just now. Of course if you were in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better, I feel really much easier about you.”
“我的体重没有增加一点,”我说,“也没有增加那么多;而且当你在这里时,晚上我的胃口可能会更好,但当你不在时,早上我的胃口就更差了!”
“I don’t weigh a bit more,” said I, “nor as much; and my appetite may be better in the evening when you are here but it is worse in the morning when you are away!”
“祝福她!”他拥抱着她说道,“她想怎么病就怎么病!不过现在我们先去睡觉,好好利用这美好的时光,明天早上再谈吧!”
“Bless her little heart!” said he with a big hug, “she shall be as sick as she pleases! But now let’s improve the shining hours by going to sleep, and talk about it in the morning!”
“那你不走吗?”我郁闷地问道。
“And you won’t go away?” I asked gloomily.
“为什么,我怎么能这样呢,亲爱的?再过三个星期,我们就可以趁着珍妮收拾房子的时候去旅行几天了。亲爱的,你真的好多了!”
“Why, how can I, dear? It is only three weeks more and then we will take a nice little trip of a few days while Jennie is getting the house ready. Really dear you are better!”
“也许身体好些了——”我刚要开口,却突然停了下来,因为他坐直了身子,用严厉、责备的目光看着我,让我一句话也说不出来。
“Better in body perhaps —” I began, and stopped short, for he sat up straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say another word.
“亲爱的,”他说,“我恳求你,为了我,为了我们的孩子,也为了你自己,你一刻也不要让这个想法进入你的脑海!对于你这样的性格来说,没有什么比这更危险、更迷人的了。这是一种虚假而愚蠢的幻想。当我告诉你这些的时候,你能相信我这个医生吗?”
“My darling,” said he, “I beg you, for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind! There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you trust me as a physician when I tell you so?”
所以我当然不再提这件事了,我们很快就睡着了。他以为我先睡着了,但我没有,我躺在那里几个小时,试图确定前面的图案和后面的图案是一起移动还是分开移动。
So of course I said no more on that score, and we went to sleep before long. He thought I was asleep first, but I wasn’t, and lay there for hours trying to decide whether that front pattern and the back pattern really did move together or separately.
像这样的模式,在白天,缺乏顺序,违反规律,这对正常人来说是一种持续的刺激。
On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind.
它的颜色已经够丑陋、够不可靠、够让人愤怒了,但它的图案却让人感到折磨。
The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.
你以为自己已经掌握了它,但就在你开始跟进的时候,它却来了一个后空翻,把你打倒在地。它扇了你一巴掌,把你打倒在地,然后踩踏你。这就像一场噩梦。
You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.
外面的图案是华丽的蔓藤花纹,让人想起一种菌类。如果你能想象出一株蘑菇,一串无尽的蘑菇,在无尽的盘旋中发芽和发芽——为什么,这有点像它。
The outside pattern is a florid arabesque, reminding one of a fungus. If you can imagine a toadstool in joints, an interminable string of toadstools, budding and sprouting in endless convolutions — why, that is something like it.
也就是说,有时!
That is, sometimes!
这张纸有一个显著的特点,除了我之外似乎没人注意到,那就是它会随着光线的变化而变化。
There is one marked peculiarity about this paper, a thing nobody seems to notice but myself, and that is that it changes as the light changes.
当阳光从东边的窗户射进来时——我总是等待那第一缕长而直的阳光——它变化得如此之快,我简直不敢相信。
When the sun shoots in through the east window — I always watch for that first long, straight ray — it changes so quickly that I never can quite believe it.
这就是我一直观看它的原因。
That is why I watch it always.
在月光下 — — 有月亮的时候,月亮会整夜照耀 — — 我不会知道这是同一张纸。
By moonlight — the moon shines in all night when there is a moon — I wouldn’t know it was the same paper.
晚上,在任何光线下,黄昏、烛光、灯光,甚至最糟糕的是月光下,它都变成了酒吧!我指的是外面的图案,以及它背后的女人,都是再明显不过的了。
At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be.
我很长时间都没能弄清楚那后面显露的是什么,那个暗淡的子图案,但现在我很确定那是一个女人。
I didn’t realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman.
白天她很安静,很柔和。我想是这种模式让她如此安静。这太令人费解了。这让我每小时都保持安静。
By daylight she is subdued, quiet. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still. It is so puzzling. It keeps me quiet by the hour.
我现在经常躺着。约翰说这对我有好处,可以让我尽可能多地睡觉。
I lie down ever so much now. John says it is good for me, and to sleep all I can.
事实上,他让我在每次饭后躺一个小时,从而养成了这个习惯。
Indeed he started the habit by making me lie down for an hour after each meal.
我确信这是一个非常坏的习惯,因为你看我不睡觉。
It is a very bad habit I am convinced, for you see I don’t sleep.
这会滋生欺骗,因为我不会告诉他们我醒了——哦,不!
And that cultivates deceit, for I don’t tell them I’m awake — O, no!
事实上我开始有点怕约翰了。
The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John.
他有时显得非常古怪,就连珍妮也露出了莫名其妙的表情。
He seems very queer sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable look.
我偶尔会想到,就像一个科学假设一样——也许它就是这篇论文!
It strikes me occasionally, just as a scientific hypothesis, — that perhaps it is the paper!
我曾观察过约翰,当时他不知道我在看他,然后突然以最无辜的借口走进房间,我发现他好几次都在看报纸!还有珍妮。有一次我发现珍妮把手放在报纸上。
I have watched John when he did not know I was looking, and come into the room suddenly on the most innocent excuses, and I’ve caught him several times looking at the paper! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie with her hand on it once.
她不知道我在房间里,当我用非常平静的声音,尽可能克制地问她拿着纸干什么时——她转过身去,好像被抓到偷东西一样,看起来非常生气——问我为什么要这么吓唬她!
She didn’t know I was in the room, and when I asked her in a quiet, a very quiet voice, with the most restrained manner possible, what she was doing with the paper — she turned around as if she had been caught stealing, and looked quite angry — asked me why I should frighten her so!
然后她说纸弄脏了碰到的所有东西,她在我和约翰的衣服上都发现了黄色的痕迹,她希望我们能更加小心!
Then she said that the paper stained everything it touched, that she had found yellow smooches on all my clothes and John’s, and she wished we would be more careful!
这听起来不是很无辜吗?但我知道她在研究那个图案,我决心不让任何人发现,除了我!
Did not that sound innocent? But I know she was studying that pattern, and I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself!
现在的生活比以前更加精彩。你看,我有更多的事情可以期待、可以期盼、可以观看。我确实吃得更好,也比以前更安静了。
Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. You see I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch. I really do eat better, and am more quiet than I was.
约翰很高兴看到我的进步!前几天他笑了笑,说尽管贴了壁纸,但我似乎还是进步很大。
John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seemed to be flourishing in spite of my wallpaper.
我笑着关掉了电视。我没打算告诉他是因为墙纸——他会取笑我的。他甚至可能想把我带走。
I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intention of telling him it was because of the wallpaper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.
我还不想现在就离开,直到我找到答案为止。还有一个星期,我想那已经足够了。
I don’t want to leave now until I have found it out. There is a week more, and I think that will be enough.
我感觉好多了!我晚上睡得不多,因为观察事情的发展很有趣;但我白天睡得很多。
I’m feeling ever so much better! I don’t sleep much at night, for it is so interesting to watch developments; but I sleep a good deal in the daytime.
白天的时候,这令人疲倦和困惑。
In the daytime it is tiresome and perplexing.
菌类上总是会长出新芽,而且到处都会出现新的黄色。虽然我尽了最大的努力,但我还是数不清有多少新芽。
There are always new shoots on the fungus, and new shades of yellow all over it. I cannot keep count of them, though I have tried conscientiously.
墙纸的黄色真是奇怪!它让我想起我见过的所有黄色的东西——不是像毛茛一样美丽的黄色,而是陈旧、肮脏的黄色。
It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw — not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.
但那张纸还有另外一个问题——气味!我们一进房间我就闻到了气味,不过空气清新,阳光充足,所以气味并不难闻。现在我们已经经历了一周的雾雨天气,无论窗户是否打开,气味都弥漫在我们身上。
But there is something else about that paper — the smell! I noticed it the moment we came into the room, but with so much air and sun it was not bad. Now we have had a week of fog and rain, and whether the windows are open or not, the smell is here.
它爬遍了整个房子。
It creeps all over the house.
我发现它在餐厅里徘徊,在客厅里鬼鬼祟祟,在大厅里躲藏,在楼梯上等着我。
I find it hovering in the dining-room, skulking in the parlor, hiding in the hall, lying in wait for me on the stairs.
它进入我的头发。
It gets into my hair.
甚至当我去骑行的时候,如果我突然转过头并吓到它——就会有那种气味!
Even when I go to ride, if I turn my head suddenly and surprise it — there is that smell!
还有这么奇怪的气味!我花了好几个小时试图分析它,想知道它闻起来是什么味道。
Such a peculiar odor, too! I have spent hours in trying to analyze it, to find what it smelled like.
味道还不错——一开始很温和,但这是我闻过的最微妙、最持久的气味。
It is not bad — at first, and very gentle, but quite the subtlest, most enduring odor I ever met.
这种潮湿的天气真是糟糕透了,我半夜醒来,发现它笼罩着我。
In this damp weather it is awful, I wake up in the night and find it hanging over me.
一开始,我对此感到很困扰。我曾认真想过要烧掉房子,以便闻到那股气味。
It used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of burning the house — to reach the smell.
但现在我已经习惯了。我能想到的唯一感觉就是纸张的颜色!一股黄色的味道。
But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell.
这面墙上有一个很有趣的痕迹,低处,靠近拖把板。一条痕迹绕着房间一圈。除了床之外,它延伸到每件家具的后面,一条长而直的痕迹,均匀的痕迹,好像被反复摩擦过一样。
There is a very funny mark on this wall, low down, near the mopboard. A streak that runs round the room. It goes behind every piece of furniture, except the bed, a long, straight, even smooch, as if it had been rubbed over and over.
我不知道这是怎么做的,是谁做的,他们这么做是为了什么。一圈又一圈——一圈又一圈——让我头晕目眩!
I wonder how it was done and who did it, and what they did it for. Round and round and round — round and round and round — it makes me dizzy!
我终于确实发现了一些东西。
I really have discovered something at last.
通过晚上的观察,当它发生如此大的变化时,我终于发现了。
Through watching so much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out.
前面的图案确实在动 — 这也不足为奇!后面的女人在摇晃它!
The front pattern does move — and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!
有时我觉得后面有很多女人,有时只有一个,她爬得很快,她的爬动把一切都震动了。
Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.
然后在非常明亮的地方她保持静止,而在非常阴暗的地方她只是抓住栅栏并用力摇晃它们。
Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.
她一直在努力爬过去。但没人能爬过那个图案——它太难缠了;我想这就是它有那么多头的原因。
And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern — it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.
他们通过了,然后图案将他们勒死,并将他们颠倒过来,并使他们的眼睛变成白色的!
They get through, and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down, and makes their eyes white!
如果那些头被遮住或者被拿掉,情况就不会那么糟糕了。
If those heads were covered or taken off it would not be half so bad.
我认为那个女人是在白天出去的!
I think that woman gets out in the daytime!
我会告诉你为什么我私下里见过她!
And I’ll tell you why — privately — I’ve seen her!
我从每扇窗户都能看到她!
I can see her out of every one of my windows!
我知道,这是同一个女人,因为她总是在爬行,而大多数女人不会在白天爬行。
It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight.
我看见她在那条长长的林荫小道上爬来爬去。我看见她在那片漆黑的葡萄架上爬遍了整个花园。
I see her in that long shaded lane, creeping up and down. I see her in those dark grape arbors, creeping all around the garden.
我看见她在那条树下的长路上缓慢地行走,当马车经过时,她就躲在黑莓藤蔓下。
I see her on that long road under the trees, creeping along, and when a carriage comes she hides under the blackberry vines.
我一点也不怪她。在大白天偷偷摸摸被发现一定很丢脸!
I don’t blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to be caught creeping by daylight!
我白天偷偷溜过去的时候总是会锁门。晚上就不能锁门了,因为我知道约翰会立刻怀疑什么的。
I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can’t do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.
约翰现在太古怪了,我不想惹他生气。我希望他能换个房间!此外,除了我之外,我不想让任何人在晚上把那个女人赶出去。
And John is so queer now, that I don’t want to irritate him. I wish he would take another room! Besides, I don’t want anybody to get that woman out at night but myself.
我经常想我是否可以同时从所有窗户看到她。
I often wonder if I could see her out of all the windows at once.
但是,无论我多么快速地转身,我一次也只能看到一个。
But, turn as fast as I can, I can only see out of one at one time.
尽管我总是看见她,但她爬得可能比我转身还快!
And though I always see her, she may be able to creep faster than I can turn!
我有时会在空旷的乡村里看着她快速爬行,就像大风中的云影一样。
I have watched her sometimes away off in the open country, creeping as fast as a cloud shadow in a high wind.
如果能把上面的图案从下面的图案中分离出来就好了!我打算一点一点地尝试。
If only that top pattern could be gotten off from the under one! I mean to try it, little by little.
我又发现了一件有趣的事,但这次我不会说出来!太相信别人是不对的。
I have found out another funny thing, but I shan’t tell it this time! It does not do to trust people too much.
距离这篇论文发表只剩两天了,我相信约翰已经开始注意到了。我不喜欢他眼里的神情。
There are only two more days to get this paper off, and I believe John is beginning to notice. I don’t like the look in his eyes.
我听到他问了珍妮很多关于我的专业问题。她的报告非常好。
And I heard him ask Jennie a lot of professional questions, about me. She had a very good report to give.
她说我白天睡得很多。
She said I slept a good deal in the daytime.
约翰知道我晚上睡得不好,尽管我很安静!
John knows I don’t sleep very well at night, for all I’m so quiet!
他也问了我各种各样的问题,假装非常有爱心和善良。
He asked me all sorts of questions too, and pretended to be very loving and kind.
仿佛我看不透他似的!
As if I couldn’t see through him!
尽管如此,我并不奇怪他为什么会这样做,因为他已经在这份报纸下睡了三个月了。
Still, I don’t wonder he acts so, sleeping under this paper for three months.
这不仅引起了我的兴趣,但我确信约翰和珍妮也暗中受到了影响。
It only interests me, but I feel sure John and Jennie are secretly affected by it.
好极了!这是最后一天了,但已经足够了。约翰将在城里过夜,直到今天晚上才会离开。
Hurrah! This is the last day, but it is enough. John is to stay in town over night, and won’t be out until this evening.
珍妮想和我一起睡——真是狡猾!但我告诉她,我一个人睡一晚无疑会休息得更好。
Jennie wanted to sleep with me — the sly thing! But I told her I should undoubtedly rest better for a night all alone.
这很聪明,因为实际上我一点也不孤单!当月光一照下,那可怜的东西开始爬行并摇晃图案时,我站起来跑去帮助她。
That was clever, for really I wasn’t alone a bit! As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her.
我拉,她摇,我摇,她拉,还没到早上,我们就把那层纸撕掉了好几码。
I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper.
这条长条大约和我的头一样高,围绕着房间一半。
A strip about as high as my head and half around the room.
然后,当太阳升起,那个可怕的图案开始嘲笑我时,我宣布我今天要完成它!
And then when the sun came and that awful pattern began to laugh at me, I declared I would finish it to-day!
我们明天就要走了,他们会把我所有的家具都搬走,让一切保持原样。
We go away to-morrow, and they are moving all my furniture down again to leave things as they were before.
珍妮惊讶地看着墙,但我高兴地告诉她,我这样做纯粹是出于对这恶毒东西的怨恨。
Jennie looked at the wall in amazement, but I told her merrily that I did it out of pure spite at the vicious thing.
她笑着说她不介意自己做,但是我不能累。
She laughed and said she wouldn’t mind doing it herself, but I must not get tired.
这次她真是背叛了自己!
How she betrayed herself that time!
但是我在这里,除了我之外没有人碰过这张纸——没有活着的人!
But I am here, and no person touches this paper but me, — not alive!
她试图把我赶出房间——这太明显了!但我说现在房间很安静、空旷、干净,我相信我会再次躺下,尽情睡觉,甚至在吃晚饭时也不要叫醒我——我醒来时会叫醒我。
She tried to get me out of the room — it was too patent! But I said it was so quiet and empty and clean now that I believed I would lie down again and sleep all I could, and not to wake me even for dinner — I would call when I woke.
现在她走了,仆人也走了,东西也走了,除了那张钉牢的大床架和我们在它上面找到的帆布床垫外,什么都没有留下。
So now she is gone, and the servants are gone, and the things are gone, and there is nothing left but that great bedstead nailed down, with the canvas mattress we found on it.
我们今晚就在楼下睡觉,明天乘船回家。
We shall sleep downstairs to-night, and take the boat home to-morrow.
我很喜欢这个房间,现在它又空了。
I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again.
那些孩子在这里哭得多么伤心啊!
How those children did tear about here!
这床架已经被啃坏了!
This bedstead is fairly gnawed!
但我必须去工作了。
But I must get to work.
我锁上了门,并把钥匙扔到了前路上。
I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path.
在约翰来之前,我不想出去,也不想让任何人进来。
I don’t want to go out, and I don’t want to have anybody come in, till John comes.
我想让他大吃一惊。
I want to astonish him.
我这里有一根绳子,连珍妮都没找到。如果那个女人真的出来了,并试图逃跑,我可以绑住她!
I’ve got a rope up here that even Jennie did not find. If that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie her!
但是我忘了如果没有任何东西可以站立的话我就走不了多远!
But I forgot I could not reach far without anything to stand on!
这张床不动!
This bed will not move!
我试图将它抬起并推,直到我跛脚,然后我非常生气,我咬掉了一个角上的一小块——但它伤了我的牙齿。
I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner — but it hurt my teeth.
然后我站在地板上,把能拿到的所有纸都撕掉。纸粘得很厉害,图案却很讨喜!那些被勒死的头、鼓鼓的眼睛和蹒跚而行的真菌生长物都发出嘲笑的尖叫声!
Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!
我快要气疯了,想做点绝望的事。从窗户跳出去是件值得称赞的事,但栏杆太结实了,根本没法试。
I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try.
此外,我不会这么做。当然不会。我很清楚,这样的举动是不恰当的,而且可能会被误解。
Besides I wouldn’t do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued.
我甚至不喜欢向窗外看——那些鬼鬼祟祟的女人太多了,而且她们爬得太快了。
I don’t like to look out of the windows even — there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast.
我想知道他们是否都像我一样从那张墙纸里出来了?
I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?
但现在我已被那根隐藏得很好的绳子牢牢绑住了——你别想把我赶出这条路!
But I am securely fastened now by my well-hidden rope — you don’t get me out in the road there!
我想,到了晚上,我就得回到原来的位置,这很难!
I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!
能在这个宽敞的房间里随心所欲地爬来爬去真是太愉快了!
It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!
我不想出去。即使 Jennie 要求我出去,我也不会出去。
I don’t want to go outside. I won’t, even if Jennie asks me to.
因为在外面你必须在地上爬行,而且一切都是绿色的而不是黄色的。
For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow.
但在这里,我可以在地板上平稳地爬行,我的肩膀刚好能贴近墙壁的那条长缝,所以我不会迷路。
But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way.
哎呀,约翰就在门口!
Why, there’s John at the door!
没用的,年轻人,你打不开!
It is no use, young man, you can’t open it!
他是如何呼叫和敲击的!
How he does call and pound!
现在他哭着要一把斧头。
Now he’s crying for an axe.
把那扇美丽的门砸坏了真是太可惜了!
It would be a shame to break down that beautiful door!
“约翰,亲爱的!”我用最温柔的声音说道,“钥匙就在前门台阶下,一片芭蕉叶下面!”
“John dear!” said I in the gentlest voice, “the key is down by the front steps, under a plantain leaf!”
这让他沉默了片刻。
That silenced him for a few moments.
然后他非常平静地说道:“开门,亲爱的!”
Then he said — very quietly indeed, “Open the door, my darling!”
“我不能,”我说道。“钥匙就在前门的一片芭蕉叶下面!”
“I can’t,” said I. “The key is down by the front door under a plantain leaf!”
然后我又说了好几遍,非常温柔、缓慢,说了这么多遍,他不得不过去看看,当然他明白了,然后走了进来。他在门口停了下来。
And then I said it again, several times, very gently and slowly, and said it so often that he had to go and see, and he got it of course, and came in. He stopped short by the door.
“发生什么事了?”他大叫道。“看在上帝的份上,你在干什么!”
“What is the matter?” he cried. “For God’s sake, what are you doing!”
我继续匍匐前进,但我回头看着他。
I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder.
“我终于出来了,”我说,“尽管你和简不听我的劝告。我已经撕掉了大部分纸,所以你不能再把我放回去了!”
“I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”
那人为什么会晕过去呢?但他确实晕过去了,而且就在我靠墙的地方,所以我每次都得从他身上爬过去!
Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!
[1892年]
[1892]
a韦尔·米切尔:S. 韦尔·米切尔医生 (1829-1914) 是一位美国神经学家和作家,他提倡使用“休息疗法”治疗神经疾病。
aWeir Mitchell: Dr. S. Weir Mitchell (1829–1914) was an American neurologist and author who advocated “rest cures” for nervous illnesses.
[1865–1914]
[1865–1914]
“看,小家伙——清晨阳光下的山丘。那里是你未来几年的家。那里非常美丽,你在那里会非常快乐。”
“See, Little One — the hills in the morning sun. There is thy home for years to come. It is very beautiful and thou wilt be very happy there.”
小家伙满怀信心地抬头看着妈妈的脸。他正愉快地吮吸着糖果;但这并没有阻止他发出咕噜咕噜的声音。
The Little One looked up into his mother’s face in perfect faith. He was engaged in the pleasant occupation of sucking a sweetmeat;a but that did not prevent him from gurgling responsively.
“是的,我的橄榄花蕾;你的父亲正在为你发财。你的父亲!噢,你不会高兴看到他可爱的脸吗?我是为了你才离开他的。”
“Yes, my olive bud; there is where thy father is making a fortune for thee. Thy father! Oh, wilt thou not be glad to behold his dear face. ’Twas for thee I left him.”
小家伙同情地把下巴靠在妈妈的膝盖上。妈妈把他抱到腿上。他两岁了,是个圆圆的、脸上有酒窝的男孩,有着明亮的棕色眼睛和结实的小身材。
The Little One ducked his chin sympathetically against his mother’s knee. She lifted him on to her lap. He was two years old, a round, dimple-cheeked boy with bright brown eyes and a sturdy little frame.
“啊!啊!啊!哦!哦!哦!”他喘着粗气,嘲笑着驶过的拖船。
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!” puffed he, mocking a tugboat steaming by.
旧金山的海滨停满了轮船和船只,而其他大大小小的船只,包括几艘来自菲律宾的白色运输船,也停泊在离岸的各处。东方女王号花了好一会儿才靠岸,即使靠岸后,一位在码头上等了一个小时的中国人也被帽子上写着 USC 首字母的男人拦住了更长时间,才得以登上轮船迎接他的妻子和孩子。
San Francisco’s waterfront was lined with ships and steamers, while other craft, large and small, including a couple of white transports from the Philippines, lay at anchor here and there off shore. It was some time before the Eastern Queen could get docked, and even after that was accomplished, a lone Chinaman who had been waiting on the wharf for an hour was detained that much longer by men with the initials U.S.C. on their caps, before he could board the steamer and welcome his wife and child.
“这是你的儿子,”Lae Choo高兴地宣布道。
“This is thy son,” announced the happy Lae Choo.
霍姆兴抱起孩子,摸了摸他的小身体和四肢,用自豪而喜悦的眼神凝视着他的脸;然后转身询问地看着身边的一名海关官员。
Hom Hing lifted the child, felt of his little body and limbs, gazed into his face with proud and joyous eyes; then turned inquiringly to a customs officer at his elbow.
“你家孩子真棒,”男人说道。“他出生在哪儿?”
“That’s a fine boy you have there,” said the man. “Where was he born?”
“在中国,”霍姆兴回答道,他把小家伙扛在右肩上,准备把妻子带下船。
“In China,” answered Hom Hing, swinging the Little One on his right shoulder, preparatory to leading his wife off the steamer.
“以前去过美国吗?”
“Ever been to America before?”
“不,他不是,”父亲开心地笑着回答。
“No, not he,” answered the father with a happy laugh.
海关官员向另一名官员招手。
The customs officer beckoned to another.
他说:“这个小家伙这是第一次来美国。”
“This little fellow,” said he, “is visiting America for the first time.”
另一名海关官员若有所思地摸着下巴。
The other customs officer stroked his chin reflectively.
“你好,”霍姆兴说道。
“Good day,” said Hom Hing.
“等一下!”一名警官命令道。“你还不能走。”
“Wait!” commanded one of the officers. “You cannot go just yet.”
“现在还有什么?”霍姆兴问。
“What more now?” asked Hom Hing.
“恐怕我们不能让这个男孩上岸,”海关官员说道。“你给我们看的文件——你妻子的文件和你自己的文件——都与这个孩子没有任何关系。”
“I’m afraid,” said the customs officer, “that we cannot allow the boy to go ashore. There is nothing in the papers that you have shown us — your wife’s papers and your own — having any bearing upon the child.”
“文件上写着,孩子还没出生,”霍姆·辛回答道。他语气平静,但眼神里流露出担忧,他紧紧抱住儿子。
“There was no child when the papers were made out,” returned Hom Hing. He spoke calmly; but there was apprehension in his eyes and in his tightening grip on his son.
“什么事?什么事?”Lae Choo 颤抖着问道,他懂一点英语。
“What is it? What is it?” quavered Lae Choo, who understood a little English.
第二位海关官员怜悯地望着她。
The second customs officer regarded her pityingly.
他嘀咕道:“我不喜欢这部分业务。”
“I don’t like this part of the business,” he muttered.
副驾驶转向霍姆兴,用官方的语气说道:
The first officer turned to Hom Hing and in an official tone of voice, said:
“鉴于这个男孩没有允许他进入这个国家的证书,你只能把他留给我们了。”
“Seeing that the boy has no certificate entitling him to admission to this country you will have to leave him with us.”
“放开我的孩子!”霍兴大叫道。
“Leave my boy!” exclaimed Hom Hing.
“是的,我们会好好照顾他的,只要华盛顿的消息一到,我们就会把他交给你。”
“Yes; he will be well taken care of, and just as soon as we can hear from Washington he will be handed over to you.”
“但是,”霍姆兴辩解道,“他是我的儿子。”
“But,” protested Hom Hing, “he is my son.”
“我们没有证据,”那人耸耸肩回答道,“即使有,如果没有政府的命令,我们也不能让他通过。”
“We have no proof,” answered the man with a shrug of his shoulders; “and even if so we cannot let him pass without orders from the Government.”
“他是我的儿子,”霍姆·兴缓慢而庄严地重复道。“我是一个中国商人,在旧金山做生意很多年了。一天早上,我妻子告诉我,她梦见一棵绿树,枝条茂密,上面长着一朵美丽的红花,我回答她说,我希望我的儿子出生在我们的国家,并希望她准备去中国。我妻子满足了我的愿望。儿子出生后,我母亲病了,我妻子照顾她;然后我父亲也病了,我妻子也照顾他。二十个月来,我的妻子照顾老人,他们去世后,他们祝福她和我的儿子,我派人去接她回来。我不怕麻烦。我是一个中国商人,我的儿子就是我的儿子。”
“He is my son,” reiterated Hom Hing, slowly and solemnly. “I am a Chinese merchant and have been in business in San Francisco for many years. When my wife told to me one morning that she dreamed of a green tree with spreading branches and one beautiful red flower growing thereon, I answered her that I wished my son to be born in our country, and for her to prepare to go to China. My wife complied with my wish. After my son was born my mother fell sick and my wife nursed and cared for her; then my father, too, fell sick, and my wife also nursed and cared for him. For twenty moons my wife care for and nurse the old people, and when they die they bless her and my son, and I send for her to return to me. I had no fear of trouble. I was a Chinese merchant and my son was my son.”
“很好,霍姆·兴,”大副回答道。“不过,我们还是带走你的儿子。”
“Very good, Hom Hing,” replied the first officer. “Nevertheless, we take your son.”
“不,你不能带走他;他也是我的儿子。”
“No, you not take him; he my son too.”
是 Lae Choo。她从父亲的怀里抢过孩子,用自己的手臂盖住他。
It was Lae Choo. Snatching the child from his father’s arms she held and covered him with her own.
警官们在一起商议了一会儿,然后其中一人把霍姆兴拉到一边,在他耳边说了些什么。
The officers conferred together for a few moments; then one drew Hom Hing aside and spoke in his ear.
霍姆兴无奈地低下头,然后走到妻子面前。“这是规定,”他用中文说道,“而且这只是暂时的——直到明天的太阳升起。”
Resignedly Hom Hing bowed his head, then approached his wife. “ ’Tis the law,” said he, speaking in Chinese, “and ’twill be but for a little while — until tomorrow’s sun arises.”
“你也是,”莱楚用痛苦的语气责备道。但她已经习惯了服从,于是把孩子交给了丈夫,丈夫又把孩子交给了大副。小家伙强烈抗议这种转移;但他的母亲用袖子捂住了脸,他的父亲默默地把她带走了。这就是国家法律的遵守。
“You, too,” reproached Lae Choo in a voice eloquent with pain. But accustomed to obedience she yielded the boy to her husband, who in turn delivered him to the first officer. The Little One protested lustily against the transfer; but his mother covered her face with her sleeve and his father silently led her away. Thus was the law of the land complied with.
甜食:一块糖果。
aSweetmeat: A piece of candy.
天亮了。一夜未眠的Lae Choo穿好衣服,然后叫醒了丈夫。
Day was breaking. Lae Choo, who had been awake all night, dressed herself, then awoke her husband.
“天亮了,”她喊道。“快去,把我们的儿子带过来。”
“ ’Tis the morn,” she cried. “Go, bring our son.”
男人揉了揉眼睛,用手肘撑起身子,看向窗外。天空中可见一颗苍白的星星。窗台上的碗里有一朵百合花,花瓣展开。
The man rubbed his eyes and arose upon his elbow so that he could see out of the window. A pale star was visible in the sky. The petals of a lily in a bowl on the windowsill were unfurled.
“现在还不是时候,”他说道,又低下了头。
“ ’Tis not yet time,” said he, laying his head down again.
“时间还不是时候。啊,我昨天之前所度过的时间还不及我的小宝贝被夺走之后所度过的时间。”
“Not yet time. Ah, all the time that I lived before yesterday is not so much as the time that has been since my Little One was taken from me.”
母亲扑倒在床边,捂住了脸。
The mother threw herself down beside the bed and covered her face.
霍姆兴打开灯,用同情的手触摸妻子低下的头,询问她是否睡着了。
Hom Hing turned on the light, and touching his wife’s bowed head with a sympathetic hand inquired if she had slept.
“睡着了!”她哭着重复道。“啊,二十多个月以来,我每晚都抱着那个小家伙,可我怎么能闭上眼睛呢?你不知道——老兄——怀念你小家伙的小手指、小脚趾和柔软圆润的四肢是一种什么样的感觉。即使在黑暗中,他那双可爱的眼睛也常常向我发光,我常常听着他悦耳的咿呀声进入梦乡。而现在,我看不见他,摸不到他,听不到他的声音。我的宝贝,我的小胖妞!”
“Slept!” she echoed, weepingly. “Ah, how could I close my eyes with my arms empty of the little body that has filled them every night for more than twenty moons! You do not know — man — what it is to miss the feel of the little fingers and the little toes and the soft round limbs of your little one. Even in the darkness his darling eyes used to shine up to mine, and often have I fallen into slumber with his pretty babble at my ear. And now, I see him not; I touch him not; I hear him not. My baby, my little fat one!”
“现在!现在!现在!”霍姆·兴安慰道,并拍拍妻子的肩膀,安慰道,“没必要这么伤心;他很快就会让你高兴起来。没有任何法律可以阻止孩子与母亲分离!”
“Now! Now! Now!” consoled Hom Hing, patting his wife’s shoulder reassuringly; “there is no need to grieve so; he will soon gladden you again. There cannot be any law that would keep a child from its mother!”
Lae Choo 擦干了眼泪。
Lae Choo dried her tears.
“你说得对,我的丈夫,”她温顺地低声说。她站起身,在房间里走来走去,把东西收拾好。她为加州朋友带来的礼物盒在前一天晚上被打开了;丝绸、刺绣、象牙雕刻品、装饰漆器、黄铜制品、樟木盒、扇子和瓷器乱七八糟地散落在四周。在拆包裹的时候,她一想到自己的孩子会落入陌生人的手中,就忍不住哭了起来,她放下一切,爬到床上哭了起来。
“You are right, my husband,” she meekly murmured. She arose and stepped about the apartment, setting things to rights. The box of presents she had brought for her California friends had been opened the evening before; and silks, embroideries, carved ivories, ornamental laccquer-ware, brasses, camphorwood boxes, fans, and chinaware were scattered around in confused heaps. In the midst of unpacking the thought of her child in the hands of strangers had overpowered her, and she had left everything to crawl into bed and weep.
她把礼物整理好后,走到深深的阳台上。
Having arranged her gifts in order she stepped out on to the deep balcony.
那颗星星已从视野中消失,西边的天空中出现了一道明亮的光带。莱楚望着街道和四周。她和丈夫住的公寓楼下是一些单身中国人的住处,她站在那儿,可以听见他们吃早餐的动静。他们的餐厅楼下是她丈夫的杂货店。对面是一家大餐馆。昨晚,餐馆里挂满了色彩鲜艳的灯笼,音乐声此起彼伏。昆桑的长子“满月”的庆祝活动持续了很长时间,声音也很大,她不得不用手帕蒙住耳朵。她是一位失去孩子的母亲,心里不想和其他父母一起庆祝。今天早上,这个地方更符合她的心情。这里静悄悄的。狂欢的人要么散了,要么睡着了。
The star had faded from view and there were bright streaks in the western sky. Lae Choo looked down the street and around. Beneath the flat occupied by her and her husband were quarters for a number of bachelor Chinamen, and she could hear them from where she stood, taking their early morning breakfast. Below their dining-room was her husband’s grocery store. Across the way was a large restaurant. Last night it had been resplendent with gay colored lanterns and the sound of music. The rejoicings over “the completion of the moon,” by Quong Sum’s firstborn, had been long and loud, and had caused her to tie a handkerchief over her ears. She, a bereaved mother, had it not in her heart to rejoice with other parents. This morning the place was more in accord with her mood. It was still and quiet. The revellers had dispersed or were asleep.
一位身材矮胖、身穿黑色缎布衣服、耳朵上戴着长耳环的女人从下面的街道上抬起头来,微笑着向她挥手致意。她是她的老邻居,金箔雕刻师马克·辛的妻子奎荷。她身边还有一个穿着黄色夹克和淡紫色长裤的小男孩。莱楚记得他还是个婴儿。在她还没有孩子的时候,她喜欢和他一起玩。那似乎是很久以前的事了!她叹了口气,屏住了呼吸,笑了起来。
A roly-poly woman in black sateen, with long pendant earrings in her ears, looked up from the street below and waved her a smiling greeting. It was her old neighbor, Kuie Hoe, the wife of the gold embosser, Mark Sing. With her was a little boy in yellow jacket and lavender pantaloons. Lae Choo remembered him as a baby. She used to like to play with him in those days when she had no child of her own. What a long time ago that seemed! She caught her breath in a sigh, and laughed instead.
“你为什么这么高兴?”她的丈夫在里面喊道。
“Why are you so merry?” called her husband from within.
“因为我的小宝贝要回家了,”Lae Choo 回答道。“我是一个幸福的母亲——一个幸福的母亲。”
“Because my Little One is coming home,” answered Lae Choo. “I am a happy mother — a happy mother.”
她面带微笑,轻轻地走进房间。
She pattered into the room with a smile on her face.
中午到了。米饭在碗里热气腾腾,一盘香喷喷的鸡肉和竹笋正等着霍姆兴。莱珠在上午的时间里一刻也没有停下来休息过;她一直忙个不停。不过,她不时地抬头看看壁炉架上雕刻精美的镀金时钟。有一次,她惊呼道:
The noon hour had arrived. The rice was steaming in the bowls and a fragrant dish of chicken and bamboo shoots was awaiting Hom Hing. Not for one moment had Lae Choo paused to rest during the morning hours; her activity had been ceaseless. Every now and again, however, she had raised her eyes to the gilded clock on the curiously carved mantelpiece. Once, she had exclaimed:
“为什么这么久,哦!为什么这么久?”然后,她自言自语道:“Lae Choo,要开心。小家伙要来了!小家伙要来了!”她几次放声大哭,几次放声大笑。
“Why so long, oh! why so long?” Then, apostrophizing herself: “Lae Choo, be happy. The Little One is coming! The Little One is coming!” Several times she burst into tears, and several times she laughed aloud.
霍姆兴走进房间,双手垂在身侧。
Hom Hing entered the room; his arms hung down by his side.
“小家伙!”Lae Choo 尖叫道。
“The Little One!” shrieked Lae Choo.
“他们叫我明天打电话。”
“They bid me call tomorrow.”
母亲呻吟一声,倒在了地上。
With a moan the mother sank to the floor.
中午已经过去,晚餐还留在桌上。
The noon hour passed. The dinner remained on the table.
冬雨已经结束,春天来到加利福尼亚,山峦上绿意盎然,百花争艳。但莱楚的心里却没有春天,因为小家伙还不在她的怀抱里。他被留在一个传教所。白人妇女们照顾着他,虽然整整一个月他都思念着母亲,拒绝安慰,但现在他似乎很快乐、很满足。从他和莱楚一起穿过金门大桥那天起,已经过去了五个月或五个月;但华盛顿的政府仍然迟迟没有给他回信,让他回到父母身边。
The winter rains were over: the spring had come to California, flushing the hills with green and causing an ever-changing pageant of flowers to pass over them. But there was no spring in Lae Choo’s heart, for the Little One remained away from her arms. He was being kept in a mission. White women were caring for him, and though for one full moon he had pined for his mother and refused to be comforted he was now apparently happy and contented. Five moons or five months had gone by since the day he had passed with Lae Choo through the Golden Gate; but the great Government at Washington still delayed sending the answer which would return him to his parents.
正当霍姆兴郁闷地在算盘盒里上下转动算盘时,一位面容敏锐的年轻人走进了他的店铺。
Hom Hing was disconsolately rolling up and down the balls in his abacus box when a keen-faced young man stepped into his store.
“有什么消息?”中国商人问道。
“What news?” asked the Chinese merchant.
“这个!”年轻人拿出一封打字的信。霍兴读了起来:
“This!” The young man brought forth a typewritten letter. Hom Hing read the words:
“关于这名中国儿童,据称是中国商人 Hom Hing 的儿子,Hom Hing 在旧金山克莱街 425 号做生意。
“Re Chinese child, alleged to be the son of Hom Hing, Chinese merchant, doing business at 425 Clay Street, San Francisco.
“我们会尽快予以关注。”
“Same will have attention as soon as possible.”
霍姆兴把信还了回去,一言不发地继续操作计数机。
Hom Hing returned the letter, and without a word continued his manipulation of the counting machine.
“你有什么话要说吗?”年轻人问。
“Have you anything to say?” asked the young man.
“没什么。他们之前已经把同一封信寄了十五次了。你没有亲自给我看过吗?”
“Nothing. They have sent the same letter fifteen times before. Have you not yourself showed it to me?”
“确实如此!”年轻人偷偷地看了一眼中国商人。他有一个建议要提出,正在考虑现在是否合适。
“True!” The young man eyed the Chinese merchant furtively. He had a proposition to make and was pondering whether or not the time was opportune.
“您的妻子怎么样了?”他关切地——同时也很圆滑地——询问道。
“How is your wife?” he inquired solicitously — and diplomatically.
霍兴悲伤地摇了摇头。
Hom Hing shook his head mournfully.
“她一天比一天瘦了,”他回答道。“她只在我吩咐她吃饭时才吃,而且她总是泪流满面。她不喜欢衣服和鲜花,也不想见她的朋友。她的眼睛整夜发呆。我想不到下一个月亮,她就会进入灵魂之地。”
“She seems less every day,” he replied. “Her food she takes only when I bid her and her tears fall continually. She finds no pleasure in dress or flowers and cares not to see her friends. Her eyes stare all night. I think before another moon she will pass into the land of spirits.”
“不!”年轻人惊叫道。
“No!” exclaimed the young man, genuinely startled.
“如果这个孩子不回家,我肯定会失去我的妻子,”霍姆兴悲伤地继续说道。
“If the boy not come home I lose my wife sure,” continued Hom Hing with bitter sadness.
“这不对,”年轻人愤怒地喊道。然后他提出了自己的建议。
“It’s not right,” cried the young man indignantly. Then he made his proposition.
中国父亲的眼睛亮晶晶的。
The Chinese father’s eyes brightened exceedingly.
“我希望你去华盛顿,让他们给你文件来恢复我的儿子吗?”他大声喊道。“既然你知道我的心愿,你怎能再问我呢?”
“Will I like you to go to Washington and make them give you the paper to restore my son?” cried he. “How can you ask when you know my heart’s desire?”
“那么,”年轻人说,“我下周就开始。我急于把这件事做完,哪怕只是为了让你妻子安心。”
“Then,” said the young fellow, “I will start next week. I am anxious to see this thing through if only for the sake of your wife’s peace of mind.”
“我会给她打电话。听到你的想法,她会很高兴的。”霍姆·辛说。
“I will call her. To hear what you think to do will make her glad,” said Hom Hing.
他通过墙上的一根管子给楼上的 Lae Choo 传了消息。
He called a message to Lae Choo upstairs through a tube in the wall.
不一会儿,她出现了,无精打采,脸色苍白,眼睛凹陷。但当她的丈夫告诉她那位年轻律师的建议时,她兴奋起来。她身子挺直,眼睛闪闪发光。脸颊通红。
In a few moments she appeared, listless, wan, and hollow-eyed; but when her husband told her the young lawyer’s suggestion she became electrified; her form straightened, her eyes glistened; the color flushed to her cheeks.
“噢,”她转身对詹姆斯·克兰西喊道。“你真是个百夫长!”
“Oh,” she cried, turning to James Clancy. “You are a hundred man good!”
年轻人感到有些尴尬,在中国妈妈的注视下,他的目光有些移不开。
The young man felt somewhat embarrassed; his eyes shifted a little under the intense gaze of the Chinese mother.
“好吧,我们必须帮你找到你的儿子,”他回答道。“当然,”——转向霍姆·兴——“这要花一点钱。如果你口袋里没有钱,你是不可能让别人帮你催促政府的。”
“Well, we must get your boy for you,” he responded. “Of course” — turning to Hom Hing — “it will cost a little money. You can’t get fellows to hurry the Government for you without gold in your pocket.”
霍姆·兴愣了一会儿。然后他轻声问道:“克兰西先生,您要多少钱?”
Hom Hing stared blankly for a moment. Then: “How much do you want, Mr. Clancy?” he asked quietly.
“好吧,我至少需要五百块钱。”
“Well, I will need at least five hundred to start with.”
霍兴清了清嗓子。
Hom Hing cleared his throat.
“我想我告诉过你,上次我付钱给你帮我写信并见海关老板的时候,我几乎所有的钱都花光了!”
“I think I told to you the time I last paid you for writing letters for me and seeing the Custom boss here that nearly all I had was gone!”
“哦,那我们就不说了,老兄。孩子留在原地不会有什么坏处,你老婆也许会好起来的。”
“Oh, well then we won’t talk about it, old fellow. It won’t harm the boy to stay where he is, and your wife may get over it all right.”
“你说什么?”Lae Choo颤抖着问道。
“What that you say?” quavered Lae Choo.
詹姆斯·克兰西望着窗外。
James Clancy looked out of the window.
“他说,”霍姆兴用英语解释道,“要想得到我们的儿子,我们必须有很多钱。”
“He says,” explained Hom Hing in English, “that to get our boy we have to have much money.”
“钱!哦,是的。”
“Money! Oh, yes.”
Lae Choo点了点头。
Lae Choo nodded her head.
“我没有钱给他。”
“I have not got the money to give him.”
莱朱疑惑地看了看每个人的脸,片刻之后,她恍然大悟,愤怒地指着律师喊道:“你不是一个百分百的好人,你只是一个普通的白人。”
For a moment Lae Choo gazed wonderingly from one face to the other; then, comprehension dawning upon her, with swift anger, pointing to the lawyer, she cried: “You not one hundred man good; you just common white man.”
“是的,夫人,”詹姆斯·克兰西鞠躬并讽刺地微笑着回答道。
“Yes, ma’am,” returned James Clancy, bowing and smiling ironically.
霍姆兴把妻子推到身后,再次对律师说:“我可能会试着筹到一些钱,但五百英镑——是不可能的。”
Hom Hing pushed his wife behind him and addressed the lawyer again: “I might try,” said he, “to raise something; but five hundred — it is not possible.”
“那四个呢?”
“What about four?”
“我告诉你,我几乎一无所有,我的朋友们也不是很富有。”
“I tell you I have next to nothing left and my friends are not rich.”
“很好!”
“Very well!”
律师悠闲地向门口走去,在门槛上停下来点燃一支香烟。
The lawyer moved leisurely toward the door, pausing on its threshold to light a cigarette.
“停下,白人;白人,停下!”
“Stop, white man; white man, stop!”
Lae Choo 气喘吁吁、惊恐万分,他已向前走去,现在站在他身边,激动地抓着他的袖子。
Lae Choo, panting and terrified, had started forward and now stood beside him, clutching his sleeve excitedly.
“你说如果霍姆兴给你五百美元,你就可以去拿纸把我的孩子带给我吗?”
“You say you can go to get paper to bring my Little One to me if Hom Hing give you five hundred dollars?”
律师漫不经心地点点头,目光紧紧盯着那根不肯夺走火柴的香烟。
The lawyer nodded carelessly; his eyes were intent upon the cigarette which would not take the fire from the match.
“那你去拿报纸。如果霍姆·兴不能给你五百美元——我也许给你更多。”
“Then you go get paper. If Hom Hing not can give you five hundred dollars — I give you perhaps what more that much.”
她从手腕上取下一只沉甸甸的金手镯,递给那名男子。他机械地接过手镯。
She slipped a heavy gold bracelet from her wrist and held it out to the man. Mechanically he took it.
“我去拿更多!”
“I go get more!”
她急忙跑开,消失在她刚刚进来的门后面。
She scurried away, disappearing behind the door through which she had come.
“哦,听我说,我不能接受这个,”詹姆斯·克兰西说着,走回霍姆兴身边,把手镯放在他面前。
“Oh, look here, I can’t accept this,” said James Clancy, walking back to Hom Hing and laying down the bracelet before him.
“没事的,”霍姆·辛严肃地说,“纯中国金。我们结婚时,我岳母送给她的。”
“It’s all right,” said Hom Hing, seriously, “pure China gold. My wife’s parent give it to her when we married.”
“但是无论如何我都不能接受,”年轻人抗议道。
“But I can’t take it anyway,” protested the young man.
“这都和钱一样。你要钱才能去华盛顿,”霍姆·辛平静地回答道。
“It is all same as money. And you want money to go to Washington,” replied Hom Hing in a matter-of-fact manner.
“看,我的玉耳环——我的金纽扣——我的发夹——我的珍珠梳子和我的戒指——一、二、三、四、五枚戒指;非常好——非常好——都一样多的钱。我把它们都给你。你拿去给我的小宝贝拿点纸来。”
“See, my jade earrings — my gold buttons — my hairpins — my comb of pearl and my rings — one, two, three, four, five rings; very good — very good — all same much money. I give them all to you. You take and bring me paper for my Little One.”
Lae Choo 在律师面前展示了她的珠宝。
Lae Choo piled up her jewels before the lawyer.
霍姆·兴用手扶住她的肩膀,阻止她。“不是全部,我的妻子,”他用中文说道。他挑选了一枚戒指——这是莱楚梦见那棵开着红花的树时,他送给她的礼物。他把其余的珠宝推给了白人。
Hom Hing laid a restraining hand upon her shoulder. “Not all, my wife,” he said in Chinese. He selected a ring — his gift to Lae Choo when she dreamed of the tree with the red flower. The rest of the jewels he pushed toward the white man.
“把它们拿去卖掉,”他说。“他们会付你去华盛顿的车费,然后带你回来。”
“Take them and sell them,” said he. “They will pay your fare to Washington and bring you back with the paper.”
詹姆斯·克兰西犹豫了片刻。他不是一个感情用事的人,但他内心深处却有某种东西让他不愿意接受这样的报酬。
For one moment James Clancy hesitated. He was not a sentimental man; but something within him arose against accepting such payment for his services.
“他们很好,很好,”Lae Choo 看到他的犹豫,恳求道。
“They are good, good,” pleadingly asserted Lae Choo, seeing his hesitation.
于是他抓起珠宝,把它们塞进外套口袋,然后快步走出了商店。
Whereupon he seized the jewels, thrust them into his coat pocket, and walked rapidly away from the store.
莱珠跟着那位女传教士穿过教会托儿所。她高兴得心跳加速,几乎喘不过气来。文件终于到了——这份珍贵的文件赋予了霍姆·兴和他的妻子对他们自己孩子的所有权。他被带走已经十个月了——莱珠的阳光已经消失了十个月。
Lae Choo followed after the missionary woman through the mission nursery school. Her heart was beating so high with happiness that she could scarcely breathe. The paper had come at last — the precious paper which gave Hom Hing and his wife the right to the possession of their own child. It was ten months now since he had been taken from them — ten months since the sun had ceased to shine for Lae Choo.
房间里挤满了孩子——大多数都是小孩子,但没有一个比她自己的孩子小。这位传教士边走边说。她告诉 Lae Choo,小 Kim(学校给他起的名字)是这里的宠儿,他的小把戏和小习惯让每个人都感到开心。起初他很难管教,经常哭着找妈妈;“但孩子们很快就忘记了,一个月后,他似乎完全适应了家,像小鸟一样活泼快乐地玩耍。”
The room was filled with children — most of them wee tots, but none so wee as her own. The mission woman talked as she walked. She told Lae Choo that little Kim, as he had been named by the school, was the pet of the place, and that his little tricks and ways amused and delighted every one. He had been rather difficult to manage at first and had cried much for his mother; “but children so soon forget, and after a month he seemed quite at home and played around as bright and happy as a bird.”
“是的,”Lae Choo 回答道。“噢,是的,是的!”
“Yes,” responded Lae Choo. “Oh, yes, yes!”
但她没有听见别人对她说了什么。她正走在充满期待和喜悦的迷宫中。
But she did not hear what was said to her. She was walking in a maze of anticipatory joy.
“请在这里等一下,”传教士把莱朱放在椅子上说道。“最小的孩子正在吃早餐。”
“Wait here, please,” said the mission woman, placing Lae Choo in a chair. “The very youngest ones are having their breakfast.”
她退了一会儿——母亲觉得那仿佛有一个小时那么长——然后她牵着一个穿着蓝色棉布工作服和白底鞋的小男孩的手再次出现。小男孩的脸圆圆的,脸上有酒窝,眼睛明亮。
She withdrew for a moment — it seemed like an hour to the mother — then she reappeared leading by the hand a little boy dressed in blue cotton overalls and white-soled shoes. The little boy’s face was round and dimpled and his eyes were very bright.
“小宝贝,啊,我的小宝贝!”Lae Choo 哭着说。
“Little One, ah, my Little One!” cried Lae Choo.
她跪下来,向儿子伸出饥饿的双臂。
She fell on her knees and stretched her hungry arms toward her son.
但小家伙却躲开了她,并试图将自己藏在白人妇女的裙子褶皱里。
But the Little One shrunk from her and tried to hide himself in the folds of the white woman’s skirt.
“走吧,走吧!”他向母亲说道。
“Go ’way, go ’way!” he bade his mother.
[约 1900 年]
[c. 1900]
(1876-1941)
[1876–1941]
在俄亥俄州温斯堡镇附近一个峡谷边上,一所小木屋半腐朽的阳台上,一个肥胖的小老头紧张地走来走去。穿过一片长长的田地,田地里已经种上了三叶草,但只长出了一茬密密麻麻的黄芥菜,他看见一条公路,一辆马车沿着公路行驶,车上载满了从田里回来的采浆果的人。采浆果的人,有男有女,都笑得前仰后合。一个穿着蓝色衬衫的男孩从马车上跳下来,想把一个姑娘拽到后面去,姑娘们尖叫着,尖声抗议。路上男孩的脚踢起一团尘土,尘土飘散在落日的脸上。长长的田地上传来一个女孩般的细细的声音。 “噢,你这个翼翼比德尔鲍姆,梳一下你的头发,它们都掉到你的眼睛里了,”那个声音对那个秃顶男子命令道,他用紧张的小手摆弄着光秃秃的白皙前额,仿佛在整理一团乱糟糟的头发。
Upon the half decayed veranda of a small frame house that stood near the edge of a ravine near the town of Winesburg, Ohio, a fat little old man walked nervously up and down. Across a long field that had been seeded for clover but that had produced only a dense crop of yellow mustard weeds, he could see the public highway along which went a wagon filled with berry pickers returning from the fields. The berry pickers, youths and maidens, laughed and shouted boisterously. A boy clad in a blue shirt leaped from the wagon and attempted to drag after him one of the maidens who screamed and protested shrilly. The feet of the boy in the road kicked up a cloud of dust that floated across the face of the departing sun. Over the long field came a thin girlish voice. “Oh, you Wing Biddlebaum, comb your hair, it’s falling into your eyes,” commanded the voice to the man, who was bald and whose nervous little hands fiddled about the bare white forehead as though arranging a mass of tangled locks.
翼比德尔鲍姆永远心存恐惧,被一连串幽灵般的疑虑所困扰,他认为自己无论如何也不属于他住了二十年的小镇生活。在温斯堡的所有人中,只有一个人与他亲近。他与新威拉德宅邸的主人汤姆·威拉德的儿子乔治·威拉德结下了某种友谊。乔治·威拉德是《温斯堡鹰报》的记者,有时晚上他会沿着公路走到翼比德尔鲍姆的家。现在,老人在阳台上走来走去,双手紧张地挥舞着,他希望乔治·威拉德能来和他共度夜晚。在载着采浆果工人的马车驶过之后,他穿过高高的芥菜草丛,爬上一道栅栏,焦急地沿着通往小镇的道路张望。他就这样站了一会儿,搓着双手,看着路上的来回,后来,恐惧感油然而生,他又跑回自己家的门廊上。
Wing Biddlebaum, forever frightened and beset by a ghostly band of doubts, did not think of himself as in any way a part of the life of the town where he had lived for twenty years. Among all the people of Winesburg but one had come close to him. With George Willard, son of Tom Willard, the proprietor of the new Willard House, he had formed something like a friendship. George Willard was the reporter on the Winesburg Eagle and sometimes in the evenings he walked out along the highway to Wing Biddlebaum’s house. Now as the old man walked up and down on the veranda, his hands moving nervously about, he was hoping that George Willard would come and spend the evening with him. After the wagon containing the berry pickers had passed, he went across the field through the tall mustard weeds and climbing a rail fence peered anxiously along the road to the town. For a moment he stood thus, rubbing his hands together and looking up and down the road, and then, fear overcoming him, ran back to walk again upon the porch of his own house.
在乔治·威拉德的陪伴下,二十年来一直是镇上神秘人物的翼·比德尔鲍姆,不再那么胆怯,他那被疑惑淹没的神秘人格,也出来观察世界了。在年轻记者的陪伴下,他大步走上大白天的大街,或者在他家摇摇晃晃的前廊上走来走去,兴奋地谈论着。他那低沉而颤抖的声音变得尖锐而响亮。他那驼背的身影挺直了身子。沉默的比德尔鲍姆扭动着身子,就像渔夫把鱼放回小溪一样,开始说话,努力用语言表达他多年沉默中积累的想法。
In the presence of George Willard, Wing Biddlebaum, who for twenty years had been the town mystery, lost something of his timidity, and his shadowy personality, submerged in a sea of doubts, came forth to look at the world. With the young reporter at his side, he ventured in the light of day into Main Street or strode up and down on the rickety front porch of his own house, talking excitedly. The voice that had been low and trembling became shrill and loud. The bent figure straightened. With a kind of wriggle, like a fish returned to the brook by the fisherman, Biddlebaum the silent began to talk, striving to put into words the ideas that had been accumulated by his mind during long years of silence.
翼翼·比德尔鲍姆经常用手说话。他那修长而富有表现力的手指总是在活动,总是试图藏在口袋里或身后,伸出来成为他表达机器的活塞杆。
Wing Biddlebaum talked much with his hands. The slender expressive fingers, forever active, forever striving to conceal themselves in his pockets or behind his back, came forth and became the piston rods of his machinery of expression.
翼翼·比德尔鲍姆的故事是关于双手的故事。他那双手不停地活动着,就像被囚禁的鸟儿拍打翅膀一样,因此得名。镇上一位默默无闻的诗人想到了这一点。这双手吓坏了它们的主人。他想把它们藏起来,惊讶地看着其他人安静而毫无表情的手,他们和他一起在田野里干活,或者在乡间小路上赶着昏昏欲睡的马车经过。
The story of Wing Biddlebaum is a story of hands. Their restless activity, like unto the beating of the wings of an imprisoned bird, had given him his name. Some obscure poet of the town had thought of it. The hands alarmed their owner. He wanted to keep them hidden away and looked with amazement at the quiet inexpressive hands of other men who worked beside him in the fields, or passed, driving sleepy teams on country roads.
当他和乔治·威拉德谈话时,翼翼·比德尔鲍姆握紧拳头,用它们敲打桌子或房子的墙壁。这种动作让他更舒服。如果他们在田野里散步时他想说话,他就会找个树桩或篱笆顶板,用双手忙碌地敲打,重新轻松地交谈。
When he talked to George Willard, Wing Biddlebaum closed his fists and beat with them upon a table or on the walls of his house. The action made him more comfortable. If the desire to talk came to him when the two were walking in the fields, he sought out a stump or the top board of a fence and with his hands pounding busily talked with renewed ease.
翼·比德尔鲍姆那双手的故事本身就值得写一本书。如果能以富有同情心的方式加以阐述,就会激发出许多默默无闻的人身上奇特而美丽的品质。这是诗人的工作。在温斯堡,这双手仅仅因为其活跃就引起了人们的注意。翼·比德尔鲍姆用这双手一天可以采摘多达一百四十夸脱的草莓。它们成了他的显著特征,成了他成名的源泉。它们也使他本来就怪异而难以捉摸的个性更加怪异。温斯堡为翼·比德尔鲍姆的双手感到自豪,就像它为银行家怀特的新石屋和韦斯利·莫耶的栗色种马托尼·蒂普感到自豪一样,托尼·蒂普在克利夫兰的秋季赛马会上赢得了二分十五秒的快步赛。
The story of Wing Biddlebaum’s hands is worth a book itself. Sympathetically set forth it would tap many strange, beautiful qualities in obscure men. It is a job for a poet. In Winesburg the hands had attracted attention merely because of their activity. With them Wing Biddlebaum had picked as high as a hundred and forty quarts of strawberries in a day. They became his distinguishing feature, the source of his fame. Also they made more grotesque an already grotesque and elusive individuality. Winesburg was proud of the hands of Wing Biddlebaum in the same spirit in which it was proud of Banker White’s new stone house and Wesley Moyer’s bay stallion, Tony Tip, that had won the two-fifteen trot at the fall races in Cleveland.
至于乔治·威拉德,他曾多次想问一问那些手的事。有时,一种几乎无法抑制的好奇心占据了他的心。他觉得,那些手的奇怪活动和隐藏的倾向一定是有原因的,只是对翼·比德尔鲍姆的敬意与日俱增,才让他没有脱口说出那些经常出现在他脑海中的问题。
As for George Willard, he had many times wanted to ask about the hands. At times an almost overwhelming curiosity had taken hold of him. He felt that there must be a reason for their strange activity and their inclination to keep hidden away and only a growing respect for Wing Biddlebaum kept him from blurting out the questions that were often in his mind.
有一次他正要问。一个夏日的午后,两人在田野里散步,停下来坐在草坡上。整个下午,翼·比德尔鲍姆都像一个有灵感的人一样滔滔不绝地讲着。他在一处篱笆边停下来,像一只巨大的啄木鸟一样敲着篱笆顶板,冲着乔治·威拉德大喊大叫,谴责他太容易受周围人的影响。“你这是在自取灭亡,”他喊道。
Once he had been on the point of asking. The two were walking in the fields on a summer afternoon and had stopped to sit upon a grassy bank. All afternoon Wing Biddlebaum had talked as one inspired. By a fence he had stopped and beating like a giant woodpecker upon the top board had shouted at George Willard, condemning his tendency to be too much influenced by the people about him. “You are destroying yourself,” he cried.
“你有孤独和梦想的倾向,但你害怕梦想。你想和镇上的其他人一样。你听他们说话,然后试图模仿他们。”
“You have the inclination to be alone and to dream and you are afraid of dreams. You want to be like others in town here. You hear them talk and you try to imitate them.”
在长满青草的河岸上,翼翼·比德尔鲍姆再次试图强调他的观点。他的声音变得柔和,令人回味无穷,他心满意足地叹了口气,开始了漫无边际的长篇大论,就像一个迷失在梦中的人。
On the grassy bank Wing Biddlebaum had tried again to drive his point home. His voice became soft and reminiscent, and with a sigh of contentment he launched into a long rambling talk, speaking as one lost in a dream.
翼·比德尔鲍姆从梦中为乔治·威拉德画了一幅画。画中人们又回到了田园诗般的黄金时代。穿过一片绿意盎然的原野,走来四肢光洁的年轻人,有的步行,有的骑在马上。年轻人成群结队地聚集在一位老人的脚边,老人坐在小花园的一棵树下,与他们交谈。
Out of the dream Wing Biddlebaum made a picture for George Willard. In the picture men lived again in a kind of pastoral golden age. Across a green open country came clean-limbed young men, some afoot, some mounted upon horses. In crowds the young men came to gather about the feet of an old man who sat beneath a tree in a tiny garden and who talked to them.
翼翼比德尔鲍姆完全被鼓舞了。他一时忘记了那双手。它们慢慢地悄悄地伸出来,放在乔治·威拉德的肩上。说话的声音里充满了新鲜而大胆的东西。“你必须试着忘记你所学到的一切,”老人说。“你必须开始做梦。从现在起,你必须对那些声音的咆哮充耳不闻。”
Wing Biddlebaum became wholly inspired. For once he forgot the hands. Slowly they stole forth and lay upon George Willard’s shoulders. Something new and bold came into the voice that talked. “You must try to forget all you have learned,” said the old man. “You must begin to dream. From this time on you must shut your ears to the roaring of the voices.”
翼翼比德尔鲍姆停下讲话,久久地认真地看着乔治·威拉德。他的眼睛闪闪发光。他再次举起双手抚摸男孩,然后脸上掠过一丝恐惧的神色。
Pausing in his speech, Wing Biddlebaum looked long and earnestly at George Willard. His eyes glowed. Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look of horror swept over his face.
翼翼·比德尔鲍姆身体抽搐了一下,跳了起来,双手深深地插进裤袋里。他眼里噙满了泪水。“我必须回家了。我不能再和你说话了,”他紧张地说。
With a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprang to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets. Tears came to his eyes. “I must be getting along home. I can talk no more with you,” he said nervously.
老人头也不回地匆匆走下山坡,穿过一片草地,乔治·威拉德则在草坡上茫然又恐惧。男孩吓得浑身发抖,站起身,沿着路朝镇上走去。“我不会问他手的事,”他想起了在那人眼中看到的恐惧,心里很感动。“有些不对劲,但我不想知道是什么。他的手和他对我和所有人的恐惧有关。”
Without looking back, the old man had hurried down the hillside and across a meadow, leaving George Willard perplexed and frightened upon the grassy slope. With a shiver of dread the boy arose and went along the road toward town. “I’ll not ask him about his hands,” he thought, touched by the memory of the terror he had seen in the man’s eyes. “There’s something wrong, but I don’t want to know what it is. His hands have something to do with his fear of me and of everyone.”
乔治·威拉德说得对。让我们简单回顾一下双手的故事。也许我们谈论它们会激发诗人讲述隐藏的奇妙故事,讲述双手作为飘扬的承诺旗帜所产生的影响。
And George Willard was right. Let us look briefly into the story of the hands. Perhaps our talking of them will arouse the poet who will tell the hidden wonder story of the influence for which the hands were but fluttering pennants of promise.
温·比德尔鲍姆年轻时曾在宾夕法尼亚州的一个小镇当老师。当时他不叫温·比德尔鲍姆,而是用一个不太好听的名字阿道夫·迈尔斯。阿道夫·迈尔斯这个名字深受学校同学们的喜爱。
In his youth Wing Biddlebaum had been a school teacher in a town in Pennsylvania. He was not then known as Wing Biddlebaum, but went by the less euphonica name of Adolph Myers. As Adolph Myers he was much loved by the boys of his school.
阿道夫·迈尔斯天生就是一位难得的青年教师。他是那些罕见的、不为人知的男人之一,他用一种温柔的力量来统治,这种力量被看作是一种可爱的弱点。他们对自己所负责的男孩的感情与那些更优雅的女人对男人的爱并无二致。
Adolph Myers was meant by nature to be a rare teacher of youth. He was one of those rare, little-understood men who rule by a power so gentle that it passes as a lovable weakness. In their feeling for the boys under their charge such men are not unlike the finer sort of women in their love of men.
但这只是粗略的陈述。诗人需要存在。阿道夫·迈尔斯与学校的男孩们在傍晚散步,或者坐在学校的台阶上聊天直到黄昏,沉浸在一种梦境中。他的手不时抚摸着男孩们的肩膀,抚摸着他们蓬乱的头发。他说话时,声音变得柔和而悦耳。其中也有爱抚。在某种程度上,声音和手、肩膀的抚摸和头发的触摸都是校长努力将梦想带入年轻人心中的一部分。他用手指的爱抚来表达自己。他是那种创造生命的力量分散而不是集中的人。在他双手的爱抚下,怀疑和不相信从男孩们的脑海中消失了,他们也开始做梦。
And yet that is but crudely stated. It needs the poet there. With the boys of his school, Adolph Myers had walked in the evening or had sat talking until dusk upon the schoolhouse steps lost in a kind of dream. Here and there went his hands, caressing the shoulders of the boys, playing about the tousled heads. As he talked his voice became soft and musical. There was a caress in that also. In a way the voice and the hands, the stroking of the shoulders and the touching of the hair was a part of the schoolmaster’s effort to carry a dream into the young minds. By the caress that was in his fingers he expressed himself. He was one of those men in whom the force that creates life is diffused, not centralized. Under the caress of his hands doubt and disbelief went out of the minds of the boys and they began also to dream.
然后悲剧发生了。学校里一个傻乎乎的男孩迷恋上了这位年轻的老师。晚上,他在床上幻想着无法言说的事情,第二天早上,他却把梦境当成事实。他口中说出了奇怪而可怕的指控。整个宾夕法尼亚州的小镇都为之颤抖。人们心中对阿道夫·迈尔斯的隐秘怀疑被激发成信念。
And then the tragedy. A half-witted boy of the school became enamored of the young master. In his bed at night he imagined unspeakable things and in the morning went forth to tell his dreams as facts. Strange, hideous accusations fell from his loose-hung lips. Through the Pennsylvania town went a shiver. Hidden, shadowy doubts that had been in men’s minds concerning Adolph Myers were galvanized into beliefs.
悲剧并没有持续太久。颤抖的小伙子们被从床上拽起来,接受询问。“他用手臂搂着我,”其中一个说。“他的手指总是在我头发里玩弄,”另一个说。
The tragedy did not linger. Trembling lads were jerked out of bed and questioned. “He put his arms about me,” said one. “His fingers were always playing in my hair,” said another.
一天下午,镇上的一个名叫亨利·布拉德福德的酒馆老板来到学校门口。他把阿道夫·迈尔斯叫到校园里,开始用拳头殴打他。当他用坚硬的拳头打在校长惊恐的脸上时,他的愤怒变得越来越可怕。孩子们惊慌失措地尖叫着,像受惊的昆虫一样四处乱窜。“我要教训你,你这个畜生,”酒馆老板咆哮道,他厌倦了殴打校长,开始在院子里踢他。
One afternoon a man of the town, Henry Bradford, who kept a saloon, came to the schoolhouse door. Calling Adolph Myers into the school yard he began to beat him with his fists. As his hard knuckles beat down into the frightened face of the schoolmaster, his wrath became more and more terrible. Screaming with dismay, the children ran here and there like disturbed insects. “I’ll teach you to put your hands on my boy, you beast,” roared the saloon keeper, who, tired of beating the master, had begun to kick him about the yard.
阿道夫·迈尔斯在夜里被赶出了宾夕法尼亚的小镇。十几个人提着灯笼来到他独居的家门口,命令他穿好衣服出来。天正在下雨,其中一个人手里拿着一根绳子。他们原本打算吊死这位校长,但他那瘦小、苍白、可怜的身影触动了他们的心,他们让他逃走了。当他逃进黑暗中时,他们后悔自己的懦弱,追了上去,咒骂着,向那个身影扔棍子和大团软泥球,那个身影尖叫着,在黑暗中跑得越来越快。
Adolph Myers was driven from the Pennsylvania town in the night. With lanterns in their hands a dozen men came to the door of the house where he lived alone and commanded that he dress and come forth. It was raining and one of the men had a rope in his hands. They had intended to hang the schoolmaster, but something in his figure, so small, white, and pitiful, touched their hearts and they let him escape. As he ran away into the darkness they repented of their weakness and ran after him, swearing and throwing sticks and great balls of soft mud at the figure that screamed and ran faster and faster into the darkness.
阿道夫·迈尔斯在温斯堡独居了二十年。他只有四十岁,但看上去像六十五岁。比德尔鲍姆这个名字是他匆匆经过俄亥俄州东部的一个城镇时,从货运站看到的一箱货物中得知的。他有一个姑姑住在温斯堡,是个养鸡的黑牙老妇人,他和她一起生活直到她去世。在宾夕法尼亚的经历之后,他病了一年,康复后在田里当日工,胆怯地走来走去,努力掩饰自己的双手。虽然他不明白发生了什么,但他觉得一定是双手惹的祸。孩子们的父亲一次又一次地谈论双手。“管好你的手,”酒馆老板在学校的院子里怒气冲冲地跳着舞,咆哮道。
For twenty years Adolph Myers had lived alone in Winesburg. He was but forty but looked sixty-five. The name Biddlebaum he got from a box of goods seen at a freight station as he hurried through an eastern Ohio town. He had an aunt in Winesburg, a black-toothed old woman who raised chickens, and with her he lived until she died. He had been ill for a year after the experience in Pennsylvania, and after his recovery worked as a day laborer in the fields, going timidly about and striving to conceal his hands. Although he did not understand what had happened he felt that the hands must be to blame. Again and again the fathers of the boys had talked of the hands. “Keep your hands to yourself,” the saloon keeper had roared, dancing with fury in the schoolhouse yard.
在峡谷边他家的阳台上,翼翼·比德尔鲍姆继续走来走去,直到太阳消失,田野外的道路消失在灰色的阴影中。他走进屋子,切下面包片,涂上蜂蜜。当晚班火车的隆隆声过去,运走了满载当天收获的浆果的快车,恢复了夏夜的寂静时,他又走到阳台上散步。在黑暗中,他看不见那双手,它们安静下来了。虽然他仍然渴望男孩的出现,他是他表达对人类爱的媒介,但这种渴望又成了他孤独和等待的一部分。翼翼·比德尔鲍姆点亮一盏灯,洗了被简单的饭菜弄脏的几个盘子,在通往门廊的纱门旁支起一张折叠床,准备脱衣服过夜。几块散落的白面包屑散落在桌边洗干净的地板上;他把灯放在矮凳上,开始捡面包屑,以令人难以置信的速度一个接一个地把它们送到嘴里。在桌子下面浓密的灯光下,跪着的身影看起来像是一位正在教堂做礼拜的牧师。他那紧张而富有表现力的手指在灯光下闪烁,很可能被误认为是虔诚的信徒在快速地念诵念珠的手指。
Upon the veranda of his house by the ravine, Wing Biddlebaum continued to walk up and down until the sun had disappeared and the road beyond the field was lost in the grey shadows. Going into his house he cut slices of bread and spread honey upon them. When the rumble of the evening train that took away the express cars loaded with the day’s harvest of berries had passed and restored the silence of the summer night, he went again to walk upon the veranda. In the darkness he could not see the hands and they became quiet. Although he still hungered for the presence of the boy, who was the medium through which he expressed his love of man, the hunger became again a part of his loneliness and his waiting. Lighting a lamp, Wing Biddlebaum washed the few dishes soiled by his simple meal and, setting up a folding cot by the screen door that led to the porch, prepared to undress for the night. A few stray white bread crumbs lay on the cleanly washed floor by the table; putting the lamp upon a low stool he began to pick up the crumbs, carrying them to his mouth one by one with unbelievable rapidity. In the dense blotch of light beneath the table, the kneeling figure looked like a priest engaged in some service of his church. The nervous expressive fingers, flashing in and out of the light, might well have been mistaken for the fingers of the devotee going swiftly through decade after decade of his rosary.
[1919年]
[1919]
音调优美:听起来悦耳。
aeuphonic: Pleasing to the ear.
(1882–1941)
[1882–1941]
看门人的女儿莉莉简直忙得不可开交。她刚把一位男士带进一楼办公室后面的小厨房,帮他脱下外套,门厅门铃就又响了,她不得不沿着空荡荡的走廊跑去开门。幸好她不用再照顾女士们。但凯特小姐和朱莉娅小姐想到了这一点,把楼上的浴室改成了女士更衣室。凯特小姐和朱莉娅小姐在那里闲聊、大笑、吵闹,她们一个跟着一个走到楼梯口,从楼梯扶手上往下看,叫莉莉问她是谁来了。
Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the little pantry behind the office on the ground floor and helped him off with his overcoat than the wheezy hall-door bell clanged again and she had to scamper along the bare hallway to let in another guest. It was well for her she had not to attend to the ladies also. But Miss Kate and Miss Julia had thought of that and had converted the bathroom upstairs into a ladies’ dressing-room. Miss Kate and Miss Julia were there, gossiping and laughing and fussing, walking after each other to the head of the stairs, peering down over the banisters and calling down to Lily to ask her who had come.
莫坎小姐一年一度的舞会总是盛大无比。认识她们的人都会来参加,包括家里的成员、老朋友、朱莉娅唱诗班的成员、凯特成年的学生,甚至玛丽·简的一些学生。舞会从不让人失望。自人们记事以来,舞会一直举办得非常热闹。自从凯特和朱莉娅在哥哥帕特去世后离开斯托尼巴特的房子,带着她们唯一的侄女玛丽·简搬到厄舍岛阴暗而荒凉的房子里住以来,舞会就一直举办得非常热闹。房子的上层是她们从谷物经销商富勒姆先生那里租来的。那已经是三十年前的事了。玛丽·简当时还是个穿着短衣的小女孩,现在却成了家里的支柱,因为她在哈丁顿路有风琴。她曾就读于学院,每年在古音乐厅的楼上举行学生音乐会。她的许多学生都来自金斯敦和多尔基一线的上流社会家庭。她的姑姑们虽然年纪大了,但也尽一份力。朱莉娅虽然头发花白,但仍是亚当和夏娃的首席女高音,而凯特身体虚弱,不能经常外出,只能在后屋的旧方形钢琴上给初学者上音乐课。看门人的女儿莉莉为他们做女仆的工作。虽然他们生活简朴,但他们相信要吃得好;每样东西都吃最好的:钻石骨牛腰肉、三先令的茶和最好的瓶装黑啤酒。但莉莉很少在命令上出错,所以她和她的三个女主人相处得很好。她们很挑剔,仅此而已。但她们唯一不能忍受的就是顶嘴。
It was always a great affair, the Misses Morkan’s annual dance. Everybody who knew them came to it, members of the family, old friends of the family, the members of Julia’s choir, any of Kate’s pupils that were grown up enough and even some of Mary Jane’s pupils too. Never once had it fallen flat. For years and years it had gone off in splendid style as long as anyone could remember; ever since Kate and Julia, after the death of their brother Pat, had left the house in Stoney Batter and taken Mary Jane, their only niece, to live with them in the dark gaunt house on Usher’s Island, the upper part of which they had rented from Mr. Fulham, the cornfactor on the ground floor. That was a good thirty years ago if it was a day. Mary Jane, who was then a little girl in short clothes, was now the main prop of the household for she had the organ in Haddington Road. She had been through the Academya and gave a pupils’ concert every year in the upper room of the Ancient Concert Rooms. Many of her pupils belonged to better-class families on the Kingstown and Dalkey line. Old as they were, her aunts also did their share. Julia, though she was quite grey, was still the leading soprano in Adam and Eve’s,b and Kate, being too feeble to go about much, gave music lessons to beginners on the old square piano in the back room. Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, did housemaid’s work for them. Though their life was modest they believed in eating well; the best of everything: diamond-bone sirloins, three-shilling tea and the best bottled stout. But Lily seldom made a mistake in the orders so that she got on well with her three mistresses. They were fussy, that was all. But the only thing they would not stand was back answers.
当然,在这样的夜晚,他们有充分的理由大惊小怪。而且,已经过了十点多,加布里埃尔和他的妻子却不见踪影。此外,他们非常害怕弗雷迪·马林斯会喝醉。他们绝对不希望玛丽·简的任何学生看到他喝醉了;当他喝醉的时候,有时很难管教他。弗雷迪·马林斯总是迟到,但他们不知道加布里埃尔到底是怎么了:这就是他们每隔两分钟就走到楼梯口问莉莉加布里埃尔或弗雷迪是否来了的原因。
Of course they had good reason to be fussy on such a night. And then it was long after ten o’clock and yet there was no sign of Gabriel and his wife. Besides they were dreadfully afraid that Freddy Malins might turn up screwed. They would not wish for worlds that any of Mary Jane’s pupils should see him under the influence; and when he was like that it was sometimes very hard to manage him. Freddy Malins always came late but they wondered what could be keeping Gabriel: and that was what brought them every two minutes to the banisters to ask Lily had Gabriel or Freddy come.
“哦,康罗伊先生,”莉莉为加布里埃尔开门时对他说,“凯特小姐和朱莉娅小姐以为你不会来了。晚安,康罗伊夫人。”
— O, Mr Conroy, said Lily to Gabriel when she opened the door for him, Miss Kate and Miss Julia thought you were never coming. Good-night, Mrs Conroy.
——我敢打赌他们确实这么做了,加布里埃尔说,但他们忘了,我的妻子要花三个小时来穿衣服。
— I’ll engage they did, said Gabriel, but they forget that my wife here takes three mortal hours to dress herself.
他站在垫子上,刮掉套鞋上的雪,莉莉领着他的妻子走到楼梯脚下,喊道:
He stood on the mat, scraping the snow from his goloshes, while Lily led his wife to the foot of the stairs and called out:
— 凯特小姐,这是康罗伊夫人。
— Miss Kate, here’s Mrs Conroy.
凯特和朱莉娅同时从漆黑的楼梯上蹒跚而下。两人都亲吻了加布里埃尔的妻子,说她一定是活活被杀了,并问加布里埃尔是否和她在一起。
Kate and Julia came toddling down the dark stairs at once. Both of them kissed Gabriel’s wife, said she must be perished alive and asked was Gabriel with her.
— — 我就在这儿,凯特姨妈!上去吧。我跟着你,加布里埃尔在黑暗中喊道。
— Here I am as right as the mail, Aunt Kate! Go on up. I’ll follow, called out Gabriel from the dark.
他继续使劲地刮着脚,而那三个女人则笑着上楼,走进女更衣室。一层薄薄的雪像披肩一样落在他大衣的肩膀上,又像鞋尖一样落在他套鞋的鞋头上;当他大衣的纽扣从被雪冻硬的饰带中滑落时,发出吱吱的声音,一股来自户外的清凉芳香空气从缝隙和褶皱中飘了出来。
He continued scraping his feet vigorously while the three women went upstairs, laughing, to the ladies’ dressing-room. A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his goloshes; and, as the buttons of his overcoat slipped with a squeaking noise through the snow-stiffened frieze, a cold fragrant air from out-of-doors escaped from crevices and folds.
— — 康罗伊先生,又下雪了吗?莉莉问道。
— Is it snowing again, Mr Conroy? asked Lily.
她先他进了储藏室,帮他脱下外套。加布里埃尔听到她给他的姓氏加上三个音节,不禁笑了笑,看了她一眼。她是一个身材苗条、正在发育的女孩,面色苍白,头发是干草色。储藏室里的煤气使她看起来更加苍白。加布里埃尔在她小时候就认识她了,当时她经常坐在最低的台阶上照顾一个布娃娃。
She had preceded him into the pantry to help him off with his overcoat. Gabriel smiled at the three syllables she had given his surname and glanced at her. She was a slim, growing girl, pale in complexion and with hay-coloured hair. The gas in the pantry made her look still paler. Gabriel had known her when she was a child and used to sit on the lowest step nursing a rag doll.
— 是的,莉莉,他回答道,我想我们将要度过一个这样的夜晚。
— Yes, Lily, he answered, and I think we’re in for a night of it.
他抬头看了看厨房的天花板,天花板因为楼上人们的脚步声和拖曳声而摇晃着,听了一会儿钢琴声,然后看了一眼那个女孩,她正在架子的一端仔细地折叠他的大衣。
He looked up at the pantry ceiling, which was shaking with the stamping and shuffling of feet on the floor above, listened for a moment to the piano and then glanced at the girl, who was folding his overcoat carefully at the end of a shelf.
— — 告诉我,莉莉,他用友好的语气说道,你还上学吗?
— Tell me, Lily, he said in a friendly tone, do you still go to school?
“哦,不,先生,”她回答道。“今年我已毕业一年多了。”
— O no, sir, she answered. I’m done schooling this year and more.
— 哦,那么,加布里埃尔高兴地说,我想我们会在某个美好的日子里和你的年轻人一起去参加你的婚礼,嗯?
— O, then, said Gabriel gaily, I suppose we’ll be going to your wedding one of these fine days with your young man, eh?
女孩回头看了他一眼,非常苦涩地说道:
The girl glanced back at him over her shoulder and said with great bitterness:
— 现在的男人只会空谈和从你身上得到什么。
— The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.
加布里埃尔脸红了,好像他觉得自己犯了一个错误,他没看她,就踢掉他的套鞋,用围巾使劲地甩着他的漆皮鞋。
Gabriel coloured as if he felt he had made a mistake and, without looking at her, kicked off his goloshes and flicked actively with his muffler at his patent-leather shoes.
他是个身材魁梧的年轻人。他的脸颊红红的,一直延伸到额头,额头上散落着几片不规则的淡红色斑块;他光秃秃的脸上,戴着一副闪闪发光的眼镜,镜片擦得锃亮,镀金的镜框遮住了他那双娇嫩而又不安分的眼睛。他那乌黑油亮的头发从中间分开,梳成一条长长的弧形,在耳后,帽子留下的凹槽下面微微卷曲。
He was a stout tallish young man. The high colour of his cheeks pushed upwards even to his forehead where it scattered itself in a few formless patches of pale red; and on his hairless face there scintillated restlessly the polished lenses and the bright gilt rims of the glasses which screened his delicate and restless eyes. His glossy black hair was parted in the middle and brushed in a long curve behind his ears where it curled slightly beneath the groove left by his hat.
当他往鞋子里抹了点亮光剂后,他站了起来,把背心拉得更紧,盖住他肥胖的身躯。然后他迅速从口袋里掏出一枚硬币。
When he had flicked lustre into his shoes he stood up and pulled his waistcoat down more tightly on his plump body. Then he took a coin rapidly from his pocket.
——噢,莉莉,他把礼物塞到她手里说道,现在是圣诞节,不是吗?只是……这里有一点……
— O Lily, he said, thrusting it into her hands, it’s Christmas-time, isn’t it? Just … here’s a little….
他快步向门口走去。
He walked rapidly towards the door.
— 哦,不,先生!女孩跟着他喊道。真的,先生,我不会接受的。
— O no, sir! cried the girl, following him. Really, sir, I wouldn’t take it.
——圣诞节到了!圣诞节到了!加布里埃尔说着,几乎是快步跑到楼梯口,向她挥了挥手,以表反对。
— Christmas-time! Christmas-time! said Gabriel, almost trotting to the stairs and waving his hand to her in deprecation.
姑娘看见他上了楼梯,便在后面喊道:
The girl, seeing that he had gained the stairs, called out after him:
— 好吧,谢谢您,先生。
— Well, thank you, sir.
他在客厅门外等着,直到华尔兹舞结束,听着裙摆在门上刮过的声音和脚步声。姑娘那尖刻而突然的反驳仍让他心烦意乱。这让他心里阴郁不已,他整理了一下袖口和领带蝴蝶结,试图驱散这种阴郁。然后,他从背心口袋里掏出一张小纸条,看了一眼他为演讲准备的标题。他拿不定主意要引用罗伯特·布朗宁的诗句,因为他担心听众听不懂。最好引用一些他们能认出的莎士比亚或《旋律》中的诗句。男人们鞋跟发出的粗鲁的咔哒声和鞋底的拖曳声提醒他,他们的文化水平与他不同。他引用他们听不懂的诗歌只会让自己出丑。他们会认为他在炫耀自己受过高等教育。他会像对待储藏室里的那个女孩一样,在他们面前失败。他用错了语气。他的整个演讲从头到尾都是一个错误,一个彻底的失败。
He waited outside the drawing-room door until the waltz should finish, listening to the skirts that swept against it and to the shuffling of feet. He was still discomposed by the girl’s bitter and sudden retort. It had cast a gloom over him which he tried to dispel by arranging his cuffs and the bows of his tie. Then he took from his waistcoat pocket a little paper and glanced at the headings he had made for his speech. He was undecided about the lines from Robert Browning for he feared they would be above the heads of his hearers. Some quotation that they could recognise from Shakespeare or from the Melodies would be better. The indelicate clacking of the men’s heels and the shuffling of their soles reminded him that their grade of culture differed from his. He would only make himself ridiculous by quoting poetry to them which they could not understand. They would think that he was airing his superior education. He would fail with them just as he had failed with the girl in the pantry. He had taken up a wrong tone. His whole speech was a mistake from first to last, an utter failure.
就在这时,他的姑母和妻子从女更衣室里出来了。他的姑母是两个身材矮小、衣着朴素的老妇人。朱莉娅姑母比她高一英寸左右。她的头发低垂在耳朵上方,是灰色的;她那张松弛的大脸也是灰色的,脸上有较深的阴影。虽然她身材魁梧,站得笔直,但她那迟钝的眼睛和张开的嘴唇使她看起来像一个不知道自己在哪里或要去哪里的女人。凯特姑母则活泼得多。她的脸比姐姐健康,满是皱纹,就像一个皱巴巴的红苹果,她的头发也按照同样老式的方式编成辫子,还没有失去成熟的坚果色。
Just then his aunts and his wife came out of the ladies’ dressing-room. His aunts were two small plainly dressed old women. Aunt Julia was an inch or so the taller. Her hair, drawn low over the tops of her ears, was grey; and grey also, with darker shadows, was her large flaccid face. Though she was stout in build and stood erect her slow eyes and parted lips gave her the appearance of a woman who did not know where she was or where she was going. Aunt Kate was more vivacious. Her face, healthier than her sister’s, was all puckers and creases, like a shrivelled red apple, and her hair, braided in the same old-fashioned way, had not lost its ripe nut colour.
他们俩都坦诚地亲吻了加布里埃尔。他是他们最疼爱的侄子,也是他们已故姐姐埃伦的儿子,埃伦嫁给了港口码头公司的 TJ 康罗伊。
They both kissed Gabriel frankly. He was their favourite nephew, the son of their dead elder sister, Ellen, who had married T. J. Conroy of the Port and Docks.
— — 格蕾塔告诉我,你今晚不会打车回蒙克斯敦,加布里埃尔,凯特姨妈说道。
— Gretta tells me you’re not going to take a cab back to Monkstown tonight, Gabriel, said Aunt Kate.
——不,加布里埃尔转身对妻子说,去年我们已经受够了,不是吗?凯特姨妈,你不记得格莉塔当时得了多大的感冒吗?马车的窗户一路嘎嘎作响,我们经过梅里恩后,东风吹了进来。真是太愉快了。格莉塔得了重感冒。
— No, said Gabriel, turning to his wife, we had quite enough of that last year, hadn’t we? Don’t you remember, Aunt Kate, what a cold Gretta got out of it? Cab windows rattling all the way, and the east wind blowing in after we passed Merrion. Very jolly it was. Gretta caught a dreadful cold.
凯特姨妈眉头严肃地皱着,每说一句话她就点头。
Aunt Kate frowned severely and nodded her head at every word.
——非常正确,加布里埃尔,非常正确,她说。你再小心也不为过。
— Quite right, Gabriel, quite right, she said. You can’t be too careful.
——但是至于格蕾塔,加布里埃尔说,如果让她的话,她会在雪地里走回家。
— But as for Gretta there, said Gabriel, she’d walk home in the snow if she were let.
康罗伊夫人大笑。
Mrs Conroy laughed.
— — 别在意他,凯特姨妈,她说。他真是个讨厌鬼,晚上给汤姆戴上绿色的眼罩,让他做哑铃,还强迫伊娃吃杂碎。c可怜的孩子!她简直讨厌看到他! ……哦,但你永远猜不到他现在让我穿什么!
— Don’t mind him, Aunt Kate, she said. He’s really an awful bother, what with green shades for Tom’s eyes at night and making him do the dumb-bells, and forcing Eva to eat the stirabout.c The poor child! And she simply hates the sight of it! … O, but you’ll never guess what he makes me wear now!
她放声大笑,看了一眼丈夫,丈夫那双充满爱慕和幸福的眼睛一直从她的衣服移到她的脸和头发上。两位姑妈也开怀大笑,因为加布里埃尔的关心在她们眼里是个笑话。
She broke out into a peal of laughter and glanced at her husband, whose admiring and happy eyes had been wandering from her dress to her face and hair. The two aunts laughed heartily too, for Gabriel’s solicitude was a standing joke with them.
— 套鞋!康罗伊太太说。这是最新的消息。每当脚下湿滑时,我都必须穿上套鞋。今晚他甚至想让我穿上,但我没有。他下次会给我买一件潜水服。
— Goloshes! said Mrs Conroy. That’s the latest. Whenever it’s wet underfoot I must put on my goloshes. To-night even he wanted me to put them on, but I wouldn’t. The next thing he’ll buy me will be a diving suit.
加布里埃尔紧张地笑了笑,拍了拍领带安慰他,凯特姨妈则几乎弯下腰,因为她太喜欢这个笑话了。朱莉娅姨妈脸上的笑容很快就消失了,她那双不高兴的眼睛盯着侄子的脸。停顿了一下后,她问道:
Gabriel laughed nervously and patted his tie reassuringly while Aunt Kate nearly doubled herself, so heartily did she enjoy the joke. The smile soon faded from Aunt Julia’s face and her mirthless eyes were directed towards her nephew’s face. After a pause she asked:
—— 那么套鞋是什么呢,加布里埃尔?
— And what are goloshes, Gabriel?
— 套鞋,朱莉娅!她姐姐惊呼道。天哪,你不知道套鞋是什么吗?你把它穿在……靴子外面,格莉塔,不是吗?
— Goloshes, Julia! exclaimed her sister. Goodness me, don’t you know what goloshes are? You wear them over your … over your boots, Gretta, isn’t it?
“是的,”康罗伊夫人说。古塔佩查牌的东西。我们现在都有一双了。加布里埃尔说,大陆上的每个人都穿它。
— Yes, said Mrs Conroy. Guttapercha things. We both have a pair now. Gabriel says everyone wears them on the continent.
——哦,在大陆,朱莉娅姨妈慢慢地点着头喃喃道。
— O, on the continent, murmured Aunt Julia, nodding her head slowly.
加布里埃尔皱起眉头,似乎有些恼火地说道:
Gabriel knitted his brows and said, as if he were slightly angered:
— 这不是什么了不起的事情,但 Gretta 认为这很有趣,因为她说这个词让她想起了 Christy Minstrels。d
— It’s nothing very wonderful but Gretta thinks it very funny because she says the word reminds her of Christy Minstrels.d
“但是,加布里埃尔,你告诉我吧,”凯特姨妈轻快而机智地说道。“当然,你已经看过那个房间了。格丽塔说……
— But tell me, Gabriel, said Aunt Kate, with brisk tact. Of course, you’ve seen about the room. Gretta was saying …
— 哦,房间还行,加布里埃尔回答说。我在格雷沙姆订了一间。
— O, the room is all right, replied Gabriel. I’ve taken one in the Gresham.
“当然,”凯特姨妈说,“这是目前最好的办法。格蕾塔,你不担心孩子们吗?”
— To be sure, said Aunt Kate, by far the best thing to do. And the children, Gretta, you’re not anxious about them?
“哦,就住一晚,”康罗伊夫人说,“而且贝茜会照顾他们的。”
— O, for one night, said Mrs Conroy. Besides, Bessie will look after them.
——当然,凯特姨妈又说。有这样一个可以依靠的女孩,真是令人欣慰!莉莉就是这样,我真不知道她最近怎么了。她已经不是以前那个女孩了。
— To be sure, said Aunt Kate again. What a comfort it is to have a girl like that, one you can depend on! There’s that Lily, I’m sure I don’t know what has come over her lately. She’s not the girl she was at all.
加布里埃尔正要就这一点向姑妈问一些问题,但她突然停了下来,凝视着她姐姐的背影。她姐姐已经走下楼梯,正伸长脖子看着楼梯栏杆。
Gabriel was about to ask his aunt some questions on this point but she broke off suddenly to gaze after her sister who had wandered down the stairs and was craning her neck over the banisters.
——现在,我问你,她几乎有些生气地说,朱莉娅要去哪儿?朱莉娅!朱莉娅!你要去哪儿?
— Now, I ask you, she said, almost testily, where is Julia going? Julia! Julia! Where are you going?
朱莉娅已经走了一半楼梯,然后回来平静地宣布:
Julia, who had gone halfway down one flight, came back and announced blandly:
— 这是弗雷迪。
— Here’s Freddy.
就在这时,一阵拍手声和钢琴演奏家的最后奏鸣声宣告华尔兹舞结束。客厅的门从里面打开,几对情侣走了出来。凯特姨妈急忙把加布里埃尔拉到一边,在他耳边低声说:
At the same moment a clapping of hands and a final flourish of the pianist told that the waltz had ended. The drawing-room door was opened from within and some couples came out. Aunt Kate drew Gabriel aside hurriedly and whispered into his ear:
— 像个好人一样,加布里埃尔,快点下去,看看他是否安好,如果他被坑了,就别让他上来。我确信他被坑了。我确信他被坑了。
— Slip down, Gabriel, like a good fellow and see if he’s all right, and don’t let him up if he’s screwed. I’m sure he’s screwed. I’m sure he is.
加布里埃尔走到楼梯口,透过楼梯扶手听着。他听到两个人在储藏室里说话。然后他听出了弗雷迪·马林斯的笑声。他大声地走下楼梯。
Gabriel went to the stairs and listened over the banisters. He could hear two persons talking in the pantry. Then he recognised Freddy Malins’ laugh. He went down the stairs noisily.
— 凯特姨妈对康罗伊夫人说,加布里埃尔来了,真是松了一口气。他来的时候,我的心情总是轻松很多……朱莉娅,戴利小姐来了,鲍尔小姐要吃点东西。谢谢你的华尔兹,戴利小姐。真是一段美好的时光。
— It’s such a relief, said Aunt Kate to Mrs Conroy, that Gabriel is here. I always feel easier in my mind when he’s here…. Julia, there’s Miss Daly and Miss Power will take some refreshment. Thanks for your beautiful waltz, Miss Daly. It made lovely time.
一个高个子、面容憔悴、留着灰白硬胡子、皮肤黝黑的男人和他的搭档正昏睡着,他说道:
A tall wizen-faced man, with a stiff grizzled moustache and swarthy skin, who was passing out with his partner said:
— 莫坎小姐,我们能吃点点东西吗?
— And may we have some refreshment, too, Miss Morkan?
— — 朱莉娅,凯特姨妈立即说道,布朗先生和弗朗小姐来了。朱莉娅,带他们和戴利小姐、鲍尔小姐一起进来吧。
— Julia, said Aunt Kate summarily, and here’s Mr Browne and Miss Furlong. Take them in, Julia, with Miss Daly and Miss Power.
“我是女士们的宠儿,”布朗先生说,他撅起嘴唇,胡子都竖了起来,满脸皱纹,脸上挂着笑容。你知道,莫坎小姐,她们这么喜欢我的原因是——
— I’m the man for the ladies, said Mr Browne, pursing his lips until his moustache bristled and smiling in all his wrinkles. You know, Miss Morkan, the reason they are so fond of me is —
他没有说完,但看到凯特姨妈已经听不见了,便立即带着三位小姐走进后面的房间。房间中间摆着两张方桌,两张桌子首尾相连,朱莉娅姨妈和看门人正在桌子上整理和抚平一块大桌布。餐具柜上摆放着盘子、玻璃杯和一捆捆刀叉勺。封闭的方形钢琴顶部也用作餐柜,用于放置食物和糖果。在一个角落里,一个较小的餐柜旁站着两个年轻人,正在喝啤酒花苦味酒。
He did not finish his sentence, but, seeing that Aunt Kate was out of earshot, at once led the three young ladies into the back room. The middle of the room was occupied by two square tables placed end to end, and on these Aunt Julia and the caretaker were straightening and smoothing a large cloth. On the sideboard were arrayed dishes and plates, and glasses and bundles of knives and forks and spoons. The top of the closed square piano served also as a sideboard for viands and sweets. At a smaller sideboard in one corner two young men were standing, drinking hop-bitters.
布朗先生带着他的客人来到那里,开玩笑地邀请他们喝一杯女士潘趣酒,热腾腾、浓烈而甜美。由于他们说他们从不喝烈性酒,所以他为他们开了三瓶柠檬水。然后他让其中一名年轻人让开,自己拿起酒瓶,给自己倒了一大杯威士忌。他试喝了一口,年轻人恭敬地看着他。
Mr Browne led his charges thither and invited them all, in jest, to some ladies’ punch, hot, strong and sweet. As they said they never took anything strong he opened three bottles of lemonade for them. Then he asked one of the young men to move aside, and, taking hold of the decanter, filled out for himself a goodly measure of whisky. The young men eyed him respectfully while he took a trial sip.
——上帝保佑我,他笑着说,这是医生的嘱咐。
— God help me, he said, smiling, it’s the doctor’s orders.
他那张干瘪的脸上绽放出灿烂的笑容,三位年轻姑娘也跟着他的玩笑,笑得如音乐般悦耳,她们的身体前后摆动,肩膀紧张地抽搐着。最大胆的那位说:
His wizened face broke into a broader smile, and the three young ladies laughed in musical echo to his pleasantry, swaying their bodies to and fro, with nervous jerks of their shoulders. The boldest said:
— 哦,布朗先生,我确信医生从来没有下令做这样的事。
— O, now, Mr Browne, I’m sure the doctor never ordered anything of the kind.
布朗先生又喝了一口威士忌,侧身模仿着说道:
Mr Browne took another sip of his whisky and said, with sidling mimicry:
— 嗯,你瞧,我就像著名的卡西迪夫人一样,据说她曾说过:现在,玛丽·格莱姆斯,如果我不拿它,那就让我拿它,因为我觉得我想要它。
— Well, you see, I’m like the famous Mrs Cassidy, who is reported to have said: Now, Mary Grimes, if I don’t take it, make me take it, for I feel I want it.
他那张红润的脸庞前倾得有点过于亲密,他装出一口非常低沉的都柏林口音,因此,年轻的女士们本能地默默地听着他的讲话。玛丽·简的学生之一弗朗小姐问戴利小姐她演奏的那支优美的华尔兹舞曲叫什么名字;布朗先生看到他被忽视了,立即转向了两位更欣赏他的年轻人。
His hot face had leaned forward a little too confidentially and he had assumed a very low Dublin accent so that the young ladies, with one instinct, received his speech in silence. Miss Furlong, who was one of Mary Jane’s pupils, asked Miss Daly what was the name of the pretty waltz she had played; and Mr Browne, seeing that he was ignored, turned promptly to the two young men who were more appreciative.
一个身穿三色堇衣服、红脸的年轻女子走进房间,兴奋地拍着手,喊道:
A red-faced young woman, dressed in pansy, came into the room, excitedly clapping her hands and crying:
—— 四对方舞!四对方舞!
— Quadrilles! Quadrilles!
凯特姨妈紧随其后,喊道:
Close on her heels came Aunt Kate, crying:
——两位先生和三位女士,玛丽·简!
— Two gentlemen and three ladies, Mary Jane!
— 哦,伯金先生和克里根先生来了,玛丽·简说。克里根先生,你能娶鲍尔小姐吗?弗朗小姐,伯金先生,我可以帮你找个舞伴吗?哦,这样就行了。
— O, here’s Mr Bergin and Mr Kerrigan, said Mary Jane. Mr Kerrigan, will you take Miss Power? Miss Furlong, may I get you a partner, Mr Bergin. O, that’ll just do now.
— — 三位女士,玛丽·简,凯特姨妈说。
— Three ladies, Mary Jane, said Aunt Kate.
两位年轻的绅士询问女士们是否愿意受邀,玛丽·简转向戴利小姐。
The two young gentlemen asked the ladies if they might have the pleasure, and Mary Jane turned to Miss Daly.
— 哦,戴利小姐,在跳完最后两支舞之后,您表现真是棒极了,但是今晚我们真的很缺少女士。
— O, Miss Daly, you’re really awfully good, after playing for the last two dances, but really we’re so short of ladies to-night.
— 我一点也不介意,莫坎小姐。
— I don’t mind in the least, Miss Morkan.
— 不过我为你找到了一位好搭档,男高音巴特尔·达西先生。我稍后会请他来唱歌。都柏林人都对他赞不绝口。
— But I’ve a nice partner for you, Mr Bartell D’Arcy, the tenor. I’ll get him to sing later on. All Dublin is raving about him.
——好声音,好声音!凯特姨妈说。
— Lovely voice, lovely voice! said Aunt Kate.
当钢琴两次开始演奏第一个音阶的前奏时,玛丽·简带着她的新兵迅速离开了房间。他们刚一离开,朱莉娅姨妈就慢慢地走进房间,回头看着什么。
As the piano had twice begun the prelude to the first figure Mary Jane led her recruits quickly from the room. They had hardly gone when Aunt Julia wandered slowly into the room, looking behind her at something.
“怎么了,朱莉娅?”凯特姨妈焦急地问道。是谁啊?
— What is the matter, Julia? asked Aunt Kate anxiously. Who is it?
朱莉娅手里拿着一排餐巾,转过身对姐姐说,好像这个问题让她很吃惊一样,只是淡淡地说道:
Julia, who was carrying in a column of table-napkins, turned to her sister and said, simply, as if the question had surprised her:
— 和他在一起的只有弗雷迪、凯特和加布里埃尔。
— It’s only Freddy, Kate, and Gabriel with him.
事实上,她身后加布里埃尔正驾着弗雷迪·马林斯穿过楼梯平台。后者是一个四十岁左右的年轻人,身材和加布里埃尔一样,肩膀很圆。他的脸肉乎乎的,苍白无力,只有在厚厚的下垂耳垂和宽大的鼻翼处才有点血色。他五官粗糙,鼻子扁平,额头凸而后退,嘴唇肿胀突出。他厚重的眼睑和稀疏的乱发使他看上去昏昏欲睡。他正高声地笑着,讲述他在楼梯上给加布里埃尔讲的故事,同时用左拳的指关节来回揉着左眼。
In fact right behind her Gabriel could be seen piloting Freddy Malins across the landing. The latter, a young man of about forty, was of Gabriel’s size and build, with very round shoulders. His face was fleshy and pallid, touched with colour only at the thick hanging lobes of his ears and at the wide wings of his nose. He had coarse features, a blunt nose, a convex and receding brow, tumid and protruded lips. His heavy-lidded eyes and the disorder of his scanty hair made him look sleepy. He was laughing heartily in a high key at a story which he had been telling Gabriel on the stairs and at the same time rubbing the knuckles of his left fist backwards and forwards into his left eye.
— — 晚上好,弗雷迪,朱莉娅姨妈说。
— Good-evening, Freddy, said Aunt Julia.
弗雷迪·马林斯向莫坎小姐们道了晚安,由于他声音中习惯性的哽咽,显得很随意,然后,看到布朗先生在餐具柜上对他咧嘴笑,他便迈着颤抖的双腿穿过房间,开始低声重复他刚才给加布里埃尔讲的故事。
Freddy Malins bade the Misses Morkan good-evening in what seemed an offhand fashion by reason of the habitual catch in his voice and then, seeing that Mr Browne was grinning at him from the sideboard, crossed the room on rather shaky legs and began to repeat in an undertone the story he had just told to Gabriel.
——他没那么糟吧?凯特姨妈对加布里埃尔说。
— He’s not so bad, is he? said Aunt Kate to Gabriel.
加布里埃尔的眉毛很黑,但他很快就抬起眉毛回答道:
Gabriel’s brows were dark but he raised them quickly and answered:
— 哦,不,几乎看不出来。
— O no, hardly noticeable.
— 瞧,他真是个可怕的家伙!她说。他可怜的母亲让他在除夕夜发誓。但是,加布里埃尔,快进客厅吧。
— Now, isn’t he a terrible fellow! she said. And his poor mother made him take the pledge on New Year’s Eve. But come on, Gabriel, into the drawing-room.
在和加布里埃尔离开房间之前,她皱着眉头,摇晃着食指,向布朗先生发出警告。布朗先生点头回应,等她走后,他对弗雷迪·马林斯说:
Before leaving the room with Gabriel she signalled to Mr Browne by frowning and shaking her forefinger in warning to and fro. Mr Browne nodded in answer and, when she had gone, said to Freddy Malins:
— 那么,泰迪,现在我要给你倒上一杯柠檬水,让你振作起来。
— Now, then, Teddy, I’m going to fill you out a good glass of lemonade just to buck you up.
弗雷迪·马林斯的故事即将达到高潮,他不耐烦地挥手拒绝了邀请,但布朗先生先提醒弗雷迪·马林斯注意自己衣服凌乱,然后倒满一杯柠檬水递给他。弗雷迪·马林斯左手机械地接过杯子,右手则机械地整理衣服。布朗先生的脸上再次露出了笑意,他给自己倒了一杯威士忌,而弗雷迪·马林斯的故事还未达到高潮,就爆发出尖锐的支气管狂笑,他放下还没喝完、满溢的杯子,开始用左拳的指关节来回摩擦左眼,在笑声允许的范围内重复最后一句话。
Freddy Malins, who was nearing the climax of his story, waved the offer aside impatiently but Mr Browne, having first called Freddy Malins’ attention to a disarray in his dress, filled out and handed him a full glass of lemonade. Freddy Malins’ left hand accepted the glass mechanically, his right hand being engaged in the mechanical readjustment of his dress. Mr Browne, whose face was once more wrinkling with mirth, poured out for himself a glass of whisky while Freddy Malins exploded, before he had well reached the climax of his story, in a kink of high-pitched bronchitic laughter and, setting down his untasted and overflowing glass, began to rub the knuckles of his left fist backwards and forwards into his left eye, repeating words of his last phrase as well as his fit of laughter would allow him.
玛丽·简在安静的客厅里弹奏学院乐曲,曲子中充满了旋律和难懂的段落,加布里埃尔听不进去。他喜欢音乐,但她弹奏的乐曲对他来说毫无旋律,他怀疑其他听众是否也听得懂,尽管他们恳求玛丽·简弹奏一些乐曲。四个年轻人从茶点室来到门口,听到钢琴声,几分钟后,他们三三两两地悄悄地走了。似乎唯一听音乐的人是玛丽·简自己,她的手在键盘上飞快地移动,或者在停顿时从键盘上抬起,就像女祭司在瞬间诅咒一样,还有凯特姨妈站在她身边翻页。
Gabriel could not listen while Mary Jane was playing her Academy piece, full of runs and difficult passages, to the hushed drawing-room. He liked music but the piece she was playing had no melody for him and he doubted whether it had any melody for the other listeners, though they had begged Mary Jane to play something. Four young men, who had come from the refreshment-room to stand in the doorway at the sound of the piano, had gone away quietly in couples after a few minutes. The only persons who seemed to follow the music were Mary Jane herself, her hands racing along the key-board or lifted from it at the pauses like those of a priestess in momentary imprecation, and Aunt Kate standing at her elbow to turn the page.
加布里埃尔的眼睛被沉重的枝形吊灯下闪闪发光的蜂蜡地板弄得眼花缭乱,他把目光移到了钢琴上方的墙上。墙上挂着一幅《罗密欧与朱丽叶》阳台场景的画,旁边是一幅伦敦塔中两位被谋杀的王子的画,这是朱莉娅姑妈小时候用红色、蓝色和棕色羊毛织的。他们小时候上学的时候可能学过这种活儿,有一年,他的母亲给他织了一件紫色的背心作为生日礼物,背心上有小狐狸头,衬着棕色缎子,上面有圆形的桑葚色纽扣。奇怪的是,他的母亲没有音乐天赋,尽管凯特姑妈过去常称她为莫肯家的智囊。她和朱莉娅似乎一直对她们严肃而庄重的姐姐有点自豪。她的照片放在穿衣镜前。她膝上放着一本打开的书,正指着里面的某样东西给康斯坦丁看,康斯坦丁穿着战袍躺在她的脚边。她为她的儿子们取了名字,因为她非常明白家庭生活的尊严。多亏了她,康斯坦丁现在成了巴尔布里根的高级助理牧师,多亏了她,加布里埃尔本人才在皇家大学取得了学位。当他想起她对他的婚事的阴郁反对时,脸上掠过一丝阴影。她说过的一些轻蔑的话仍然让他耿耿于怀;她曾经说过格蕾塔是个乡下姑娘,但那根本不是真的。格蕾塔在她最后一次长期患病期间,一直在蒙克斯敦的家里照顾她。
Gabriel’s eyes, irritated by the floor, which glittered with beeswax under the heavy chandelier, wandered to the wall above the piano. A picture of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet hung there and beside it was a picture of the two murdered princes in the Tower which Aunt Julia had worked in red, blue and brown wools when she was a girl. Probably in the school they had gone to as girls that kind of work had been taught, for one year his mother had worked for him as a birthday present a waistcoat of purple tabinet, with little foxes’ heads upon it, lined with brown satin and having round mulberry buttons. It was strange that his mother had had no musical talent though Aunt Kate used to call her the brains carrier of the Morkan family. Both she and Julia had always seemed a little proud of their serious and matronly sister. Her photograph stood before the pierglass. She held an open book on her knees and was pointing out something in it to Constantine who, dressed in a man-o’-war suit, lay at her feet. It was she who had chosen the names for her sons for she was very sensible of the dignity of family life. Thanks to her, Constantine was now senior curate in Balbriggan and, thanks to her, Gabriel himself had taken his degree in the Royal University. A shadow passed over his face as he remembered her sullen opposition to his marriage. Some slighting phrases she had used still rankled in his memory; she had once spoken of Gretta as being country cute and that was not true of Gretta at all. It was Gretta who had nursed her during all her last long illness in their house at Monkstown.
他知道玛丽·简的曲子快要结束了,因为她又在弹奏开头的旋律,每一小节后都有一连串的音阶,当他等待曲子结束时,他心中的怨恨渐渐消散。曲子以高音区一个八度的颤音和低音区最后一个深八度的颤音结束。玛丽·简红着脸,紧张地卷起乐谱,逃出了房间,这时,热烈的掌声响起。最热烈的掌声来自门口的四个年轻人,他们在曲子开始时去了茶点室,钢琴声停止后又回来了。
He knew that Mary Jane must be near the end of her piece for she was playing again the opening melody with runs of scales after every bar and while he waited for the end the resentment died down in his heart. The piece ended with a trill of octaves in the treble and a final deep octave in the bass. Great applause greeted Mary Jane as, blushing and rolling up her music nervously, she escaped from the room. The most vigorous clapping came from the four young men in the doorway who had gone away to the refreshment-room at the beginning of the piece but had come back when the piano had stopped.
枪骑兵已经安排好了。加布里埃尔发现自己的搭档是艾弗斯小姐。艾弗斯小姐是一位性格直率、健谈的年轻女士,脸上长着雀斑,棕色眼睛突出。她没有穿低胸紧身衣,领口前面的胸针上有一个爱尔兰图案。
Lancers were arranged. Gabriel found himself partnered with Miss Ivors. She was a frank-mannered talkative young lady, with a freckled face and prominent brown eyes. She did not wear a low-cut bodice and the large brooch which was fixed in the front of her collar bore on it an Irish device.
等他们都坐好后,她突然说道:
When they had taken their places she said abruptly:
— 我有一只乌鸦想和你一起拔毛。
— I have a crow to pluck with you.
——跟我一起?加布里埃尔说。
— With me? said Gabriel.
她郑重地点了点头。
She nodded her head gravely.
——怎么了?加布里埃尔看到她严肃的样子,笑着问道。
— What is it? asked Gabriel, smiling at her solemn manner.
—— GC 是谁?艾弗斯小姐转过头看着他,回答道。
— Who is G. C.? answered Miss Ivors, turning her eyes upon him.
加布里埃尔脸红了,正要皱起眉头,好像他不明白似的,可她却直截了当地说:
Gabriel coloured and was about to knit his brows, as if he did not understand, when she said bluntly:
— 哦,天真的艾米!我发现你为《每日快报》撰稿。现在,你不为自己感到羞耻吗?
— O, innocent Amy! I have found out that you write for The Daily Express. Now, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
—“我为什么要为自己感到羞耻?”加布里埃尔眨着眼睛,努力挤出笑容问道。
— Why should I be ashamed of myself? asked Gabriel, blinking his eyes and trying to smile.
“嗯,我为你感到羞耻,”艾弗斯小姐坦率地说。“你居然会为这样的小报写文章。我没想到你是西不列颠人。”
— Well, I’m ashamed of you, said Miss Ivors frankly. To say you’d write for a rag like that. I didn’t think you were a West Briton.e
加布里埃尔脸上露出困惑的神色。确实,他每周三在《每日快报》上写一篇文学专栏,报酬是十五先令。但是这并不能使他成为西不列颠人。他收到的评论书籍几乎比那笔微不足道的支票更受欢迎。他喜欢触摸封面和翻阅新印的书页。几乎每天大学教完书后,他都会沿着码头漫步到二手书店、单身汉步道上的希基书店、阿斯顿码头上的韦伯书店或梅西书店,或者小巷里的奥克洛希西书店。他不知道该如何应付她的指责。他想说文学高于政治。但是他们是多年的朋友,他们的职业生涯一直很相似,先是在大学,然后是教师:他不敢冒险对她说出夸张的话。他继续眨着眼睛,努力微笑,有气无力地嘟囔着说,他认为写书评与政治无关。
A look of perplexity appeared on Gabriel’s face. It was true that he wrote a literary column every Wednesday in The Daily Express, for which he was paid fifteen shillings. But that did not make him a West Briton surely. The books he received for review were almost more welcome than the paltry cheque. He loved to feel the covers and turn over the pages of newly printed books. Nearly every day when his teaching in the college was ended he used to wander down the quays to the second-hand booksellers, to Hickey’s on Bachelor’s Walk, to Webb’s or Massey’s on Aston’s Quay, or to O’Clohissey’s in the by-street. He did not know how to meet her charge. He wanted to say that literature was above politics. But they were friends of many years’ standing and their careers had been parallel, first at the University and then as teachers: he could not risk a grandiose phrase with her. He continued blinking his eyes and trying to smile and murmured lamely that he saw nothing political in writing reviews of books.
轮到他们过马路时,他仍然一脸茫然,心不在焉。艾弗斯小姐立即热情地握住他的手,用柔和友好的语气说道:
When their turn to cross had come he was still perplexed and inattentive. Miss Ivors promptly took his hand in a warm grasp and said in a soft friendly tone:
——当然,我只是开玩笑。来吧,我们现在就过去。
— Of course, I was only joking. Come, we cross now.
当他们再次在一起时,她谈到了大学的问题,加布里埃尔感到更自在了。她的一个朋友给她看了他对布朗宁诗歌的评论。她就是这样发现这个秘密的:但她非常喜欢这篇评论。然后她突然说:
When they were together again she spoke of the University question and Gabriel felt more at ease. A friend of hers had shown her his review of Browning’s poems. That was how she had found out the secret: but she liked the review immensely. Then she said suddenly:
— 哦,康罗伊先生,今年夏天你会去阿伦群岛旅行吗?我们要在那里呆一个月。大西洋上一定很美。你应该来。克兰西先生要来,基尔凯利先生和凯瑟琳·卡尼也要来。如果格蕾塔能来,那对她来说也太好了。她来自康诺特,不是吗?
— O, Mr Conroy, will you come for an excursion to the Aran Isles this summer? We’re going to stay there a whole month. It will be splendid out in the Atlantic. You ought to come. Mr Clancy is coming, and Mr Kilkelly and Kathleen Kearney. It would be splendid for Gretta too if she’d come. She’s from Connacht, isn’t she?
——是她的人民,加布里埃尔简短地说道。
— Her people are, said Gabriel shortly.
——但你会来的,是吗?艾弗斯小姐问道,热切地把她温暖的手放在他的胳膊上。
— But you will come, won’t you? said Miss Ivors, laying her warm hand eagerly on his arm.
— 事实上,加布里埃尔说,我已经安排好了 —
— The fact is, said Gabriel, I have already arranged to go —
——去哪儿?艾弗斯小姐问。
— Go where? asked Miss Ivors.
— 你知道,每年我都会和一些朋友一起骑自行车旅行,所以 —
— Well, you know, every year I go for a cycling tour with some fellows and so —
——可是去哪儿呢?艾弗斯小姐问。
— But where? asked Miss Ivors.
—“嗯,我们通常去法国、比利时或者德国,”加布里埃尔尴尬地说道。
— Well, we usually go to France or Belgium or perhaps Germany, said Gabriel awkwardly.
— 艾弗丝小姐说:“那你为什么不回自己的国家去呢,而去法国和比利时呢?”
— And why do you go to France and Belgium, said Miss Ivors, instead of visiting your own land?
— 嗯,加布里埃尔说,一方面是为了保持与语言的联系,另一方面是为了改变。
— Well, said Gabriel, it’s partly to keep in touch with the languages and partly for a change.
— — 你难道没有自己的语言可以与之保持联系吗 — — 爱尔兰语?艾弗斯小姐问道。
— And haven’t you your own language to keep in touch with — Irish? asked Miss Ivors.
— 好吧,加布里埃尔说,如果事情发展到这个地步,你知道,爱尔兰语不是我的语言。
— Well, said Gabriel, if it comes to that, you know, Irish is not my language.
他们的邻座都转过身来听审讯。加布里埃尔紧张地左顾右盼,试图在这场令他额头泛红的折磨之下保持好心情。
Their neighbours had turned to listen to the cross-examination. Gabriel glanced right and left nervously and tried to keep his good humour under the ordeal which was making a blush invade his forehead.
— 艾弗丝小姐继续说,难道您没有参观自己的土地、自己的人民和自己的国家吗?您对那里一无所知。
— And haven’t you your own land to visit, continued Miss Ivors, that you know nothing of, your own people, and your own country?
— 哦,说实话,加布里埃尔突然反驳道,我厌倦了自己的国家,厌倦了它!
— O, to tell you the truth, retorted Gabriel suddenly, I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!
——为什么?艾弗斯小姐问。
— Why? asked Miss Ivors.
加布里埃尔没有回答,因为他的反驳已经让他激动不已。
Gabriel did not answer for his retort had heated him.
——为什么?艾弗斯小姐又问。
— Why? repeated Miss Ivors.
他们不得不一起去拜访,由于他没有回答她,艾弗丝小姐热情地说道:
They had to go visiting together and, as he had not answered her, Miss Ivors said warmly:
——当然,你没有答案。
— Of course, you’ve no answer.
加布里埃尔试图通过精力充沛地参与舞蹈来掩饰他的激动。他避开了她的目光,因为他看到她脸上露出了苦涩的表情。但当他们在长链中相遇时,他惊讶地感觉到他的手被牢牢地握住了。她从眉毛下疑惑地看了他一会儿,直到他笑了。然后,就在链子即将再次开始时,她踮起脚尖,在他耳边低声说:
Gabriel tried to cover his agitation by taking part in the dance with great energy. He avoided her eyes for he had seen a sour expression on her face. But when they met in the long chain he was surprised to feel his hand firmly pressed. She looked at him from under her brows for a moment quizzically until he smiled. Then, just as the chain was about to start again, she stood on tiptoe and whispered into his ear:
——西不列颠人!
— West Briton!
枪骑兵结束后,加布里埃尔走到房间的一个偏僻角落,弗雷迪·马林斯的母亲正坐在那里。她是一个肥胖、虚弱、满头白发的老妇人。她的声音像她儿子一样哽咽,说话有点结巴。有人告诉她弗雷迪已经回来了,而且他几乎没事。加布里埃尔问她渡海是否顺利。她和已婚的女儿住在格拉斯哥,每年来都柏林探望一次。她平静地回答说,她渡海很顺利,船长对她非常关心。她还谈到了女儿在格拉斯哥的漂亮房子,以及他们在那里结交的所有好朋友。当她喋喋不休的时候,加布里埃尔试图把与艾弗斯小姐发生的不愉快事件的记忆从脑海中抹去。当然,这个女孩或女人,不管她是什么,是个狂热分子,但凡事都有个时机。也许他不应该这样回答她。但她没有权利在众人面前叫他西不列颠人,哪怕是开玩笑。她曾试图在众人面前嘲笑他,嘲笑他,用兔子眼盯着他。
When the lancers were over Gabriel went away to a remote corner of the room where Freddy Malins’ mother was sitting. She was a stout feeble old woman with white hair. Her voice had a catch in it like her son’s and she stuttered slightly. She had been told that Freddy had come and that he was nearly all right. Gabriel asked her whether she had had a good crossing. She lived with her married daughter in Glasgow and came to Dublin on a visit once a year. She answered placidly that she had had a beautiful crossing and that the captain had been most attentive to her. She spoke also of the beautiful house her daughter kept in Glasgow, and of all the nice friends they had there. While her tongue rambled on Gabriel tried to banish from his mind all memory of the unpleasant incident with Miss Ivors. Of course the girl or woman, or whatever she was, was an enthusiast but there was a time for all things. Perhaps he ought not to have answered her like that. But she had no right to call him a West Briton before people, even in joke. She had tried to make him ridiculous before people, heckling him and staring at him with her rabbit’s eyes.
他看见妻子穿过跳华尔兹的人群朝他走来。她走到他面前时,在他耳边说道:
He saw his wife making her way towards him through the waltzing couples. When she reached him she said into his ear:
— 加布里埃尔,凯特姨妈想知道你是否会像往常一样切鹅。戴利小姐会切火腿,我来切布丁。
— Gabriel, Aunt Kate wants to know won’t you carve the goose as usual. Miss Daly will carve the ham and I’ll do the pudding.
——好的,加布里埃尔说。
— All right, said Gabriel.
— 这场华尔兹舞一结束,她就先让年纪小的孩子们进去,这样我们就能独享这张桌子了。
— She’s sending in the younger ones first as soon as this waltz is over so that we’ll have the table to ourselves.
——你在跳舞吗?加布里埃尔问。
— Were you dancing? asked Gabriel.
— 当然了。你没看见我吗?你跟莫莉·艾弗斯说了什么话?
— Of course I was. Didn’t you see me? What words had you with Molly Ivors?
——无话可说。为什么?她这么说吗?
— No words. Why? Did she say so?
— 差不多。我正想让达西先生唱歌。我觉得他太自负了。
— Something like that. I’m trying to get that Mr D’Arcy to sing. He’s full of conceit, I think.
— 没什么话可说,加布里埃尔闷闷不乐地说,她只是想让我去爱尔兰西部旅行,而我说我不会去。
— There were no words, said Gabriel moodily, only she wanted me to go for a trip to the west of Ireland and I said I wouldn’t.
他的妻子兴奋地紧握双手,轻轻地跳了起来。
His wife clasped her hands excitedly and gave a little jump.
“哦,走吧,加布里埃尔,”她大喊道,“我很想再见到戈尔韦。”
— O, do go, Gabriel, she cried. I’d love to see Galway again.
——如果你想走就走吧,加布里埃尔冷冷地说道。
— You can go if you like, said Gabriel coldly.
她看了他一会儿,然后转向马林斯夫人说:
She looked at him for a moment, then turned to Mrs Malins and said:
— 马林斯夫人,您有一个好丈夫。
— There’s a nice husband for you, Mrs Malins.
当她穿过房间走回去时,马林斯太太没有理会她的打扰,继续告诉加布里埃尔苏格兰有多么美丽的地方和美丽的风景。她的女婿每年都会带他们去湖边,他们过去常去钓鱼。她的女婿是个出色的钓鱼者。有一天,他钓到了一条鱼,一条漂亮的大鱼,旅馆里的人把它煮了当晚餐。
While she was threading her way back across the room Mrs Malins, without adverting to the interruption, went on to tell Gabriel what beautiful places there were in Scotland and beautiful scenery. Her son-in-law brought them every year to the lakes and they used to go fishing. Her son-in-law was a splendid fisher. One day he caught a fish, a beautiful big big fish, and the man in the hotel boiled it for their dinner.
加布里埃尔几乎听不见她说了什么。现在晚餐快到了,他又开始思考他的演讲和那句引语。当他看到弗雷迪·马林斯穿过房间来看望他的母亲时,加布里埃尔把椅子让给他,自己退到窗边。房间里已经空无一人,从后面的房间里传来盘子和刀子的碰撞声。那些还留在客厅里的人似乎厌倦了跳舞,三五成群地低声交谈着。加布里埃尔用温暖而颤抖的手指敲着冰冷的玻璃窗。外面一定很凉爽!一个人出去散步该有多愉快啊,先沿着河边走,然后穿过公园!雪会落在树枝上,在惠灵顿纪念碑的顶部形成一个明亮的帽子。那里比在晚餐桌上愉快得多!
Gabriel hardly heard what she said. Now that supper was coming near he began to think again about his speech and about the quotation. When he saw Freddy Malins coming across the room to visit his mother Gabriel left the chair free for him and retired into the embrasure of the window. The room had already cleared and from the back room came the clatter of plates and knives. Those who still remained in the drawing-room seemed tired of dancing and were conversing quietly in little groups. Gabriel’s warm trembling fingers tapped the cold pane of the window. How cool it must be outside! How pleasant it would be to walk out alone, first along by the river and then through the park! The snow would be lying on the branches of the trees and forming a bright cap on the top of the Wellington Monument. How much more pleasant it would be there than at the supper-table!
他把演讲的标题一字不差地念了一遍:爱尔兰人的热情好客、悲伤的回忆、美惠三女神、巴黎、引用布朗宁的名言。他自言自语地重复了一遍他在评论中写下的一句话:人们感觉自己正在聆听一首令人深思的音乐。艾弗丝小姐称赞了这篇评论。她是真诚的吗?她所有的宣传背后真的有自己的生活吗?直到那天晚上,他们之间从未有过任何怨恨。想到她会在晚餐桌上,用挑剔的、疑惑的眼神看着他讲话,他就感到不安。也许她不会为他的演讲失败而感到难过。一个想法浮现在他的脑海里,给了他勇气。他会这样说,暗指凯特姨妈和朱莉娅姨妈:女士们,先生们,我们中间正在衰落的这一代人也许有缺点,但就我而言,我认为他们具有某些好客、幽默和人性的品质,而我们周围正在成长的新一代、非常严肃、受过高等教育的一代人似乎缺乏这些品质。很好:这对艾弗斯小姐来说就是这样。他为什么在乎他的姨妈只是两个无知的老妇人?
He ran over the headings of his speech: Irish hospitality, sad memories, the Three Graces,f Paris, the quotation from Browning. He repeated to himself a phrase he had written in his review: One feels that one is listening to a thought-tormented music. Miss Ivors had praised the review. Was she sincere? Had she really any life of her own behind all her propagandism? There had never been any ill-feeling between them until that night. It unnerved him to think that she would be at the supper-table, looking up at him while he spoke with her critical quizzing eyes. Perhaps she would not be sorry to see him fail in his speech. An idea came into his mind and gave him courage. He would say, alluding to Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia: Ladies and Gentlemen, the generation which is now on the wane among us may have had its faults but for my part I think it had certain qualities of hospitality, of humour, of humanity, which the new and very serious and hypereducated generation that is growing up around us seems to me to lack. Very good: that was one for Miss Ivors. What did he care that his aunts were only two ignorant old women?
房间里的一阵低语引起了他的注意。布朗先生正从门口走来,殷勤地护送着朱莉娅姑妈,她靠在他的胳膊上,微笑着,低着头。一阵不规则的掌声也护送着她走到钢琴前,然后,当玛丽·简坐在凳子上,朱莉娅姑妈不再微笑,半转过身,把她的声音传到房间里时,掌声逐渐停止了。加布里埃尔认出了前奏。这是朱莉娅姑妈的一首老歌—— 《新娘装扮》。她的声音洪亮清晰,充满激情地唱着修饰空气的旋律,虽然她唱得很快,但她没有错过哪怕是最微小的装饰音。不看歌手的脸,跟着歌声走,就会感受到并分享迅速而安全的飞行的兴奋。加布里埃尔和其他人一起在歌曲结束时大声鼓掌,从看不见的晚餐桌上传来了热烈的掌声。她的声音如此真诚,当朱莉娅姑妈弯腰将那本封面上印有她姓名首字母的旧皮面歌本放回乐谱架时,她的脸上不禁泛起一丝红晕。弗雷迪·马林斯侧着头听着,想听得更清楚,当其他人都停止鼓掌时,他仍在热烈地和母亲交谈,母亲则严肃而缓慢地点头表示同意。最后,当他再也鼓不起掌来时,他突然站起来,快步穿过房间来到朱莉娅姑妈身边,他用双手抓住她的手,当他无法用言语表达或声音哽咽时,他握住她的手。
A murmur in the room attracted his attention. Mr Browne was advancing from the door, gallantly escorting Aunt Julia, who leaned upon his arm, smiling and hanging her head. An irregular musketry of applause escorted her also as far as the piano and then, as Mary Jane seated herself on the stool, and Aunt Julia, no longer smiling, half turned so as to pitch her voice fairly into the room, gradually ceased. Gabriel recognised the prelude. It was that of an old song of Aunt Julia’s — Arrayed for the Bridal. Her voice, strong and clear in tone, attacked with great spirit the runs which embellish the air and though she sang very rapidly she did not miss even the smallest of the grace notes. To follow the voice, without looking at the singer’s face, was to feel and share the excitement of swift and secure flight. Gabriel applauded loudly with all the others at the close of the song and loud applause was borne in from the invisible supper-table. It sounded so genuine that a little colour struggled into Aunt Julia’s face as she bent to replace in the music-stand the old leather-bound song-book that had her initials on the cover. Freddy Malins, who had listened with his head perched sideways to hear her better, was still applauding when everyone else had ceased and talking animatedly to his mother who nodded her head gravely and slowly in acquiescence. At last, when he could clap no more, he stood up suddenly and hurried across the room to Aunt Julia whose hand he seized and held in both his hands, shaking it when words failed him or the catch in his voice proved too much for him.
—我刚跟妈妈说了,他说,我从来没听过你唱得这么好,从来没有。不,我从来没听过你的声音像今晚这么好听。现在!你现在相信了吗?这是事实。我发誓,这是事实。我从来没有听过你的声音听起来如此清新,如此……如此清晰和清新,从来没有。
— I was just telling my mother, he said, I never heard you sing so well, never. No, I never heard your voice so good as it is to-night. Now! Would you believe that now? That’s the truth. Upon my word and honour that’s the truth. I never heard your voice sound so fresh and so … so clear and fresh, never.
朱莉娅姑妈笑容满面,从他手里松开手,低声说了些赞美的话。布朗先生向她伸出手,像一个艺人向观众介绍神童一样,对身边的人说:
Aunt Julia smiled broadly and murmured something about compliments as she released her hand from his grasp. Mr Browne extended his open hand towards her and said to those who were near him in the manner of a showman introducing a prodigy to an audience:
— 朱莉娅·莫坎小姐,我最新的发现!
— Miss Julia Morkan, my latest discovery!
正当他开怀大笑时,弗雷迪·马林斯转过身对他说:
He was laughing very heartily at this himself when Freddy Malins turned to him and said:
— 好吧,布朗,如果你是认真的,你可能会发现更糟糕的事情。我只能说,自从我来这里以来,我从来没有听到过她唱得这么好。这是实话。
— Well, Browne, if you’re serious you might make a worse discovery. All I can say is I never heard her sing half so well as long as I am coming here. And that’s the honest truth.
“我也没有,”布朗先生说。“我认为她的声音已经好多了。”
— Neither did I, said Mr Browne. I think her voice has greatly improved.
朱莉娅姑妈耸耸肩膀,谦逊而自豪地说道:
Aunt Julia shrugged her shoulders and said with meek pride:
— 三十年前,我的声音还算不错。
— Thirty years ago I hadn’t a bad voice as voices go.
“我经常告诉朱莉娅,”凯特姨妈强调道,“她只是被扔进合唱团里了。”但我从来不会这么说。
— I often told Julia, said Aunt Kate emphatically, that she was simply thrown away in that choir. But she never would be said by me.
她转过身,仿佛要呼吁其他人保持理智,以对付这个难管教的孩子,而朱莉娅姨妈则凝视着她的前方,脸上浮现出一丝回忆的淡淡微笑。
She turned as if to appeal to the good sense of the others against a refractory child while Aunt Julia gazed in front of her, a vague smile of reminiscence playing on her face.
——不,凯特姨妈继续说,她不会听从任何人的指挥,她会日夜操劳在唱诗班里。圣诞节早上六点!这一切都是为了什么?
— No, continued Aunt Kate, she wouldn’t be said or led by anyone, slaving there in that choir night and day, night and day. Six o’clock on Christmas morning! And all for what?
——那么,凯特姨妈,难道这不是为了上帝的荣耀吗?玛丽·简在钢琴凳上转过身来,微笑着问道。
— Well, isn’t it for the honour of God, Aunt Kate? asked Mary Jane, twisting round on the piano-stool and smiling.
凯特姨妈怒气冲冲地转过身来对她的侄女说:
Aunt Kate turned fiercely on her niece and said:
— 我非常了解上帝的荣耀,玛丽·简,但我认为教皇把那些终生在唱诗班里做苦工的女性赶出去,并让年幼的男孩来管理她们,这完全不光彩。我想教皇这么做是为了教会的利益。但这并不公平,玛丽·简,也不正确。
— I know all about the honour of God, Mary Jane, but I think it’s not at all honourable for the pope to turn out the women out of the choirs that have slaved there all their lives and put little whipper-snappers of boys over their heads. I suppose it is for the good of the Church if the pope does it. But it’s not just, Mary Jane, and it’s not right.
她已经怒不可遏,本想继续为姐姐辩护,因为这件事对她来说是个痛处。但玛丽·简看到所有的舞者都回来了,便心平气和地干预了这件事:
She had worked herself into a passion and would have continued in defence of her sister for it was a sore subject with her but Mary Jane, seeing that all the dancers had come back, intervened pacifically:
— 现在,凯特姨妈,你正在给持另一种观点的布朗先生带来丑闻。
— Now, Aunt Kate, you’re giving scandal to Mr Browne who is of the other persuasion.
凯特姨妈转过身来,对布朗先生说:
Aunt Kate turned to Mr Browne, who was grinning at this allusion to his religion, and said hastily:
—哦,我不怀疑教皇说得对。我只是个愚蠢的老太婆,不敢做这样的事。但日常礼貌和感激是常有的事。如果我是朱莉娅,我会当面告诉希利神父……
— O, I don’t question the pope’s being right. I’m only a stupid old woman and I wouldn’t presume to do such a thing. But there’s such a thing as common everyday politeness and gratitude. And if I were in Julia’s place I’d tell that Father Healy straight up to his face …
——此外,凯特姨妈,玛丽·简说,我们确实都很饿,而且当我们饿的时候,我们都很爱吵架。
— And besides, Aunt Kate, said Mary Jane, we really are all hungry and when we are hungry we are all very quarrelsome.
— — 而且当我们口渴的时候,我们也容易吵架,布朗先生补充道。
— And when we are thirsty we are also quarrelsome, added Mr Browne.
— 所以我们最好去吃晚饭,玛丽·简说,然后再继续讨论。
— So that we had better go to supper, said Mary Jane, and finish the discussion afterwards.
在客厅外的楼梯平台上,加布里埃尔发现他的妻子和玛丽·简正在劝说艾弗斯小姐留下来吃晚饭。但是艾弗斯小姐已经戴上了帽子,正在扣斗篷的扣子,不肯留下来。她一点也不觉得饿,而且她已经呆得太久了。
On the landing outside the drawing-room Gabriel found his wife and Mary Jane trying to persuade Miss Ivors to stay for supper. But Miss Ivors, who had put on her hat and was buttoning her cloak, would not stay. She did not feel in the least hungry and she had already overstayed her time.
— — 但只需十分钟,莫莉,康罗伊夫人说道。那不会耽误你。
— But only for ten minutes, Molly, said Mrs Conroy. That won’t delay you.
— — 跳了这么久的舞,玛丽·简说,自己去捡一根镐吧。
— To take a pick itself, said Mary Jane, after all your dancing.
— — 我确实不能,艾弗斯小姐说。
— I really couldn’t, said Miss Ivors.
— — 我担心你根本就没有玩得开心,玛丽·简无望地说道。
— I am afraid you didn’t enjoy yourself at all, said Mary Jane hopelessly.
— — 我向你保证,当然可以,艾弗斯小姐说,但是你现在真的必须让我走了。
— Ever so much, I assure you, said Miss Ivors, but you really must let me run off now.
——可是你怎么回家呢?康罗伊夫人问道。
— But how can you get home? asked Mrs Conroy.
— 哦,到码头只需走两步台阶。
— O, it’s only two steps up the quay.
加布里埃尔犹豫了一下,说道:
Gabriel hesitated a moment and said:
— 如果您允许的话,艾弗斯小姐,如果您真的必须回家,我可以送您回家。
— If you will allow me, Miss Ivors, I’ll see you home if you really are obliged to go.
但艾弗斯小姐却挣脱了他们。
But Miss Ivors broke away from them.
——我可不想听这些,她大喊道。看在老天的份上,你去吃饭吧,别管我。我能照顾好自己。
— I won’t hear of it, she cried. For goodness sake go in to your suppers and don’t mind me. I’m quite well able to take care of myself.
— — 嗯,你真是个滑稽的女孩,莫莉,康罗伊夫人坦率地说。
— Well, you’re the comical girl, Molly, said Mrs Conroy frankly.
——Beannacht libh,艾弗斯小姐一边跑下楼梯,一边笑着喊道。
— Beannacht libh,g cried Miss Ivors, with a laugh, as she ran down the staircase.
玛丽·简目送着她离开,脸上带着忧郁的困惑表情,而康罗伊夫人则倚在楼梯栏杆上,听着门厅的开门声。加布里埃尔不禁自问,她突然离开是不是他造成的。但她似乎心情不好:她笑着走了。他茫然地盯着楼梯。
Mary Jane gazed after her, a moody puzzled expression on her face, while Mrs Conroy leaned over the banisters to listen for the hall-door. Gabriel asked himself was he the cause of her abrupt departure. But she did not seem to be in ill humour: she had gone away laughing. He stared blankly down the staircase.
就在这时,凯特姨妈从餐厅里蹒跚而出,几乎绝望地绞着双手。
At that moment Aunt Kate came toddling out of the supper-room, almost wringing her hands in despair.
—加布里埃尔在哪儿?她大叫道。加布里埃尔到底在哪儿?大家都在那儿等着,舞台要出租,却没人来切鹅!
— Where is Gabriel? she cried. Where on earth is Gabriel? There’s everyone waiting in there, stage to let, and nobody to carve the goose!
— — 我来了,凯特姨妈!加布里埃尔突然兴奋地喊道,必要时他准备雕刻一群鹅。
— Here I am, Aunt Kate! cried Gabriel, with sudden animation, ready to carve a flock of geese, if necessary.
桌子一头放着一只肥肥的棕色鹅,另一头,在铺着皱巴巴的纸的上面撒着几根欧芹,上面放着一块大火腿,火腿剥去外皮,上面撒着面包屑,小腿上缠着一圈漂亮的纸褶,旁边是一块五香牛肉。两头之间平行摆着几道配菜:两个小果冻,红色和黄色;一个浅盘里装满了牛奶冻和红果酱;一个大绿叶形盘子,带有柄状把手,上面放着一串串紫葡萄干和去皮杏仁;一个配菜盘上放着一块长方形的士麦那无花果;一盘蛋奶糊上面撒着磨碎的肉豆蔻;一个小碗里装满了用金银纸包裹的巧克力和糖果;一个玻璃花瓶里插着几根高高的芹菜梗。桌子中央放着两个矮矮的老式雕花玻璃酒瓶,一个装着波特酒,另一个装着深色雪利酒,就像守卫水果摊的哨兵一样,水果摊上摆放着一堆堆橘子和美国苹果。在封闭的方形钢琴上,一个黄色大盘子里放着布丁,布丁在钢琴后面,摆着三队黑啤酒、麦芽啤酒和矿泉水,按照制服的颜色排列,前两队是黑色的,上面贴着棕色和红色的标签,第三队也是最小的一队是白色的,上面系着横向的绿色腰带。
A fat brown goose lay at one end of the table and at the other end, on a bed of creased paper strewn with sprigs of parsley, lay a great ham, stripped of its outer skin and peppered over with crust crumbs, a neat paper frill round its shin and beside this was a round of spiced beef. Between these rival ends ran parallel lines of side-dishes: two little minsters of jelly, red and yellow; a shallow dish full of blocks of blancmange and red jam, a large green leaf-shaped dish with a stalk-shaped handle, on which lay bunches of purple raisins and peeled almonds, a companion dish on which lay a solid rectangle of Smyrna figs, a dish of custard topped with grated nutmeg, a small bowl full of chocolates and sweets wrapped in gold and silver papers and a glass vase in which stood some tall celery stalks. In the centre of the table there stood, as sentries to a fruit-stand which upheld a pyramid of oranges and American apples, two squat old-fashioned decanters of cut glass, one containing port and the other dark sherry. On the closed square piano a pudding in a huge yellow dish lay in waiting and behind it were three squads of bottles of stout and ale and minerals, drawn up according to the colours of their uniforms, the first two black, with brown and red labels, the third and smallest squad white, with transverse green sashes.
加布里埃尔大胆地坐在桌子首位,看了看切肉机的边缘,用叉子稳稳地叉起鹅肉。现在他感觉很自在,因为他是切肉高手,最喜欢坐在摆满食物的桌子首位。
Gabriel took his seat boldly at the head of the table and, having looked to the edge of the carver, plunged his fork firmly into the goose. He felt quite at ease now for he was an expert carver and liked nothing better than to find himself at the head of a well-laden table.
“弗朗小姐,我该给你寄点什么呢?”他问道。一只鸡翅还是一块鸡胸肉?
— Miss Furlong, what shall I send you? he asked. A wing or a slice of the breast?
— 仅切掉一小块乳房。
— Just a small slice of the breast.
— 希金斯小姐,您有什么事吗?
— Miss Higgins, what for you?
——哦,什么都可以,康罗伊先生。
— O, anything at all, Mr Conroy.
加布里埃尔和戴利小姐交换着鹅肉、火腿和五香牛肉,莉莉端着一盘裹着白餐巾的热腾腾的面粉土豆,从一位客人走到另一位客人。这是玛丽·简的主意,她还建议在鹅肉上加苹果酱,但凯特姨妈说,不加苹果酱的普通烤鹅对她来说已经足够好了,她希望自己再也不会吃得更糟了。玛丽·简侍候着她的学生,确保他们切到了最好的肉片,凯特姨妈和朱莉娅姨妈打开一瓶黑啤酒和麦芽啤酒,送给男士,一瓶矿泉水送给女士。现场一片混乱、欢笑和喧闹,点菜和反点菜的声音、刀叉的声音、软木塞和玻璃塞的声音。加布里埃尔吃完第一轮,没有自己吃,就开始切第二份。每个人都大声抗议,所以他妥协了,喝了一大口黑啤酒,因为他觉得切肉很辛苦。玛丽·简安静地坐下来吃晚饭,但凯特姨妈和朱莉娅姨妈仍在餐桌旁蹒跚而行,互相踩着脚跟走路,互相挡着路,互相发出不理睬的命令。布朗先生恳求他们坐下来吃晚饭,加布里埃尔也恳求他们,但他们说时间还够,所以最后,弗雷迪·马林斯站了起来,抓住凯特姨妈,在一片笑声中把她按在椅子上。
While Gabriel and Miss Daly exchanged plates of goose and plates of ham and spiced beef Lily went from guest to guest with a dish of hot floury potatoes wrapped in a white napkin. This was Mary Jane’s idea and she had also suggested apple sauce for the goose but Aunt Kate had said that plain roast goose without apple sauce had always been good enough for her and she hoped she might never eat worse. Mary Jane waited on her pupils and saw that they got the best slices and Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia opened and carried across from the piano bottles of stout and ale for the gentlemen and bottles of minerals for the ladies. There was a great deal of confusion and laughter and noise, the noise of orders and counter-orders, of knives and forks, of corks and glass-stoppers. Gabriel began to carve second helpings as soon as he had finished the first round without serving himself. Everyone protested loudly so that he compromised by taking a long draught of stout for he had found the carving hot work. Mary Jane settled down quietly to her supper but Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia were still toddling round the table, walking on each other’s heels, getting in each other’s way and giving each other unheeded orders. Mr Browne begged of them to sit down and eat their suppers and so did Gabriel but they said there was time enough so that, at last, Freddy Malins stood up and, capturing Aunt Kate, plumped her down on her chair amid general laughter.
等到大家都吃饱喝足,加布里埃尔微笑着说道:
When everyone had been well served Gabriel said, smiling:
— 现在,如果有人想要更多一些俗人所说的填充物,就让他或她说出来。
— Now, if anyone wants a little more of what vulgar people call stuffing let him or her speak.
大家齐声邀请他开始吃晚饭,莉莉端着为他留的三个土豆走上前来。
A chorus of voices invited him to begin his own supper and Lily came forward with three potatoes which she had reserved for him.
— 好吧,加布里埃尔一边喝着酒,一边和蔼地说道,女士们,先生们,请暂时忘记我的存在吧。
— Very well, said Gabriel amiably, as he took another preparatory draught, kindly forget my existence, ladies and gentlemen, for a few minutes.
他开始吃晚饭,没有参与餐桌上关于莉莉收拾盘子的谈话。谈话的主题是当时在皇家剧院的歌剧团。男高音巴特尔·达西先生是一位肤色黝黑、留着漂亮小胡子的年轻人,他对剧团的首席女低音歌唱家赞不绝口,但弗朗小姐认为她的表演风格相当粗俗。弗雷迪·马林斯说,在欢乐哑剧的第二部分演唱的是一位黑人酋长,他的男高音是他所听过的最优美的之一。
He set to his supper and took no part in the conversation with which the table covered Lily’s removal of the plates. The subject of talk was the opera company which was then at the Theatre Royal. Mr Bartell D’Arcy, the tenor, a dark-complexioned young man with a smart moustache, praised very highly the leading contralto of the company but Miss Furlong thought she had a rather vulgar style of production. Freddy Malins said there was a negro chieftain singing in the second part of the Gaiety pantomime who had one of the finest tenor voices he had ever heard.
——你听见他说的话了吗?他隔着桌子问巴特尔·达西先生。
— Have you heard him? he asked Mr Bartell D’Arcy across the table.
——没有,巴特尔·达西先生漫不经心地回答。
— No, answered Mr Bartell D’Arcy carelessly.
— 因为,弗雷迪·马林斯解释道,现在我很想知道你对他的看法。我认为他的声音很棒。
— Because, Freddy Malins explained, now I’d be curious to hear your opinion of him. I think he has a grand voice.
— — 只有泰迪才能发现真正好的东西,布朗先生亲切地对着桌子说道。
— It takes Teddy to find out the really good things, said Mr Browne familiarly to the table.
— 为什么他不能有声音?弗雷迪·马林斯尖锐地问道。是因为他只是个黑人吗?
— And why couldn’t he have a voice too? asked Freddy Malins sharply. Is it because he’s only a black?
没人回答这个问题,玛丽·简把桌子带回到正统歌剧上。她的一个学生给了她一张《迷娘》的通行证。当然,她说,那部歌剧很精彩,但是它让她想起了可怜的乔治娜·彭斯。布朗先生还可以追溯到更早以前,那些曾经来都柏林演出的老意大利剧团——提金斯剧团、伊尔玛·德·穆尔茨卡剧团、坎帕尼尼剧团、伟大的特雷贝利剧团、朱格里尼剧团、拉维利剧团、阿兰布罗剧团。他说,那是在都柏林可以听到类似歌唱的时代。他还讲述了老皇家剧院的顶层观众席夜复一夜地挤满了人,讲述了一个意大利男高音歌唱家在一天晚上演唱了五遍《让我像士兵一样倒下》的返场曲,每次都引入高音 C,还讲述了观众席上的男孩们有时会兴高采烈地解开某个大歌星马车上的马,亲自拉着她穿过街道,把她拉到酒店。他问道,为什么他们现在不再演那些古老的大歌剧了,比如《迪诺拉》、《卢克雷齐娅·波吉亚》?因为他们找不到合适的歌声来演唱这些歌剧:这就是原因。
Nobody answered this question and Mary Jane led the table back to the legitimate opera. One of her pupils had given her a pass for Mignon. Of course it was very fine, she said, but it made her think of poor Georgina Burns. Mr Browne could go back farther still, to the old Italian companies that used to come to Dublin — Tietjens, Ilma de Murzka, Campanini, the great Trebelli, Giuglini, Ravelli, Aramburo. Those were the days, he said, when there was something like singing to be heard in Dublin. He told too of how the top gallery of the old Royal used to be packed night after night, of how one night an Italian tenor had sung five encores to Let Me Like a Soldier Fall, introducing a high C every time, and of how the gallery boys would sometimes in their enthusiasm unyoke the horses from the carriage of some great prima donna and pull her themselves through the streets to her hotel. Why did they never play the grand old operas now, he asked, Dinorah, Lucrezia Borgia? Because they could not get the voices to sing them: that was why.
— 哦,好吧,巴特尔·达西先生说,我想现在的歌手和那时的歌手一样好。
— O, well, said Mr Bartell D’Arcy, I presume there are as good singers to-day as there were then.
——他们在哪儿?布朗先生挑衅地问道。
— Where are they? asked Mr Browne defiantly.
“在伦敦、巴黎、米兰,”巴特尔·达西先生热情地说道。“我想,比如卡鲁索,就算不比你提到的任何人更好,至少也和他一样优秀。”
— In London, Paris, Milan, said Mr Bartell D’Arcy warmly. I suppose Caruso, for example, is quite as good, if not better than any of the men you have mentioned.
“也许是这样,”布朗先生说。但我可以告诉你,我对此深表怀疑。
— Maybe so, said Mr Browne. But I may tell you I doubt it strongly.
— 哦,我愿意付出一切来听卡鲁索唱歌,玛丽·简说。
— O, I’d give anything to hear Caruso sing, said Mary Jane.
“对我来说,”凯特姨妈一边挑刺一边说道,“只有一个男高音。”我的意思是,为了取悦我。但我想你们谁也没听说过他。
— For me, said Aunt Kate, who had been picking a bone, there was only one tenor. To please me, I mean. But I suppose none of you ever heard of him.
——他是谁,莫坎小姐?巴特尔·达西先生礼貌地问道。
— Who was he, Miss Morkan? asked Mr Bartell D’Arcy politely.
— 凯特姨妈说,他的名字叫帕金森。我听过他巅峰时期的演唱,我认为那时他的男高音是有史以来最纯净的。
— His name, said Aunt Kate, was Parkinson. I heard him when he was in his prime and I think he had then the purest tenor voice that was ever put into a man’s throat.
— — 真奇怪,巴特尔·达西先生说。我从来没有听说过他。
— Strange, said Mr Bartell D’Arcy. I never even heard of him.
“是的,是的,莫坎小姐说得对,”布朗先生说,“我记得听说过老帕金森,但他对我来说太古老了。”
— Yes, yes, Miss Morkan is right, said Mr Browne. I remember hearing of old Parkinson but he’s too far back for me.
— — 美妙、纯洁、甜美、圆润的英国男高音,凯特姨妈热情地说道。
— A beautiful pure sweet mellow English tenor, said Aunt Kate with enthusiasm.
加布里埃尔吃完后,把大块的布丁端到桌上。叉子和勺子的碰撞声又响了起来。加布里埃尔的妻子一勺勺地端出布丁,把盘子递到桌上。玛丽·简在半路上把盘子扶起来,又加了覆盆子或橙子果冻,或者牛奶冻和果酱。布丁是朱莉娅姨妈做的,她受到了各方的称赞。她自己说布丁不够棕。
Gabriel having finished, the huge pudding was transferred to the table. The clatter of forks and spoons began again. Gabriel’s wife served out spoonfuls of the pudding and passed the plates down the table. Midway down they were held up by Mary Jane, who replenished them with raspberry or orange jelly or with blancmange and jam. The pudding was of Aunt Julia’s making and she received praises for it from all quarters. She herself said that it was not quite brown enough.
— — 好吧,莫坎小姐,布朗先生说,我希望我的皮肤够黑,配得上你,因为,你知道,我全身都是棕色的。
— Well, I hope, Miss Morkan, said Mr Browne, that I’m brown enough for you because, you know, I’m all brown.
除了加布里埃尔,所有的男士都吃了一些布丁,以表示对朱莉娅姑妈的敬意。由于加布里埃尔从不吃甜食,所以芹菜是留给他的。弗雷迪·马林斯也拿了一根芹菜,和布丁一起吃。他被告知芹菜对血液有好处,而他当时正在接受医生的治疗。马林斯太太在整个晚餐过程中一直保持沉默,她说她的儿子一星期左右就要去梅勒雷山了。然后餐桌上的人谈论起了梅勒雷山,那里的空气多么清新,僧侣们多么热情好客,他们从不向客人索要一分钱。
All the gentlemen, except Gabriel, ate some of the pudding out of compliment to Aunt Julia. As Gabriel never ate sweets the celery had been left for him. Freddy Malins also took a stalk of celery and ate it with his pudding. He had been told that celery was a capital thing for the blood and he was just then under the doctor’s care. Mrs Malins, who had been silent all through the supper, said that her son was going down to Mount Melleray in a week or so. The table then spoke of Mount Melleray, how bracing the air was down there, how hospitable the monks were and how they never asked for a penny-piece from their guests.
— 布朗先生难以置信地问道,你的意思是说,一个人可以去那里,像在旅馆一样住下,享受优渥的生活,然后不用付一分钱就离开吗?
— And do you mean to say, asked Mr Browne incredulously, that a chap can go down there and put up there as if it were a hotel and live on the fat of the land and then come away without paying a farthing?
— 哦,大多数人离开时都会给修道院一些捐赠,玛丽简说。
— O, most people give some donation to the monastery when they leave, said Mary Jane.
— 我希望我们的教堂里有这样的机构,布朗先生坦率地说。
— I wish we had an institution like that in our Church, said Mr Browne candidly.
当他听说僧侣们从不说话,凌晨两点起床,睡在棺材里时,他感到十分惊讶。他问他们这样做是为了什么。
He was astonished to hear that the monks never spoke, got up at two in the morning and slept in their coffins. He asked what they did it for.
——这是秩序的规定,凯特姨妈坚定地说道。
— That’s the rule of the order, said Aunt Kate firmly.
——是的,但是为什么呢?布朗先生问道。
— Yes, but why? asked Mr Browne.
凯特姨妈重复说,这是规矩,仅此而已。布朗先生似乎还是不明白。弗雷迪·马林斯尽力向他解释,僧侣们正在试图弥补外界所有罪人的罪孽。解释不太清楚,布朗先生笑了笑说:
Aunt Kate repeated that it was the rule, that was all. Mr Browne still seemed not to understand. Freddy Malins explained to him, as best he could, that the monks were trying to make up for the sins committed by all the sinners in the outside world. The explanation was not very clear for Mr Browne grinned and said:
— 我非常喜欢这个想法,但是一张舒适的弹簧床难道不能像棺材一样为他们服务吗?
— I like that idea very much but wouldn’t a comfortable spring bed do them as well as a coffin?
— 棺材,玛丽·简说,是为了提醒他们最后的结局。
— The coffin, said Mary Jane, is to remind them of their last end.
随着话题变得悲伤,餐桌上一片寂静,只听见马林斯夫人用模糊的声音对邻座的人说:
As the subject had grown lugubrious it was buried in a silence of the table during which Mrs Malins could be heard saying to her neighbour in an indistinct undertone:
— 这些僧侣都是非常善良的人,非常虔诚的人。
— They are very good men, the monks, very pious men.
葡萄干、杏仁、无花果、苹果、橘子、巧克力和糖果在桌子上传递着,茱莉亚姑妈邀请所有客人喝波特酒或雪利酒。起初,巴特尔·达西先生拒绝喝任何一种酒,但他的一位邻座用肘推了他一下,低声对他说了几句话,他才允许别人给他倒酒。当最后一杯酒倒满时,谈话渐渐停止了。随后是一阵沉默,只有酒声和椅子摇晃的声音打破了沉默。莫坎小姐三人都低头看着桌布。有人咳嗽了几声,然后几位先生轻轻拍了拍桌子,示意大家安静。沉默来了,加布里埃尔推开椅子站了起来。
The raisins and almonds and figs and apples and oranges and chocolates and sweets were now passed about the table and Aunt Julia invited all the guests to have either port or sherry. At first Mr Bartell D’Arcy refused to take either but one of his neighbours nudged him and whispered something to him upon which he allowed his glass to be filled. Gradually as the last glasses were being filled the conversation ceased. A pause followed, broken only by the noise of the wine and by unsettlings of chairs. The Misses Morkan, all three, looked down at the tablecloth. Someone coughed once or twice and then a few gentlemen patted the table gently as a signal for silence. The silence came and Gabriel pushed back his chair and stood up.
拍打声立刻响起来,表示鼓励,然后完全停止了。加布里埃尔将颤抖的十根手指靠在桌布上,紧张地对着客人微笑。他看到一排仰起头的脸,抬头看着枝形吊灯。钢琴正在演奏华尔兹曲调,他能听到裙子拍打客厅门的声音。也许人们正站在外面码头的雪地里,凝视着灯火通明的窗户,听着华尔兹音乐。那里的空气很清新。远处是公园,树上覆满了积雪。惠灵顿纪念碑被一层闪闪发光的雪帽覆盖着,向西闪过十五英亩的白色田野。
The patting at once grew louder in encouragement and then ceased altogether. Gabriel leaned his ten trembling fingers on the tablecloth and smiled nervously at the company. Meeting a row of upturned faces he raised his eyes to the chandelier. The piano was playing a waltz tune and he could hear the skirts sweeping against the drawing-room door. People, perhaps, were standing in the snow on the quay outside, gazing up at the lighted windows and listening to the waltz music. The air was pure there. In the distance lay the park where the trees were weighted with snow. The Wellington Monument wore a gleaming cap of snow that flashed westward over the white field of Fifteen Acres.
他开始说道:
He began:
- 女士们,先生们。
— Ladies and Gentlemen.
— 和往年一样,今晚我要完成一项令人非常高兴的任务,但我担心,作为一名演讲者,我的能力太弱了,不足以完成这项任务。
— It has fallen to my lot this evening, as in years past, to perform a very pleasing task but a task for which I am afraid my poor powers as a speaker are all too inadequate.
——不,不!布朗先生说。
— No, no! said Mr Browne.
— 但无论如何,今晚我只能请求您把意愿付诸行动,并花几分钟时间听我讲述,我会尽力用语言向您表达我此时的感受。
— But, however that may be, I can only ask you to-night to take the will for the deed and to lend me your attention for a few moments while I endeavour to express to you in words what my feelings are on this occasion.
— 女士们,先生们。这不是我们第一次在这个热情好客的屋檐下、在这个热情好客的餐桌旁相聚。这也不是我们第一次成为某些好心女士的热情好客的接受者——或者,我最好说,受害者。
— Ladies and Gentlemen. It is not the first time that we have gathered together under this hospitable roof, around this hospitable board. It is not the first time that we have been the recipients — or perhaps, I had better say, the victims — of the hospitality of certain good ladies.
他用手臂在空中画了一个圆圈,然后停了下来。每个人都笑着看着凯特姨妈、朱莉娅姨妈和玛丽·简,她们都高兴得满脸通红。加布里埃尔更大胆地继续说:
He made a circle in the air with his arm and paused. Everyone laughed or smiled at Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia and Mary Jane who all turned crimson with pleasure. Gabriel went on more boldly:
— 我一年比一年更强烈地感觉到,我们国家没有一种传统能像好客传统那样给它带来如此多的荣誉,也没有任何传统像好客传统那样值得我们如此小心地守护。就我的经验而言(我去过不少国外地方),好客传统在现代国家中是独一无二的。也许有人会说,对我们来说,好客传统是一种缺陷,而不是值得夸耀的东西。但即便如此,在我看来,这也是一种高贵的缺陷,我相信这种缺陷会在我们中间长期培养。至少有一件事我很确定。只要这个屋檐下还有上述这些好心的女士们的庇护——我衷心希望在未来的许多年里,爱尔兰人真诚、热情、有礼貌的好客传统仍然存在于我们中间,这是我们的祖先传给我们的,我们又必须传给我们的后代。
— I feel more strongly with every recurring year that our country has no tradition which does it so much honour and which it should guard so jealously as that of its hospitality. It is a tradition that is unique as far as my experience goes (and I have visited not a few places abroad) among the modern nations. Some would say, perhaps, that with us it is rather a failing than anything to be boasted of. But granted even that, it is, to my mind, a princely failing, and one that I trust will long be cultivated among us. Of one thing, at least, I am sure. As long as this one roof shelters the good ladies aforesaid — and I wish from my heart it may do so for many and many a long year to come — the tradition of genuine warm-hearted courteous Irish hospitality, which our forefathers have handed down to us and which we in turn must hand down to our descendants, is still alive among us.
餐桌上响起一片由衷的赞同声。加布里埃尔突然想到艾弗丝小姐不在,而且她已经无礼地走了,于是他满怀信心地说:
A hearty murmur of assent ran round the table. It shot through Gabriel’s mind that Miss Ivors was not there and that she had gone away discourteously: and he said with confidence in himself:
- 女士们,先生们。
— Ladies and Gentlemen.
—在我们中间,新一代正在成长,他们是受新思想和新原则驱动的一代。他们对这些新思想充满严肃和热情,我相信,即使他们的热情被误导,他们的热情也大体上是真诚的。但我们生活在一个充满怀疑的时代,如果我可以这样说,一个思想备受折磨的时代:有时我担心,这一代受过良好教育或受过高等教育的新一代,会缺乏过去时代所具有的人性、好客和亲切幽默的品质。今晚,听着过去所有伟大歌手的名字,我必须承认,我们生活在一个不那么宽广的时代。那些日子可以毫不夸张地被称为宽广的日子:如果它们已经一去不复返,让我们至少希望,在这样的聚会上,我们仍然会自豪而深情地谈论它们,仍然会在心中怀念那些已故伟人的记忆,他们的名声是世界不愿让其消逝的。
— A new generation is growing up in our midst, a generation actuated by new ideas and new principles. It is serious and enthusiastic for these new ideas and its enthusiasm, even when it is misdirected, is, I believe, in the main sincere. But we are living in a sceptical and, if I may use the phrase, a thought-tormented age: and sometimes I fear that this new generation, educated or hypereducated as it is, will lack those qualities of humanity, of hospitality, of kindly humour which belonged to an older day. Listening to-night to the names of all those great singers of the past it seemed to me, I must confess, that we were living in a less spacious age. Those days might, without exaggeration, be called spacious days: and if they are gone beyond recall let us hope, at least, that in gatherings such as this we shall still speak of them with pride and affection, still cherish in our hearts the memory of those dead and gone great ones whose fame the world will not willingly let die.
——听着,听着!布朗先生大声说道。
— Hear, hear! said Mr Browne loudly.
— 但是,加布里埃尔继续说,他的声音变得柔和起来,在这样的聚会中,我们总会想起一些更悲伤的想法:回忆过去,回忆青春,回忆变化,回忆今晚我们在这里想念的那些不在场的面孔。我们的人生道路充满了许多这样的悲伤回忆:如果我们总是沉湎于这些回忆,我们就没有勇气勇敢地继续在生活中工作。我们都有活生生的责任和活生生的感情,它们要求我们付出艰苦的努力,而且这是理所当然的。
— But yet, continued Gabriel, his voice falling into a softer inflection, there are always in gatherings such as this sadder thoughts that will recur to our minds: thoughts of the past, of youth, of changes, of absent faces that we miss here to-night. Our path through life is strewn with many such sad memories: and were we to brood upon them always we could not find the heart to go on bravely with our work among the living. We have all of us living duties and living affections which claim, and rightly claim, our strenuous endeavours.
— 因此,我不会纠结于过去。今晚我不会让任何阴郁的说教侵入我们。我们暂时从日常生活的喧嚣中聚集在一起。我们以朋友的身份相聚在这里,我们本着友好的精神,以同事的身份相聚在这里,在某种程度上,我们本着真正的情谊精神,我们作为——我该怎么称呼她们呢?——都柏林音乐界的三女神的客人。
— Therefore, I will not linger on the past. I will not let any gloomy moralising intrude upon us here to-night. Here we are gathered together for a brief moment from the bustle and rush of our everyday routine. We are met here as friends, in the spirit of good-fellowship, as colleagues, also to a certain extent, in the true spirit of camaraderie, and as the guests of — what shall I call them? — the Three Graces of the Dublin musical world.
听到这番俏皮话,全桌人都爆发出掌声和笑声。朱莉娅姨妈徒劳地依次询问邻座的每个人,让他们告诉她加布里埃尔说了什么。
The table burst into applause and laughter at this sally. Aunt Julia vainly asked each of her neighbours in turn to tell her what Gabriel had said.
— — 他说我们是三美惠女神,朱莉娅姨妈,玛丽·简说。
— He says we are the Three Graces, Aunt Julia, said Mary Jane.
朱莉娅姑妈不明白,但她抬起头,微笑着看着加布里埃尔,后者继续说道:
Aunt Julia did not understand but she looked up, smiling, at Gabriel, who continued in the same vein:
- 女士们,先生们。
— Ladies and Gentlemen.
— 今晚我不会试图扮演巴黎在其他场合扮演的角色。我不会试图在她们之间做出选择。这个任务会令人不快,超出了我的能力范围。因为当我依次看待她们时,无论是我们的首席女主人本人,她的善良,她的善良,已经成为所有认识她的人的笑柄,还是她的姐姐,她似乎拥有永葆青春的天赋,今晚她的歌声一定让我们所有人感到惊讶和震惊,或者,最后但并非最不重要的是,当我想到我们最年轻的女主人,她才华横溢、开朗、勤奋,是最好的侄女时,女士们,先生们,我承认,我不知道应该把奖颁给她们中的谁。
— I will not attempt to play to-night the part that Paris played on another occasion. I will not attempt to choose between them. The task would be an invidious one and one beyond my poor powers. For when I view them in turn, whether it be our chief hostess herself, whose good heart, whose too good heart, has become a byword with all who know her, or her sister, who seems to be gifted with perennial youth and whose singing must have been a surprise and a revelation to us all to-night, or, last but not least, when I consider our youngest hostess, talented, cheerful, hard-working and the best of nieces, I confess, Ladies and Gentlemen, that I do not know to which of them I should award the prize.
加布里埃尔低头看了一眼姑姑们,看到朱莉娅姑姑脸上挂着灿烂的笑容,凯特姑姑眼里噙满了泪水,他赶紧结束了表演。他彬彬有礼地举起一杯波特酒,而其他宾客也都满怀期待地摆弄着酒杯,然后大声说道:
Gabriel glanced down at his aunts and, seeing the large smile on Aunt Julia’s face and the tears which had risen to Aunt Kate’s eyes, hastened to his close. He raised his glass of port gallantly, while every member of the company fingered a glass expectantly, and said loudly:
— 让我们一起为他们三人干杯。让我们为他们的健康、财富、长寿、幸福和繁荣干杯,祝愿他们在自己的职业中继续保持骄傲和自得其乐的地位,以及在我们心中保持荣誉和爱戴的地位。
— Let us toast them all three together. Let us drink to their health, wealth, long life, happiness and prosperity and may they long continue to hold the proud and self-won position which they hold in their profession and the position of honour and affection which they hold in our hearts.
所有客人都站了起来,手里拿着酒杯,转向坐着的三位女士,在布朗先生的带领下齐声唱道:
All the guests stood up, glass in hand, and, turning towards the three seated ladies, sang in unison, with Mr Browne as leader:
因为他们是快乐快乐的伙伴,
因为他们是快乐快乐的伙伴,
因为他们是快乐快乐的伙伴,
这是无人可以否认的。
For they are jolly gay fellows,
For they are jolly gay fellows,
For they are jolly gay fellows,
Which nobody can deny.
凯特姨妈坦率地用手帕打着招呼,甚至连朱莉娅姨妈似乎也感动了。弗雷迪·马林斯用布丁叉打着拍子,歌手们面面相觑,仿佛在进行一场美妙的交流,他们一边唱,一边强调道:
Aunt Kate was making frank use of her handkerchief and even Aunt Julia seemed moved. Freddy Malins beat time with his pudding-fork and the singers turned towards one another, as if in melodious conference, while they sang, with emphasis:
除非他撒谎,
除非他说了谎。
Unless he tells a lie,
Unless he tells a lie.
然后,他们再次转向女主人,唱道:
Then, turning once more towards their hostesses, they sang:
因为他们是快乐快乐的伙伴,
因为他们是快乐快乐的伙伴,
因为他们是快乐快乐的伙伴,
这是无人可以否认的。
For they are jolly gay fellows,
For they are jolly gay fellows,
For they are jolly gay fellows,
Which nobody can deny.
随后,餐厅门外的许多其他客人也开始欢呼,并一次又一次地欢呼,弗雷迪·马林斯高举叉子,扮演官员的角色。
The acclamation which followed was taken up beyond the door of the supper-room by many of the other guests and renewed time after time, Freddy Malins acting as officer with his fork on high.
清晨的寒风吹进了她们站着的大厅,凯特姨妈说道:
The piercing morning air came into the hall where they were standing so that Aunt Kate said:
——快关门。马林斯太太会冻死的。
— Close the door, somebody. Mrs Malins will get her death of cold.
— — 布朗就在那儿,凯特姨妈,玛丽简说。
— Browne is out there, Aunt Kate, said Mary Jane.
——布朗无处不在,凯特姨妈压低声音说道。
— Browne is everywhere, said Aunt Kate, lowering her voice.
玛丽·简听到她的语气笑了。
Mary Jane laughed at her tone.
——真的,她调皮地说,他很细心。
— Really, she said archly, he is very attentive.
— — 整个圣诞节期间,他都像煤气灯一样被放在这儿,凯特姨妈用同样的语气说道。
— He has been laid on here like the gas, said Aunt Kate in the same tone, all during the Christmas.
这次她自己也开心地笑了,然后很快补充道:
She laughed herself this time good-humouredly and then added quickly:
— 但是叫他进来,玛丽·简,然后关上门。我希望他没听见我的话。
— But tell him to come in, Mary Jane, and close the door. I hope to goodness he didn’t hear me.
就在这时,门厅的门开了,布朗先生从门口走了进来,笑得心都要碎了。他穿着一件长长的绿色大衣,袖口和衣领都是仿阿斯特拉罕羊皮的,头上戴着一顶椭圆形的皮帽。他指着白雪覆盖的码头,从那里传来一阵刺耳的长笛声。
At that moment the hall-door was opened and Mr Browne came in from the doorstep, laughing as if his heart would break. He was dressed in a long green overcoat with mock astrakhan cuffs and collar and wore on his head an oval fur cap. He pointed down the snow-covered quay from where the sound of shrill prolonged whistling was borne in.
— 泰迪会把都柏林所有的出租车都派出去,他说。
— Teddy will have all the cabs in Dublin out, he said.
加布里埃尔从办公室后面的小厨房走出来,费力地穿上大衣,环顾了一下大厅,说道:
Gabriel advanced from the little pantry behind the office, struggling into his overcoat and, looking round the hall, said:
— 格雷塔还没下来吗?
— Gretta not down yet?
— — 她正在收拾东西,加布里埃尔,凯特姨妈说。
— She’s getting on her things, Gabriel, said Aunt Kate.
— 谁在那里演奏?加布里埃尔问道。
— Who’s playing up there? asked Gabriel.
— 没人。他们都走了。
— Nobody. They’re all gone.
— 哦,不,凯特姨妈,玛丽·简说。巴特尔·达西和奥卡拉汉小姐还没有走。
— O no, Aunt Kate, said Mary Jane. Bartell D’Arcy and Miss O’Callaghan aren’t gone yet.
——不管怎样,有人在弹钢琴,加布里埃尔说。
— Someone is strumming at the piano, anyhow, said Gabriel.
玛丽·简看了一眼加布里埃尔和布朗先生,颤抖着说道:
Mary Jane glanced at Gabriel and Mr Browne and said with a shiver:
— 看到你们两位先生这样裹着被子,我心里感到很冷。我不想在这个时候面对你们回家的旅程。
— It makes me feel cold to look at you two gentlemen muffled up like that. I wouldn’t like to face your journey home at this hour.
— 布朗先生坚定地说道,此刻我最想做的事,就是在乡间悠闲地散散步,或者在车辕间快速地驰骋。
— I’d like nothing better this minute, said Mr Browne stoutly, than a rattling fine walk in the country or a fast drive with a good spanking goer between the shafts.
— — 我们家过去有一匹非常好的马和一辆马车,朱莉娅姨妈悲伤地说。
— We used to have a very good horse and trap at home, said Aunt Julia sadly.
— 永远不会被忘记的约翰尼,玛丽·简笑着说。
— The never-to-be-forgotten Johnny, said Mary Jane, laughing.
凯特姨妈和加布里埃尔也笑了。
Aunt Kate and Gabriel laughed too.
——为什么?约翰尼有什么了不起的?布朗先生问道。
— Why, what was wonderful about Johnny? asked Mr Browne.
— 已故的帕特里克·莫坎,我们的祖父,也就是加布里埃尔 (Gabriel) 解释道,他晚年通常被称为老绅士,是一名胶水煮锅工人。
— The late lamented Patrick Morkan, our grandfather, that is, explained Gabriel, commonly known in his later years as the old gentleman, was a glue-boiler.
— — 哦,现在,加布里埃尔,凯特姨妈笑着说,他有一家淀粉厂。
— O, now, Gabriel, said Aunt Kate, laughing, he had a starch mill.
— 嗯,胶水或淀粉,加布里埃尔说,老先生有一匹马,名叫约翰尼。约翰尼过去常在老先生的磨坊里工作,为了赶磨坊,他绕着磨坊转了一圈。这一切都很好;但现在约翰尼的悲剧来了。有一天,老先生想和贵族们一起骑马去公园参加军事检阅。
— Well, glue or starch, said Gabriel, the old gentleman had a horse by the name of Johnny. And Johnny used to work in the old gentleman’s mill, walking round and round in order to drive the mill. That was all very well; but now comes the tragic part about Johnny. One fine day the old gentleman thought he’d like to drive out with the quality to a military review in the park.
— — 愿上帝怜悯他的灵魂,凯特姨妈同情地说道。
— The Lord have mercy on his soul, said Aunt Kate compassionately.
—阿门,加布里埃尔说。于是,正如我所说,这位老先生给约翰尼套上马具,戴上他最好的高顶礼帽和最好的普通领子,从他祖传的宅邸(我想是在后巷附近)堂皇地驶了出去。
— Amen, said Gabriel. So the old gentleman, as I said, harnessed Johnny and put on his very best tall hat and his very best stock collar and drove out in grand style from his ancestral mansion somewhere near Back Lane, I think.
大家都笑了,就连马林斯太太也对加布里埃尔的态度大笑起来,凯特姨妈说道:
Everyone laughed, even Mrs Malins, at Gabriel’s manner and Aunt Kate said:
— 噢,加布里埃尔,他其实并不住在后巷。那里只有磨坊。
— O now, Gabriel, he didn’t live in Back Lane, really. Only the mill was there.
— 离开祖宅,加布里埃尔继续说,他和约翰尼一起赶着马车。一切都进行得很顺利,直到约翰尼看到了比利国王的雕像:不管他是爱上了比利国王骑的那匹马,还是以为自己又回到了磨坊,不管怎样,他开始绕着雕像走。
— Out from the mansion of his forefathers, continued Gabriel, he drove with Johnny. And everything went on beautifully until Johnny came in sight of King Billy’sh statue: and whether he fell in love with the horse King Billy sits on or whether he thought he was back again in the mill, anyhow he began to walk round the statue.
加布里埃尔穿着套鞋在大厅里走了一圈,其他人则笑个不停。
Gabriel paced in a circle round the hall in his goloshes amid the laughter of the others.
——他转了又转,加布里埃尔说,这位老先生是个非常傲慢的老先生,他非常气愤。继续说,先生!你是什么意思,先生?约翰尼!约翰尼!太奇怪的行为了!我听不懂马的话!
— Round and round he went, said Gabriel, and the old gentleman, who was a very pompous old gentleman, was highly indignant. Go on, sir! What do you mean, sir? Johnny! Johnny! Most extraordinary conduct! Can’t understand the horse!
加布里埃尔模仿这一幕后,大家哄堂大笑,但一阵响亮的敲门声打断了门厅里传来的笑声。玛丽·简跑去开门,让弗雷迪·马林斯进来。弗雷迪·马林斯的帽子戴在头上,肩膀冻得隆起,他因为劳累过度而气喘吁吁,满头大汗。
The peals of laughter which followed Gabriel’s imitation of the incident were interrupted by a resounding knock at the hall-door. Mary Jane ran to open it and let in Freddy Malins. Freddy Malins, with his hat well back on his head and his shoulders humped with cold, was puffing and steaming after his exertions.
— — 我只能打到一辆出租车,他说。
— I could only get one cab, he said.
— 哦,我们会在码头上找到另一个,加布里埃尔说。
— O, we’ll find another along the quay, said Gabriel.
——是的,凯特姨妈说。最好别让马林斯太太站在通风口里。
— Yes, said Aunt Kate. Better not keep Mrs Malins standing in the draught.
马林斯太太在儿子和布朗先生的帮助下走下前门台阶,经过一番周折,终于被抬进了马车。弗雷迪·马林斯跟着她爬了进去,花了很长时间才把她安顿在座位上,布朗先生则在一旁帮助他。最后,她终于舒服地坐了下来,弗雷迪·马林斯邀请布朗先生上了马车。他们说了好一阵子,然后布朗先生上了马车。马车夫把毯子铺在膝盖上,弯腰去查看地址。混乱越来越严重,弗雷迪·马林斯和布朗先生分别指挥马车夫,两人都把头从马车的窗户里探了出来。困难的是要知道在路上的哪个地方让布朗先生下车,凯特姨妈、朱莉娅姨妈和玛丽·简在门口帮忙讨论,互相指点,互相矛盾,笑声不断。至于弗雷迪·马林斯,他笑得说不出话来。他时不时地把头从窗户里探进探出,冒着帽子被撞坏的危险,他一边向母亲讲述着讨论的进展,最后,布朗先生在大家哄堂大笑的声音中,向不知所措的马车夫喊道:
Mrs Malins was helped down the front steps by her son and Mr Browne and, after many manœuvres, hoisted into the cab. Freddy Malins clambered in after her and spent a long time settling her on the seat, Mr Browne helping him with advice. At last she was settled comfortably and Freddy Malins invited Mr Browne into the cab. There was a good deal of confused talk, and then Mr Browne got into the cab. The cabman settled his rug over his knees, and bent down for the address. The confusion grew greater and the cabman was directed differently by Freddy Malins and Mr Browne, each of whom had his head out through a window of the cab. The difficulty was to know where to drop Mr Browne along the route and Aunt Kate, Aunt Julia and Mary Jane helped the discussion from the doorstep with cross-directions and contradictions and abundance of laughter. As for Freddy Malins he was speechless with laughter. He popped his head in and out of the window every moment, to the great danger of his hat, and told his mother how the discussion was progressing till at last Mr Browne shouted to the bewildered cabman above the din of everybody’s laughter:
— 您知道三一学院吗?
— Do you know Trinity College?
——是的,先生,车夫说。
— Yes, sir, said the cabman.
“好吧,开车直奔三一学院大门,”布朗先生说,“然后我们会告诉你去哪里。”你现在明白了吗?
— Well, drive bang up against Trinity College gates, said Mr Browne, and then we’ll tell you where to go. You understand now?
——是的,先生,车夫说。
— Yes, sir, said the cabman.
— 为三一学院做一只鸟。
— Make like a bird for Trinity College.
——是的,先生,车夫喊道。
— Right, sir, cried the cabman.
马被鞭策起来,马车在一片欢笑和告别声中沿着码头嘎嘎作响地驶去。
The horse was whipped up and the cab rattled off along the quay amid a chorus of laughter and adieus.
加布里埃尔没有和其他人一起去门口。他在大厅的黑暗处凝视着楼梯。一个女人站在第一层楼梯的顶部附近,也在阴影中。他看不到她的脸,但他可以看到她裙子的赤土色和橙红色镶片,阴影使裙子呈现出黑白两色。那是他的妻子。她正靠在楼梯栏杆上,听着什么。加布里埃尔对她的安静感到惊讶,也竖起耳朵听。但他几乎听不到什么,除了前台阶上的笑声和争吵声、钢琴上弹奏的几段和弦和一个男人唱歌的几个音符。
Gabriel had not gone to the door with the others. He was in a dark part of the hall gazing up the staircase. A woman was standing near the top of the first flight, in the shadow also. He could not see her face but he could see the terracotta and salmon-pink panels of her skirt which the shadow made appear black and white. It was his wife. She was leaning on the banisters, listening to something. Gabriel was surprised at her stillness and strained his ear to listen also. But he could hear little save the noise of laughter and dispute on the front steps, a few chords struck on the piano and a few notes of a man’s voice singing.
他静静地站在大厅的阴暗中,试图捕捉到歌声所传达的空气,并抬头凝视着妻子。她的姿态优雅而神秘,仿佛她是某种东西的象征。他自问,一个站在楼梯阴影中、聆听远方音乐的女人,象征着什么。如果他是画家,他会以那种姿态画下她。她的蓝色毡帽会在黑暗中衬托出她古铜色的头发,她裙子的深色镶片会衬托出浅色镶片。如果他是画家,他会把这幅画称为远方音乐。
He stood still in the gloom of the hall, trying to catch the air that the voice was singing and gazing up at his wife. There was grace and mystery in her attitude as if she were a symbol of something. He asked himself what is a woman standing on the stairs in the shadow, listening to distant music, a symbol of. If he were a painter he would paint her in that attitude. Her blue felt hat would show off the bronze of her hair against the darkness and the dark panels of her skirt would show off the light ones. Distant Music he would call the picture if he were a painter.
大厅的门关上了;凯特姨妈、朱莉娅姨妈和玛丽简从大厅走下来,仍然在笑着。
The hall door was closed; and Aunt Kate, Aunt Julia and Mary Jane came down the hall, still laughing.
— 嗯,弗雷迪不是很糟糕吗?玛丽·简说。他真的很糟糕。
— Well, isn’t Freddy terrible? said Mary Jane. He’s really terrible.
加布里埃尔什么也没说,只是指着楼梯上他妻子站着的地方。现在门厅关上了,声音和钢琴声听得更清楚了。加布里埃尔举起手示意他们安静。这首歌似乎是古老的爱尔兰调,歌手似乎既不确定歌词,也不确定自己的声音。由于距离遥远和歌手的嘶哑,那声音显得哀怨,用表达悲伤的词句隐约照亮了空气的节奏:
Gabriel said nothing but pointed up the stairs towards where his wife was standing. Now that the hall-door was closed the voice and the piano could be heard more clearly. Gabriel held up his hand for them to be silent. The song seemed to be in the old Irish tonality and the singer seemed uncertain both of his words and of his voice. The voice, made plaintive by distance and by the singer’s hoarseness, faintly illuminated the cadence of the air with words expressing grief:
哦,雨水落在我浓密的头发上
露水打湿了我的肌肤,
我的宝贝躺在寒冷中……
O, the rain falls on my heavy locks
And the dew wets my skin,
My babe lies cold …
—哦,玛丽·简惊呼道。是巴特尔·达西在唱歌,他不会唱一整晚的。哦,我要让他唱首歌再走。
— O, exclaimed Mary Jane. It’s Bartell D’Arcy singing and he wouldn’t sing all the night. O, I’ll get him to sing a song before he goes.
— 哦,玛丽简,凯特姨妈说。
— O do, Mary Jane, said Aunt Kate.
玛丽·简从其他人身边挤过,跑向楼梯,但还没等她到达,歌声就停止了,钢琴也突然关上了。
Mary Jane brushed past the others and ran to the staircase but before she reached it the singing stopped and the piano was closed abruptly.
——哦,太可惜了!她喊道。他要下来吗,格莉塔?
— O, what a pity! she cried. Is he coming down, Gretta?
加布里埃尔听到妻子回答“是”,然后看见她朝他们走来。巴特尔·达西先生和奥卡拉汉小姐跟在她后面几步远的地方。
Gabriel heard his wife answer yes and saw her come down towards them. A few steps behind her were Mr Bartell D’Arcy and Miss O’Callaghan.
— — 哦,达西先生,玛丽·简喊道,当我们都欣喜若狂地听你讲话时,你却这样停下来,真是太不礼貌了。
— O, Mr D’Arcy, cried Mary Jane, it’s downright mean of you to break off like that when we were all in raptures listening to you.
— — 我整个晚上都陪着他,奥卡拉汉小姐说,康罗伊夫人也是,他告诉我们他得了重感冒,不能唱歌。
— I have been at him all the evening, said Miss O’Callaghan, and Mrs Conroy too and he told us he had a dreadful cold and couldn’t sing.
— — 哦,达西先生,凯特姨妈说,这可真是个弥天大谎。
— O, Mr D’Arcy, said Aunt Kate, now that was a great fib to tell.
——你没看见我的声音嘶哑得像乌鸦吗?达西先生粗鲁地说道。
— Can’t you see that I’m as hoarse as a crow? said Mr D’Arcy roughly.
他匆忙走进厨房,穿上大衣。其他人被他粗鲁的言辞吓了一跳,无话可说。凯特姨妈皱起眉头,示意其他人不要再说这个话题了。达西先生站在那里,小心翼翼地裹住脖子,皱着眉头。
He went into the pantry hastily and put on his overcoat. The others, taken aback by his rude speech, could find nothing to say. Aunt Kate wrinkled her brows and made signs to the others to drop the subject. Mr D’Arcy stood swathing his neck carefully and frowning.
——这是天气的原因,朱莉娅姨妈停顿了一下说道。
— It’s the weather, said Aunt Julia, after a pause.
——是的,每个人都感冒了,凯特姨妈爽快地说道,每个人都感冒了。
— Yes, everybody has colds, said Aunt Kate readily, everybody.
——他们说,玛丽·简说,我们已经三十年没有见过这样的雪了;而我今天早上在报纸上看到,整个爱尔兰都下雪了。
— They say, said Mary Jane, we haven’t had snow like it for thirty years; and I read this morning in the newspapers that the snow is general all over Ireland.
— — 我喜欢雪的样子,朱莉娅姨妈悲伤地说道。
— I love the look of snow, said Aunt Julia sadly.
— — 我也是,奥卡拉汉小姐说。我认为,如果地上没有雪,圣诞节就不是真正的圣诞节。
— So do I, said Miss O’Callaghan. I think Christmas is never really Christmas unless we have the snow on the ground.
— — 但是可怜的达西先生不喜欢雪,凯特姨妈笑着说道。
— But poor Mr D’Arcy doesn’t like the snow, said Aunt Kate, smiling.
达西先生从餐具室走出来,全身裹得严严实实,用一种悔恨的口吻告诉他们他感冒的原因。每个人都给他提了建议,说这太可惜了,并敦促他在夜晚的空气中要非常小心自己的喉咙。加布里埃尔看着他的妻子,她没有加入谈话。她正站在布满灰尘的通风窗下,煤气的火焰照亮了她那浓密的古铜色头发,几天前他曾看到她在炉火上烘干这头头发。她保持着同样的姿势,似乎没有意识到别人在谈论她。最后,她转过身来,加布里埃尔看到她的脸颊红润,眼睛闪闪发光。一股喜悦的浪潮突然从他的心里涌出。
Mr D’Arcy came from the pantry, fully swathed and buttoned, and in a repentant tone told them the history of his cold. Everyone gave him advice and said it was a great pity and urged him to be very careful of his throat in the night air. Gabriel watched his wife who did not join in the conversation. She was standing right under the dusty fanlight and the flame of the gas lit up the rich bronze of her hair which he had seen her drying at the fire a few days before. She was in the same attitude and seemed unaware of the talk about her. At last she turned towards them and Gabriel saw that there was colour on her cheeks and that her eyes were shining. A sudden tide of joy went leaping out of his heart.
——达西先生,她说道,您唱的那首歌叫什么名字?
— Mr D’Arcy, she said, what is the name of that song you were singing?
——这本书的名字是《奥格里姆的姑娘》,达西先生说,但我记不太清楚。为什么?你知道这本书吗?
— It’s called The Lass of Aughrim, said Mr D’Arcy, but I couldn’t remember it properly. Why? Do you know it?
—— “奥格里姆的姑娘”,她重复道。我想不起这个名字了。
— The Lass of Aughrim, she repeated. I couldn’t think of the name.
—真是美妙的旋律,玛丽·简说道。很遗憾你今晚没能唱歌。
— It’s a very nice air, said Mary Jane. I’m sorry you were not in voice to-night.
— — 好了,玛丽·简,凯特姨妈说,别惹达西先生生气了。我不想让他生气。
— Now, Mary Jane, said Aunt Kate, don’t annoy Mr D’Arcy. I won’t have him annoyed.
看到大家都准备出发了,她把他们带到门口,向他们道了晚安:
Seeing that all were ready to start she shepherded them to the door where good-night was said:
— 好吧,晚安,凯特姨妈,谢谢你们带给我如此愉快的夜晚。
— Well, good-night, Aunt Kate, and thanks for the pleasant evening.
——晚安,加布里埃尔。晚安,格莉塔!
— Good-night, Gabriel. Good-night, Gretta!
— 晚安,凯特姨妈,非常感谢。晚安,朱莉娅姨妈。
— Good-night, Aunt Kate, and thanks ever so much. Good-night, Aunt Julia.
— 哦,晚安,格莉塔,我没看见你。
— O, good-night, Gretta, I didn’t see you.
——晚安,达西先生。晚安,奥卡拉汉小姐。
— Good-night, Mr D’Arcy. Good-night, Miss O’Callaghan.
——晚安,莫坎小姐。
— Good-night, Miss Morkan.
— 再一次晚安。
— Good-night, again.
——大家晚安。平安到家。
— Good-night, all. Safe home.
——晚安。晚安。
— Good-night. Good-night.
早晨仍是黑暗的。一束暗黄的光线笼罩着房屋和河流;天空似乎正在下沉。脚下泥泞不堪;屋顶、码头的护墙和围栏上只有几道道雪痕和斑驳的雪片。阴沉的空气中,路灯仍旧闪着红光,河对岸的四法院宫殿在阴沉的天空映衬下显得十分吓人。
The morning was still dark. A dull yellow light brooded over the houses and the river; and the sky seemed to be descending. It was slushy underfoot; and only streaks and patches of snow lay on the roofs, on the parapets of the quay and on the area railings. The lamps were still burning redly in the murky air and, across the river, the palace of the Four Courts stood out menacingly against the heavy sky.
她和巴特尔·达西先生一起走在他前面,她的鞋子夹在一只胳膊下,放在一个棕色的包裹里,双手把裙子从雪泥中提起来。她不再优雅地摆出一副姿态,但加布里埃尔的眼睛仍然闪着幸福的光芒。血液在他的血管里奔腾;他的脑海里充满了骄傲、快乐、温柔和勇敢的念头。
She was walking on before him with Mr Bartell D’Arcy, her shoes in a brown parcel tucked under one arm and her hands holding her skirt up from the slush. She had no longer any grace of attitude but Gabriel’s eyes were still bright with happiness. The blood went bounding along his veins; and the thoughts went rioting through his brain, proud, joyful, tender, valorous.
她走在他前面,步履轻盈,挺拔有力,他真想悄无声息地追上她,抓住她的肩膀,在她耳边说些傻乎乎、亲热的话。在他看来,她是如此脆弱,他渴望保护她免受伤害,然后和她单独相处。他们秘密生活的点点滴滴像星星一样闪现在他的记忆中。一个天芥菜信封放在他的早餐杯旁边,他用手抚摸着它。鸟儿在常春藤上叽叽喳喳,阳光明媚的窗帘网在地板上闪闪发光:他高兴得吃不下饭。他们站在拥挤的站台上,他把一张票放在她温暖的手套里。他和她一起站在寒冷中,透过格栅窗看着一个男人在咆哮的熔炉里制作瓶子。天气很冷。她的脸在寒冷的空气中散发着芬芳,离他很近;突然,她对熔炉旁的男人喊道:
She was walking on before him so lightly and so erect that he longed to run after her noiselessly, catch her by the shoulders and say something foolish and affectionate into her ear. She seemed to him so frail that he longed to defend her against something and then to be alone with her. Moments of their secret life together burst like stars upon his memory. A heliotrope envelope was lying beside his breakfast-cup and he was caressing it with his hand. Birds were twittering in the ivy and the sunny web of the curtain was shimmering along the floor: he could not eat for happiness. They were standing on the crowded platform and he was placing a ticket inside the warm palm of her glove. He was standing with her in the cold, looking in through a grated window at a man making bottles in a roaring furnace. It was very cold. Her face, fragrant in the cold air, was quite close to his; and suddenly she called out to the man at the furnace:
— 先生,火热吗?
— Is the fire hot, sir?
但炉子里传来巨响,那人听不到她说话。这样也好。他可能会粗鲁地回答。
But the man could not hear her with the noise of the furnace. It was just as well. He might have answered rudely.
一股更加温柔的喜悦从他心中涌出,沿着他的动脉涌动。他们共同生活的时刻就像星星的温柔火焰,没有人知道或永远不会知道,却突然出现并照亮了他的记忆。他渴望让她回忆起那些时刻,让她忘记他们在一起的无聊岁月,只记得他们狂喜的时刻。因为他觉得,岁月并没有浇灭他或她的灵魂。他们的孩子、他的写作、她的家务琐事并没有浇灭他们灵魂中温柔的火焰。在他当时写给她的一封信中,他写道:为什么这些话在我看来如此乏味和冷漠?是因为没有一个词足够温柔来称呼你吗?
A wave of yet more tender joy escaped from his heart and went coursing in warm flood along his arteries. Like the tender fires of stars moments of their life together, that no one knew of or would ever know of, broke upon and illumined his memory. He longed to recall to her those moments, to make her forget the years of their dull existence together and remember only their moments of ecstasy. For the years, he felt, had not quenched his soul or hers. Their children, his writing, her household cares had not quenched all their souls’ tender fire. In one letter that he had written to her then he had said: Why is it that words like these seem to me so dull and cold? Is it because there is no word tender enough to be your name?
多年前写下的这些话,像遥远的音乐一样,从过去传来。他渴望和她单独相处。当其他人都走了,当他和她在旅馆的房间里时,他们就会单独在一起。他会轻声地叫她:
Like distant music these words that he had written years before were borne towards him from the past. He longed to be alone with her. When the others had gone away, when he and she were in their room in the hotel, then they would be alone together. He would call her softly:
——格雷塔!
— Gretta!
也许她不会立刻听到:她可能正在脱衣服。然后他声音中的某种东西会打动她。她会转过身看着他……
Perhaps she would not hear at once: she would be undressing. Then something in his voice would strike her. She would turn and look at him….
在 Winetavern 街的拐角处,他们遇见了一辆马车。他很高兴马车发出嘎嘎声,因为这让他免于交谈。她正看着窗外,看起来很累。其他人只说了几句话,指着某座建筑或街道。马在阴暗的早晨天空下疲惫地奔跑着,马蹄后拖着旧的嘎嘎作响的箱子,加布里埃尔又和她坐在马车里,飞奔着去赶船,飞奔去度蜜月。
At the corner of Winetavern Street they met a cab. He was glad of its rattling noise as it saved him from conversation. She was looking out of the window and seemed tired. The others spoke only a few words, pointing out some building or street. The horse galloped along wearily under the murky morning sky, dragging his old rattling box after his heels, and Gabriel was again in a cab with her, galloping to catch the boat, galloping to their honeymoon.
当出租车驶过奥康奈尔大桥时,奥卡拉汉小姐说道:
As the cab drove across O’Connell Bridge Miss O’Callaghan said:
— 有人说,你每次穿过奥康奈尔桥就会看到一匹白马。
— They say you never cross O’Connell Bridge without seeing a white horse.
— 这次我看到一个白人,加布里埃尔说。
— I see a white man this time, said Gabriel.
——在哪儿?巴特尔·达西先生问道。
— Where? asked Mr Bartell D’Arcy.
加布里埃尔指着雕像,雕像上铺满了积雪,然后他亲切地点点头,挥了挥手。
Gabriel pointed to the statue, on which lay patches of snow. Then he nodded familiarly to it and waved his hand.
— — 晚安,丹,他高兴地说。
— Good-night, Dan, he said gaily.
马车停在旅馆前面时,加布里埃尔跳下车来,尽管巴特尔·达西先生抗议,他还是付了车费。他多给了车夫一先令。车夫敬了礼,说:
When the cab drew up before the hotel Gabriel jumped out and, in spite of Mr Bartell D’Arcy’s protest, paid the driver. He gave the man a shilling over his fare. The man saluted and said:
— 先生,祝您新年快乐。
— A prosperous New Year to you, sir.
——你也一样,加布里埃尔诚挚地说道。
— The same to you, said Gabriel cordially.
她从马车里出来,站在路边,向其他人道晚安时,靠在他的胳膊上片刻。她轻轻地靠在他的胳膊上,就像几个小时前和他跳舞时一样轻柔。当时他感到自豪和幸福,为她属于他而高兴,为她优雅的举止和妻子的风度而自豪。但现在,在这么多回忆再次浮现之后,她身体的第一次触碰,音乐般、陌生而芬芳,让他感到一阵强烈的欲望。在她沉默的掩护下,他把她的胳膊紧紧地搂在身边;当他们站在旅馆门口时,他觉得他们已经逃离了他们的生活和责任,逃离了家庭和朋友,怀着狂野而灿烂的心一起奔向新的冒险。
She leaned for a moment on his arm in getting out of the cab and while standing at the curbstone, bidding the others good-night. She leaned lightly on his arm, as lightly as when she had danced with him a few hours before. He had felt proud and happy then, happy that she was his, proud of her grace and wifely carriage. But now, after the kindling again of so many memories, the first touch of her body, musical and strange and perfumed, sent through him a keen pang of lust. Under cover of her silence he pressed her arm closely to his side; and, as they stood at the hotel door, he felt that they had escaped from their lives and duties, escaped from home and friends and run away together with wild and radiant hearts to a new adventure.
一位老人坐在大厅里一张带罩的大椅子上打瞌睡。他在办公室里点了一支蜡烛,走在他们前面,走到楼梯前。他们默默地跟在他后面,脚步声轻轻地落在铺着厚厚地毯的楼梯上。她走上楼梯,跟在门房后面,低着头,瘦弱的肩膀像背负着重担一样弯曲着,裙子紧紧地裹着她。他本可以伸出双臂搂住她的臀部,让她一动不动,因为他的手臂颤抖着,想要抓住她,只有用指甲压住手掌,才能抑制住身体的狂野冲动。门房在楼梯上停下来,稳住他那即将熄灭的蜡烛。他们也在他下面的台阶上停下来。在寂静中,加布里埃尔可以听到熔化的蜡滴进托盘的声音,以及他自己的心脏在肋骨上跳动的声音。
An old man was dozing in a great hooded chair in the hall. He lit a candle in the office and went before them to the stairs. They followed him in silence, their feet falling in soft thuds on the thickly carpeted stairs. She mounted the stairs behind the porter, her head bowed in the ascent, her frail shoulders curved as with a burden, her skirt girt tightly about her. He could have flung his arms about her hips and held her still for his arms were trembling with desire to seize her and only the stress of his nails against the palms of his hands held the wild impulse of his body in check. The porter halted on the stairs to settle his guttering candle. They halted too on the steps below him. In the silence Gabriel could hear the falling of the molten wax into the tray and the thumping of his own heart against his ribs.
门房领着他们走过走廊,打开一扇门。然后他把摇摇晃晃的蜡烛放在梳妆台上,问他们早上几点钟要被叫。
The porter led them along a corridor and opened a door. Then he set his unstable candle down on a toilet-table and asked at what hour they were to be called in the morning.
——八个,加布里埃尔说。
— Eight, said Gabriel.
门房指着电灯的水龙头,开始嘟囔着道歉,但加布里埃尔打断了他的话。
The porter pointed to the tap of the electric-light and began a muttered apology but Gabriel cut him short.
“我们不需要任何灯光。街上的灯光已经足够了。我说,”他指着蜡烛补充道,“你可以把那件漂亮的物品拿走,就像一个好人一样。”
— We don’t want any light. We have light enough from the street. And I say, he added, pointing to the candle, you might remove that handsome article, like a good man.
门房再次拿起蜡烛,但动作很慢,因为他对这种新奇的想法感到吃惊。然后他嘟囔了一声晚安,走了出去。加布里埃尔关上了门锁。
The porter took up his candle again, but slowly for he was surprised by such a novel idea. Then he mumbled good-night and went out. Gabriel shot the lock to.
路灯发出的幽灵般的光芒从一扇窗户一直照到门口。加布里埃尔把大衣和帽子扔到沙发上,穿过房间朝窗户走去。他低头看着街道,想让自己的情绪平静一点。然后他转过身,背对着灯光靠在五斗橱上。她脱下了帽子和斗篷,站在一面大镜子前,解开腰带。加布里埃尔停顿了一会儿,看着她,然后说:
A ghostly light from the street lamp lay in a long shaft from one window to the door. Gabriel threw his overcoat and hat on a couch and crossed the room towards the window. He looked down into the street in order that his emotion might calm a little. Then he turned and leaned against a chest of drawers with his back to the light. She had taken off her hat and cloak and was standing before a large swinging mirror, unhooking her waist. Gabriel paused for a few moments, watching her, and then said:
——格雷塔!
— Gretta!
她慢慢地从镜子前转过身,沿着光柱向他走去。她的脸色严肃而疲惫,加布里埃尔根本说不出话来。不,现在还不是时候。
She turned away from the mirror slowly and walked along the shaft of light towards him. Her face looked so serious and weary that the words would not pass Gabriel’s lips. No, it was not the moment yet.
—“你看起来很累,”他说。
— You looked tired, he said.
——我有一点儿。她回答道。
— I am a little, she answered.
— 您不觉得不舒服或者虚弱吗?
— You don’t feel ill or weak?
——不,累了,仅此而已。
— No, tired: that’s all.
她走到窗前,站在那里,向外望去。加布里埃尔又等了一会儿,然后,他担心自己会变得胆怯,便突然说道:
She went on to the window and stood there, looking out. Gabriel waited again and then, fearing that diffidence was about to conquer him, he said abruptly:
— 顺便说一句,格雷塔!
— By the way, Gretta!
— 什么事?
— What is it?
——你认识那个可怜的马林斯家伙吗?他很快问道。
— You know that poor fellow Malins? he said quickly.
— 是的。他怎么样?
— Yes. What about him?
— 好吧,可怜的家伙,他毕竟是个正派人,加布里埃尔假装声音继续说道。他把我借给他的那枚金币还给了我,我真的没想到会这样。可惜他不肯放过那个布朗,因为他心地并不坏。
— Well, poor fellow, he’s a decent sort of chap after all, continued Gabriel in a false voice. He gave me back that sovereign I lent him and I didn’t expect it really. It’s a pity he wouldn’t keep away from that Browne, because he’s not a bad fellow at heart.
他现在烦躁得浑身发抖。她为什么看起来这么心不在焉?他不知道该如何开口。她是不是也因为某事而烦恼?如果她愿意转向他或主动来找他就好了!接受她的现状是残忍的。不,他必须先在她眼中看到一些热情。他渴望控制住她奇怪的情绪。
He was trembling now with annoyance. Why did she seem so abstracted? He did not know how he could begin. Was she annoyed, too, about something? If she would only turn to him or come to him of her own accord! To take her as she was would be brutal. No, he must see some ardour in her eyes first. He longed to be master of her strange mood.
——你什么时候借给他这一英镑的?她停顿了一下问道。
— When did you lend him the pound? she asked, after a pause.
加布里埃尔竭力克制自己,不去对酒鬼马林和他的钱说出粗鲁的话。他渴望从灵魂深处向她哭诉,将她的身体压在自己的身上,征服她。但他说道:
Gabriel strove to restrain himself from breaking out into brutal language about the sottish Malins and his pound. He longed to cry to her from his soul, to crush her body against his, to overmaster her. But he said:
— 哦,圣诞节的时候,他在亨利街开了那家小圣诞贺卡店。
— O, at Christmas, when he opened that little Christmas-card shop in Henry Street.
他怒火中烧,欲火中烧,没有听见她从窗户里走出来。她站在他面前,用一种奇怪的眼神看着他。然后,她突然踮起脚尖,轻轻地把手放在他的肩膀上,吻了他。
He was in such a fever of rage and desire that he did not hear her come from the window. She stood before him for an instant, looking at him strangely. Then, suddenly raising herself on tiptoe and resting her hands lightly on his shoulders, she kissed him.
“你是一个非常慷慨的人,加布里埃尔,”她说。
— You are a very generous person, Gabriel, she said.
加布里埃尔被她突然的吻和她那句古怪的话逗得浑身发抖,他把手放在她的头发上,开始抚平它,几乎没有用手指碰它。洗过的头发变得又细又亮。他的心里充满了幸福。就在他希望的时候,她主动来到了他身边。也许她的想法和他的想法一致。也许她感受到了他内心的冲动,然后就屈服了。现在她这么轻易地爱上了他,他不禁纳闷自己为什么那么羞怯。
Gabriel, trembling with delight at her sudden kiss and at the quaintness of her phrase, put his hands on her hair and began smoothing it back, scarcely touching it with his fingers. The washing had made it fine and brilliant. His heart was brimming over with happiness. Just when he was wishing for it she had come to him of her own accord. Perhaps her thoughts had been running with his. Perhaps she had felt the impetuous desire that was in him and then the yielding mood had come upon her. Now that she had fallen to him so easily he wondered why he had been so diffident.
他站起来,双手捧着她的头。然后,他迅速伸出一只手臂环住她的身体,把她拉向自己,轻声说道:
He stood, holding her head between his hands. Then, slipping one arm swiftly about her body and drawing her towards him, he said softly:
—亲爱的格雷塔,你在想什么?
— Gretta dear, what are you thinking about?
她没有回答,也没有完全屈服于他的手臂。他又轻声说道:
She did not answer nor yield wholly to his arm. He said again, softly:
——告诉我是怎么回事,格莉塔。我想我知道是怎么回事了。我知道吗?
— Tell me what it is, Gretta. I think I know what is the matter. Do I know?
她没有立刻回答。后来她泪流满面地说:
She did not answer at once. Then she said in an outburst of tears:
— 哦,我正在想那首歌,《奥格里姆的姑娘》。
— O, I am thinking about that song, The Lass of Aughrim.
她挣脱了他的束缚,跑到床上,双手撑在床栏上,遮住了脸。加布里埃尔一动不动地站了一会儿,惊呆了,然后跟着她。当他走过穿衣镜时,他看见了自己全身的影子,宽大的衬衫前襟,那张每次在镜子里看到都会让他感到困惑的脸,还有他闪闪发光的金边眼镜。他在离她几步远的地方停下,说:
She broke loose from him and ran to the bed and, throwing her arms across the bed-rail, hid her face. Gabriel stood stock-still for a moment in astonishment and then followed her. As he passed in the way of the cheval-glass he caught sight of himself in full length, his broad, well-filled shirt-front, the face whose expression always puzzled him when he saw it in a mirror and his glimmering gilt-rimmed eyeglasses. He halted a few paces from her and said:
——那首歌呢?为什么它会让你哭呢?
— What about the song? Why does that make you cry?
她从怀里抬起头,像个孩子一样用手背擦干眼泪。他的声音里流露出一种比他预想的要温柔的语气。
She raised her head from her arms and dried her eyes with the back of her hand like a child. A kinder note than he had intended went into his voice.
——为什么,格莉塔?他问。
— Why, Gretta? he asked.
——我想起了很久以前曾经唱过这首歌的一个人。
— I am thinking about a person long ago who used to sing that song.
——那么,很久以前的那个人是谁?加布里埃尔微笑着问道。
— And who was the person long ago? asked Gabriel, smiling.
— 这是我以前和祖母住在戈尔韦时认识的一个人,她说。
— It was a person I used to know in Galway when I was living with my grandmother, she said.
加布里埃尔脸上的笑容消失了。一股阴郁的怒火又开始在他脑海深处聚集,他那阴郁的欲望之火开始在他的血管里愤怒地燃烧。
The smile passed away from Gabriel’s face. A dull anger began to gather again at the back of his mind and the dull fires of his lust began to glow angrily in his veins.
——你爱上过某个人吗?他讽刺地问道。
— Someone you were in love with? he asked ironically.
“是我认识的一个小男孩,”她回答道,他叫迈克尔·弗瑞。他曾经唱过那首歌,《奥格里姆的姑娘》。他非常文弱。
— It was a young boy I used to know, she answered, named Michael Furey. He used to sing that song, The Lass of Aughrim. He was very delicate.
加布里埃尔沉默了。他不想让她以为他对这个娇弱的男孩感兴趣。
Gabriel was silent. He did not wish her to think that he was interested in this delicate boy.
——我看得清他,过了一会儿,她说。他有一双这样的眼睛:大大的黑眼睛!眼睛里还有这样的表情——这样的表情!
— I can see him so plainly, she said after a moment. Such eyes as he had: big dark eyes! And such an expression in them — an expression!
——噢,那么你爱上他了?加布里埃尔问道。
— O then, you were in love with him? said Gabriel.
— 她说,当我在戈尔韦时,我常常和他一起出去散步。
— I used to go out walking with him, she said, when I was in Galway.
加布里埃尔的脑海里闪过一个念头。
A thought flew across Gabriel’s mind.
——也许这就是你想和那个艾弗斯家的女孩一起去戈尔韦的原因?他冷冷地说。
— Perhaps that was why you wanted to go to Galway with that Ivors girl? he said coldly.
她看着他,惊讶地问道:
She looked at him and asked in surprise:
- 做什么的?
— What for?
她的目光让加布里埃尔感到尴尬。他耸耸肩膀,说道:
Her eyes made Gabriel feel awkward. He shrugged his shoulders and said:
——我怎么知道?也许去见他。
— How do I know? To see him perhaps.
她默默地将目光从他身上移开,顺着光柱看向窗外。
She looked away from him along the shaft of light towards the window in silence.
——他死了,她终于说道。他去世时才十七岁。这么年轻就去世了,难道不是一件可怕的事情吗?
— He is dead, she said at length. He died when he was only seventeen. Isn’t it a terrible thing to die so young as that?
——他是谁?加布里埃尔依然讽刺地问道。
— What was he? asked Gabriel, still ironically.
— —她说,他在煤气厂工作。
— He was in the gasworks,i she said.
加布里埃尔觉得自己很丢脸,因为他的讽刺没有用,而且这个死人——煤气厂的男孩——又复活了。当他回忆起他们在一起的秘密生活,满怀柔情、欢乐和欲望时,她却在心里把他和另一个人作比较。一种羞耻的自我意识袭上心头。他觉得自己是个可笑的人,为姑姑们卖弄小气,是个神经质的好心多愁善感的人,对着庸俗的人演说,把自己滑稽的欲望理想化,就是他在镜子里瞥见的那个可怜的愚蠢的家伙。他本能地背对着灯光,以免她看到他额头上燃烧的羞耻。
Gabriel felt humiliated by the failure of his irony and by the evocation of this figure from the dead, a boy in the gasworks. While he had been full of memories of their secret life together, full of tenderness and joy and desire, she had been comparing him in her mind with another. A shameful consciousness of his own person assailed him. He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealising his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror. Instinctively he turned his back more to the light lest she might see the shame that burned upon his forehead.
他努力保持冷冷质问的语气,但说话时的声音却谦卑而冷漠。
He tried to keep up his tone of cold interrogation but his voice when he spoke was humble and indifferent.
——“我想你一定爱上了这个迈克尔·弗瑞,格莉塔,”他说。
— I suppose you were in love with this Michael Furey, Gretta, he said.
— — 那时我和他相处得很好,她说。
— I was great with him at that time, she said.
她的声音含蓄而悲伤。加布里埃尔现在感到,试图引导她实现他所计划的一切都徒劳无功,他抚摸着她的一只手,同样悲伤地说道:
Her voice was veiled and sad. Gabriel, feeling now how vain it would be to try to lead her whither he had purposed, caressed one of her hands and said, also sadly:
——那么他这么年轻是怎么死的呢,格莉塔?是肺结核吗?
— And what did he die of so young, Gretta? Consumption, was it?
——我想他是为了我而死的,她回答道。
— I think he died for me, she answered.
听到这个回答,加布里埃尔心里感到一阵莫名的恐惧,仿佛在他希望胜利的时刻,某个无形的、怀恨在心的存在正在向他袭来,在它那模糊的世界里聚集力量来对付他。但他努力理智,摆脱了恐惧,继续抚摸她的手。他没有再问她,因为他觉得她会告诉他自己的情况。她的手温暖而潮湿:他的触摸没有反应,但他继续抚摸着它,就像在那个春天的早晨抚摸她写给他的第一封信一样。
A vague terror seized Gabriel at this answer as if, at that hour when he had hoped to triumph, some impalpable and vindictive being was coming against him, gathering forces against him in its vague world. But he shook himself free of it with an effort of reason and continued to caress her hand. He did not question her again for he felt that she would tell him of herself. Her hand was warm and moist: it did not respond to his touch but he continued to caress it just as he had caressed her first letter to him that spring morning.
— 她说,那是在冬天,大约冬天快要开始的时候,我正要离开祖母家,来到修道院。当时他在戈尔韦的住处生病了,不肯出院,奥特拉德的家人收到了信。他们说他身体状况不佳,或者诸如此类。我一直不知道真相。
— It was in the winter, she said, about the beginning of the winter when I was going to leave my grandmother’s and come up here to the convent. And he was ill at the time in his lodgings in Galway and wouldn’t be let out and his people in Oughterard were written to. He was in decline, they said, or something like that. I never knew rightly.
她停顿了一下,叹了口气。
She paused for a moment and sighed.
—可怜的家伙,她说。他很喜欢我,他是个很温顺的男孩。我们过去常常一起出去散步,你知道,加布里埃尔,就像他们在乡下那样。他打算学习唱歌只是为了健康。他有一副好嗓子,可怜的迈克尔·弗瑞。
— Poor fellow, she said. He was very fond of me and he was such a gentle boy. We used to go out together, walking, you know, Gabriel, like the way they do in the country. He was going to study singing only for his health. He had a very good voice, poor Michael Furey.
——那么,然后呢?加布里埃尔问道。
— Well; and then? asked Gabriel.
— 然后,当我离开戈尔韦前往修道院的时候,他的情况更糟了,我不能见他,所以我写了一封信,说我要去都柏林,夏天回来,希望到时候他的情况会好起来。
— And then when it came to the time for me to leave Galway and come up to the convent he was much worse and I wouldn’t be let see him so I wrote a letter saying I was going up to Dublin and would be back in the summer and hoping he would be better then.
她停顿了一下,控制住自己的声音,然后继续说道:
She paused for a moment to get her voice under control and then went on:
— 在我离开的前一天晚上,我在修女岛祖母家收拾行李,听到有人把碎石扔到窗户上。窗户太湿了,我什么都看不见,于是我跑下楼,溜到后院的花园里,看到那个可怜的家伙在花园的尽头瑟瑟发抖。
— Then the night before I left I was in my grandmother’s house in Nuns’ Island, packing up, and I heard gravel thrown up against the window. The window was so wet I couldn’t see so I ran downstairs as I was and slipped out the back into the garden and there was the poor fellow at the end of the garden, shivering.
——你没有叫他回去吗?加布里埃尔问道。
— And did you not tell him to go back? asked Gabriel.
——我恳求他马上回家,告诉他,他将会死于雨中。但他说他不想活了。我也能看见他的眼睛!他站在墙的尽头,那里有一棵树。
— I implored of him to go home at once and told him he would get his death in the rain. But he said he did not want to live. I can see his eyes as well as well! He was standing at the end of the wall where there was a tree.
——他回家了吗?加布里埃尔问道。
— And did he go home? asked Gabriel.
——是的,他回家了。我在修道院里待了一个星期,他就去世了,被埋葬在他的族人出生地奥特拉德。哦,那天我听说他死了!
— Yes, he went home. And when I was only a week in the convent he died and he was buried in Oughterard where his people came from. O, the day I heard that, that he was dead!
她停了下来,哽咽地哭了起来,情绪激动,扑倒在床上,在被子里抽泣。加布里埃尔犹豫了一会儿,握着她的手,然后,为了不打扰她的悲伤,轻轻地放下了她的手,静静地走到窗边。
She stopped, choking with sobs, and, overcome by emotion, flung herself face downward on the bed, sobbing in the quilt. Gabriel held her hand for a moment longer, irresolutely, and then, shy of intruding on her grief, let it fall gently and walked quietly to the window.
她睡得很熟。
She was fast asleep.
加布里埃尔靠在手肘上,不带任何怨恨地看了一会儿她乱糟糟的头发和半张着的嘴巴,听着她深沉的呼吸声。原来她一生中有过这样的罗曼史:一个男人为了她而死。现在想到他,她的丈夫,在她的生活中扮演了多么可怜的角色,他几乎不感到痛苦。他看着她睡觉,仿佛他和她从未作为夫妻生活在一起过。他好奇的目光长时间地停留在她的脸上和头发上:当他想到她当时一定是什么样的人,在她最初美丽的少女时代,一种奇怪的、友好的怜悯涌上他的心头。他甚至不想对自己说她的脸不再美丽,但他知道,那已经不再是迈克尔·弗瑞为之冒着生命危险的那张脸了。
Gabriel, leaning on his elbow, looked for a few moments unresentfully on her tangled hair and half-open mouth, listening to her deep-drawn breath. So she had had that romance in her life: a man had died for her sake. It hardly pained him now to think how poor a part he, her husband, had played in her life. He watched her while she slept as though he and she had never lived together as man and wife. His curious eyes rested long upon her face and on her hair: and, as he thought of what she must have been then, in that time of her first girlish beauty, a strange friendly pity for her entered his soul. He did not like to say even to himself that her face was no longer beautiful but he knew that it was no longer the face for which Michael Furey had braved death.
也许她没有把整个故事都告诉他。他的目光移到她扔了些衣服的椅子上。一条衬裙的带子垂到地板上。一只靴子直立着,软塌的鞋帮垂下来,另一只则侧躺在地上。他不禁纳闷,自己一小时前为什么会情绪失控。那是从什么开始的呢?从他姑妈的晚餐,从他自己愚蠢的讲话,从酒和舞,从在大厅里道晚安时的欢声笑语,从在雪地里沿河散步的乐趣。可怜的朱莉娅姑妈!她,很快也会和帕特里克·莫坎和他的马一样,变成一个幽灵。当她唱《新娘装束》时,他一瞬间看到她脸上那种憔悴的表情。也许很快,他就会坐在同一个客厅里,穿着黑衣服,丝绸帽子放在膝盖上。窗帘会拉下来,凯特姑妈会坐在他旁边,哭着擤鼻涕,告诉他朱莉娅是怎么死的。他会在心里想些话来安慰她,但只会找到一些蹩脚而无用的话。是的,是的:这很快就会发生。
Perhaps she had not told him all the story. His eyes moved to the chair over which she had thrown some of her clothes. A petticoat string dangled to the floor. One boot stood upright, its limp upper fallen down: the fellow of it lay upon its side. He wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From what had it proceeded? From his aunt’s supper, from his own foolish speech, from the wine and dancing, the merry-making when saying good-night in the hall, the pleasure of the walk along the river in the snow. Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse. He had caught that haggard look upon her face for a moment when she was singing Arrayed for the Bridal. Soon, perhaps, he would be sitting in that same drawing-room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees. The blinds would be drawn down and Aunt Kate would be sitting beside him, crying and blowing her nose and telling him how Julia had died. He would cast about in his mind for some words that might console her, and would find only lame and useless ones. Yes, yes: that would happen very soon.
房间里的空气让他的肩膀一阵冰冷。他小心翼翼地伸开身子,躺在床单下,躺在妻子身边。他们一个接一个地变成了阴影。最好是勇敢地进入另一个世界,在某种激情的全盛时期,而不是随着年龄的增长而黯然失色、枯萎。他想到,躺在他身边的她,多年来一直把她情人对她说他不想活了时的眼神锁在心里。
The air of the room chilled his shoulders. He stretched himself cautiously along under the sheets and lay down beside his wife. One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age. He thought of how she who lay beside him had locked in her heart for so many years that image of her lover’s eyes when he had told her that he did not wish to live.
加布里埃尔的眼中噙满了泪水。他自己从未对任何女人有过这样的感觉,但他知道,这样的感觉一定是爱。泪水在他的眼中聚得更密了,在一片黑暗中,他想象自己看见一个年轻人站在一棵滴水的树下。其他的身影也在附近。他的灵魂已经接近了那片居住着大量死者的地区。他意识到了,但无法理解他们任性和飘忽不定的存在。他自己的身份正在消失在一个灰色的、无法触摸的世界中:这些死者曾经养育和生活的坚实世界本身正在消散和缩小。
Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love. The tears gathered more thickly in his eyes and in the partial darkness he imagined he saw the form of a young man standing under a dripping tree. Other forms were near. His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling.
窗玻璃上传来几声轻敲声,他转身看向窗外。雪又开始下起来了。他睡眼惺忪地看着银色和黑色的雪花斜斜地落在灯光下。他该出发向西行进的时候了。是的,报纸上说的没错:整个爱尔兰都下雪了。雪落在黑暗的中部平原的每一处,落在没有树木的山丘上,轻轻地落在艾伦沼泽上,再往西,轻轻地落在黑暗的、叛逆的香农河波涛中。雪也落在了迈克尔·弗瑞埋葬的山上那座孤独的教堂墓地的每一处。雪厚厚地飘落在歪歪扭扭的十字架和墓碑上,落在小门的栅栏上,落在光秃秃的荆棘上。当他听到雪花轻轻地飘过宇宙,轻轻地落在所有生者和死者身上,就像他们最后的结局降临一样,他的灵魂慢慢地昏厥了。
A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.
[1914年]
[1914]
学院:皇家音乐学院。
aAcademy: The Royal Academy of Music.
b亚当和夏娃的:都柏林当地一座方济各会教堂的昵称。
bAdam and Eve’s: A nickname for a local Franciscan church in Dublin.
c stirabout:爱尔兰燕麦片或粥。
cstirabout: Irish oatmeal, or porridge.
d克里斯蒂吟游诗人 (Christy Minstrels):1843 年,埃德温·皮尔斯·克里斯蒂 (Edwin Pearce Christy) 在纽约州布法罗创办的吟游诗人表演,通常涂黑脸表演。
dChristy Minstrels: A minstrel show founded in Buffalo, NY by Edwin Pearce Christy in 1843, and typically performed in blackface.
e a 西不列颠人:对在爱尔兰同情英国人的爱尔兰人的贬义称呼。
ea West Briton: A derogatory term for an Irishman who sympathized with the English in Ireland.
f美惠三女神:希腊神话中的三位姐妹女神,分别代表光辉、欢乐和美丽。
fthe Three Graces: In Greek mythology, the three sister goddesses who represent brilliance, joy, and beauty.
g Beannact libh:爱尔兰语,表示告别的短语,“祝福你。”
gBeannact libh: Irish for a farewell phrase, “A blessing on you.”
h比利国王:奥兰治国王威廉(1650-1702 年),一位镇压爱尔兰独立运动的新教国王。
hKing Billy: King William of Orange (1650–1702), a Protestant king who suppressed the movement for Irish independence.
i煤气厂:生产用于取暖和照明的煤气的工厂。
igasworks: A factory that manufactured coal gas for heating and lighting.
(1882–1941)
[1882–1941]
椭圆形的花坛上长着大约一百根花梗,半长着心形或舌形的叶子,顶端展开着红色、蓝色或黄色的花瓣,花瓣表面凸起着彩色斑点;从红、蓝或黄色的花梗下露出一根笔直的条状物,上面撒着粗糙的金粉,末端略呈棍状。花瓣丰满得足以被夏日的微风吹拂,当它们移动时,红色、蓝色和黄色的光芒一闪而过,在下面一英寸的棕色土地上染上最复杂的色彩。光线要么落在鹅卵石光滑的灰色背面,要么落在带有棕色圆形静脉的蜗牛壳上,要么落在雨滴中,它以如此强烈的红色、蓝色和黄色扩大了薄薄的水墙,让人觉得它们会破裂并消失。相反,那滴水再次变成了银灰色,光线现在落在一片叶子的肉体上,露出了表面下纤维的分枝,它再次移动,将光芒散布在心形和舌形叶子圆顶下的广阔绿色空间中。然后,头顶上微风更加轻快地吹拂,色彩在空中闪现,映入七月在邱园散步的男男女女的眼睛。
From the oval-shaped flower bed there rose perhaps a hundred stalks spreading into heart-shaped or tongue-shaped leaves half way up and unfurling at the tip red or blue or yellow petals marked with spots of colour raised upon the surface; and from the red, blue, or yellow gloom of the throat emerged a straight bar, rough with gold dust and slightly clubbed at the end. The petals were voluminous enough to be stirred by the summer breeze, and when they moved, the red, blue, and yellow lights passed one over the other, staining an inch of the brown earth beneath with a spot of the most intricate colour. The light fell either upon the smooth grey back of a pebble, or, the shell of a snail with its brown, circular veins, or falling into a raindrop, it expanded with such intensity of red, blue, and yellow the thin walls of water that one expected them to burst and disappear. Instead, the drop was left in a second silver grey once more, and the light now settled upon the flesh of a leaf, revealing the branching thread of fibre beneath the surface, and again it moved on and spread its illumination in the vast green spaces beneath the dome of the heart-shaped and tongue-shaped leaves. Then the breeze stirred rather more briskly overhead and the colour was flashed into the air above, into the eyes of the men and women who walk in Kew Gardens in July.
这些男人和女人的身影散漫地走过花坛,动作奇特而不规则,与白色和蓝色的蝴蝶在草地上曲折地飞过花坛很相似。男人在女人前面大约六英寸处漫不经心地漫步,而女人则更加专注地向前走,只是偶尔回头看看孩子们是否落后太多。男人故意与女人保持这个距离,尽管也许是无意识的,因为他想继续思考。
The figures of these men and women straggled past the flower bed with a curiously irregular movement not unlike that of the white and blue butterflies who crossed the turf in zigzag flights from bed to bed. The man was about six inches in front of the woman, strolling carelessly, while she bore on with greater purpose, only turning her head now and then to see that the children were not too far behind. The man kept this distance in front of the woman purposely, though perhaps unconsciously, for he wished to go on with his thoughts.
“十五年前,我和莉莉来到这里,”他想,“我们坐在湖边,整个炎热的下午,我都在求她嫁给我。蜻蜓在我们周围盘旋,我清楚地看到蜻蜓和她的鞋子,鞋头上有方形的银色扣子。我说话的时候,我一直看着她的鞋子,当它不耐烦地移动时,我不用抬头就知道她要说什么:她的整个身子似乎都在她的鞋子里。我的爱,我的欲望,都在蜻蜓身上;出于某种原因,我认为如果它停在那里,停在那片叶子上,那片中间有红花的宽叶子上,如果蜻蜓停在叶子上,她会立刻答应。但是蜻蜓转了又转,它从来没有停在任何地方——当然没有,幸好没有,否则我就不会和埃莉诺和孩子们在这里散步了——告诉我,埃莉诺,你有没有想过过去?”
“Fifteen years ago I came here with Lily,” he thought. “We sat somewhere over there by a lake, and I begged her to marry me all through the hot afternoon. How the dragonfly kept circling round us: how clearly I see the dragon-fly and her shoe with the square silver buckle at the toe. All the time I spoke I saw her shoe and when it moved impatiently I knew without looking up what she was going to say: the whole of her seemed to be in her shoe. And my love, my desire, were in the dragonfly; for some reason I thought that if it settled there, on that leaf, the broad one with the red flower in the middle of it, if the dragon fly settled on the leaf she would say ‘Yes’ at once. But the dragonfly went round and round: it never settled anywhere — of course not, happily not, or I shouldn’t be walking here with Eleanor and the children — Tell me, Eleanor, d’you ever think of the past?”
“你为什么问这个,西蒙?”
“Why do you ask, Simon?”
“因为我一直在想过去。我一直在想莉莉,那个我本可以娶的女人……好吧,你为什么沉默不语?你介意我回忆过去吗?”
“Because I’ve been thinking of the past. I’ve been thinking of Lily, the woman I might have married … Well, why are you silent? Do you mind my thinking of the past?”
“我为什么要介意,西蒙?在花园里,男人和女人躺在树下,难道人们不会一直想起过去吗?那些男人和女人,那些躺在树下的鬼魂,难道这些不就是一个人的过去,这一切的遗留,......一个人的幸福,一个人的现实吗?”
“Why should I mind, Simon? Doesn’t one always think of the past, in a garden with men and women lying under the trees? Aren’t they one’s past, all that remains of it, those men and women, those ghosts lying under the trees, … one’s happiness, one’s reality?”
“给我一个方形的银鞋扣和一只蜻蜓——”
“For me, a square silver shoe-buckle and a dragonfly — ”
“对我来说,一个吻。想象一下二十年前,六个小女孩坐在画架前,在湖边画睡莲,那是我见过的第一朵红色的睡莲。突然,一个吻落在我的后颈上。我的手整个下午都在发抖,没法画画。我拿出手表,记下时间,允许自己只想着那个吻五分钟——它是如此珍贵——一个鼻子上长着疣子的白发老妇人的吻,是我一生中所有吻的母亲。来吧,卡罗琳,来吧,休伯特。”
“For me, a kiss. Imagine six little girls sitting before their easels twenty years ago, down by the side of a lake, painting the water-lilies, the first red water-lilies I’d ever seen. And suddenly a kiss, there on the back of my neck. And my hand shook all the afternoon so that I couldn’t paint. I took out my watch and marked the hour when I would allow myself to think of the kiss for five minutes only — it was so precious — the kiss of an old grey-haired woman with a wart on her nose, the mother of all my kisses all my life. Come, Caroline, come, Hubert.”
他们继续走过花坛,现在四个人并肩而行,很快在树林中消失了,阳光和阴影在他们的背上形成大片颤动的不规则斑块,他们看起来是半透明的。
They walked on past the flowerbed, now walking four abreast, and soon diminished in size among the trees and looked half transparent as the sunlight and shade swam over their backs in large trembling irregular patches.
在椭圆形的花坛里,蜗牛的壳在两分钟左右的时间里被染成了红色、蓝色和黄色,现在它似乎在壳里轻轻地移动着,然后开始费力地在松散的泥土上移动,当它经过时,泥土碎屑会脱落并滚落下来。它似乎有一个明确的目标,在这方面,它与那只奇怪的、迈着高步、棱角分明的绿色昆虫不同。那只昆虫试图从它面前穿过,等了一会儿,触角颤抖着,仿佛在深思熟虑,然后迅速而奇怪地朝相反的方向走去。棕色的悬崖,凹陷处有深绿色的湖泊,扁平的、从根部到顶端摇曳的叶片状树木,灰色的圆石,巨大而皱巴巴的表面,质地薄而噼啪作响——所有这些都挡在蜗牛从一根茎杆到另一根茎杆之间走向目标的路上。在他决定是否绕过枯叶搭成的拱形帐篷还是挺身而出之前,其他人的脚就从床边走过。
In the oval flower bed the snail, whose shell had been stained red, blue, and yellow for the space of two minutes or so, now appeared to be moving very slightly in its shell, and next began to labour over the crumbs of loose earth which broke away and rolled down as it passed over them. It appeared to have a definite goal in front of it, differing in this respect from the singular high-stepping angular green insect who attempted to cross in front of it, and waited for a second with its antennae trembling as if in deliberation, and then stepped off as rapidly and strangely in the opposite direction. Brown cliffs with deep green lakes in the hollows, flat, blade-like trees that waved from root to tip, round boulders of grey stone, vast crumpled surfaces of a thin crackling texture — all these objects lay across the snail’s progress between one stalk and another to his goal. Before he had decided whether to circumvent the arched tent of a dead leaf or to breast it there came past the bed the feet of other human beings.
这次他们都是男人。年轻人的表情也许有点不自然,他抬起眼睛,目不转睛地看着前方,而他的同伴一说完,他又低下头,有时要停顿很久才张开嘴唇,有时根本不张开。年长的男人走路时步履蹒跚,摇摇晃晃,手向前挥动,突然扬起头,就像一匹在屋外等得不耐烦的马车马,但对于他来说,这些动作既犹豫又毫无意义。他几乎滔滔不绝地讲着;他自嘲一笑,又开始说话,仿佛这微笑就是答案。他讲的是灵魂——死者的灵魂,据他说,他们现在还在向他讲述他们在天堂经历的各种奇事。
This time they were both men. The younger of the two wore an expression of perhaps unnatural calm; he raised his eyes and fixed them very steadily in front of him while his companion spoke, and directly his companion had done speaking he looked on the ground again and sometimes opened his lips only after a long pause and sometimes did not open them at all. The elder man had a curiously uneven and shaky method of walking, jerking his hand forward and throwing up his head abruptly, rather in the manner of an impatient carriage horse tired of waiting outside a house; but in the man these gestures were irresolute and pointless. He talked almost incessantly; he smiled to himself and again began to talk, as if the smile had been an answer. He was talking about spirits — the spirits of the dead, who, according to him, were even now telling him all sorts of odd things about their experiences in Heaven.
“古人称天堂为色萨利,威廉,而现在,随着这场战争,精神物质像雷声一样在山间滚动。”他停顿了一下,似乎在听,微笑着,摇了摇头,继续说道:——
“Heaven was known to the ancients as Thessaly, William, and now, with this war, the spirit matter is rolling between the hills like thunder.” He paused, seemed to listen, smiled, jerked his head, and continued: —
“你有一小块电池和一块橡胶来绝缘电线——隔离?——绝缘?——好吧,我们就不说这些细节了,没必要深入讨论那些别人听不懂的细节——简而言之,这台小机器可以放在床头任何方便的位置,我们可以说,放在一个整洁的红木架子上。在我指导下,工人们把所有设备都安装好后,寡妇就用耳朵贴着,按照约定用手势召唤幽灵。女人!寡妇!穿黑衣服的女人——”
“You have a small electric battery and a piece of rubber to insulate the wire — isolate? — insulate? — well, we’ll skip the details, no good going into details that wouldn’t be understood — and in short the little machine stands in any convenient position by the head of the bed, we will say, on a neat mahogany stand. All arrangements being properly fixed by workmen under my direction, the widow applies her ear and summons the spirit by sign as agreed. Women! Widows! Women in black — ”
这时,他似乎在远处看到了一个女人的裙子,在阴影中看起来是紫黑色的。他脱下帽子,把手放在心上,急忙向她走去,一边嘟囔一边兴奋地打着手势。但威廉抓住了他的袖子,用手杖的尖端碰了一下一朵花,以分散老人的注意力。老人有些困惑地看了一会儿,然后侧耳倾听,似乎在回答一个声音,因为他开始谈论几百年前他和欧洲最美丽的年轻女子一起去过的乌拉圭森林。人们可以听到他喃喃自语地说着乌拉圭的森林被热带玫瑰的蜡花瓣覆盖着,夜莺、海滩、美人鱼和淹死在海上的女人,他任由威廉驱使着自己往前走,威廉脸上的坚忍不拔的神色慢慢地越来越深。
Here he seemed to have caught sight of a woman’s dress in the distance, which in the shade looked a purple black. He took off his hat, placed his hand upon his heart, and hurried towards her muttering and gesticulating feverishly. But William caught him by the sleeve and touched a flower with the tip of his walking-stick in order to divert the old man’s attention. After looking at it for a moment in some confusion the old man bent his ear to it and seemed to answer a voice speaking from it, for he began talking about the forests of Uruguay which he had visited hundreds of years ago in company with the most beautiful young woman in Europe. He could be heard murmuring about forests of Uruguay blanketed with the wax petals of tropical roses, nightingales, sea beaches, mermaids, and women drowned at sea, as he suffered himself to be moved on by William, upon whose face the look of stoical patience grew slowly deeper and deeper.
两位中下阶层的老年妇女紧随其后,紧随其后,以至于对他的动作感到有些困惑。她们一个身材魁梧,体态笨重,另一个面色红润,行动敏捷。她们和大多数同等地位的人一样,对任何表明脑子混乱的怪异迹象都很感兴趣,尤其是富人;但她们离得太远,无法确定这些手势是纯粹的怪异还是真的疯了。她们默默地端详了老人的背影,互相给了一个古怪而狡猾的眼神,然后继续精力充沛地拼凑她们非常复杂的对话:
Following his steps so closely as to be slightly puzzled by his gestures came two elderly women of the lower middle class, one stout and ponderous, the other rosy-cheeked and nimble. Like most people of their station they were frankly fascinated by any signs of eccentricity betokening a disordered brain, especially in the well-to-do; but they were too far off to be certain whether the gestures were merely eccentric or genuinely mad. After they had scrutinised the old man’s back in silence for a moment and given each other a queer, sly look, they went on energetically piecing together their very complicated dialogue:
“奈尔,伯特,洛特,塞斯,菲尔,爸,他说,我说,她说,我说,我说,我说——”
“Nell, Bert, Lot, Cess, Phil, Pa, he says, I says, she says, I says, I says, I says — ”
“我的伯特、姐姐、比尔、爷爷、老头子、甜心,
“My Bert, Sis, Bill, Grandad, the old man, sugar,
糖、面粉、腌鱼、蔬菜、
Sugar, flour, kippers, greens,
“糖,糖,糖。”
Sugar, sugar, sugar.”
笨重的女人透过落下的字句,带着好奇的表情看着那些凉爽、坚定、直立在泥土中的花朵。她看着它们,就像一个从沉睡中醒来的人看到一个铜烛台以一种陌生的方式反射着光线,闭上眼睛,再睁开,再次看到铜烛台,终于完全清醒过来,用尽全身力气盯着烛台。于是,笨重的女人在椭圆形的花坛对面停了下来,甚至不再假装听另一个女人说话。她站在那里,让话语落在她身上,慢慢地前后摇晃着上身,看着那些花。然后她建议他们找个座位坐下来喝茶。
The ponderous woman looked through the pattern of falling words at the flowers standing cool, firm, and upright in the earth, with a curious expression. She saw them as a sleeper waking from a heavy sleep sees a brass candlestick reflecting the light in an unfamiliar way, and closes his eyes and opens them, and seeing the brass candlestick again, finally starts broad awake and stares at the candlestick with all his powers. So the heavy woman came to a standstill opposite the oval-shaped flower bed, and ceased even to pretend to listen to what the other woman was saying. She stood there letting the words fall over her, swaying the top part of her body slowly backwards and forwards, looking at the flowers. Then she suggested that they should find a seat and have their tea.
蜗牛已经考虑了所有可能的办法,既可以绕过枯叶,也可以爬过枯叶到达目的地。别说爬叶需要付出多大的努力,它还怀疑,薄薄的叶子,即使用它的角尖碰一下,也会发出令人惊恐的噼啪声,它是否能承受得住它的重量;这最终决定它从叶子下面爬过去,因为叶子离地面有一点弯曲,足够它爬过去。它刚把头伸进洞里,正在打量高高的棕色屋顶,正在适应凉爽的棕色光线,这时,外面的草坪上又有两个人经过。这一次他们都很年轻,一个年轻男人和一个年轻女人。他们都正值青春年华,甚至正值青春年华之前的季节,也就是花朵光滑的粉红色褶皱破掉粘稠的外壳之前的季节,那时蝴蝶的翅膀虽然已经完全长成,但在阳光下一动不动。
The snail had now considered every possible method of reaching his goal without going round the dead leaf or climbing over it. Let alone the effort needed for climbing a leaf, he was doubtful whether the thin texture which vibrated with such an alarming crackle when touched even by the tip of his horns would bear his weight; and this determined him finally to creep beneath it, for there was a point where the leaf curved high enough from the ground to admit him. He had just inserted his head in the opening and was taking stock of the high brown roof and was getting used to the cool brown light when two other people came past outside on the turf. This time they were both young, a young man and a young woman. They were both in the prime of youth, or even in that season which precedes the prime of youth, the season before the smooth pink folds of the flower have burst their gummy case, when the wings of the butterfly, though fully grown, are motionless in the sun.
“幸好今天不是星期五,”他说。
“Lucky it isn’t Friday,” he observed.
“为什么?你相信运气吗?”
“Why? D’you believe in luck?”
“他们让你在星期五支付六便士。”
“They make you pay sixpence on Friday.”
“六便士到底是什么?难道它不值六便士吗?”
“What’s sixpence anyway? Isn’t it worth sixpence?”
“‘它’是什么——你说的‘它’是什么意思?”
“What’s ‘it’ — what do you mean by ‘it’?”
“哦,任何事情——我的意思是——你知道我的意思。”
“O anything — I mean — you know what I mean.”
每一句话之间都有很长的停顿,都是用平淡而单调的声音说出的。这对情侣静静地站在花坛边,一起把她的阳伞末端深深地按进松软的泥土中。这个动作,以及他把手放在她阳伞顶上的事实,以一种奇怪的方式表达了他们的感受,因为这些简短而微不足道的词语也表达了一些东西,这些词语带着短小的翅膀,含义沉重,不足以将它们带走很远,因此笨拙地落在了周围非常普通的物体上,在他们缺乏经验的触觉下,这些物体如此庞大,但谁知道(他们一边把阳伞按进土里,一边想着)里面隐藏着什么悬崖,或者另一边的冰坡没有在阳光下闪耀?谁知道呢?谁以前见过这种情况?甚至当她想知道在邱园人们给你喝什么样的茶时,他都感觉到她的话语背后隐约有什么东西,在它们后面矗立着巨大而坚实的东西;雾气慢慢升起,露出了——天哪,那些是什么形状?——小小的白色桌子,女服务员先看看她,然后看看他;有一张账单,他愿意用一枚真正的两先令硬币来付,这是真的,完全是真的,他一边抚摸着口袋里的硬币,一边向自己保证,对其他所有人来说都是真的,除了他和她;甚至对他来说,它也开始觉得是真的了;然后——但是这太令人兴奋了,他无法再站着思考,他猛地把阳伞从地上拔出来,迫不及待地想找到一个可以和其他人一起喝茶的地方,就像其他人一样。
Long pauses came between each of these remarks, they were uttered in toneless and monotonous voices. The couple stood still on the edge of the flowerbed, and together pressed the end of her parasol deep down into the soft earth. The action and the fact that his hand rested on the top of hers expressed their feelings in a strange way, as these short insignificant words also expressed something, words with short wings for their heavy body of meaning, inadequate to carry them far and thus alighting awkwardly upon the very common objects that surrounded them and were to their inexperienced touch so massive, but who knows (so they thought as they pressed the parasol into the earth) what precipices aren’t concealed in them, or what slopes of ice don’t shine in the sun on the other side? Who knows? Who has ever seen this before? Even when she wondered what sort of tea they gave you at Kew, he felt that something loomed up behind her words, and stood vast and solid behind them; and the mist very slowly rose and uncovered — O Heavens, what were those shapes? — little white tables, and waitresses who looked first at her and then at him; and there was a bill that he would pay with a real two shilling piece, and it was real, all real, he assured himself, fingering the coin in his pocket, real to everyone except to him and to her; even to him it began to seem real; and then — but it was too exciting to stand and think any longer, and he pulled the parasol out of the earth with a jerk and was impatient to find the place where one had tea with other people, like other people.
“快来吧,特里西;我们该喝茶了。”
“Come along Trissie; it’s time we had our tea.”
“人们在哪儿喝茶?”她问道,声音里带着一种最奇特的兴奋,茫然地环顾四周,任由自己沿着草径前行,撑着阳伞,四处转头,忘记了喝茶,想走到那里,又想走到那里,想起了野花丛中的兰花和仙鹤,一座中国宝塔和一只朱冠鸟;但他却拖着她往前走。
“Wherever does one have one’s tea?” she asked with the oddest thrill of excitement in her voice, looking vaguely round and letting herself be drawn on down the grass path, trailing her parasol, turning her head this way and that way, forgetting her tea, wishing to go down there and then down there, remembering orchids and cranes among wild flowers, a Chinese pagoda and a crimson-crested bird; but he bore her on.
就这样,一对对蝴蝶以同样不规则、漫无目的的动作飞过花坛,被一层又一层的蓝绿色烟雾包裹着,起初它们的身体还带着实体和一丝色彩,但后来实体和色彩都消散在蓝绿色的空气中。天气真热!热得连画眉鸟都选择像机械鸟一样在花影下跳跃,一个动作和下一个动作之间都要停顿很长时间;白蝴蝶不再漫无目的地飞舞,而是一只接一只地翩翩起舞,用它们飘忽不定的白色雪花勾勒出最高的花朵上方破碎的大理石柱的轮廓;棕榈树屋的玻璃屋顶闪闪发光,仿佛整个市场都在阳光下开满了闪闪发光的绿色遮阳伞;在飞机的嗡嗡声中,夏日的天空低声诉说着它凶猛的灵魂。黄色和黑色、粉色和雪白色,所有这些颜色的身影,男人、女人和孩子,一瞬间出现在地平线上,然后,看到草地上铺满了黄色,他们摇摇晃晃地走来走去,在树下寻找阴凉处,像水滴一样融入黄色和绿色的空气中,将它染成淡淡的红色和蓝色。似乎所有笨重的身躯都一动不动地沉入热气中,蜷缩在地上,但他们的声音却从他们身上飘荡而出,仿佛他们是蜡烛厚厚的蜡筒中摇曳的火焰。声音,是的,声音,无言的声音,突然打破了沉默,带着如此深切的满足,如此强烈的欲望,或者,在孩子们的声音中,带着如此新鲜的惊喜;打破沉默?但没有寂静;公共汽车一直在转动车轮,换挡;就像一个巨大的中国箱子巢,全都是锻钢的,一个接一个地不停地转动着,城市低语着;山顶上传来阵阵欢呼声,无数花瓣在空中闪烁着色彩。
Thus one couple after another with much the same irregular and aimless movement passed the flower bed and were enveloped in layer after layer of green blue vapour, in which at first their bodies had substance and a dash of colour, but later both substance and colour dissolved in the green blue atmosphere. How hot it was! So hot that even the thrush chose to hop, like a mechanical bird, in the shadow of the flowers, with long pauses between one movement and the next; instead of rambling vaguely the white butterflies danced one above another, making with their white shifting flakes the outline of a shattered marble column above the tallest flowers; the glass roofs of the palm house shone as if a whole market full of shiny green umbrellas had opened in the sun; and in the drone of the aeroplane the voice of the summer sky murmured its fierce soul. Yellow and black, pink and snow white, shapes of all these colours, men, women, and children were spotted for a second upon the horizon, and then, seeing the breadth of yellow that lay upon the grass, they wavered and sought shade beneath the trees, dissolving like drops of water in the yellow and green atmosphere, staining it faintly with red and blue. It seemed as if all gross and heavy bodies had sunk down in the heat motionless and lay huddled upon the ground, but their voices went wavering from them as if they were flames lolling from the thick waxen bodies of candles. Voices, yes, voices, wordless voices, breaking the silence suddenly with such depth of contentment, such passion of desire, or, in the voices of children, such freshness of surprise; breaking the silence? But there was no silence; all the time the motor omnibuses were turning their wheels and changing their gear; like a vast nest of Chinese boxes all of wrought steel turning ceaselessly one within another the city murmured; on the top of which the voices cried aloud and the petals of myriads of flowers flashed their colours into the air.
[1919年]
[1919]
(1883–1924)
[1883–1924]
译者:Ann Charters
TRANSLATED BY ANN CHARTERS
一天早上,格里高尔·萨姆沙从噩梦中醒来,发现自己躺在床上,变成了一只巨大的昆虫。他躺在坚硬的、装甲的背上,稍稍抬起头,就能看到他圆顶状的棕色腹部分成弓形脊状,上面摇摇欲坠的床被即将完全滑落。他的无数条腿与身体其他部分相比瘦得可怜,无助地在他眼前扑腾着。
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect. He was lying on his hard, armor-plated back, and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like brown belly divided into bow-shaped ridges, on top of which the precariously perched bed quilt was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, pitiably thin compared to the rest of him, fluttered helplessly before his eyes.
“我到底怎么了?”他想。这不是梦。他的房间——一个普通的、虽然很小的人类卧室——安静地坐落在四面熟悉的墙壁内。桌子上方,放着一些布料样品——萨姆萨是一名旅行推销员——挂着一张他最近从一本插图杂志上剪下来并装进一个漂亮的镀金相框的照片。照片上,一位女士戴着一顶小皮帽,披着一条皮披肩,端坐着,向观众伸出一个厚厚的皮套子,她的整条前臂都缩进了里面。
“What has happened to me?” he thought. It was no dream. His room — a normal, though rather small, human bedroom — lay quiet within its four familiar walls. Above the table, where a collection of cloth samples was unpacked and laid out — Samsa was a traveling salesman — hung the picture that he had recently cut from an illustrated magazine and put in a pretty gilt frame. It showed a lady wearing a small fur hat and a fur stole, sitting upright, holding out to the viewer a heavy fur muff into which her entire forearm had vanished.
然后格里高尔朝窗户望去,阴沉的天气——他听见雨点落在窗户金属窗台上——让他感到十分忧郁。“如果我再睡一会儿,忘掉这些无聊的事,会怎么样?”他想,但这绝对不可能,因为他习惯于右侧卧,而他现在的状态无法做到。无论他多么努力地试图将自己拉到右侧,他总是摇摇晃晃地仰面躺下。他试了一百次,闭上眼睛,这样他就不会看到自己扭动的腿,直到他开始感到侧腹一阵从未有过的隐隐作痛,他才放弃。
Then Gregor looked toward the window, and the dreary weather — he heard the rain falling on the metal ledge of the window — made him feel quite melancholy. “What if I went back to sleep again for awhile and forgot about all this nonsense?” he thought, but it was absolutely impossible, since he was used to sleeping on his right side, and he was unable to get into that position in his present state. No matter how hard he tried to heave himself over onto his right side, he always rocked onto his back again. He tried a hundred times, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at his wriggly legs, and he didn’t give up until he began to feel a faint, dull ache in his side that he had never felt before.
“天哪,”他想,“我给自己选了这么一份苦差事!日复一日地出差。比在家办公压力大得多;除此之外,还要承受旅行的压力、担心与人交往、随时吃到糟糕的饭菜、结识新朋友、没有真正的人际交往、没有人成为朋友。该死!”他感觉腹部上方有点痒;他慢慢地将自己仰面靠在床柱上,这样他就能更好地抬起头;他找到了发痒的地方,上面布满了他无法辨认的小白点;他试图用一条腿触摸那个地方,但他立即缩了回去,因为这一接触让他全身冰冷颤抖。
“Oh God,” he thought, “what a hard job I picked for myself! Traveling day in and day out. Much more stressful than working in the home office; on top of that, the strain of traveling, the worry about making connections, the bad meals at all hours, meeting new people, no real human contact, no one who ever becomes a friend. The devil take it all!” He felt a slight itch on top of his belly; slowly he pushed himself on his back closer to the bedpost, so he could lift his head better; he found the itchy place, which was covered with little white spots he couldn’t identify; he tried to touch the place with one of his legs, but he immediately drew it back, for the contact sent icy shudders through his entire body.
他又滑回原来的位置。“这么早起床,”他想,“会让你显得很愚蠢。男人总得睡一觉。其他的旅行推销员就像后宫里的女人一样生活。例如,当我早上回到酒店写订单时,我发现这些先生们正坐下来吃早餐。我应该跟我的老板试试这个办法;我会当场被解雇的。不管怎样,谁知道这对我来说是不是件好事。如果不是因为我的父母,我早就辞职了,我会去找老板,狠狠地教训他。那会把他从桌子上打下来的!还有一件奇怪的事情,他坐在办公桌上,从这么高的地方对员工说话,尤其是因为他听力不好,我们又必须离他这么近。现在,我还没有完全放弃希望;只要我攒够钱来偿还我父母欠他的钱——这还需要五六年——我一定会还的。然后我会迈出重要的一步。不过现在我必须起床,因为我的火车五点钟开。”
He slid back to his former position. “Getting up so early like this,” he thought, “makes you quite stupid. A man has to have his sleep. Other traveling salesmen live like women in a harem. For instance, when I return to the hotel during the morning to write up my orders, I find these gentlemen just sitting down to breakfast. I should try that with my boss; I would be fired on the spot. Anyway, who knows if that wouldn’t be a good thing for me after all. If it weren’t for my parents, I would have quit long ago, I would have gone to the boss and told him off. That would knock him off his desk! It’s a strange thing, too, the way he sits on top of his desk and talks down to his employees from this height, especially since he’s hard of hearing and we have to come so close to him. Now, I haven’t totally given up hope; as soon as I’ve saved the money to pay back what my parents owe him — that should take another five or six years — I’ll certainly do it. Then I’ll take the big step. Right now, though, I have to get up, because my train leaves at five.”
他看了看放在抽屉柜上的闹钟,它滴答作响。“天父啊,”他想。现在是六点半,时钟的指针静静地向前移动;事实上,已经过了六点半,快到七点一刻了。闹钟可能没响吗?他从床上看到闹钟正确地设置在四点;它肯定响过了。是的,但在那种家具嘎嘎作响的噪音中,他能安然入睡吗?好吧,他睡得并不安稳,但可能更加酣畅。他现在该怎么办?下一班火车七点开;要赶上它,他必须发疯似的赶路,而他的样品甚至还没有打包,他肯定感觉不是特别精神和休息好。就算他赶上了火车,也逃不过和老板的争吵,因为公司的勤杂工早就在五点钟的火车上等他,而且早就回办公室报告说他没来。勤杂工是老板的傀儡,没有骨气也没有脑子。现在,如果他请病假怎么办?但那会很尴尬,而且看起来很可疑,因为他在公司工作了五年,从来没有生过病。老板肯定会带着健康保险的医生来;他会责备父母让他们的儿子懒惰,他会重复医生的论点,说人们不会生病,他们只是懒惰,以此来打断任何借口。在这种情况下,他真的错了吗?事实上,除了昏昏欲睡(这在长时间的睡眠后肯定是不必要的)之外,格里高尔感觉很好,而且他比平时更饿了。
He looked over at the alarm clock, which was ticking on the chest of drawers. “Heavenly Father,” he thought. It was half past six, and the hands of the clock were quietly moving forward; in fact, it was after half past, it was nearly quarter to seven. Was it possible the alarm hadn’t rung? He saw from the bed that it was correctly set at four o’clock; surely it had rung. Yes, but was it possible to sleep peacefully right through that furniture-rattling noise? Well, he hadn’t exactly slept peacefully, but probably all the more soundly. What should he do now? The next train left at seven o’clock; to catch it, he would have to rush like mad, and his samples weren’t even packed yet, and he definitely didn’t feel particularly fresh and rested. And even if he did catch the train, he wouldn’t escape a scene with his boss, since the firm’s office boy would have been waiting at the five o’clock train and would have reported back to the office long ago that he hadn’t turned up. The office boy was the boss’s own creature, without backbone or brains. Now, what if he called in sick? But that would be embarrassing, and it would look suspicious, because in the five years he’d been with the company, he’d never been sick before. His boss would be sure to show up with the doctor from the Health Insurance; he’d reproach his parents for their son’s laziness, and he’d cut short any excuses by repeating the doctor’s argument that people don’t get sick, they’re just lazy. And in this case, would he be so wrong? The fact was that except for being drowsy, which was certainly unnecessary after his long sleep, Gregor felt quite well, and he was even hungrier than usual.
正当他匆忙地在脑子里思考这些事情,却还是无法决定是否起床时——闹钟刚好敲到七点一刻——他听到床头附近传来小心翼翼的敲门声。“格里高尔”——有人叫他——是他妈妈——“七点一刻。你不想走吗?”多么温柔的声音!格里高尔听到自己的声音回答时大吃一惊;这无疑是他熟悉的老声音,但夹杂着一种无法抑制的痛苦的尖叫声,这声音只能让格里高尔的声音清晰一瞬间,但声音立刻就扭曲了,让你不知道自己是否听错了。格里高尔本想完整地回答并解释一切,但在这种情况下,他只好满足于说:“是的,是的,谢谢你,妈妈。我刚起床。”毫无疑问,他们之间隔着一扇木门,她没有注意到格里高尔声音的变化,因为格里高尔的母亲听到他的通告后放心地走开了。但是由于这次简短的谈话,其他家庭成员意识到格里高尔意外地还在家里,不久,父亲开始轻轻地敲侧门,但用的是拳头。“格里高尔,格里高尔,”他叫道,“你怎么了?”过了一会儿,他用更深沉的警告语气说:“格里高尔!格里高尔!”在另一扇侧门,他的妹妹哀怨地问道:“格里高尔,你不舒服吗?你需要什么吗?”格里高尔对房间的两边都回答说:“我准备好了。”他强迫自己小心发音,并通过插入长时间的停顿来区分单词,这样他的声音听起来很正常。他的父亲回去吃早餐了,但他的妹妹低声说:“格里高尔,开门,请开门。”但格里高尔无意打开门,他庆幸自己在旅行中养成了锁门的谨慎习惯,晚上即使在家里也要锁上所有的门。
As he was hurriedly turning all these thoughts over in his mind, still not able to decide to get out of bed — the alarm clock was just striking a quarter to seven — he heard a cautious tap on the door, close by the head of his bed. “Gregor” — someone called — it was his mother — “it’s a quarter to seven. Didn’t you want to leave?” That gentle voice! Gregor was shocked when he heard his own voice reply; it was unmistakably his old familiar voice, but mixed with it could be heard an irrepressible undertone of painful squeaking, which left the words clear for only a moment, immediately distorting their sound so that you didn’t know if you had really heard them right. Gregor would have liked to answer fully and explain everything, but under the circumstances, he contented himself by saying, “Yes, yes, thank you, mother. I’m just getting up.” No doubt the wooden door between them must have kept her from noticing the change in Gregor’s voice, for his mother was reassured with his announcement and shuffled off. But because of this brief conversation, the other family members had become aware that Gregor unexpectedly was still at home, and soon his father began knocking on a side door softly, but with his fist. “Gregor, Gregor,” he called, “what’s the matter with you?” And after a little while, in a deeper, warning tone, “Gregor! Gregor!” At the other side door, his sister was asking plaintively, “Gregor, aren’t you feeling well? Do you need anything?” To both sides of the room, Gregor answered, “I’m getting ready,” and he forced himself to pronounce each syllable carefully and to separate his words by inserting long pauses, so his voice sounded normal. His father went back to his breakfast, but his sister whispered, “Gregor, open the door, please do.” But Gregor had no intention of opening the door, and he congratulated himself on having developed the prudent habit during his travels of always locking all doors during the night, even at home.
首先,他会安静地、不受打扰地起床,穿好衣服,然后——最重要的是——吃早餐,然后考虑下一步该怎么做,因为他意识到,如果继续躺在床上,他永远无法对情况做出明智的结论。他记得以前有多少次,也许是当他以一种不寻常的姿势躺在床上时,他感觉到轻微的疼痛,而当他起床时,却发现那是想象出来的,他期待着知道今天早上的幻想会如何消失。至于他声音的变化,他一点也不怀疑,那只不过是严重感冒的第一次警告,这是旅行推销员的职业病。
As a start, he would get up quietly and undisturbed, get dressed, and — what was most important — eat breakfast, and then he would consider what to do next, since he realized that he would never come to a sensible conclusion about the situation if he stayed in bed. He remembered how many times before, perhaps when he was lying in bed in an unusual position, he had felt slight pains that turned out to be imaginary when he got up, and he was looking forward to finding out how this morning’s fantasy would fade away. As for the change in his voice, he didn’t doubt at all that it was nothing more than the first warning of a serious cold, a traveling salesman’s occupational hazard.
推开被子很容易,只要深吸一口气,被子就会自动掉下来。但下一步就变得困难了,尤其是现在他的身形宽大了许多。他本可以用手和胳膊支撑自己,但他只有无数条小腿,它们不停地向各个方向移动,他根本无法控制。每当他试图弯曲一条腿时,那条腿总是先伸直;当它终于按照他的意愿做事时,其他的腿就会不受控制地挥舞着,非常痛苦。“在床上无所事事简直是没用的,”格里高尔自言自语道。
It was easy to push off the quilt; all he had to do was to take a deep breath and it fell off by itself. But things got difficult with the next step, especially since he was now much broader. He could have used hands and arms to prop himself up, but all he had were his numerous little legs that never stopped moving in all directions and that he couldn’t control at all. Whenever he tried to bend one of his legs, that was the first one to straighten itself out; and when it was finally doing what he wanted it to do, then all the other legs waved uncontrollably, in very painful agitation. “There’s simply no use staying idle in bed,” said Gregor to himself.
他要做的第一件事就是把下半身从床上挪起来,但是这个他还没见过、也无法想象的下半身,移动起来太慢了;最后,他几乎疯狂地鼓起力气,向前蹒跚而行,却错误估计了方向,猛地撞在最下面的床柱上,从他感觉到的灼痛中,他意识到,就目前而言,他身体的下半身是最敏感的。
The first thing he meant to do was get the lower part of his body out of bed, but this lower part, which he still hadn’t seen, and couldn’t imagine either, proved to be too difficult to move, it shifted so slowly; and when finally, growing almost frantic, he gathered his strength and lurched forward, he miscalculated the direction, and banged himself violently into the bottom bedpost, and from the burning pain he felt, he realized that for the moment, it was the lower part of his body that was the most sensitive.
接下来,他试着先将上半身伸出床,然后小心翼翼地将头移到床边。他很轻松地做到了这一点,最后,尽管身体又宽又重,但其余部分还是慢慢地顺着头部的方向移动。但当他终于将头从床上移到空旷的地方时,他开始害怕再继续下去了,因为如果他以这种姿势摔倒,头部没有受伤,那将是一个奇迹。而且无论发生什么,他现在都不能失去意识;他最好还是待在床上。
Next he tried to get the upper part of his body out first, and cautiously brought his head to the edge of the bed. This he managed easily, and eventually the rest of his body, despite its width and weight, slowly followed the direction of his head. But when he finally had moved his head off the bed into open space, he became afraid of continuing any further, because if he were to fall in this position, it would be a miracle if he didn’t injure his head. And no matter what happened, he must not lose consciousness just now; he would be better off staying in bed.
但当他再次努力,叹息着发现自己还是像以前一样伸直身体,他再次看到自己的小腿在拼命挣扎,甚至比以前更加疯狂,他绝望地想找到一种方法来让这种随意的运动变得有纪律和有秩序,他再次意识到呆在床上是不可能的,最明智的做法是做出一切牺牲,只要有一点点希望从床上挣脱出来。但与此同时,他不断提醒自己,冷静思考总比做出绝望的决定要好。在这种紧张的时刻,他通常会把目光转向窗户,但不幸的是,早晨的雾气并没有给人信心或安慰;雾气太浓了,遮住了小街的另一边。“已经七点了,”闹钟再次响起时他说,“已经七点了,雾仍然这么大。”他又静静地躺了一会儿,呼吸非常轻柔,仿佛在期待寂静会恢复真实和正常的情况。
But when he repeated his efforts and, sighing, found himself stretched out just as before, and again he saw his little legs struggling if possible even more wildly than ever, despairing of finding a way to bring discipline and order to this random movement, he once again realized that it was impossible to stay in bed, and that the wisest course was to make every sacrifice, if there was even the slightest hope of freeing himself from the bed. But at the same time, he continued to remind himself that it was always better to think calmly and coolly than make desperate decisions. In such stressful moments he usually turned his eyes toward the window, but unfortunately the view of the morning fog didn’t inspire confidence or comfort; it was so thick that it obscured the other side of the narrow street. “Already seven o’clock,” he said as the alarm clock rang again, “already seven o’clock and still such a heavy fog.” And for a little while longer he lay quietly, breathing very gently as if expecting perhaps that the silence would restore real and normal circumstances.
但随后他告诉自己:“七点一刻之前,我一定要起床。再说,到那时办公室会派人来询问我的情况,因为办公室七点开门。”他开始有节奏地摇晃整个身体,想从床上下来。如果他以这种方式从床上下来,那么他打算在摔倒时抬起的头大概就不会受伤了。他的背看起来很硬;如果他摔倒在地毯上,也不会受伤。他最担心的是他肯定会发出的巨响,这肯定会引起所有门后的焦虑,甚至恐慌。尽管如此,他还是得冒这个险。
But then he told himself, “Before it reaches quarter past seven, I must absolutely be out of bed without fail. Besides, by then someone from the office will be sent here to ask about me, since it opens at seven.” And he began to rock the entire length of his body in a steady rhythm to swing it out of bed. If he maneuvered out of bed in this way, then his head, which he intended to lift up as he fell, would presumably escape injury. His back seemed to be hard; it wouldn’t be harmed if he fell on the carpet. His biggest worry was the loud crash he was bound to make, which would certainly cause anxiety, perhaps even alarm, behind all the doors. Still, he had to take the risk.
当格里高尔已经从床上伸出一半身子时——他的新方法更像是一种游戏,而不是一种努力,因为他只需要在床上摇晃自己——他突然想到,只要有人帮忙,他的任务就会变得多么容易。他想到,两个强壮的人——他的父亲和女仆——就足够了;他们所要做的就是把胳膊伸到他圆圆的后背下面,把他从床上抬起来,弯下腰,带着他们的负担,然后耐心地等着他摇晃着倒在地上,希望他的小腿能找到一些用处。好吧,除了门被锁着的事实之外,他真的应该求助吗?尽管他很痛苦,但一想到这一点,他就忍不住笑了。
When Gregor was already jutting halfway out of bed — his new approach was more a game than an exertion, for all he needed was to seesaw himself on his back — it occurred to him how easy his task would become if only he had help. Two strong people — he thought of his father and the maid — would have been enough; all they had to do was to slide their arms under his round back, lift him out of bed, bend down with their burden, and then wait patiently while he swung himself onto the ground, where he hoped that his little legs would find some purpose. Well, quite aside from the fact that the doors were locked, should he really have called for help? Despite his misery, he couldn’t help smiling at the very thought of it.
此时,他已经用力地摇晃着身体,把自己从床上推了下去,甚至感觉自己失去了平衡。他终于必须决定自己该怎么办了,因为五分钟后就是七点一刻了——这时前门的门铃响了。“是办公室的人,”他对自己说,身体变得僵硬,而他的小腿在空中飞舞得更快了。一时间,一切都安静了下来。“他们不会开门的,”格里高尔心里涌起一丝不切实际的希望。但随后,女仆像往常一样,迈着坚定的步伐走到门口,打开了门。格里高尔只需要听到来访者的第一句问候语,就知道来者是谁——办公室经理本人。格里高尔究竟为什么会被送到一家对任何轻微的疏忽都抱有极大怀疑的公司工作?员工们无一例外都是恶棍吗?难道他们中间就没有人是忠诚敬业的人吗?如果他有一天早上真的错过了几个小时的工作,就会因为悔恨而发疯,甚至无法下床。如果真的需要调查的话,派一个学徒去调查就够了,难道经理亲自来,向这个无辜的家族表明,对这起可疑事件的任何调查只能委托给经理吗?格里高尔对这些恼人的想法的反应,而不是任何有意识的决定,他用尽全力从床上跳了起来。砰的一声响,但并不是真正的撞击声。地毯减轻了他摔倒的重量,他的背比格里高尔想象的更有弹性,所以砰的一声响并不那么明显。只是他没有小心地抱着头,撞到了头;他扭着头,在痛苦和恼怒中用力地蹭着地毯。
By now he had pushed himself so far off the bed with his steady rocking that he could feel himself losing his balance, and he would finally have to decide what he was going to do, because in five minutes it would be quarter after seven — when the front doorbell rang. “That’s somebody from the office,” he said to himself, and his body became rigid, while his little legs danced in the air even faster. For a moment everything was quiet. “They won’t open the door,” Gregor told himself, with a surge of irrational hope. But then, as usual, the maid walked to the door with her firm step and opened it. Gregor needed only to hear the first words of greeting from the visitor to know who it was — the office manager himself. Why on earth was Gregor condemned to work for a company where the slightest sign of negligence was seized upon with the gravest suspicion? Were the employees, without exception, all scoundrels? Was no one among them a loyal and dedicated man, who, if he did happen to miss a few hours of work one morning, might drive himself so crazy with remorse that he couldn’t get out of bed? Wouldn’t it have been enough to send an apprentice to inquire — if inquiries were really necessary — did the manager himself have to come, and make it clear to the whole innocent family that any investigation into this suspicious matter could only be entrusted to a manager? And responding to these irritating thoughts more than to any conscious decision, Gregor swung himself out of bed with all his strength. There was a loud thud, but not really a crash. The carpet softened his fall, and his back was more resilient than Gregor had thought, so the resulting thud wasn’t so noticeable. Only he hadn’t held his head carefully enough and had banged it; he twisted it and rubbed it against the carpet in pain and annoyance.
“里面有东西掉下来了。”左边隔壁房间里的经理说道。格里高尔试着想象,今天发生在他身上的事情,有一天是否会发生在办公室经理身上;人们真的不得不承认这种可能性。但是,仿佛在粗鲁地回答,经理在隔壁房间里果断地迈了几步,他的漆皮靴子发出吱吱声。右边的隔壁房间里,格里高尔的妹妹低声警告他:“格里高尔,办公室经理来了。”“我知道。”格里高尔自言自语道;但他不敢提高声音,以免妹妹听见。
“Something fell in there,” said the manager in the adjoining room on the left. Gregor tried to imagine whether something similar to what had happened to him today might happen one day to the office manager; one really had to admit this possibility. But, as if in brusque reply, the manager took a few decisive steps in the next room, which made his patent leather boots creak. And in the adjoining room to the right, Gregor’s sister whispered, as if warning him, “Gregor, the office manager is here.” “I know,” said Gregor to himself; but he didn’t dare to raise his voice high enough so that his sister could hear.
“格里高尔,”父亲在左边的房间里说道,“办公室经理来过,他想知道你为什么没赶上早班火车。我们不知道该怎么告诉他。此外,他想亲自和你谈谈。所以,请开门。他一定会好心地原谅你房间里的混乱。” “早上好,萨姆沙先生,”经理用友好的声音喊道。 “他身体不舒服,”母亲对经理说,而父亲则继续在门外说话。“他身体不舒服,相信我,先生。否则格里高尔怎么会错过火车!那孩子脑子里除了生意什么都没有。我几乎很难过,因为他晚上从不出门;过去一周他一直在城里,但他每天晚上都呆在家里。他只是和我们一起坐在桌边,静静地看报纸或研究火车时刻表。他唯一的消遣就是玩钢丝锯。比如,在过去的两三个晚上,他做了一个小相框;你会惊讶地发现它有多漂亮;它挂在他的房间里;格里高尔一开门你就会看见它。先生,我真的很高兴你来了,我们没能说服格里高尔开门;他太固执了;他肯定感觉不舒服,虽然他今天早上否认了。”“我马上就来,”格里高尔慢慢地、故意地说,但他没有动,以免错过谈话中的任何一个字。“亲爱的女士,我也想不出其他的解释,”办公室经理说。“我们只希望这不是什么严重的事。不过,另一方面,我必须说,我们商人——幸运或不幸——往往很容易忽略一点小病,以便继续做生意。”“那么,办公室经理现在能进来吗?”父亲不耐烦地问道,又敲了敲门。“不,”格里高尔说。左边的房间里,一片尴尬的沉默;右边的房间里,他的妹妹开始抽泣。
“Gregor,” said his father from the room to his left, “the office manager has come and wants to know why you didn’t catch the early train. We don’t know what to tell him. Besides, he wants to talk to you in person. So, please, open the door. Surely he will be kind enough to excuse the disorder in your room.” “Good morning, Mr. Samsa,” the manager was calling in a friendly tone. “He’s not well,” said his mother to the manager, while his father continued talking through the door. “He’s not well, believe me, sir. Why else would Gregor miss a train! That boy doesn’t have anything in his head but business. I’m almost upset, as it is, that he never goes out at night; he’s been in town for the past week, but he’s stayed home every evening. He just sits here with us at the table, quietly reading the newspaper or studying the railroad timetables. His only recreation is when he occupies himself with his fretsaw. For instance, during the past two or three evenings, he’s made a small picture frame; you’d be surprised how pretty it is; it’s hanging in his room; you’ll see it as soon as Gregor opens up. I’m really glad you’ve come, sir, we haven’t been able to persuade Gregor to open the door; he’s so obstinate; and he must definitely be feeling unwell, although he denied it earlier this morning.” “I’ll be right there,” said Gregor slowly and deliberately, but he didn’t move, so as not to miss a word of the conversation. “Dear madam, I can think of no other explanation, either,” said the office manager. “Let us only hope it’s nothing serious. Though, on the other hand, I must say, that we business people — fortunately or unfortunately — often very simply must overlook a slight indisposition in order to get on with business.” “Well, can the office manager come in now?” asked his father impatiently and knocked again on the door. “No,” said Gregor. In the room to the left, there was an embarrassed silence; in the room to the right, his sister began sobbing.
她为什么不和其他人一起去呢?也许她刚起床,还没有穿衣服。她为什么哭呢?是因为他没有起床让办公室经理进来,是因为他有丢掉工作的危险,是因为他老板会再次缠着他父母偿还旧债?但目前这些肯定都是不必要的担心。格里高尔还在这里,绝不会考虑抛弃这个家庭。的确,此时此刻他正躺在地毯上,任何看到他的情况的人都不会真的指望他会给办公室经理开门。但格里高尔很难因为这种小小的无礼而被解雇,他以后很容易找到一个合理的借口。格里高尔觉得,现在让他安静一下,而不是用眼泪和长篇大论来缠着他会更明智。但正是对他的这种不确定让其他人感到不安,并为他们的行为找借口。
Why hadn’t she joined the others? Probably she had just gotten out of bed and hadn’t yet begun dressing. And why was she crying? Because he hadn’t gotten up and let the office manager in, because he was in danger of losing his job, and because his boss would pester his parents again about their old debts? But surely for the moment these were unnecessary worries. Gregor was still here and would never consider abandoning the family. True, at this very moment he was lying on the carpet, and no one who could have seen his condition, could seriously expect him to open his door for the office manager. But Gregor could hardly be fired for this small discourtesy, for which he could easily find a plausible excuse later on. And it seemed to Gregor, that it would be much more sensible, just to leave him in peace for now, instead of pestering him with tears and speeches. But it was just this uncertainty about him that upset the others and excused their behavior.
“萨姆沙先生,”办公室经理提高了声音说道,“您怎么了?您把自己关在房间里,只回答“是”和“不是”,这给您的父母带来了严重而不必要的担忧,而且——我只是顺便提一下——现在您突然以一种绝对令人震惊的方式忽视了您对公司的职责。我在这里代表您的父母和雇主发言,我必须要求您立即给出一个令人满意的解释。我很惊讶,很惊讶!我以为您是一个安静、明智的人,现在您似乎突然打算表现出一种绝对奇怪的行为。今天早上,公司负责人确实向我提出了您缺席的可能原因——这与您最近收到的销售现金付款有关——但我几乎向他保证这不可能是真的。但现在我亲眼目睹了你令人难以置信的固执,我丝毫不想以任何方式为您辩护。而且你的工作也绝不稳固。我原本打算私下告诉你这件事,但既然你强迫我在这里浪费时间,我想没理由不让你父母知道。一段时间以来,你的销售情况一直不尽如人意;诚然,现在不是做生意的最佳季节,我们承认这一点,但根本不存在不做生意的季节,萨姆沙先生,一定不存在。 ”
“Mr. Samsa,” the office manager now called out, raising his voice, “what is the matter with you? You are barricading yourself in your room, answering with only Yes and No, causing your parents serious and needless worries, and — I mention this only in passing — now suddenly you neglect your duties to the firm in an absolutely shocking manner. I’m speaking here in the name of your parents and your employer, and I must ask you to give an immediate and satisfactory explanation. I’m amazed, amazed! I took you for a quiet, sensible person, and now suddenly you seem intent on behaving in an absolutely strange manner. Early this morning, the head of the firm did suggest to me a possible explanation for your absence — it concerned the cash payment for sales that you received recently — but I practically gave him my word of honor that this couldn’t be true. But now that I’m witness to your unbelievable obstinacy here, I haven’t the slightest desire to defend you in any way whatsoever. And your job is by no means secure. I’d originally intended to confide this to you privately, but since you force me to waste my time here needlessly, I see no reason why your parents shouldn’t hear it as well. For some time your sales have been quite unsatisfactory; to be sure, it’s not the best season for business, we recognize that, but a season for doing no business at all just doesn’t exist, Mr. Samsa, it must not exist.”
“但是,先生,”格里高尔激动得忘乎所以,大声喊道,“我马上就开门,现在就开门。我有点不舒服,头晕目眩,起不来。我还躺在床上。但是我感觉已经完全好了。我正要下床。请您耐心等待一会儿。情况没有我想象的那么好。但我真的没事。一个人怎么会突然遇到这种事!就在昨晚我还感觉很好,我父母知道这一点,或者说昨晚我就已经有点预感了。这肯定很明显。我为什么不告诉办公室的人!但您总是认为不用待在家里就能康复。先生,请您放过我的父母吧!因为您刚才的所有指控都是毫无根据的;从来没有人跟我说过一句话。也许您还没有看到我最后发来的订单。无论如何,我仍然可以赶上八点钟的火车;最近几个小时的休息让我感觉好多了。先生,别再在这里耽搁了;我很快就会回来上班,请您向办公室汇报,并在公司负责人面前为我说几句好话。”
“But, sir,” Gregor called out, beside himself and forgetting everything in his agitation, “I’ll open the door immediately, this very minute. A slight indisposition, a dizzy spell, kept me from getting up. I’m still lying in bed. But I feel completely well again. I’m just climbing out of bed. Please be patient for a moment. It’s not going quite so well as I thought. But I’m really all right. How suddenly a thing like this can happen to a person! Just last night I felt fine, my parents know that, or rather last night I already had a slight foreboding. It must have been noticeable. Why didn’t I let them know at the office! But you always think that you can recover from an illness without having to stay at home. Please, sir, please spare my parents! Because there are no grounds for all the accusations you just made; no one has ever said a word to me about them. Perhaps you haven’t seen the last orders that I sent in. Anyway, I can still catch the eight o’clock train; the last couple hours of rest have made me feel much stronger. Don’t delay here any longer, sir; I’ll soon be back at work, and please be kind enough to report that to the office, and put in a good word for me with the head of the firm.”
就在格里高尔匆匆说出这些话的时候,他几乎意识不到自己在说什么,他轻而易举地来到了五斗橱前,也许是因为他在床上练习过,他正试图靠着五斗橱站起来。他真的想打开门,他真的想露面并和经理谈谈;他很想知道那些如此想见他的人看到他会说什么。如果他们害怕了,那么格里高尔就不再负责任了,他可以安心休息了。但是如果他们平静地对待一切,那么他也没有什么理由惊慌,他仍然可以赶上八点的火车——如果他快点的话。起初,他不断地在抛光的五斗橱的侧面滑下来几次,但最后,他用力一站,站直了身子;他不再注意下腹部的疼痛,尽管它很疼。然后他让自己靠在旁边的一张椅子的靠背上,用他的小腿紧紧抓住椅子的边缘。通过这样做,他控制住了自己,保持安静以便能听办公室经理讲话。
And while Gregor was hastily blurting all this out, hardly aware of what he was saying, he had easily reached the chest of drawers, perhaps as a result of his practice in bed, and he was trying to raise himself up against it. He actually wanted to open his door, he actually looked forward to showing himself and speaking with the manager; he was eager to find out what the others, who so wanted to see him, would say when they caught sight of him. If they were frightened, then Gregor was no longer responsible and he could rest in peace. But if they took everything calmly, then he, too, had no grounds for alarm, and could still get to the station in time for the eight o’clock train — if he hurried. At first he kept sliding a few times down the side of the polished chest, but finally, giving one last heave, he stood upright; he no longer paid attention to the pain in his lower abdomen, though it hurt a lot. Then he let himself fall against the back of a nearby chair, clinging to its edges with his little legs. By doing this, he gained control over himself, and he stayed very quiet so he could listen to the office manager.
“你们听懂了一个字吗?”经理问父母。“他不会是在愚弄我们吧?”“看在上帝的份上,”母亲已经泪流满面,“也许他病得很重,而我们在折磨他。格蕾特!格蕾特!”她接着喊道。“妈妈?”妹妹在另一边回答道——他们正在格里高尔的房间对面交流。“你必须立刻请医生。格里高尔病了。快,快跑去找医生。你没听到格里高尔刚才说话吗?”“那是动物的声音,”办公室经理说道,声音比母亲的叫喊声低得多。“安娜!安娜!”父亲拍着手,隔着走廊冲进厨房大喊。“快叫锁匠来!”两个小女孩已经在走廊里跑来跑去,裙子沙沙作响——他妹妹怎么这么快就穿好衣服了?——然后猛地打开了公寓的前门。没有关门的声音;他们肯定只是把它打开了,就像你有时在发生重大不幸的房屋中所做的那样。
“Did you understand even a single word?” the manager asked the parents. “Surely he can’t be trying to make fools of us?” “For Heaven’s sake,” cried his mother, already in tears, “perhaps he’s seriously ill, and we’re torturing him. Grete! Grete!” she then called. “Mother?” answered his sister from the other side — they were communicating across Gregor’s room. “You must get the doctor immediately. Gregor is sick. Hurry, run for the doctor. Didn’t you hear Gregor talking just now?” “That was an animal voice,” said the office manager, in a tone much lower than the mother’s shouting. “Anna! Anna!” yelled the father through the hallway into the kitchen, clapping his hands. “Get the locksmith at once!” And already the two young girls were running through the hallway with a rustling of skirts — how had his sister gotten dressed so quickly? — and tearing open the front door to the apartment. There was no sound of the door closing; they must have just left it open, as you sometimes do in homes where a great misfortune had occurred.
但格里高尔已经平静下来了。显然没有人再理解他的话,尽管他自己已经听得很清楚,甚至比以前更清楚了;也许他的耳朵已经适应了声音。但至少现在人们知道他出了问题,并准备帮助他。他父母最初的命令是如此自信和迅速,他已经感到安慰了。他再次被拉回到人类的圈子里,他期待医生和锁匠都能带来奇迹般的结果,而没有准确地区分他们。为了使他的声音在未来的对话中尽可能清晰,他咳嗽了一声,但声音尽可能小,因为这可能听起来不像人类的咳嗽,他不再相信自己的判断。与此同时,隔壁房间里一片寂静。也许他的父母坐在桌边和办公室经理低声说话;也许他们都靠在他的门上听着。
But Gregor had grown calmer. Apparently no one understood his words any longer, though they were sufficiently clear to himself, even clearer than before; perhaps his ears were getting adjusted to the sound. But at least people knew now that something was wrong with him and were ready to help him. His parents’ first orders had been given with such confidence and dispatch that he already felt comforted. Once more he’d been drawn back into the circle of humanity, and he expected miraculous results from both the doctor and the locksmith, without distinguishing precisely between them. In order to make his voice as clear as possible for the conversations he anticipated in the future, he coughed a little, but as quietly as he could, because it might not sound like a human cough, and he could no longer trust his judgment. Meanwhile, it had become completely quiet in the next room. Perhaps his parents sat at the table whispering with the office manager; perhaps they were all leaning against his door and listening.
格里高尔扶着椅子,慢慢地走到门口,然后他松开椅子,靠在门上,直起身子——他的小脚掌分泌出一种粘稠的物质——他努力了一会儿,然后试图用嘴巴转动锁里的钥匙。不幸的是,他似乎没有真正的牙齿——那么他怎么握住钥匙呢?——不过,为了弥补这一点,他的下巴确实非常有力;在它们的帮助下,他成功地转动了钥匙,不顾他无疑以某种方式伤害了自己,因为一股棕色的液体从他的嘴里流出来,渗过锁,滴落在地板上。“听听那个,”隔壁的办公室经理说,“他在转动钥匙。”格里高尔感到非常鼓舞;但他觉得他们所有人,包括妈妈和爸爸,都应该为他加油。“坚持下去,格里高尔,”他们应该喊道,“继续努力,继续打开那把锁!”他想象着每个人都在热切地看着他努力,于是用尽全身的力气咬住钥匙。当钥匙开始转动时,他绕着锁跳来跳去;他只用嘴巴抓住钥匙,用全身的重量要么向上推钥匙,要么向下压钥匙。锁终于啪的一声打开了,这打断了格里高尔的注意力。他松了一口气,对自己说:“我终于不需要锁匠了。”然后他把头靠在把手上,门就开了。
Gregor pushed himself along slowly to the door holding onto the chair, then he let go of it and fell against the door, holding himself upright — the balls of his little feet secreted a sticky substance — and rested there a moment from his efforts. Then he attempted to use his mouth to turn the key in the lock. It seemed, unfortunately, that he had no real teeth — then how was he to hold onto the key? — but to compensate for that, his jaws were certainly very powerful; with their help, he succeeded in getting the key to turn, ignoring the fact that he was undoubtedly somehow injuring himself, since a brown fluid was streaming out of his mouth, oozing over the lock and dripping onto the floor. “Listen to that,” said the office manager in the next room, “he’s turning the key.” Gregor felt greatly encouraged; but he felt that all of them, mother and father too, should have been cheering him on. “Keep it up, Gregor,” they should have shouted, “Keep going, keep working on that lock!” And imagining that everyone was eagerly following his efforts, he bit down on the key with all the strength he had in his jaws. As the key began to turn, he danced around the lock; hanging on with only his mouth, he used the full weight of his body to either push up on the key or press down on it. The clear click of the lock as it finally snapped open, broke Gregor’s concentration. With a sigh of relief, he said to himself, “I didn’t need the locksmith after all,” and he laid his head down on the handle so the door could open wide.
因为他必须这样开门,所以门可以开得相当宽,而他本人还看不见。接下来,他必须慢慢地绕过双开门的一半,小心翼翼地移动,以免在跨过门槛时摔倒。他专心致志地做着这个困难的动作,没有想别的,这时他听到经理大叫一声“哦”——听起来像风在咆哮——然后他也看见了他,站在离门最近的地方,用手捂住张开的嘴,慢慢地踉踉跄跄地往后退,仿佛被某种看不见的、强大的力量驱使着。他的母亲——尽管经理在场,但她站在房间里,头发凌乱,从前一天晚上开始就四处乱蓬蓬的——先是双手紧握着看着他的父亲;然后她朝格里高尔走了两步,倒在地上,裙子在她身边飘扬,脸藏在胸前。父亲攥紧拳头,凶神恶煞,仿佛要把格里高尔打回房间;然后,他茫然地环顾着客厅,用手捂住眼睛,放声大哭,胸膛剧烈起伏。
Since he had to open the door in this manner, it could open out fairly widely while he himself wasn’t yet visible. Next he had to turn his body slowly around one half of the double door, moving very carefully so he wouldn’t fall flat on his back while crossing over the threshold. He was concentrating on this difficult maneuver, not thinking of anything else, when he heard the manager exclaim a loud “Oh” — it sounded like the wind howling — and then he could see him too, standing closest to the door, pressing his hand against his open mouth and slowly staggering back, as if driven by some invisible and intensely powerful force. His mother — despite the presence of the manager, she was standing in the room with untidy hair sticking out in all directions from the night before — first looked toward his father with her hands clasped; then she took two steps toward Gregor and collapsed on the floor, her skirts billowing out around her and her face hidden on her breast. His father clenched his fist with a menacing air, as if he wanted to knock Gregor back into his room; then he looked uncertainly around the living room, covered his eyes with his hands, and sobbed so hard that his powerful chest heaved.
现在,格里高尔决定还是不进屋了,他靠在双开门那扇紧锁的侧门上,只露出半个身子,歪着头看着另一半。这时,天色已经明亮了许多,街对面一栋长长的深灰色建筑的一部分清晰可见——这是一所医院——它的正面被整齐排列的窗户打破了。天还在下雨,但大颗大颗的雨滴落下,一滴一滴地落在地上。桌上摆满了早餐盘,父亲认为早餐是一天中最重要的一餐。他一连几个小时都在吃早餐,读着各种报纸。对面墙上挂着一张格里高尔服兵役时的照片,他穿着中尉制服,手放在剑上,脸上挂着无忧无虑的微笑,要求人们尊重他的举止和军衔。入口大厅的门是开着的,公寓的门也开着,所以你可以看到平台和下降楼梯的顶部。
Now Gregor decided not to enter the room after all; instead he leaned against his side of the firmly bolted wing of the double door, so that only half of his body was visible, his head tilting above it while he peered at the others. Meanwhile, it had become much brighter; across the street a section of an endlessly long, dark gray building was clearly visible — it was a hospital — with its facade starkly broken by regularly placed windows; it was still raining, but now large individual drops were falling, striking the ground one at a time. On the table, the breakfast dishes were set out in a lavish display, since his father considered breakfast the most important meal of the day; he lingered over it for hours, reading various newspapers. Directly on the opposite wall hung a photograph of Gregor, taken during his military service, wearing a lieutenant’s uniform, his hand on his sword, with a carefree smile, demanding respect for his bearing and his rank. The door to the entrance hall was open, and since the apartment door also stood open, you could see out to the landing and the top of the descending stairs.
“好了,现在,”格里高尔说,他很清楚自己是唯一一个保持冷静的人。“我马上穿好衣服,打包好样品,然后上路。你们能让我去赶火车吗?现在您知道了,先生,我并不固执,而且我很乐意工作;旅行是一项艰苦的工作,但我不能没有它。先生,您要去哪里?回办公室?是吗?您会如实交代一切吗?一个人可能暂时看起来无法工作,但这正是回忆他过去的成就并考虑以后在克服障碍之后一定会更加努力、更加勤奋地工作的时刻。您很清楚,我对公司的负责人负有深厚的责任。然后我必须照顾我的父母和妹妹。我处境艰难,但我会再次摆脱困境。请不要让我的情况比现在更难了。我恳求您在办公室里帮我说几句好话。我知道,那里的旅行推销员不受重视。他们认为我们赚很多钱,过着轻松的生活。他们没有特别的理由不这么认为。但是,先生,您比办公室里的其他人更清楚事情的真相,为什么——我们私下说说——您甚至比公司负责人更清楚,作为我们的雇主,他的判断力会受到员工的左右。您很清楚,一个一年中大部分时间都不在办公室的旅行推销员很容易成为流言蜚语、巧合和毫无根据的抱怨的受害者,他不可能为自己辩护,因为他几乎从来没有听说过这些事情,除非他旅行回来后筋疲力尽,然后他自己在没有理解原因的情况下遭受了可怕的后果。先生,请不要在离开之前告诉我,您认为我至少有一部分是对的!”
“Well, now,” said Gregor, and he was quite aware that he was the only one who had remained calm. “I’ll get dressed at once, pack my samples, and be on my way. Will you, will you all let me go catch my train? Now you see, sir, I’m not obstinate, and I’m glad to work; traveling is a hard job, but I couldn’t live without it. Where are you going, sir? Back to the office? Yes? Will you give a true account of everything? A man may temporarily seem incapable of working, but that is precisely the moment to remember his past accomplishments and to consider that later on, after overcoming his obstacles, he’s sure to work all the harder and more diligently. As you know very well, I’m deeply obligated to the head of the firm. And then I have to take care of my parents and my sister. I’m in a tight spot, but I’ll work myself out of it again. Please don’t make it harder for me than it already is. I beg you to put in a good word for me at the office. Traveling salesmen aren’t regarded highly there, I know. They think we make lots of money and lead easy lives. They have no particular reason to think differently. But you, sir, you have a better idea of what’s really going on than the rest of the office, why — speaking just between ourselves — you have an even better idea than the head of the firm himself, who, in his role as our employer, lets his judgment be swayed against his employees. You know very well that a traveling salesman, who’s out of the office most of the year, can easily become a victim of gossip, coincidences, and unfounded complaints, against which he can’t possibly defend himself, since he almost never hears about them, except perhaps after he returns exhausted from a trip, and then he himself personally suffers the grim consequences without understanding the reasons for them. Sir, please don’t leave without having told me that you think I’m at least partly right!”
但格里高尔刚说完一句话,办公室经理就转过身去,张着嘴,只是透过抽搐的肩膀盯着他。格里高尔讲话时,他一刻也没有停下来,而是——眼睛一直盯着格里高尔——慢慢地向门口走去,仿佛有一条秘密禁令禁止他离开房间。他已经到了前厅,从他突然从客厅里抽出腿的方式来看,你也许会以为他刚刚脚底被烫伤了。然而,在走廊里,他尽可能地向楼梯伸出右手,仿佛那里有某种超自然的解脱在等着他。
But at Gregor’s very first words the office manager had already turned away, and now with open mouth, he simply stared back at him over a twitching shoulder. And during Gregor’s speech, he never stood still for a moment, but — without taking his eyes off Gregor — he kept moving very gradually toward the door, as if there were a secret ban on leaving the room. He was already in the front hall, and from the abrupt way that he pulled his leg out of the living room, you might have thought that he had just scorched the sole of his foot. In the hall, however, he stretched out his right hand as far as he could toward the stairs, as if some supernatural deliverance were awaiting him there.
格里高尔意识到,他不能让办公室经理在这种心情下离开,否则他在公司的地位将受到严重损害。他的父母并不完全理解这种情况;多年来,他们一直坚信格里高尔注定要在这家公司一辈子呆下去,而且,他们现在太专注于眼前的烦恼,以至于对未来毫无头绪。但格里高尔更有远见。必须阻止办公室经理,让他冷静下来,说服他,并最终说服他;格里高尔的未来和他家人的未来都取决于此!要是他姐姐在就好了!她理解,当格里高尔还安静地躺在地上时,她甚至开始哭泣。办公室经理是个讨女人欢心的人,她肯定会听她的;她会关上前门,在走廊里劝说他不要害怕。但她不在;格里高尔必须自己处理这种情况。他忘记了自己还不熟悉自己现在的行动能力,也忘记了很可能,也许他的话又一次没有被人听懂,他松开了门翼,从门缝里钻了出去,想向办公室经理走去。经理已经在楼梯平台上,愚蠢地用双手抓住栏杆;可是格里高尔摸索着想站稳,却跌倒在地,小叫一声,摔倒在了他的许多小腿上。这一瞬间,他今天早上第一次感觉到身体健康;他的小腿踩在坚实的地面上;他很高兴地发现,他的小腿完全听话;它们甚至似乎很愿意把他带到他想去的任何方向;现在他确信,他所有的痛苦都快要结束了。但就在那一刻,他躺在地上,身体强忍着不住颤抖,离母亲不远,正对着她,她——一直看起来完全沉浸在自我之中——突然跳了起来,伸出双臂,张开手指,大喊“救命,看在上帝的份上,救命!”她伸长了头,好像想更仔细地看看格里高尔,但接着,她反而后退了;她忘记了身后摆满早餐盘子的桌子,匆匆坐下,好像心不在焉,然后没有注意到身边,咖啡正从翻倒的大壶里源源不断地涌出,洒在地毯上。
Gregor realized that he must not let the office manager leave in this frame of mind, or his position in the firm would be seriously compromised. His parents didn’t quite understand the situation; over the years they’d convinced themselves that Gregor was set up for life in this firm, and besides, they were now so preoccupied by their immediate worries that they’d lost any sense of the future. But Gregor had more foresight. The office manager must be stopped, calmed down, persuaded, and finally won over; Gregor’s future and that of his family depended on it! If only his sister had been here! She had understood, she had even started to cry when Gregor was still lying quietly on his back. And the office manager, a ladies’ man, would certainly have listened to her; she would have shut the front door and talked him out of his fright in the hall. But she wasn’t there; Gregor would have to handle the situation by himself. And forgetting that he was still completely unfamiliar with his present powers of movement, and also that very possibly, indeed probably once again his words hadn’t been understood, he let go of the wing of the door, shoved himself through the opening, and tried to move toward the office manager, who was already on the landing, foolishly clutching the banister with both hands; but instead, groping for support, Gregor fell down with a small cry upon his many little legs. The instant that happened he felt a sense of physical well-being for the first time that morning; his little legs had solid ground under them; he was delighted to discover that they obeyed him perfectly; they even seemed eager to carry him off in whatever direction he chose; and now he felt sure that the end to all his suffering was at hand. But at that same moment, as he lay on the floor rocking with suppressed motion, not far away from his mother, directly opposite her, she — who had seemed so completely self-absorbed — suddenly jumped up, stretched out her arms, spread her fingers out wide, crying “Help, for Heaven’s sake, help!” She craned her head forward, as if she wanted to get a better look at Gregor, but then inconsistently, she backed away instead; forgetting that the table laden with breakfast dishes was right behind her, she sat down on it hastily, as if distracted, and then failed to notice that next to her, the coffee was pouring out of the big, overturned pot in a steady stream onto the carpet.
“妈妈,妈妈,”格里高尔轻声叫道,抬头看着她。一时间,他完全忘记了办公室经理的事,但看到流淌出来的咖啡,他不禁咬紧牙关。这让他母亲再次尖叫起来,她从桌子旁逃开,扑进了冲向她的父亲的怀里。但是格里高尔现在无暇顾及他的父母,办公室经理已经站在楼梯上,下巴靠在楼梯扶手上,回头看了最后一眼。格里高尔跳上前,尽可能快地抓住他,办公室经理一定预料到了这一点,因为他跳下几级台阶,消失了,但他仍在大喊“啊啊!”,整个楼梯上回荡着大喊声。不幸的是,经理的逃跑似乎让格里高尔的父亲感到困惑,他直到现在都保持着相对冷静;因为父亲并没有亲自去追办公室经理,或者至少没有阻止格里高尔去追他,而是用右手抓住经理的手杖——手杖和经理的帽子、大衣一起放在椅子上——用左手从桌上拿起一份厚报纸,跺着脚,开始挥舞手杖和报纸,把格里高尔赶回他的房间。格里高尔的恳求毫无用处;事实上,他没有听懂他的恳求;无论他多么谦卑地低下头,父亲只是更用力地跺脚。在房间的另一边,母亲不顾寒冷,打开了一扇窗户,她把头探出窗外,双手捂住脸。街道和楼梯之间形成一股强烈的气流,窗帘被吹得鼓鼓的,报纸在桌上沙沙作响,几页报纸飞到了地上。父亲毫不留情地冲了上去,像个野蛮人一样发出嘶嘶声。由于格里高尔还没有练习过向后移动,所以他移动得非常慢。如果格里高尔能转过身来,他就会立刻回到自己的房间,但他又害怕自己缓慢的旋转会让父亲不耐烦,而父亲手中的拐杖随时都有可能致命地击中他的后背或头部。然而,格里高尔终于别无选择,因为他沮丧地意识到,在向后移动时,他无法控制自己的方向;于是,他一边不断地、恐惧地看着父亲,一边开始尽可能快地转身,但实际上他转得很慢。也许父亲感觉到了格里高尔的良好意图,所以他没有干预——有时他甚至用拐杖的尖端从远处控制动作。要是父亲能停止那令人难以忍受的嘶嘶声就好了!这让格里高尔完全失去了理智。他几乎完全转过身来,但被嘶嘶声分散了注意力,犯了一个错误,短暂地向后移动了错误的方向。但当他终于成功地把头转向门口时,他发现他的身体太宽了,挤不过去。当然,父亲现在的心情,根本没想过打开双开门的另一侧,给格里高尔开辟一条足够宽的通道。他一心想着格里高尔必须尽快回到自己的房间。他绝不会允许格里高尔采取那种复杂的动作,以便直起身子,试着从这个角度穿过门。相反,他像毫无障碍一样,把格里高尔往前推,弄出了很大的响声;格里高尔身后的声音听起来不再像是一个父亲的声音;现在情况真的变得严重了,格里高尔——不管发生什么——都挤在了门口。他身体的一侧被抬起来,歪歪扭扭地躺在门口,一侧身体被擦伤了,白色的门上出现了难看的斑点,很快他就被紧紧地卡在里面,无法再独自移动了;他的小腿一边在空中颤抖,一边痛苦地压在地板上——当他父亲从后面用力推他时,他才真正得到解脱,他飞到房间里很远的地方,血流如注。门被藤条砰地关上,最后一片寂静。
“Mother, mother,” Gregor said softly and looked up at her. For a moment, the office manager had completely slipped from his mind; on the other hand, at the sight of the flowing coffee, he couldn’t help snapping his jaws a few times. That made his mother scream again; she fled from the table and collapsed into his father’s arms as he was rushing towards her. But Gregor had no time now for his parents; the office manager was already on the stairs; his chin on the banister, he was taking a final look back. Gregor leaped forward, moving as fast as he could to catch him; the office manager must have anticipated this, for he jumped down several steps and vanished; but he was still yelling “Aaah!” and the sound echoed through the entire staircase. Unfortunately, the manager’s flight seemed to confuse Gregor’s father, who had remained relatively calm until now; for instead of running after the office manager himself, or at least not preventing Gregor from going after him, his father seized with his right hand the manager’s cane — it had been left behind on a chair along with his hat and overcoat — and with his left hand, he picked up a large newspaper from the table, and stamping his feet, he began to brandish the cane and the newspaper to drive Gregor back to his room. No plea of Gregor’s helped; indeed, no plea was understood; no matter how humbly he bent his head, his father only stamped his feet harder. Across the room, his mother had flung open a window despite the cold weather, and she was leaning far out of it with her face buried in her hands. A strong draft was created between the street and the staircase, so that the window curtains billowed up, the newspapers rustled on the table, and a few pages flew across the floor. Relentlessly, his father charged, making hissing noises like a savage. Since Gregor had as yet no practice in moving backwards, it was really slow going. If Gregor had only been able to turn around, he would have returned to his room right away, but he was afraid of making his father impatient by his slow rotation, while at any moment now the cane in his father’s hand threatened a deadly blow to his back or his head. Finally, however, Gregor had no other choice when he realized with dismay that while moving backwards he had no control over his direction; and so with constant, fearful glances at his father, he began to turn himself around as quickly as he could, which was in reality very slowly. Perhaps his father sensed Gregor’s good intentions, since he didn’t interfere — occasionally he even steered the movement from a distance with the tip of the cane. If only his father would stop that unbearable hissing! It made Gregor lose his head completely. He had almost turned totally around, when distracted by the hissing, he made a mistake and briefly shifted the wrong way back again. But when at last he successfully brought his head around to the doorway, he discovered that his body was too wide to squeeze through. Naturally, in his father’s present mood it didn’t occur to him to open the other wing of the double door and create a passage wide enough for Gregor. He was simply obsessed with the idea that Gregor must return to his room as fast as possible. And he would never have allowed the intricate maneuvers that Gregor needed, in order to pull himself upright and try to fit through the door this way. Instead, as if there were no obstacles, he drove Gregor forward, making a lot of noise; the noise behind Gregor didn’t sound any longer like the voice of a single father; now this was really getting serious, and Gregor — regardless of what would happen — jammed into the doorway. One side of his body lifted up, he lay lopsided in the opening, one of his sides was scraped raw, ugly blotches appeared on the white door, soon he was wedged in tightly and unable to move any further by himself; on one side his little legs were trembling in midair, while on the other side they were painfully crushed against the floor — when his father gave him a strong shove from behind that was truly his deliverance, so that he flew far into his room, bleeding profusely. The door was slammed shut with the cane, and at last there was silence.
直到黄昏,格里高尔才从沉沉的睡梦中醒来。即使没有人打扰,他肯定也会自己醒来,因为他觉得自己已经休息和睡得够久了,但他觉得一阵鬼鬼祟祟的脚步声和小心翼翼关门的声音把他吵醒了。电灯的灯光在天花板和家具的上部反射出一片片苍白的光斑,但格里高尔躺着的下面一片漆黑。他慢慢地拖着身子,笨拙地摸索着触角——他才开始意识到这一点——走到门口,想看看那里发生了什么事。他的左边感觉像一个长长的、令人不快的绷紧的痂,他不得不用两排腿一瘸一拐地走路。而且,他的一条小腿在早上的事件中受了重伤——只有一条腿受伤几乎是个奇迹——它无力地拖着走。
Not until dusk did Gregor awaken from his heavy, torpid sleep. He would certainly have awakened by himself before long, even without being disturbed, for he felt that he had rested and slept long enough, but it seemed to him that a furtive step and a cautious closing of the hall door had aroused him. The light of the electric street lamps were reflected in pale patches here and there on the ceiling and on the upper parts of the furniture, but down below where Gregor lay, it was dark. Slowly, still groping awkwardly with his antennae, which he was just beginning to appreciate, he dragged himself toward the door to see what had been going on there. His left side felt like a single long, unpleasantly tightening scab, and he actually had to limp on his two rows of legs. One little leg, moreover, had been badly hurt during the morning’s events — it seemed almost a miracle that only one had been injured — and it dragged along lifelessly.
直到他走到门口,他才发现真正吸引他的是什么东西:是某种食物的香味。因为门口放着一碗鲜牛奶,碗里漂浮着小片白面包。他几乎高兴得笑了,因为他现在比早上更饿了,他立刻把头埋在牛奶里,几乎没过眼睛。但他很快又失望地把头拔了出来;不仅因为他左侧身体疼痛,进食很困难——而且他只有整个身体都跟着吃才能吃——而且他一点也不喜欢牛奶,这曾经是他最喜欢的饮料,肯定也是他姐姐把牛奶放在那里的原因;事实上,他几乎厌恶地转过身去,爬回房间中间。
Only when he reached the door did he discover what had really attracted him: it was the smell of something edible. For there stood a bowl filled with fresh milk in which floated small slices of white bread. He practically laughed with joy, since he was even hungrier now than in the morning, and he immediately plunged his head into the milk almost over his eyes. But he soon pulled it out again in disappointment; not only did he find eating difficult on account of his tender left side — and he could only eat if his whole heaving body joined in — but he also didn’t care at all for the milk, which used to be his favorite drink, and that was surely why his sister had placed it there for him; in fact, he turned away from the bowl almost with disgust and crawled back into the middle of the room.
透过双开门的缝隙,格里高尔可以看到客厅里点着煤气灯的地方,但这段时间里,他父亲通常习惯大声地向母亲朗读下午的报纸,有时也向妹妹朗读,但现在却没有一点声音。也许他妹妹经常告诉他、在信中经常提到的大声朗读的习惯最近已经完全消失了。但其他房间也一片寂静,尽管公寓里肯定不是空的。“我们一家人过着多么平静的生活啊,”格里高尔自言自语道,当他坐在那里盯着黑暗时,他感到非常自豪,因为他能在如此美丽的公寓里为父母和妹妹提供这样的生活。但是,如果所有的平静、所有的舒适、所有的满足现在都以可怕的结局结束呢?格里高尔不想沉浸在这种想法中,而是决定开始移动,在房间里爬来爬去。
Through the crack in the double door, Gregor could look into the living room where the gas was lit, but while during this time his father was usually in the habit of reading the afternoon newspaper in a loud voice to his mother and sometimes to his sister as well, there wasn’t a sound at present. Well, perhaps this practice of reading aloud that his sister was always telling him about and often mentioned in her letters, had recently been dropped altogether. But it was silent in all the other rooms too, though the apartment was certainly not empty. “What a quiet life the family’s been leading,” Gregor said to himself, and while he sat there staring into the darkness, he felt a great sense of pride that he had been able to provide such a life in so beautiful an apartment for his parents and sister. But what if all the peace, all the comfort, all the contentment were now to come to a terrible end? Rather than lose himself in such thoughts, Gregor decided to start moving and crawled up and down the room.
漫长的夜晚,有一次,一扇侧门被打开了一条小缝,然后另一扇又迅速关上了;也许有人觉得有必要进来,但后来又决定不进来。格里高尔现在坐在客厅门前,决心劝说犹豫不决的客人进来,或者至少看看他是谁;但门没有再打开,格里高尔徒劳地等待着。那天早上,当门被锁上时,他们都想进去见他;现在,在他自己打开了一扇门之后,其他的门显然在白天就被打开了,没有人进来,钥匙甚至被插在门另一边的锁里。
Once during the long evening, first one of the side doors and then the other was opened a tiny crack and quickly closed again; probably someone had felt the need to come in and then decided against it. Gregor now settled himself directly in front of the living room door, determined to persuade the hesitating visitor to come in or else at least to discover who it might be; but the door wasn’t opened again, and Gregor waited in vain. That morning, when the doors had been locked, they all had wanted to come in to see him; now after he had opened one of the doors himself and the others had obviously been unlocked during the day, no one came in, and the keys were even put into the locks on the other side of the doors.
直到深夜,客厅的灯才熄灭,格里高尔可以清楚地看出他的父母和妹妹一直没睡觉,因为他可以清楚地听到他们三个人踮着脚走开了。当然,现在直到早上都不会有人进格里高尔的房间了;所以他有充足的时间静静地思考如何重新规划自己的生活。但是,他必须平躺在天花板高而宽敞的地板上,这让他心里充满了一种无法解释的焦虑,因为这是他自己的房间,他已经在这里住了五年;他半无意识地——不无羞耻感——跑到沙发下面,虽然他的背有点挤,抬不起头,但他立刻感到很舒服,只是遗憾他的身体太宽,无法完全塞进沙发下面。
It wasn’t until late at night that the light in the living room was turned off, and Gregor could easily tell that his parents and sister had stayed awake until then, because as he could clearly hear, all three of them were tiptoeing away. Certainly now no one would come into Gregor’s room until morning; so he had ample time to reflect in peace and quiet about how he should restructure his life. But the high-ceilinged, spacious room in which he had to lie flat on the floor filled him with an anxiety he couldn’t explain, since it was his own room and he had lived in it for the past five years; and with a half-unconscious movement — and not without a slight feeling of shame — he scurried under the sofa, where even though his back was slightly squeezed and he couldn’t raise his head, he immediately felt quite comfortable, regretting only that his body was too wide to fit completely under the sofa.
他在那里呆了整整一夜,要么打瞌睡,要么突然饿醒,要么心存模糊的希望,但所有这一切都让他得出了同一个结论:现在他必须保持冷静,保持耐心,尽可能地体谅别人,帮助这个家庭忍受他目前的状况必然会给他们带来的不便。
There he stayed the entire night, which he spent either dozing and waking up from hunger with a start, or else fretting with vague hopes, but it all led him to the same conclusion, that for now he would have to stay calm and, by exercising patience and trying to be as considerate as possible, help the family to endure the inconveniences he was bound to cause them in his present condition.
一大早,天色还很晚,格里高尔就有机会测试一下自己新决心的力度,因为他姐姐几乎穿好衣服,打开了门厅的门,不确定地往里张望。她一时找不到他,但当她看到他在沙发下面时——天哪,他肯定在某个地方,他不可能飞走了,对吧?——她惊呆了,控制不住自己,从外面把门关上了。但她似乎对自己的行为感到后悔,马上又打开了门,踮着脚走了进来,仿佛是在探望一个重病的人,甚至是一个完全陌生的人。格里高尔把头探到沙发边上,看着她。她会不会注意到他把牛奶放在那里,肯定不是因为他不饿,她会不会拿来他更喜欢吃的其他食物?如果她不主动做这件事,他宁愿饿死也不愿让她知道,尽管他有一种强烈的冲动,想从沙发底下冲出来,扑到她脚边,乞求一些好东西吃。但让格里高尔吃惊的是,他的妹妹立刻发现他的碗里还是满的,只是碗边洒了一点牛奶;她立刻用一块旧抹布把碗捡了起来,以确保不是用她的裸手,而是用一块旧抹布。格里高尔非常好奇,想知道她会拿什么来代替它,他对此做了各种猜测。但他永远猜不到好心的妹妹到底做了什么。为了知道他喜欢什么,她拿来了很多食物给他,并把它们摊在一张旧报纸上。有半腐烂的蔬菜,晚餐剩下的骨头,上面覆盖着凝固的白酱,几颗葡萄干和杏仁,一些格里高尔两天前认为不能吃的奶酪,一片干面包,一片涂黄油的面包,一片涂了盐的黄油面包。此外,她还放下了一只碗,现在这碗大概是格里高尔专用的了,她往里面倒了些水。出于体贴,因为她知道格里高尔在她面前是不会吃东西的,所以她很快离开了房间,甚至把钥匙插到外面的锁里,让格里高尔明白他可以随心所欲地吃东西。格里高尔的小腿转着,急忙朝食物跑去。他的伤一定已经完全好了;他不再感到任何不便,这让他很惊讶,让他想起一个多月前他的手指被刀划伤了,而这道伤直到前天还在疼。 “我是不是可以变得不那么敏感?”他想着,贪婪地吮吸着奶酪,他立刻就被它吸引住了,比其他食物都更吸引他。很快,他一个接一个地吃完了奶酪、蔬菜和白酱,眼里流下了满足的泪水;另一方面,新鲜的食物对他没有吸引力,他受不了那种味道,甚至把想吃的东西都拖到远处。他早就吃完了所有东西,正懒洋洋地躺在同一个地方,这时他姐姐慢慢地转动锁上的钥匙,示意他应该退出。这立刻吓了他一跳,尽管他几乎要打瞌睡了,他又急忙跑回沙发底下。但他需要很大的自制力才能待在那里,即使是在他姐姐在房间里的短暂时间里,因为他吃饱饭后身体肿胀,在那个狭小的空间里他几乎喘不过气来。在短暂的窒息感之间,他用有些凸出的眼睛看着他毫无戒备的妹妹用扫帚扫起他没吃的残羹剩饭,还有他没碰过的食物,好像它们也不再适合食用,然后她匆忙地把所有东西都倒进一个桶里,盖上木盖,然后把桶拿了出去。她刚转过身,格里高尔就从沙发底下出来伸懒腰,让肚子鼓起来。
Very early in the morning — it was still almost night — Gregor had the opportunity to test the strength of his new resolutions, because his sister, nearly fully dressed, opened the door from the hall and peered in uncertainly. She couldn’t locate him immediately, but when she caught sight of him under the sofa — God, he had to be somewhere, he couldn’t have flown away, could he? — she was so startled that, unable to control herself, she slammed the door shut again from the outside. But, apparently regretting her behavior, she immediately opened the door again and came in on tiptoe as if she were visiting someone seriously ill or even a complete stranger. Gregor had pushed his head forward just to the edge of the sofa and was watching her. Would she notice that he had left the milk standing, certainly not because he wasn’t hungry, and would she bring in some other kind of food he liked better? If she didn’t do it on her own, he would rather starve than bring it to her attention, though he felt a tremendous urge to dart out from under the sofa, throw himself at her feet and beg for something good to eat. But, to Gregor’s surprise, his sister noticed at once that his bowl was still full, except for a little milk that had spilled around the edges; she immediately picked it up, to be sure not with her bare hands but with an old rag, and carried it out. Gregor was wildly curious to know what she would bring in its place, and he made various guesses about it. But he could never have guessed what his sister, in the goodness of her heart, actually did. To find out what he liked, she brought him a wide selection that she spread out on an old newspaper. There were old, half-rotten vegetables, bones left over from the evening meal covered with a congealed white sauce, a few raisins and almonds, some cheese that Gregor had considered inedible two days ago, a slice of dry bread, a slice of bread and butter, and a slice of bread and butter with some salt. In addition, she set down the bowl, now presumably reserved for Gregor’s exclusive use, into which she had poured some water. And from a sense of delicacy, since she understood that Gregor was unlikely to eat in her presence, she quickly left the room and even turned the key in the lock outside so that Gregor would understand that he could indulge himself as freely as he liked. Gregor’s little legs whirled as he hurried toward the food. His injuries must have fully healed already; he no longer felt any handicap, which amazed him, and made him think that over a month ago he had nicked his finger with a knife, and that this injury had still been hurting him the day before yesterday. “Could I have become less sensitive?” he wondered, sucking greedily at the cheese, which he was drawn to immediately, more than the other foods. Quickly, one after another, with tears of contentment streaming from his eyes, he devoured the cheese, the vegetables, and the white sauce; on the other hand, the fresh food didn’t appeal to him; he couldn’t stand the smell, and he even dragged the things he wanted to eat a little distance away. He had finished with everything long ago and was just resting lazily in the same spot, when his sister slowly turned the key in the lock as a signal that he should withdraw. That startled him at once, even though he was almost dozing off, and he scuttled back under the sofa again. But it took a lot of self-control to stay there, even for the brief time that his sister was in the room, because his body was bloated after his heavy meal, and he could hardly breathe in that cramped space. In between brief bouts of near suffocation, he watched with somewhat bulging eyes as his unsuspecting sister swept up with a broom not only the scraps he hadn’t eaten, but also the foods that he hadn’t touched, as if they were also no longer fit to eat, and then she hastily dumped everything into a bucket which she covered with a wooden lid, and carried it out. She had scarcely turned her back when Gregor came out from under the sofa to stretch himself and let his belly expand.
格里高尔每天都这样吃饭,早上一次,父母和女仆还在睡觉的时候,下午第二次,全家吃完饭后,父母小睡一会儿,妹妹让女仆出去办事的时候。当然,他们也不想让格里高尔挨饿,但也许他们无法忍受只从道听途说中得知格里高尔的饮食安排;或者也许他的妹妹也希望他们不要再遭受哪怕是一点点痛苦,因为他们已经受够了。
In this way Gregor was fed each day, once in the morning while his parents and the maid were still sleeping, and the second time in the afternoon after the family’s meal, while his parents took a short nap and his sister sent the maid on some errand or other. Certainly they didn’t want Gregor to starve either, but perhaps they couldn’t stand to know about his feeding arrangements except by hearsay; or perhaps his sister also wished to spare them anything even mildly distressing, since they were already suffering enough as it was.
格里高尔不知道第一天早上他们找了什么借口来摆脱医生和锁匠,因为其他人听不懂他的话,所以没人认为他能听懂他们的话——包括他姐姐——所以每当她在他的房间里时,他只能满足于听她偶尔的叹息和向圣徒的祈求。直到后来,当她对这一切有点习惯时——当然,她不可能完全适应——格里高尔有时才会听到一句本意是友好的或可以这样理解的话。“今天他真的很喜欢它,”她说,当格里高尔狼吞虎咽地吃完饭时,或者当他吃得不多时,她会几乎悲伤地说,“现在他再也没碰过任何东西了。”这种情况越来越频繁了。
Gregor couldn’t discover what excuses had been made that first morning to get rid of the doctor and the locksmith, for since the others couldn’t understand him, no one thought that he could understand them — including his sister — and so whenever she was in his room, he had to content himself with hearing her occasional sighs and appeals to the saints. Not until later on, when she had become a little more used to it all — of course her complete adjustment was out of the question — Gregor sometimes caught a remark that was meant to be friendly or could be interpreted that way. “Today he really liked it,” she said, when Gregor had gobbled up his food, or when he hadn’t eaten much, as was gradually happening more and more frequently, she would say almost sadly, “Now he hasn’t touched anything again.”
虽然格里高尔无法直接得到消息,但他偷听到隔壁房间传来的许多消息,只要听到声音,他就会立即跑到相应的门前,用整个身体抵住门。尤其是在早期,所有的谈话都与他有关,即使只是间接的。整整两天,家人每顿饭都会讨论现在该做什么;但他们在两顿饭之间也会谈论同一个话题,因为现在家里至少有两个家庭成员,大概没人想独自呆在公寓里。然而,他们无论如何也不能让公寓空着。此外,在第一天,厨师——尚不清楚她对情况了解多少——曾跪地乞求母亲让她马上离开,而当她十五分钟后离开时,她泪流满面地感谢他们让她离开,仿佛这是他们在这所房子里给予她最大的恩惠,并且主动发誓,保证不向任何人透露所发生的事情。
But while Gregor couldn’t get any news directly, he overheard many things from the adjoining rooms, and as soon as he heard the sound of voices, he would immediately run to the corresponding door and press his entire body against it. Especially in the early days, there was no conversation that didn’t refer to him somehow, if only indirectly. For two whole days, there were family discussions at every meal about what they should do now; but they also talked about the same subject between meals, because now there were always at least two family members at home, since probably no one wanted to stay alone in the apartment. And yet, on no account could they leave it empty. Besides, on the very first day, the cook — it wasn’t entirely clear what or how much she knew of the situation — had begged his mother on bended knees to let her leave at once, and when she departed fifteen minutes later, she thanked them tearfully for her dismissal as if it were the greatest favor they had ever bestowed on her in this house, and without being asked, she swore a solemn oath, promising not to say a word about what had happened to anyone.
所以现在他的姐姐和母亲也得做饭了;当然,这并不麻烦,因为他们几乎什么都不吃。格里高尔一次又一次地听到他们互相鼓励吃饭,得到的回答总是“谢谢,我吃饱了”或类似的话。他们似乎也不喝酒。他的姐姐经常问父亲是否想喝点啤酒,她好心地提出自己去拿;当父亲没有回答时,她建议如果他不想让她麻烦,她可以让看门人的妻子去拿,但最后他父亲坚决地回答“不”,然后就没再讨论。
So now his sister, together with his mother, had to do the cooking as well; this wasn’t much trouble, of course, since they ate almost nothing. Again and again Gregor would hear how one encouraged another to eat, always getting the answer, “Thanks, I’ve had enough” or something similar. They didn’t seem to drink anything either. Often his sister asked his father if he wanted some beer, and she kindly offered to get it herself; and then when his father didn’t answer, she suggested that if he didn’t want her to bother, she could send the janitor’s wife for it, but in the end his father answered with a firm “No,” and there wasn’t any further discussion.
第一天,父亲就向母亲和妹妹解释了家里的经济状况和前景。他不时从桌边站起来,从五年前生意失败后设法挽救的小保险箱里拿出一些收据或账簿。人们可以听到他打开复杂的锁,取出他要找的东西,然后又把锁关上的声音。父亲的解释在某种程度上是格里高尔被囚禁以来听到的第一个令人振奋的消息。他一直以为父亲从旧生意中什么也没有留下,至少父亲从来没有告诉过他相反的事情,尽管格里高尔从来没有真正问过他。在那些日子里,格里高尔唯一关心的就是尽其所能帮助家人尽快忘记让他们陷入彻底绝望的生意灾难。于是他开始以异常的热情工作,几乎一夜之间就从初级办事员晋升为旅行推销员,这自然有更大的赚钱潜力,他的成功立即通过佣金转化为现金,他可以把这些钱带回家,摆在惊讶和高兴的家人面前。那是幸福的时光,虽然格里高尔最终赚了很多钱,能够负担全家的开支,事实上也确实如此,但这种幸福从未重现过,至少没有像现在这样辉煌。他们只是习惯了,家人和格里高尔都习惯了;他们感激地接受了钱,格里高尔也欣然给了钱,但这不再能激起任何特别温暖的感情。只有格里高尔的妹妹和他保持着亲密的关系,他的秘密计划是,明年把她送到音乐学院,尽管要花很多钱,而格里高尔必须想办法支付这笔费用。她和格里高尔不同,她热爱音乐,小提琴拉得非常动人。在格里高尔短暂回家的路上,他经常和姐姐提起音乐学院,但这始终只是一个永远无法实现的美梦,他的父母甚至不喜欢听到这些天真的暗示;但格里高尔已下定决心,并打算在圣诞前夜郑重其事地宣布他的计划。
In the course of the very first day his father explained the family’s financial situation and prospects to both the mother and sister. Every now and then he stood up from the table to get some receipt or account book from the small safe that he’d managed to salvage from the collapse of his business five years earlier. He could be heard opening the complicated lock, taking out what he was looking for, and closing it again. The father’s explanations, to some extent, were the first encouraging news that Gregor had heard since his captivity. He had always supposed that his father had nothing at all left from his old business, at least his father had never told him anything to the contrary, though Gregor had never actually asked him about it. In those days Gregor’s only concern had been to do all that he could to help the family forget as quickly as possible the business catastrophe that had plunged them all into complete despair. And so he had begun to work with exceptional zeal and was promoted almost overnight from a junior clerk to a traveling salesman, who naturally had a much greater earning potential, and his successes were immediately converted by way of commissions into cash that he could bring home and lay on the table for the astonished and delighted family. Those had been happy times, and they had never been repeated, at least not with such splendor, even though Gregor was eventually earning so much money that he was capable of meeting the expenses of the entire family, and in fact did so. They had simply grown used to it, the family as well as Gregor; they accepted the money gratefully and he gave it gladly, but it didn’t arouse any especially warm feelings any longer. Only Gregor’s sister had stayed close to him, and it was his secret plan that she, who — unlike Gregor — loved music and could play the violin very movingly, should be sent to the conservatory next year despite the considerable expense involved, and which he would certainly have to meet somehow. During Gregor’s brief visits home, the conservatory was often mentioned in his conversations with his sister, but it was always only as a beautiful dream that could never come true, and his parents even disliked hearing those innocent allusions; but Gregor had definitely set his mind on it and had intended to announce his plan solemnly on Christmas Eve.
这些想法在他现在的处境下毫无意义,他站直身子,紧贴着门偷听。有时他累得再也听不下去了,就让头不经意地撞在门上,但随后他又立即抬起头,因为即使他无意中发出的最轻微的声音也足以让隔壁的人听到,让所有人都安静下来。“他现在到底在干什么?”他父亲停顿了一下,显然是转向门口,这时被打断的谈话才会逐渐恢复。
Such were the thoughts, quite futile in his present condition, that passed through his mind as he stood upright, glued to the door, eavesdropping. Sometimes he grew so weary that he could no longer listen and let his head bump carelessly against the door, but then he held it up again immediately, because even the slightest noise that he inadvertently made was enough to be heard next door and to reduce everyone to silence. “Just what’s he up to now?” his father would say after a pause, obviously turning toward the door, and only then would the interrupted conversation gradually resume.
格里高尔现在有充足的机会发现——由于父亲经常重复解释,部分原因是他很久没有关心这些事情了,部分原因是母亲并不总是能一次就理解所有事情——尽管他们遭遇了这么多不幸,但一笔钱,当然是很小的一笔钱,从以前的日子里留下来,而且在此期间甚至略有增加,因为利息从未动过。除此之外,格里高尔每个月带回家的钱——他只为自己留了一点——并没有完全花掉,而是积累了一笔不小的资本。格里高尔在门后热切地点头,为这种意想不到的远见和节俭而高兴。事实上,他本可以用这笔剩余的钱来偿还父亲欠公司老板的更多债务,这样他就可以离职了,但现在情况无疑比父亲安排的要好得多。
Gregor now had ample opportunity to discover — since his father would often repeat his explanations, partly because he hadn’t concerned himself with these matters for a long time, and also partly because his mother couldn’t always grasp everything the first time — that despite all their misfortune, a sum of money, to be sure a very small one, still remained from the old days and had even increased slightly in the meantime since the interest had never been touched. And besides that, the money Gregor had been bringing home every month — he’d only kept a little for himself — had not been entirely spent and had accumulated into a modest capital. Behind his door, Gregor nodded his head eagerly, delighted at this unexpected foresight and thrift. In fact, he could have used this surplus money to pay off more of his father’s debt to the head of the firm, so the day when he could have quit his job would have been a lot closer, but now things were doubtless better the way his father had arranged them.
然而,这笔钱绝对不足以让一家人靠利息过活;也许够他们过一年,最多两年,但仅此而已。这笔钱真的只是一笔不能动用的钱,应该存起来以备不时之需;生活费必须靠自己挣。现在他的父亲当然还很健康,但他已经是一个老人了,过去五年没有做过任何工作,不能指望他承担太多的工作;在这五年里,这是他辛勤工作却不成功的一生中第一次休假,他体重增加,因此变得非常懒散。至于他的老母亲,她真的应该开始努力赚钱吗?她患有哮喘,光是走过公寓就觉得很费力,每隔一天就坐在开着的窗户旁边的沙发上喘着粗气。格里高尔的妹妹要是出去工作,她才十七岁,还是个孩子,打扰她的生活实在可惜,因为她的生活就是穿漂亮的衣服,睡懒觉,帮忙做家务,享受一些简单的娱乐,最重要的是拉小提琴。起初,只要一谈到挣钱的必要性,格里高尔就会立刻放开门,然后扑通一声倒在旁边凉爽的皮沙发上,因为他感到羞愧和悲伤。
However, this money was by no means sufficient to allow the family to live off the interest; it might be enough to support them for a year, or for two at the most, but no more than that. It was really just a sum that shouldn’t be touched, but instead saved for an emergency; money to live on would have to be earned. Now his father was still certainly healthy, but he was an old man who hadn’t done any work for the past five years and couldn’t be expected to take on very much; in those five years, which was his first vacation in his hardworking if unsuccessful life, he had put on weight and as a result, had become very sluggish. And as for his old mother, should she really start trying to earn money, when she suffered from asthma and found it a strain just to walk through the apartment, and spent every second day gasping for breath on the couch by the open window? And should his sister go out to work, she who was still a child at seventeen and whose life it would be a pity to disturb, since it consisted of wearing nice clothes, sleeping late, helping out with the housework, enjoying a few modest amusements, and most of all, playing the violin? At first, whenever the conversation turned to the necessity of earning money, Gregor would always let go of the door immediately and then throw himself down on the cool leather sofa beside it, because he felt so flushed with shame and grief.
他常常整夜躺在那里,一夜不眠,只是在皮革上摸索几个小时。或者,他不畏艰难地将扶手椅推到窗前,而是爬到窗台上,支撑起自己,靠在玻璃上,显然是想起了过去看着窗外时所体验到的自由感。因为事实上,他一天比一天看得见不远处的物体变得越来越模糊;他过去常常咒骂街对面的医院,现在他根本看不见了,如果他不确定自己住在安静但明显是城市化的夏洛特街,他可能会以为自己正从窗外凝视着一片荒芜的荒地,灰色的天空和灰色的大地融为一体,难以区分。他细心的妹妹只需要两次就能看到窗边的扶手椅;从此以后,每当她打扫房间时,她都会小心地把椅子推回窗户,现在她甚至把里面的窗玻璃打开。
Often he lay there throughout the long nights, not sleeping a wink and just scrabbling on the leather for hours. Or else, undaunted by the great effort of shoving an armchair to the window, he would crawl to the sill and, propping himself up on the chair, lean against the panes, evidently inspired by some memory of the sense of freedom that he used to experience looking out the window. Because, in fact, from day to day he saw objects only a short distance away becoming more indistinct; the hospital across the street, which he used to curse because he saw it all too often, he now couldn’t see at all, and if he weren’t certain that he lived on the quiet but decidedly urban Charlotte Street, he might have believed that he was gazing out of his window into a barren wasteland where the gray sky and the gray earth merged indistinguishably. Only twice had his attentive sister needed to see the armchair standing by the window; from then on whenever she cleaned the room, she carefully pushed the chair back to the window, and now she even left the inside windowpane open.
如果格里高尔能和妹妹说句话,感谢她为他所做的一切,他就能更轻松地忍受她的服务,但事实上,这些服务让他感到压迫。当然,她尽可能地试图缓解尴尬的局面,时间越长,她就越擅长,但随着时间的推移,格里高尔也对一切变得更加敏锐。甚至她进来的方式也让他感到可怕。她刚进房间,甚至来不及关门,虽然她通常会非常小心,不让任何人看到格里高尔的房间——她就直接跑到窗户前,用不耐烦的手指把窗子扯开,几乎好像她快要窒息了一样,然后她在那里待了一会儿,不管天气多冷,她都深呼吸。这种忙乱的样子每天会把格里高尔吓两次;他整个过程都躺在沙发下瑟瑟发抖,但他非常清楚,如果她能忍受和他待在一个关着窗户的房间里,她肯定会饶过他。
If Gregor had only been able to speak to his sister and thank her for all she had to do for him, he could have endured her services more easily, but as it was, they oppressed him. To be sure, she tried to ease the embarrassment of the situation as much as possible, and the longer time went on, the better she became at it, but in time Gregor too became more keenly aware of everything. Even the way she came in was terrible for him. Hardly had she entered the room when — not even taking time to close the door, though she was usually so careful to spare everyone the sight of Gregor’s room — she’d run straight to the window and tear it open with impatient fingers, almost as if she were suffocating, and then she stayed there for a while, taking deep breaths no matter how cold it was. With this hustle and bustle, she scared Gregor twice a day; he lay quaking under the sofa the entire time, and yet he knew perfectly well that she would surely have spared him if she had only found it possible to stand being in a room with him with the windows closed.
有一次——格里高尔变身后应该已经有一个月了,所以妹妹对他的出现也没有什么特别的理由了——妹妹比平时早来了一些,看到格里高尔正一动不动地直挺挺地望着窗外,吓人。如果妹妹不进来,格里高尔也不会感到惊讶,因为他的姿势使妹妹无法立即打开窗户,但她不仅没有进来,还跳了回去关上了门;陌生人很容易以为格里高尔一直在等她,打算咬她。格里高尔自然立刻躲在沙发下面,但他不得不等到中午她才回来,而她似乎比平时更加不安。由此他得出结论,格里高尔仍然无法忍受看到他,而且将来肯定也无法忍受,她可能在极力克制自己,一看到他从沙发下面露出的哪怕一小块身体,就不会逃跑。为了不让她看到这一幕,有一天他把床单披在背上,拖到沙发上——他花了四个小时才完成这项任务——并将床单放在完全隐藏的位置,这样她即使弯下腰也看不到他。如果她认为这床单没有必要,那么她当然可以把它拿掉,因为很明显格里高尔并不是为了自己而把自己完全封闭起来;但她让床单保持原样,格里高尔相信,当他小心翼翼地用头将床单掀开一点,看看她对新安排有何反应时,他看到了她感激的目光。
One time — it must have been a month since Gregor’s transformation, so there was no particular reason for his sister to be surprised by his appearance any more — she came a little earlier than usual and caught Gregor as he was looking out the window, motionless and terrifyingly upright. It wouldn’t have surprised Gregor if she hadn’t come in, since his position prevented her from opening the window immediately, but not only did she not enter, she also actually jumped back and shut the door; a stranger might easily have thought that Gregor had been lying in wait for her and meant to bite her. Gregor naturally hid at once under the sofa, but he had to wait until noon before she came back, and she seemed much more uneasy than usual. From this he concluded that the sight of him was still unbearable to her and was bound to remain unbearable in the future, and that she probably was exercising great self-control not to run away at the sight of even the small portion of his body that protruded from under the sofa. To spare her even this sight, he draped the sheet on his back and dragged it over to the sofa one day — he needed four hours for this task — and placed it in such a way so as to conceal himself completely, so that she couldn’t see him even if she stooped down. If she considered this sheet unnecessary, then of course she could remove it, because it was clear enough that Gregor was hardly shutting himself off so completely for his own sake; but she left the sheet the way it was, and Gregor believed he caught a grateful look when he once cautiously raised the sheet a little with his head to see how she was reacting to the new arrangement.
在最初的两个星期里,他的父母都不愿意回家看望他,他经常听到他们说他们非常欣赏他姐姐的工作,而以前他们却因为她看起来有点无用而对她感到恼火。但现在,他父母经常在格里高尔的姐姐打扫房间的时候在外面等着,她一出来,就必须详细报告房间的情况,格里高尔吃了什么,这次他的表现如何,以及他是否可能有一些明显的进步。顺便说一句,格里高尔的母亲想尽快去看望他,但起初他的父亲和姐姐用合理的理由打发了她,格里高尔非常认真地听着,并完全赞同。但后来他的母亲不得不被强行拦住,当她喊道:“让我去找格里高尔吧;毕竟,他是我不幸的儿子!你不明白我必须去找他吗?”格里高尔心想,也许她真的来一趟也是个好主意;当然不是每天来,也许一周来一次;她肯定比他的妹妹更了解一切,他妹妹虽然很勇敢,但也毕竟只是个孩子,说到底,也许她只是出于孩子气的鲁莽才承担了这项艰巨的任务。
During the first two weeks his parents couldn’t bring themselves to come in to him, and often he heard them say how much they appreciated his sister’s work, whereas previously they’d been annoyed with her because she’d appeared to be a little useless. But often now, both his father and mother waited outside of Gregor’s room while his sister was cleaning up inside, and as soon as she emerged, she had to give a detailed report about how the room looked, what Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this time, and whether perhaps some slight improvement was noticeable. Gregor’s mother, incidentally, wanted to visit him relatively soon, but at first his father and sister put her off with sensible arguments, which Gregor listened to most attentively and fully endorsed. But later his mother had to be held back by force, and when she cried out, “Let me go to Gregor; after all, he’s my unfortunate son! Don’t you understand that I must go to him?” then Gregor thought that perhaps it would be a good idea after all if she did come in; not every day, of course, but perhaps once a week; she surely understood everything much better than his sister, who for all her courage, was still only a child, and had perhaps, in the final analysis, merely taken on this demanding task out of childish recklessness.
格里高尔想见妈妈的愿望很快就实现了。白天,格里高尔不想在窗边露面,哪怕是出于对父母的考虑,但他在仅有的几平方码的地板上爬不了多远,晚上也忍受不了静静地躺着;吃东西很快就不再给他带来丝毫的乐趣,为了分散注意力,他养成了在墙壁和天花板上盘旋爬行的习惯。他特别喜欢挂在天花板上;这和躺在地板上完全不同;他可以更自由地呼吸,身体里传来一阵轻微的刺痛;格里高尔发现自己在上面几乎处于幸福的忘我状态,可能会出乎意料地放手摔倒在地上。但现在他当然比以前更能控制自己的身体了,即使是这么大的跌倒,他也没有伤到自己。格里高尔的姐姐立刻注意到他为自己找到了新的消遣方式——毕竟,他爬过的地方到处都留下了一些黏糊糊的痕迹——于是她想让格里高尔尽可能地爬来爬去,于是她决定把挡在路上的家具搬走,首先是衣柜和书桌。但她一个人做不到这一点;她不敢向父亲求助;女仆肯定不会帮她,因为这个女孩(大约十六岁)勇敢地留下来,因为之前的厨师已经辞职了,但她请求允许厨房随时锁上,只有被叫醒时才能打开;所以他的姐姐别无选择,只能在父亲不在家的时候叫母亲。果然,格里高尔的母亲欢呼雀跃地走到他的房间,但她在门口沉默了。当然,他的姐姐先看了看房间里的一切是否井然有序;然后她才让母亲进来。格里高尔急忙把床单拉得更低,折得更紧;整个床单看起来真的就像是随意扔在沙发上的一张床单。这一次格里高尔也忍住了没有从床单下面往外看;他不让自己看见母亲,只是很高兴知道她终于来了。“进来吧,你们看不到他。”他姐姐说,显然她正牵着母亲的手。现在格里高尔听见两个虚弱的女人在把那个很重的旧衣柜从原处搬走,而他的姐姐却固执地承担了最艰难的部分,无视母亲的警告,母亲担心她会劳累。这花了很长时间。大约一刻钟后,格里高尔的母亲说最好把衣柜放在原处,因为一方面,它太重了,父亲来之前他们无法完成,而且把衣柜放在房间中间会挡住格里高尔的路;其次,他们搬动家具是不是在帮格里高尔一个忙,这一点根本不能确定。她觉得事实恰恰相反,光秃秃的墙壁让她心痛不已,格里高尔怎么就不能有同样的感觉呢?毕竟,他已经习惯了这些家具那么久,在空房间里可能会感到被遗弃。“看起来是不是这样,”他的母亲非常轻声地总结道,事实上,她几乎一直在低声细语,好像她担心格里高尔听不到她的声音,她不知道格里高尔究竟在哪里,因为她当然相信他听不懂她的话,“看起来是不是这样,我们搬动家具就表明我们放弃了一切改善的希望,无情地抛弃了他,让他自生自灭?我认为我们最好还是把房间保持原样,这样,当格里高尔再次回到我们身边时,一切都会保持不变,我们就可以更容易地忘记这段时间发生的一切。”
Gregor’s wish to see his mother was soon fulfilled. During the daytime Gregor didn’t want to show himself at the window, if only out of consideration for his parents, but he couldn’t crawl very far on his few square yards of floor space, either, nor could he bear to lie still during the night; eating had soon ceased to give him the slightest pleasure, and so as a distraction he got into the habit of crawling crisscross over the walls and ceiling. He especially enjoyed hanging from the ceiling; it was quite different from lying on the floor; he could breathe more freely, and a mild tingle ran through his body; and in the almost blissful oblivion in which Gregor found himself up there, it could happen that, to his surprise, he let himself go and crashed onto the floor. But now of course he had much greater control over his body than before, and he never hurt himself by even this great fall. Gregor’s sister immediately noticed the new pastime that he had found for himself — after all, he left some traces of the sticky tracks of his crawling here and there — and she then took it into her head to enable Gregor to crawl around to the greatest possible extent, so she decided to remove the furniture that stood in his way, first of all, the chest of drawers and the desk. But she couldn’t do this alone; she didn’t dare ask her father for help; and the maid would most certainly not help her, because this girl (about sixteen years old) was bravely staying on since the previous cook had quit, but she’d asked permission to keep the kitchen locked at all times and to open it only when expressly called; so his sister had no other choice than to get her mother one day when her father was out. And indeed, with cries of eager delight, Gregor’s mother approached his room, but she fell silent at the door. Of course his sister first looked in to check that everything in the room was in order; only then did she let her mother enter. Gregor had hastily pulled the sheet even lower down in tighter folds; the whole thing really looked like a sheet casually tossed over the sofa. This time Gregor also refrained from peering out from under the sheet; he denied himself the sight of his mother, and was only pleased to know that she had finally come. “Come on in, you can’t see him,” said his sister, and evidently she was leading her mother by the hand. Now Gregor heard the two weak women shifting the really heavy old chest of drawers from its place, and how his sister obstinately took on the hardest part of the work for herself, ignoring the warnings of her mother, who was afraid she’d strain herself. It took a very long time. After about a quarter of an hour’s work, Gregor’s mother said that it would be better to leave the chest where it was, because for one thing, it was just too heavy, they would not be finished before the father arrived, and with the chest in the middle of the room, Gregor’s path would be blocked; and for the second, it wasn’t at all certain that they were doing Gregor a favor to move the furniture. It seemed to her that the opposite was true; the sight of the bare walls made her heart ache; and why shouldn’t Gregor also feel the same way, since after all he’d been accustomed to the furniture for so long and might feel abandoned in an empty room. “And doesn’t it really look,” concluded his mother very softly, in fact she’d been almost whispering the whole time, as if she were anxious that Gregor, whose exact whereabouts she didn’t know, couldn’t hear even the sound of her voice, for of course she was convinced that he couldn’t understand her words, “and doesn’t it look as if by moving the furniture we were showing that we’d given up all hope for improvement and were callously abandoning him to his own resources? I think it would be best if we tried to keep the room just as it was, so that when Gregor comes back to us again, everything will be unchanged and it can be easier to forget what happened in the meantime.”
听到母亲的话,格里高尔意识到,在过去的两个月里,由于缺乏直接的人际交流,加上在家庭中过着单调的生活,他一定感到心烦意乱,否则他无法向自己解释,他怎么会真的想把房间清理干净。难道他真的想把温暖的房间和舒适的旧家具改造成一个洞穴,让他可以在里面自由地四处爬行,但代价是迅速而彻底地失去作为人的过去吗?事实上,他已经快要忘记了,是母亲的声音让他恢复了理智,而母亲的声音他已经很久没有听到了。什么都不能搬走,一切都必须留下;他不能没有家具对他精神状态的有益影响;如果家具妨碍了他漫无目的地爬行,那不是损失,而是巨大的收获。
Hearing his mother’s words, Gregor realized that the lack of all direct human exchange, together with his monotonous life in the midst of the family, must have confused his mind during these past two months, because otherwise he couldn’t explain to himself how he could seriously have wanted his room cleared out. Had he really wanted his warm room, with its comfortable old family furniture, to be transformed into a cave in which he could crawl freely around in all directions, no doubt, but only at the cost of swiftly and totally losing his human past? Indeed, he was already on the verge of forgetting it, and only his mother’s voice, which he hadn’t heard for so long, had brought him to his senses. Nothing should be removed; everything must stay; he couldn’t do without the beneficial effects of the furniture on his state of mind; and if the furniture interfered with his mindless crawling about, then it was not a loss but a great gain.
但不幸的是,妹妹却不这么想。她已经习惯了,当然,这并非毫无道理,每次和父母讨论格里高尔时,她总是占上风,所以现在母亲的提议足以让妹妹坚持不仅要按照原计划搬走衣柜和书桌,还要把房间里的其他家具都搬走,只留下必不可少的沙发。当然,促使她下定决心的不仅是她孩子气的反抗和最近付出如此代价却意外获得的自信;而且她还发现格里高尔需要更多的空间来爬来爬去,而另一方面,据她所知,他从来不用这些家具。但也许,她这个年纪的女孩子所具有的浪漫精神也起了一定作用,这种精神抓住一切机会寻求满足,并诱使格蕾特让格里高尔的困境更加可怕,这样她就可以比以前为他做更多的事情。除了格蕾特,很可能没人敢进入格里高尔独自统治着光秃秃的墙壁的房间。
But unfortunately his sister thought differently; she had grown accustomed, to be sure not entirely without reason, to being the great expert on Gregor in any discussion with her parents, and so now her mother’s proposal was cause enough for the sister to insist on removing not only the chest of drawers and the desk, as she had originally planned, but also the rest of the furniture in the room except for the indispensable sofa. It was, of course, not only her childish defiance and the self-confidence she had recently and so unexpectedly gained at such cost that led to this determination; but she had also in fact observed that Gregor needed more space to crawl around in, while on the other hand, as far as she could see, he never used the furniture. But, perhaps, what also played some part was the romantic spirit of girls of her age, which seeks satisfaction at every opportunity and tempted Grete to make Gregor’s predicament even more frightening so that she might then be able to do even more for him than before. For most likely no one but Grete would ever dare to enter into a room where Gregor ruled the bare walls all by himself.
因此,她不肯听从母亲的劝阻,尽管母亲似乎对这个房间没有信心,而且很快因为紧张而沉默了,她尽力帮助姐姐把五斗橱搬出房间。格里高尔可以不用五斗橱,但书桌必须留下。两个女人一边呻吟一边推着五斗橱,格里高尔刚离开房间,就从沙发底下探出头来,想看看如何尽可能谨慎巧妙地干预。不幸的是,他的母亲先回来了,而格蕾特则在隔壁房间里抱着五斗橱,前后摇晃着它,自然无法独自把它从原处搬走。格里高尔的母亲不习惯看到他;这可能会让她恶心,格里高尔惊慌失措地向后退到沙发的另一头,但没来得及阻止床单前部微微晃动。这足以引起他母亲的注意。她突然停下脚步,静静地站了一会儿,然后回到格蕾特身边。
And so she refused to be dissuaded from her resolve by her mother, who in any case seemed unsure of herself in that room and who soon fell silent out of sheer nervousness, and helped the sister as best she could to move the chest of drawers out of the room. Well, Gregor could do without the chest, if necessary, but the desk had to stay. And no sooner had the two women, groaning and shoving the chest, left the room, when Gregor poked his head out from under the sofa to see how he could intervene as cautiously and tactfully as possible. Unfortunately, it was his mother who returned first, while Grete kept her arms around the chest in the next room, rocking it back and forth, and naturally unable to move it by herself from its spot. Gregor’s mother, however, was not used to the sight of him; it might make her sick, and so Gregor scurried backwards in alarm to the other end of the sofa, though not in time to prevent the front of the sheet from stirring a little. That was enough to catch his mother’s attention. She stopped short, stood still a moment, and then went back to Grete.
尽管格里高尔不断地告诉自己没有什么异常,只不过是移动了几件家具,但他很快就不得不承认,女人们的来回走动,她们之间的小叫喊声,以及家具在地板上的刮擦声,都像一场巨大的骚动一样影响着他,无论他如何紧紧地缩着头和腿,将身体贴在地板上,他都不得不承认他不能再忍受这种喧嚣了。他们正在清空他的房间,夺走他心爱的一切;他们已经搬走了装着他的钢丝锯和其他工具的箱子;现在她们正在撬开桌子,桌子几乎嵌入地板了,他在商学院、高中,甚至小学时都曾在这张桌子上写作业——此时他真的没有时间去想这两个女人的良好意图,他确实几乎忘记了她们的存在,因为现在她们正因为精疲力竭而默默地工作,他只听到她们沉重的脚步声。
Although Gregor kept telling himself that nothing out of the ordinary was happening, that just a couple of pieces of furniture were being moved around, all the same he soon had to admit to himself that this walking back and forth by the women, their little cries to each other, the scraping of the furniture along the floor, were affecting him on all sides like a tremendous uproar, and no matter how tightly he tucked in his head and legs and pressed his body against the floor, he was forced to admit that he couldn’t endure the fuss much longer. They were emptying out his room, stripping him of everything he loved; they had already removed the chest, which contained his fretsaw and other tools; and now they were prying loose the desk, which was almost embedded in the floor, and at which he’d done his homework when he was in business school, high school, and even as far back as elementary school — at this point he really had no more time to consider the good intentions of the two women, whose existence he had indeed almost forgotten, because by now they were working away in silence from sheer exhaustion, and he heard only the heavy shuffling of their feet.
于是他冲了出去——就在这时,女人们正在隔壁的房间里,靠在桌子上喘口气——他改变了四次方向,不知道先救什么,然后他发现那幅女人的画像,只穿着毛皮衣服,挂在对面一面光秃秃的墙上,十分显眼;他迅速爬到画像前,紧紧贴在玻璃上,玻璃紧紧地支撑着他,缓解了他火辣辣的肚子。至少这幅画像,现在已经被格里高尔完全遮住了,肯定不会有人把它拿走。他扭过头,朝客厅的门口看去,看着女人们回来了。
And so he broke out — just at the moment the women were in the next room, leaning against the desk to catch their breath — and he changed direction four times, not really knowing what he should rescue first, and then he spotted the picture of the lady dressed in nothing but furs, hanging conspicuously on what was otherwise a bare wall opposite him; he crawled rapidly up to it and pressed himself against the glass, which held him fast and soothed his hot belly. At least this picture, which Gregor now completely covered, was definitely not going to be removed by anyone. He twisted his head around toward the door of the living room to observe the women on their return.
他们没怎么休息就回来了。格蕾特搂着妈妈,几乎是把她抱在怀里。“好吧,我们现在该带什么?”格蕾特说着,环顾四周。然后,她的目光与墙上的格里高尔的目光相遇。毫无疑问,正是因为妈妈在场,她才保持镇静,低下头不让妈妈四处张望,虽然声音有些颤抖,但还是不假思索地说:“来吧,我们为什么不回客厅待一会儿?”格里高尔很清楚格蕾特的意图;她想把妈妈带到安全的地方,然后把他从墙上赶下来。好吧,让她试试吧!他紧紧抓住他的画像,不肯放弃。他宁愿冲格蕾特的脸飞去。
They had not given themselves much of a rest and were already coming back; Grete had put her arm around her mother and was almost carrying her. “Well, what should we take now?” said Grete and looked around. Then her eyes met Gregor’s on the wall. No doubt it was only due to the presence of her mother that she kept her composure, lowered her head to keep her mother from looking about, and said, although rather shakily and without thinking, “Come on, why don’t we go back to the living room for a moment?” Grete’s intention was clear to Gregor; she wanted to get her mother to safety and then chase him down from the wall. Well, just let her try! He clung to his picture and wouldn’t give it up. He would rather fly in Grete’s face.
可是格蕾特的话却让母亲更加焦急。她闪到一边,看见了花纹墙纸上那块巨大的褐色污点,还没等她意识到那是格里高尔,她就用嘶哑的尖叫声大叫:“哦,上帝,哦,上帝!”然后倒在沙发上,张开双臂,好像完全放弃了似的,一动不动。“你,格里高尔,”姐姐喊道,举起拳头怒视着他。这是他变身以来,她第一次直接对他说这样的话。她跑到隔壁房间去拿药,好让母亲从昏厥中苏醒过来;格里高尔也想帮忙——后来还来得及抢救他的照片——但是他被牢牢地粘在玻璃上,不得不挣脱出来;然后他也跑到隔壁房间,好像他可以像以前一样给妹妹一些建议;但是到了那里,他不得不无助地站在她身后,看着她在各种小瓶子里翻找;她一转身就被吓坏了,一个瓶子掉在地上摔碎了,一块玻璃碎片划伤了格里高尔的脸,某种灼热的药水溅到了他周围;格蕾特不再迟疑,抓起尽可能多的瓶子跑回母亲身边;她用脚砰地关上了门。格里高尔现在和母亲断绝了联系,她也许因为他而快要死了;他不敢开门,怕吓跑了不得不和母亲住在一起的妹妹;现在他除了等待之外别无选择;于是,在痛苦的自责和焦虑中,他开始爬起来,爬过所有的东西,墙壁、家具和天花板;最后,当整个房间都旋转起来时,他绝望地跌倒在那张大桌子的中央。
But Grete’s words had made her mother even more anxious; she stepped to one side, caught sight of the huge brown splotch on the flowered wallpaper, and before realizing that what she saw was Gregor, she cried out in a hoarse, shrieking voice, “Oh God, oh God,” and collapsed across the sofa with outstretched arms, as if giving up completely, and didn’t move. “You, Gregor,” cried the sister, raising her fist and glaring at him. These were the first words that she had addressed directly to him since his transformation. She ran into the next room to get some sort of medicine to revive her mother from her fainting fit; Gregor also wanted to help — there was time enough to save his picture later on — but he was stuck fast to the glass and had to wrench himself free; then he also ran into the next room, as if he could give some advice to his sister as in the old days; but once there he had to stand uselessly behind her while she was rummaging among various little bottles; she got frightened when she turned around; one of the bottles fell to the floor and shattered; a splinter of glass sliced Gregor’s face, and some kind of burning medicine splashed around him; then without further delay, Grete grabbed as many bottles as she could hold and ran back to her mother with them; she slammed the door closed with her foot. Gregor was now cut off from his mother, who was perhaps nearly dying because of him; he dared not open the door for fear of frightening away his sister, who had to stay with his mother; now he had nothing to do but wait; and so, in an agony of self-reproach and anxiety, he began to crawl, to crawl over everything, walls, furniture, and ceiling; until finally when the entire room was spinning, he dropped in despair onto the middle of the big table.
过了一会儿,格里高尔筋疲力尽地躺在床上,四周一片寂静,也许这是个好兆头。这时门铃响了。女仆当然被锁在厨房里,格蕾特不得不开门。父亲回来了。“发生什么事了?”这是他开口的第一句话;格蕾特的脸一定告诉了他一切。格蕾特用低沉的声音回答道,显然她的脸紧贴着父亲的胸口。“妈妈晕倒了。不过现在好多了。格里高尔挣脱了。”“正如我所料,”父亲说。“我一直都这么告诉你们,但你们这些女人就是不听。”格里高尔很清楚,父亲误解了格蕾特那太简短的陈述,以为格里高尔犯了某种暴力行为。这意味着他现在必须设法安抚父亲,因为他既没有时间也没有办法向父亲解释事情。于是格里高尔逃到他房门前,紧紧地靠在门口,这样,当他父亲从大厅回来时,他就会发现格里高尔是想立刻回他的房间,没有必要把他赶回去;只要有人打开门,他就会立刻消失。
A little while passed. Gregor lay worn out, all was quiet, perhaps that was a good sign. Then the doorbell rang. The maid, of course, was locked in the kitchen, and Grete had to open the door. Father was back. “What’s happened?” were his first words; Grete’s face must have told him everything. Grete replied in a muffled voice, evidently with her face pressing against her father’s chest. “Mother fainted. But she’s better now. Gregor’s broken loose.” “Just what I expected,” said his father. “Just what I’ve always told you, but you women wouldn’t listen.” It was clear to Gregor that his father had misinterpreted Grete’s all too brief statement and assumed that Gregor was guilty of some act of violence. That meant that he must now try to pacify his father, for he had neither the time nor the means to explain things to him. And so Gregor fled to the door of his room and pressed himself against it, so that as soon as his father came in from the hall, he should see that Gregor had the best intention of returning to his room immediately, and that it was unnecessary to drive him back; but that someone only had to open the door, and he would immediately disappear.
但父亲却无心观察这种微妙的行为。他一进门就大叫“啊哈!”,语气中既愤怒又兴奋。格里高尔把头从门口缩回来,抬向父亲。他根本没有想象过父亲站在那里的情景。他承认,他太专注于爬来爬去的新感觉,而无暇像以前一样关心家里其他人的情况,他真的应该为一些变化做好准备。可是,可是,这真的是他的父亲吗?就是格里高尔每次出差早早离开时,疲惫地躺在床上的那个父亲;格里高尔总是在傍晚回来时穿着长袍坐在扶手椅上迎接他,他几乎站不起来,只是举起胳膊以示高兴,一年中难得有几个星期天和节假日全家一起散步,他总是在格里高尔和母亲之间吃力地走着,母亲走得很慢,甚至比他们还要慢一点,他裹着旧大衣,每走一步都要拄着拐杖,每当他想说什么话时,几乎总是站着不动,让护卫们围在他身边。可是现在他却挺直腰板,穿着一件镶着金纽扣的紧身蓝色制服,就像银行信使穿的制服一样,厚厚的双下巴凸出在夹克的高硬领子上,浓密的眉毛下,一双黑眼睛闪着机警和敏锐的目光,以前乱蓬蓬的白发梳得平平的,分得很开,闪闪发光。他把帽子扔到房间另一边的沙发上,帽子上有一个金色的字母组合,可能是某家银行的,他一甩,就朝格里高尔走去,脸上一副严肃的样子,长长的制服外套下摆往后翻,双手插在口袋里。他可能自己也不知道他想干什么;尽管如此,他还是把脚抬得异常高,格里高尔对他那巨大的靴底感到吃惊。但格里高尔没有再想那么多;从他新生活的第一天起,他就知道父亲只会用最严厉的手段来对付他。于是他从父亲身边逃开,只有父亲站着不动时他才停下来,只要父亲有任何动作,他就会立即赶快跑开。他们就这样绕着房间走了好几圈,没有发生什么决定性的事情;事实上,他们走得很慢,看起来不像是在追逐。因此,格里高尔暂时待在地板上,尤其是因为他担心父亲会认为任何逃到墙壁或天花板上的行为都是特别邪恶的行为。同时,格里高尔不得不承认,他无法长时间坚持这种奔跑,因为父亲每迈出一步,他就必须做出无数的动作。呼吸开始变得急促,即使在他年轻的时候,他的肺也从来没有完全可靠过。当他蹒跚而行,把所有的精力都花在奔跑上时,他几乎睁不开眼睛,在昏昏沉沉中甚至没有想过除了奔跑之外还有什么其他的避难所,几乎忘记了墙壁是可用的,虽然这里这些墙壁被精心雕刻的家具挡住了,家具上满是尖角和尖角——突然有什么东西从他身边飞过,轻轻地扔了过去;它落在他身边,在他面前滚开了。那是一个苹果;紧接着,第二个苹果飞了过来;格里高尔吓得停了下来;再跑也没用了,因为他的父亲决心要轰炸他。他把水果碗里的水果塞满了口袋他把苹果放在餐具柜上,现在,他不加瞄准,一个接一个地扔着。这些小小的红苹果像通了电一样在地上滚动着,互相碰撞着。一个轻轻地扔出的苹果擦过格里高尔的后背,无害地弹开了。但是紧接着扔出的另一个苹果却真的刺进了格里高尔的后背;格里高尔想再拖一点,仿佛只要换个姿势,这令人吃惊的、难以置信的疼痛就会过去;但是他感觉自己像被钉在了原地,全身伸展,所有感官都陷入了完全的混乱。现在,他用最后的意识看见自己房门被猛地打开,母亲穿着衬衣冲了出来,跑在尖叫的妹妹前面,因为妹妹在她昏倒后脱掉了她的衣服,让她更容易呼吸;他看见母亲跑向父亲,把松开的衬裙一件一件地脱到身后的地板上,然后跌跌撞撞地爬上衬裙,扑到父亲身上,紧紧地抱住他,与他融为一体——但格里高尔这时看不见了——她双手搂住父亲的脖子,恳求他饶格里高尔一命。
But his father was in no mood to observe such subtlety; “Ah ha!” he cried as soon as he entered, in a tone both furious and elated. Gregor drew his head back from the door and raised it toward his father. He hadn’t really pictured his father at all, standing that way; admittedly he had been too preoccupied by the new sensation of crawling around to concern himself with what was going on in the rest of the household as before, and he really ought to have been prepared for some changes. And yet, and yet, was this really his father? The same man who used to lie wearily in bed when Gregor left early on one of his business trips; who always greeted him on his return in the evening wearing a robe and sitting in an armchair; who was actually hardly capable of standing up, but had merely raised his arms to show his pleasure; and who, during the rare family walks on a few Sundays a year and on the high holidays, would always shuffle laboriously along between Gregor and his mother, who walked slowly anyway, walking even a little slower than they walked, bundled in his old overcoat, planting his cane before him for each step he took, and when he wanted to say something, nearly always standing still and gathering his escorts around him? Now, however, he held himself erect, dressed in a tight blue uniform with gold buttons, like that worn by bank messengers; his heavy double chin bulged over the high stiff collar of his jacket; from under his bushy eyebrows, his black eyes flashed alert and observant glances; his previously tousled white hair was combed flat, meticulously parted and gleaming. He tossed his cap, on which was a gold monogram, probably that of some bank, right across the room in a wide arc onto the couch, and started toward Gregor with a grimly set face, the ends of his long uniform jacket thrown back, and his hands in his pockets. Probably he didn’t know himself what he intended; nevertheless, he lifted his feet unusually high, and Gregor was astonished at the gigantic size of his boot soles. But Gregor didn’t dwell on his reflections; he had known from the very first day of his new life that his father considered only the strictest measures appropriate for dealing with him. And so he fled from his father, pausing only when his father stood still, and immediately hurrying on again when he made any kind of a move. In that way they circled the room several times, without anything decisive happening; in fact, they proceeded in such a slow tempo that it didn’t have the appearance of a chase. For this reason, Gregor stayed on the floor for the time being, especially since he feared his father might regard any escape onto the walls or ceiling as a particularly wicked act. At the same time, Gregor had to admit that he couldn’t keep up with this kind of running for long; for while his father took a single step, he had to carry out a countless number of movements. Shortness of breath was beginning to appear, and even in his earlier days his lungs had never been entirely reliable. As he went staggering along, saving all his energy for running, hardly keeping his eyes open, in his stupor not even thinking of any other refuge than running, and having almost forgotten that the walls were available, though admittedly here these walls were blocked by elaborately carved furniture full of sharp points and corners — suddenly something came sailing past him, lightly tossed; it landed next to him and rolled away in front of him. It was an apple; immediately a second one came flying after it; Gregor stopped dead in fright; any further running was useless, because his father was determined to bombard him. He had filled his pockets from the fruit bowl on the sideboard and now, without taking careful aim, he was throwing one apple after another. These small red apples rolled around on the floor as if electrified, colliding with one another. One weakly thrown apple grazed Gregor’s back and glanced off harmlessly. But another one thrown directly afterwards actually penetrated into Gregor’s back; Gregor wanted to drag himself further, as if the surprising and unbelievable pain might pass if he changed his position; but he felt as if nailed to the spot and stretched himself flat out, all his senses in complete confusion. Now with his last conscious sight he saw how the door of his room was flung open, and his mother rushed out in her chemise, ahead of his screaming sister, for his sister had undressed her when she had fainted to make it easier for her to breathe; he saw his mother running to his father, shedding her loosened petticoats one by one on the floor behind her, and stumbling over her petticoats to fling herself upon his father, and embracing him, in complete union with him — but now Gregor’s vision failed him — begging him, with her hands clasped around his father’s neck, to spare Gregor’s life.
格里高尔因为严重的伤害而痛苦了一个多月——由于没人敢去取下那个苹果,所以它仍然嵌在他的肉里,成为一个明显的提醒——这甚至似乎让他的父亲意识到,尽管格里高尔现在的样貌可悲又令人厌恶,但他仍然是家庭的一员,不应该被当作敌人来对待,相反,家庭责任要求他们忍气吞声,忍受他,忍受他。
Gregor suffered from his serious injury for over a month — the apple remained embedded in his flesh as a visible reminder since no one dared to remove it — and it even seemed to bring home to his father that despite Gregor’s present deplorable and repulsive shape, he was still a member of the family who ought not to be treated as an enemy, but that on the contrary, family duty required them to swallow their disgust and put up with him, simply put up with him.
现在,虽然格里高尔可能因为受伤而永远丧失了行动能力,现在像个老病人一样需要好长好长的时间才能穿过房间——爬墙更是不可能了——但是他认为自己已经得到了完全令人满意的补偿,因为每天傍晚,他都会在起居室的门前注视一两个小时,现在门会打开,这样他躺在黑暗的房间里,从起居室是看不到他的,他就能看见坐在点着灯的桌子旁的全家人,能像大家一致同意的那样听到他们的谈话,而根本不像以前那样被迫偷听。
And now, although Gregor had probably suffered some permanent loss of mobility as a result of his injury and for the present needed long, long minutes to cross his room like an old invalid — crawling up the walls was out of the question — yet he thought he was granted entirely satisfactory compensation for this deterioration of his condition, since every day toward evening the living room door, which he used to watch intently for an hour or two beforehand, would be opened, so that lying in the darkness of his room and not visible from the living room, he could see the entire family at the lamp-lit table and could listen to the conversation as if by general consent, not at all as he had been obliged earlier to eavesdrop.
当然,格里高尔过去常常在小旅馆房间里,疲惫地躺进潮湿的被窝里,怀念着昔日的热烈讨论,如今,他再也没有那样的回忆了。现在,周围大多时候都很安静。晚饭后不久,父亲就躺在扶手椅上睡着了;母亲和妹妹互相提醒要保持安静;母亲在灯光下弯着腰,为一家时装店缝制精美的内衣;妹妹当了售货员,每天晚上学习速记和法语,希望有一天能找到更好的工作。偶尔,父亲会醒来,好像不知道自己睡着了一样,对母亲说:“你今天又缝了好久!”然后他又立刻打瞌睡了,而母亲和妹妹则疲惫地相视而笑。
Of course, there were no longer the lively discussions of earlier days that Gregor used to recall wistfully in small hotel rooms whenever he had to sink down wearily into the damp bedding. Now it was mostly very quiet. The father fell asleep in his armchair shortly after supper; the mother and sister would caution each other to keep quiet; the mother, hunched forward under the light, stitched away at fine lingerie for a fashion boutique; the sister, who had taken a job as a salesgirl, studied shorthand and French every evening, in the hope of getting a better job some day. Occasionally the father woke up, and as if he didn’t know he’d been sleeping, he said to the mother, “How long you’ve been sewing again today!” and instantly he’d doze off again, while the mother and sister smiled wearily at each other.
父亲固执地拒绝脱下信使制服,甚至在家里也不肯脱下。他的长袍无用地挂在衣钩上,而他则穿着整齐的衣服躺在椅子上睡觉,仿佛他随时准备值班,等待上级的召唤。结果,尽管母亲和妹妹竭尽全力,他的制服——本来就不新——看起来却越来越不干净,格里高尔经常整晚盯着这身脏兮兮、布满污渍的制服,上面挂着闪闪发光、不断擦亮的金纽扣,老人穿着这身衣服睡得很不舒服,但也很安详。
With a kind of perverse obstinacy, the father refused to take off his messenger’s uniform even in the house, and while his robe hung uselessly on the clothes hook, he slept fully dressed in his chair, as if he were ever ready for duty and waiting for his superior’s call even here. As a result, his uniform — not new to begin with — started to look less clean despite all the efforts of the mother and sister, and Gregor would often spend whole evenings staring at the soiled and spotted uniform, with its gleaming, constantly polished gold buttons, in which the old man slept in great discomfort and yet very peacefully.
时钟一敲十点,母亲就用几句温柔的话试图叫醒父亲,劝他上床睡觉,因为在这里他得不到任何像样的休息,而父亲急需休息,因为他六点就要上班。但是,自从他成为银行信使以来,他一直很固执,总是坚持在桌子旁多呆一会儿,尽管他经常睡着,只有费了很大的劲,才能哄他把扶手椅换成床。不管母亲和姐姐如何哄骗和劝告他,他还是会慢慢地摇头一刻钟,闭着眼睛,拒绝起床。母亲拉着他的袖子,在他耳边低声说着甜言蜜语;姐姐会放下作业来帮助母亲,但这些对父亲都没有任何影响。他只是更深地陷在椅子里。只有当两个女人抓住他的胳膊时,他才会睁开眼睛,来回看着母亲和姐姐,通常会说:“多好的生活啊。我的晚年生活如此平静。”在两个女人的搀扶下,他费力地站了起来,好像他自己就是他最大的负担,让两个女人把他带到门口,他挥手示意她们走开,独自向前走,而母亲则匆忙放下手中的针线,姐姐则放下笔,追上父亲,继续提供帮助。
As soon as the clock struck ten, the mother tried to wake up the father with a few gentle words, trying to persuade him to go to bed, because here he couldn’t get any proper rest, which the father sorely needed, since he had to go on duty at six. But with the obstinacy that had possessed him since he’d become a bank messenger, he always insisted on staying at the table a little longer, though he regularly fell asleep, and it was then only with the greatest effort that he could be coaxed into exchanging his armchair for his bed. No matter how much the mother and sister cajoled and admonished him, he would go on shaking his head slowly for a quarter of an hour, keeping his eyes shut and refusing to get up. The mother plucked at his sleeve, whispering sweet words into his ear; the sister would leave her homework to help her mother, but none of this had any effect on the father. He merely sank deeper into his chair. He would open his eyes only when the two women took hold of him under his arms, look back and forth at the mother and sister, and usually say, “What a life. Such is the peace of my old age.” And supported by both women, he rose to his feet laboriously, as if he himself were his greatest burden, and allowed the women to lead him to the door, where he waved them away and went on by himself, while the mother hastily dropped her sewing and the sister her pen, to run after the father and provide further assistance.
在这个劳累过度、精疲力竭的家庭里,谁还有时间担心格里高尔呢?家务事更是被忽视了;女仆毕竟被解雇了;一个身材高大、骨瘦如柴、白发飘扬的清洁女工现在每天早晚都来做最繁重的家务;其他一切都由母亲负责,包括所有的缝纫工作。甚至连母亲和妹妹过去在聚会和重大场合非常高兴佩戴的各种世家珠宝也不得不卖掉,这是格里高尔晚上从家人讨论它们卖出的价格时得知的。但他们最大的抱怨总是他们不能离开这间公寓,它对他们目前的情况来说太大了,因为谁也想不出如何搬走格里高尔。但格里高尔完全明白,阻碍搬家的不仅仅是对他的关心,因为他可以很容易地装在一个合适的板条箱里,只要有几个透气孔;最让他们止步不前的,是他们处境的完全绝望,以及他们觉得自己遭遇了比他们所有亲朋好友中任何人都更不幸的不幸。他们所遭受的苦难达到了穷人应有的极限:父亲给银行初级职员送早餐,母亲牺牲自己为陌生人缝内衣,姐姐在柜台后面为顾客跑来跑去,但除此之外,一家人已经没有其他力量了。每当母亲和姐姐把父亲哄睡后回来,放下工作,靠在一起,脸贴脸地坐着时,格里高尔背上的伤口又开始疼起来;这时,母亲指着格里高尔的房间说:“关上门,格蕾特”,格里高尔又回到了黑暗之中,而隔壁房间里的两个女人要么泪流满面,要么干巴巴地盯着桌子。
Who in this overworked and exhausted family had time to worry about Gregor any more than was absolutely necessary? The household was neglected even more; the maid was dismissed after all; a gigantic, bony cleaning woman with white hair fluttering around her head now came every morning and evening to do the heaviest chores; everything else was taken care of by the mother, along with all her sewing. It even came to pass that various pieces of family jewelry, which the mother and sister used to wear with great pleasure at parties and on great occasions, had to be sold, as Gregor learned in the evenings from the family’s discussion of the prices they had fetched. But always their greatest complaint was that they couldn’t leave this apartment, which was much too large for their present circumstances, since no one could imagine how to move Gregor. But Gregor fully understood that it was not only concern for him that prevented a move, for he could easily have been shipped in a suitable crate with a few air holes; what mostly stopped them was the complete hopelessness of their situation and their sense that they had been struck by a misfortune unlike anyone else in their entire circle of friends and relations. They were suffering to the limit what the world requires of poor people: the father brought in breakfast for junior bank clerks; the mother sacrificed herself sewing underwear for strangers; the sister ran to and fro behind a counter at the bidding of customers, but the family had no more strength beyond that. And the wound in Gregor’s back began to hurt again whenever the mother and sister returned after putting the father to bed, dropped their work, drew close together, and sat cheek to cheek; then the mother, pointing to Gregor’s room, said “Close the door, Grete,” so that Gregor was again left in darkness while in the next room, the women mingled their tears or stared dry eyed at the table.
格里高尔几乎整天整夜不眠。有时他幻想着下次门打开时,他会像过去一样再次掌管家庭事务;他的脑海中又出现了许久不见的主任和办公室经理、办事员和实习生、反应迟钝的办公室勤杂工、两三个来自其他公司的朋友、乡村旅馆的女服务员(一段短暂而迷人的回忆)、他曾认真追求但进展缓慢的帽子店收银员——他们都和陌生人或他忘记的人混在一起出现了,但他们并没有帮助格里高尔和他的家人,而是无法接近他们,格里高尔很高兴他们消失了。但其他时候,他没有心情担心家人;他对自己受到的照顾太差感到愤怒;尽管他无法想象自己对任何东西有胃口,但他仍然想方设法进入食品储藏室,这样他就可以自己吃送上来的食物,即使他不饿。姐姐不再考虑格里高尔会不会特别开心,而是在早上和中午匆忙上班之前,用脚把吃剩的食物迅速地推到格里高尔的房间里;到了晚上,她不管食物是被人啃过,还是——最常见的情况是——完全没动过,都用扫帚一扫。现在她总是在晚上打扫格里高尔的房间,但这次却再马虎不过。墙上满是肮脏的污垢,到处都是一团团的灰尘和污物。起初,格里高尔在姐姐进来时会站在特别难看的角落里,好像有意责备她。但他可以在那里等上几个星期,姐姐也不会有任何改善;当然,姐姐和格里高尔一样看得清污垢,但她只是决定把它们留在那里。同时,她还以一种前所未有的敏感,而且确实全家人都这样,坚持让格里高尔的房间只由她一个人负责打扫。有一次,格里高尔的母亲对他的房间进行了彻底的打扫,她只用了几桶水就搞定了——结果格里高尔当然感到恶心,他躺在沙发上,一动不动,一脸苦恼——但母亲也逃脱不了惩罚。因为那天晚上,格里高尔的姐姐一发现他房间的变化,就跑进客厅,感到深深的屈辱,尽管母亲举起双手哀求,但妹妹还是放声大哭,而父母——父亲当然被吓得从扶手椅上跳了起来——目瞪口呆,目瞪口呆,直到他们也开始打扫;父亲责备右边的母亲没有把打扫格里高尔房间的事留给妹妹,他对左边的妹妹喊道:警告她再也不会允许她打扫格里高尔的房间;与此同时,母亲试图把怒不可遏的父亲拖进卧室;妹妹哭泣得浑身发抖,用小拳头捶着桌子;格里高尔怒不可遏,大声嘶嘶叫,因为没人想到关上门,让他免受这种场面和骚动。
Gregor spent his nights and days almost entirely without sleep. Sometimes he fancied that the next time the door opened, he would once again take charge of the family affairs just as he had done in the past; in his thoughts there reappeared, as after a long absence, the director and the office manager, the clerks and the trainees, the slow-witted office boy, two or three friends from other firms, a maid in a country hotel (a charming, fleeting memory), a cashier in a hat shop whom he’d courted earnestly but too slowly — they all appeared mixed up with strangers or people he’d forgotten, but instead of helping him and his family, they were all inaccessible, and he was glad when they disappeared. But at other times he was in no mood to worry about his family; he was filled with rage over how badly he was looked after; and even though he couldn’t imagine having an appetite for anything, he still invented plans for getting into the pantry so he could help himself to the food that was coming to him, even if he wasn’t hungry. No longer considering what might give Gregor some special pleasure, the sister now quickly pushed any old food into Gregor’s room with her foot before she rushed off to work both in the morning and at noon; then in the evening, not caring whether the food had only been nibbled at or — most frequently — left completely untouched, she swept it out with a swing of her broom. The cleaning of his room, which she now always took care of in the evening, couldn’t have been more perfunctory. Grimy dirt streaked the walls, and balls of dust and filth lay here and there. At first Gregor would stand in particularly offensive corners when the sister came in, as if intending to reproach her. But he could have waited there for weeks without the sister making any improvement; she could see the dirt just as well as he could, of course, but she had simply made up her mind to leave it there. At the same time, with a touchiness that was new to her, and that indeed was felt in the entire family, she made certain that the cleaning of Gregor’s room remained her exclusive responsibility. Once Gregor’s mother subjected his room to a thorough cleaning, which she managed only by using several buckets of water — the resulting dampness made Gregor sick, of course, and he lay stretched out on the sofa, embittered and immobile — but the mother didn’t escape her punishment. Because that evening, the moment Gregor’s sister noticed the change in his room, she ran into the living room, deeply insulted, and although the mother raised her hands imploringly, the sister broke out in a fit of weeping, while the parents — the father had of course been frightened out of his armchair — gaped in helpless astonishment, until they too started in; the father reproached the mother on his right for not leaving the cleaning of Gregor’s room to the sister, and he shouted at the sister on his left, warning her that she would never again be allowed to clean Gregor’s room; meanwhile the mother tried to drag the father, who was beside himself with rage, into the bedroom; the sister, shaking with sobs, beat the table with her small fists; and Gregor hissed loudly in his fury because no one thought of closing the door and sparing him this spectacle and commotion.
但是,即使格里高尔的姐姐在商店工作累得筋疲力尽,不想再像以前那样照顾他,格里高尔的母亲也没有必要代替她照顾他,因为现在有清洁女工在。这个老寡妇在她漫长的一生中一定经历过最艰难的时期,因为她身体强健,所以她并不排斥格里高尔。她一点也不爱管闲事,有一天她碰巧打开了格里高尔房间的门,看到格里高尔被完全吓了一跳,开始来回乱窜,尽管没有人追他,她只是惊讶地站在那里,双手交叉放在肚子上。从那时起,她每天早晚都会把格里高尔的门打开一条缝,偷看格里高尔。起初,她甚至会用她认为友好的话叫他过来,比如“过来,你这个老蜣螂”,或者“看看那只老蜣螂!”格里高尔从来不理会这些叫喊,只是一动不动地站在原地,好像门从来没有被打开过一样。要是他们命令这个女人每天打扫他的房间,而不是让她随意打扰他就好了!有一次,一大早——一场大雨,也许是春天即将来临的征兆,打在窗玻璃上——格里高尔被清洁女工又开始胡言乱语弄得非常恼火,他向她冲过去,好像要攻击她,但动作很慢,很虚弱。清洁女工不但不害怕,反而抬起放在门边的一把椅子,张大嘴巴站在那里,显然不打算再合上,直到她手中的椅子砸在格里高尔的背上。“所以你不再靠近一点了?”格里高尔再次转过身来时,她问道,然后平静地把椅子放回角落里。
But even if Gregor’s sister, exhausted by her work at the shop, was fed up with taking care of him as before, it was by no means necessary for the mother to take her place to make sure that Gregor wouldn’t be neglected. For now the cleaning woman was there. This old widow, who in her long life must have weathered the worst thanks to her sturdy constitution, wasn’t really repelled by Gregor. Without being in the least nosy, she happened one day to open the door to Gregor’s room, and at the sight of Gregor, who was completely taken by surprise and began scrambling back and forth though no one was chasing him, she had merely stood still in amazement, her hands folded on her stomach. Since then, she never failed to open his door a crack every morning and night to peep in at Gregor. Initially she would even call him over with words she probably considered friendly, such as “Come on over here, you old dung beetle,” or “Just look at that old dung beetle!” Gregor never responded to such calls, but remained motionless where he stood, as if the door had never been opened. If only they had ordered this woman to clean out his room every day, instead of letting her disturb him whenever she pleased! Once, early in the morning — a heavy rain, perhaps a sign of the coming spring, was pelting the windowpanes — Gregor was so annoyed when the cleaning woman again launched into her phrases that he charged toward her as if to attack, but slowly and feebly. Instead of being frightened, the cleaning woman simply raised a chair placed near the door and stood there with her mouth wide open, obviously not intending to close it again until the chair in her hand came crashing down on Gregor’s back. “So you’re not coming any closer?” she asked, when Gregor turned around again, and she calmly put the chair back in the corner.
这时格里高尔几乎什么都不吃。只有当他偶然路过摆放好的食物时,他才会为了好玩而咬上一口,含在嘴里几个小时,然后大部分时间都会吐出来。起初他以为是因为房间状况不佳而无法进食,但他很快就适应了这些变化。这家人养成了把没有其他地方放的东西放到他房间里的习惯,现在这些东西很多,因为他们把公寓的一间卧室租给了三个房客。这三个严肃的绅士——格里高尔曾经透过门缝看到他们三个都留着大胡子——非常注重整洁,不仅是在他们的房间里,而且,因为他们在那里付房租,所以整个公寓,尤其是厨房,也都如此。他们无法忍受任何无用的零碎东西,更不用说脏兮兮的了。此外,他们大多自带家具。因此,很多东西都成了多余的,既卖不掉,又扔不掉。这些东西都进了格里高尔的房间。厨房里的灰桶和垃圾桶也一样。清洁女工总是匆匆忙忙地把那些没用的东西扔进格里高尔的房间;格里高尔通常很幸运,只能看到那些东西和拿着它的那只手。也许清洁女工打算等有时间和机会的时候再把这些东西捡起来,或者一次把所有东西都扔掉,但事实上它们就放在了它们碰巧落到的地方,除非格里高尔趟过垃圾堆,把它弄起来,起初是出于需要,因为没有空地可以爬;但后来,他越来越高兴,尽管这样走了几步之后,他会一动不动地躺上几个小时,筋疲力尽,痛苦不堪。
By this time Gregor was eating next to nothing. Only when he happened by chance to pass by the food spread out for him, would he take a bite in his mouth just for pleasure, hold it there for hours, and then mostly spit it back out again. At first he thought it was distress at the condition of his room that kept him from eating, but he soon became adjusted to these very changes. The family had gotten into the habit of putting things that had no other place into his room, and now there were plenty of such things, because they had rented a bedroom in the apartment to three boarders. These serious gentlemen — all three had full beards, as Gregor once observed through a crack in the door — were obsessed with order, not only in their room, but also, since they were paying rent there, throughout the apartment, particularly the kitchen. They couldn’t stand any kind of useless odds and ends, let alone dirty ones. Furthermore, they had for the most part brought along their own furnishings. For this reason, many things had become superfluous that couldn’t be sold but also couldn’t be thrown away. All these things ended up in Gregor’s room. As did the ash bucket and the garbage pail from the kitchen. Whatever was not being used at the moment was simply flung into Gregor’s room by the cleaning woman, who was always in a hurry; Gregor was usually fortunate enough to see only the object in question and the hand that held it. Perhaps the cleaning woman intended to retrieve these objects when she had time and opportunity to do so, or else to throw out everything at once, but in fact they lay wherever they happened to land, unless Gregor waded through the junk pile and set it in motion, at first out of necessity because there was no free space to crawl; but later on with growing pleasure, though after such excursions he would lie still for hours, dead tired and miserable.
因为寄宿生有时也在家里的公共客厅吃晚餐,所以格里高尔家的门很多晚上都是关着的,但他发现放弃开着的门很容易,因为以前很多晚上门都是开着的,他已经没有利用过,只是没有被家人注意到,他就躺在房间最暗的角落里。然而有一次,清洁女工把客厅的门开了一条小缝,即使晚上寄宿生进来,灯也亮着,门还是开着。他们坐在桌子的一头,爸爸、妈妈和格里高尔以前就坐在那里,打开餐巾,拿起刀叉。母亲立刻端着一盘肉出现在门口,紧随其后的是姐姐,她端着一盘堆满土豆的盘子。食物冒着浓浓的热气。食客们俯身看着摆在他们面前的盘子,仿佛要先检查一下再吃,而坐在中间的那个男人(其他两个人似乎把他视为权威)切开了盘子上的一块肉,显然是为了看看它是否够嫩,或者是否需要送回厨房。他很满意,于是一直焦急地看着的母亲和妹妹又松了一口气,开始微笑起来。
Since the boarders also sometimes took their evening meal at home in the common living room, Gregor’s door stayed shut on many evenings, but he found it very easy to give up the open door, for when it was left open on many earlier evenings he had already not taken advantage of it, but without the family’s notice, he had lain in the darkest corner of his room. Once, however, the cleaning woman had left the door to the living room open a small crack; and it stayed open, even when the boarders entered in the evening and the lamp was lit. They sat at the head of the table where the father, mother, and Gregor had sat in the old days, unfolded their napkins and picked up their knives and forks. Immediately the mother appeared in the doorway with a platter of meat, and right behind her was the sister with a platter piled high with potatoes. The food gave off thick clouds of steam. The boarders bent over the platters placed in front of them as if to examine them before eating, and in fact the man sitting in the middle (whom the other two seemed to regard as an authority) cut up a piece of meat on the platter, obviously in order to determine whether it was tender enough or should perhaps need to be sent back to the kitchen. He was satisfied, and so the mother and sister, who had been watching anxiously, breathed freely again and began to smile.
全家人都在厨房吃饭。不过,父亲在去厨房之前,先走进客厅,手拿帽子,鞠了一躬,然后绕着桌子走了一圈。寄宿生们同时站起来,对着胡子嘟囔了几句。等到只剩下他们时,他们几乎一言不发地吃饭。格里高尔觉得很奇怪,在各种吃饭的声音中,他总能分辨出他们咀嚼的声音,这似乎是在向格里高尔证明,牙齿是吃饭的必需品,即使是最神奇的无牙下巴也无济于事。“我确实有胃口,”格里高尔悲伤地自言自语道,“但不是吃这些东西。那些寄宿生们狼吞虎咽,我快饿死了。”
The family itself ate in the kitchen. Nevertheless, before the father headed for the kitchen, he came into the living room, bowed once, his cap in hand, and walked around the table. The boarders all rose simultaneously and muttered something into their beards. When they were alone again, they ate in almost complete silence. It seemed strange to Gregor that out of the various noises of eating, he could always distinguish the sound of their chomping teeth, as if to demonstrate to Gregor that teeth were necessary for eating, and that even the most wonderful toothless jaws could accomplish nothing. “I do have an appetite,” said Gregor mournfully to himself, “but not for these things. How those boarders gorge themselves, and I’m starving to death.”
就在那天晚上——格里高尔记不起在这段时间里他曾经听到过一次小提琴声——厨房里传来了小提琴声。寄宿生们已经吃完晚饭,中间的那个拿出一份报纸,把一张纸递给另外两个人,现在他们正靠在椅背上,一边看书一边抽烟。当小提琴开始演奏时,他们注意到了,站起来,蹑手蹑脚地走到门厅,在那里停下来,挤在一起。他们一定是从厨房听到了,因为父亲喊道:“先生们是不是被音乐打扰了?可以马上停止。”“恰恰相反,”中间的那个寄宿生说,“那位年轻女士不想和我们一起进到客厅里演奏吗?那里更宽敞、更舒适。”“哦,当然愿意,”父亲大声说,好像他是小提琴手一样。寄宿生们回到客厅等着。不一会儿,父亲拿着乐谱来了,母亲拿着乐谱来了,姐姐拿着小提琴来了。姐姐不慌不忙地做好了一切准备,准备玩耍;姐姐的父母以前从未租过房间,因此对寄宿生格外有礼,不敢坐在自己的椅子上;父亲斜倚在门上,右手插在制服上衣的两颗纽扣之间;然而,一位寄宿生让给母亲一把椅子,她就坐在他碰巧放的地方,在一边的角落里。
On that very evening — Gregor couldn’t remember having once heard the violin during all this time — it was heard from the kitchen. The boarders had already finished their supper, the middle one had taken out a newspaper, handing over a sheet apiece to the two others, and they were now leaning back, reading and smoking. When the violin began to play, they noticed it, stood up, and tiptoed to the hall, where they paused, huddled together. They must have been heard from the kitchen, because the father called, “Are the gentlemen disturbed by the music, perhaps? It can be stopped at once.” “On the contrary,” said the middle boarder, “wouldn’t the young lady like to come in here with us and play in the living room, which is more spacious and comfortable?” “Oh, with pleasure,” cried the father, as if he were the violinist. The boarders went back into the living room and waited. Soon the father came with the music stand, the mother with the sheet music, and the sister with the violin. The sister calmly got everything ready to play; the parents, who’d never rented rooms before and therefore were excessively polite to the boarders, didn’t dare to sit on their own chairs; the father leaned against the door, his right hand thrust between two buttons of his closed uniform jacket; the mother, however, was offered a chair by one of the boarders and sat down on it just where he happened to put it, off to the side in a corner.
妹妹开始弹琴,爸爸妈妈站在她两边,专心致志地看着她手上的动作。格里高尔被她的弹琴吸引,又往外走了一点,头已经伸进了客厅。他并不奇怪自己最近开始对别人如此漠不关心,以前这种体贴是他的骄傲。然而现在他比以往任何时候都更有理由躲起来,因为他满身都是灰尘,房间里到处都是灰尘,只要他稍微一动,灰尘就飞来飞去;绒毛、头发和食物残渣也粘在他的背上,从他的身体两侧拖下来;他对一切都漠不关心,以至于他不能像以前那样一天躺好几次,用背在地毯上摩擦身体。尽管他身体状况如此,但他毫不羞愧地向前挪了一点,来到了客厅一尘不染的地板上。
The sister began to play; the father and mother on either side of her followed the movements of her hands attentively. Gregor, attracted by her playing, had ventured out a little further, and his head was already in the living room. He was hardly surprised that he had recently begun to show so little concern for others; previously such thoughtfulness had been his pride. And yet right now he would have had even more reason than ever to stay hidden, because he was completely covered with dust as a result of the particles that lay everywhere in his room and flew about with his slightest movement; bits of fluff, hair, and food remnants also stuck to his back and trailed from his sides; his indifference to everything was much too great for him to lie on his back and rub himself against the carpet, as he had once done several times a day. And in spite of his condition, he felt no shame in edging forward a little onto the immaculate floor of the living room.
当然,没有人注意他。全家人都沉浸在小提琴演奏中;另一方面,寄宿生们双手插在口袋里,起初站得太靠近姐姐的乐谱架,这样他们就能看懂乐谱,这肯定会分散姐姐的注意力,但他们很快就退到窗边,低着头在那里轻声交谈,而父亲则焦急地注视着他们。事实上,现在很明显,他们似乎对听到美妙或有趣的小提琴演奏的希望落空了,好像他们已经听够了演奏,只是出于礼貌才忍受这种平静的打扰。尤其是,他们都用鼻子和嘴巴向空中喷出雪茄烟雾的方式表明他们非常烦躁。然而,姐姐的演奏却如此美妙。她的脸歪向一边,眼睛带着一种探索和悲伤的目光追随着音乐的音符。格里高尔又往前爬了一点,把头贴近地板,这样他们的眼睛就能相遇了。他是动物吗,音乐竟能让他如此感动?他似乎被指引到了他渴望的未知营养的道路上。他决心挤到妹妹面前,拉扯她的裙子,建议她带着小提琴进他的房间,因为这里没有人像他一样配得上她拉琴。他再也不会让她离开他的房间了,至少在他活着的时候不会;他可怕的身躯将第一次对他有用;他将同时守卫房间的所有门,对闯入者发出嘶嘶声;然而,他的妹妹不会被迫和他在一起,而是可以自愿留下来;她应该坐在沙发上,挨着他,低下头听他说话,然后他会告诉她,他已经下定决心要送她去音乐学院,如果没有不幸的遭遇,他会在圣诞节向所有人宣布这一消息——圣诞节已经过去了吗?——不听任何反对。说完这些话,他的妹妹会激动得泪流满面,格里高尔会抬起头,亲吻她的脖子,现在她出去工作了,脖子上没有丝带和领子。
To be sure, no one paid any attention to him. The family was completely absorbed by the violin playing; on the other hand, the boarders, with their hands in their pockets, stood at first much too closely behind the sister’s music stand so that they all would have been able to read the music, which surely must have distracted the sister, but they soon retreated to the window and stayed there with lowered heads, softly talking with each other, while the father watched them anxiously. Indeed it now appeared all too clearly that they seemed disappointed in their hopes of hearing beautiful or entertaining violin playing, as if they had had enough of the recital and were merely suffering this disturbance of their peace out of politeness. In particular, the way in which they all blew their cigar smoke through their nose and mouth into the air suggested their high degree of irritability. And yet the sister was playing so beautifully. Her face was inclined to one side, her eyes followed the notes of the music with a searching and sorrowful look. Gregor crawled a little bit further forward and kept his head close to the floor so that it might be possible for their eyes to meet. Was he an animal, that music could move him so? It seemed as if he were being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he longed for. He was determined to push his way up to his sister and tug at her skirt, and thus suggest that she should come into his room with her violin, for nobody here was worthy of her playing as he would be worthy of it. He would never let her out of his room again, at least not so long as he lived; his terrible shape would be useful to him for the first time; he would stand guard at all the doors of his room simultaneously, hissing at the intruders; his sister, however, wouldn’t be forced to stay with him but should remain of her own free will; she should sit next to him on the sofa, bending her ear down to him, and then he would confide to her that he had made a firm resolve to send her to the conservatory, and that if misfortune hadn’t intervened, he would have announced this to everyone at Christmas — had Christmas passed already? — without listening to any objections. After this declaration his sister would burst into tears of emotion, and Gregor would raise himself up to her shoulder and kiss her on the neck, which — now that she went out to work — she kept free of ribbon or collar.
“萨姆沙先生!”中间的房客向父亲喊道,他二话不说,用食指指着正慢慢往前爬的格里高尔。小提琴声戛然而止,中间的房客先是摇头微笑着看着他的朋友们,然后又看向格里高尔。父亲似乎认为安抚房客比赶走格里高尔更为紧迫,尽管他们一点也不生气,格里高尔似乎比小提琴演奏更能逗他们开心。父亲张开双臂冲向他们,试图把他们赶回他们的房间,同时用身体挡住他们看格里高尔的视线。现在他们真的有点生气了;不清楚是父亲的行为应该受到指责,还是他们意识到自己在不知不觉中有了像格里高尔这样的隔壁邻居。他们要求父亲做出解释,向他挥舞着手臂,紧张地拔着胡子,然后他们很不情愿地向他们的房间退去。与此同时,姐姐从音乐突然中断而陷入的茫然状态中恢复过来;她无精打采地把小提琴和琴弓放在她松弛的手中,继续盯着乐谱,好像她还在演奏一样,然后突然振作起来,把乐器放在母亲的腿上(母亲仍然坐在椅子上,喘着粗气,肺部起伏),跑进隔壁的房间,寄宿生在父亲的催促下,正更快地向房间走去。可以看到床上的毯子和枕头听从姐姐灵巧的手,整齐地摆放着。寄宿生还没到他们的房间,她就整理好了床,溜了出去。父亲似乎又一次被他的固执所征服,忘记了他对寄宿生的任何尊重。他不断地挤他们,直到就在他们房间的门口,中间的寄宿生猛地跺了跺脚,把父亲拦了下来。 “我在此声明,”他举起手,环顾四周寻找母亲和妹妹,“鉴于这个家庭和这个家庭的恶劣条件”——说到这里,他立即朝地板上吐了口唾沫——“我立即通知。我当然也不会为我在这里住的日子支付一分钱;相反,我会认真考虑对你采取某种法律行动,并提出索赔——相信我——这些索赔将非常容易证实。”他沉默不语,直视前方,仿佛在期待什么。事实上,他的两个朋友立即附和道:“我们明天也要离开。”于是他抓住门把手,砰地关上了门。
“Mr. Samsa!” cried the middle boarder to the father, and without wasting another word, he pointed with his forefinger at Gregor, who was slowly crawling forward. The violin fell silent, the middle boarder first smiled at his friends with a shake of his head and then looked at Gregor again. The father seemed to think that it was more urgent to pacify the boarders than to drive Gregor out, though they weren’t at all upset, and Gregor seemed to entertain them more than the violin playing. With outstretched arms, the father rushed to them and tried to herd them back to their room, while simultaneously blocking their view of Gregor with his body. Now they really became a bit angry; it wasn’t clear whether the father’s behavior was to blame or whether the realization was dawning on them that they had unknowingly had a next door neighbor like Gregor. They demanded explanations from the father, waving their arms at him, nervously plucking their beards, and then they backed toward their room very reluctantly. In the meantime, the sister had recovered from the bewildered state she had fallen into with the sudden interruption of her music; after having dangled her violin and bow listlessly for awhile in her slack hands, continuing to gaze at the music as if she were still playing, she had suddenly pulled herself together, placed her instrument in her mother’s lap (her mother was still sitting in her chair, gasping for breath with heaving lungs) and run into the next room, which the boarders were approaching more rapidly now under pressure from the father. One could see the blankets and pillows on the beds obeying the sister’s skillful hands and arranging themselves neatly. Before the boarders had even reached their room, she finished making the beds and slipped out. Once again the father seemed so overcome by his obstinacy that he was forgetting any respect he still owed his boarders. He kept crowding them and crowding them until, just at the doorway to their room, the middle boarder thunderously stamped his foot and brought the father to a halt. “I hereby declare,” he said, raising his hand and looking around for the mother and sister too, “that in view of the disgusting conditions prevailing in this household and family” — here he promptly spit on the floor — “I give immediate notice. I will of course not pay a cent for the days that I have been living here, either; on the contrary, I will think seriously about taking some sort of legal action against you, with claims — believe me — that would be very easy to substantiate.” He was silent and looked straight ahead of him, as if he were expecting something. And in fact his two friends immediately chimed in with the words, “We’re also leaving tomorrow.” Thereupon he seized the door handle and banged the door shut.
格里高尔的父亲摸索着,摇摇晃晃地走到扶手椅旁,一屁股坐了进去。他看上去像是在伸懒腰,准备睡个午觉,但他的头却像不受控制地快速点着,表明他根本没有睡着。这段时间里,格里高尔一直躺在寄宿生们看到他的地方。计划失败让他很失望,也许还因为饥饿使他虚弱无力,使他无法移动。他相当肯定地担心,下一刻一切都会崩塌,他正在等待。当小提琴从母亲颤抖的手指间滑落,掉在她膝上,发出回响的铿锵声时,他甚至没有感到吃惊。
Gregor’s father staggered with groping hands to his armchair and let himself fall into it; he looked as if he were stretching out for his usual evening nap, but the rapid nodding of his head, as if it were out of control, showed that he was anything but asleep. All this time Gregor had been lying still in the same place where the boarders had caught sight of him. His disappointment over the failure of his plan, and perhaps also the weakness caused by his great hunger, made it impossible for him to move. With a fair degree of certainty, he feared that in the very next moment everything would collapse over him, and he was waiting. He was not even startled when the violin slipped through the mother’s trembling fingers, fell off her lap, and gave off a reverberating clang.
“我亲爱的父母,”姐姐用手敲着桌子作为开场白,“事情不能再这样继续下去了。也许你们没有意识到这一点,但我知道。我拒绝在这个怪物面前说出我哥哥的名字,所以我说:我们必须设法摆脱它。我们已经尽了一切人力去照顾它并忍受它;我想没有人会责备我们。”
“My dear parents,” the sister said, striking the table with her hand by way of introduction, “things can’t go on like this. Perhaps you don’t realize that, but I do. I refuse to utter my brother’s name in the presence of this monster, and so I say: we have to try to get rid of it. We’ve done everything humanly possible to take care of it and put up with it; I think no one could reproach us in the slightest.”
“她说得千真万确,”父亲自言自语道。母亲仍然在努力喘气,眼神狂野,开始用手捂住嘴干咳。
“She’s right a thousand times over,” the father said to himself. Still struggling to catch her breath, a wild look in her eyes, the mother began to cough hollowly into her hand.
姐姐冲到母亲身边,扶住她的额头。父亲听了姐姐的话,似乎头脑清醒了些,他坐直了身子,在桌上还摆着寄宿生晚餐的盘子,把玩着他的制服帽,不时地朝一动不动的格里高尔瞟一眼。
The sister rushed to the mother and held her forehead. The father’s thoughts seemed to have become clearer as a result of the sister’s words; he had sat up straight and was playing with his uniform cap among the dishes that still lay on the table from the boarder’s supper, and from time to time he glanced over at Gregor, who remained motionless.
“我们必须设法摆脱它,”姐姐说,现在只对父亲说,因为母亲咳嗽得听不清。“它会杀死你们两个的,我能预见到这一点。当我们都必须像现在这样努力工作时,我们怎么能忍受这种持续不断的家庭折磨?至少我再也受不了了。”她放声大哭,眼泪流到了母亲的脸上,母亲机械地擦去眼泪。
“We must try to get rid of it,” said the sister, now only addressing the father, since the mother couldn’t hear anything over her coughing. “It’ll kill both of you, I can see that coming. When we all have to work as hard as we do, how can we stand this constant torment at home? At least I can’t stand it anymore.” And she burst out into such violent weeping that her tears flowed down onto her mother’s face, where she mechanically wiped them away.
“我的孩子,”父亲充满同情和理解地说道,“但是我们该怎么办呢?”
“My child,” said the father compassionately and with remarkable comprehension, “but what are we supposed to do?”
姐姐只是耸耸肩膀,以表示她哭泣时涌现出的无助,与以前的自信形成了鲜明对比。
The sister just shrugged her shoulders to show the helplessness that had now come over her during her crying fit, in contrast to her former self-confidence.
“如果他理解我们的话,”父亲半疑惑地说道;姐姐仍在抽泣,她猛烈地挥着手,表示这是多么不可想象。
“If he understood us,” said the father, half-questioningly; the sister, still sobbing, waved her hand vehemently to show how unthinkable it was.
“如果他理解我们的话,”父亲重复道,闭上眼睛,接受妹妹的信念,即这是不可能的,“那么也许我们可以和他达成某种协议。但事实是——”
“If he understood us,” repeated the father, closing his eyes to absorb the sister’s conviction that this was impossible, “then perhaps we might be able to come to some sort of agreement with him. But as it is —”
“他必须走,”姐姐喊道,“这是唯一的答案,父亲。你必须努力不去想这是格里高尔。我们这么久以来一直相信这一点,这才是我们真正的不幸。但是这怎么可能是格里高尔呢?如果是格里高尔,他早就明白,人与这样的生物是不可能生活在一起的,他会自愿离开。那样的话,我们就没有兄弟了,但我们可以继续生活,纪念他。但是相反,这个生物迫害我们,赶走寄宿生,显然是想占领整个公寓,让我们睡在街上。瞧,父亲,”她突然尖叫道,“他又来了!”而且——格里高尔完全无法理解这种恐慌——姐姐甚至抛弃了母亲,从椅子上跳了起来,好像她宁愿牺牲母亲也不愿呆在格里高尔身边,然后冲到父亲身后,父亲也站了起来,对她的行为感到惊慌,半举起双臂,好像要保护她。
“He’s got to go,” cried the sister, “that’s the only answer, father. You must just try to stop thinking that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is actually our true misfortune. But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would long since have understood that it’s impossible for people to live together with such a creature, and he would have gone away of his own free will. Then we wouldn’t have a brother, but we could go on living and honor his memory. But instead this creature persecutes us, drives away the boarders, obviously wants to take over the entire apartment and let us sleep out in the street. Just look, father,” she suddenly shrieked, “he’s at it again!” And — in a state of panic that was totally incomprehensible to Gregor — the sister even abandoned her mother, literally bolting away from her chair as if she would rather sacrifice her mother than stay near Gregor, and she rushed behind her father, who got to his feet as well, alarmed at her behavior, and half raised his arms as if to protect her.
但格里高尔丝毫没有要吓唬任何人的意思,尤其是他的妹妹。他只是开始转身,想回到自己的房间,这当然也引来了别人的注意,因为在身体虚弱的情况下,他不得不用头来完成这些困难的转身,他把头抬起来,撞在地板上好几次。他停下来,环顾四周。他的好意似乎被人看穿了;那只是一时的惊慌。现在他们都看着他,沉默而悲伤。他的母亲躺在椅子上,双腿伸直并拢,眼睛几乎因疲惫而闭上了;他的父亲和妹妹并排坐着,他的妹妹把手放在父亲的脖子上。
But Gregor hadn’t the slightest intention of frightening anyone, least of all his sister. He had merely begun to turn himself around so as to return to his room, and that admittedly did attract attention, since in his feeble condition he had to use his head to achieve these difficult turns, raising it and bumping it against the floor several times. He paused and looked around. His good intentions seemed to have been recognized; it had only been a momentary alarm. Now they all watched him, silent and sad. His mother lay back in her chair, her legs stretched out and pressed together, her eyes almost shut from exhaustion; his father and sister were sitting side by side, his sister had placed her hand around her father’s neck.
“现在我也许可以转身了,”格里高尔想着,又继续干活。他无法抑制自己因为劳累而气喘吁吁的情绪,而且不得不时不时地停下来休息。除此之外,没有人催他,一切都由他自己决定。转完身后,他开始沿直线往回爬。他惊讶地发现,他和房间之间竟然有这么远的距离,他无法理解,在如此虚弱的状态下,他怎么能在不久之前几乎不自觉地爬过同样的距离。他如此专注于快速爬行,以至于几乎没有注意到家人的话语或叫喊声在干扰他的前进。直到他已经走到门口时,他才转过头,虽然没有完全转过头,因为他感到脖子僵硬,但足以看到身后什么都没有改变,只是他的妹妹站了起来。他最后的目光落在母亲身上,她现在已经酣睡了。
“Perhaps I’m allowed to turn around now,” Gregor thought, and he resumed his work. He couldn’t suppress his panting from the exertion and also had to stop and rest every once in awhile. Otherwise no one hurried him, it was all left entirely to him. When he had completed the turn, he started to crawl back in a straight line. He was astonished at the great distance separating him from his room and couldn’t comprehend how in his weak condition he could have covered the same ground a short time ago almost without noticing it. So intent was he on crawling rapidly, he scarcely noticed that no word or outcry from the family was disturbing his progress. Only when he was already in the doorway did he turn his head, not completely, for he felt his neck stiffening, but enough to see that nothing had changed behind him, except that his sister had stood up. His final gaze fell on his mother, who was now sound asleep.
他刚进房间,门就被匆忙地关上,牢牢地闩上,锁上了。身后突然传来的响声吓得格里高尔的小腿都弯了。原来是他的妹妹太着急了。她一直站在那里,准备就绪,然后迅速向前跳去,格里高尔甚至没有听到她来了,她一边转动钥匙,一边向父母喊道“终于来了!”
No sooner was he inside his room than the door was hurriedly slammed shut, firmly bolted, and locked. The sudden noise behind him frightened Gregor so much that his little legs buckled. It was his sister who had been in such a hurry. She had been standing there ready and waiting, then she had swiftly leaped forward, Gregor hadn’t even heard her coming, and she had cried “At last!” to her parents as she turned the key in the lock.
“现在呢?”格里高尔问自己,在黑暗中四处张望。他很快发现自己根本动弹不得。他并不惊讶,相反,他觉得直到现在他居然还能用那双细小的腿走动,这似乎有点不自然。除此之外,他感觉还算舒服。当然,他全身疼痛,但他觉得疼痛正在逐渐减轻,最终会完全消失。背上的烂苹果和周围被柔软的灰尘完全覆盖的发炎部位几乎不困扰他。他满怀温柔和爱意地想起了家人。他坚信自己必须消失,如果可能的话,这种信念甚至比他姐姐的信念还要坚定。他一直处于这种空虚、平静的冥想状态,直到塔楼的钟敲响凌晨三点。他刚刚意识到窗外的黎明已经开始。然后,他的头不由自主地完全垂了下来,最后一口气从鼻孔中微弱地呼出。
“And now?” Gregor asked himself, and peered around in the darkness. He soon made the discovery that he couldn’t move at all. It didn’t surprise him; rather it seemed unnatural to him that until now he had actually been able to get around on those thin little legs. Otherwise he felt relatively comfortable. He had pains throughout his body, of course, but it seemed to him that they were gradually getting weaker and weaker and would eventually disappear completely. The rotten apple in his back and the inflamed area around it, completely covered over by soft dust, scarcely bothered him. His thoughts went back to his family with tenderness and love. His conviction that he must disappear was, if possible, even stronger than his sister’s. He remained in this state of empty, peaceful meditation until the tower clock struck three in the morning. He was just conscious of the beginning of the dawn outside his window. Then his head sank down completely, involuntarily, and his last breath issued faintly from his nostrils.
清晨,清洁女工来了——无论别人多少次要求她不要关门,她都会因为精力充沛和不耐烦而把所有的门关得很响,以至于在公寓的任何地方都无法安然入睡——起初,她像往常一样短暂地拜访格里高尔,并没有发现什么异常。她以为他故意一动不动地躺着,表现出被侮辱的样子;她认为他非常聪明。因为她手里正好拿着长扫帚,所以她试图在门口用它挠格里高尔的痒痒。当没有反应时,她很生气,用手指戳了戳格里高尔,直到她把他从原地移开而他没有反抗时,她才开始注意到。当她很快意识到事情的真相时,她睁大眼睛,低声吹了声口哨,但她没有呆太久;相反,她猛地打开卧室的门,对着黑暗中大声喊道,“快来看,它嘎嘎作响了;它就躺在那儿,彻底烂掉了!”
Early in the morning when the cleaning woman arrived — from sheer energy and impatience she would slam all the doors so loudly, no matter how many times she’d been asked not to do so, that it was impossible to sleep peacefully anywhere in the apartment — she found nothing unusual at first during her customary brief visit to Gregor. She thought that he was deliberately lying motionless like that, acting insulted; she credited him with unlimited intelligence. Since she happened to be holding the long broom in her hand, she tried to tickle Gregor with it from the doorway. When this produced no response, she became annoyed and jabbed Gregor a little, and it was only when she had moved him from his place without his resistance that she began to take notice. When she quickly grasped the fact of the matter, she opened her eyes wide and gave a low whistle, but she didn’t stay there long; instead she tore open the bedroom door and shouted at the top of her voice into the darkness, “Come and take a look; it’s croaked; it’s lying there, completely and totally croaked!”
萨姆沙夫妇坐在婚床上,他们不得不克服清洁女工给他们带来的震惊,才终于明白她的意思。然后萨姆沙先生和萨姆沙太太迅速地从床上爬起来,一人从一边爬下来;萨姆沙先生用毯子裹住肩膀,萨姆沙太太只穿着睡衣出来;就这样,他们走进了格里高尔的房间。与此同时,客厅的门也打开了;自从寄宿者搬进来以来,格蕾特一直睡在那里;她衣冠楚楚,好像根本没睡过,她苍白的脸色似乎证实了这一点。“死了?”萨姆沙太太问道,并询问地抬头看着清洁女工,虽然她可以自己检查一切,而且情况已经很清楚了。“我敢说!”清洁女工回答道,为了证明这一点,她用扫帚把格里高尔的尸体推到一边。萨姆沙太太做了一个动作,好像她想把扫帚拿回来,但她没有这么做。 “好吧,”萨姆沙先生说,“现在我们可以感谢上帝了。”他画了个十字,三个女人也跟着画了起来。格蕾特的眼睛一直盯着尸体,她说:“你看他有多瘦。毕竟他已经很久没吃东西了。食物从他的房间里出来时和进去时一样。”事实上,格里高尔的身体完全是平的,干的;现在,当他不再被他的小腿抬起来时,当没有其他东西分散他们的目光时,这一点第一次真正明显了。
The Samsa parents sat up in their marriage bed and had to overcome the shock that the cleaning woman had given them before they could finally grasp her message. Then Mr. and Mrs. Samsa quickly climbed out of bed, one from each side; Mr. Samsa wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, Mrs. Samsa came out only in her nightgown; in this way they entered Gregor’s room. Meanwhile the living room door had also opened; Grete had been sleeping there since the boarders had moved in; she was fully dressed, as if she’d not slept at all, and her pale face seemed to confirm this. “Dead?” asked Mrs. Samsa, and looked up inquiringly at the cleaning woman, though she could have examined everything herself, and the situation was plain enough without her doing so. “I’ll say!” replied the cleaning woman, and to prove it she pushed Gregor’s corpse with her broom off to one side. Mrs. Samsa made a movement as if she wanted to hold back the broom, but she didn’t do it. “Well,” said Mr. Samsa, “now we can thank God.” He crossed himself, and the three women followed his example. Grete, who never took her eyes off the corpse, said, “Just look how thin he was. After all, he hadn’t been eating anything for so long. The food came out of his room again just the way it went in.” As a matter of fact, Gregor’s body was completely flat and dry; this was really evident now for the first time when he was no longer lifted up by his little legs and also when nothing else diverted their gaze.
“进来和我们一起住一会儿吧,格蕾特,”萨姆沙夫人带着忧郁的微笑说道。格蕾特跟着父母走进卧室,不时回头看一眼尸体。清洁女工关上了格里高尔的门,打开了窗户。虽然是清晨,但新鲜的空气中有一丝温和。此时已快到三月底了。
“Come in with us, Grete, for a little while,” said Mrs. Samsa with a melancholy smile, and Grete followed her parents into their bedroom, not without looking back at the corpse. The cleaning woman shut Gregor’s door and opened his window wide. Although it was early in the morning, the fresh air held a touch of mildness. By now it was nearly the end of March.
三位房客走出房间,惊讶地四处寻找早餐;他们被遗忘了。“早餐在哪儿?”中间的那位粗鲁地问清洁女工。但她把手指放在嘴唇上,匆忙地、默默地示意他们进格里高尔的房间。他们走进去,双手插在破旧的夹克口袋里,围着格里高尔的尸体站成一圈,房间里此时已经充满了灯光。
The three boarders emerged from their room and looked around in astonishment for their breakfast; they had been forgotten. “Where is breakfast?” the middle one gruffly asked the cleaning woman. But she put her finger to her lips and hastily and silently beckoned them to come into Gregor’s room. In they went and stood with their hands in the pockets of their somewhat shabby jackets in a circle around Gregor’s corpse in the room that by now was filled with light.
就在这时,卧室的门开了,萨姆沙先生穿着制服走了出来,一只手抱着妻子,另一只手抱着女儿。他们看上去都像是哭过似的;格蕾特不时把脸贴在父亲的袖子上。
Just then the bedroom door opened, and Mr. Samsa appeared in his uniform with his wife on one arm and his daughter on the other. They all looked as if they had been crying; from time to time Grete pressed her face against her father’s sleeve.
“马上离开我的公寓!”萨姆沙先生指着门说,没有放开那两个女人。“你是什么意思?”中间的房客有些沮丧,但脸上带着甜美的微笑。另外两个人把手放在身后,不停地搓着,仿佛在兴高采烈地等待着一场只能对他们有利的大吵架。“我说的就是这个意思,”萨姆沙先生回答道,他和两个女同伴排成一排向房客走去。起初,房客静静地站着,看着地板,好像在重新整理脑子里的事情。“好吧,我们走吧,”他说,突然,他克服了谦卑,抬头看着萨姆沙先生,好像在寻求对这个决定的新认可。萨姆沙先生只是点了几次头,目不转睛地盯着他。听到这话,房客立即大步走进大厅;他的两个朋友一直听着,双手一动不动,这时几乎是跟着他跳了起来,好像害怕萨姆沙先生会先他们一步到达大厅,切断他们和领头人的联系。在大厅里,三个人都从衣帽架上取下帽子,从伞架上抽出手杖,默默地鞠躬,离开了公寓。萨姆沙先生和两个女人出于一种完全没有根据的不信任,走到楼梯平台上,靠在栏杆上,看着三个房客慢慢地但坚定地走下长长的楼梯,在每一层楼的某个转弯处消失,几分钟后又出现;他们走得越低,萨姆沙一家对他们的兴趣就越小,当一个屠夫的儿子骄傲地把托盘顶在头上,从他们身边走过,走上楼梯时,萨姆沙先生和两个女人离开了栏杆,仿佛松了一口气,一起回到了公寓。
“Leave my apartment at once!” said Mr. Samsa and pointed to the door without letting go of the women. “What do you mean?” asked the middle boarder, somewhat dismayed and with a sugary smile. The two others held their hands behind their backs and rubbed them together incessantly, as if in gleeful anticipation of a major quarrel that could only turn out in their favor. “I mean exactly what I say,” answered Mr. Samsa, and he marched in a line with his two women companions toward the boarder. At first the boarder quietly stood still and looked at the floor, as if he were rearranging matters in his head. “Well, then, we’ll go,” he said, and suddenly overcome with humility he looked up at Mr. Samsa as if he were seeking new approval for this decision. Mr. Samsa merely nodded several times, staring at him hard. At that the boarder immediately took long strides into the hall; his two friends, who had been listening for awhile, their hands entirely still, now practically went hopping right after him, as if afraid that Mr. Samsa would reach the hall ahead of them and cut them off from their leader. In the hall, all three took their hats from the coat rack, drew their canes out of the umbrella stand, bowed silently and left the apartment. Impelled by a mistrust that proved to be entirely unfounded, Mr. Samsa and the two women stepped out onto the landing and, leaning over the banister, they watched the three boarders slowly but surely descend the long staircase, disappearing on each floor at a certain turn and then reappearing a few moments later; the lower they got, the more the Samsa family’s interest in them dwindled, and when a butcher’s boy proudly carrying a tray on his head swung past them on up the stairs, Mr. Samsa and the women left the banister and, as if relieved, all went back to the apartment.
他们决定这一天休息一下,出去散散步;他们不仅应该从工作中休息一下,而且也迫切需要休息。于是他们坐在桌边写请假信,萨姆沙先生写给银行经理,萨姆沙太太写给雇主,格蕾特写给商店老板。他们写信的时候,清洁女工进来宣布她要走了,因为她早上的工作已经完成了。三个写信的人一开始只是点头,没有抬头,但因为清洁女工还在逗留,他们都烦躁地抬起头来。“怎么样?”萨姆沙先生问。清洁女工站在门口微笑着,好像她有什么好消息要告诉这家人,但只有他们好好问她才会告诉他们。她帽子上那根几乎直立的小鸵鸟羽毛在她为他们工作期间一直让萨姆沙先生很恼火,现在它四处飘动。“那么,你到底想要什么?”萨姆沙太太问道,清洁女工仍然最尊重她。 “好吧,”清洁女工回答道,她自己也好心地笑了笑,没法立即继续说下去,“好吧,你不必担心把隔壁的东西扔掉。已经有人处理好了。”萨姆沙太太和格蕾特低下头看着信,好像打算继续写信;萨姆沙先生意识到清洁女工现在急于开始详细地描述一切,伸出手打断了她的话。但是,既然她不能讲故事,她想起自己很着急,显然生气了,便大声喊道:“再见,大家”,然后疯狂地转过身,关上门,轰然一声离开了公寓。
They decided to spend this day resting and going for a walk; they not only deserved a break from their work, they also desperately needed it. And so they sat down at the table to write their letters of excuse, Mr. Samsa to the bank manager, Mrs. Samsa to her employer, and Grete to the store owner. While they were writing, the cleaning woman came in to announce that she was going because her morning work was finished. The three letter writers merely nodded at first without looking up, but as the cleaning woman still kept lingering, they all looked up irritably. “Well?” asked Mr. Samsa. The cleaning woman stood smiling in the doorway as if she had some great news for the family but would only tell it if they questioned her properly. The little ostrich feather sticking up almost straight on her hat, which had annoyed Mr. Samsa during all the time she had been working for them, was fluttering in all directions. “Well, what is it you really want?” asked Mrs. Samsa, for whom the cleaning woman still had the most respect. “Well,” answered the cleaning woman, and she couldn’t go on immediately for her own good natured chuckling, “well, you don’t have to worry about getting rid of the thing next door. It’s already been taken care of.” Mrs. Samsa and Grete bent their heads down over their letters, as if they intended to resume writing; Mr. Samsa, who realized that the cleaning woman was now eager to start describing everything in detail, cut her short with an outstretched hand. But since she couldn’t tell her story, she remembered that she was in a great hurry and cried out, obviously offended, “Goodbye, everyone,” then whirled around wildly and left the apartment with a thunderous slamming of the door.
“她今晚就会被解雇,”萨姆沙先生说,但他没有收到妻子和女儿的回复,因为清洁女工似乎扰乱了他们刚刚获得的平静。他们站起来,走到窗边,手挽着手,待在那里。萨姆沙先生坐在椅子上转过身来,静静地看着他们一会儿。然后他喊道:“哦,过来。别再为过去的事情烦恼了。也请体谅我一下。”两个女人立刻听从了他的话,冲到他身边,抚摸着他,匆匆写完了信。
“She’ll be fired tonight,” said Mr. Samsa, but he received no reply from either his wife or his daughter, because the cleaning woman seemed to have disturbed the peace of mind they had just recently acquired. They got up, went over to the window, and stayed there, their arms around each other. Mr. Samsa turned toward them in his chair and watched them quietly for awhile. Then he called, “Oh, come on over here. Stop brooding over the past. And have a little consideration for me, too.” The women obeyed him at once, rushed over to him, caressed him, and hurriedly finished their letters.
然后他们三个人一起离开了公寓,这是他们好几个月没做过的事了,他们乘着电车来到了城郊的空旷地带。车厢里只有他们两个乘客,阳光温暖。他们舒服地靠在座位上,讨论着未来的前景,仔细一看,他们的前景并不坏,因为他们三个人都处于非常有利的地位,而且特别有前途——尽管他们从来没有详细地问过对方的情况。当然,他们处境的最大改善很容易通过换公寓来实现;现在他们将搬到一个更小、更便宜的公寓,但位置更好,总体上也比格里高尔选择的现在的公寓更实用。当他们这样交谈的时候,萨姆沙先生和萨姆沙太太看着女儿越来越活泼,几乎同时想到,尽管最近所有的烦恼使她的脸色苍白,但她已经成长为一个漂亮、发育良好的女孩。他们越来越安静,几乎无意识地用眼神交流,他们想,也快到了为女儿找个好丈夫的时候了。当他们在旅途结束时,女儿先站起来,伸伸懒腰,这就像证实了他们的新梦想和美好愿望。
Then they all three left the apartment together, which they hadn’t done in months, and took the trolley out to the open country on the outskirts of the city. The car, in which they were the only passengers, was flooded with warm sunshine. Leaning back comfortably in their seats, they discussed their prospects for the future and it turned out that, on closer inspection, these weren’t bad at all, because all three had positions which — though they hadn’t ever really asked one another about them in any detail — were thoroughly advantageous and especially promising for the future. The greatest immediate improvement in their situation would easily result, of course, from a change in apartments; now they would move to a smaller and cheaper apartment, but one better located and in general more practical than their present one, which Gregor had chosen. While they were talking in this way, it occurred almost simultaneously to both Mr. and Mrs. Samsa, as they watched their daughter’s increasing liveliness, that despite all the recent cares that had made her cheeks pale, she had blossomed into a good looking and well-developed girl. Growing quieter and almost unconsciously communicating through glances, they thought it would soon be time, too, to find a good husband for her. And it was like a confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions when at the end of their ride, their daughter stood up first and stretched her young body.
[1915年]
[1915]
(1888-1923)
[1888–1923]
尽管伯莎·杨已经三十岁了,但她仍然会有这样的时刻:她想跑步而不是走路,想在人行道上跳着舞,想投掷铁环,想把东西抛向空中然后再接住,或者静静地站着大笑——什么都没有——什么都没有,只是简单地笑。
Although Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at — nothing — at nothing, simply.
如果你三十岁了,当你转过自己家所在的街道的拐角时,突然被一种幸福的感觉所征服——绝对的幸福!——就好像你突然吞下了一片明亮的午后阳光,它在你的胸膛里燃烧,向每一个粒子、每一个手指和脚趾发射出一阵小火花,你会怎么做?……
What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly, by a feeling of bliss — absolute bliss! — as though you’d suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and it burned in your bosom, sending out a little shower of sparks into every particle, into every finger and toe? …
哦,难道你就没有办法表达它而不“醉醺醺的”吗?文明是多么愚蠢啊!如果你必须把它像一把罕见的小提琴一样关在盒子里,那为什么要赋予它一个身体呢?
Oh, is there no way you can express it without being “drunk and disorderly”? How idiotic civilization is! Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare, rare fiddle?
“不,我的意思不是关于小提琴的事,”她想着,跑上台阶,在包里摸索着找钥匙——她像往常一样忘了带钥匙——然后摇晃着信箱。“我的意思不是这个,因为——谢谢你,玛丽”——她走进了大厅。“护士回来了吗?”
“No, that about the fiddle is not quite what I mean,” she thought, running up the steps and feeling in her bag for the key — she’d forgotten it, as usual — and rattling the letter-box. “It’s not what I mean, because — Thank you, Mary” — she went into the hall. “Is nurse back?”
“是的,夫人。”
“Yes, M’m.”
“果子出来了吗?”
“And has the fruit come?”
“是的,夫人。一切都到了。”
“Yes, M’m. Everything’s come.”
“把水果送到餐厅去好吗?我上楼之前会安排好的。”
“Bring the fruit up to the dining-room, will you? I’ll arrange it before I go upstairs.”
餐厅里昏暗无光,颇有些冷。但伯莎还是脱下了外套;她一刻也忍受不了外套被紧紧裹住,冷风吹到了她的胳膊上。
It was dusky in the dining-room and quite chilly. But all the same Bertha threw off her coat; she could not bear the tight clasp of it another moment, and the cold air fell on her arms.
但在她的胸口,仍然有那明亮的地方——从那里冒出一连串的小火花。这几乎让人无法忍受。她几乎不敢呼吸,因为害怕会把火花吹得更大,但她还是深深地呼吸着。她几乎不敢看那面冰冷的镜子——但她还是看了,镜子里她又变成了一个容光焕发的女人,微笑着,嘴唇颤抖着,大大的黑眼睛,一副倾听的样子,等待着某件……神圣的事情发生……她知道这件事一定会发生……绝对会发生。
But in her bosom there was still that bright glowing place — that shower of little sparks coming from it. It was almost unbearable. She hardly dared to breathe for fear of fanning it higher, and yet she breathed deeply, deeply. She hardly dared to look into the cold mirror — but she did look, and it gave her back a woman, radiant, with smiling, trembling lips, with big, dark eyes and an air of listening, waiting for something … divine to happen … that she knew must happen … infallibly.
玛丽把水果放在托盘里端进来,托盘上还有一个玻璃碗和一个蓝色的盘子,非常可爱,上面泛着奇怪的光泽,好像浸过牛奶一样。
Mary brought in the fruit on a tray and with it a glass bowl, and a blue dish, very lovely, with a strange sheen on it as though it had been dipped in milk.
“女士,我要开灯吗?”
“Shall I turn on the light, M’m?”
“不用了,谢谢。我看得挺清楚的。”
“No, thank you. I can see quite well.”
有染成草莓粉色的橘子和苹果。有光滑如丝的黄梨、覆满银色花朵的白葡萄和一大串紫色的葡萄。她买这些是为了与新餐厅的地毯相配。是的,这听起来确实有些牵强和荒谬,但这正是她买它们的原因。她在店里想:“我必须买一些紫色的,这样才能把地毯衬到桌子上。”当时觉得这很有道理。
There were tangerines and apples stained with strawberry pink. Some yellow pears, smooth as silk, some white grapes covered with a silver bloom and a big cluster of purple ones. These last she had bought to tone in with the new dining-room carpet. Yes, that did sound rather far-fetched and absurd, but it was really why she had bought them. She had thought in the shop: “I must have some purple ones to bring the carpet up to the table.” And it had seemed quite sense at the time.
当她做完这些,并做了两个明亮的圆形金字塔时,她从桌子旁站开,以便看到这种效果——这确实非常奇特。因为黑色的桌子似乎融入了昏暗的光线中,玻璃盘和蓝色的碗漂浮在空中。当然,在她现在的心情下,这真是太美了……她开始大笑起来。
When she had finished with them and had made two pyramids of these bright round shapes, she stood away from the table to get the effect — and it really was most curious. For the dark table seemed to melt into the dusky light and the glass dish and the blue bowl to float in the air. This, of course in her present mood, was so incredibly beautiful…. She began to laugh.
“不,不。我快歇斯底里了。”她抓起包和外套,跑上楼去了育儿室。
“No, no. I’m getting hysterical.” And she seized her bag and coat and ran upstairs to the nursery.
洗完澡后,护士坐在矮桌旁给小 B 喂晚餐。宝宝穿着一件白色法兰绒长袍和一件蓝色羊毛夹克,一头乌黑细软的头发梳成一个有趣的小尖峰。当她看到妈妈时,她抬起头来,开始跳起来。
Nurse sat at a low table giving Little B her supper after her bath. The baby had on a white flannel gown and a blue woollen jacket, and her dark, fine hair was brushed up into a funny little peak. She looked up when she saw her mother and began to jump.
“现在,我的爱人,像个好女孩一样把它吃掉,”护士说道,她抿着嘴唇,伯莎知道她这样做的原因,这意味着她又在错误的时间来到了育儿室。
“Now, my lovey, eat it up like a good girl,” said Nurse, setting her lips in a way that Bertha knew, and that meant she had come into the nursery at another wrong moment.
“她表现好吗,保姆?”
“Has she been good, Nanny?”
“她整个下午都很乖巧,”保姆小声说。“我们去了公园,我坐在椅子上,把她从婴儿车里抱出来,一只大狗过来,把头放在我的膝盖上,她抓住它的耳朵,拉扯着它。哦,你应该看看她。”
“She’s been a little sweet all the afternoon,” whispered Nanny. “We went to the park and I sat down on a chair and took her out of the pram and a big dog came along and put its head on my knee and she clutched its ear, tugged it. Oh, you should have seen her.”
伯莎想问她,让她抓一只陌生狗的耳朵会不会很危险。但她不敢。她站在那里看着他们,双手垂在身侧,就像一个可怜的小女孩站在一个拿着洋娃娃的富家小女孩面前一样。
Bertha wanted to ask if it wasn’t rather dangerous to let her clutch at a strange dog’s ear. But she did not dare to. She stood watching them, her hands by her side, like the poor little girl in front of the rich little girl with the doll.
婴儿再次抬头看着她,凝视着,然后迷人地笑了,伯莎不禁哭了起来:
The baby looked up at her again, stared, and then smiled so charmingly that Bertha couldn’t help crying:
“哦,保姆,请让我给她做完晚饭,你把洗浴用品收拾好。”
“Oh, Nanny, do let me finish giving her her supper while you put the bath things away.”
“嗯,夫人,她吃饭的时候不应该换人,”保姆低声说道,“这会让她不安;很可能会让她心烦意乱。”
“Well, M’m, she oughtn’t to be changed hands while she’s eating,” said Nanny, still whispering. “It unsettles her; it’s very likely to upset her.”
这太荒谬了。如果孩子必须被保管——不是放在像一把稀有的小提琴一样的盒子里——而是在另一个女人的怀里,那为什么还要生孩子呢?
How absurd it was. Why have a baby if it has to be kept — not in a case like a rare, rare fiddle — but in another woman’s arms?
“噢,我必须这么做!”她说。
“Oh, I must!” said she.
保姆非常生气,把她交给了她。
Very offended, Nanny handed her over.
“现在,晚饭后别让她兴奋。你知道你会的,夫人。晚饭后我和她在一起过得很开心!”
“Now, don’t excite her after her supper. You know you do, M’m. And I have such a time with her after!”
谢天谢地!保姆拿着浴巾走出了房间。
Thank heaven! Nanny went out of the room with the bath towels.
“现在我可以拥有你了,我的小宝贝,”当婴儿靠在她身上时,伯莎说道。
“Now I’ve got you to myself, my little precious,” said Bertha, as the baby leaned against her.
她吃得津津有味,一边举起嘴唇,一边挥动双手。有时她不肯放下勺子;有时,伯莎刚把勺子装满,她就挥手把勺子甩到四面八方。
She ate delightfully, holding up her lips for the spoon and then waving her hands. Sometimes she wouldn’t let the spoon go; and sometimes, just as Bertha had filled it, she waved it away to the four winds.
汤喝完后,伯莎转身面向火炉。
When the soup was finished Bertha turned round to the fire.
“你人真好——你人真好!”她说着,吻了吻她温暖的宝宝。“我喜欢你。我喜欢你。”
“You’re nice — you’re very nice!” said she, kissing her warm baby. “I’m fond of you. I like you.”
事实上,她非常爱小 B——她向前弯曲的脖子,她精致的脚趾在火光中闪闪发光——她所有的幸福感又回来了,她又不知道如何表达它——如何处理它。
And, indeed, she loved Little B so much — her neck as she bent forward, her exquisite toes as they shone transparent in the fire light — that all her feeling of bliss came back again, and again she didn’t know how to express it — what to do with it.
“有人打电话找你,”保姆胜利地回来并抓住了她的小 B。
“You’re wanted on the telephone,” said Nanny, coming back in triumph and seizing her Little B.
她飞了下去。是哈利。
Down she flew. It was Harry.
“哦,是你吗,贝尔?听我说。我会迟到的。我会打车尽快赶过去,但晚饭时间要推迟十分钟——可以吗?可以吗?”
“Oh, is that you, Ber? Look here. I’ll be late. I’ll take a taxi and come along as quickly as I can, but get dinner put back ten minutes — will you? All right?”
“是的,非常好。噢,哈利!”
“Yes, perfectly. Oh, Harry!”
“是的?”
“Yes?”
她该说什么?她没什么可说的。她只想和他联系一会儿。她不能荒谬地大喊:“这真是神圣的一天!”
What had she to say? She’d nothing to say. She only wanted to get in touch with him for a moment. She couldn’t absurdly cry: “Hasn’t it been a divine day!”
“怎么了?”那个小声音问道。
“What is it?” rapped out the little voice.
“没什么。明白了,”伯莎说完挂上了话筒,心里想着文明是多么愚蠢啊。
“Nothing. Entendua,” said Bertha, and hung up the receiver, thinking how more than idiotic civilization was.
他们邀请了客人来吃饭。诺曼·奈特夫妇非常有才华,他即将开办一家剧院,而她则非常热衷于室内装饰;一位名叫埃迪·沃伦的年轻人刚刚出版了一本小诗集,每个人都邀请他来吃饭;还有伯莎的“收获”——珀尔·富尔顿。富尔顿小姐做什么,伯莎并不知道。他们在俱乐部相遇,伯莎爱上了她,就像她总是爱上那些身上有某种奇特之处的美丽女人一样。
They had people coming to dinner. The Norman Knights — a very sound couple — he was about to start a theatre, and she was awfully keen on interior decoration, a young man, Eddie Warren, who had just published a little book of poems and whom everybody was asking to dine, and a “find” of Bertha’s called Pearl Fulton. What Miss Fulton did, Bertha didn’t know. They had met at the club and Bertha had fallen in love with her, as she always did fall in love with beautiful women who had something strange about them.
令人恼火的是,尽管她们已经在一起相处过,见过几次面,也聊过天,但伯莎还是没能看透她。在某个程度之前,富尔顿小姐很少坦诚相待,但这个程度已经到了,她不会再说下去了。
The provoking thing was that, though they had been about together and met a number of times and really talked, Bertha couldn’t yet make her out. Up to a certain point Miss Fulton was rarely, wonderfully frank, but the certain point was there, and beyond that she would not go.
除此之外还有什么吗?哈里说:“没有。”他认为她呆滞,而且“像所有金发女人一样冷漠,也许有点脑贫血。”但伯莎不会同意他的观点;至少现在不会。
Was there anything beyond it? Harry said “No.” Voted her dullish, and “cold like all blond women, with a touch, perhaps, of anæmia of the brain.” But Bertha wouldn’t agree with him; not yet, at any rate.
“不,她坐着的时候头稍微歪向一边,还面带微笑,这背后一定有原因,哈利,我必须找出原因。”
“No, the way she has of sitting with her head a little on one side, and smiling, has something behind it, Harry, and I must find out what that something is.”
“很可能是因为胃好。”哈利回答道。
“Most likely it’s a good stomach,” answered Harry.
他总是会用这样的回答来抓住伯莎的下怀……“肝冻坏了,亲爱的姑娘”,或者“纯粹的胀气”,或者“肾病”,等等。不知为何,伯莎很喜欢他这样说,甚至几乎很钦佩他。
He made a point of catching Bertha’s heels with replies of that kind … “liver frozen, my dear girl,” or “pure flatulence,” or “kidney disease,” … and so on. For some strange reason Bertha liked this, and almost admired it in him very much.
她走进客厅,点起炉火,然后,她把玛丽精心摆放的垫子一个接一个地捡起来,扔回椅子和沙发上。这让一切都不同了,房间里立刻活跃起来。当她正要扔掉最后一个垫子时,她突然热情地把它抱在怀里,这让她自己都感到惊讶。但这并没有扑灭她心中的火。哦,恰恰相反!
She went into the drawing-room and lighted the fire; then, picking up the cushions, one by one, that Mary had disposed so carefully, she threw them back on to the chairs and the couches. That made all the difference; the room came alive at once. As she was about to throw the last one she surprised herself by suddenly hugging it to her, passionately, passionately. But it did not put out the fire in her bosom. Oh, on the contrary!
客厅的窗户通向俯瞰花园的阳台。阳台远处靠墙的地方,有一棵高大纤细的梨树,盛开着最茂盛的花朵;它完美地矗立着,仿佛平静地映衬着碧绿的天空。伯莎不禁感觉到,即使从这么远的地方看,它也没有一个花蕾或一片凋谢的花瓣。在下面的花坛里,红黄色的郁金香开满了花朵,似乎倚在暮色中。一只灰猫拖着肚子,爬过草坪,一只黑猫,它的影子,跟在后面。看到它们如此专注、如此敏捷,伯莎不禁打了个寒颤。
The windows of the drawing-room opened on to a balcony overlooking the garden. At the far end, against the wall, there was a tall, slender pear tree in fullest, richest bloom; it stood perfect, as though becalmed against the jade-green sky. Bertha couldn’t help feeling, even from this distance, that it had not a single bud or a faded petal. Down below, in the garden beds, the red and yellow tulips, heavy with flowers, seemed to lean upon the dusk. A grey cat, dragging its belly, crept across the lawn, and a black one, its shadow, trailed after. The sight of them, so intent and so quick, gave Bertha a curious shiver.
“猫真是令人毛骨悚然的东西!”她结结巴巴地说,然后转身离开窗户,开始走来走去……
“What creepy things cats are!” she stammered, and she turned away from the window and began walking up and down….
温暖的房间里,黄水仙花的香味多么浓郁啊。太浓了?哦,不。然而,她仿佛被征服了一样,扑通一声倒在沙发上,用手捂住眼睛。
How strong the jonquils smelled in the warm room. Too strong? Oh, no. And yet, as though overcome, she flung down on a couch and pressed her hands to her eyes.
“我太高兴了——太高兴了!”她喃喃道。
“I’m too happy — too happy!” she murmured.
她似乎在眼睑上看到了那棵盛开着花朵的可爱的梨树,那是她自己生命的象征。
And she seemed to see on her eyelids the lovely pear tree with its wide open blossoms as a symbol of her own life.
真的——真的——她拥有一切。她年轻。哈利和她一如既往地相爱,他们相处得非常融洽,是很好的朋友。她有一个可爱的宝宝。他们不用担心钱的问题。他们有一座绝对令人满意的房子和花园。还有朋友——现代的、令人兴奋的朋友,作家、画家、诗人或热衷于社会问题的人——正是他们想要的那种朋友。还有书,有音乐,她找到了一个很棒的小裁缝,他们夏天要出国,他们的新厨师做的煎蛋卷最棒了……
Really — really — she had everything. She was young. Harry and she were as much in love as ever, and they got on together splendidly and were really good pals. She had an adorable baby. They didn’t have to worry about money. They had this absolutely satisfactory house and garden. And friends — modern, thrilling friends, writers and painters and poets or people keen on social questions — just the kind of friends they wanted. And then there were books, and there was music, and she had found a wonderful little dressmaker, and they were going abroad in the summer, and their new cook made the most superb omelettes….
“我太荒唐了。太荒唐了!”她坐起来,但感觉头晕目眩,像喝醉了一样。一定是春天来了。
“I’ m absurd. Absurd!” She sat up; but she felt quite dizzy, quite drunk. It must have been the spring.
是的,春天来了。现在她太累了,没力气爬上楼去穿衣服。
Yes, it was the spring. Now she was so tired she could not drag herself upstairs to dress.
一件白色连衣裙,一串玉珠,绿色鞋子和长袜。这不是故意的。在她站在客厅窗前几个小时,她就想到了这个计划。
A white dress, a string of jade beads, green shoes and stockings. It wasn’t intentional. She had thought of this scheme hours before she stood at the drawing-room window.
她的花瓣在走廊里轻轻飘舞,她亲吻了诺曼·奈特夫人,后者正在脱下那件最有趣的橙色外套,外套的下摆和前襟上有一排黑色猴子。
Her petals rustled softly into the hall, and she kissed Mrs. Norman Knight, who was taking off the most amusing orange coat with a procession of black monkeys round the hem and up the fronts.
“……为什么!为什么!为什么中产阶级如此古板——如此完全没有幽默感!亲爱的,我来到这里完全是侥幸——诺曼是保护我的侥幸。因为我亲爱的猴子们把火车弄翻了,它冲向一个人,用眼睛把我吃掉了。没有笑——没有被逗乐——我应该爱他们。不,只是盯着我看——让我厌烦透顶。”
“… Why! Why! Why is the middle-class so stodgy — so utterly without a sense of humour! My dear, it’s only by a fluke that I am here at all — Norman being the protective fluke. For my darling monkeys so upset the train that it rose to a man and simply ate me with its eyes. Didn’t laugh — wasn’t amused — that I should have loved. No, just stared — and bored me through and through.”
“但最精彩的是,”诺曼一边说,一边把大大的玳瑁边单片眼镜按在眼睛上,“你不介意我告诉你这些,老脸,是吗?”(在家里和朋友之间,他们互相称呼老脸和老脸。)“最精彩的是,当她吃饱后,转过身对身边的女人说:‘你以前没见过猴子吗?’”
“But the cream of it was,” said Norman, pressing a large tortoiseshell-rimmed monocle into his eye, “you don’t mind me telling this, Face, do you?” (In their home and among their friends they called each other Face and Mug.) “The cream of it was when she, being full fed, turned to the woman beside her and said: ‘Haven’t you ever seen a monkey before?”
“哦,是的!”诺曼·奈特夫人也笑了起来。“那是不是太奶油味了?”
“Oh, yes!” Mrs. Norman Knight joined in the laughter. “Wasn’t that too absolutely creamy?”
更有趣的是,现在她脱掉外套后,看起来就像一只非常聪明的猴子——她甚至用刮下的香蕉皮做了那件黄色丝绸连衣裙。还有她的琥珀耳环;它们就像悬垂的小坚果。
And a funnier thing still was that now her coat was off she did look like a very intelligent monkey — who had even made that yellow silk dress out of scraped banana skins. And her amber ear-rings; they were like little dangling nuts.
“这是一个悲伤的秋天!”马格在小 B 的婴儿车前停下说道。“当婴儿车走进大厅时——”他挥手示意不再引用这段话。
“This is a sad, sad fall!” said Mug, pausing in front of Little B’s perambulator. “When the perambulator comes into the hall —” and he waved the rest of the quotation away.
铃声响了。来者是瘦削、苍白的埃迪·沃伦(和往常一样),神情极度痛苦。
The bell rang. It was lean, pale Eddie Warren (as usual) in a state of acute distress.
“这就是我们要找的房子,对吧?”他恳求道。
“It is the right house, isn’t it?” he pleaded.
“哦,我想是的——我希望如此,”伯莎愉快地说道。
“Oh, I think so — I hope so,” said Bertha brightly.
“我曾经和一位出租车司机有过一次非常可怕的经历;他非常阴险。我无法让他停下来。我敲得越厉害,叫得越凶,他开得越快。在月光下,这个头扁平的怪人蹲在小轮子上……”
“I have had such a dreadful experience with a taxi-man; he was most sinister. I couldn’t get him to stop. The more I knocked and called the faster he went. And in the moonlight this bizarre figure with the flattened head crouching over the lit-tle wheel….”
他颤抖着脱下了一条巨大的白色丝巾。伯莎注意到他的袜子也是白色的——非常迷人。
He shuddered, taking off an immense white silk scarf. Bertha noticed that his socks were white, too — most charming.
“但这有多可怕啊!”她喊道。
“But how dreadful!” she cried.
“是的,确实如此,”埃迪说着,跟着她走进客厅。“我看到自己开着一辆永恒的出租车穿越永恒。 ”
“Yes, it really was,” said Eddie, following her into the drawing-room. “I saw myself driving through Eternity in a timeless taxi.”
他认识诺曼骑士。事实上,当剧院计划实施时,他正准备为 NK 写一部剧本。
He knew the Norman Knights. In fact, he was going to write a play for N. K. when the theatre scheme came off.
“好吧,沃伦,比赛进行得怎么样?”诺曼·奈特问道,他摘下了单片眼镜,让眼睛浮出水面片刻,然后又把它戴了下去。
“Well, Warren, how’s the play?” said Norman Knight, dropping his monocle and giving his eye a moment in which to rise to the surface before it was screwed down again.
诺曼·奈特夫人说:“噢,沃伦先生,这袜子真幸福啊!”
And Mrs. Norman Knight: “Oh, Mr. Warren, what happy socks!”
“我很高兴你喜欢它们,”他凝视着自己的脚说道。“自从月亮升起以来,它们似乎变得更白了。”他转过瘦削而悲伤的年轻脸庞看着伯莎。“你知道,有月亮。”
“I am so glad you like them,” said he, staring at his feet. “They seem to have got so much whiter since the moon rose.” And he turned his lean sorrowful young face to Bertha. “There is a moon, you know.”
她很想哭:“我确信有——经常——经常!”
She wanted to cry: “I am sure there is — often — often!”
他确实是一个非常有魅力的人。但是,穿着香蕉皮衣服蹲在火炉前的 Face 也非常有魅力,Mug 也非常有魅力,他抽着烟,一边弹着烟灰一边说:“新郎为什么迟到?”
He really was a most attractive person. But so was Face, crouched before the fire in her banana skins, and so was Mug, smoking a cigarette and saying as he flicked the ash: “Why doth the bridegroom tarry?”
“他现在就在那儿。”
“There he is, now.”
前门砰地一声打开又关上。哈里喊道:“大家好。五分钟后下来。”他们听见他蜂拥上楼。伯莎忍不住笑了;她知道他喜欢在高压下做事。毕竟,多五分钟有什么关系呢?但他会假装这五分钟非常重要。然后他会故意走进客厅,显得非常冷静和镇定。
Bang went the front door open and shut. Harry shouted: “Hullo, you people. Down in five minutes.” And they heard him swarm up the stairs. Bertha couldn’t help smiling; she knew how he loved doing things at high pressure. What, after all, did an extra five minutes matter? But he would pretend to himself that they mattered beyond measure. And then he would make a great point of coming into the drawing-room, extravagantly cool and collected.
哈里对生活充满热情。哦,她多么欣赏他的这种热情。她也理解他对战斗的热情——在遇到的一切事情中寻求对他的力量和勇气的又一次考验。即使这偶尔会让那些不太了解他的人觉得他有点可笑……因为有时他会冲进没有战斗的战场……她边说边笑,直到他回来(正如她想象的那样)她才完全忘记了珀尔·富尔顿还没有回来。
Harry had such a zest for life. Oh, how she appreciated it in him. And his passion for fighting — for seeking in everything that came up against him another test of his power and of his courage — that, too, she understood. Even when it made him just occasionally, to other people, who didn’t know him well, a little ridiculous perhaps…. For there were moments when he rushed into battle where no battle was…. She talked and laughed and positively forgot until he had come in (just as she had imagined) that Pearl Fulton had not turned up.
“不知道富尔顿小姐是不是忘记了?”
“I wonder if Miss Fulton has forgotten?”
“我想是的,”哈利说。“她在打电话吗?”
“I expect so,” said Harry. “Is she on the ’phone?”
“啊!现在有出租车了。”伯莎微笑着,脸上带着一种主人的神情,她总是这样认为,而她的女性发现对她来说既新奇又神秘。“她住在出租车里。”
“Ah! There’s a taxi, now.” And Bertha smiled with that little air of proprietorship that she always assumed while her women finds were new and mysterious. “She lives in taxis.”
“如果她这么做,她会发胖的,”哈利冷静地说,按响了晚餐铃。“这对金发女郎来说是可怕的危险。”
“She’ll run to fat if she does,” said Harry coolly, ringing the bell for dinner. “Frightful danger for blond women.”
“哈利——别这样,”伯莎抬头大笑着警告他。
“Harry — don’t,” warned Bertha, laughing up at him.
又过了一小会儿,他们一边笑着一边聊天,等待着,只是有点太过放松,有点太过漫不经心。然后,富尔顿小姐穿着一身银色的衣服,淡金色的头发上束着银色发带,面带微笑地走了进来,头微微歪向一边。
Came another tiny moment, while they waited, laughing and talking, just a trifle too much at their ease, a trifle too unaware. And then Miss Fulton, all in silver, with a silver fillet binding her pale blond hair, came in smiling, her head a little on one side.
“我迟到了吗?”
“Am I late?”
“不,一点也不,”伯莎说。“跟我来。”她挽着她的胳膊,一起走进餐厅。
“No, not at all,” said Bertha. “Come along.” And she took her arm and they moved into the dining-room.
那只冰凉的手臂的触摸中,有什么东西可以扇动——扇动——开始燃烧——燃烧——幸福之火,而伯莎却不知道该如何处理?
What was there in the touch of that cool arm that could fan — fan — start blazing — blazing — the fire of bliss that Bertha did not know what to do with?
富尔顿小姐没有看她,但她很少直视别人。她沉重的眼皮垂在眼睛上,嘴角时隐时现着奇怪的半笑,仿佛她的生活是倾听而不是观察。但伯莎突然知道,仿佛她们之间进行了一次最长时间、最亲密的对视——仿佛她们在互相问:“你也是吗?”——珀尔·富尔顿在搅拌灰色盘子里那碗漂亮的红汤时,正感受到她的感受。
Miss Fulton did not look at her; but then she seldom did look at people directly. Her heavy eyelids lay upon her eyes and the strange half smile came and went upon her lips as though she lived by listening rather than seeing. But Bertha knew, suddenly, as if the longest, most intimate look had passed between them — as if they had said to each other: “You, too?” — that Pearl Fulton, stirring the beautiful red soup in the grey plate, was feeling just what she was feeling.
其他人呢?Face 和 Mug、Eddie 和 Harry,他们的勺子上下移动 — — 用餐巾擦拭嘴唇、揉搓面包、摆弄叉子和玻璃杯,同时说话。
And the others? Face and Mug, Eddie and Harry, their spoons rising and falling — dabbing their lips with their napkins, crumbling bread, fiddling with the forks and glasses and talking.
“我在 Alpha 秀上遇见了她——最奇怪的小人。她不仅剪掉了头发,而且似乎还把腿、胳膊、脖子和可怜的小鼻子都剪掉了。”
“I met her at the Alpha show — the weirdest little person. She’d not only cut off her hair, but she seemed to have taken a dreadfully good snip off her legs and arms and her neck and her poor little nose as well.”
“她和迈克尔·奥特不是很亲近吗?”
“Isn’t she very liéeb with Michael Oat?”
“写《假牙里的爱情》的人是谁? ”
“The man who wrote Love in False Teeth?”
“他想为我写一出剧本。一幕剧。一个人决定自杀。说出他应该自杀和不应该自杀的所有理由。就在他决定自杀或不自杀时——剧本落幕了。这主意还不错。”
“He wants to write a play for me. One act. One man. Decides to commit suicide. Gives all the reasons why he should and why he shouldn’t. And just as he has made up his mind either to do it or not to do it — curtain. Not half a bad idea.”
“他会把它叫做什么——‘胃病’?”
“What’s he going to call it —‘Stomach Trouble’?”
“我想我在一篇法国小评论中也看到过同样的想法,这在英国并不为人所知。”
“I think I’ve come across the same idea in a lit-tle French review, quite unknown in England.”
不,他们没有分享。他们是亲爱的——亲爱的——她喜欢他们在那里,在她的餐桌旁,给他们美味的食物和葡萄酒。事实上,她渴望告诉他们他们是多么令人愉快,他们是一个多么漂亮的团体,他们似乎如何相互衬托,他们如何让她想起契诃夫的戏剧!
No, they didn’t share it. They were dears — dears — and she loved having them there, at her table, and giving them delicious food and wine. In fact, she longed to tell them how delightful they were, and what a decorative group they made, how they seemed to set one another off and how they reminded her of a play by Tchekof!
哈里正在享用晚餐。谈论美食,并夸耀自己“对龙虾白肉的无耻热爱”和“开心果冰淇淋的绿色——像埃及舞者的眼睑一样绿而冰凉”,这是他的本性——好吧,这并非他的天性,当然也不是他的姿态——他的某种方式。
Harry was enjoying his dinner. It was part of his — well, not his nature, exactly, and certainly not his pose — his — something or other — to talk about food and to glory in his “shameless passion for the white flesh of the lobster” and “the green of pistachio ices — green and cold like the eyelids of Egyptian dancers.”
当他抬头看着她并说道:“伯莎,这道蛋奶馅饼太美味了! ”她几乎要像孩子一样高兴得哭了。
When he looked up at her and said: “Bertha, this is a very admirable souffée!” she almost could have wept with child-like pleasure.
哦,为什么今晚她对整个世界都这么温柔?一切都很好——一切都很正确。发生的一切似乎再次让她的幸福之杯满溢而出。
Oh, why did she feel so tender towards the whole world tonight? Everything was good — was right. All that happened seemed to fill again her brimming cup of bliss.
然而,在她的内心深处,那棵梨树还在。在可怜的艾迪的月光下,梨树现在应该是银色的,像富尔顿小姐一样银色,她坐在那里,用她那纤细的手指转动着一个橘子,她的手指是如此苍白,似乎散发着光芒。
And still, in the back of her mind, there was the pear tree. It would be silver now, in the light of poor dear Eddie’s moon, silver as Miss Fulton, who sat there turning a tangerine in her slender fingers that were so pale a light seemed to come from them.
她完全想不通——这真是个奇迹——她怎么会如此准确、如此迅速地猜出富尔顿小姐的心情。因为她从未怀疑过自己猜对了,但她又能依靠什么呢?什么也得不到。
What she simply couldn’t make out — what was miraculous — was how she should have guessed Miss Fulton’s mood so exactly and so instantly. For she never doubted for a moment that she was right, and yet what had she to go on? Less than nothing.
“我相信这种事在女人之间很少发生。男人之间从不会发生,”伯莎想。“不过当我在客厅煮咖啡的时候,也许她会‘示意一下’。”
“I believe this does happen very, very rarely between women. Never between men,” thought Bertha. “But while I am making the coffee in the drawing-room perhaps she will ‘give a sign.’ ”
她不知道她这样说是什么意思,也无法想象之后会发生什么。
What she meant by that she did not know, and what would happen after that she could not imagine.
当她这样想的时候,她看见自己在说着、在笑着。她想笑,所以她必须说话。
While she thought like this she saw herself talking and laughing. She had to talk because of her desire to laugh.
“我必须笑,否则就会死。”
“I must laugh or die.”
但是,当她注意到 Face 有个有趣的小习惯,总是把某样东西塞到她的胸衣前面时——就好像她也在那里秘密储藏了一小堆坚果—— Bertha 不得不用指甲抠出手掌——以免笑得太多。
But when she noticed Face’s funny little habit of tucking something down the front of her bodice — as if she kept a tiny, secret hoard of nuts there, too — Bertha had to dig her nails into her hands — so as not to laugh too much.
终于结束了。然后:“快来看看我的新咖啡机吧,”伯莎说。
It was over at last. And: “Come and see my new coffee machine,” said Bertha.
“我们每两周才换一次咖啡机,”哈利说。这次费斯挽住了她的胳膊;富尔顿小姐低下头跟在后面。
“We only have a new coffee machine once a fortnight,” said Harry. Face took her arm this time; Miss Fulton bent her head and followed after.
客厅里的炉火已渐渐熄灭,只剩下一个闪烁着红色光芒的“小凤凰巢”,费斯说道。
The fire had died down in the drawing-room to a red, flickering “nest of baby phœnixes,” said Face.
“暂时不要打开灯。它太可爱了。”然后她又蹲在火炉边。她总是觉得冷……
“Don’t turn up the light for a moment. It is so lovely.” And down she crouched by the fire again. She was always cold …
“当然没有她那件红色法兰绒小夹克了,”伯莎想。
“without her little red flannel jacket, of course,” thought Bertha.
就在那一刻,富尔顿小姐“给出了信号”。
At that moment Miss Fulton “gave the sign.”
“你有花园吗?”清凉而带着睡意的声音问道。
“Have you a garden?” said the cool, sleepy voice.
她的动作如此优雅,伯莎只好顺从。她穿过房间,拉开窗帘,打开了长长的窗户。
This was so exquisite on her part that all Bertha could do was to obey. She crossed the room, pulled the curtains apart, and opened those long windows.
“好了!”她喘着气说。
“There!” she breathed.
两个女人并肩站着,看着这棵细长的、开花的树。虽然它一动不动,但它却像蜡烛的火焰一样,在明亮的空气中伸展、指向、颤动,在她们的注视下变得越来越高——几乎触及银色的圆月边缘。
And the two women stood side by side looking at the slender, flowering tree. Although it was so still it seemed, like the flame of a candle, to stretch up, to point, to quiver in the bright air, to grow taller and taller as they gazed — almost to touch the rim of the round, silver moon.
他们在那里站了多久?两人都仿佛被那圈神秘莫测的光所笼罩,彼此完全了解,他们是另一个世界的生物,不知道他们要用这些在他们胸中燃烧、从他们头发和手上滴落的银花般的幸福宝藏来做什么?
How long did they stand there? Both, as it were, caught in that circle of unearthly light, understanding each other perfectly, creatures of another world, and wondering what they were to do in this one with all this blissful treasure that burned in their bosoms and dropped, in silver flowers, from their hair and hands?
永远——哪怕是一瞬间?富尔顿小姐低声说:
For ever — for a moment? And did Miss Fulton murmur:
“是的。就是这样。 ”还是说这只是伯莎的梦?
“Yes. Just that.” Or did Bertha dream it?
然后灯突然亮了,费斯煮了咖啡,哈利说:“亲爱的奈特夫人,别问我孩子的情况。我从来没见过她。除非她有情人,否则我不会对她有丝毫的兴趣。”马格把眼睛从温室里移开一会儿,然后又把它放在玻璃下面,埃迪·沃伦喝着咖啡,一脸痛苦地放下杯子,好像他喝了咖啡又看见了蜘蛛。
Then the light was snapped on and Face made the coffee and Harry said: “My dear Mrs. Knight, don’t ask me about my baby. I never see her. I shan’t feel the slightest interest in her until she has a lover,” and Mug took his eye out of the conservatory for a moment and then put it under glass again and Eddie Warren drank his coffee and set down the cup with a face of anguish as though he had drunk and seen the spider.
“我想做的是给年轻人一场表演。我相信伦敦充满了未经创作的优秀戏剧。我想对他们说:‘这里就是舞台。开火吧。’”
“What I want to do is to give the young men a show. I believe London is simply teeming with first-chop, unwritten plays. What I want to say to ’em is: ‘Here’s the theatre. Fire ahead.’ ”
“你知道吗,亲爱的,我要为雅各布·内森一家装饰一间房间。哦,我很想做一个炸鱼的方案,椅背做成煎锅的形状,窗帘上绣满可爱的薯片。”
“You know, my dear, I am going to decorate a room for the Jacob Nathans. Oh, I am so tempted to do a fried-fish scheme, with the backs of the chairs shaped like frying pans and lovely chip potatoes embroidered all over the curtains.”
“我们年轻作家的问题在于他们仍然太浪漫了。你出海的时候会晕船,而且需要一个水盆。那么,他们为什么没有勇气去拿这些水盆呢?”
“The trouble with our young writing men is that they are still too romantic. You can’t put out to sea without being seasick and wanting a basin. Well, why won’t they have the courage of those basins?”
“这是一首可怕的诗,讲述一个女孩在一片小树林里被一个没有鼻子的乞丐侵犯的故事……”
“A dreadful poem about a girl who was violated by a beggar without a nose in a lit-tle wood….”
富尔顿小姐坐在最低最深的椅子上,哈利把香烟递给她。
Miss Fulton sank into the lowest, deepest chair and Harry handed round the cigarettes.
从他站在她面前摇晃银盒子并突然说“埃及?土耳其?弗吉尼亚?全都混在一起了”的样子,伯莎意识到她不仅让他厌烦;他真的不喜欢她。她从富尔顿小姐说“不,谢谢,我不抽烟”的样子中判断出她也感受到了这一点,并且很受伤。
From the way he stood in front of her shaking the silver box and saying abruptly: “Egyptian? Turkish? Virginian? They’re all mixed up,” Bertha realized that she not only bored him; he really disliked her. And she decided from the way Miss Fulton said: “No, thank you, I won’t smoke,” that she felt it, too, and was hurt.
“哦,哈利,别讨厌她。你对她的看法完全错了。她太棒了,太棒了。而且,你怎么能对一个对我来说如此重要的人有如此不同的看法。今晚我们上床睡觉时,我会试着告诉你发生了什么。她和我分享了什么。”
“Oh, Harry, don’t dislike her. You are quite wrong about her. She’s wonderful, wonderful. And, besides, how can you fed so differently about someone who means so much to me. I shall try to tell you when we are in bed to-night what has been happening. What she and I have shared.”
听到最后这句话,伯莎的脑海里突然闪过一个奇怪而又几乎令人恐惧的想法。这个想法盲目而微笑地对她低语:“这些人很快就会离开。房子会安静下来——安静下来。灯会熄灭。你和他会单独待在黑暗的房间里——温暖的床上……”
At those last words something strange and almost terrifying darted into Bertha’s mind. And this something blind and smiling whispered to her: “Soon these people will go. The house will be quiet — quiet. The lights will be out. And you and he will be alone together in the dark room — the warm bed….”
她从椅子上跳起来,跑到钢琴旁。
She jumped up from her chair and ran over to the piano.
“可惜没有人来演奏!”她哭道。“可惜没有人来演奏。”
“What a pity someone does not play!” she cried. “What a pity somebody does not play.”
这是 Bertha Young 一生中第一次渴望自己的丈夫。
For the first time in her life Bertha Young desired her husband.
哦,她爱他——当然,她在其他方面也爱他,但不是那种爱。当然,她也同样明白他与众不同。他们经常讨论这个问题。起初,她发现自己如此冷漠,这让她非常担心,但过了一段时间,这似乎并不重要。他们彼此如此坦诚——是如此要好的朋友。这就是现代人最好的一面。
Oh, she’d loved him — she’d been in love with him, of course, in every other way, but just not in that way. And, equally, of course, she’d understood that he was different. They’d discussed it so often. It had worried her dreadfully at first to find that she was so cold, but after a time it had not seemed to matter. They were so frank with each other — such good pals. That was the best of being modern.
但现在——热烈!热烈!这个词让她那热烈的身体疼痛不已!难道这就是那种幸福感所导致的吗?但随后——
But now — ardently! ardently! The word ached in her ardent body! Was this what that feeling of bliss had been leading up to? But then then —
“亲爱的,”诺曼·奈特夫人说道,“你知道我们有多丢脸。我们是时间和火车的受害者。我们住在汉普斯特德。这里真是太好了。”
“My dear,” said Mrs. Norman Knight, “you know our shame. We are the victims of time and train. We live in Hampstead. It’s been so nice.”
“我跟你一起去大厅,”伯莎说。“我很高兴见到你。但你一定不能错过最后一班火车。那太糟糕了,不是吗?”
“I’ll come with you into the hall,” said Bertha. “I loved having you. But you must not miss the last train. That’s so awful, isn’t it?”
“奈特,走之前喝杯威士忌好吗?”哈利喊道。
“Have a whisky, Knight, before you go?” called Harry.
“不用了,谢谢,老兄。”
“No, thanks, old chap.”
伯莎在和他握手时紧握他的手。
Bertha squeezed his hand for that as she shook it.
“晚安,再见,”她在最高一级台阶上喊道,感觉自己正在永远地和他们告别。
“Good night, good-bye,” she cried from the top step, feeling that this self of hers was taking leave of them for ever.
当她回到客厅时,其他人都已经开始行动了。
When she got back into the drawing-room the others were on the move.
“…那你可以坐我的出租车过来一段路。”
“… Then you can come part of the way in my taxi.”
“在经历了那段可怕的经历后,我很庆幸自己不再需要独自开车了。 ”
“I shall be so thankful not to have to face another drive alone after my dreadful experience.”
“您可以在街道尽头的车站搭乘出租车。步行不到几码就可到达。”
“You can get a taxi at the rank just at the end of the street. You won’t have to walk more than a few yards.”
“这真让人欣慰。我去穿上外套。”
“That’s a comfort. I’ll go and put on my coat.”
富尔顿小姐朝大厅走去,伯莎紧随其后,这时哈利几乎推开了她。
Miss Fulton moved towards the hall and Bertha was following when Harry almost pushed past.
“让我来帮助你。”
“Let me help you.”
伯莎知道他正在后悔自己的无礼——她放他走了。从某些方面来说,他真是个孩子——如此冲动——如此——单纯。
Bertha knew that he was repenting his rudeness — she let him go. What a boy he was in some ways — so impulsive — so — simple.
只剩下艾迪和她留在火堆旁边。
And Eddie and she were left by the fire.
“我想知道你是否看过比尔克斯的新诗《客家菜》, ”埃迪轻声说道。“这真是太棒了。在最新一期的诗集中。你有吗?我很想给你看看。它以一句非常优美的诗句开头:‘为什么总是番茄汤?’”
“I wonder if you have seen Bilks’ new poem called Table d’Hôte,” said Eddie softly. “It’s so wonderful. In the last Anthology. Have you got a copy? I’d so like to show it to you. It begins with an incredibly beautiful line: ‘Why Must it Always be Tomato Soup?’ ”
“是的,”伯莎说。她悄无声息地走到客厅门对面的一张桌子旁,埃迪悄无声息地跟在她后面。她拿起那本小书递给他;他们没有发出任何声音。
“Yes,” said Bertha. And she moved noiselessly to a table opposite the drawing-room door and Eddie glided noiselessly after her. She picked up the little book and gave it to him; they had not made a sound.
当他抬头看的时候,她转过头朝大厅望去。她看见……哈利怀里抱着富尔顿小姐的外套,富尔顿小姐背对着他,低着头。他把外套扔到一边,把手放在她的肩膀上,猛地把她转向自己。他的嘴唇说:“我崇拜你。”富尔顿小姐把她那如月光般的手指放在他的脸颊上,露出她睡眼惺忪的微笑。哈利的鼻孔颤抖着;他的嘴唇向后卷起,露出一个可怕的笑容,他低声说:“明天。”富尔顿小姐眨了眨眼睛说:“是的。”
While he looked it up she turned her head towards the hall. And she saw… Harry with Miss Fulton’s coat in his arms and Miss Fulton with her back turned to him and her head bent. He tossed the coat away, put his hands on her shoulders and turned her violently to him. His lips said: “I adore you,” and Miss Fulton laid her moonbeam fingers on his cheeks and smiled her sleepy smile. Harry’s nostrils quivered; his lips curled back in a hideous grin while he whispered: “To-morrow,” and with her eyelids Miss Fulton said: “Yes.”
“就是这个,”埃迪说。“‘为什么一定要是番茄汤?’这句话太对了,你不觉得吗?番茄汤真是永恒的。”
“Here it is,” said Eddie. “‘Why Must it Always be Tomato Soup?’ It’s so deeply true, don’t you feel? Tomato soup is so dreadfully eternal.”
“如果你愿意的话,”哈利的声音从大厅里传来,非常响亮,“我可以给你叫一辆出租车到门口。”
“If you prefer,” said Harry’s voice, very loud, from the hall, “I can phone you a cab to come to the door.”
“噢,不。没必要,”富尔顿小姐说道,她走到伯莎面前,伸出纤细的手指让她握住。
“Oh, no. It’s not necessary,” said Miss Fulton, and she came up to Bertha and gave her the slender fingers to hold.
“再见。非常感谢。”
“Good-bye. Thank you so much.”
“再见,”伯莎说。
“Good-bye,” said Bertha.
富尔顿小姐又握了她的手一会儿。
Miss Fulton held her hand a moment longer.
“你那棵可爱的梨树!”她低声说。
“Your lovely pear tree!” she murmured.
然后她就走了,艾迪跟在后面,就像黑猫追赶灰猫一样。
And then she was gone, with Eddie following, like the black cat following the grey cat.
“我要关门了,”哈利镇定自若地说道。
“I’ll shut up shop,” said Harry, extravagantly cool and collected.
“你那棵可爱的梨树——梨树——梨树!”
“Your lovely pear tree — pear tree — pear tree!”
伯莎干脆跑到了长窗边。
Bertha simply ran over to the long windows.
“哦,现在会发生什么事呢?”她哭喊道。
“Oh, what is going to happen now?” she cried.
但是梨树还是那么美丽,开满鲜花,一动不动。
But the pear tree was as lovely as ever and as full of flower and as still.
[1918]
[1918]
a Entendu:明白了。
aEntendu: Understood.
b liée:连接,参与。
bliée: Connected, engaged.
(1891–1960)
[1891–1960]
这是佛罗里达春夜的十一点钟。那是星期天。换了其他晚上,到这个时候,迪莉娅·琼斯已经上床睡觉两个小时了。但她是个洗衣妇,星期一早上对她来说意义重大。所以星期六她把脏衣服收起来,然后把干净的衣服放回去。星期天晚上做完礼拜后,她把脏衣服分类,把白色的衣服放进去浸泡。这为她节省了将近半天的时间。卧室里有一个大篮子,里面放着她带回家的衣服。这比一堆乱放的衣服整齐多了。
It was eleven o’clock of a Spring night in Florida. It was Sunday. Any other night, Delia Jones would have been in bed for two hours by this time. But she was a washwoman, and Monday morning meant a great deal to her. So she collected the soiled clothes on Saturday when she returned the clean things. Sunday night after church, she sorted them and put the white things to soak. It saved her almost a half day’s start. A great hamper in the bedroom held the clothes that she brought home. It was so much neater than a number of bundles lying around.
她蹲在厨房地板上,旁边是一大堆衣服,她一边把衣服根据颜色分成小堆,一边用悲伤的调子哼着歌,心里却一直想着她的丈夫赛克斯带着她的马和四轮马车去了哪里。
She squatted in the kitchen floor beside the great pile of clothes, sorting them into small heaps according to color, and humming a song in a mournful key, but wondering through it all where Sykes, her husband, had gone with her horse and buckboard.
就在这时,一个又长又圆、又软又黑的东西落在了她的肩膀上,然后滑落到她身边的地板上。她感到一阵巨大的恐惧。她膝盖发软,嘴巴发干,整整一分钟后她才能够叫出声来或动弹一下。然后她才发现,那是她丈夫开车时喜欢带的大牛鞭。
Just then something long, round, limp, and black fell upon her shoulders and slithered to the floor beside her. A great terror took hold of her. It softened her knees and dried her mouth so that it was a full minute before she could cry out or move. Then she saw that it was the big bull whip her husband liked to carry when he drove.
她抬头望向门口,发现他正站在那里,弯腰大笑,因为她被吓到了。她对他尖叫起来。
She lifted her eyes to the door and saw him standing there bent over with laughter at her fright. She screamed at him.
“赛克斯,你为什么要这样用鞭子抽我?你知道这会吓到我的——看上去就像一条蛇,你知道我有多怕蛇。”
“Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me — looks just like a snake, an’ you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes.”
“我当然知道!所以我才会这么做。”他一拍腿,笑得差点在地上打滚。“如果你真是个大傻瓜,连蚯蚓或绳子都会发脾气,我可不知道我会把你吓得多惨。”
“Course Ah knowed it! That’s how come Ah done it.” He slapped his leg with his hand and almost rolled on the ground in his mirth. “If you such a big fool dat you got to have a fit over a earth worm or a string, Ah don’t keer how bad Ah skeer you.”
“你没资格这么做。上帝知道这是罪孽。总有一天,我会因为你的愚蠢行为而死。还有,你开着我的车去哪儿了?我喂那匹小马。你没资格不用鞭子开车。”
“You aint got no business doing it. Gawd knows it’s a sin. Some day Ah’m gointuh drop dead from some of yo’ foolishness. ’Nother thing, where you been wid mah rig? Ah feeds dat pony. He aint fuh you to be drivin’ wid no bull whip.”
“你肯定是个讨厌的黑鬼女人!”他大声说,走进了房间。她继续工作,没有立即回答他。“我一次又一次地告诉你,不要让白人的衣服进屋。”
“You sho is one aggravatin’ nigger woman!” he declared and stepped into the room. She resumed her work and did not answer him at once. “Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks’ clothes outa dis house.”
他拿起鞭子,低头怒视着她。迪莉娅继续干活。她走到院子里,拿来一个镀锌桶,放在洗衣台上。她看到赛克斯把所有的衣服都踢到一起,现在气势汹汹地挡在她面前,他整个人都希望、祈祷着要和她吵架。但她平静地绕过他,开始重新整理东西。
He picked up the whip and glared down at her. Delia went on with her work. She went out into the yard and returned with a galvanized tub and sat it on the washbench. She saw that Sykes had kicked all of the clothes together again, and now stood in her way truculently, his whole manner hoping, praying, for an argument. But she walked calmly around him and commenced to re-sort the things.
“下次,我要把他们踢出门去,”他一边威胁道,一边沿着灯芯绒马裤的裤腿划着一根火柴。
“Next time, Ah’m gointer kick ’em outdoors,” he threatened as he struck a match along the leg of his corduroy breeches.
迪莉娅始终没有从工作中抬起头来,她瘦削而弯曲的肩膀更加耷拉了下来。
Delia never looked up from her work, and her thin, stooped shoulders sagged further.
“赛克斯,今晚没什么事。我刚从教堂接受圣礼回来。”
“Ah aint for no fuss t’night, Sykes. Ah just come from taking sacrament at the church house.”
他轻蔑地哼了一声。“是啊,你周日晚上才从教堂回来,现在却要去洗衣服了。你只不过是个伪君子。你就是那些阿门角落的基督徒——唱歌、欢呼、喊叫,然后在安息日回家洗白人的衣服。”
He snorted scornfully. “Yeah, you just come from de church house on a Sunday night, but heah you is gone to work on them clothes. You ain’t nothing but a hypocrite. One of them amen-corner Christians — sing, whoop, and shout, then come home and wash white folks clothes on the Sabbath.”
他粗暴地踩在最白的一堆东西上,一边踢着一边穿过房间。他的妻子惊慌地尖叫了一声,然后迅速把东西收拾好。
He stepped roughly upon the whitest pile of things, kicking them helter-skelter as he crossed the room. His wife gave a little scream of dismay, and quickly gathered them together again.
“赛克斯,你别再把泥土磨进这些衣服里了!如果我星期天不开始工作,我怎么能在星期六之前完成工作呢?”
“Sykes, you quit grindin’ dirt into these clothes! How can Ah git through by Sat’day if Ah don’t start on Sunday?”
“如果你没能成功,我可别担心。不管怎么说,我已经答应过上帝和其他几个人,我不会把这事儿在我家里办。也别跟我说这些,否则我会把他们赶出去,还会把拳头打到你头上。”
“Ah don’t keer if you never git through. Anyhow, Ah done promised Gawd and a couple of other men, Ah aint gointer have it in mah house. Don’t gimme no lip neither, else Ah’ll throw ’em out and put mah fist up side yo’ head to boot.”
迪莉娅惯常的温顺似乎像一条被风吹走的围巾一样从她的肩上滑落。她站了起来;她那可怜的小身体和赤裸的双手勇敢地反抗着面前这个魁梧的家伙。
Delia’s habitual meekness seemed to slip from her shoulders like a blown scarf. She was on her feet; her poor little body, her bare knuckly hands bravely defying the strapping hulk before her.
“听着,赛克斯,你太过分了。我和你结婚十五年了,我也洗了十五年的衣服。汗,汗,汗!工作,汗,哭泣,汗,祈祷,汗!”
“Looka heah, Sykes, you done gone too fur. Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin’ in washin’ fur fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!”
他冷酷地问道:“那和我有什么关系?”
“What’s that got to do with me?” he asked brutally.
“这跟你有什么关系,赛克斯?我那桶肥皂水给你的肚子带来的食物比你用手给它带来的食物还要多。我为这所房子付出的汗水已经够多了,我想我还会继续在里面流汗。”
“What’s it got to do with you, Sykes? Mah tub of suds is filled yo’ belly with vittles more times than yo’ hands is filled it. Mah sweat is done paid for this house and Ah reckon Ah kin keep on sweatin’ in it.”
她从炉子上抓起铁锅,摆出防御姿态,这出自她之手,令他大为吃惊。这吓坏了他,他没有像往常一样打她。
She seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose, which act surprised him greatly, coming from her. It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did.
“你不会的,”她气喘吁吁地说,“你和那个牙齿参差不齐的老黑女人不会来这里榨干我的血汗钱。你在这里什么也没得到,我会一直待在这里,直到我被拖出去。”
“Naw you won’t,” she panted, “that ole snaggle-toothed black woman you runnin’ with aint comin’ heah to pile up on mah sweat and blood. You aint paid for nothin’ on this place, and Ah’m gointer stay right heah till Ah’m toted out foot foremost.”
“好吧,你最好别再惹我生气了,否则他们会比你想象的更早把你带走。我厌倦你了,我不知道该怎么办。天啊!我多么讨厌瘦女人啊!”
“Well, you better quit gittin’ me riled up, else they’ll be totin’ you out sooner than you expect. Ah’m so tired of you Ah don’t know whut to do. Gawd! how Ah hates skinny wimmen!”
他对这个新来的迪莉娅感到有些敬畏,于是他悄悄地走出门外,砰地关上了后门。他没有说他去了哪里,但她很清楚。她很清楚,他要到天亮才会回来。工作结束后,她上床睡觉,但并没有马上睡着。事情已经到了很糟糕的地步!
A little awed by this new Delia, he sidled out of the door and slammed the back gate after him. He did not say where he had gone, but she knew too well. She knew very well that he would not return until nearly daybreak also. Her work over, she went on to bed but not to sleep at once. Things had come to a pretty pass!
她躺在床上,睁着眼睛,凝视着他们婚姻路上的碎石。一路上没有留下任何影像。任何像鲜花一样的东西早已淹没在从她心中挤出的咸咸的溪流中。她的眼泪、她的汗水、她的鲜血。她为这段婚姻带来了爱,而他带来了对肉体的渴望。婚礼两个月后,他第一次狠狠地打了她一顿。她还记得他带着所有的工资多次前往奥兰多,而回到她身边时,甚至还不到一年,他就已经身无分文。那时她年轻柔弱,但现在她想起自己结实、肌肉发达的四肢,粗糙的指节,不禁在宽大的羽毛床中间蜷缩成一个不开心的小球。现在再指望爱情已经太晚了,即使不是伯莎,也会是别人。这个案例与其他案例不同之处仅在于她比其他人更大胆。除了她的小家之外,一切都太迟了。她为自己的晚年建造了这座房子,并在那里种下了一棵又一棵的树木和鲜花。在她看来,这座房子非常可爱,非常可爱。
She lay awake, gazing upon the debris that cluttered their matrimonial trail. Not an image left standing along the way. Anything like flowers had long ago been drowned in the salty stream that had been pressed from her heart. Her tears, her sweat, her blood. She had brought love to the union and he had brought a longing after the flesh. Two months after the wedding, he had given her the first brutal beating. She had the memory of his numerous trips to Orlando with all of his wages when he had returned to her penniless, even before the first year had passed. She was young and soft then, but now she thought of her knotty, muscled limbs, her harsh knuckly hands, and drew herself up into an unhappy little ball in the middle of the big feather bed. Too late now to hope for love, even if it were not Bertha it would be someone else. This case differed from the others only in that she was bolder than the others. Too late for everything except her little home. She had built it for her old days, and planted one by one the trees and flowers there. It was lovely to her, lovely.
不知怎的,在睡着之前,她发现自己大声说道:“哦,不管怎样,魔鬼背上的东西,都会钻到他的肚子下面。不管怎样,赛克斯和其他人一样,都会自食其果。” 之后,她就能够在精神上筑起一道防线来对付她的丈夫。他的炮弹再也打不到她了。阿门。她睡着了,一直睡到他踢她的脚,粗鲁地掀开被子,宣告他在床上。
Somehow, before sleep came, she found herself saying aloud: “Oh well, whatever goes over the Devil’s back, is got to come under his belly. Sometime or ruther, Sykes, like everybody else, is gointer reap his sowing.” After that she was able to build a spiritual earthworks against her husband. His shells could no longer reach her. Amen. She went to sleep and slept until he announced his presence in bed by kicking her feet and rudely snatching the cover away.
“给我点基瓦,把你的脚移到你自己这边!我应该把你的嘴巴打碎,然后把那把煎锅拉到我身上。”
“Gimme some kivah heah, an’ git yo’ damn foots over on yo’ own side! Ah oughter mash you in yo’ mouf fuh drawing dat skillet on me.”
迪莉娅没有回答他,径直走到栏杆边。对他的一切行为和身份都表现出一种得意洋洋的冷漠。
Delia went clear to the rail without answering him. A triumphant indifference to all that he was or did.
这一周对迪莉娅来说和其他每周一样充满了工作,星期六她骑着小马收集和运送衣服。
The week was as full of work for Delia as all other weeks, and Saturday found her behind her little pony, collecting and delivering clothes.
七月底那天天气非常炎热。乔·克拉克家门廊上的村民们甚至无精打采地嚼着甘蔗。他们没有像往常一样把甘蔗结扔出去。他们任由甘蔗结滴落在门廊边缘。在炎热的天气里,甚至连谈话都变得毫无意义。
It was a hot, hot day near the end of July. The village men on Joe Clarke’s porch even chewed cane listlessly. They did not hurl the cane-knots as usual. They let them dribble over the edge of the porch. Even conversation had collapsed under the heat.
“嘿,黛莉亚·琼斯来了,”吉姆·麦钱特说道,这时那匹毛茸茸的小马从路的拐弯处向他们走来。生锈的四轮马车上堆满了装满干净新衣服的篮子。
“Heah come Delia Jones,” Jim Merchant said, as the shaggy pony came ’round the bend of the road toward them. The rusty buckboard was heaped with baskets of crisp, clean laundry.
“是的,”乔·林赛同意了。“不管天气是热还是冷,不管晴还是雨,每周六德莉亚都会送他们回家。”
“Yep,” Joe Lindsay agreed. “Hot or col’, rain or shine, jes ez reg’lar ez de weeks roll roun’ Delia carries ’em an’ fetches ’em on Sat’day.”
“如果她想吃东西,最好吃点东西,”莫斯说。“赛克斯·琼斯不会用枪打死他们,用火药打死他们也无妨。他不会的。”
“She better if she wanter eat,” said Moss. “Sykes Jones aint wuth de shot an’ powder hit would tek tuh kill ’em. Not to huh he aint.”
“他肯定不会,”沃尔特·托马斯插话道。“这也太糟糕了,因为当他得到它时,她是一个相当漂亮的小把戏。如果他没有抢先一步,我就会得到它。”
“He sho’ aint,” Walter Thomas chimed in. “It’s too bad, too, cause she wuz a right pritty li’l trick when he got huh. Ah’d uh mah’ied huh mahseff if he hadnter beat me to it.”
迪莉娅开车经过时向那两名男子点了点头。
Delia nodded briefly at the men as she drove past.
“太多的打击会毁掉任何人。他已经打得够多了,杀死了三个女人,就让她们改变一下样子吧,”伊莱贾·莫斯利说。“赛克斯怎么能打败那个和他一起躺着的又黑又油腻的大亨,我真搞不懂。我发誓那个八块钱都连沙丁鱼罐头都吻不上,我已经把他扔出去了,是的。”
“Too much knockin’ will ruin any ’oman. He done beat huh ’nough tuh kill three women, let ’lone change they looks,” said Elijah Moseley. “How Sykes kin stommuck dat big black greasy Mogul he’s layin’ roun’ wid, gits me. Ah swear dat eight-rock couldn’t kiss a sardine can Ah done thowed out de back do’ ’way las’ yeah.”
“噢,她很胖,这就是原因。他一直都迷恋胖女人,”麦钱特插话道。“他早就和胖女人绑在一起了,如果他能找到一个可以拥有他的女人的话。我告诉你我偷偷溜到我老婆身边了吗——从他家院子里带了一篮子尿罐给她当礼物?是的,我老婆!她告诉他直接把它们带回家,因为黛莉亚在洗衣盆里干得太辛苦了,她认为那里面的所有东西都像汗水和肥皂泡一样。我真希望我在那里抓住他!我让他的臀部沿着贝壳路划过。”
“Aw, she’s fat, thass how come. He’s allus been crazy ’bout fat women,” put in Merchant. “He’d a’ been tied up wid one long time ago if he could a’ found one tuh have him. Did Ah tell yuh ’bout im come sidlin’ roun’ mah wife — bringin’ her a basket uh pee-cans outa his yard fuh a present? Yessir, mah wife! She tol’ him tuh take ’em right straight back home, cause Delia works so hard ovah dat washtub she reckon eveything on de place taste lak sweat an’ soapsuds. Ah jus’ wisht Ah’d a’ caught ’im ’roun’ dere! Ah’d a’ made his hips ketch on fiah down dat shell road.”
“我知道他也这么做过。我看到他对每个经过的女人都笑了,”沃尔特·托马斯说。“但即便如此,他还是会因为得到那个小女人而感到惭愧。她当时是一只斑点小狗!那是十五年前的事了。他当时非常害怕失去她,她可以让他履行丈夫的部分职责。他们的想法从来都不一样。”
“Ah know he done it, too. Ah sees ’im grinnin’ at every ’oman dat passes,” Walter Thomas said. “But even so, he useter eat some mighty big hunks uh humble pie tuh git dat lil’ ’oman he got. She wuz ez pritty ez a speckled pup! Dat wuz fifteen yeahs ago. He useter be so skeered uh losin’ huh, she could make him do some parts of a husband’s duty. Dey never wuz de same in de mind.”
“应该对他制定一条法律,”林赛说。“他没有胆量和熊抗衡。”
“There oughter be a law about him,” said Lindsay. “He aint fit tuh carry guts tuh a bear.”
克拉克第一次开口说话。“如果一个人没有正派的品格,世界上就没有法律可以让他变得正派。很多男人娶妻就像是吃甘蔗一样。他们吃到甘蔗时,甘蔗又圆又甜,又多汁又甜。但是他们榨干、磨碎、榨干、榨干,榨干他们身上的每一滴快乐。当他们满足于榨干甘蔗时,他们就把甘蔗当成嚼甘蔗一样对待。他们把甘蔗扔掉。他们知道自己在做什么,他们讨厌自己,但他们还是坚持等到甘蔗吃完。所以他们讨厌自己嚼甘蔗,还挡着路。”
Clarke spoke for the first time. “Taint no law on earth dat kin make a man be decent if it aint in ’im. There’s plenty men dat takes a wife lak dey do a joint uh sugar-cane. It’s round, juicy an’ sweet when dey gits it. But dey squeeze an’ grind, squeeze an’ grind an’ wring tell dey wring every drop uh pleasure dat’s in ’em out. When dey’s satisfied dat dey is wrung dry, dey treats ’em jes lak dey do a cane-chew. Dey throws ’em away. Dey knows whut dey is doin’ while dey is at it, an’ hates theirselves fuh it but they keeps on hangin’ after huh tell she’s empty. Den dey hates huh fuh bein’ a cane-chew an’ in de way.”
“我们应该把赛克斯和那只流浪的阿曼带到豪威尔湖的沼泽地里,躺在生皮上,直到他们说不出‘天哪,好乱啊’。他总是生孩子,但自从那个来自北方的白人阿曼教他如何驾驶汽车后,他就长得太大了,活不下去了——我们应该杀了他,”老安德森建议道。
“We oughter take Sykes an’ dat stray ’oman uh his’n down in Lake Howell swamp an’ lay on de rawhide till they cain’t say ‘Lawd a’ mussy.’ He allus wuz uh ovahbearin’ niggah, but since dat white ’oman from up north done teached ’im how to run a automobile, he done got too biggety to live — an’ we oughter kill ’im,” Old Man Anderson advised.
门廊里传来一阵赞许的咕哝声。但高温正在融化他们的公民道德,伊莱贾·莫斯利开始嘲笑乔·克拉克。
A grunt of approval went around the porch. But the heat was melting their civic virtue and Elijah Moseley began to bait Joe Clarke.
“来吧,乔,从那儿拿个瓜给你的顾客切块。我们都受不了热。熊把我咬死了!”
“Come on, Joe, git a melon outa dere an’ slice it up for yo’ customers. We’se all sufferin’ wid de heat. De bear’s done got me!”
“没错,乔,西瓜就是我所需要的东西。”沃尔特·托马斯和莫斯利联手。“来吧,乔。我们都是稳定的客户,你很久没给我们安排了。我选了那个长腿的佛罗里达人最爱。”
“Thass right, Joe, a watermelon is jes’ whut Ah needs tuh cure de eppizudicks.” Walter Thomas joined forces with Moseley. “Come on dere, Joe. We all is steady customers an’ you aint set us up in a long time. Ah chooses dat long, bowlegged Floridy favorite.”
“上帝啊,还有面团。你们都给我二十美分,然后切吧,”克拉克反驳道。“我自己也需要切一块。嘿,每个人都出点钱。我会借给你们我的切肉刀。”
“A god, an’ be dough. You all gimme twenty cents and slice away,” Clarke retorted. “Ah needs a col’ slice m’self. Heah, everybody chip in. Ah’ll lend y’all mah meat knife.”
捐款很快就到账,巨大的西瓜也运了出来。就在这时,赛克斯和伯莎来了。门廊上一片寂静,西瓜又被收了起来。
The money was quickly subscribed and the huge melon brought forth. At that moment, Sykes and Bertha arrived. A determined silence fell on the porch and the melon was put away again.
商人啪的一声放下折刀的刀刃,向商店门口走去。
Merchant snapped down the blade of his jack-knife and moved toward the store door.
“进来吧,乔,给我一块猪肚和一磅咖啡——差点忘了今天是星期六。得回家了。”大部分人也离开了。
“Come on in, Joe, an’ gimme a slab uh sow belly an’ uh pound uh coffee — almost fuhgot ’twas Sat’day. Got to git on home.” Most of the men left also.
就在这时,回家路上的迪莉娅开车经过,赛克斯正在为伯莎点一份丰盛的餐点。看到迪莉娅的出现,赛克斯很高兴。
Just then Delia drove past on her way home, as Sykes was ordering magnificently for Bertha. It pleased him for Delia to see.
“想吃什么就吃什么,亲爱的。等一下,乔。给你两瓶草莓苏打水,一夸脱干豌豆,一块口香糖。”
“Git whutsoever yo’ heart desires, Honey. Wait a minute, Joe. Give huh two botles uh strawberry soda-water, uh quart uh parched ground-peas, an a block uh chewin’ gum.”
说完这些,他们离开了商店,赛克斯提醒伯莎,这是他的城镇,如果她想要,就可以得到它。
With all this they left the store, with Sykes reminding Bertha that this was his town and she could have it if she wanted it.
男人们离开后不久就回来了,并举行了西瓜盛宴。
The men returned soon after they left, and held their watermelon feast.
“赛克斯·琼斯到底从哪儿弄来的这个东西?”林赛问道。
“Where did Sykes Jones git dat ’oman from nohow?” Lindsay asked.
“奥瓦·阿波普卡。我猜她离开的时候他们一定在清理小镇。她看起来不像个什么人,只是个长着头发的胖子。”
“Ovah Apopka. Guess dey musta been cleanin’ out de town when she lef’. She don’t look lak a thing but a hunk uh liver wid hair on it.”
“嗯,她肯定会大叫,”戴夫·卡特补充道。“当她准备好大笑时,她会张开嘴巴,然后把嘴巴锁回凹槽里。贝尔湖里的老鳄鱼爷爷什么也做不了。”
“Well, she sho’ kin squall,” Dave Carter contributed. “When she gits ready tuh laff, she jes’ opens huh mouf an’ latches it back tuh de las’ notch. No ole grandpa alligator down in Lake Bell aint got nothin’ on huh.”
伯莎已经来城里三个月了。赛克斯仍在为她在黛拉·刘易斯家支付房租——这是城里唯一愿意收留她的房子。赛克斯经常带她去温特帕克“狂欢”。他仍然向她保证,他是这个州最棒的男人。
Bertha had been in town three months now. Sykes was still paying her room rent at Della Lewis’ — the only house in town that would have taken her in. Sykes took her frequently to Winter Park to “stomps.” He still assured her that he was the swellest man in the state.
“你肯定能拥有那座小房子,我很快就能把那个阿曼从那里弄走。一切都属于我,你应该能拥有它。我肯定讨厌那个瘦小的阿曼。天哪,你身上肯定有一个肥胖的身材!你可以得到任何你想要的东西。这是我的城镇,你应该能拥有它。”
“Sho’ you kin have dat lil’ ole house soon’s Ah kin git dat ’oman outa dere. Everything b’longs tuh me an’ you sho’ kin have it. Ah sho’ ’bominates uh skinny ’oman. Lawdy, you sho’ is got one portly shape on you! You kin git anything you wants. Dis is mah town an’ you sho’ kin have it.”
在这几个月里,迪莉亚的膝盖因劳累而磨损,她曾多次在客西马尼园的土地上爬行,也曾多次爬上加略山的岩石。为了装聋作哑,她避开了村民和聚会场所。但伯莎在一定程度上抵消了这些影响,她来到迪莉亚家门口,把赛克斯叫到她面前。
Delia’s work-worn knees crawled over the earth in Gethsemane and up the rocks of Calvary many, many times during these months. She avoided the villagers and meeting places in her efforts to be blind and deaf. But Bertha nullified this to a degree, by coming to Delia’s house to call Sykes out to her at the gate.
黛莉亚和赛克斯现在一直在打架,没有一刻是和平的。他们默默地睡觉和吃饭。黛莉亚曾两三次试图表现出怯生生的友好态度,但每次都被拒绝了。很明显,缺口必须一直敞开着。
Delia and Sykes fought all the time now with no peaceful interludes. They slept and ate in silence. Two or three times Delia had attempted a timid friendliness, but she was repulsed each time. It was plain that the breaches must remain agape.
七月到八月,太阳一直炙烤着大地。酷暑如百万支热箭,灼烧着大地上的一切生灵。草木枯萎,树叶枯黄,蛇蜕皮失明,人和狗都疯了。真是酷暑啊!
The sun had burned July to August. The heat streamed down like a million hot arrows, smiting all things living upon the earth. Grass withered, leaves browned, snakes went blind in shedding, and men and dogs went mad. Dog days!
一天,迪莉娅回家,发现赛克斯已经站在她前面。她感到很纳闷,但还是默默地走进屋子,尽管他正站在厨房门口,她要么弯腰从他胳膊底下钻过去,要么请他挪开。他没有给她让出地方。她注意到台阶旁边有一个肥皂盒,但没有特别注意,因为她知道一定是他把它拿过来的。当她弯腰从他伸出的胳膊底下钻过去时,他突然笑着把她往后推了推。
Delia came home one day and found Sykes there before her. She wondered, but started to go on into the house without speaking, even though he was standing in the kitchen door and she must either stoop under his arm or ask him to move. He made no room for her. She noticed a soap box beside the steps, but paid no particular attention to it, knowing that he must have brought it there. As she was stooping to pass under his outstretched arm, he suddenly pushed her backward, laughingly.
“看看迪莉娅的盒子里,啊给你带来了一些东西!”
“Look in de box dere Delia, Ah done brung yuh somethin’!”
她跌跌撞撞地差点摔倒在盒子上,当她看到里面的东西时,她几乎立刻晕了过去。
She nearly fell upon the box in her stumbling, and when she saw what it held, she all but fainted outright.
“赛克斯!赛克斯,我的天啊!你把那条响尾蛇从这儿带走!你得了。哦,耶稣,快点!”
“Sykes! Sykes, mah Gawd! You take dat rattlesnake ’way from heah! You gottuh. Oh, Jesus, have mussy!”
“我可不想对那家伙做什么——事实上我除了死什么也做不了。装模作样地假装自己吓到了那条蛇,这毫无用处——他会待在这里等死。他不会咬我,因为我知道如何对付他。无论如何他都不会冒险露出他的尖牙来咬你那瘦小的屁股。”
“Ah aint gut tuh do nothin’ uh de kin’ — fact is Ah aint got tuh do nothin’ but die. Taint no use uh you puttin’ on airs makin’ out lak you skeered uh dat snake — he’s gointer stay right heah tell he die. He wouldn’t bite me cause Ah knows how tuh handle ’im. Nohow he wouldn’t risk breakin’ out his fangs ’gin yo’ skinny laigs.”
“不,赛克斯,别把那东西放在我身边,否则我会被杀的。你知道我甚至害怕蚯蚓。那是我见过的最大的蛇。赛克斯,求你杀了他。”
“Naw, now Sykes, don’t keep dat thing ’roun’ heah tuh skeer me tuh death. You knows Ah’m even feared uh earth worms. Thass de biggest snake Ah evah did see. Kill ’im Sykes, please.”
“别逼我帮你什么忙。到处跑,想吓唬吓唬它。不,我不会杀它的。我真想看看它比你厉害!这是一条好蛇,谁也别想它撞到沙砾。”
“Doan ast me tuh do nothin’ fuh yuh. Goin’ ’roun’ tryin’ tuh be so damn astorperious. Naw, Ah aint gonna kill it. Ah think uh damn sight mo’ uh him dan you! Dat’s a nice snake an’ anybody doan lak ’im kin jes’ hit de grit.”
村民们很快就听说了赛克斯养了这条蛇,并纷纷前来查看和询问。
The village soon heard that Sykes had the snake, and came to see and ask questions.
“赛克斯,你是怎么抓到这条六英尺长的响尾蛇的?”托马斯问道。
“How de hen-fire did you ketch dat six-foot rattler, Sykes?” Thomas asked.
“他满身都是青蛙,所以几乎动弹不得,我就是这样对他放松的。但我是个耍蛇人,知道如何对付它们。嘘,那不算什么。如果我愿意的话,我可以每天抓一条。”
“He’s full uh frogs so he caint hardly move, thass how Ah eased up on ’m. But Ah’m a snake charmer an’ knows how tuh handle ’em. Shux, dat aint nothin’. Ah could ketch one eve’y day if Ah so wanted tuh.”
“他需要的是一根很重的胡桃木棍,重重地压在他的头上。这是制服响尾蛇的最好办法。”
“Whut he needs is a heavy hick’ry club leaned real heavy on his head. Dat’s de bes ’way tuh charm a rattlesnake.”
“不,沃尔特,你们根本不像我一样了解这些钻石的背面,”赛克斯用一种高傲的语气说道。
“Naw, Walt, y’all jes’ don’t understand dese diamon’ backs lak Ah do,” said Sykes in a superior tone of voice.
村里的人同意沃尔特的说法,但那条蛇却留在原地。它的箱子仍放在厨房门口,上面盖着铁丝网。两三天后,它吃完了青蛙大餐,真的活了过来。厨房和院子里的每一个动静,它都会发出嘎嘎声。一天,迪莉娅从厨房台阶上下来时,看到它白垩色的毒牙弯曲得像弯刀一样,挂在铁丝网里。这一次,她没有像往常一样躲避着视线逃跑。她在门口站了很久,怒不可遏,她每看一眼这个折磨她的生物,她就越是怒不可遏。
The village agreed with Walter, but the snake stayed on. His box remained by the kitchen door with its screen wire covering. Two or three days later it had digested its meal of frogs and literally came to life. It rattled at every movement in the kitchen or the yard. One day as Delia came down the kitchen steps she saw his chalky-white fangs curved like scimitars hung in the wire meshes. This time she did not run away with averted eyes as usual. She stood for a long time in the doorway in a red fury that grew bloodier for every second that she regarded the creature that was her torment.
那天晚上,赛克斯刚坐到餐桌旁,她就提起了这个话题。
That night she broached the subject as soon as Sykes sat down to the table.
“赛克斯,我要你把那条蛇带走。你让我挨饿,让我成为寡妇,你打了我,让我带走了它,但你把我的内脏都弄死了,把那条害虫带走了。”
“Sykes, Ah wants you tuh take dat snake ’way fum heah. You done starved me an’ Ah put up widcher, you done beat me an Ah took dat, but you done kilt all mah insides bringin’ dat varmint heah.”
赛克斯倒了一碟咖啡,故意喝完后才回答她。
Sykes poured out a saucer full of coffee and drank it deliberately before he answered her.
“我非常关心你内心深处的感觉。那条蛇不会动的,除非我准备好了。至于殴打,如果你待在我身边,你就不会承受任何你要承受的。 ”
“A whole lot Ah keer ’bout how you feels inside uh out. Dat snake aint goin’ no damn wheah till Ah gits ready fuh ’im tuh go. So fur as beatin’ is concerned, yuh aint took near all dat you gointer take ef yuh stay ’roun’ me.”
迪莉娅推开盘子,从桌旁站起来。“赛克斯,我恨你,”她平静地说。“我恨你,就像我爱你一样。我吃饱了肚子,肚子都快塞到脖子上了。这就是我收到教会的信,转而成为伍德布里奇教会成员的原因——所以我不必和你一起接受圣礼。我不想看到你围着我转。你想和那个女人转就转,但别走开,别离开我的房子。我恨你,就像你这条烂狗。”
Delia pushed back her plate and got up from the table. “Ah hates you, Sykes,” she said calmly. “Ah hates you tuh de same degree dat Ah useter love yuh. Ah done took an’ took till mah belly is full up tuh mah neck. Dat’s de reason Ah got mah letter fum de church an’ moved mah membership tuh Woodbridge — so Ah don’t haftuh take no sacrament wid yuh. Ah don’t wantuh see yuh ’roun’ me a-tall. Lay ’roun’ wid dat ’oman all yuh wants tuh, but gwan ’way fum me an’ mah house. Ah hates yuh lak uh suck-egg dog.”
赛克斯惊讶得差点把嘴里正在嚼的一大团玉米面包和羽衣甘蓝掉出来。他好不容易才鼓起勇气回答德莉亚。
Sykes almost let the huge wad of corn bread and collard greens he was chewing fall out of his mouth in amazement. He had a hard time whipping himself up to the proper fury to try to answer Delia.
“嗯,我很高兴你确实恨我。我肯定你缠着我。我不想要你。看看你那瘦骨嶙峋的脖子!你瘦骨嶙峋的腿和胳膊足以割断一个人的性命。你看起来就像我那个魔鬼的洋娃娃。你对我的恨不会比我更甚,我恨你。我已经恨你好多年了。”
“Well, Ah’m glad you does hate me. Ah’m sho’ tiahed uh you hangin’ ontuh me. Ah don’t want yuh. Look at yuh stringey ole neck! Yo’ rawbony laigs an’ arms is enough tuh cut uh man tuh death. You looks jes’ lak de devvul’s doll-baby tuh me. You cain’t hate me no worse dan Ah hates you. Ah been hatin’ you fuh years.”
“你那黑老皮看起来跟我没什么两样,但那皱巴巴的橡胶皮,两侧大大的翅膀像秃鹰的翅膀一样扑扇着。别以为我会从我家跑出去。我去见那些白人,我的年轻人,下次你把我的钱放在我身上。我的杯子已经喝完了。”德莉亚毫无恐惧地说着,赛克斯离开了房子,威胁着她,但没有采取任何行动。
“Yo’ ole black hide don’t look lak nothin’ tuh me, but uh passed uh wrinkled up rubber, wid yo’ big ole yeahs flappin’ on each side lak uh paih uh buzzard wings. Don’t think Ah’m gointuh be run ’way fum mah house neither. Ah’m goin’ tuh de white folks bout you, mah young man, de very nex’ time you lay yo’ han’s on me. Mah cup is done run ovah.” Delia said this with no signs of fear and Sykes departed from the house, threatening her, but made not the slightest move to carry out any of them.
那天晚上他根本没有回来,第二天是星期天,迪莉娅很高兴自己不必争吵,就套上小马,驱车四英里前往伍德布里奇。
That night he did not return at all, and the next day being Sunday, Delia was glad that she did not have to quarrel before she hitched up her pony and drove the four miles to Woodbridge.
她留下来参加晚会——“爱宴”——非常温暖,充满精神。在情绪的风中,她的家庭烦恼被带到了很远的地方,以至于她在开车回家的路上唱着歌,
She stayed to the night service — “love feast” — which was very warm and full of spirit. In the emotional winds her domestic trials were borne far and wide so that she sang as she drove homeward,
Jurden 水,黑色和彩色
Jurden water, black an’ col’
寒意笼罩着身体,却不侵袭灵魂
Chills de body, not de soul
啊啊想要在呃平静的时间里穿越尤尔登。
An’ Ah wantah cross Jurden in uh calm time.
她从谷仓走到厨房门口,停了下来。
She came from the barn to the kitchen door and stopped.
“怎么了,老撒旦,你不吵起来吗?”她对着蛇的箱子说。一片寂静。她带着对诞生的挣扎的新希望走进屋子。也许她威胁要去找白人吓坏了赛克斯!也许他很抱歉!十五年的痛苦和压抑让迪莉亚来到了一个地方,她希望任何能让她克服或突破她内心的禁忌之墙的事情。
“Whut’s de mattah, ol’ satan, you aint kickin’ up yo’ racket?” She addressed the snake’s box. Complete silence. She went on into the house with a new hope in its birth struggles. Perhaps her threat to go to the white folks had frightened Sykes! Perhaps he was sorry! Fifteen years of misery and suppression had brought Delia to the place where she would hope anything that looked towards a way over or through her wall of inhibitions.
她立即在炉子后面摸索着找到了一根火柴。那里只有一根。
She felt in the match safe behind the stove at once for a match. There was only one there.
“那黑鬼除了他那烂脖子什么也拿不出来,但他能跑到我带的东西那里,速度很快。现在他已经把半盒火柴带走了。他家里也有那只狗。”
“Dat niggah wouldn’t fetch nothin’ heah tuh save his rotten neck, but he kin run thew whut Ah brings quick enough. Now he done toted off nigh on tuh haff uh box uh matches. He done had dat ’oman heah in mah house, too.”
除了女人,没人知道她为何在划火柴之前就知道了这一点。但她确实知道了,这让她再次陷入愤怒。
Nobody but a woman could tell how she knew this even before she struck the match. But she did and it put her into a new fury.
她马上把桶搬进来,把白色的东西放进去浸泡。这次她决定不用把洗衣篮搬出卧室,而是进去整理。她拿起大肚灯走了进去。房间很小,洗衣篮稳稳地立在白色铁床的床脚边。她可以坐下来,把手伸进床柱里——一边工作一边休息。
Presently she brought in the tubs to put the white things to soak. This time she decided she need not bring the hamper out of the bedroom; she would go in there and do the sorting. She picked up the pot-bellied lamp and went in. The room was small and the hamper stood hard by the foot of the white iron bed. She could sit and reach through the bedposts — resting as she worked.
“啊,想在平静的时刻穿过 Jurden。”她又开始唱歌了。“爱宴”的气氛又回来了。她几乎是高兴地掀开篮子的盖子。然后,在恐惧和恐惧的驱使下,她又跳回了门口。蛇就躺在篮子里!起初它动作迟缓,但就在她转过身来,在恐惧的疯狂中跳上跳下时,它开始剧烈地活动起来。她看见他从篮子里把他可怕的美貌倾倒在床上,然后她抓起灯,尽可能快地跑到厨房。从敞开的门里吹进来的风吹灭了灯光,黑暗加剧了她的恐惧。她冲向黑暗的院子,在她想到放下灯之前就关上了门。她觉得即使在地上也不安全,所以她爬上了干草仓。
“Ah wantah cross Jurden in uh calm time.” She was singing again. The mood of the “love feast” had returned. She threw back the lid of the basket almost gaily. Then, moved by both horror and terror, she sprung back toward the door. There lay the snake in the basket! He moved sluggishly at first, but even as she turned round and round, jumped up and down in an insanity of fear, he began to stir vigorously. She saw him pouring his awful beauty from the basket upon the bed, then she seized the lamp and ran as fast as she could to the kitchen. The wind from the open door blew out the light and the darkness added to her terror. She sped to the darkness of the yard, slamming the door after her before she thought to set down the lamp. She did not feel safe even on the ground, so she climbed up in the hay barn.
她在干草上四肢伸展地躺了一个多小时,胡言乱语。
There for an hour or more she lay sprawled upon the hay a gibbering wreck.
最后她安静下来,之后,她开始理清思绪。与此同时,一股冰冷、血腥的愤怒从她心中蔓延开来。几个小时都是这样。一段自省的时间,一段回顾的时间,然后是两者的结合。从此,她陷入可怕的平静之中。
Finally she grew quiet, and after that, coherent thought. With this, stalked through her a cold, bloody rage. Hours of this. A period of introspection, a space of retrospection, then a mixture of both. Out of this an awful calm.
“好吧,我能做到最好。如果事情不对劲,上帝知道我的错在哪里。”
“Well, Ah done de bes’ Ah could. If things aint right, Gawd knows taint mah fault.”
她睡着了——睡得有点不安稳——醒来时,天空一片灰暗。楼下传来一声响亮的空洞声。她向外张望。赛克斯在木桩旁,正在拆毁一个用铁丝包着的箱子。
She went to sleep — a twitchy sleep — and woke up to a faint gray sky. There was a loud hollow sound below. She peered out. Sykes was at the wood-pile, demolishing a wire-covered box.
他匆匆赶到厨房门口,但在进去之前在外面徘徊了几分钟,又在里面站了几分钟才关上门。
He hurried to the kitchen door, but hung outside there some minutes before he entered, and stood some minutes more inside before he closed it after him.
天空中灰蒙蒙的一片。迪莉娅毫无畏惧地走下楼,蹲在卧室低矮的窗户下。拉上的窗帘遮住了黎明,封闭了夜色。但薄薄的墙壁挡不住任何声音。
The gray in the sky was spreading. Delia descended without fear now, and crouched beneath the low bedroom window. The drawn shade shut out the dawn, shut in the night. But the thin walls held back no sound.
“那只老猫现在醒了!”她沉思着,听着里面巨大的嗡嗡声,每个樵夫都知道,这是声音幻觉之一。响尾蛇是个腹语者。它的嗡嗡声向右、向左、向前、向后、脚下发出——无处不在,就是找不到它所在的地方。除非他准备好坚持自己的论点,否则猜错的人就会倒霉!有时,它根本不发出任何响声就发动攻击。
“Dat ol’ scratch is woke up now!” She mused at the tremendous whirr inside, which every woodsman knows, is one of the sound illusions. The rattler is a ventriloquist. His whirr sounds to the right, to the left, straight ahead, behind, close under foot — everywhere but where it is. Woe to him who guesses wrong unless he is prepared to hold up his end of the argument! Sometimes he strikes without rattling at all.
赛克斯在屋里什么也没听到,直到他在黑暗中试图拿到火柴时撞掉了炉子上的锅盖。他在 Bertha's 掏空了口袋里的钱。
Inside, Sykes heard nothing until he knocked a pot lid off the stove while trying to reach the match safe in the dark. He had emptied his pockets at Bertha’s.
蛇似乎在炉子下醒来了,赛克斯迅速跳进卧室。尽管他喝了杜松子酒,但他的头脑现在清醒了。
The snake seemed to wake up under the stove and Sykes made a quick leap into the bedroom. In spite of the gin he had had, his head was clearing now.
“我的天啊!”他喋喋不休地说,“要是我能找到光就好了!”
“Mah Gawd!” he chattered, “ef Ah could on’y strack uh light!”
嘎嘎声暂时停止了,他一动不动地站着。他等待着。似乎那条蛇也在等待。
The rattling ceased for a moment as he stood paralyzed. He waited. It seemed that the snake waited also.
“哦,天哪!我以为他会病得很厉害”——赛克斯正自言自语,这时嗡嗡声又响了起来,这次更近了,就在脚下。早在这之前,赛克斯的思考能力就被压倒了,只剩下原始的本能,他跳了起来——跳到了床上。
“Oh fuh de light! Ah thought he’d be too sick” — Sykes was muttering to himself when the whirr began again, closer, right underfoot this time. Long before this, Sykes’ ability to think had been flattened down to primitive instinct and he leaped — onto the bed.
迪莉娅听到外面传来一声尖叫,那声音可能是发疯的黑猩猩或受惊的大猩猩发出的。人类所能表达出的所有恐惧、惊恐和愤怒,却无法发出任何可辨认的声音。
Outside Delia hears a cry that might have come from a maddened chimpanzee, a stricken gorilla. All the terror, all the horror, all the rage that man possibly could express, without a recognizable human sound.
里面一片喧闹,又是一阵动物的尖叫声,还有爬行动物断断续续的呼呼声。窗帘猛地从窗户上扯下来,让红色的晨曦照进来,一只巨大的棕色手抓住了窗户杆,在蛇的嘎嘎声突然平息很久之后,木地板上沉重的沉闷的敲击声仍不时响起。迪莉娅从窗户下面可以看到和听到这一切,这让她感到恶心。她偷偷摸摸地走到四点钟的位置,在凉爽的地上伸开身体来恢复体力。
A tremendous stir inside there, another series of animal screams, the intermittent whirr of the reptile. The shade torn violently down from the window, letting in the red dawn, a huge brown hand seizing the window stick, great dull blows upon the wooden floor punctuating the gibberish of sound long after the rattle of the snake had abruptly subsided. All this Delia could see and hear from her place beneath the window, and it made her ill. She crept over to the four-o’clocks and stretched herself on the cool earth to recover.
她躺在那儿。“迪莉娅,迪莉娅!”她能听到赛克斯用最绝望的声音呼喊,仿佛他不指望得到任何回应。太阳慢慢升起,他呼喊着。迪莉娅动弹不得——她的腿已经松弛。她一动不动,他呼喊着,太阳继续升起。
She lay there. “Delia, Delia!” She could hear Sykes calling in a most despairing tone as one who expected no answer. The sun crept on up, and he called. Delia could not move — her legs were gone flabby. She never moved, he called, and the sun kept rising.
“我的天啊!”她听到他呻吟道。“我的天啊,fum Heben!”她听到他跌跌撞撞地走来走去,从花坛上站了起来。太阳越来越暖和了。当她走近门口时,她听到他满怀希望地喊道:“迪莉娅,是你吗,阿希?”
“Mah Gawd!” she heard him moan. “Mah Gawd fum Heben!” She heard him stumbling about and got up from her flower-bed. The sun was growing warm. As she approached the door she heard him call out hopefully, “Delia, is dat you Ah heah?”
她一到门口就看到他趴在地上。他朝她爬了一两英寸——他只能爬这么一英寸,她看到他肿胀得可怕的脖子和睁开的一只眼睛,眼中闪烁着希望。一股无法抑制的怜悯之情驱使她远离那只眼睛,那只眼睛一定、不可能看不到浴缸。他会看见灯的。奥兰多和那里的医生太远了。她几乎够不到楝树,她在越来越热的天气里等待着,而她知道,冰冷的河水正慢慢涌上来,要淹死那只眼睛,现在它肯定知道她已经知道了。
She saw him on his hands and knees as soon as she reached the door. He crept an inch or two toward her — all that he was able, and she saw his horribly swollen neck and his one open eye shining with hope. A surge of pity too strong to support bore her away from that eye that must, could not, fail to see the tubs. He would see the lamp. Orlando with its doctors was too far. She could scarcely reach the Chinaberry tree, where she waited in the growing heat while inside she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew.
[1926年]
[1926]
(1897-1962)
[1897–1962]
艾米丽·格里尔森小姐去世时,我们全镇的人都参加了她的葬礼:男人们是出于对这座倒塌纪念碑的某种尊敬,而女人们大多是出于好奇,想看看她家的内部。除了一位老男仆——既是园丁又是厨师——以外,至少十年来没人见过她家的房子。
When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant — a combined gardener and cook — had seen in at least ten years.
那是一栋方形大木屋,曾是白色的,装饰着圆顶、尖顶和卷形阳台,是七十年代的浓郁轻快风格,坐落在我们曾经最繁华的街道上。但车库和轧棉机已经侵占并抹去了这个街区的庄严名字;只有艾米丽小姐的房子还留了下来,它顽固而又风骚的腐朽建筑高耸于棉花车和汽油泵之上——丑陋中的丑陋。现在艾米丽小姐已经去了那些庄严名字的代表那里,他们躺在雪松环绕的墓地里,周围是杰斐逊战役中阵亡的联邦和同盟军士兵的墓地,墓地上排列着无名士兵。
It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps — an eyesore among eyesores. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.
爱米丽小姐在世时,她就是一个传统、一种责任和一种关怀;这是镇上世袭的义务,从 1894 年那天起,镇长萨托里斯上校——他颁布了一项法令,规定黑人妇女不得不系围裙上街——免除了她的税款,这项豁免从她父亲去世开始一直延续到现在。爱米丽小姐不会接受施舍。萨托里斯上校编造了一个复杂的故事,说爱米丽小姐的父亲借钱给镇上,镇上出于商业目的,更愿意用这种方式偿还。只有萨托里斯上校这一代人和思想的人才能编造出这种故事,也只有女人才会相信这种故事。
Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor — he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron — remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity. Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity. Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying. Only a man of Colonel Sartoris’s generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it.
当下一代人带着更现代的思想成为市长和市议员时,这种安排引起了一些不满。年初,他们给她寄了一张纳税通知单。二月到了,没有回复。他们给她写了一封正式信,请她在方便的时候到警长办公室去。一周后,市长亲自给她写信,提出上门或派车接她,她收到了一张古式纸条的回信,纸条上写着一小段流畅的书法,墨水褪色,字迹潦草,大意是她再也不出门了。纳税通知单也随信附上,没有评论。
When the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction. On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. February came, and there was no reply. They wrote her a formal letter, asked her to call at the sheriff’s office at her convenience. A week later the mayor wrote her himself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that she no longer went out at all. The tax notice was also enclosed, without comment.
他们召集了市政委员会的特别会议。一个代表团来拜访她,敲了敲门。自从八年或十年前她不再教授瓷器绘画课以来,这扇门就再也没有来过。老黑人把他们领进一间昏暗的大厅,从那里走上楼梯,进入更加阴暗的房间。里面弥漫着灰尘和废弃的气味——一种潮湿闷热的气味。黑人领他们走进客厅。里面摆放着厚重的皮革家具。黑人拉开一扇窗户的百叶窗,他们看到皮革已经开裂;他们坐下来,大腿周围慢慢扬起一层淡淡的灰尘,在一缕阳光下,灰尘慢慢地旋转着。壁炉前一个失去光泽的镀金画架上,放着一幅埃米莉小姐父亲的蜡笔画像。
They called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. A deputation waited upon her, knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier. They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall from which a stairway mounted into still more shadow. It smelled of dust and disuse — a close, dank smell. The Negro led them into the parlor. It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture. When the Negro opened the blinds of one window, they could see that the leather was cracked; and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sun-ray. On a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emily’s father.
她一进来,他们就站了起来——一个身材矮小、肥胖的女人,穿着一身黑衣,细细的金链垂到腰间,消失在腰带里,拄着一根乌木手杖,手杖的头是金的,已经失去光泽。她骨架小巧瘦削,也许正因为如此,在别人身上只是丰满,而在她身上却显得肥胖。她看上去臃肿不堪,就像一具长期浸泡在静止的水中的身体,脸色苍白。她的眼睛埋在脸上的脂肪里,看起来像两小块煤被压在面团里,当来访者陈述他们的来意时,她的眼睛从一张脸移到另一张脸。
They rose when she entered — a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand.
她没有叫他们坐下,只是站在门口,静静地听着,直到发言人突然停下来。然后他们听到了金链末端那只看不见的手表发出的滴答声。
She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt. Then they could hear the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain.
她的声音冷淡而冷漠。“我在杰斐逊不用纳税。萨托里斯上校向我解释过。也许你们中有人可以查阅一下城市档案,然后自己去查。”
Her voice was dry and cold. “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselves.”
“但是我们已经收到了。我们是市政府,艾米丽小姐。你没有收到警长签署的通知吗?”
“But we have. We are the city authorities, Miss Emily. Didn’t you get a notice from the sheriff, signed by him?”
“是的,我收到了一份文件,”艾米丽小姐说。“也许他认为自己是警长……我在杰斐逊不用纳税。”
“I received a paper, yes,” Miss Emily said. “Perhaps he considers himself the sheriff…. I have no taxes in Jefferson.”
“但你看,书上没有任何东西可以证明这一点。我们必须按照——”
“But there is nothing on the books to show that, you see. We must go by the —”
“请见萨托里斯上校。我在杰斐逊不用纳税。”
“See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.”
“可是,艾米丽小姐——”
“But, Miss Emily —”
“见萨托里斯上校。”(萨托里斯上校已经去世近十年了。)“我在杰斐逊不用纳税。托比!”黑人出现了。“把这些先生们赶出去。”
“See Colonel Sartoris.” (Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years.) “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!” The Negro appeared. “Show these gentlemen out.”
于是她全速地征服了她们,就像三十年前她征服她们的父亲,让她们闻到气味一样。那是在她父亲去世两年后,也是她的心上人——我们认为会娶她的人——抛弃她不久后。父亲去世后,她很少外出;心上人离开后,人们几乎再也见不到她了。有几位女士大胆地拜访了她,但没有受到接待,这个地方唯一的生命迹象就是那个黑人——当时是个年轻人——拿着一个购物篮进进出出。
So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. That was two years after her father’s death and a short time after her sweetheart — the one we believed would marry her — had deserted her. After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all. A few of the ladies had the temerity to call, but were not received, and the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man — a young man then — going in and out with a market basket.
“就好像一个男人——任何男人——都能把厨房打理得井井有条一样,”女士们说;所以当气味弥漫时,她们并不感到惊讶。这是粗俗、拥挤的世界与高高在上的格里尔逊家族之间的又一联系。
“Just as if a man — any man — could keep a kitchen properly,” the ladies said; so they were not surprised when the smell developed. It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons.
一位邻居,一位妇女,向市长、八十岁的史蒂文斯法官投诉。
A neighbor, a woman, complained to the mayor, Judge Stevens, eighty years old.
“但是,夫人,您要我怎么办呢?”他问道。
“But what will you have me do about it, madam?” he said.
“为什么?让她发个信阻止这种行为,”女人说。“难道没有法律规定吗?”
“Why, send her word to stop it,” the woman said. “Isn’t there a law?”
“我相信没必要这么做,”史蒂文斯法官说。“那可能只是她那个黑鬼在院子里打死的一条蛇或一只老鼠。我会跟他谈谈这件事。”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” Judge Stevens said. “It’s probably just a snake or a rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard. I’ll speak to him about it.”
第二天,他又收到两份投诉,其中一份来自一位男子,他带着羞怯的反对态度说道:“法官,我们真的必须做点什么。我最不愿意打扰埃米莉小姐,但我们必须做点什么。”那天晚上,市议会召开了会议——三位老人和一位年轻人,是新一代的成员。
The next day he received two more complaints, one from a man who came in diffident deprecation. “We really must do something about it, Judge. I’d be the last one in the world to bother Miss Emily, but we’ve got to do something.” That night the Board of Aldermen met — three graybeards and one younger man, a member of the rising generation.
“很简单,”他说,“叫她把她的房子打扫干净。给她一个明确的时间,如果她不打扫……”
“It’s simple enough,” he said. “Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don’t….”
“该死,先生,”史蒂文斯法官说道,“你会当着一位女士的面指责她身上有异味吗?”
“Dammit, sir,” Judge Stevens said, “will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?”
于是,第二天午夜过后,四个男人穿过艾米丽小姐家的草坪,像强盗一样在屋子里鬼鬼祟祟地走来走去,沿着砖墙底部和地下室的开口嗅来嗅去,其中一人用手从肩上挎着的麻袋里拿出一个袋子,像常规的播种动作一样。他们打开地下室的门,在地下室和所有的外屋里撒上石灰。当他们再次穿过草坪时,一扇原本漆黑的窗户亮了起来,艾米丽小姐坐在里面,灯光在她身后,她挺直的上身一动不动,就像一尊偶像。他们悄悄地穿过草坪,走进街道两旁洋槐树的阴影里。一两周后,气味消失了。
So the next night, after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily’s lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand out of a sack slung from his shoulder. They broke open the cellar door and sprinkled lime there, and in all the outbuildings. As they recrossed the lawn, a window that had been dark was lighted and Miss Emily sat in it, the light behind her, and her upright torso motionless as that of an idol. They crept quietly across the lawn and into the shadow of the locusts that lined the street. After a week or two the smell went away.
正是在那时,人们开始真正为她感到难过。我们镇上的人们记得她的姑婆怀亚特老太太最后完全疯了,他们认为格里尔森一家人有点自视过高。没有一个年轻人配得上埃米莉小姐和她这样的人。我们早就把他们看作一幅画面。埃米莉小姐身着白色衣服,身材苗条,站在背景中;她父亲双腿叉开,背对着她,手里紧握着马鞭,两人被后开的前门框住。所以当她三十岁还单身时,我们并不高兴,但感到很平反;即使家里有疯子,如果真的有机会,她也不会拒绝所有的机会。
That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her. People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were. None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau. Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the backflung front door. So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized.
她父亲去世后,人们都说这栋房子是她唯一留下的东西;从某种程度上说,人们都很高兴。他们终于可以同情艾米丽小姐了。她孤身一人,一贫如洗,变得有人情味了。现在她也能体会到多一分钱或少一分钱所带来的旧日的兴奋和绝望了。
When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized. Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less.
他去世的第二天,所有的女士们都准备到他家吊唁并提供帮助,这是我们的习俗。艾米丽小姐在门口迎接他们,她穿着和往常一样,脸上没有一丝悲伤。她告诉他们,她的父亲并没有死。她这样说了三天,牧师和医生们都来拜访她,试图说服她让他们处理尸体。就在他们准备诉诸法律和武力时,她崩溃了,他们很快就埋葬了她的父亲。
The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom. Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly.
我们当时并没有说她疯了。我们相信她不得不这么做。我们记得她父亲赶走的所有年轻人,我们知道,她一无所有,只能紧紧抓住那些夺走她的东西,就像人们会做的那样。
We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.
她病了好久,再见到她的时候,头发剪得很短,看上去像个小女孩,有点儿像教堂彩色玻璃窗上的天使,有点儿悲壮,又有点儿安详。
She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows — sort of tragic and serene.
镇上刚刚签下铺设人行道的合同,在她父亲去世后的那个夏天,他们开始施工。建筑公司带着黑奴、骡子和机器来了,还有一个叫霍默·巴伦的工头,他是北方佬——身材高大,皮肤黝黑,干练利落,嗓音洪亮,眼睛比脸色浅。小男孩们会成群结队地跟在后面,听他骂黑奴,听黑奴们随着镐头的起落唱歌。很快他就认识了镇上的每个人。无论何时,只要你听到广场上到处都是笑声,霍默·巴伦就会站在人群中央。不久,我们开始在星期天下午看到他和艾米丽小姐驾着黄色车轮的马车,车上是马厩里匹配的栗色马车。
The town had just let the contracts for paving the sidewalks, and in the summer after her father’s death they began the work. The construction company came with niggers and mules and machinery, and a foreman named Homer Barron, a Yankee — a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face. The little boys would follow in groups to hear him cuss the niggers, and the niggers singing in time to the rise and fall of picks. Pretty soon he knew everybody in town. Whenever you heard a lot of laughing anywhere about the square, Homer Barron would be in the center of the group. Presently, we began to see him and Miss Emily on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy and the matched team of bays from the livery stable.
起初我们很高兴艾米丽小姐会有兴趣,因为女士们都说:“格里尔森家族当然不会认真考虑北方人,一个日工。”但还有一些老人说,即使是悲伤也无法让一位真正的女士忘记贵族义务——不叫它贵族义务。他们只是说:“可怜的艾米丽。她的亲戚应该来看望她。”她在阿拉巴马州有一些亲戚;但几年前,她的父亲和他们因为疯女人怀亚特老太太的遗产而闹翻了,两家人之间没有任何交流。他们甚至没有派人参加葬礼。
At first we were glad that Miss Emily would have an interest, because the ladies all said, “Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer.” But there were still others, older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige — without calling it noblesse oblige. They just said, “Poor Emily. Her kinsfolk should come to her.” She had some kin in Alabama; but years ago her father had fallen out with them over the estate of old lady Wyatt, the crazy woman, and there was no communication between the two families. They had not even been represented at the funeral.
老人一说“可怜的埃米莉”,窃窃私语便开始了。“你认为真是这样吗?”他们互相说道。“当然是这样。不然还能怎样……”他们用手捂住嘴;百叶窗遮挡着星期天下午的阳光,当马车轻快地驶过时,百叶窗后面丝绸和缎子发出沙沙声:“可怜的埃米莉。”
And as soon as the old people said, “Poor Emily,” the whispering began. “Do you suppose it’s really so?” they said to one another. “Of course it is. What else could….” This behind their hands; rustling of craned silk and satin behind jalousies closed upon the sun of Sunday afternoon as the thin, swift clop-clop-clop of the matched team passed: “Poor Emily.”
她昂首挺胸——即使我们认为她已经堕落。她似乎比以往任何时候都更需要承认她作为最后一个格里尔森家族成员的尊严;似乎她需要那种朴实来重申她的无动于衷。就像她买老鼠药、砒霜的时候一样。那是在他们开始说“可怜的艾米丽”一年多之后,当时两个表姐妹正在拜访她。
She carried her head high enough — even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness. Like when she bought the rat poison, the arsenic. That was over a year after they had begun to say “Poor Emily,” and while the two female cousins were visiting her.
“我要一些毒药,”她对药剂师说。当时她三十多岁了,身材依然苗条,但比平时瘦了些,脸上有一双冷漠高傲的黑眼睛,太阳穴和眼窝周围的皮肤紧绷,就像灯塔看守人的脸一样。“我要一些毒药,”她说。
“I want some poison,” she said to the druggist. She was over thirty then, still a slight woman, though thinner than usual, with cold, haughty black eyes in a face the flesh of which was strained across the temples and about the eye-sockets as you imagine a lighthouse-keeper’s face ought to look. “I want some poison,” she said.
“是的,艾米丽小姐。什么牌子的?用来抓老鼠之类的吗?我建议——”
“Yes, Miss Emily. What kind? For rats and such? I’d recom —— ”
“我想要你拥有的最好的东西。我不在乎是什么样的。”
“I want the best you have. I don’t care what kind.”
药剂师列举了几种。“它们能杀死一切毒药,甚至大象也不例外。但你要的是——”
The druggist named several. “They’ll kill anything up to an elephant. But what you want is —— ”
“砒霜,”艾米丽小姐说。“砒霜好用吗?”
“Arsenic,” Miss Emily said. “Is that a good one?”
“是……砒霜吗?是的,女士。但你想要的是——”
“Is … arsenic? Yes, ma’am. But what you want —— ”
“我想要砒霜。”
“I want arsenic.”
药剂师低头看着她。她回头看着他,挺直腰板,脸色像一面绷紧的旗帜。“当然可以,”药剂师说。“如果这是你想要的。但法律要求你说明你要用它做什么。”
The druggist looked down at her. She looked back at him, erect, her face like a strained flag. “Why, of course,” the druggist said. “If that’s what you want. But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for.”
艾米丽小姐只是盯着他,头往后仰,以便与他四目相对,直到他把目光移开,去拿砒霜并包好。黑人送货员把包裹递给她:药剂师没有回来。当她回到家打开包裹时,盒子上骷髅和骨头下面写着:“给老鼠用的。”
Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up. The Negro delivery boy brought her the package: the druggist didn’t come back. When she opened the package at home there was written on the box, under the skull and bones: “For rats.”
所以第二天我们都说:“她会自杀的”,我们说这是最好的选择。当她第一次和霍默·巴伦在一起时,我们就说:“她会嫁给他的。”然后我们说:“她会说服他的”,因为霍默自己说过——他喜欢男人,大家都知道他和麋鹿俱乐部的年轻人一起喝酒——他不是个想结婚的人。后来我们在百叶窗后面说:“可怜的埃米莉”,星期天下午,他们开着闪闪发光的马车经过,埃米莉小姐昂着头,霍默·巴伦歪戴着帽子,嘴里叼着雪茄,戴着黄手套,手里拿着缰绳和鞭子。
So the next day we all said, “She will kill herself”; and we said it would be the best thing. When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, “She will marry him.” Then we said, “She will persuade him yet,” because Homer himself had remarked — he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club — that he was not a marrying man. Later we said, “Poor Emily” behind the jalousies as they passed on Sunday afternoon in the glittering buggy, Miss Emily with her head high and Homer Barron with his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove.
然后一些女士开始说这是镇上的耻辱,也是年轻人的坏榜样。男人们不想干涉;但最后女士们强迫浸礼会牧师——艾米丽小姐的家人是圣公会教徒——去拜访她。他永远不会透露那次会面中发生的事情,但他拒绝再回去。下一个星期天,他们又开车在街上转悠,第二天牧师的妻子给艾米丽小姐在阿拉巴马的亲戚写了封信。
Then some of the ladies began to say it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people. The men did not want to interfere; but at last the ladies forced the Baptist minister — Miss Emily’s people were Episcopal — to call upon her. He would never divulge what happened during that interview, but he refused to go back again. The next Sunday they again drove about the streets, and the following day the minister’s wife wrote to Miss Emily’s relations in Alabama.
这样,她又有了亲人,我们坐下来观察事态的发展。起初什么也没发生。后来我们确信他们要结婚了。我们得知艾米丽小姐去了珠宝店,订购了一套银色的男士梳妆台,每件上面都印有 HB 字母。两天后,我们得知她买了一套完整的男士服装,包括一件睡衣,我们说:“他们结婚了。”我们真的很高兴。我们很高兴,因为这两位表姐妹比艾米丽小姐更像格里尔森。
So she had blood-kin under her roof again and we sat back to watch developments. At first nothing happened. Then we were sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece. Two days later we learned that she had bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt, and we said, “They are married.” We were really glad. We were glad because the two female cousins were even more Grierson than Miss Emily had ever been.
所以当荷马·巴伦离开时我们并不感到惊讶——街道早已修好了。我们有点失望,因为没有公开欢送,但我们相信他已经去为艾米丽小姐的到来做准备,或者给她一个摆脱表亲的机会。(那时这是一个阴谋,我们都是艾米丽小姐的盟友,帮助她绕过表亲。)果然,又过了一周,他们离开了。而且,正如我们一直预料的那样,三天之内,荷马·巴伦就回到了城里。一天傍晚,一位邻居看到黑人男子在厨房门口迎接他。
So we were not surprised when Homer Barron — the streets had been finished some time since — was gone. We were a little disappointed that there was not a public blowing-off, but we believed that he had gone on to prepare for Miss Emily’s coming, or to give her a chance to get rid of the cousins. (By that time it was a cabal, and we were all Miss Emily’s allies to help circumvent the cousins.) Sure enough, after another week they departed. And, as we had expected all along, within three days Homer Barron was back in town. A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening.
那是我们最后一次见到霍默·巴伦。有一段时间,我们再也没有见到艾米丽小姐。那个黑人男子提着购物篮进进出出,但前门一直关着。我们时不时地会看到她在窗边站一会儿,就像那天晚上男人们撒石灰时那样,但几乎有六个月她都没有出现在街上。然后我们知道这也是意料之中的;好像她父亲的性格太过强烈、太过暴躁,以至于无法消除。这种性格曾多次阻碍了她作为女人的生活。
And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time. The Negro man went in and out with the market basket, but the front door remained closed. Now and then we would see her at the window for a moment, as the men did that night when they sprinkled the lime, but for almost six months she did not appear on the streets. Then we knew that this was to be expected too; as if that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman’s life so many times had been too virulent and too furious to die.
当我们再次见到艾米丽小姐时,她已经长胖了,头发也开始变白。在接下来的几年里,她的头发越来越白,直到变成了均匀的胡椒和盐灰色,然后就不再变白了。直到她 74 岁去世的那一天,她的头发仍然是那么鲜艳的铁灰色,就像一个活跃的男人的头发。
When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray, when it ceased turning. Up to the day of her death at seventy-four it was still that vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man.
从此以后,她的前门就一直紧闭着,除了在她四十岁左右的六七年里,她教过瓷器绘画。她在楼下的一间房间里布置了一个工作室,萨托里斯上校同辈的女儿和孙女们经常被送到她这里,就像她们星期天被送到教堂,带着二十五美分硬币去募捐一样。与此同时,她的税款也得到了减免。
From that time on her front door remained closed, save during a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting. She fitted up a studio in one of the downstairs rooms, where the daughters and granddaughters of Colonel Sartoris’s contemporaries were sent to her with the same regularity and in the same spirit that they were sent to church on Sundays with a twenty-five-cent piece for the collection plate. Meanwhile her taxes had been remitted.
后来,新一代成为小镇的骨干和精神支柱,绘画学生长大后便离开了,不再把孩子送到她那里,带着颜料盒、枯燥的画笔和从女性杂志上剪下来的图片。最后一代学生离开后,前门就关上了,并且永远地关闭了。当小镇开始免费邮寄时,只有艾米丽小姐拒绝让他们把金属号码固定在她门上,并在上面安装邮箱。她不听他们的。
Then the newer generation became the backbone and the spirit of the town, and the painting pupils grew up and fell away and did not send their children to her with boxes of color and tedious brushes and pictures cut from the ladies’ magazines. The front door closed upon the last one and remained closed for good. When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them.
日复一日,月复一月,年复一年,我们看着黑人的头发越来越白,越来越驼背,提着购物篮进进出出。每年十二月,我们都会给她寄一张纳税通知单,一周后邮局就会退回,无人认领。时不时地,我们会在楼下的一扇窗户里看到她——她显然把房子的顶楼都关上了——就像壁龛里雕刻的偶像躯干,看着我们,或者没看着我们,我们永远不知道是看着还是没看着。就这样,她一代又一代地传下去——亲切、不可逃避、无动于衷、平静而又乖僻。
Daily, monthly, yearly we watched the Negro grow grayer and more stooped, going in and out with the market basket. Each December we sent her a tax notice, which would be returned by the post office a week later, unclaimed. Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows — she had evidently shut up the top floor of the house — like the carven torso of an idol in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could never tell which. Thus she passed from generation to generation — dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.
她就这样去世了。在满是灰尘和阴影的房子里病倒了,只有一个老态龙钟的黑人照顾她。我们甚至不知道她病了;我们早就放弃从黑人那里打听任何消息了。他不跟任何人说话,可能甚至不跟她说话,因为他的声音变得刺耳而沙哑,好像因为久不用了。
And so she died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows, with only a doddering Negro man to wait on her. We did not even know she was sick; we had long since given up trying to get any information from the Negro. He talked to no one, probably not even to her, for his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse.
她死在楼下的一个房间里,躺在一张挂着窗帘的厚厚的胡桃木床上,她灰白的头枕在一个枕头上,枕头因年久失修和缺乏阳光而变得发黄发霉。
She died in one of the downstairs rooms, in a heavy walnut bed with a curtain, her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight.
黑人在前门迎接了第一位女士,让她们进来。她们低声细语,目光好奇,目光飞快。然后他就消失了。他穿过房子,从后门出去了,再也没见过。
The Negro met the first of the ladies at the front door and let them in, with their hushed, sibilant voices and their quick, curious glances, and then he disappeared. He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again.
两位表姐妹立刻赶来。第二天她们举行了葬礼,镇上的人都来瞻仰埃米莉小姐的遗容,她父亲的蜡笔脸在灵柩上方沉思,女士们则嘶嘶作响,神情阴森;那些年迈的男士——有些人穿着刷过的南方邦联军服——站在门廊和草坪上,谈论着埃米莉小姐,仿佛她是他们的同辈,他们相信自己曾与她跳过舞,甚至追求过她,他们像老年人一样,把时间与数学上的递进混淆起来,对他们来说,过去的一切并不是一条逐渐缩小的道路,而是一片广袤的草地,冬天永远都不会侵袭到它,而最近十年的狭窄瓶颈将他们与过去分开。
The two female cousins came at once. They held the funeral on the second day, with the town coming to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bought flowers, with the crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre; and the very old men — some in their brushed Confederate uniforms — on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps, confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottleneck of the most recent decade of years.
我们已经知道楼上那一带有一个房间,四十年来无人见过,必须强行打开。他们等到艾米丽小姐安葬后才打开。
Already we knew that there was one room in that region above stairs which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have to be forced. They waited until Miss Emily was decently in the ground before they opened it.
猛烈的撞门声似乎让房间里弥漫着灰尘。一层薄薄的、阴森的、像坟墓一样的阴霾笼罩着这个房间,房间的装饰和布置都像是为新婚准备的:褪色的玫瑰色帷幔、玫瑰色灯罩、梳妆台、精致的水晶和男人梳妆用品,银背上都镀上了失去光泽的银,银背上的字母都变得模糊不清了。这些东西中间放着一个衣领和领带,好像刚被脱下来,掀开后,在灰尘中留下一个苍白的新月。椅子上挂着一套精心折叠的西装;下面是两只哑光的鞋子和丢弃的袜子。
The violence of breaking down the door seemed to fill this room with pervading dust. A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man’s toilet things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured. Among them lay a collar and tie, as if they had just been removed, which, lifted, left upon the surface a pale crescent in the dust. Upon a chair hung the suit, carefully folded; beneath it the two mute shoes and the discarded socks.
男人本人躺在床上。
The man himself lay in the bed.
我们在那里站了很久,低头看着那深邃而无肉的笑容。那具尸体似乎曾经以拥抱的姿势躺着,但现在那比爱情更持久、甚至战胜爱情的鬼脸的长眠,已经使他戴上了绿帽子。他身上剩下的部分,在睡衣的残骸下腐烂,已经与他躺着的床密不可分;他身上和他身边的枕头上均匀地覆盖着一层耐心而持久的灰尘。
For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him. What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust.
然后我们注意到第二个枕头上有一个脑袋的凹痕。我们中的一个人从里面拿起了什么东西,探身向前,鼻孔里飘来一股淡淡的、看不见的、干燥刺鼻的灰尘,我们看到了一缕长长的铁灰色头发。
Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.
[1931年]
[1931]
(1899–1961)
[1899–1961]
埃布罗河谷对面的山丘绵长而白皙。这边没有树荫,也没有树木,车站位于阳光下的两条铁轨之间。紧靠车站一侧的是建筑物温暖的阴影,一道用竹珠串成的窗帘挂在酒吧敞开的门上,以防苍蝇进来。美国人和他身边的女孩坐在建筑物外面阴凉处的一张桌子旁。天气很热,从巴塞罗那来的快车四十分钟后就到了。它在这个路口停了两分钟,然后继续开往马德里。
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.
“我们喝点什么?”女孩问。她脱下帽子,放在桌子上。
“What should we drink?” the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
“相当热,”那人说道。
“It’s pretty hot,” the man said.
“我们喝啤酒吧。”
“Let’s drink beer.”
“两杯啤酒”,那人对着窗帘说道。
“Dos cervezas,” the man said into the curtain.
“大的吗?”门口一个女人问道。
“Big ones?” a woman asked from the doorway.
“是的。两个大的。”
“Yes. Two big ones.”
女人端来两杯啤酒和两个毡垫。她把毡垫和啤酒杯放在桌上,看着男人和女孩。女孩正望着远处的山丘。山丘在阳光下泛白,而乡村则是棕色和干燥的。
The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer glasses on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.
“它们看上去就像无用的无用之物,”她说。
“They look like white elephants,” she said.
“我从来没见过,”那人喝着啤酒。
“I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer.
“不,你不会这么做。”
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
“我可能会,”那人说。“只是因为你说我不会这么做,这并不能证明什么。”
“I might have,” the man said. “Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.”
女孩看着珠帘。“他们在上面画了一些东西,”她说。“上面写了什么?”
The girl looked at the bead curtain. “They’ve painted something on it,” she said. “What does it say?”
“Anis del Toro。这是一种饮料。”
“Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.”
“我们可以尝试一下吗?”
“Could we try it?”
男人隔着窗帘喊了一声“听着”,女人从酒吧里走了出来。
The man called “Listen” through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.
“四雷亚尔。”
“Four reales.”a
“我们要两杯 Anis del Toro。”
“We want two Anis del Toro.”
“与水?”
“With water?”
“要加水吗?”
“Do you want it with water?”
“我不知道,”女孩说。“加水喝好吗?”
“I don’t know,” the girl said. “Is it good with water?”
“没关系。”
“It’s all right.”
“你要加水吗?”女人问。
“You want them with water?” asked the woman.
“是的,用水。”
“Yes, with water.”
“它的味道像甘草,”女孩说道,然后放下了杯子。
“It tastes like licorice,” the girl said and put the glass down.
“所有事情都是如此。”
“That’s the way with everything.”
“是的,”女孩说。“所有东西都有甘草的味道。尤其是那些你期待已久的东西,比如苦艾酒。”
“Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.”
“哦,别再说了。”
“Oh, cut it out.”
“是你先开始的,”女孩说。“我只是觉得好玩而已。我玩得很开心。”
“You started it,” the girl said. “I was being amused. I was having a fine time.”
“好吧,我们尽量玩得开心点。”
“Well, let’s try and have a fine time.”
“好吧。我试过了。我说这些山看上去就像无用的废物。难道这不是很明智吗?”
“All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?”
“那真是明亮。”
“That was bright.”
“我想尝试这种新饮料:这就是我们所做的事情,不是吗——看看东西并尝试新饮料?”
“I wanted to try this new drink: That’s all we do, isn’t it — look at things and try new drinks?”
“大概吧。”
“I guess so.”
女孩望着山丘对面。
The girl looked across at the hills.
“这些山丘很漂亮,”她说,“它们看起来并不像无用之物。我只是说透过树木看它们皮肤的颜色。”
“They’re lovely hills,” she said. “They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.”
“我们再喝一杯好吗?”
“Should we have another drink?”
“好的。”
“All right.”
暖风吹动珠帘,贴在桌子上。
The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.
“这啤酒很凉爽,”那人说道。
“The beer’s nice and cool,” the man said.
“太可爱了,”女孩说道。
“It’s lovely,” the girl said.
“这真是一个非常简单的手术,吉格,”那人说。“这根本就不是一个手术。”
“It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all.”
女孩看着桌腿搁在的地面。
The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
“我知道你不会介意的,吉格。其实没什么。只是让空气进来。”
“I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.”
女孩什么也没说。
The girl did not say anything.
“我会和你一起去,一直陪着你。他们只是让空气进来,然后一切都很自然。”
“I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural.”
“那我们接下来该怎么办?”
“Then what will we do afterward?”
“之后我们就会没事的。就像我们之前一样。”
“We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.”
“为什么你这么想?”
“What makes you think so?”
“这是唯一困扰我们的事情。这是唯一让我们不开心的事情。”
“That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.”
女孩看着珠帘,伸出手,抓住了两串珠子。
The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out, and took hold of two of the strings of beads.
“那么你认为我们会没事并且幸福吗?”
“And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy.”
“我知道我们会的。你不必害怕。我认识很多人这样做过。”
“I know we will. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it.”
“我也一样,”女孩说。“后来他们都很高兴。”
“So have I,” said the girl. “And afterward they were all so happy.”
“好吧,”那人说,“如果你不想做,那你就不必做。如果你不想做,我就不会让你做。但我知道这很简单。”
“Well,” the man said, “if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.”
“你真的想这么做吗?”
“And you really want to?”
“我认为这是最好的办法。但如果你不是真心想做的话,我也不会让你这么做。”
“I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.”
“如果我这么做了,你会开心,事情会恢复原样,而且你会爱我,对吗?”
“And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?”
“我现在爱你。你知道我爱你。”
“I love you now. You know I love you.”
“我知道。但是如果我这么做了,那么如果我说这些事情都是无用的,你会喜欢吗?”
“I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?”
“我会喜欢的。我现在很喜欢,但我就是没法去想它。你知道我担心的时候会变成什么样子。”
“I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t think about it. You know how I get when I worry.”
“如果我这么做你就不再担心了吗?”
“If I do it you won’t ever worry?”
“我不会担心这个,因为它非常简单。”
“I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.”
“那我就这么做。因为我不在乎我自己。”
“Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.”
“你是什么意思?”
“What do you mean?”
“我不在乎我自己。”
“I don’t care about me.”
“嗯,我关心你。”
“Well, I care about you.”
“哦,是的。但我不在乎我自己。我会这么做,然后一切都会好起来的。”
“Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.”
“如果你有这种感觉,我就不希望你这么做。”
“I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.”
女孩站起身,走到车站尽头。对面,是埃布罗河沿岸的麦田和树木。远处,河对岸是群山。一朵云的影子飘过麦田,她透过树木看见了河流。
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.
“我们本来可以拥有这一切,”她说,“我们本来可以拥有一切,但我们每天都在让这一切变得更加不可能。”
“And we could have all this,” she said. “And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.”
“你说什么?”
“What did you say?”
“我说过我们可以拥有一切。”
“I said we could have everything.”
“我们可以拥有一切。”
“We can have everything.”
“不,我们不能。”
“No, we can’t.”
“我们可以拥有整个世界。”
“We can have the whole world.”
“不,我们不能。”
“No, we can’t.”
“我们可以去任何地方。”
“We can go everywhere.”
“不,我们不能。它不再是我们的了。”
“No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more.”
“这是我们的。”
“It’s ours.”
“不是。而且一旦他们拿走了,你就再也拿不回来了。”
“No, it isn’t. And once they take it away, you never get it back.”
“但他们并没有把它拿走。”
“But they haven’t taken it away.”
“我们拭目以待。”
“We’ll wait and see.”
“回到阴凉处来吧,”他说。“你不应该有这种感觉。”
“Come on back in the shade,” he said. “You mustn’t feel that way.”
“我没什么感觉,”女孩说。“我只是知道一些事情。”
“I don’t feel any way,” the girl said. “I just know things.”
“我不想让你做任何你不想做的事——”
“I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do —— ”
“那对我来说也不好,”她说。“我知道。我们可以再喝一杯啤酒吗?”
“Nor that isn’t good for me,” she said. “I know. Could we have another beer?”
“好吧。不过你得明白——”
“All right. But you’ve got to realize —— ”
“我明白,”女孩说。“我们不能停止说话吗?”
“I realize,” the girl said. “Can’t we maybe stop talking?”
他们坐在桌边,女孩望着山谷干燥一侧的山丘,男人看着她,又看着桌子。
They sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.
“你必须明白,”他说,“如果你不想做,我也不会让你做。如果这对你有任何意义,我非常愿意坚持下去。”
“You’ve got to realize,” he said, “that I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to. I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you.”
“这对你来说没有任何意义吗?我们可以相处得很好。”
“Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along.”
“当然了。但我谁都不要,除了你。我不要别人。我知道这很简单。”
“Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want any one else. And I know it’s perfectly simple.”
“是的,你知道这非常简单。”
“Yes, you know it’s perfectly simple.”
“你这么说也对,不过我知道。”
“It’s all right for you to say that, but I do know it.”
“你现在能为我做一件事吗?”
“Would you do something for me now?”
“我愿意为你做任何事。”
“I’d do anything for you.”
“你能不能请你请你请你请你别再说话了?”
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”
他什么也没说,只是看着车站墙上的行李袋。行李袋上贴着他们过夜的所有酒店的标签。
He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.
“但我不希望你这么做,”他说,“我根本就不在乎这些。”
“But I don’t want you to,” he said, “I don’t care anything about it.”
“我会尖叫,”女孩说。
“I’ll scream,” the girl said.
女人从窗帘缝里走出来,端着两杯啤酒,放在潮湿的毡垫上。“火车五分钟后到。”她说。
The woman came out through the curtains with two glasses of beer and put them down on the damp felt pads. “The train comes in five minutes,” she said.
“她说了什么?”女孩问。
“What did she say?” asked the girl.
“火车五分钟后到。”
“That the train is coming in five minutes.”
女孩向女人灿烂地微笑,以表示感谢。
The girl smiled brightly at the woman, to thank her.
“我最好把行李送到车站的另一边,”那人说。她对他笑了笑。
“I’d better take the bags over to the other side of the station,” the man said. She smiled at him.
“好吧。然后回来我们把啤酒喝完。”
“All right. Then come back and we’ll finish the beer.”
他拿起两个沉重的袋子,绕过车站,走到另一条轨道。他抬头望向轨道,但没看到火车。回来后,他穿过酒吧间,等火车的人正在那里喝酒。他在酒吧喝了一杯茴香酒,看着人们。他们都在合理地等待火车。他从珠帘里走了出去。她坐在桌边,对他微笑。
He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks. He looked up the tracks but could not see the train. Coming back, he walked through the barroom, where people waiting for the train were drinking. He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably for the train. He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.
“你感觉好些了吗?”他问道。
“Do you feel better?” he asked.
“我感觉很好,”她说。“我没什么问题。我感觉很好。”
“I feel fine,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.”
[1927年]
[1927]
a雷亚尔:西班牙银币。
aReales: Spanish silver coins.
(1912–1982)
[1912–1982]
我最后一次见到父亲是在中央车站。当时我正从阿迪朗达克山脉祖母家前往母亲租住的科德角小屋,我写信给父亲说我将在两趟火车之间在纽约停留一个半小时,并问我们能否一起吃午饭。他的秘书写信说他中午会在问讯处见我,十二点整我看到他穿过人群走了过来。他对我来说是个陌生人——我母亲三年前和他离婚了,从那以后我就没再和他在一起过——但我一见到他,就觉得他是我的父亲,我的骨肉,我的未来和我的命运。我知道长大后我会像他一样;我必须在他的限制范围内计划我的活动。他是一个身材魁梧、相貌英俊的男人,我很高兴再次见到他。他拍了拍我的背,握了握我的手。“嗨,查理,”他说。“嗨,孩子。我想带你去我的俱乐部,但那里是六十年代,如果你要赶早班火车,我想我们最好在这附近吃点东西。”他搂着我,我闻到父亲的味道就像我母亲闻玫瑰一样。那是一种浓郁的威士忌、须后水、鞋油、羊毛和成熟男性的气味。我希望有人能看到我们在一起。我希望我们能被拍照。我想要一些我们在一起的记录。
The last time I saw my father was in Grand Central Station. I was going from my grandmother’s in the Adirondacks to a cottage on the Cape that my mother had rented, and I wrote my father that I would be in New York between trains for an hour and a half, and asked if we could have lunch together. His secretary wrote to say that he would meet me at the information booth at noon, and at twelve o’clock sharp I saw him coming through the crowd. He was a stranger to me — my mother divorced him three years ago and I hadn’t been with him since — but as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and my doom. I knew that when I was grown I would be something like him; I would have to plan my campaigns within his limitations. He was a big, good-looking man, and I was terribly happy to see him again. He struck me on the back and shook my hand. “Hi, Charlie,” he said. “Hi, boy. I’d like to take you up to my club, but it’s in the Sixties, and if you have to catch an early train I guess we’d better get something to eat around here.” He put his arm around me, and I smelled my father the way my mother sniffs a rose. It was a rich compound of whiskey, after-shave lotion, shoe polish, woolens, and the rankness of a mature male. I hoped that someone would see us together. I wished that we could be photographed. I wanted some record of our having been together.
我们走出车站,沿着一条小巷来到一家餐馆。时间还早,餐馆里空无一人。酒保正在和一个送货员争吵,厨房门口有一个穿着红色外套的非常老的侍者。我们坐下来,我父亲大声招呼侍者。“凯尔纳! ”他喊道。“伙计!卡里尔!你好! ”在空荡荡的餐馆里,他的喧闹显得格格不入。“我们能不能在这里提供一点服务!”他喊道。“快点。”然后他拍了拍手。这引起了侍者的注意,他拖着脚步走到我们的桌子旁。
We went out of the station and up a side street to a restaurant. It was still early, and the place was empty. The bartender was quarreling with a delivery boy, and there was one very old waiter in a red coat down by the kitchen door. We sat down, and my father hailed the waiter in a loud voice. “Kellner!” he shouted. “Garçon! Cameriere!a You!” His boisterousness in the empty restaurant seemed out of place. “Could we have a little service here!” he shouted. “Chop-chop.” Then he clapped his hands. This caught the waiter’s attention, and he shuffled over to our table.
“你是在向我拍手吗?”他问道。
“Were you clapping your hands at me?” he asked.
“冷静,冷静,侍酒师,b,”我父亲说。“如果要求不过分——如果这不会超出你的职责范围,我们想要几杯 Beefeater Gibsons。”
“Calm down, calm down, sommelier,b” my father said. “If it isn’t too much to ask of you — if it wouldn’t be too much above and beyond the call of duty, we would like a couple of Beefeater Gibsons.”
“我不喜欢别人鼓掌,”侍者说道。
“I don’t like to be clapped at,” the waiter said.
“我应该带上我的哨子,”我父亲说。“我有一个哨子,只有老侍者的耳朵才能听见。现在,拿出你的小本本和小铅笔,看看你能不能把这个记清楚:两支比夫特·吉布森。跟我重复一遍:两支比夫特·吉布森。”
“I should have brought my whistle,” my father said. “I have a whistle that is audible only to the ears of old waiters. Now, take out your little pad and your little pencil and see if you can get this straight: two Beefeater Gibsons. Repeat after me: two Beefeater Gibsons.”
“我想您最好去别的地方。”服务员平静地说道。
“I think you’d better go somewhere else,” the waiter said quietly.
“这是我听过的最明智的建议之一,”我父亲说。“快点,查理,我们赶紧离开这里吧。”
“That,” said my father, “is one of the most brilliant suggestions I have ever heard. Come on, Charlie, let’s get the hell out of here.”
我跟着父亲走出那家餐馆,又去了另一家。这次他没那么吵闹了。我们的饮料端来了,他盘问我棒球赛季的情况。然后他用刀子敲了敲空杯子的边缘,又开始大喊大叫。“ Garçon!Kellner!Cameriere!你!能麻烦你再给我们拿两杯同样的饮料吗?”
I followed my father out of that restaurant into another. He was not so boisterous this time. Our drinks came, and he cross-questioned me about the baseball season. He then struck the edge of his empty glass with his knife and began shouting again. “Garçon! Kellner! Cameriere! You! Could we trouble you to bring us two more of the same.”
“男孩多大了?”服务员问道。
“How old is the boy?” the waiter asked.
“那不关你的事,”我父亲说道。
“That,” my father said, “is none of your God-damned business.”
“很抱歉,先生,”侍者说道,“但我不会再给这个男孩提供饮料了。”
“I’m sorry, sir,” the waiter said, “but I won’t serve the boy another drink.”
“好吧,我有个消息告诉你,”我父亲说。“我有个非常有趣的消息告诉你。这不是纽约唯一的一家餐馆。他们在街角又开了一家。来吧,查理。”
“Well, I have some news for you,” my father said. “I have some very interesting news for you. This doesn’t happen to be the only restaurant in New York. They’ve opened another on the corner. Come on, Charlie.”
他付了账,我跟着他走出那家餐馆,走进另一家。这里的服务员穿着像猎装一样的粉色夹克,墙上挂着很多马具。我们坐下来,我父亲又开始喊叫。“猎犬的主人!大呼小叫之类的。我们想要一个马镫杯之类的小东西。也就是说,两个比布森吉夫特。”
He paid the bill, and I followed him out of that restaurant into another. Here the waiters wore pink jackets like hunting coats, and there was a lot of horse tack on the walls. We sat down, and my father began to shout again. “Master of the hounds! Tallyhoo and all that sort of thing. We’d like a little something in the way of a stirrup cup. Namely, two Bibson Geefeaters.”
“两杯 Bibson Geefeaters 啤酒?”侍者微笑着问道。
“Two Bibson Geefeaters?” the waiter asked, smiling.
“你他妈的知道我想要什么,”我父亲生气地说。“我要两杯 Beefeater Gibsons,而且要快点。英格兰的情况已经变了。我的朋友公爵告诉我的。让我们看看英格兰能生产出什么鸡尾酒。”
“You know damned well what I want,” my father said angrily. “I want two Beefeater Gibsons, and make it snappy. Things have changed in jolly old England. So my friend the duke tells me. Let’s see what England can produce in the way of a cocktail.”
“这不是英格兰,”服务员说道。
“This isn’t England,” the waiter said.
“别跟我争辩,”我父亲说。“照你说的做就行。”
“Don’t argue with me,” my father said. “Just do as you’re told.”
“我只是觉得你可能想知道你在哪里,”服务员说道。
“I just thought you might like to know where you are,” the waiter said.
“如果有什么我不能容忍的事情,”我父亲说,“那就是无礼的佣人。拜托,查理。”
“If there is one thing I cannot tolerate,” my father said, “it is an impudent domestic. Come on, Charlie.”
我们去的第四个地方是意大利。 “ Buon giorno,”我父亲说。 “根据喜好, possiamo avere 鸡尾酒美式, 加强, 加强。 Molto 杜松子酒,poco vermut。” c
The fourth place we went to was Italian. “Buon giorno,” my father said. “Per favore, possiamo avere due cocktail americani, forti, forti. Molto gin, poco vermut.”c
“我不懂意大利语,”服务员说道。
“I don’t understand Italian,” the waiter said.
“哦,算了吧,”我父亲说。“你懂意大利语,你很清楚你懂。我们来杯美式鸡尾酒吧。快点。d ”
“Oh, come off it,” my father said. “You understand Italian, and you know damned well you do. Vogliamo due cocktail americani. Subito.d”
服务员离开我们后和船长谈话,船长走到我们的桌子旁说道:“先生,很抱歉,这张桌子已经被预订了。”
The waiter left us and spoke with the captain, who came over to our table and said, “I’m sorry, sir, but this table is reserved.”
“好吧,”我父亲说。“给我们再找一张桌子。”
“All right,” my father said. “Get us another table.”
“所有桌子都预订了,”船长说道。
“All the tables are reserved,” the captain said.
“我明白了,”我父亲说。“你不想要我们的光顾。是吗?好吧,见鬼去吧。见鬼去吧。走吧,查理。”
“I get it,” my father said. “You don’t desire our patronage. Is that it? Well, the hell with you. Vada all’ infernoe. Let’s go, Charlie.”
“我得去赶火车了,”我说。
“I have to get my train,” I said.
“对不起,儿子,”我父亲说。“我非常抱歉。”他用手臂搂住我,把我紧紧地抱在怀里。“我会送你回车站。要是还有时间去我的俱乐部就好了。”
“I’m sorry, sonny,” my father said. “I’m terribly sorry.” He put his arm around me and pressed me against him. “I’ll walk you back to the station. If there had only been time to go up to my club.”
“没关系,爸爸,”我说。
“That’s all right, Daddy,” I said.
“我给你拿份报纸,”他说。“我给你拿份报纸在火车上看。”
“I’ll get you a paper,” he said. “I’ll get you a paper to read on the train.”
然后他走到一个报摊前说:“先生,您能不能好心地给我一份你那该死的、没用的、十美分的下午报纸?”店员转过身去盯着杂志封面。“先生,这要求太高了吗?”我父亲说,“您卖给我一份令人作呕的黄色新闻样本,这要求太高了吗?”
Then he went up to a newsstand and said, “Kind sir, will you be good enough to favor me with one of your God-damned, no-good, ten-cent afternoon papers?” The clerk turned away from him and stared at a magazine cover. “Is it asking too much, kind sir,” my father said, “is it asking too much for you to sell me one of your disgusting specimens of yellow journalism?”
“我得走了,爸爸,”我说。“太晚了。”
“I have to go, Daddy,” I said. “It’s late.”
“现在,等一下,儿子,”他说。“等一下。我想让这个家伙生气一下。”
“Now, just wait a second, sonny,” he said. “Just wait a second. I want to get a rise out of this chap.”
“再见,爸爸。”我说完,就走下楼梯,赶上了火车,那是我最后一次见到父亲。
“Goodbye, Daddy,” I said, and I went down the stairs and got my train, and that was the last time I saw my father.
[1962年]
[1962]
凯尔纳!… Garcon! Cameriere!:服务员!(德语、法语、意大利语)
aKellner! … Garcon! Cameriere!: Waiter! (in German, French, Italian)
b sommelier:(法语)葡萄酒管家
bsommelier: (French) wine steward
c Per favore, … vermut.:请问可以给我们两杯美式鸡尾酒吗,浓烈的。多加杜松子酒,少加苦艾酒。
cPer favore, … vermut.: Please, can we have two American cocktails, strong, strong. Lots of gin, little vermouth.
d Vogliamo … Subito。:我们要两杯美式鸡尾酒。马上。
dVogliamo … Subito.: We want two American cocktails. Immediately.
e Vada all'inferno:下地狱吧。
eVada all’inferno: Go to hell.
(1914–1994)
[1914–1994]
这要追溯到很久以前,大约二十年前。我一生都在寻找某种东西,无论我走到哪里,总有人试图告诉我那是什么。我也接受了他们的答案,尽管他们的答案经常自相矛盾,甚至自相矛盾。我很天真。我在寻找自己,问除了我自己之外的所有人问题,而这些问题只有我能回答。我花了很长时间,经历了许多痛苦的期望,才意识到其他人似乎生来就有的认识:我除了我自己之外不是别人。但首先我必须发现我是一个隐形人!
It goes a long way back, some twenty years. All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!
然而,我既不是自然界的怪胎,也不是历史的怪胎。八十五年前,其他一切都是平等的(或不平等的),我是命中注定的。我不会因为我的祖父母曾是奴隶而为他们感到羞耻。我只是为自己曾经感到羞耻而感到羞耻。大约八十五年前,他们被告知,他们是自由的,可以在一切与公共利益有关的事情上与我们国家的其他人团结一致,并且在一切社会事务上,他们就像手指一样分明。他们相信了这一点。他们为此而欢欣鼓舞。他们坚守岗位,努力工作,并教育我的父亲也这样做。但我的祖父才是真正的自由人。我的祖父是个古怪的老家伙,我听说我像他。是他制造了麻烦。他在临终前把我父亲叫到身边说:“儿子,我死后,我希望你继续为正义而战。我从没告诉过你,但我们的生活就是一场战争,我生来就是叛徒,自从重建时期放弃枪支以来,我就一直是敌国的间谍。把你的头放在狮子的嘴里生活。我要你用肯定来战胜他们,用笑容来削弱他们,让他们同意你死我活,让他们膨胀你,直到他们呕吐或破裂。”他们以为老人疯了。他曾是最温顺的人。年幼的孩子们被匆忙赶出房间,窗帘拉上,灯火变得如此微弱,以至于它在灯芯上噼啪作响,就像老人的呼吸一样。“把这个教给年轻人,”他凶狠地低语道;然后他就死了。
And yet I am no freak of nature, nor of history. I was in the cards, other things having been equal (or unequal) eighty-five years ago. I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed. About eighty-five years ago they were told that they were free, united with others of our country in everything pertaining to the common good, and, in everything social, separate like the fingers of the hand. And they believed it. They exulted in it. They stayed in their place, worked hard, and brought up my father to do the same. But my grandfather is the one. He was an odd old guy, my grandfather, and I am told I take after him. It was he who caused the trouble. On his deathbed he called my father to him and said, “Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome ’em with yeses, undermine ’em with grins, agree ’em to death and destruction, let ’em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open.” They thought the old man had gone out of his mind. He had been the meekest of men. The younger children were rushed from the room, the shades drawn, and the flame of the lamp turned so low that it sputtered on the wick like the old man’s breathing. “Learn it to the younguns,” he whispered fiercely; then he died.
但是,我的父母对他的遗言比对他的死更担心。好像他根本没有死,他的话引起了太多的焦虑。我被强烈警告要忘记他说的话,事实上,这是第一次在家庭圈子之外提到这句话。然而,这对我产生了巨大的影响。我永远无法确定他的意思。祖父是一个安静的老人,从不惹麻烦,然而在临终前,他称自己是叛徒和间谍,他说他的温顺是一种危险的行为。这成了我脑海里一个永远无法解答的谜团。每当我顺利的时候,我就会想起祖父,感到内疚和不舒服。就好像我在不由自主地执行他的建议。更糟糕的是,每个人都因此而爱我。我受到了镇上最善良的人的称赞。我被认为是一个可取行为的榜样——就像我的祖父一样。让我困惑的是,老人竟然将这种行为定义为背叛。当我因自己的行为受到表扬时,我感到内疚,因为在某种程度上,我做的事情确实违背了白人的意愿,如果他们理解了,他们就会希望我采取相反的做法,我应该闷闷不乐、卑鄙无耻,而这才是他们真正想要的,尽管他们被愚弄了,以为他们希望我这样做。这让我担心,有一天他们会把我看作叛徒,我就会迷失方向。但我更害怕以任何其他方式行事,因为他们根本不喜欢那样。老人的话就像诅咒。在我毕业那天,我发表了一次演讲,在演讲中,我表明谦逊是进步的秘诀,事实上,是进步的本质。(并不是我相信这一点——我怎么会相信呢,我还记得我的祖父?——我只是相信它有效。)这是一个巨大的成功。大家都称赞了我,我还被邀请在镇上白人领袖的聚会上发表演讲。这是我们整个社区的胜利。
But my folks were more alarmed over his last words than over his dying. It was as though he had not died at all, his words caused so much anxiety. I was warned emphatically to forget what he had said and, indeed, this is the first time it has been mentioned outside the family circle. It had a tremendous effect upon me, however. I could never be sure of what he meant. Grandfather had been a quiet old man who never made any trouble, yet on his deathbed he had called himself a traitor and a spy, and he had spoken of his meekness as a dangerous activity. It became a constant puzzle which lay unanswered in the back of my mind. And whenever things went well for me I remembered my grandfather and felt guilty and uncomfortable. It was as though I was carrying out his advice in spite of myself. And to make it worse, everyone loved me for it. I was praised by the most lily-white men of the town. I was considered an example of desirable conduct — just as my grandfather had been. And what puzzled me was that the old man had defined it as treachery. When I was praised for my conduct I felt a guilt that in some way I was doing something that was really against the wishes of the white folks, that if they had understood they would have desired me to act just the opposite, that I should have been sulky and mean, and that that really would have been what they wanted, even though they were fooled and thought they wanted me to act as I did. It made me afraid that some day they would look upon me as a traitor and I would be lost. Still I was more afraid to act any other way because they didn’t like that at all. The old man’s words were like a curse. On my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. (Not that I believed this — how could I, remembering my grandfather? — I only believed that it worked.) It was a great success. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town’s leading white citizens. It was a triumph for our whole community.
那是在一家顶级酒店的主宴会厅。当我到达那里时,我发现这是一场吸烟派对,他们告诉我,既然无论如何我都要去那里,我不妨参加一些同学们为娱乐活动而进行的混战。混战先开始了。
It was in the main ballroom of the leading hotel. When I got there I discovered that it was on the occasion of a smoker, and I was told that since I was to be there anyway I might as well take part in the battle royal to be fought by some of my schoolmates as part of the entertainment. The battle royal came first.
镇上所有大人物都穿着燕尾服,狼吞虎咽地吃着自助餐,喝着啤酒和威士忌,抽着黑雪茄。这是一个天花板很高的大房间。椅子整齐地排列在一个便携式拳击台的三面。第四面是空的,露出一块闪闪发光的抛光地板。顺便说一句,我对这场混战有些疑虑。并不是因为我讨厌打架,而是因为我不太在乎其他参加比赛的人。他们都是硬汉,似乎没有祖父的诅咒困扰着他们的思想。没有人会误解他们的坚韧。此外,我怀疑参加混战可能会损害我讲话的尊严。在那些没有隐形的日子里,我把自己想象成潜在的布克·T·华盛顿。a但其他人也不太在乎我,他们一共有九个。我觉得自己比他们优越,我不喜欢我们挤在仆人电梯里。他们也不喜欢我在那里。事实上,当暖光闪烁的楼层从电梯里闪过时,我们因为参加打架而争吵起来,因为我打架让他们的一个朋友晚上没法工作。
All of the town’s big shots were there in their tuxedoes, wolfing down the buffet foods, drinking beer and whiskey and smoking black cigars. It was a large room with a high ceiling. Chairs were arranged in neat rows around three sides of a portable boxing ring. The fourth side was clear, revealing a gleaming space of polished floor. I had some misgivings over the battle royal, by the way. Not from a distaste for fighting, but because I didn’t care too much for the other fellows who were to take part. They were tough guys who seemed to have no grandfather’s curse worrying their minds. No one could mistake their toughness. And besides, I suspected that fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of my speech. In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself as a potential Booker T. Washington.a But the other fellows didn’t care too much for me either, and there were nine of them. I felt superior to them in my way, and I didn’t like the manner in which we were all crowded together into the servants’ elevator. Nor did they like my being there. In fact, as the warmly lighted floors flashed past the elevator we had words over the fact that I, by taking part in the fight, had knocked one of their friends out of a night’s work.
我们被领出电梯,穿过洛可可风格的大厅,进入一间接待室,并被告知要穿上拳击服。我们每个人都拿到了一副拳击手套,被领进一个大镜子大厅。我们走进大厅时小心翼翼地环顾四周,低声说话,以免被房间里的喧闹声意外听到。雪茄烟雾弥漫。威士忌已经开始起作用了。我很惊讶地看到镇上一些最重要的人物都喝得酩酊大醉。他们都在那儿——银行家、律师、法官、医生、消防队长、教师、商人。甚至还有一位比较时髦的牧师。前面正在发生一些我们看不到的事情。一支单簧管在性感地振动着,男人们站起来,急切地向前走去。我们挤在一起,一小群人紧紧地挤在一起,赤裸的上身互相接触,汗水闪闪发光;而前面的大人物们正因为我们仍然看不到的东西而变得越来越兴奋。突然,我听到叫我来的学校负责人喊道:“先生们,把闪光灯拿上来!把小闪光灯拿上来!”
We were led out of the elevator through a rococo hall into an anteroom and told to get into our fighting togs. Each of us was issued a pair of boxing gloves and ushered out into the big mirrored hall, which we entered looking cautiously about us and whispering, lest we might accidentally be heard above the noise of the room. It was foggy with cigar smoke. And already the whiskey was taking effect. I was shocked to see some of the most important men of the town quite tipsy. They were all there — bankers, lawyers, judges, doctors, fire chiefs, teachers, merchants. Even one of the more fashionable pastors. Something we could not see was going on up front. A clarinet was vibrating sensuously and the men were standing up and moving eagerly forward. We were a small tight group, clustered together, our bare upper bodies touching and shining with anticipatory sweat; while up front the big shots were becoming increasingly excited over something we still could not see. Suddenly I heard the school superintendent, who had told me to come, yell, “Bring up the shines, gentlemen! Bring up the little shines!”
我们被匆匆带到舞厅前面,那里烟草和威士忌的味道更加浓烈。然后我们被推到位。我差点尿裤子。我们周围围满了人,有的满脸敌意,有的觉得好笑,中间面对着我们,站着一位金发美女,一丝不挂。四周一片死寂。我感到一阵冷风吹来,我浑身发冷。我试图后退,但他们在我身后和周围。几个男孩低着头站着,浑身发抖。我感到一阵莫名的内疚和恐惧。我的牙齿打颤,皮肤起鸡皮疙瘩,膝盖发抖。然而,我被强烈地吸引住了,不由自主地看了起来。即使看的代价是失明,我也会看的。她的头发是黄色的,就像马戏团的丘比娃娃一样,脸上涂了厚厚的粉和胭脂,仿佛形成了一个抽象的面具,眼睛凹陷,涂着一种冷蓝色,就像狒狒屁股的颜色。当我的目光慢慢扫过她的身体时,我有一种想朝她吐口水的欲望。她的乳房像东印度寺庙的圆顶一样结实圆润,我站得如此之近,可以看到她细腻的皮肤纹理和珍珠般的汗珠,它们像露珠一样闪闪发光,围绕着她粉嫩而挺立的乳头。我同时想逃离房间,钻进地板,或者走到她身边,用我的身体挡住她,不让我和别人看到她;想感受她柔软的大腿,爱抚她,摧毁她,爱她,谋杀她,躲避她,但又想抚摸她腹部那面小小美国国旗纹身下方大写字母 V 字的部位。我觉得在房间里的所有人中,她只用她冷漠的眼神看着我。
We were rushed up to the front of the ballroom, where it smelled even more strongly of tobacco and whiskey. Then we were pushed into place. I almost wet my pants. A sea of faces, some hostile, some amused, ringed around us, and in the center, facing us, stood a magnificent blonde — stark naked. There was dead silence. I felt a blast of cold air chill me. I tried to back away, but they were behind me and around me. Some of the boys stood with lowered heads, trembling. I felt a wave of irrational guilt and fear. My teeth chattered, my skin turned to goose flesh, my knees knocked. Yet I was strongly attracted and looked in spite of myself. Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked. The hair was yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll, the face heavily powdered and rouged, as though to form an abstract mask, the eyes hollow and smeared a cool blue, the color of a baboon’s butt. I felt a desire to spit upon her as my eyes brushed slowly over her body. Her breasts were firm and round as the domes of East Indian temples, and I stood so close as to see the fine skin texture and beads of pearly perspiration glistening like dew around the pink and erected buds of her nipples. I wanted at one and the same time to run from the room, to sink through the floor, or go to her and cover her from my eyes and the eyes of the others with my body; to feel the soft thighs, to caress her and destroy her, to love her and murder her, to hide from her, and yet to stroke where below the small American flag tattooed upon her belly her thighs formed a capital V. I had a notion that of all in the room she saw only me with her impersonal eyes.
然后她开始跳舞,动作缓慢而性感;上百根雪茄的烟雾像最薄的面纱一样笼罩着她。她看起来就像一个美丽的鸟姑娘,身披面纱,在灰色而险恶的大海的愤怒海面上向我呼唤。我被迷住了。然后我意识到有人在演奏单簧管,大人物们在对我们大喊大叫。我们看的时候,有些人会威胁我们,不看的时候,有些人会威胁我们。在我的右边,我看到一个男孩晕倒了。现在,一个男人从桌子上抓起一个银水罐,走近他,往他身上泼了冰水,让他站起来,强迫我们两个人扶住他,因为他低着头,从他厚厚的发青的嘴唇里发出呻吟声。另一个男孩开始恳求回家。他是这群人中个子最大的,穿着深红色的格斗短裤,太小了,无法遮住他身上勃起的阴茎,仿佛是在回应单簧管低沉的呻吟声。他试图用拳击手套隐藏自己。
And then she began to dance, a slow sensuous movement; the smoke of a hundred cigars clinging to her like the thinnest of veils. She seemed like a fair bird-girl girdled in veils calling to me from the angry surface of some gray and threatening sea. I was transported. Then I became aware of the clarinet playing and the big shots yelling at us. Some threatened us if we looked and others if we did not. On my right I saw one boy faint. And now a man grabbed a silver pitcher from a table and stepped close as he dashed ice water upon him and stood him up and forced two of us to support him as his head hung and moans issued from his thick bluish lips. Another boy began to plead to go home. He was the largest of the group, wearing dark red fighting trunks much too small to conceal the erection which projected from him as though in answer to the insinuating low-registered moaning of the clarinet. He tried to hide himself with his boxing gloves.
金发女郎一直在跳舞,对那些着迷地看着她的大人物淡淡一笑,对我们的恐惧也淡淡一笑。我注意到有个商人饥渴地跟着她,嘴唇松弛,口水直流。他身材魁梧,衬衫前襟上戴着钻石饰钉,衬衫下腹部鼓起,每次金发女郎摆动臀部时,他都会用手抚摸光头上稀疏的头发,双臂高举,姿势笨拙得像一只醉酒的熊猫,缓慢而淫秽地摩擦着肚子。这个生物完全被催眠了。音乐加快了。当舞者脸上带着超然的表情四处乱舞时,男人们开始伸手去摸她。我可以看到他们粗壮的手指陷入她柔软的肌肤。其他人试图阻止他们,她开始在地板上优雅地转圈,他们追着她,在抛光的地板上滑来滑去。真是疯狂。他们一边大笑一边大叫着追着她,椅子被摔得粉碎,饮料洒了一地。她刚走到门口,他们就抓住了她,把她从地上抱起来,像在欺辱大学生时那样把她扔出去。透过她那红红的、一动不动的微笑嘴唇,我看到了她眼中的恐惧和厌恶,几乎和我和其他男孩的恐惧一样。我看着他们把她扔了两次,她柔软的乳房似乎在空中平躺着,她的腿在旋转时疯狂地摆动着。一些比较清醒的人帮助她逃走了。我从地板上跳起来,和其他男孩一起朝前厅走去。
And all the while the blonde continued dancing, smiling faintly at the big shots who watched her with fascination, and faintly smiling at our fear. I noticed a certain merchant who followed her hungrily, his lips loose and drooling. He was a large man who wore diamond studs in a shirtfront which swelled with the ample paunch underneath, and each time the blonde swayed her undulating hips he ran his hand through the thin hair of his bald head and, with his arms upheld, his posture clumsy like that of an intoxicated panda, wound his belly in a slow and obscene grind. This creature was completely hypnotized. The music had quickened. As the dancer flung herself about with a detached expression on her face, the men began reaching out to touch her. I could see their beefy fingers sink into her soft flesh. Some of the others tried to stop them and she began to move around the floor in graceful circles, as they gave chase, slipping and sliding over the polished floor. It was mad. Chairs went crashing, drinks were spilt, as they ran laughing and howling after her. They caught her just as she reached a door, raised her from the floor, and tossed her as college boys are tossed at a hazing, and above her red fixed-smiling lips I saw the terror and disgust in her eyes, almost like my own terror and that which I saw in some of the other boys. As I watched, they tossed her twice and her soft breasts seemed to flatten against the air and her legs flung wildly as she spun. Some of the more sober ones helped her to escape. And I started off the floor, heading for the anteroom with the rest of the boys.
有些人还在哭泣,歇斯底里。但是当我们试图离开时,我们被拦住并被命令进入拳击场。除了按照命令做,我们别无选择。我们十个人都从绳索下爬过,被宽大的白布蒙住双眼。当我们背靠绳索站着时,其中一个男人似乎有点同情我们,试图让我们振作起来。我们中的一些人试着笑。“看到那边那个男孩了吗?”其中一个男人说。“我要你跑过去,直接打在他肚子上。如果你打不中他,我就打你。我不喜欢他的长相。”我们每个人都被告知了同样的事情。眼罩被戴上了。然而,就在那时,我已经在复习我的演讲。在我的脑海里,每一个字都像火焰一样明亮。我感觉到布被压在了适当的位置,我皱起眉头,希望当我放松下来时,布会松开。
Some were still crying and in hysteria. But as we tried to leave we were stopped and ordered to get into the ring. There was nothing to do but what we were told. All ten of us climbed under the ropes and allowed ourselves to be blindfolded with broad bands of white cloth. One of the men seemed to feel a bit sympathetic and tried to cheer us up as we stood with our backs against the ropes. Some of us tried to grin. “See that boy over there?” one of the men said. “I want you to run across at the bell and give it to him right in the belly. If you don’t get him, I’m going to get you. I don’t like his looks.” Each of us was told the same. The blindfolds were put on. Yet even then I had been going over my speech. In my mind each word was as bright as flame. I felt the cloth pressed into place, and frowned so that it would be loosened when I relaxed.
但现在我突然感到一阵盲目的恐惧。我不习惯黑暗。就好像我突然发现自己身处一个充满有毒棉口蛇的黑暗房间。我能听到模糊的声音在坚持不懈地喊着大战开始。
But now I felt a sudden fit of blind terror. I was unused to darkness. It was as though I had suddenly found myself in a dark room filled with poisonous cottonmouths. I could hear the bleary voices yelling insistently for the battle royal to begin.
“快进去吧!”
“Get going in there!”
“让我去对付那个大黑鬼!”
“Let me at that big nigger!”
我竭力听清校长的声音,仿佛想从那略微熟悉的声音中挤出一丝安全感。
I strained to pick up the school superintendent’s voice, as though to squeeze some security out of that slightly more familiar sound.
“让我来对付这些黑鬼!”有人喊道。
“Let me at those black sonsabitches!” someone yelled.
“不,杰克逊,不!”另一个声音喊道。“来人,帮我抓住杰克。”
“No, Jackson, no!” another voice yelled. “Here, somebody, help me hold Jack.”
“我要抓住那个姜黄色皮肤的黑鬼。把他撕成碎片,”第一个声音喊道。
“I want to get at that ginger-colored nigger. Tear him limb from limb,” the first voice yelled.
我靠在绳子上,浑身发抖。因为那时候我就是人们所说的姜黄色皮肤,他听起来好像要把我像脆姜饼一样咬碎。
I stood against the ropes trembling. For in those days I was what they called ginger-colored, and he sounded as though he might crunch me between his teeth like a crisp ginger cookie.
一场斗争正在进行。椅子被踢来踢去,我听到有人在拼命地咕哝。我想看,比以往任何时候都更渴望看。但眼罩紧得像厚厚的皮肤皱痂,当我举起戴着手套的手推开层层白色眼罩时,一个声音喊道:“哦,不,你别这样,黑混蛋!别管它!”
Quite a struggle was going on. Chairs were being kicked about and I could hear voices grunting as with a terrific effort. I wanted to see, to see more desperately than ever before. But the blindfold was as tight as a thick skin-puckering scab and when I raised my gloved hands to push the layers of white aside a voice yelled, “Oh, no you don’t, black bastard! Leave that alone!”
“快敲响铃铛,不然杰克逊会杀死一只浣熊!”突然的寂静中,有人高声喊道。我听到铃铛响了,还有脚步声向前走去。
“Ring the bell before Jackson kills him a coon!” someone boomed in the sudden silence. And I heard the bell clang and the sound of the feet scuffling forward.
一只手套击中了我的头。我转身,在有人经过时僵硬地击打,感觉震动沿着我的手臂一直传到我的肩膀。然后好像所有九个男孩同时向我扑来。拳头从四面八方击打我,我则尽全力反击。我挨了那么多拳,以至于我想知道我是不是拳击台上唯一一个蒙着眼睛的拳击手,或者那个叫杰克逊的人是否最终没能击中我。
A glove smacked against my head. I pivoted, striking out stiffly as someone went past, and felt the jar ripple along the length of my arm to my shoulder. Then it seemed as though all nine of the boys had turned upon me at once. Blows pounded me from all sides while I struck out as best I could. So many blows landed upon me that I wondered if I were not the only blindfolded fighter in the ring, or if the man called Jackson hadn’t succeeded in getting me after all.
蒙着眼睛的我再也无法控制自己的动作。我没有尊严。我像婴儿或醉汉一样跌跌撞撞地走来走去。烟雾越来越浓,每击中一次,我的肺部似乎都会被灼烧和进一步堵塞。我的唾液变得像热而苦涩的胶水一样。一只手套打在我的头上,我的嘴里充满了温热的鲜血。到处都是。我不知道自己身上感觉到的湿气是汗水还是鲜血。一拳重重地打在我的脖子后面。我感觉自己倒下了,头撞到了地板上。一道道蓝光充满了眼罩后面的黑暗世界。我趴在地上,假装被打晕了,但感觉有人抓住我,把我拉了起来。“快点,黑人小伙子!混战!”我的胳膊像铅一样硬,我的头被打得生疼。我设法摸索着找到绳子,紧紧抓住,试图喘口气。一只手套落在我腹部,我又倒了下去,感觉烟雾变成了一把刀刺进了我的肚子。在我周围乱窜的双腿推来推去,我终于直起身子,发现我能看到黑色的、汗流浃背的身影在烟雾缭绕的蓝色空气中穿梭,就像醉醺醺的舞者随着鼓声般的急促节奏舞动。
Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity. I stumbled about like a baby or a drunken man. The smoke had become thicker and with each new blow it seemed to sear and further restrict my lungs. My saliva became like hot bitter glue. A glove connected with my head, filling my mouth with warm blood. It was everywhere. I could not tell if the moisture I felt upon my body was sweat or blood. A blow landed hard against the nape of my neck. I felt myself going over, my head hitting the floor. Streaks of blue light filled the black world behind the blindfold. I lay prone, pretending that I was knocked out, but felt myself seized by hands and yanked to my feet. “Get going, black boy! Mix it up!” My arms were like lead, my head smarting from blows. I managed to feel my way to the ropes and held on, trying to catch my breath. A glove landed in my midsection and I went over again, feeling as though the smoke had become a knife jabbed into my guts. Pushed this way and that by the legs milling around me, I finally pulled erect and discovered that I could see the black, sweat-washed forms weaving in the smoky-blue atmosphere like drunken dancers weaving to the rapid drum-like thuds of blows.
每个人都歇斯底里地打斗。一片混乱。每个人都在打架。没有一个团体能长时间地在一起战斗。两人、三人、四人打一人,然后转身互相打架,自己也遭到了攻击。拳头落在腰部以下和肾脏上,手套打开了,也闭上了,现在我的眼睛半睁着,没有那么恐惧了。我小心翼翼地移动,避开拳头,虽然没有太多的拳头引起注意,但我还是在各个团体之间打斗。男孩们像盲目的、谨慎的螃蟹一样摸索着,蹲着保护自己的腹部,他们的头缩短地靠在肩膀上,他们的胳膊紧张地伸在身前,他们的拳头像过敏蜗牛的圆球触角一样试探着充满烟雾的空气。在一个角落里,我瞥见一个男孩猛烈地挥拳,听到他痛苦地尖叫着,手撞在了一根拳击台的柱子上。有一秒钟,我看到他弯下腰抱住手,然后倒在地上,一拳打中了他没有保护的头。我让两个小组互相对抗,悄悄溜进去打出一拳,然后走出范围,同时把其他人推入混战,接受盲目瞄准我的打击。烟雾令人痛苦不堪,没有子弹,也没有每隔三分钟响起的铃声来缓解我们的疲惫。房间在我周围旋转,灯光、烟雾、汗流浃背的尸体和紧张的苍白面孔环绕着我。我的鼻子和嘴巴都在流血,血溅到我的胸口上。
Everyone fought hysterically. It was complete anarchy. Everybody fought everybody else. No group fought together for long. Two, three, four, fought one, then turned to fight each other, were themselves attacked. Blows landed below the belt and in the kidney, with the gloves open as well as closed, and with my eye partly opened now there was not so much terror. I moved carefully, avoiding blows, although not too many to attract attention, fighting from group to group. The boys groped about like blind, cautious crabs crouching to protect their mid-sections, their heads pulled in short against their shoulders, their arms stretched nervously before them, with their fists testing the smoke-filled air like the knobbed feelers of hypersensitive snails. In one corner I glimpsed a boy violently punching the air and heard him scream in pain as he smashed his hand against a ring post. For a second I saw him bent over holding his hand, then going down as a blow caught his unprotected head. I played one group against the other, slipping in and throwing a punch then stepping out of range while pushing the others into the melee to take the blows blindly aimed at me. The smoke was agonizing and there were no rounds, no bells at three minute intervals to relieve our exhaustion. The room spun round me, a swirl of lights, smoke, sweating bodies surrounded by tense white faces. I bled from both nose and mouth, the blood spattering upon my chest.
男人们不停地喊着:“打他,黑人小子!打爆他的内脏!”
The men kept yelling, “Slug him, black boy! Knock his guts out!”
“上勾拳!杀了他!杀了这个大个子!”
“Uppercut him! Kill him! Kill that big boy!”
我假装摔倒,看到一个男孩重重地倒在我身边,好像我们被一击击倒了一样,看到一只穿着运动鞋的脚踢中了他的腹股沟,而把他击倒的两个人跌跌撞撞地向他扑来。我滚出范围,感到一阵恶心。
Taking a fake fall, I saw a boy going down heavily beside me as though we were felled by a single blow, saw a sneaker-clad foot shoot into his groin as the two who had knocked him down stumbled upon him. I rolled out of range, feeling a twinge of nausea.
我们打得越凶,那些人就越有威胁性。然而,我又开始担心我的演讲能力了。结果会怎样?他们会承认我的能力吗?他们会给我什么?
The harder we fought the more threatening the men became. And yet, I had begun to worry about my speech again. How would it go? Would they recognize my ability? What would they give me?
我正在下意识地战斗,突然发现一个接一个的男孩离开了拳击场。我惊讶不已,惊慌失措,仿佛我被单独留在未知的危险中。然后我明白了。男孩们已经安排好了。按照惯例,留在拳击场上的两个人会争夺冠军奖品。我发现得太晚了。铃声响起时,两个穿着燕尾服的男人跳进拳击场,摘下了眼罩。我发现自己面对的是塔特洛克,这个团伙中最大的一个。我感到恶心。铃声在我耳边响起,铃声又响了起来,我看到他迅速向我走来。我没别的事可做,就狠狠地打在他的鼻子上。他继续冲过来,带着浓重的汗水。他的脸是一张黑色的、空白的脸,只有他的眼睛还活着——对我的仇恨和对我们所有人发生的事情的狂热恐惧。我变得焦虑不安。我想发表演讲,但他却冲过来,好像要打我。我一次又一次地揍他,挨了一顿又一顿。然后我突然冲动地轻轻打了他一拳,当我们紧紧抱在一起时,我低声说:“假装我把你打晕了,你可以得到奖品。”
I was fighting automatically and suddenly I noticed that one after another of the boys was leaving the ring. I was surprised, filled with panic, as though I had been left alone with an unknown danger. Then I understood. The boys had arranged it among themselves. It was the custom for the two men left in the ring to slug it out for the winner’s prize. I discovered this too late. When the bell sounded two men in tuxedoes leaped into the ring and removed the blindfold. I found myself facing Tatlock, the biggest of the gang. I felt sick at my stomach. Hardly had the bell stopped ringing in my ears than it clanged again and I saw him moving swiftly toward me. Thinking of nothing else to do I hit him smash on the nose. He kept coming, bringing the rank sharp violence of stale sweat. His face was a black blank of a face, only his eyes alive — with hate of me and aglow with a feverish terror from what had happened to us all. I became anxious. I wanted to deliver my speech and he came at me as though he meant to beat it out of me. I smashed him again and again, taking his blows as they came. Then on a sudden impulse I struck him lightly and as we clinched, I whispered, “Fake like I knocked you out, you can have the prize.”
“我要打断你的屁股。”他嘶哑地低语道。
“I’ll break your behind,” he whispered hoarsely.
“对他们来说?”
“For them?”
“给我来吧,混蛋!”
“For me, sonofabitch!”
他们大喊着要我们停下来,塔特洛克一拳把我打得半转身,当摇晃的摄影机扫过一个令人晕眩的场景时,我看到一张张怒吼的红脸蹲在蓝灰色烟雾下,一瞬间,世界开始颤抖、瓦解、流动,然后我的头脑清醒了,塔特洛克在我面前蹦蹦跳跳。我眼前那个飘动的影子是他猛击的左手。然后我向前倒下,头靠在他湿漉漉的肩膀上,低声说,
They were yelling for us to break it up and Tatlock spun me half around with a blow, and as a joggled camera sweeps in a reeling scene, I saw the howling red faces crouching tense beneath the cloud of blue-gray smoke. For a moment the world wavered, unraveled, flowed, then my head cleared and Tatlock bounced before me. That fluttering shadow before my eyes was his jabbing left hand. Then falling forward, my head against his damp shoulder, I whispered,
“我会加价五美元。”
“I’ll make it five dollars more.”
但在我的压力下,他的肌肉稍微放松了一点,我松了一口气,“七!”
But his muscles relaxed a trifle beneath my pressure and I breathed, “Seven!”
“把它给你妈,”他说道,并撕破了我的心脏。
“Give it to your ma,” he said, ripping me beneath the heart.
我趁着还抱住他的时候用头撞了他一下,然后躲开了。我觉得自己被拳头击中了。我绝望地反击。我比世界上任何其他事情都更想发表演讲,因为我觉得只有这些人才能真正判断我的能力,而现在这个愚蠢的小丑正在毁掉我的机会。我开始小心翼翼地反击,以更快的速度冲上前去打他,然后再冲出去。幸运的是,我击中了他的下巴,他也开始反击了——直到我听到一个大声音喊道:“我押宝这个大个子。”
And while I still held him I butted him and moved away. I felt myself bombarded with punches. I fought back with hopeless desperation. I wanted to deliver my speech more than anything else in the world, because I felt that only these men could judge truly my ability, and now this stupid clown was ruining my chances. I began fighting carefully now, moving in to punch him and out again with my greater speed. A lucky blow to his chin and I had him going too — until I heard a loud voice yell, “I got my money on the big boy.”
听到这句话,我差点儿放松警惕。我很困惑:我是否应该努力战胜外面的声音?这难道不会违背我的演讲吗?这难道不是谦卑、不抵抗的时刻吗?我跳来跳去时,头部受到重击,右眼像玩具盒里的玩偶一样凸出,解决了我的困境。我摔倒时,房间一片通红。这是一次梦幻般的摔倒,我的身体懒洋洋的,不知道该落在哪里,直到地板不耐烦地砸碎了迎接我。片刻之后,我醒了过来。一个催眠般的声音强调道:五。我躺在那里,迷迷糊糊地看着自己血液中一滴深红色的血变成一只蝴蝶,闪闪发光,浸透了画布上肮脏的灰色世界。
Hearing this, I almost dropped my guard. I was confused: Should I try to win against the voice out there? Would not this go against my speech, and was not this a moment for humility, for nonresistance? A blow to my head as I danced about sent my right eye popping like a jack-in-the-box and settled my dilemma. The room went red as I fell. It was a dream fall, my body languid and fastidious as to where to land, until the floor became impatient and smashed up to meet me. A moment later I came to. An hypnotic voice said FIVE emphatically. And I lay there, hazily watching a dark red spot of my own blood shaping itself into a butterfly, glistening and soaking into the soiled gray world of the canvas.
当那个声音慢吞吞地说出十时,我被抬起来,拖到一把椅子上。我呆呆地坐在那里。我的眼睛随着我剧烈跳动的心脏的每一次跳动而疼痛肿胀,我不知道现在我是否被允许发言。我浑身湿透,嘴里还在流血。我们现在已经靠墙站好。其他男孩不理我,他们向塔特洛克表示祝贺,猜测他们会得到多少钱。一个男孩因为手被打伤而呜咽起来。我向前看去,看到穿着白色夹克的服务员把便携式戒指卷起来,在椅子周围的空地上放了一块小方形地毯。我想,也许我会站在地毯上发表演讲。
When the voice drawled TEN I was lifted up and dragged to a chair. I sat dazed. My eye pained and swelled with each throb of my pounding heart and I wondered if now I would be allowed to speak. I was wringing wet, my mouth still bleeding. We were grouped along the wall now. The other boys ignored me as they congratulated Tatlock and speculated as to how much they would be paid. One boy whimpered over his smashed hand. Looking up front, I saw attendants in white jackets rolling the portable ring away and placing a small square rug in the vacant space surrounded by chairs. Perhaps, I thought, I will stand on the rug to deliver my speech.
然后主持人喊我们,“孩子们,上来拿你们的钱吧。”
Then the M.C. called to us, “Come on up here boys and get your money.”
我们跑到男人们坐在椅子上说说笑笑等待的地方。现在每个人看起来都很友好。
We ran forward to where the men laughed and talked in their chairs, waiting. Everyone seemed friendly now.
“就在地毯上,”那人说。我看到地毯上堆满了各种大小的硬币和几张皱巴巴的钞票。但让我兴奋的是散落在各处的金币。
“There it is on the rug,” the man said. I saw the rug covered with coins of all dimensions and a few crumpled bills. But what excited me, scattered here and there, were the gold pieces.
“孩子们,全都是你们的了,”那人说。“你们抓到什么就拿什么。”
“Boys, it’s all yours,” the man said. “You get all you grab.”
“没错,Sambo,”一位金发男子说道,并自信地向我眨了眨眼。
“That’s right, Sambo,” a blond man said, winking at me confidentially.
我激动得浑身发抖,忘记了疼痛。我想,我会拿到金币和钞票。我会用双手。我会用身体撞向离我最近的男孩,阻止他们拿到金币。
I trembled with excitement, forgetting my pain. I would get the gold and the bills, I thought. I would use both hands. I would throw my body against the boys nearest me to block them from the gold.
“现在就趴到地毯上,”那人命令道,“在我发出信号之前,谁都别碰它。”
“Get down around the rug now,” the man commanded, “and don’t anyone touch it until I give the signal.”
我听到的是:“这应该不错。”
“This ought to be good,” I heard.
我们按照吩咐,跪在方形地毯上。那人慢慢地举起长满雀斑的手,我们则目不转睛地看着他。
As told, we got around the square rug on our knees. Slowly the man raised his freckled hand as we followed it upward with our eyes.
我听到:“这些黑鬼看上去好像要祈祷!”
I heard, “These niggers look like they’re about to pray!”
然后那人说:“准备好,出发!”
Then, “Ready,” the man said. “Go!”
我猛扑向地毯蓝色图案上的一枚黄色硬币,摸到它后,我发出一声惊叫,加入到我周围的人群中。我疯狂地想把手拿开,但放不开。一股炽热而猛烈的力量撕裂了我的身体,像一只湿老鼠一样摇晃着我。地毯带电了。我挣脱时,头发都竖了起来。我的肌肉跳动着,神经紧张,扭动着。但我发现这并不能阻止其他男孩。有些人害怕又尴尬地大笑着,他们收起被其他人痛苦扭动打落的硬币。我们挣扎时,那些男人在我们上方咆哮着。
I lunged for a yellow coin lying on the blue design of the carpet, touching it and sending a surprised shriek to join those rising around me. I tried frantically to remove my hand but could not let go. A hot, violent force tore through my body, shaking me like a wet rat. The rug was electrified. The hair bristled up on my head as I shook myself free. My muscles jumped, my nerves jangled, writhed. But I saw that this was not stopping the other boys. Laughing in fear and embarrassment, some were holding back and scooping up the coins knocked off by the painful contortions of the others. The men roared above us as we struggled.
“捡起来,该死的,捡起来!”有人像低音鹦鹉一样喊道。“快,捡起来!”
“Pick it up, goddamnit, pick it up!” someone called like a bass-voiced parrot. “Go on, get it!”
我快速地在地板上爬来爬去,捡起硬币,试图避开铜币,捡起美钞和金币。我笑着无视电击,快速地把硬币刷掉,发现我可以控制电击——虽然有点矛盾,但确实有效。然后那些人开始把我们推到地毯上。我们尴尬地笑着,挣扎着从他们手中挣脱出来,继续追硬币。我们全身湿滑,很难抓住。突然,我看到一个男孩被举到半空中,像马戏团的海豹一样满头大汗,然后他掉了下来,湿漉漉的后背直直地落在带电的地毯上,我听到他大叫,看到他仰面跳舞,手肘在地上疯狂地拍打着地板,肌肉抽搐着,就像被许多苍蝇叮了的马的肉一样。当他终于滚下来时,他的脸色灰白,当他在轰隆隆的笑声中从地板上跑开时,没有人阻止他。
I crawled rapidly around the floor, picking up the coins, trying to avoid the coppers and to get greenbacks and the gold. Ignoring the shock by laughing, as I brushed the coins off quickly, I discovered that I could contain the electricity — a contradiction, but it works. Then the men began to push us onto the rug. Laughing embarrassedly, we struggled out of their hands and kept after the coins. We were all wet and slippery and hard to hold. Suddenly I saw a boy lifted into the air, glistening with sweat like a circus seal, and dropped, his wet back landing flush upon the charged rug, heard him yell and saw him literally dance upon his back, his elbows beating a frenzied tattoo upon the floor, his muscles twitching like the flesh of a horse stung by many flies. When he finally rolled off, his face was gray and no one stopped him when he ran from the floor amid booming laughter.
“拿钱来,”主持人喊道。“这可是真金白银啊!”
“Get the money,” the M.C. called. “That’s good hard American cash!”
我们抓啊抓啊。我小心翼翼地不靠近地毯,当我感觉到热威士忌的气息像一团污浊的空气一样向我袭来时,我伸出手抓住了一把椅子的腿。椅子上有人,我拼命地抓住它。
And we snatched and grabbed, snatched and grabbed. I was careful not to come too close to the rug now, and when I felt the hot whiskey breath descend upon me like a cloud of foul air I reached out and grabbed the leg of a chair. It was occupied and I held on desperately.
“走开,黑鬼!走开!”
“Leggo, nigger! Leggo!”
他那张巨大的脸摇摇晃晃地朝我扑过来,试图把我推开。但我的身体很滑,他又喝得酩酊大醉。他是科尔科德先生,他拥有一家连锁电影院和“娱乐宫”。每次他抓住我,我都会从他手中滑脱。这真是一场斗争。我害怕地毯胜过害怕醉汉,所以我紧紧抓住他,试图把他推倒在地毯上,这让我自己都感到惊讶。这是一个如此巨大的想法,我发现自己真的在这么做。我尽量不显眼,但当我抓住他的腿,试图把他从椅子上推下来时,他站了起来,大笑起来,用严肃的眼神看着我,狠狠地踢了我的胸口。椅子腿从我手中飞了出去。我感觉自己在滚动。就好像我在一张热煤床上滚动一样。似乎要过一个世纪我才能挣脱,一个世纪里我被灼烧到身体最深处,我体内的恐惧气息灼烧着,灼热到爆炸的程度。我一边想着,一边挣脱。一切都会一闪而过。一切都会一闪而过。
The huge face wavered down to mine as he tried to push me free. But my body was slippery and he was too drunk. It was Mr. Colcord, who owned a chain of movie houses and “entertainment palaces.” Each time he grabbed me I slipped out of his hands. It became a real struggle. I feared the rug more than I did the drunk, so I held on, surprising myself for a moment by trying to topple him upon the rug. It was such an enormous idea that I found myself actually carrying it out. I tried not to be obvious, yet when I grabbed his leg, trying to tumble him out of the chair, he raised up roaring with laughter, and, looking at me with soberness dead in the eye, kicked me viciously in the chest. The chair leg flew out of my hand. I felt myself going and rolled. It was as though I had rolled through a bed of hot coals. It seemed a whole century would pass before I would roll free, a century in which I was seared through the deepest levels of my body to the fearful breath within me and the breath seared and heated to the point of explosion. It’ll all be over in a flash, I thought as I rolled clear. It’ll all be over in a flash.
但还没到时候,另一边的男人们还在等着,他们弯着腰,脸红肿得像中风一样。看到他们的手指朝我伸过来,我滚开了,接球手的指尖上掉下来的足球滚回了煤堆里。那一次,我幸运地把地毯推开了,听到硬币在地板上发出的叮当声,男孩们争先恐后地捡起硬币,主持人喊道:“好了,孩子们,就这样吧。快穿好衣服去拿钱。”
But not yet, the men on the other side were waiting, red faces swollen as though from apoplexy as they bent forward in their chairs. Seeing their fingers coming toward me I rolled away as a fumbled football rolls off the receiver’s fingertips, back into the coals. That time I luckily sent the rug sliding out of place and heard the coins ringing against the floor and the boys scuffling to pick them up and the M.C. calling, “All right, boys, that’s all. Go get dressed and get your money.”
我浑身无力,就像一块抹布。我的背感觉就像被电线击打过一样。
I was limp as a dish rag. My back felt as though it had been beaten with wires.
我们穿好衣服后,司仪进来给了我们每人五美元,除了塔特洛克,他因为排在最后而得到了十美元。然后他叫我们离开。我以为我没有机会发表演讲了。我绝望地走出去,走进昏暗的小巷,这时我被拦住,叫我回去。我回到舞厅,那里的男人们正把椅子往后推,三五成群地聚在一起聊天。
When we had dressed the M.C. came in and gave us each five dollars, except Tatlock, who got ten for being last in the ring. Then he told us to leave. I was not to get a chance to deliver my speech, I thought. I was going out into the dim alley in despair when I was stopped and told to go back. I returned to the ballroom, where the men were pushing back their chairs and gathering in groups to talk.
司仪敲了敲桌子示意大家安静。“先生们,”他说,“我们差点忘了节目的一个重要部分。先生们,这是最严肃的部分。这个男孩被带到这里来发表他昨天在毕业典礼上发表的演讲……”
The M.C. knocked on a table for quiet. “Gentlemen,” he said, “we almost forgot an important part of the program. A most serious part, gentlemen. This boy was brought here to deliver a speech which he made at his graduation yesterday….”
“好极了!”
“Bravo!”
“我听说他是格林伍德最聪明的孩子。我听说他知道的大词比一本袖珍词典还多。”
“I’m told that he is the smartest boy we’ve got out there in Greenwood. I’m told that he knows more big words than a pocket-sized dictionary.”
掌声和笑声不断。
Much applause and laughter.
“所以现在,先生们,我希望你们关注他。”
“So now, gentlemen, I want you to give him your attention.”
当我面对他们时,他们仍在笑,我的嘴巴发干,眼睛痛得厉害。我开始慢慢地说话,但显然我的喉咙很紧张,因为他们开始喊:“大声点!大声点!”
There was still laughter as I faced them, my mouth dry, my eye throbbing. I began slowly, but evidently my throat was tense, because they began shouting, “Louder! Louder!”
“我们年轻一代赞美那位伟大的领袖和教育家的智慧,”我高声喊道,“他首先说出了这些充满智慧的话语:‘一艘在海上迷失了多日的船突然发现了一艘友军船只。这艘不幸的船只的桅杆上发出信号:‘水,水,我们渴死了!’友军船只回答说:‘把你的水桶扔到原地。’遇险船只的船长终于听从了命令,扔下了他的水桶,水桶里装满了来自亚马逊河河口的清澈见底的水。’我也像他一样,用他的话来说,‘对于我这个种族中那些希望在异国他乡改善生活的人,或者那些低估与南方白人,也就是他的邻居建立友好关系的重要性的人,我想说:‘把你的水桶扔到原地’——扔下它,用各种男子汉的方式与我们周围的各种族人民交朋友……’”
“We of the younger generation extol the wisdom of that great leader and educator,” I shouted, “who first spoke these flaming words of wisdom: ‘A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: “Water, water; we die of thirst!” The answer from the friendly vessel came back: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River.’ And like him I say, and in his words, ‘To those of my race who depend upon bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is his next-door neighbor, I would say: “Cast down your bucket where you are” — cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded….’ ”
我滔滔不绝地讲着,热情洋溢,我当时没有意识到那些人还在说笑,直到我干涸的嘴里充满了伤口的血,差点窒息。我咳嗽着,想停下来,走到一个装满沙子的黄铜痰盂旁解手,但有几个人,尤其是那个主管,正在听,我害怕了。所以我把血、唾液和所有的东西都吞了下去,然后继续讲下去。(那些日子里,我有多么强大的忍耐力!多么热情!多么相信事物的正确性!)尽管疼痛,我还是大声说话。但他们仍然在说话,仍然在笑,好像耳朵里塞满了棉花,耳朵聋了。所以我说话时更加情绪化。我捂住耳朵,吞下血,直到我感到恶心。演讲似乎比以前长了一百倍,但我一个字都不能漏掉。必须把所有的话都说出来,把记住的每一个细微差别都考虑进去,表达出来。这还不是全部。每当我说出一个三个或更多音节的单词时,一群人就会大喊让我重复一遍。我用了“社会责任”这个词,他们就喊道:
I spoke automatically and with such fervor that I did not realize that the men were still talking and laughing until my dry mouth, filling up with blood from the cut, almost strangled me. I coughed, wanting to stop and go to one of the tall brass, sand-filled spittoons to relieve myself, but a few of the men, especially the superintendent, were listening and I was afraid. So I gulped it down, blood, saliva, and all, and continued. (What powers of endurance I had during those days! What enthusiasm! What a belief in the rightness of things!) I spoke even louder in spite of the pain. But still they talked and still they laughed, as though deaf with cotton in dirty ears. So I spoke with greater emotional emphasis. I closed my ears and swallowed blood until I was nauseated. The speech seemed a hundred times as long as before, but I could not leave out a single word. All had to be said, each memorized nuance considered, rendered. Nor was that all. Whenever I uttered a word of three or more syllables a group of voices would yell for me to repeat it. I used the phrase “social responsibility” and they yelled:
“你说什么呢,孩子?”
“What’s the word you say, boy?”
“社会责任,”我说。
“Social responsibility,” I said.
“什么?”
“What?”
“社会的 …”
“Social …”
“大声点。”
“Louder.”
“… 责任。”
“… responsibility.”
“更多的!”
“More!”
“回应——”
“Respon —”
“重复!”
“Repeat!”
“——可能性。”
“ — sibility.”
房间里充满了哄堂大笑,直到我因为要咽下自己的血而分心,犯了一个错误,喊出了一句我经常在报纸社论中看到、听到的被谴责的、在私下辩论的短语。
The room filled with the uproar of laughter until, no doubt, distracted by having to gulp down my blood, I made a mistake and yelled a phrase I had often seen denounced in newspaper editorials, heard debated in private.
“社会的 …”
“Social …”
“什么?”他们大叫。
“What?” they yelled.
“…平等——”
“… equality —”
笑声在突然的寂静中弥漫开来。我困惑地睁开双眼。不悦的声音充斥着整个房间。主持人冲上前来。他们对我大喊敌对的话语。但我听不懂。
The laughter hung smokelike in the sudden stillness. I opened my eyes, puzzled. Sounds of displeasure filled the room. The M.C. rushed forward. They shouted hostile phrases at me. But I did not understand.
前排一位留着干胡子的矮个子男人大声喊道:“儿子,说慢点!”
A small dry mustached man in the front row blared out, “Say that slowly, son!”
“什么事,先生?”
“What sir?”
“你说什么!”
“What you just said!”
“社会责任,先生,”我说。
“Social responsibility, sir,” I said.
“你不太聪明,是吧,小子?”他温和地说道。
“You weren’t being smart, were you, boy?” he said, not unkindly.
“不,先生!”
“No, sir!”
“你确定关于‘平等’的说法是一个错误吗?”
“You sure that about ‘equality’ was a mistake?”
“哦,是的,先生,”我说,“我当时正在吞血。”
“Oh, yes, sir,” I said. “I was swallowing blood.”
“好吧,你最好说慢点,这样我们才能听懂。我们想对你好,但你必须时刻知道自己的位置。好了,现在,继续你的演讲吧。”
“Well, you had better speak more slowly so we can understand. We mean to do right by you, but you’ve got to know your place at all times. All right, now, go on with your speech.”
我很害怕。我想离开,但我也想说话,我害怕他们会把我抓走。
I was afraid. I wanted to leave but I wanted also to speak and I was afraid they’d snatch me down.
“谢谢您,先生。”我接着刚才的话又说道,但他们还是像刚才一样不理我。
“Thank you, sir,” I said, beginning where I had left off, and having them ignore me as before.
然而,当我讲完时,现场响起了雷鸣般的掌声。令我惊讶的是,警司拿着一个用白色薄纸包裹的包裹走上前来,示意大家安静,然后向大家讲话。
Yet when I finished there was a thunderous applause. I was surprised to see the superintendent come forth with a package wrapped in white tissue paper, and, gesturing for quiet, address the men.
“先生们,你们看,我对这个男孩的评价并不过分。他演讲得很好,总有一天他会带领他的人民走上正确的道路。我不必告诉你们,这在当今时代很重要。这是一个聪明的好孩子,为了鼓励他走上正确的道路,我代表教育委员会向他颁发奖品……”
“Gentlemen, you see that I did not overpraise this boy. He makes a good speech and some day he’ll lead his people in the proper paths. And I don’t have to tell you that that is important in these days and times. This is a good, smart boy, and so to encourage him in the right direction, in the name of the Board of Education I wish to present him a prize in the form of this …”
他停顿了一下,揭开薄纸,露出一个闪闪发光的小牛皮公文包。
He paused, removing the tissue paper and revealing a gleaming calfskin brief case.
“……以沙德·惠特莫尔商店的一流商品形式。”
“… in the form of this first-class article from Shad Whitmore’s shop.”
“小伙子,”他对我说,“拿着这个奖,好好保管。把它当作官职的徽章。珍惜它。继续发展吧,总有一天,它会装满重要的文件,这些文件将有助于塑造你的人民的命运。”
“Boy,” he said, addressing me, “take this prize and keep it well. Consider it a badge of office. Prize it. Keep developing as you are and some day it will be filled with important papers that will help shape the destiny of your people.”
我感动得说不出感谢之意。一串血淋淋的口水流到皮革上,形状像一块未被发现的大陆,我赶紧擦去。我感到一种从未梦想过的重要性。
I was so moved that I could hardly express my thanks. A rope of bloody saliva forming a shape like an undiscovered continent drooled upon the leather and I wiped it quickly away. I felt an importance that I had never dreamed.
他告诉我:“打开它,看看里面有什么。”
“Open it and see what’s inside,” I was told.
我的手指颤抖着,我照做了,闻着新皮革的味道,在里面发现了一份看起来很正式的文件。这是州立大学为黑人提供的奖学金。我的眼睛里噙满了泪水,尴尬地从地板上跑了起来。
My fingers a-tremble, I complied, smelling the fresh leather and finding an official-looking document inside. It was a scholarship to the state college for Negroes. My eyes filled with tears and I ran awkwardly off the floor.
我欣喜若狂;当我发现我所搜寻到的金币是某种汽车品牌的广告黄铜小代币时,我甚至都不介意。
I was overjoyed; I did not even mind when I discovered that the gold pieces I had scrambled for were brass pocket tokens advertising a certain make of automobile.
我到家时,大家都很兴奋。第二天,邻居们都来祝贺我。我甚至感到自己不用再担心祖父了,他临终前的诅咒总是会破坏我的胜利。我站在他的照片下,手里拿着公文包,得意地看着他那张冷漠的黑人农民的脸。那张脸让我着迷。无论我走到哪里,他的目光似乎都跟着我。
When I reached home everyone was excited. Next day the neighbors came to congratulate me. I even felt safe from grandfather, whose deathbed curse usually spoiled my triumphs. I stood beneath his photograph with my brief case in hand and smiled triumphantly into his stolid black peasant’s face. It was a face that fascinated me. The eyes seemed to follow everywhere I went.
那天晚上,我梦见我和他一起在马戏团,无论小丑们做什么,他都不会嘲笑他们。后来,他让我打开公文包,看看里面的东西,我照做了,找到了一个盖有国家印章的官方信封;信封里又发现了一个又一个,无穷无尽,我觉得自己会疲惫不堪。“他们的岁月,”他说。“现在打开那个。”我照做了,在里面发现了一个刻着金字的文件,里面有一条简短的信息。“读出来,”我祖父说。“大声读出来。”
That night I dreamed I was at a circus with him and that he refused to laugh at the clowns no matter what they did. Then later he told me to open my brief case and read what was inside and I did, finding an official envelope stamped with the state seal; and inside the envelope I found another and another, endlessly, and I thought I would fall of weariness. “Them’s years,” he said. “Now open that one.” And I did and in it I found an engraved document containing a short message in letters of gold. “Read it,” my grandfather said. “Out loud.”
“致相关人士,”我吟诵道。“让这个黑鬼小子继续跑。”
“To Whom It May Concern,” I intoned. “Keep This Nigger-Boy Running.”
我醒来的时候耳边响起老人的笑声。
I awoke with the old man’s laughter ringing in my ears.
(这是我多年后仍会记得并再次梦到的一个梦。但当时我并不明白它的含义。首先我必须上大学。)
(It was a dream I was to remember and dream again for many years after. But at the time I had no insight into its meaning. First I had to attend college.)
[1952年]
[1952]
布克·T·华盛顿:(1856-1915)非裔美国人教育家、改革家和政治领袖。他提倡为重建后的非裔美国人提供工业教育和经济保障。
aBooker T. Washington: (1856–1915) African American educator, reformer, and political leader. He advocated education in industry and economic security for post-Reconstruction African Americans.
(1919–1965)
[1919–1965]
六月二十七日的早晨,天气晴朗,阳光明媚,充满夏日的清新温暖,百花盛开,草木葱茏。十点左右,村民们开始聚集在邮局和银行之间的广场上;有些城镇的人太多,抽奖要花两天时间,六月二十六日才开始,但这个村子只有三百人左右,整个抽奖过程不到两个小时,所以可以从早上十点开始,还能及时结束,村民们可以回家吃午饭。
The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.
孩子们当然是先集合的。学校刚刚放暑假,大多数人对自由的感觉并不自在;他们往往先安静地聚在一起一会儿,然后开始喧闹地玩耍,他们谈论的仍然是教室和老师、书本和训斥。博比·马丁已经把口袋塞满了石头,其他男孩很快也效仿他,挑选最光滑、最圆的石头;博比、哈里·琼斯和迪基·德拉克罗瓦——村民们把这个名字念成“德拉克罗伊”——最后在广场的一角堆了一大堆石头,守着它,以防其他男孩的袭击。女孩们站在一旁,互相交谈,回头看着男孩们,而那些很小的孩子则在尘土中打滚,或者紧紧抓住哥哥姐姐的手。
The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play, and their talk was still of the classroom and teacher, of books and reprimands. Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix — the villagers pronounced this name “Dellacroy” — eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys. The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys, and the very small children rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters.
不久,男人们开始聚集起来,打量着自己的孩子,谈论着播种、下雨、拖拉机和税收。他们站在一起,远离角落里的石头堆,轻声地开玩笑,脸上挂着微笑,而不是大笑。女人们穿着褪色的家居服和毛衣,紧随男人们之后而来。他们互相打招呼,交换着闲话,然后去和丈夫会合。不久,站在丈夫身边的女人们开始呼唤孩子们,孩子们很不情愿地过来,不得不叫了四五次。博比·马丁从母亲紧抓的手下钻过去,笑着跑回石头堆。父亲厉声说了句什么,博比赶紧跑过来,站在父亲和大哥中间。
Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed. The women, wearing faded house dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk. They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip as they went to join their husbands. Soon the women, standing by their husbands, began to call to their children, and the children came reluctantly, having to be called four or five times. Bobby Martin ducked under his mother’s grasping hand and ran, laughing, back to the pile of stones. His father spoke up sharply, and Bobby came quickly and took his place between his father and his oldest brother.
抽奖活动由萨默斯先生主持,广场舞、青少年俱乐部、万圣节节目也由他主持,他有时间和精力投入到公民活动中。他是一个圆脸、快活的人,经营煤炭生意,人们都为他感到难过,因为他没有孩子,他的妻子是个爱骂人的人。当他带着黑色木箱来到广场时,村民们窃窃私语,他挥手喊道:“各位,今天来得有点晚了。”邮政局长格雷夫斯先生跟在他后面,拿着一个三脚凳,凳子放在广场中央,萨默斯先生把黑箱子放在上面。村民们保持距离,在凳子和他们之间留出空间,当萨默斯先生说:“你们当中有人想帮我一下吗?”犹豫了一会儿,马丁先生和他的大儿子巴克斯特走上前来,将盒子稳稳地固定在凳子上,而萨默斯先生则搅动着里面的文件。
The lottery was conducted — as were the square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program — by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him, because he had no children and his wife was a scold. When he arrived in the square, carrying the black wooden box, there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers, and he waved and called, “Little late today, folks.” The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him, carrying a three-legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers set the black box down on it. The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool, and when Mr. Summers said, “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?” there was a hesitation before two men, Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it.
抽奖的原始用具早已遗失,现在放在凳子上的黑匣子早在镇上最年长的人老华纳出生前就已投入使用。萨默斯先生经常和村民们谈论制作一个新箱子,但没有人愿意破坏黑匣子所代表的传统。据说,现在的箱子是用以前的箱子的一些零件做成的,那个箱子是第一批人在这里定居并建立村庄时建造的。每年,抽奖结束后,萨默斯先生都会再次谈论一个新箱子,但每年这个话题都会被淡忘,什么也没做。黑匣子一年比一年破旧;现在它不再是完全黑色的,而是在一侧严重裂开,露出了原来的木头颜色,有些地方褪色或染色了。
The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here. Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done. The black box grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.
马丁先生和他的大儿子巴克斯特把黑匣子牢牢地放在凳子上,直到萨默斯先生用手把纸条彻底搅动一遍。因为很多仪式已经被遗忘或丢弃,萨默斯先生成功地用纸条代替了几代人以来一直使用的木片。萨默斯先生认为,当村子还很小的时候,木片很有用,但是现在人口已经超过三百人,而且还可能继续增长,所以必须使用更容易放进黑匣子的东西。抽奖前一天晚上,萨默斯先生和格雷夫斯先生制作了纸条并将它们放进盒子里,然后盒子被带到萨默斯先生煤炭公司的保险箱里锁起来,直到萨默斯先生准备第二天早上把它带到广场。一年中的其余时间,盒子都被收起来,有时候放在这里,有时候放在那里;它在格雷夫斯先生的谷仓里放了一年,又在邮局里放了一年,有时它被放在马丁杂货店的架子上。
Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, held the black box securely on the stool until Mr. Summers had stirred the papers thoroughly with his hand. Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations. Chips of wood, Mr. Summers had argued, had been all very well when the village was tiny, but now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep on growing, it was necessary to use something that would fit more easily into the black box. The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of Mr. Summers’s coal company and locked up until Mr. Summers was ready to take it to the square next morning. The rest of the year, the box was put away, sometimes one place, sometimes another; it had spent one year in Mr. Graves’s barn and another year underfoot in the post office, and sometimes it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery and left there.
在萨默斯先生宣布抽签开始之前,有很多事情要做。要列出名单——户主、每个家庭的户主、每个家庭的每个家庭成员。邮局局长要正式为萨默斯先生宣誓,让他担任抽签官员;有些人记得,抽签官员曾经举行过某种朗诵会,每年都会按时朗诵一段敷衍了事、没有音调的圣歌;有些人认为,抽签官员在说或唱这首歌时,就是站在那里,其他人则认为他应该在人群中行走,但很多年前,这部分仪式就被取消了。以前,抽奖官员在向每个上前抽奖的人致意时,都会行礼,但随着时间的推移,这种礼仪也发生了变化,现在人们觉得只需要官员和每个上前抽奖的人说话即可。萨默斯先生在这方面非常擅长;他穿着干净的白衬衫和蓝色牛仔裤,一只手漫不经心地放在黑盒子上,看起来非常得体,非常重要,他和格雷夫斯先生和马丁一家没完没了地交谈着。
There was a great deal of fussing to be done before Mr. Summers declared the lottery open. There were the lists to make up — of heads of families, heads of households in each family, members of each household in each family. There was the proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery; at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time, until now it was felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching. Mr. Summers was very good at all this; in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, with one hand resting carelessly on the black box, he seemed very proper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves and the Martins.
就在萨默斯先生终于停止讲话并转向聚集的村民时,哈钦森太太匆匆忙忙地沿着小路来到广场,她的毛衣披在肩上,滑进人群后面。“完全忘记了今天是什么日子,”她对站在她旁边的德拉克鲁瓦太太说,她们俩都轻声笑了起来。“我以为我老爸在后面堆木头,”哈钦森太太继续说,“然后我向窗外看去,孩子们不见了,然后我才想起今天是二十七号,就跑了过来。”她用围裙擦干了手,德拉克鲁瓦太太说:“不过你来得及时。他们还在上面聊天呢。”
Just as Mr. Summers finally left off talking and turned to the assembled villagers, Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd. “Clean forgot what day it was,” she said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly. “Thought my old man was out back stacking wood,” Mrs. Hutchinson went on, “and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running.” She dried her hands on her apron, and Mrs. Delacroix said, “You’re in time, though. They’re still talking away up there.”
哈钦森太太伸长脖子往人群里看,发现丈夫和孩子站在前面。她拍拍德拉克鲁瓦太太的胳膊,向她告别,然后开始穿过人群。人们和蔼地让开一条路给她让路;两三个人说:“哈钦森,你的太太来了”,还有“比尔,她终于来了”,声音大到足以让整个人群都能听到。哈钦森太太走到了丈夫身边,一直在等着的萨默斯先生高兴地说:“我还以为你不在了,特西。”哈钦森太太笑着说:“乔,你不会让我把盘子留在水槽里吧?”哈钦森太太来了,人群中传来轻声的笑声,人们重新回到原来的位置。
Mrs. Hutchinson craned her neck to see through the crowd and found her husband and children standing near the front. She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and began to make her way through the crowd. The people separated good-humoredly to let her through; two or three people said, in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, “Here comes your Missus, Hutchinson,” and “Bill, she made it after all.” Mrs. Hutchinson reached her husband, and Mr. Summers, who had been waiting, said cheerfully, “Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie.” Mrs. Hutchinson said, grinning, “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” and soft laughter ran through the crowd as the people stirred back into position after Mrs. Hutchinson’s arrival.
“好吧,现在,”萨默斯先生严肃地说,“我想我们最好开始行动,把这件事做完,这样我们就可以回去工作了。有人没来吗?”
“Well, now,” Mr. Summers said soberly, “guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can go back to work. Anybody ain’t here?”
“邓巴,”几个人说道。“邓巴,邓巴。”
“Dunbar,” several people said. “Dunbar, Dunbar.”
萨默斯先生看了看名单。“克莱德·邓巴,”他说。“没错。他摔断了腿,对吧?谁在为他抽签?”
Mr. Summers consulted his list. “Clyde Dunbar,” he said. “That’s right. He’s broke his leg, hasn’t he? Who’s drawing for him?”
“我猜是我吧,”一个女人说道,萨默斯先生转过身看着她。“妻子为丈夫抽奖,”萨默斯先生说道。“珍妮,你没有一个成年儿子帮你抽奖吗?”虽然萨默斯先生和村里的其他人都很清楚答案,但正式提出这样的问题是抽奖官员的职责。萨默斯先生带着礼貌的表情等待着邓巴太太的回答。
“Me, I guess,” a woman said, and Mr. Summers turned to look at her. “Wife draws for her husband,” Mr. Summers said. “Don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?” Although Mr. Summers and everyone else in the village knew the answer perfectly well, it was the business of the official of the lottery to ask such questions formally. Mr. Summers waited with an expression of polite interest while Mrs. Dunbar answered.
“霍勒斯还不到十六岁,”邓巴夫人遗憾地说。“我想我今年得替老头子了。”
“Horace’s not but sixteen yet,” Mrs. Dunbar said regretfully. “Guess I gotta fill in for the old man this year.”
“对了,”萨默斯先生说。他在手里的清单上做了个记录。然后他问道:“沃森男孩今年抽奖了吗?”
“Right,” Mr. Summers said. He made a note on the list he was holding. Then he asked, “Watson boy drawing this year?”
人群中一个高个子男孩举起了手。“给,”他说。“我为妈妈和我自己抽签。”他紧张地眨着眼睛,低下头,人群中传来几个声音说着“好小伙子,杰克”,“很高兴看到你妈妈找到了一个男人来做这件事。”
A tall boy in the crowd raised his hand. “Here,” he said. “I’m drawing for m’mother and me.” He blinked his eyes nervously and ducked his head as several voices in the crowd said things like “Good fellow, Jack,” and “Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it.”
“好吧,”萨默斯先生说,“我想大家都是这么想的。老华纳先生做到了吗?”
“Well,” Mr. Summers said, “guess that’s everyone. Old Man Warner make it?”
“在这儿,”一个声音说道,萨默斯先生点了点头。
“Here,” a voice said, and Mr. Summers nodded.
萨默斯先生清了清嗓子,看着名单,人群突然安静下来。“都准备好了吗?”他喊道。“现在,我来念名字——先是家长——然后男人们上来从箱子里拿出一张纸。把纸折好拿在手里,不要看,等到每个人都轮到为止。都准备好了吗?”
A sudden hush fell on the crowd as Mr. Summers cleared his throat and looked at the list. “All ready?” he called. “Now, I’ll read the names — heads of families first — and the men come up and take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn. Everything clear?”
人们已经这样做过很多次了,所以他们只听了一半的指示;他们中的大多数人都很安静,舔着嘴唇,没有环顾四周。然后萨默斯先生高高举起一只手说:“亚当斯。”一个男人从人群中走出来,走上前来。“嗨,史蒂夫,”萨默斯先生说,亚当斯先生说:“嗨,乔。”他们紧张而严肃地互相笑着。然后亚当斯先生伸手从黑匣子里拿出一张折叠的纸。他紧紧抓住纸的一角,转身匆匆回到人群中他的位置,站在那里,离家人稍远一点,没有低头看他的手。
The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around. Then Mr. Summers raised one hand high and said, “Adams.” A man disengaged himself from the crowd and came forward. “Hi, Steve,” Mr. Summers said, and Mr. Adams said, “Hi, Joe.” They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously. Then Mr. Adams reached into the black box and took out a folded paper. He held it firmly by one corner as he turned and went hastily back to his place in the crowd, where he stood a little apart from his family, not looking down at his hand.
“艾伦,”萨默斯先生说,“安德森……边沁。”
“Allen,” Mr. Summers said, “Anderson…. Bentham.”
“好像抽奖之间已经没有时间了,”德拉克鲁瓦太太对后排的格雷夫斯太太说。“好像我们上周才抽完最后一轮。”
“Seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more,” Mrs. Delacroix said to Mrs. Graves in the back row. “Seems like we got through with the last one only last week.”
“时间过得真快,”格雷夫斯夫人说道。
“Time sure goes fast,” Mrs. Graves said.
“克拉克……德拉克鲁瓦。”
“Clark…. Delacroix.”
“我老爸走了,”德拉克鲁瓦太太说道。她屏住呼吸,看着丈夫向前走去。
“There goes my old man,” Mrs. Delacroix said. She held her breath while her husband went forward.
“邓巴,”萨默斯先生说道。邓巴太太稳稳地走向箱子,其中一个女人说道:“继续,珍妮。”另一个女人说道:“她去了。”
“Dunbar,” Mr. Summers said, and Mrs. Dunbar went steadily to the box while one of the women said, “Go on, Janey,” and another said, “There she goes.”
“接下来轮到我们了,”格雷夫斯太太说道。她看着格雷夫斯先生从箱子边走过来,严肃地向萨默斯先生打招呼,然后从箱子里抽出一张纸条。这时,人群中到处都是男人,他们用大手拿着折叠的小纸条,紧张地翻来翻去。邓巴太太和她的两个儿子站在一起,邓巴太太手里拿着纸条。
“We’re next,” Mrs. Graves said. She watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely, and selected a slip of paper from the box. By now, all through the crowd there were men holding the small folded papers in their large hands, turning them over and over nervously. Mrs. Dunbar and her two sons stood together, Mrs. Dunbar holding the slip of paper.
“哈伯特……哈钦森。”
“Harburt…. Hutchinson.”
“上去吧,比尔,”哈钦森夫人说道,她旁边的人都笑了。
“Get up there, Bill,” Mrs. Hutchinson said, and the people near her laughed.
“琼斯。”
“Jones.”
“他们确实说,”亚当斯先生对站在他旁边的沃纳老人说,“在北村,他们正在讨论放弃抽奖。”
“They do say,” Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, “that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery.”
老华纳哼了一声。“一群疯子,”他说。“听年轻人说,什么都满足不了他们。你知道的,接下来他们会想回到山洞里生活,没人再工作了,就这样生活一段时间。以前有句俗话说‘六月抽奖,玉米很快就丰收了。’你知道的,我们都会吃炖繁缕和橡子。一直都有抽奖,”他生气地补充道。“看到年轻的乔·萨默斯在那里和大家开玩笑,真是太糟糕了。”
Old Man Warner snorted. “Pack of crazy fools,” he said. “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while. Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery,” he added petulantly. “Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody.”
“一些地方已经停止了彩票销售,”亚当斯夫人说。
“Some places have already quit lotteries,” Mrs. Adams said.
“这只会带来麻烦,”老华纳坚决地说。“一群年轻的傻瓜。”
“Nothing but trouble in that,” Old Man Warner said stoutly. “Pack of young fools.”
“马丁。”鲍比·马丁看着父亲走上前去。“欧弗戴克……珀西。”
“Martin.” And Bobby Martin watched his father go forward. “Overdyke…. Percy.”
“我希望他们能快点,”邓巴太太对大儿子说。“我希望他们能快点。”
“I wish they’d hurry,” Mrs. Dunbar said to her older son. “I wish they’d hurry.”
“他们快完成了,”她的儿子说。
“They’re almost through,” her son said.
“你准备跑去告诉爸爸,”邓巴夫人说。
“You get ready to run tell Dad,” Mrs. Dunbar said.
萨默斯先生叫了自己的名字,然后精准地走上前去,从盒子里抽出一张纸条。然后他叫道:“华纳。”
Mr. Summers called his own name and then stepped forward precisely and selected a slip from the box. Then he called, “Warner.”
“我已经中了彩票第七十七年了,”老华纳穿过人群说道。“第七十七次了。”
“Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery,” Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd. “Seventy-seventh time.”
“华生。”这个高个子男孩笨拙地穿过人群。有人说:“别紧张,杰克。”萨默斯先生说:“儿子,慢慢来。”
“Watson.” The tall boy came awkwardly through the crowd. Someone said, “Don’t be nervous, Jack,” and Mr. Summers said, “Take your time, son.”
“扎尼尼。”
“Zanini.”
之后,是长时间的沉默,令人屏息的沉默,直到萨默斯先生举着纸条说:“好了,伙计们。”一分钟,没有人动弹,然后所有的纸条都被打开了。突然,所有的女人开始同时说话,说:“是谁?”“谁拿到了?”“是邓巴一家吗?”“是沃森一家吗?”然后,声音开始说:“是哈钦森。是比尔,”“比尔·哈钦森拿到了。”
After that, there was a long pause, a breathless pause, until Mr. Summers, holding his slip of paper in the air, said, “All right, fellows.” For a minute, no one moved, and then all the slips of paper were opened. Suddenly, all the women began to speak at once, saying, “Who is it?” “Who’s got it?” “Is it the Dunbars?” “Is it the Watsons?” Then the voices began to say, “It’s Hutchinson. It’s Bill,” “Bill Hutchinson’s got it.”
“去告诉你父亲,”邓巴夫人对大儿子说。
“Go tell your father,” Mrs. Dunbar said to her older son.
人们开始四处张望,想看看哈钦森一家。比尔·哈钦森站在那里一言不发,低头看着手里的报纸。突然,泰西·哈钦森对萨默斯先生喊道:“你没有给他足够的时间去拿他想要的报纸。我看到你了。这不公平!”
People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly, Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers, “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair!”
“别客气,泰西,”德拉克鲁瓦太太喊道。格雷夫斯太太说,“我们所有人都冒着同样的风险。”
“Be a good sport, Tessie,” Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, “All of us took the same chance.”
“闭嘴,泰西,”比尔·哈钦森说。
“Shut up, Tessie,” Bill Hutchinson said.
“好吧,各位,”萨默斯先生说,“这已经完成得相当快了,现在我们必须再加快一点速度才能及时完成。”他查看了下一份名单。“比尔,”他说,“你为哈钦森家族抽签。哈钦森家族还有其他家庭吗?”
“Well, everyone,” Mr. Summers said, “that was done pretty fast, and now we’ve got to be hurrying a little more to get done in time.” He consulted his next list. “Bill,” he said, “you draw for the Hutchinson family. You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?”
“唐和伊娃在那儿,”哈钦森太太喊道。“让他们抓住机会!”
“There’s Don and Eva,” Mrs. Hutchinson yelled. “Make them take their chance!”
“女儿们会和她们丈夫的家人一起画画,泰西,”萨默斯先生温和地说。“你和其他人一样清楚这一点。”
“Daughters drew with their husbands’ families, Tessie,” Mr. Summers said gently. “You know that as well as anyone else.”
“这不公平,”泰西说。
“It wasn’t fair,” Tessie said.
“我想不是,乔,”比尔·哈钦森遗憾地说道。“我女儿和她丈夫的家人一起画画,这很公平。而我除了孩子之外没有其他家人了。”
“I guess not, Joe,” Bill Hutchinson said regretfully. “My daughter draws with her husband’s family, that’s only fair. And I’ve got no other family except the kids.”
“那么,就为家庭抽奖而言,就是你了,”萨默斯先生解释道,“就为住户抽奖而言,也是你。对吗?”
“Then, as far as drawing for families is concerned, it’s you,” Mr. Summers said in explanation, “and as far as drawing for households is concerned, that’s you, too. Right?”
“对,”比尔·哈钦森说。
“Right,” Bill Hutchinson said.
“比尔,有几个孩子?”萨默斯先生正式问道。
“How many kids, Bill?” Mr. Summers asked formally.
“三个,”比尔·哈钦森说。“有比尔二世、南希、小戴夫,还有泰西和我。”
“Three,” Bill Hutchinson said. “There’s Bill, Jr., and Nancy, and little Dave. And Tessie and me.”
“那么,好吧,”萨默斯先生说。“哈利,你把他们的票拿回来了吗?”
“All right, then,” Mr. Summers said. “Harry, you got their tickets back?”
格雷夫斯先生点点头,举起纸条。“那就把它们放进盒子里吧,”萨默斯先生指示道。“把比尔的纸条放进去。”
Mr. Graves nodded and held up the slips of paper. “Put them in the box, then,” Mr. Summers directed. “Take Bill’s and put it in.”
“我认为我们应该重新开始,”哈钦森太太尽可能平静地说道。“我告诉你这不公平。你没有给他足够的时间去选择。每个人都看到了。”
“I think we ought to start over,” Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. “I tell you it wasn’t fair. You didn’t give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that.”
格雷夫斯先生选出了五张纸条并把它们放进了盒子,然后他把除了这些纸条之外的所有纸条都扔到了地上,微风把它们吹走了。
Mr. Graves had selected the five slips and put them in the box, and he dropped all the papers but those onto the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off.
“大家听着,”哈钦森夫人对周围的人说道。
“Listen, everybody,” Mrs. Hutchinson was saying to the people around her.
“准备好了吗,比尔?”萨默斯先生问道,比尔·哈钦森迅速看了一眼他的妻子和孩子,然后点了点头。
“Ready, Bill?” Mr. Summers asked, and Bill Hutchinson, with one quick glance around at his wife and children, nodded.
“记住,”萨默斯先生说,“把纸条拿来,一直折着,直到每个人都拿了一张。哈利,你帮小戴夫。”格雷夫斯先生拉着小男孩的手,小男孩很愿意跟着他走到盒子前。“从盒子里拿出一张纸,戴维,”萨默斯先生说。戴维把手伸进盒子里笑了。“只拿一张纸,”萨默斯先生说。“哈利,你帮他拿着。”格雷夫斯先生拉着孩子的手,从他紧握的拳头里拿出折叠的纸,握在手里,小戴夫站在他旁边,疑惑地抬头看着他。
“Remember,” Mr. Summers said, “take the slips and keep them folded until each person has taken one. Harry, you help little Dave.” Mr. Graves took the hand of the little boy, who came willingly with him up to the box. “Take a paper out of the box, Davy,” Mr. Summers said. Davy put his hand into the box and laughed. “Take just one paper,” Mr. Summers said. “Harry, you hold it for him.” Mr. Graves took the child’s hand and removed the folded paper from the tight fist and held it while little Dave stood next to him and looked up at him wonderingly.
“下一个是南希,”萨默斯先生说。南希十二岁,她走上前,一边甩动裙子,一边从盒子里优雅地拿出一张纸条,同学们都大口喘着粗气。“小比尔,”萨默斯先生说,脸色通红、脚掌宽大的比利拿出一张纸条时差点把盒子撞翻。“泰西,”萨默斯先生说。她犹豫了一会儿,挑衅地环顾四周,然后抿紧嘴唇,走到盒子前。她抓起一张纸条,把它放在身后。
“Nancy next,” Mr. Summers said. Nancy was twelve, and her school friends breathed heavily as she went forward, switching her skirt, and took a slip daintily from the box. “Bill, Jr.,” Mr. Summers said, and Billy, his face red and his feet overlarge, nearly knocked the box over as he got a paper out. “Tessie,” Mr. Summers said. She hesitated for a minute, looking around defiantly, and then set her lips and went up to the box. She snatched a paper out and held it behind her.
“比尔,”萨默斯先生说道。比尔·哈钦森把手伸进盒子里摸索着,最后把手拿出来,手里拿着一张纸条。
“Bill,” Mr. Summers said, and Bill Hutchinson reached into the box and felt around, bringing his hand out at last with the slip of paper in it.
人群一片安静。一个女孩悄声说:“希望不是南希。”这悄声传到了人群的边缘。
The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, “I hope it’s not Nancy,” and the sound of the whisper reached the edges of the crowd.
“现在的情况已经和以前不一样了,”老沃纳清楚地说道。“人们也不再像以前那样了。”
“It’s not the way it used to be,” Old Man Warner said clearly. “People ain’t the way they used to be.”
“好吧,”萨默斯先生说。“打开报纸。哈利,你打开小戴夫的报纸。”
“All right,” Mr. Summers said. “Open the papers. Harry, you open little Dave’s.”
格雷夫斯先生打开了纸条,当他举起纸条时,人群中传来一阵叹息,每个人都看到纸条是空白的。南希和小比尔同时打开了他们的纸条,两人都面带笑容,笑着转过身来面对人群,把纸条举过头顶。
Mr. Graves opened the slip of paper and there was a general sigh through the crowd as he held it up and everyone could see that it was blank. Nancy and Bill, Jr., opened theirs at the same time, and both beamed and laughed, turning around to the crowd and holding their slips of paper above their heads.
“泰西,”萨默斯先生说。沉默了一会儿,萨默斯先生看向比尔·哈钦森,比尔打开纸条展示给他看。纸条上空白一片。
“Tessie,” Mr. Summers said. There was a pause, and then Mr. Summers looked at Bill Hutchinson, and Bill unfolded his paper and showed it. It was blank.
“是特西,”萨默斯先生压低声音说道。“比尔,给我们看看她的证件。”
“It’s Tessie,” Mr. Summers said, and his voice was hushed. “Show us her paper, Bill.”
比尔·哈钦森走到妻子身边,从她手里夺过纸条。纸条上有一个黑点,是萨默斯先生昨晚在煤炭公司办公室用粗铅笔画的。比尔·哈钦森举起纸条,人群中一片骚动。
Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal-company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up and there was a stir in the crowd.
“好了,各位,”萨默斯先生说。“我们赶紧结束吧。”
“All right, folks,” Mr. Summers said. “Let’s finish quickly.”
虽然村民们已经忘记了仪式,也弄丢了原来的黑匣子,但他们还是记得要用石头。男孩们先前堆好的石头已经准备好了;地上放着一些石头,上面放着从盒子里吹出来的纸屑。德拉克鲁瓦太太选了一块大石头,她不得不用双手把它捡起来,然后转向邓巴太太。“来吧,”她说。“快点。”
Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. “Come on,” she said. “Hurry up.”
邓巴夫人双手捧着小石头,气喘吁吁地说:“我根本跑不动。你先走,我会追上你的。”
Mrs. Dunbar had small stones in both hands, and she said, gasping for breath, “I can’t run at all. You’ll have to go ahead and I’ll catch up with you.”
孩子们已经有了石头,有人给了小戴维·哈钦森几块鹅卵石。
The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.
此时,特西·哈钦森正站在一片空地中央,村民们向她靠近,她绝望地伸出双手。“这不公平,”她说。一块石头击中了她的头部一侧。
Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. “It isn’t fair,” she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head.
华纳老头说:“来吧,大家来吧。”史蒂夫·亚当斯走在村民的最前面,格雷夫斯夫人站在他身边。
Old Man Warner was saying, “Come on, come on, everyone.” Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him.
“这不公平,这不对,”哈钦森夫人尖叫道,然后他们就向她扑来。
“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed and then they were upon her.
[1948]
[1948]
(1924–1987)
[1924–1987]
我在报纸上、地铁上、上班的路上读到了这件事。我读了,简直不敢相信,又读了一遍。然后,也许我只是盯着它,盯着报纸上拼出他的名字,拼出这个故事。我盯着地铁车厢里闪烁的灯光,盯着人们的脸和身体,盯着我自己的脸,被困在外面咆哮的黑暗中。
I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work. I read it, and I couldn’t believe it, and I read it again. Then perhaps I just stared at it, at the newsprint spelling out his name, spelling out the story. I stared at it in the swinging lights of the subway car, and in the faces and bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside.
这简直难以置信,我从地铁站走到高中的路上一直这样告诉自己。但同时,我也无法怀疑。我很害怕,为桑尼感到害怕。他又一次在我心中变得真实起来。在我教班级代数的时候,一大块冰块在我的肚子里安顿下来,整天在那里慢慢融化。这是一种特殊的冰。它一直在融化,冰水在我的血管里流淌,但它从未减少过。有时它会变硬,似乎在膨胀,直到我感觉我的内脏要溢出来,或者我要窒息或尖叫。这总是在我回忆桑尼曾经说过或做过的某件事的时候。
It was not to be believed and I kept telling myself that, as I walked from the subway station to the high school. And at the same time I couldn’t doubt it. I was scared, scared for Sonny. He became real to me again. A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long, while I taught my classes algebra. It was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins, but it never got less. Sometimes it hardened and seemed to expand until I felt my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to choke or scream. This would always be at a moment when I was remembering some specific thing Sonny had once said or done.
当他和我班上的男生差不多大的时候,他的脸明亮而开朗,铜色的光泽很浓;他有一双直率的棕色眼睛,非常温柔和内敛。我不知道他现在长什么样子。前一天晚上,在一次突袭市中心公寓的行动中,他因贩卖和吸食海洛因而被捕。
When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he’d had wonderfully direct brown eyes, and great gentleness and privacy. I wondered what he looked like now. He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin.
我简直不敢相信:但我的意思是,我内心深处找不到任何容身之所。我把它藏在外面很久了。我并不想知道。我曾有过怀疑,但我没有说出它们,我一直把它们放在一边。我告诉自己,桑尼虽然狂野,但他并不疯狂。他一直是个好孩子,他从来没有变得冷酷、邪恶或无礼,孩子们总是如此之快,尤其是在哈莱姆区。我不想相信我会看到我的兄弟走下坡路,一事无成,脸上所有的光芒都消失了,就像我已经见过的很多人那样。然而,这件事发生了,我在这里,和很多男孩谈论代数,据我所知,他们每个人每次打针都会弹出针头。也许代数对他们的帮助比代数更大。
I couldn’t believe it: but what I mean by that is that I couldn’t find any room for it anywhere inside me. I had kept it outside me for a long time. I hadn’t wanted to know. I had had suspicions, but I didn’t name them, I kept putting them away. I told myself that Sonny was wild, but he wasn’t crazy. And he’d always been a good boy, he hadn’t ever turned hard or evil or disrespectful, the way kids can, so quick, so quick, especially in Harlem. I didn’t want to believe that I’d ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out, in the condition I’d already seen so many others. Yet it had happened and here I was, talking about algebra to a lot of boys who might, every one of them for all I knew, be popping off needles every time they went to the head. Maybe it did more for them than algebra could.
我确信桑尼第一次拥有马时,他不会比这些男孩现在大多少。这些男孩现在过着我们当时的生活,他们急速成长,他们的头脑突然撞到了他们实际可能性的低天花板上。他们满怀愤怒。他们真正知道的只有两种黑暗,一种是他们生活的黑暗,现在正向他们逼近,另一种是电影的黑暗,它蒙蔽了他们,让他们看不到另一种黑暗,现在他们怀着怨恨,在电影中做梦,他们比以往任何时候都更加团结,也更加孤独。
I was sure that the first time Sonny had ever had horse, he couldn’t have been much older than these boys were now. These boys, now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities. They were filled with rage. All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone.
当最后一节课的铃声响起,最后一节课结束时,我长出了一口气。似乎我一直屏住呼吸。我的衣服湿了——看上去我好像整个下午都穿着整齐地坐在蒸汽浴里。我一个人在教室里坐了很久。我听着楼下外面的男孩们大喊大叫、咒骂和大笑。他们的笑声也许第一次让我震惊。那不是人们通常认为是孩子们发出的欢快笑声——天知道为什么。那是一种嘲弄和孤立,意图贬低。那是失望,而他们的咒骂也正是出于这种感觉。也许我之所以听他们说话,是因为我想到了我的兄弟,从他们的声音中,我听到了兄弟的声音。还有我自己。
When the last bell rang, the last class ended, I let out my breath. It seemed I’d been holding it for all that time. My clothes were wet — I may have looked as though I’d been sitting in a steam bath, all dressed up, all afternoon. I sat alone in the classroom a long time. I listened to the boys outside, downstairs, shouting and cursing and laughing. Their laughter struck me for perhaps the first time. It was not the joyous laughter which — God knows why — one associates with children. It was mocking and insular, its intent to denigrate. It was disenchanted, and in this, also, lay the authority of their curses. Perhaps I was listening to them because I was thinking about my brother and in them I heard my brother. And myself.
一个男孩在吹着一支曲子,曲子非常复杂,又非常简单,曲子仿佛从他嘴里喷涌而出,仿佛他是一只鸟,曲子听起来很酷,在刺耳、明亮的空气中流动,在众多声音中独树一帜。
One boy was whistling a tune, at once very complicated and very simple, it seemed to be pouring out of him as though he were a bird, and it sounded very cool and moving through all that harsh, bright air, only just holding its own through all those other sounds.
我站起来,走到窗前,俯视着院子。春天刚刚开始,孩子们的活力正在涌动。一位老师不时从他们身边走过,速度很快,仿佛他或她迫不及待地想离开那个院子,让那些男孩离开他们的视线和脑海。我开始收拾东西。我想我最好回家和伊莎贝尔谈谈。
I stood up and walked over to the window and looked down into the courtyard. It was the beginning of the spring and the sap was rising in the boys. A teacher passed through them every now and again, quickly, as though he or she couldn’t wait to get out of that courtyard, to get those boys out of their sight and off their minds. I started collecting my stuff. I thought I’d better get home and talk to Isabel.
我下楼时,院子里几乎空无一人。我看到一个男孩站在门口的阴影里,长得和桑尼一模一样。我差点就叫了他的名字。然后我才发现那不是桑尼,而是我们以前认识的一个人,一个住在我们街区附近的男孩。他是桑尼的朋友。他从来都不是我自己的朋友,他对我来说太小了,而且,无论如何,我从来都不喜欢他。现在,尽管他已经长大成人,但他仍然在那条街上闲逛,仍然在街角徘徊数小时,总是精神抖擞。我过去时不时会碰到他,他经常会找机会向我要 25 美分或 50 美分。他也总是有很好的借口,我总是给他,我不知道为什么。
The courtyard was almost deserted by the time I got downstairs. I saw this boy standing in the shadow of a doorway, looking just like Sonny. I almost called his name. Then I saw that it wasn’t Sonny, but somebody we used to know, a boy from around our block. He’d been Sonny’s friend. He’d never been mine, having been too young for me, and, anyway, I’d never liked him. And now, even though he was a grown-up man, he still hung around that block, still spent hours on the street corners, was always high and raggy. I used to run into him from time to time and he’d often work around to asking me for a quarter or fifty cents. He always had some real good excuse, too, and I always gave it to him, I don’t know why.
但现在,我突然开始恨他。我受不了他看我的眼神,那种眼神一半像一条狗,一半像一个狡猾的孩子。我想问他到底在学校院子里干什么。
But now, abruptly, I hated him. I couldn’t stand the way he looked at me, partly like a dog, partly like a cunning child. I wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing in the school courtyard.
他慢悠悠地走到我面前,说道:“我看你拿到了文件。所以你已经知道这件事了。”
He sort of shuffled over to me, and he said, “I see you got the papers. So you already know about it.”
“你是说桑尼的事吗?是的,我已经知道了。他们怎么没抓到你?”
“You mean about Sonny? Yes, I already know about it. How come they didn’t get you?”
他咧嘴笑了。这让他看起来令人厌恶,也让他想起了自己小时候的样子。“我不在那儿。我远离那些人。”
He grinned. It made him repulsive and it also brought to mind what he’d looked like as a kid. “I wasn’t there. I stay away from them people.”
“你真棒。”我递给他一支烟,透过烟雾看着他。“你大老远跑到这里就是为了告诉我桑尼的事?”
“Good for you.” I offered him a cigarette and I watched him through the smoke. “You come all the way down here just to tell me about Sonny?”
“没错。”他摇了摇头,眼神有些奇怪,好像快要对上了。明亮的阳光照在他湿漉漉的深棕色皮肤上,让他的眼睛看起来发黄,卷曲的头发上也显露出污垢。他身上有股怪味。我离他稍远了一点,说道:“好吧,谢谢。不过我已经知道了,我得回家了。”
“That’s right.” He was sort of shaking his head and his eyes looked strange, as though they were about to cross. The bright sun deadened his damp dark brown skin and it made his eyes look yellow and showed up the dirt in his kinked hair. He smelled funky. I moved a little away from him and I said, “Well, thanks. But I already know about it and I got to get home.”
“我送你走一小段路,”他说。我们开始往前走。院子里还有几个孩子在闲逛,其中一个孩子跟我说了晚安,还奇怪地看着我身边的男孩。
“I’ll walk you a little ways,” he said. We started walking. There were a couple of kids still loitering in the courtyard and one of them said goodnight to me and looked strangely at the boy beside me.
“你打算怎么办?”他问我。“我是说,桑尼的事?”
“What’re you going to do?” he asked me. “I mean, about Sonny?”
“听着。我已经一年多没见过桑尼了。我不确定我该做什么。不管怎样,我到底能做什么?”
“Look. I haven’t seen Sonny for over a year. I’m not sure I’m going to do anything. Anyway, what the hell can I do?”
“没错,”他很快说道,“你什么也做不了。我想,你再也帮不上老桑尼了。”
“That’s right,” he said quickly, “ain’t nothing you can do. Can’t much help old Sonny no more, I guess.”
这正是我所想的,所以在我看来他没有权利这么说。
It was what I was thinking and so it seemed to me he had no right to say it.
“不过,我对桑尼感到很惊讶,”他继续说道——他说话的方式很奇怪,他直视前方,好像在自言自语——“我以为桑尼是个聪明的男孩,我以为他太聪明了,不会被吊死。”
“I’m surprised at Sonny, though,” he went on — he had a funny way of talking, he looked straight ahead as though he were talking to himself — “I thought Sonny was a smart boy, I thought he was too smart to get hung.”
“我想他也这么想,”我尖锐地说,“这就是他被吊死的原因。你呢?我敢打赌,你一定非常聪明。”
“I guess he thought so too,” I said sharply, “and that’s how he got hung. And how about you? You’re pretty goddamn smart, I bet.”
然后他直视了我一眼。“我不聪明,”他说。“如果我聪明的话,我早就拿起手枪了。”
Then he looked directly at me, just for a minute. “I ain’t smart,” he said. “If I was smart, I’d have reached for a pistol a long time ago.”
“听着。别跟我讲你的悲惨故事,如果由我决定,我会给你讲一个。”然后我感到内疚——可能是内疚,因为我从来没有想到这个可怜的家伙有他自己的故事,更不用说悲伤的故事了,我赶紧问道:“他现在会怎么样?”
“Look. Don’t tell me your sad story, if it was up to me, I’d give you one.” Then I felt guilty — guilty, probably, for never having supposed that the poor bastard had a story of his own, much less a sad one, and I asked, quickly, “What’s going to happen to him now?”
他没有回答。他一个人去别处了。“有趣的是,”他说,从他的语气来看,我们可能正在讨论去布鲁克林最快的路线,“当我今天早上看到报纸时,我问自己的第一件事是我是否与此有关。我觉得自己有点责任。”
He didn’t answer this. He was off by himself some place. “Funny thing,” he said, and from his tone we might have been discussing the quickest way to get to Brooklyn, “when I saw the papers this morning, the first thing I asked myself was if I had anything to do with it. I felt sort of responsible.”
我开始更加仔细地听。地铁站就在我们前面的拐角处,我停了下来。他也停了下来。我们在一家酒吧前面,他稍微低下头,往里面张望,但他要找的人似乎不在那儿。自动点唱机里播放着某种黑色的、有弹性的音乐,我半看着酒吧女招待从自动点唱机跳到吧台后面的座位。我看着她的脸,她笑着回应别人对她说的话,仍然跟随着音乐的节奏。当她微笑时,人们看到了那个小女孩,人们感觉到在这个半妓女的伤痕累累的脸下面,那个注定要失败、仍在挣扎的女人。
I began to listen more carefully. The subway station was on the corner, just before us, and I stopped. He stopped, too. We were in front of a bar and he ducked slightly, peering in, but whoever he was looking for didn’t seem to be there. The juke box was blasting away with something black and bouncy and I half watched the barmaid as she danced her way from the juke box to her place behind the bar. And I watched her face as she laughingly responded to something someone said to her, still keeping time to the music. When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling woman beneath the battered face of the semi-whore.
“我从不给桑尼任何东西,”男孩终于说道,“但很久以前我上高中时,桑尼问我感觉如何。”他停顿了一下,我不忍心看着他,我看着酒吧女招待,我听着似乎让人行道震动的音乐。“我告诉他感觉很棒。”音乐停了,酒吧女招待停下来看着点唱机,直到音乐再次响起。“确实如此。”
“I never give Sonny nothing,” the boy said finally, “but a long time ago I come to school high and Sonny asked me how it felt.” He paused, I couldn’t bear to watch him, I watched the barmaid, and I listened to the music which seemed to be causing the pavement to shake. “I told him it felt great.” The music stopped, the barmaid paused and watched the juke box until the music began again. “It did.”
这一切都把我带向了我不想去的地方。我当然不想知道那是什么感觉。它让一切,包括人、房子、音乐、黑暗、变幻莫测的酒吧女招待,都充满了威胁;而这种威胁就是他们的现实。
All this was carrying me some place I didn’t want to go. I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality.
“他现在会怎么样呢?”我又问。
“What’s going to happen to him now?” I asked again.
“他们会把他送去某个地方,然后试着治好他。”他摇了摇头。“也许他甚至会以为自己已经戒掉了烟瘾。然后他们就会放他走”——他做了个手势,把香烟扔进了排水沟里。“就这样。”
“They’ll send him away some place and they’ll try to cure him.” He shook his head. “Maybe he’ll even think he’s kicked the habit. Then they’ll let him loose” — he gestured, throwing his cigarette into the gutter. “That’s all.”
“什么意思,就这些? ”
“What do you mean, that’s all?”
但我知道他的意思。
But I knew what he meant.
“我是说,仅此而已。”他转过头看着我,嘴角微微上扬。“你不知道我的意思吗?”他轻声问道。
“I mean, that’s all.” He turned his head and looked at me, pulling down the corners of his mouth. “Don’t you know what I mean?” he asked, softly.
“我怎么会知道你的意思?”我几乎是低声说道,我不知道为什么。
“How the hell would I know what you mean?” I almost whispered it, I don’t know why.
“没错,”他对着空气说,“他怎么会知道我的意思?”他再次转向我,耐心而冷静,但我不知何故感到他在颤抖,颤抖得好像要崩溃了。我再次感到内心冰冷,整个下午我都感到恐惧;我又看着酒吧女招待在酒吧里走来走去,洗杯子,唱歌。“听着。他们会放他出去,然后一切又会重新开始。这就是我的意思。”
“That’s right,” he said to the air, “how would he know what I mean?” He turned toward me again, patient and calm, and yet I somehow felt him shaking, shaking as though he were going to fall apart. I felt that ice in my guts again, the dread I’d felt all afternoon; and again I watched the barmaid, moving about the bar, washing glasses, and singing. “Listen. They’ll let him out and then it’ll just start all over again. That’s what I mean.”
“你的意思是——他们会让他出院。然后他又会开始重新吸毒。你的意思是他永远也戒不掉这个习惯。是这个意思吗?”
“You mean — they’ll let him out. And then he’ll just start working his way back in again. You mean he’ll never kick the habit. Is that what you mean?”
“没错,”他高兴地说道。“你明白我的意思。”
“That’s right,” he said, cheerfully. “You see what I mean.”
“告诉我,”我最后说道,“他为什么想死?他肯定想死,他在自杀,他为什么想死?”
“Tell me,” I said at last, “why does he want to die? He must want to die, he’s killing himself, why does he want to die?”
他惊讶地看着我。他舔了舔嘴唇。“他不想死。他想活下去。永远都不要有人想死。”
He looked at me in surprise. He licked his lips. “He don’t want to die. He wants to live. Don’t nobody want to die, ever.”
然后我想问他——太多事情了。他不可能回答,或者即使他回答了,我也不可能承受这些答案。我开始往前走。“好吧,我想这不关我的事。”
Then I wanted to ask him — too many things. He could not have answered, or if he had, I could not have borne the answers. I started walking. “Well, I guess it’s none of my business.”
“这对老桑尼来说会很艰难,”他说。我们到了地铁站。“这是你的车站吗?”他问道。我点点头。我往下走了一步。“该死!”他突然说道。我抬头看着他。他又笑了。“该死,我是不是把钱都留在家里了。你身上一美元都没有,是吗?就几天,就这样。”
“It’s going to be rough on old Sonny,” he said. We reached the subway station. “This is your station?” he asked. I nodded. I took one step down. “Damn!” he said, suddenly. I looked up at him. He grinned again. “Damn it if I didn’t leave all my money home. You ain’t got a dollar on you, have you? Just for a couple of days, is all.”
突然间,我内心深处有种东西涌了出来,似乎要从我体内涌出。我不再恨他了。我感觉,再过一会儿,我就会像个孩子一样哭起来。
All at once something inside gave and threatened to come pouring out of me. I didn’t hate him any more. I felt that in another moment I’d start crying like a child.
“当然可以,”我说。“别担心。”我看了看钱包,没有一美元,只有五美元。“给,”我说。“这能装下你吗?”
“Sure,” I said. “Don’t sweat.” I looked in my wallet and didn’t have a dollar, I only had a five. “Here,” I said. “That hold you?”
他没有看它——他不想看它。他脸上露出一种可怕的闭目神色,仿佛他要向我和他隐瞒账单上的数字。“谢谢,”他说,现在他非常想让我走。“别担心桑尼。也许我会给他写信什么的。”
He didn’t look at it — he didn’t want to look at it. A terrible closed look came over his face, as though he were keeping the number on the bill a secret from him and me. “Thanks,” he said, and now he was dying to see me go. “Don’t worry about Sonny. Maybe I’ll write him or something.”
“当然可以,”我说,“你照做吧。再见。”
“Sure,” I said. “You do that. So long.”
“再见,”他说。我继续走下台阶。
“Be seeing you,” he said. I went on down the steps.
很长一段时间我都没有给桑尼写信或寄东西给他。当我终于给他写信时,我的小女儿刚死,他给我回了一封信,让我觉得自己是个混蛋。
And I didn’t write Sonny or send him anything for a long time. When I finally did, it was just after my little girl died, he wrote me back a letter which made me feel like a bastard.
以下是他所说的话:
Here’s what he said:
亲爱的兄弟,
你不知道我多么需要听到你的消息。我多次想给你写信,但我知道我一定伤害了你,所以我没有写信。但现在我感觉自己就像一个一直试图从某个很深很深的怪洞里爬出来的人,刚看到外面的太阳。我必须出去。
我无法告诉你我是如何来到这里的。我的意思是我不知道该怎么告诉你。我想我害怕了什么,或者我试图逃避什么,你知道我的头脑从来都不是很坚强(微笑)。我很高兴妈妈和爸爸都死了,无法看到他们的儿子发生了什么,我发誓,如果我知道自己在做什么,我绝不会伤害你,你和很多对我很好、相信我的好人。
我不想让你认为这和我当音乐家有什么关系。关系不止于此。或者可能还不够。我在这里无法理清任何事,我尽量不去想当我再次走出去时会发生什么。有时我觉得我会发疯,再也出不来了,有时我觉得我会直接回来。不过,我告诉你一件事,我宁愿开枪打死自己,也不愿再经历这种事。但这就是他们所说的,所以他们告诉我。如果我告诉你我什么时候来纽约,如果你能见我,我肯定会很感激。向伊莎贝尔和孩子们问好,听到小格雷西的事我真的很遗憾。我希望我能像妈妈一样说上帝的旨意会实现,但我不知道在我看来,麻烦是唯一一件永远不会停止的事情,我不知道把责任归咎于上帝有什么好处。但如果你相信的话,也许会有一些好处。
你的兄弟,
桑尼
Dear brother,
You don’t know how much I needed to hear from you. I wanted to write you many a time but I dug how much I must have hurt you and so I didn’t write. But now I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb up out of some deep, real deep and funky hole and just saw the sun up there, outside. I got to get outside.
I can’t tell you much about how I got here. I mean I don’t know how to tell you. I guess I was afraid of something or I was trying to escape from something and you know I have never been very strong in the head (smile). I’m glad Mama and Daddy are dead and can’t see what’s happened to their son and I swear if I’d known what I was doing I would never have hurt you so, you and a lot of other fine people who were nice to me and who believed in me.
I don’t want you to think it had anything to do with me being a musician. It’s more than that. Or maybe less than that. I can’t get anything straight in my head down here and I try not to think about what’s going to happen to me when I get outside again. Sometime I think I’m going to flip and never get outside and sometime I think I’ll come straight back. I tell you one thing, though, I’d rather blow my brains out than go through this again. But that’s what they all say, so they tell me. If I tell you when I’m coming to New York and if you could meet me, I sure would appreciate it. Give my love to Isabel and the kids and I was sure sorry to hear about little Gracie. I wish I could be like Mama and say the Lord’s will be done, but I don’t know it seems to me that trouble is the one thing that never does get stopped and I don’t know what good it does to blame it on the Lord. But maybe it does some good if you believe it.
Your brother,
Sonny
后来我一直和他保持联系,我给他寄去所有能寄的东西,当他回到纽约时,我去见他。当我看到他时,许多我以为已经忘记的事情又涌入我的脑海。这是因为我终于开始好奇桑尼,好奇桑尼内心的生活。这种生活,不管是什么,让他变得更老、更瘦,也加深了他一直以来那种遥远的沉静。他看起来和我的小弟弟很不一样。然而,当他微笑时,当我们握手时,这个我从未认识的小弟弟从他的私人生活深处向外张望,就像一只等待被哄到光明中的动物。
Then I kept in constant touch with him and I sent him whatever I could and I went to meet him when he came back to New York. When I saw him many things I thought I had forgotten came flooding back to me. This was because I had begun, finally, to wonder about Sonny, about the life that Sonny lived inside. This life, whatever it was, had made him older and thinner and it had deepened the distant stillness in which he had always moved. He looked very unlike my baby brother. Yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to be coaxed into the light.
“你过得怎么样?”他问我。
“How you been keeping?” he asked me.
“好吧。你呢?”
“All right. And you?”
“很好。”他满脸笑容。“很高兴再次见到你。”
“Just fine.” He was smiling all over his face. “It’s good to see you again.”
“很高兴见到你。”
“It’s good to see you.”
我们之间七岁的年龄差就像一道鸿沟:我不知道这些岁月是否会成为我们之间的桥梁。我想起,这让我喘不过气来,他出生时我就在那儿;我听到他说的第一句话。当他开始走路时,他从我们母亲身边径直走到我身边。在他迈出人生中第一步时,我抓住了他,差点摔倒。
The seven years’ difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge. I was remembering, and it made it hard to catch my breath, that I had been there when he was born; and I had heard the first words he had ever spoken. When he started to walk, he walked from our mother straight to me. I caught him just before he fell when he took the first steps he ever took in this world.
“伊莎贝尔怎么样了?”
“How’s Isabel?”
“很好。她很想见到你。”
“Just fine. She’s dying to see you.”
“那孩子们呢?”
“And the boys?”
“他们也很好。他们很想见到他们的叔叔。”
“They’re fine, too. They’re anxious to see their uncle.”
“哦,得了吧。你知道他们不记得我了。”
“Oh, come on. You know they don’t remember me.”
“你在开玩笑吗?他们当然记得你。”
“Are you kidding? Of course they remember you.”
他又笑了。我们上了出租车。我们有很多话要说,多得不知该如何开口。
He grinned again. We got into a taxi. We had a lot to say to each other, far too much to know how to begin.
出租车一开动,我问:“你还想去印度吗?”
As the taxi began to move, I asked, “You still want to go to India?”
他大笑起来。“你还记得那件事。当然记得。这个地方对我来说已经够有印度风情了。”
He laughed. “You still remember that. Hell, no. This place is Indian enough for me.”
“它曾经属于他们,”我说。
“It used to belong to them,” I said.
他又笑了。“他们当然知道,当他们把它扔掉的时候,他们在做什么。”
And he laughed again. “They damn sure knew what they were doing when they got rid of it.”
很多年前,当他大概十四岁的时候,他就已经对去印度的想法产生了浓厚的兴趣。他读过一些书,书里讲到人们赤身裸体地坐在岩石上,在各种天气下,但大多是恶劣天气,赤脚走过热煤,获得智慧。我曾经说过,在我看来,他们似乎正在尽可能快地远离智慧。我想他因此有点瞧不起我。
Years ago, when he was around fourteen, he’d been all hipped on the idea of going to India. He read books about people sitting on rocks, naked, in all kinds of weather, but mostly bad, naturally, and walking barefoot through hot coals and arriving at wisdom. I used to say that it sounded to me as though they were getting away from wisdom as fast as they could. I think he sort of looked down on me for that.
“你介意吗,”他问道,“我们让司机沿着公园开?在西边——我已经很久没见过这座城市了。”
“Do you mind,” he asked, “if we have the driver drive alongside the park? On the west side — I haven’t seen the city in so long.”
“当然不是,”我说。我担心自己听起来像是在逗他开心,但我希望他不会这么想。
“Of course not,” I said. I was afraid that I might sound as though I were humoring him, but I hoped he wouldn’t take it that way.
于是,我们驱车前行,穿过公园的绿地和酒店和公寓楼的石头般毫无生气的优雅,朝着我们童年时那些生动而又死寂的街道驶去。这些街道没有改变,尽管现在住房项目从中突兀而出,就像沸腾的大海中的岩石。我们长大的大多数房子都消失了,我们偷东西的商店、我们第一次尝试做爱的地下室、我们扔锡罐和砖头的屋顶也消失了。但和我们过去的房子一模一样的房子仍然占据着这片土地,和我们曾经被这些房子窒息的男孩一模一样的男孩们走上街头寻找阳光和空气,却发现自己被灾难包围了。有些人逃出了陷阱,大多数人没有。那些逃出来的人总会留下一些东西,就像有些动物截掉一条腿留在陷阱里一样。也许有人会说,我逃出来了,毕竟我是一名学校老师;或许桑尼已经多年没有住在哈莱姆了。然而,当出租车驶过街道时,街道似乎匆匆忙忙地挤满了黑人,当我偷偷地观察桑尼的脸时,我意识到我们俩都在透过各自的车窗寻找我们被遗忘的那部分自我。总是在遇到麻烦和冲突时,缺失的部分才会疼痛。
So we drove along, between the green of the park and the stony, lifeless elegance of hotels and apartment buildings, toward the vivid, killing streets of our childhood. These streets hadn’t changed, though housing projects jutted up out of them now like rocks in the middle of a boiling sea. Most of the houses in which we had grown up had vanished, as had the stores from which we had stolen, the basements in which we had first tried sex, the rooftops from which we had hurled tin cans and bricks. But houses exactly like the houses of our past yet dominated the landscape, boys exactly like the boys we once had been found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster. Some escaped the trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap. It might be said, perhaps, that I had escaped, after all, I was a school teacher; or that Sonny had, he hadn’t lived in Harlem for years. Yet, as the cab moved uptown through streets which seemed, with a rush, to darken with dark people, and as I covertly studied Sonny’s face, it came to me that what we both were seeking through our separate cab windows was that part of ourselves which had been left behind. It’s always at the hour of trouble and confrontation that the missing member aches.
我们来到 110 街,开始沿着莱诺克斯大道行驶。我一生都熟悉这条大道,但它又一次让我感觉像我第一次听说桑尼的麻烦那天一样,充满了隐藏的威胁,这是它生命的全部。
We hit 110th Street and started rolling up Lenox Avenue. And I’d known this avenue all my life, but it seemed to me again, as it had seemed on the day I’d first heard about Sonny’s trouble, filled with a hidden menace which was its very breath of life.
“我们快到了,”桑尼说。
“We almost there,” said Sonny.
“差不多了。”我们两个都紧张得说不出话来。
“Almost.” We were both too nervous to say anything more.
我们住在一个住宅区。它建起来没多久。建起来几天后,它看起来还很新,不适合居住,现在,当然,它已经破败不堪了。它看起来像是对美好、干净、毫无特色的生活的拙劣模仿——上帝知道住在里面的人尽了最大努力让它成为拙劣模仿。周围枯萎的草地不足以让他们的生活变得绿色,树篱永远也挡不住街道,他们也知道这一点。大窗户骗不了任何人,它们不够大,无法在没有空间的情况下腾出空间。他们不关心窗户,而是看电视屏幕。操场最受那些不玩千斤顶、不跳绳、不溜冰鞋、不荡秋千的孩子的欢迎,天黑后他们还会在里面。我们搬进来,部分是因为它离我教书的地方不远,部分是为了孩子们;但它真的就像我和桑尼长大的房子一样。同样的事情发生了,他们会有同样的事情要记住。当我和桑尼走进屋子的那一刻,我就感觉到我只是把他带回了危险之中,他曾经在试图逃离时差点丧命。
We live in a housing project. It hasn’t been up long. A few days after it was up it seemed uninhabitably new, now, of course, it’s already run-down. It looks like a parody of the good, clean, faceless life — God knows the people who live in it do their best to make it a parody. The beat-looking grass lying around isn’t enough to make their lives green, the hedges will never hold out the streets, and they know it. The big windows fool no one, they aren’t big enough to make space out of no space. They don’t bother with the windows, they watch the TV screen instead. The playground is most popular with the children who don’t play at jacks, or skip rope, or roller skate, or swing, and they can be found in it after dark. We moved in partly because it’s not too far from where I teach, and partly for the kids; but it’s really just like the houses in which Sonny and I grew up. The same things happen, they’ll have the same things to remember. The moment Sonny and I started into the house I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape.
桑尼从来就不爱说话。所以我不知道为什么我确信第一天晚上吃完晚饭后他会非常想和我说话。一切都很顺利,大儿子记得他,小儿子也喜欢他,桑尼记得给他们每个人带了一些东西;伊莎贝尔比我好得多,更开朗、更慷慨,她费尽心思准备晚餐,真心很高兴见到他。她总是能以一种我从未有过的方式取笑桑尼。很高兴再次看到她如此生动的脸,听到她笑,看着她逗桑尼笑。她一点也不不安或尴尬,或者至少她看起来一点也不不安或尴尬。她聊得好像没有什么话题需要回避,她让桑尼摆脱了最初的轻微僵硬。感谢上帝,她在那里,因为我又充满了那种冰冷的恐惧。我做的每一件事都让我感到很尴尬,我说的每一句话都隐含着深意。我努力回忆起我听过的关于吸毒成瘾的一切,忍不住观察桑尼是否有任何迹象。我这样做不是出于恶意。我只是想了解一些关于我哥哥的事情。我迫切想听到他告诉我他很安全。
Sonny has never been talkative. So I don’t know why I was sure he’d be dying to talk to me when supper was over the first night. Everything went fine, the oldest boy remembered him, and the youngest boy liked him, and Sonny had remembered to bring something for each of them; and Isabel, who is really much nicer than I am, more open and giving, had gone to a lot of trouble about dinner and was genuinely glad to see him. And she’s always been able to tease Sonny in a way that I haven’t. It was nice to see her face so vivid again and to hear her laugh and watch her make Sonny laugh. She wasn’t, or, anyway, she didn’t seem to be, at all uneasy or embarrassed. She chatted as though there were no subject which had to be avoided and she got Sonny past his first, faint stiffness. And thank God she was there, for I was filled with that icy dread again. Everything I did seemed awkward to me, and everything I said sounded freighted with hidden meaning. I was trying to remember everything I’d heard about dope addiction and I couldn’t help watching Sonny for signs. I wasn’t doing it out of malice. I was trying to find out something about my brother. I was dying to hear him tell me he was safe.
“安全!”每当妈妈建议搬到对孩子更安全的社区时,我父亲都会咕哝道。“安全,见鬼!没有地方对孩子来说是安全的,对任何人来说都是如此。”
“Safe!” my father grunted, whenever Mama suggested trying to move to a neighborhood which might be safer for children. “Safe, hell! Ain’t no place safe for kids, nor nobody.”
他总是这样,但他从来没有像听起来那么糟糕,即使在周末喝醉的时候。事实上,他一直在寻找“一些更好的东西”,但在找到之前就死了。他突然去世了,在战争期间的一个醉酒周末,当时桑尼十五岁。他和桑尼相处得一直不太好。部分原因是桑尼是他父亲的掌上明珠。因为他太爱桑尼了,又为他担心,所以他总是和他吵架。和桑尼吵架没有任何好处。桑尼只会退缩到自己的内心,别人无法触及的地方。但他们从未合得来的主要原因是他们太相似了。爸爸身材高大,粗鲁,说话大声,与桑尼正好相反,但他们都有——同样的隐私。
He always went on like this, but he wasn’t, ever, really as bad as he sounded, not even on weekends, when he got drunk. As a matter of fact, he was always on the lookout for “something a little better,” but he died before he found it. He died suddenly, during a drunken weekend in the middle of the war, when Sonny was fifteen. He and Sonny hadn’t ever got on too well. And this was partly because Sonny was the apple of his father’s eye. It was because he loved Sonny so much and was frightened for him, that he was always fighting with him. It doesn’t do any good to fight with Sonny. Sonny just moves back, inside himself, where he can’t be reached. But the principal reason that they never hit it off is that they were so much alike. Daddy was big and rough and loud-talking, just the opposite of Sonny, but they both had — that same privacy.
爸爸去世后不久,妈妈试图告诉我一些事情。当时我刚从军队退伍回家。
Mama tried to tell me something about this, just after Daddy died. I was home on leave from the army.
这是我最后一次见到活着的母亲。但在我的脑海里,这张照片和她年轻时的照片混杂在一起。我总是看到她像以前那样,在星期天下午,比如说,老人们在吃完周日大餐后聊天。我总是看到她穿着淡蓝色的衣服。她坐在沙发上。我父亲坐在离她不远的安乐椅上。客厅里挤满了教会的人和亲戚。他们坐在客厅四周的椅子上,外面夜幕悄悄降临,但还没有人知道。你可以看到窗玻璃上越来越暗,你不时听到街上的喧闹声,或者附近某座教堂里传来的铃鼓叮当作响的声音,但房间里真的很安静。有那么一会儿,没有人说话,但每个人的脸都变暗了,就像外面的天空一样。我母亲的腰部微微摇晃,我父亲的眼睛闭上了。每个人都在看着孩子看不到的东西。一时间,他们忘记了孩子。也许一个孩子正躺在地毯上,半睡半醒。也许有人抱着孩子,心不在焉地抚摸着孩子的头。也许有一个孩子,安静而大眼睛,蜷缩在角落里的一张大椅子上。寂静、即将来临的黑暗和脸上的阴暗让孩子隐约感到害怕。他希望抚摸他额头的手永远不要停止——永远不要死去。他希望永远有一天,老人们不会坐在客厅里,谈论他们来自哪里,他们看到了什么,以及他们和他们的亲人发生了什么。
This was the last time I ever saw my mother alive. Just the same, this picture gets all mixed up in my mind with pictures I had of her when she was younger. The way I always see her is the way she used to be on a Sunday afternoon, say, when the old folks were talking after the big Sunday dinner. I always see her wearing pale blue. She’d be sitting on the sofa. And my father would be sitting in the easy chair, not far from her. And the living room would be full of church folks and relatives. There they sit, in chairs all around the living room, and the night is creeping up outside, but nobody knows it yet. You can see the darkness growing against the windowpanes and you hear the street noises every now and again, or maybe the jangling beat of a tambourine from one of the churches close by, but it’s real quiet in the room. For a moment nobody’s talking, but every face looks darkening, like the sky outside. And my mother rocks a little from the waist, and my father’s eyes are closed. Everyone is looking at something a child can’t see. For a minute they’ve forgotten the children. Maybe a kid is lying on the rug, half asleep. Maybe somebody’s got a kid in his lap and is absent-mindedly stroking the kid’s head. Maybe there’s a kid, quiet and big-eyed, curled up in a big chair in the corner. The silence, the darkness coming, and the darkness in the faces frightens the child obscurely. He hopes that the hand which strokes his forehead will never stop — will never die. He hopes that there will never come a time when the old folks won’t be sitting around the living room, talking about where they’ve come from, and what they’ve seen, and what’s happened to them and their kinfolk.
但孩子内心深处的某种警觉知道这一切终将结束,已经结束了。一会儿,就会有人起床开灯。然后老人就会想起孩子们,那天他们就不会再说话了。当光线充满房间时,孩子心中却充满了黑暗。他知道,每次发生这种情况,他就离外面的黑暗更近了一步。外面的黑暗就是老人一直在谈论的。这就是他们来自的地方。这就是他们所忍受的。孩子知道他们不会再说话了,因为如果他知道太多发生在他们身上的事情,他就会过早地知道太多即将发生在他身上的事情。
But something deep and watchful in the child knows that this is bound to end, is already ending. In a moment someone will get up and turn on the light. Then the old folks will remember the children and they won’t talk any more that day. And when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that every time this happens he’s moved just a little closer to that darkness outside. The darkness outside is what the old folks have been talking about. It’s what they’ve come from. It’s what they endure. The child knows that they won’t talk any more because if he knows too much about what’s happened to them, he’ll know too much too soon, about what’s going to happen to him.
我记得最后一次和母亲谈话时,我很焦躁。我想出去看看伊莎贝尔。那时我们还没结婚,我们之间有很多事情要处理。
The last time I talked to my mother, I remember I was restless. I wanted to get out and see Isabel. We weren’t married then and we had a lot to straighten out between us.
妈妈穿着一身黑衣,坐在窗边。她哼着一首古老的教堂歌曲,上帝啊,您把我从很远的地方带回来了。儿子在外面某处。妈妈一直注视着街道。
There Mama sat, in black, by the window. She was humming an old church song, Lord, you brought me from a long ways off. Sonny was out somewhere. Mama kept watching the streets.
“我不知道,”她说,“你离开这里后,我是否还能再见到你。但我希望你能记住我试图教给你的东西。”
“I don’t know,” she said, “if I’ll ever see you again, after you go off from here. But I hope you’ll remember the things I tried to teach you.”
“别这么说,”我笑着说。“你还会在这里待很长时间。”
“Don’t talk like that,” I said, and smiled. “You’ll be here a long time yet.”
她也笑了,但什么也没说。她沉默了很久。我说:“妈妈,你别担心。我会一直写信,你会收到支票……”
She smiled, too, but she said nothing. She was quiet for a long time. And I said, “Mama, don’t you worry about nothing. I’ll be writing all the time, and you be getting the checks….”
“我想跟你谈谈你哥哥的事,”她突然说道。“如果我出了什么事,他就没人照顾了。”
“I want to talk to you about your brother,” she said, suddenly. “If anything happens to me he ain’t going to have nobody to look out for him.”
“妈妈,”我说,“你和桑尼不会有事的。桑尼没事。他是个好孩子,很懂事。”
“Mama,” I said, “ain’t nothing going to happen to you or Sonny. Sonny’s all right. He’s a good boy and he’s got good sense.”
“这不是他是不是好孩子的问题,”妈妈说,“也不是他有没有理智的问题。被坑的不只是坏孩子,也不是笨孩子。”她停了下来,看着我。“你爸爸曾经有个哥哥,”她说,她笑得让我感觉她很痛苦。“你从来都不知道,是吗?”
“It ain’t a question of his being a good boy,” Mama said, “nor of his having good sense. It ain’t only the bad ones, nor yet the dumb ones that gets sucked under.” She stopped, looking at me. “Your Daddy once had a brother,” she said, and she smiled in a way that made me feel she was in pain. “You didn’t never know that, did you?”
“不,”我说,“我从来不知道,”然后我看着她的脸。
“No,” I said, “I never knew that,” and I watched her face.
“哦,是的,”她说,“你爸爸有个哥哥。”她又看向窗外。“我知道你从没见过你爸爸哭。但我见过——这么多年,我见过很多次。”
“Oh, yes,” she said, “your Daddy had a brother.” She looked out of the window again. “I know you never saw your Daddy cry. But I did — many a time, through all these years.”
我问她:“他弟弟怎么了?为什么没人谈论他?”
I asked her, “What happened to his brother? How come nobody’s ever talked about him?”
这是我第一次看到母亲看上去这么老。
This was the first time I ever saw my mother look old.
“他哥哥被杀了,”她说,“当时他比你现在还小一点。我认识他。他是个好孩子。他可能有点邪恶,但他没有恶意。”
“His brother got killed,” she said, “when he was just a little younger than you are now. I knew him. He was a fine boy. He was maybe a little full of the devil, but he didn’t mean nobody no harm.”
然后她停了下来,房间里一片寂静,就像那些星期天下午的情形一样。妈妈一直望着街上。
Then she stopped and the room was silent, exactly as it had sometimes been on those Sunday afternoons. Mama kept looking out into the streets.
“他以前在工厂工作,”她说,“和所有年轻人一样,他喜欢在星期六晚上表演。星期六晚上,他和你父亲会到不同的地方去玩,去跳舞之类的,或者和他们认识的人坐在一起,你父亲的兄弟会唱歌,他有一副好嗓子,还用吉他自顾自地弹奏。嗯,这个星期六晚上,他和你父亲从某个地方回家,他们都喝醉了,那天晚上有月亮,明亮得像白天一样。你父亲的兄弟感觉很好,他吹着口哨,吉他挂在肩上。他们从山上下来,下面是一条从高速公路岔开的路。嗯,你父亲的兄弟总是很活泼,他决定跑下这座山,他跑了,吉他在他身后砰砰作响,他跑过马路,在一棵树后面小便。你父亲觉得他很有趣,他仍然从山上下来,速度有点慢。然后他听到了汽车的引擎声,就在那一刻,他哥哥从树后走出来,来到月光下的路上。他开始过马路。你父亲开始跑下山,他说他不知道为什么。车里挤满了白人。他们都喝醉了,当他们看到你父亲的兄弟时,他们大叫大喊,把车子对准他。他们在玩,他们只是想吓唬他,你知道,他们有时会这样做。但他们喝醉了。我想那个男孩也喝醉了,而且很害怕,有点失去了理智。等他跳起来的时候已经太晚了。你父亲说,他听到他哥哥被车碾过时尖叫,他听到吉他木头断裂的声音,他听到琴弦飞起来的声音,他听到那些白人的喊叫声,而汽车继续前行,直到今天都没有停下来。当你父亲下山的时候,他的兄弟们已经只剩下血肉模糊了。”
“He used to have a job in the mill,” she said, “and, like all young folks, he just liked to perform on Saturday nights. Saturday nights, him and your father would drift around to different places, go to dances and things like that, or just sit around with people they knew, and your father’s brother would sing, he had a fine voice, and play along with himself on his guitar. Well, this particular Saturday night, him and your father was coming home from some place, and they were both a little drunk and there was a moon that night, it was bright like day. Your father’s brother was feeling kind of good, and he was whistling to himself, and he had his guitar slung over his shoulder. They was coming down a hill and beneath them was a road that turned off from the highway. Well, your father’s brother, being always kind of frisky, decided to run down this hill, and he did, with that guitar banging and clanging behind him, and he ran across the road, and he was making water behind a tree. And your father was sort of amused at him and he was still coming down the hill, kind of slow. Then he heard a car motor and that same minute his brother stepped from behind the tree, into the road, in the moonlight. And he started to cross the road. And your father started to run down the hill, he says he don’t know why. This car was full of white men. They was all drunk, and when they seen your father’s brother they let out a great whoop and holler and they aimed the car straight at him. They was having fun, they just wanted to scare him, the way they do sometimes, you know. But they was drunk. And I guess the boy, being drunk, too, and scared, kind of lost his head. By the time he jumped it was too late. Your father says he heard his brother scream when the car rolled over him, and he heard the wood of that guitar when it give, and he heard them strings go flying, and he heard them white men shouting, and the car kept on a-going and it ain’t stopped till this day. And, time your father got down the hill, his brother weren’t nothing but blood and pulp.”
母亲的脸上闪烁着泪光。我什么也说不出来。
Tears were gleaming on my mother’s face. There wasn’t anything I could say.
“他从来没提过这件事,”她说,“因为我从来没让他在你们孩子面前提过这件事。那天晚上,以及此后的许多个晚上,你爸爸都像个疯子。他说他这辈子从没见过像那条路那样黑的东西,在那辆车的车灯熄灭之后。路上什么也没有,也没有人,只有你爸爸、他哥哥和那把坏了的吉他。哦,是的。你爸爸再也没有恢复过正常。直到他去世的那一天,他都不确定,但他看到的每一个白人都是杀死他哥哥的人。”
“He never mentioned it,” she said, “because I never let him mention it before you children. Your Daddy was like a crazy man that night and for many a night thereafter. He says he never in his life seen anything as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away. Weren’t nothing, weren’t nobody on that road, just your Daddy and his brother and that busted guitar. Oh, yes. Your Daddy never did really get right again. Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.”
她停下来,拿出手帕擦干眼泪,看着我。
She stopped and took out her handkerchief and dried her eyes and looked at me.
“我告诉你这些,不是为了让你们害怕或痛苦,或者让你们憎恨任何人,”她说,“我告诉你这些,是因为你有一个兄弟。而且世界并没有改变。”
“I ain’t telling you all this,” she said, “to make you scared or bitter or to make you hate nobody. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed.”
我想我不想相信这一点。我想她从我的脸上看出了这一点。她转过身去,再次朝着窗户望去,搜寻着那些街道。
I guess I didn’t want to believe this. I guess she saw this in my face. She turned away from me, toward the window again, searching those streets.
“但我赞美我的救赎主,”她最后说道,“他先把你爸爸叫回家了。我这么说不是想向自己扔花,但我要说的是,这让我不会因为知道自己帮助你父亲安全地度过了这个世界而感到太沮丧。你父亲总是表现得像世界上最粗鲁、最坚强的人。每个人都认为他是那样的。但如果他没有我在场——看到他的眼泪!”
“But I praise my Redeemer,” she said at last, “that He called your Daddy home before me. I ain’t saying it to throw no flowers at myself, but, I declare, it keeps me from feeling too cast down to know I helped your father get safely through this world. Your father always acted like he was the roughest, strongest man on earth. And everybody took him to be like that. But if he hadn’t had me there — to see his tears!”
她又哭了。但我还是动弹不得。我说:“天啊,天啊,妈妈,我不知道事情是这样的。”
She was crying again. Still, I couldn’t move. I said, “Lord, Lord, Mama, I didn’t know it was like that.”
“哦,亲爱的,”她说,“你不知道的事情还有很多。但你会找到答案的。”她从窗边站起来,走到我身边。“你得抓住你的弟弟,”她说,“别让他跌倒,不管他看起来怎么样,不管你对他有多坏。你会对他坏很多次。但你别忘了我告诉你的话,听见了吗?”
“Oh, honey,” she said, “there’s a lot that you don’t know. But you are going to find it out.” She stood up from the window and came over to me. “You got to hold on to your brother,” she said, “and don’t let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don’t you forget what I told you, you hear?”
“我不会忘记的,”我说,“别担心,我不会忘记的。我不会让桑尼有事的。”
“I won’t forget,” I said. “Don’t you worry, I won’t forget. I won’t let nothing happen to Sonny.”
我妈妈笑了,好像她对我脸上的表情感到很有趣。然后说:“你可能无法阻止任何事情发生。但你必须让他知道你在那儿。”
My mother smiled as though she were amused at something she saw in my face. Then, “You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you’s there.”
两天后我结婚了,然后我就走了。我心里想着很多事情,几乎忘记了对妈妈的承诺,直到我因参加妈妈的葬礼而休假回家。
Two days later I was married, and then I was gone. And I had a lot of things on my mind and I pretty well forgot my promise to Mama until I got shipped home on a special furlough for her funeral.
葬礼结束后,只有桑尼和我两人在空荡荡的厨房里,我试图找到一些关于他的事情。
And, after the funeral, with just Sonny and me alone in the empty kitchen, I tried to find out something about him.
“你想做什么?”我问他。
“What do you want to do?” I asked him.
“我要成为一名音乐家,”他说。
“I’m going to be a musician,” he said.
在我离开的这段时间里,他已经从跟着点唱机跳舞变成了知道谁在演奏什么、用点唱机做什么,他还给自己买了一套鼓。
For he had graduated, in the time I had been away, from dancing to the juke box to finding out who was playing what, and what they were doing with it, and he had bought himself a set of drums.
“你的意思是,你想成为一名鼓手?”不知怎的,我有一种感觉,当一名鼓手对其他人来说可能还不错,但对我的兄弟桑尼来说却不行。
“You mean, you want to be a drummer?” I somehow had the feeling that being a drummer might be all right for other people but not for my brother Sonny.
“我不认为,”他严肃地看着我说道,“我会成为一名优秀的鼓手。但我认为我会弹钢琴。”
“I don’t think,” he said, looking at me very gravely, “that I’ll ever be a good drummer. But I think I can play a piano.”
我皱起了眉头。我以前从来没有这么认真地扮演过哥哥的角色,事实上,我几乎从来没有问过桑尼任何事。我感觉自己面对着一些我真的不知道如何处理、不理解的事情。所以我皱起眉头,问道:“你想成为哪种音乐家?”
I frowned. I’d never played the role of the older brother quite so seriously before, had scarcely ever, in fact, asked Sonny a damn thing. I sensed myself in the presence of something I didn’t really know how to handle, didn’t understand. So I made my frown a little deeper as I asked: “What kind of musician do you want to be?”
他咧嘴一笑。“你觉得有多少种?”
He grinned. “How many kinds do you think there are?”
“认真点,”我说。
“Be serious,” I said.
他大笑起来,仰起头,然后看着我。“我是认真的。”
He laughed, throwing his head back, and then looked at me. “I am serious.”
“那么,看在上帝的份上,别开玩笑了,回答一个严肃的问题。我的意思是,你想成为一名钢琴演奏家,还是想演奏古典音乐之类的,或者——或者什么?”我还没说完,他又笑了起来。“看在上帝的份上,儿子!”
“Well, then, for Christ’s sake, stop kidding around and answer a serious question. I mean, do you want to be a concert pianist, you want to play classical music and all that, or — or what?” Long before I finished he was laughing again. “For Christ’s sake, Sonny!”
他艰难地恢复了镇定。“对不起。但你听起来很——害怕!”然后他又走了。
He sobered, but with difficulty. “I’m sorry. But you sound so — scared!” and he was off again.
“好吧,宝贝,你现在可能认为这很有趣,但是当你必须靠它谋生时,它就不会那么有趣了,让我告诉你。”我很生气,因为我知道他在嘲笑我,但我不知道为什么。
“Well, you may think it’s funny now, baby, but it’s not going to be so funny when you have to make your living at it, let me tell you that.” I was furious because I knew he was laughing at me and I didn’t know why.
“不,”他说道,此时他已经非常清醒,也许是害怕伤害到我,“我不想当一名古典钢琴家。那不是我的兴趣所在。我的意思是”——他停顿了一下,紧紧地看着我,仿佛他的眼睛能帮助我理解,然后他无助地做了个手势,仿佛他的手能帮我——“我的意思是,我还有很多东西要学,我必须学习一切,但我的意思是,我想和——爵士音乐家一起演奏。”他停了下来。“我想演奏爵士乐,”他说。
“No,” he said, very sober now, and afraid, perhaps, that he’d hurt me, “I don’t want to be a classical pianist. That isn’t what interests me. I mean” — he paused, looking hard at me, as though his eyes would help me to understand, and then gestured helplessly, as though perhaps his hand would help — “I mean, I’ll have a lot of studying to do, and I’ll have to study everything, but, I mean, I want to play with — jazz musicians.” He stopped. “I want to play jazz,” he said.
好吧,这个词从来没有像那天下午桑尼嘴里说的那样沉重、真实。我只是看着他,此时我可能真的皱起了眉头。我简直不明白他为什么想把时间花在夜总会里,在乐队的舞台上扮小丑,而人们在舞池里互相推搡。这似乎——不知何故,对他来说很不合适。我以前从未想过这个问题,也从未被迫这么做,但我想我一直把爵士音乐家和爸爸所说的“享乐的人”归为一类。
Well, the word had never before sounded as heavy, as real, as it sounded that afternoon in Sonny’s mouth. I just looked at him and I was probably frowning a real frown by this time. I simply couldn’t see why on earth he’d want to spend his time hanging around nightclubs, clowning around on bandstands, while people pushed each other around a dance floor. It seemed — beneath him, somehow. I had never thought about it before, had never been forced to, but I suppose I had always put jazz musicians in a class with what Daddy called “good-time people.”
“你是认真的?”
“Are you serious?”
“当然,我是认真的。”
“Hell, yes, I’m serious.”
他看上去比以前更加无助、更加恼火、更加受伤。
He looked more helpless than ever, and annoyed, and deeply hurt.
我热心地建议道:“你的意思是——像路易斯·阿姆斯特朗?”
I suggested, helpfully: “You mean — like Louis Armstrong?”
他绷紧了脸,好像我打了他一拳似的。“不。我说的不是那些老派的、乡土的废话。”
His face closed as though I’d struck him. “No. I’m not talking about none of that old-time, down home crap.”
“好吧,听着,桑尼,我很抱歉,别生气。我只是不太明白,就是这样。说出一个人的名字——你知道,一个你崇拜的爵士音乐家。”
“Well, look, Sonny, I’m sorry, don’t get mad. I just don’t altogether get it, that’s all. Name somebody — you know, a jazz musician you admire.”
“鸟。”
“Bird.”
“WHO?”
“Who?”
“伯德!查理·帕克!难道该死的军队里什么都没教你吗?”
“Bird! Charlie Parker! Don’t they teach you nothing in the goddamn army?”
我点了一支烟。我很惊讶,然后又有点好笑地发现自己在颤抖。“我已经跟不上时代了,”我说。“你必须对我有耐心。现在。这个帕克角色是谁?”
I lit a cigarette. I was surprised and then a little amused to discover that I was trembling. “I’ve been out of touch,” I said. “You’ll have to be patient with me. Now. Who’s this Parker character?”
“他是当今最伟大的爵士音乐家之一,”桑尼闷闷不乐地说,双手插在口袋里,背对着我。“也许是最伟大的,”他苦涩地补充道,“这可能就是你从未听说过他的原因。”
“He’s just one of the greatest jazz musicians alive,” said Sonny, sullenly, his hands in his pockets, his back to me. “Maybe the greatest,” he added, bitterly, “that’s probably why you never heard of him.”
“好吧,”我说,“我无知。对不起。我马上出去把那只猫的唱片全部买下来,好吗?”
“All right,” I said, “I’m ignorant. I’m sorry. I’ll go out and buy all the cat’s records right away, all right?”
“这对我来说没什么区别,”桑尼庄重地说道,“我不在乎你听什么。别帮我什么忙。”
“It don’t,” said Sonny, with dignity, “make any difference to me. I don’t care what you listen to. Don’t do me no favors.”
我开始意识到我以前从未见过他如此沮丧。我心里的另一部分在想,这可能最终会成为孩子们都会经历的事情之一,我不应该因为太过强求而让事情显得很重要。不过,我认为问一下也没什么坏处:“这一切难道不花很多时间吗?你能靠它谋生吗?”
I was beginning to realize that I’d never seen him so upset before. With another part of my mind I was thinking that this would probably turn out to be one of those things kids go through and that I shouldn’t make it seem important by pushing it too hard. Still, I didn’t think it would do any harm to ask: “Doesn’t all this take a lot of time? Can you make a living at it?”
他转身对着我,半靠半坐地靠在厨房桌子上。“做任何事都需要时间,”他说,“而且——好吧,是的,当然,我可以靠它谋生。但我似乎无法让你明白,这是我唯一想做的事情。”
He turned back to me and half leaned, half sat, on the kitchen table. “Everything takes time,” he said, “and — well, yes, sure, I can make a living at it. But what I don’t seem to be able to make you understand is that it’s the only thing I want to do.”
“嗯,桑尼,”我温和地说,“你知道人们不可能总是做他们想做的事——”
“Well, Sonny,” I said, gently, “you know people can’t always do exactly what they want to do —”
“不,我不知道,”桑尼说,这让我很惊讶。“我认为人们应该做他们想做的事,不然他们活着是为了什么?”
“No, I don’t know that,” said Sonny, surprising me. “I think people ought to do what they want to do, what else are they alive for?”
“你已经是个大孩子了,”我绝望地说道,“现在是时候开始考虑你的未来了。”
“You getting to be a big boy,” I said desperately, “it’s time you started thinking about your future.”
“我在考虑我的未来,”桑尼严肃地说道。“我一直在考虑这件事。”
“I’m thinking about my future,” said Sonny, grimly. “I think about it all the time.”
我放弃了。我决定,如果他不改变主意,我们可以以后再谈。“与此同时,”我说,“你必须完成学业。”我们已经决定他必须和伊莎贝尔和她的家人住在一起。我知道这不是理想的安排,因为伊莎贝尔的家人倾向于专横,他们并不特别希望伊莎贝尔嫁给我。但我不知道还能做什么。“我们必须把你安排在伊莎贝尔家。”
I gave up. I decided, if he didn’t change his mind, that we could always talk about it later. “In the meantime,” I said, “you got to finish school.” We had already decided that he’d have to move in with Isabel and her folks. I knew this wasn’t the ideal arrangement because Isabel’s folks are inclined to be dictya and they hadn’t especially wanted Isabel to marry me. But I didn’t know what else to do. “And we have to get you fixed up at Isabel’s.”
沉默了许久。他从餐桌走到窗边。“这是个糟糕的主意。你自己也知道。”
There was a long silence. He moved from the kitchen table to the window. “That’s a terrible idea. You know it yourself.”
“你有更好的主意吗?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
他只是在厨房里走了一会。他和我一样高。他已经开始刮胡子了。我突然觉得我根本不认识他。
He just walked up and down the kitchen for a minute. He was as tall as I was. He had started to shave. I suddenly had the feeling that I didn’t know him at all.
他在厨房餐桌前停下,拿起我的香烟。他用一种嘲弄、好笑的挑衅眼神看着我,把一支烟放到嘴里。“你介意吗?”
He stopped at the kitchen table and picked up my cigarettes. Looking at me with a kind of mocking, amused defiance, he put one between his lips. “You mind?”
“你已经抽烟了?”
“You smoking already?”
他点了根烟,点点头,透过烟雾看着我。“我只是想看看我是否有勇气在你面前抽烟。”他咧嘴一笑,朝天花板吐出一团烟雾。“这很容易。”他看着我的脸。“来吧,现在。我敢打赌你在我这个年纪就抽烟了,说实话。”
He lit the cigarette and nodded, watching me through the smoke. “I just wanted to see if I’d have the courage to smoke in front of you.” He grinned and blew a great cloud of smoke to the ceiling. “It was easy.” He looked at my face. “Come on, now. I bet you was smoking at my age, tell the truth.”
我什么也没说,但事实摆在了我的脸上,他笑了。但现在他的笑声中有些非常不自然。“当然。我敢打赌你做的不只是这些。”
I didn’t say anything but the truth was on my face, and he laughed. But now there was something very strained in his laugh. “Sure. And I bet that ain’t all you was doing.”
他有点吓到我了。“别胡说,”我说。“我们已经决定了你要去伊莎贝尔家住。现在你突然怎么了?”
He was frightening me a little. “Cut the crap,” I said. “We already decided that you was going to go and live at Isabel’s. Now what’s got into you all of a sudden?”
“是你决定的,”他指出。“我什么也没决定。”他停在我面前,靠在炉子上,双臂松松地交叉着。“听着,兄弟。我不想再留在哈莱姆了,真的不想。”他非常认真。他看着我,然后看向厨房的窗户。他的眼睛里有一种我从未见过的东西,一种深思熟虑,一种他自己的担忧。他揉着一只胳膊的肌肉。“我该离开这里了。”
“You decided it,” he pointed out. “I didn’t decide nothing.” He stopped in front of me, leaning against the stove, arms loosely folded. “Look, brother. I don’t want to stay in Harlem no more, I really don’t.” He was very earnest. He looked at me, then over toward the kitchen window. There was something in his eyes I’d never seen before, some thoughtfulness, some worry all his own. He rubbed the muscle of one arm. “It’s time I was getting out of here.”
“你想去哪里,桑尼?”
“Where do you want to go, Sonny?”
“我想参军。或者海军,我都无所谓。如果我说我够老了,他们就会相信我。”
“I want to join the army. Or the navy, I don’t care. If I say I’m old enough, they’ll believe me.”
然后我就生气了。因为我太害怕了。“你一定是疯了。你这个该死的傻瓜,你到底想去参军干什么? ”
Then I got mad. It was because I was so scared. “You must be crazy. You goddamn fool, what the hell do you want to go and join the army for?”
“我刚才就告诉你了。离开哈莱姆区。”
“I just told you. To get out of Harlem.”
“儿子,你甚至还没有完成学业。如果你真的想成为一名音乐家,那么在军队里你怎么学习呢?”
“Sonny, you haven’t even finished school. And if you really want to be a musician, how do you expect to study if you’re in the army?”
他看着我,一脸无助和痛苦。“有办法的。我也许能达成某种协议。无论如何,我退伍后会拿到退伍军人权利法案的。”
He looked at me, trapped, and in anguish. “There’s ways. I might be able to work out some kind of deal. Anyway, I’ll have the G.I. Bill when I come out.”
“如果你出来的话。”我们互相凝视着。“儿子,求你了。讲道理。我知道这个安排远非完美。但我们必须尽最大努力。”
“If you come out.” We stared at each other. “Sonny, please. Be reasonable. I know the setup is far from perfect. But we got to do the best we can.”
“我在学校什么都没学到,”他说。“即使我去上学了。”他转身离开我,打开窗户,把香烟扔进了狭窄的小巷。我看着他的背影。“至少,我没有学到任何你想让我学到的东西。”他猛地关上窗户,我以为玻璃会飞出去,然后转身对着我。“我受够了这些垃圾桶的臭味!”
“I ain’t learning nothing in school,” he said. “Even when I go.” He turned away from me and opened the window and threw his cigarette out into the narrow alley. I watched his back. “At least, I ain’t learning nothing you’d want me to learn.” He slammed the window so hard I thought the glass would fly out, and turned back to me. “And I’m sick of the stink of these garbage cans!”
“儿子,”我说,“我了解你的感受。但如果你现在不完成学业,你以后会后悔的。”我抓住他的肩膀。“而且你只剩一年时间了。这没什么大不了的。我会回来的,我发誓我会帮助你做任何你想做的事。在我回来之前,你只要忍耐一下就行了。你能帮我吗?为了我?”
“Sonny,” I said, “I know how you feel. But if you don’t finish school now, you’re going to be sorry later that you didn’t.” I grabbed him by the shoulders. “And you only got another year. It ain’t so bad. And I’ll come back and I swear I’ll help you do whatever you want to do. Just try to put up with it till I come back. Will you please do that? For me?”
他没有回答,也没有看我。
He didn’t answer and he wouldn’t look at me.
“儿子。你听见我说话了吗?”
“Sonny. You hear me?”
他抽身而去。“我听见了。但你从来没听见我说的话。”
He pulled away. “I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.”
我不知道该说什么。他看了看窗外,然后又看了看我。“好的,”他说,然后叹了口气。“我会试试的。”
I didn’t know what to say to that. He looked out of the window and then back at me. “OK,” he said, and sighed. “I’ll try.”
然后我试着让他高兴一点,说道:“伊莎贝尔家有一架钢琴。你可以用它练习。”
Then I said, trying to cheer him up a little, “They got a piano at Isabel’s. You can practice on it.”
事实上,他确实高兴了一会儿。“没错,”他自言自语道。“我忘了这一点。”他的脸色稍微放松了一点。但忧虑和深思仍然浮现在他的脸上,就像阴影在凝视着火光的脸上闪烁一样。
And as a matter of fact, it did cheer him up for a minute. “That’s right,” he said to himself. “I forgot that.” His face relaxed a little. But the worry, the thoughtfulness, played on it still, the way shadows play on a face which is staring into the fire.
但我以为我永远听不到那架钢琴的末日。起初,伊莎贝尔会写信给我,说桑尼对音乐如此认真真是太好了,他一放学,或者不管他应该在学校呆在哪里,他都会直接走到钢琴前,一直待到晚饭时间。晚饭后,他又回到钢琴前,一直待到大家都睡觉。星期六和星期天他都坐在钢琴前。然后他买了一台唱片机,开始播放唱片。他会一遍又一遍地播放一张唱片,有时一放就是一整天,还会在钢琴上即兴演奏。或者他会弹奏唱片的一个部分、一个和弦、一个变化、一个和弦进行,然后在钢琴上弹奏。然后再回到唱片上。然后再回到钢琴上。
But I thought I’d never hear the end of that piano. At first, Isabel would write me, saying how nice it was that Sonny was so serious about his music and how, as soon as he came in from school, or wherever he had been when he was supposed to be at school, he went straight to that piano and stayed there until suppertime. And, after supper, he went back to that piano and stayed there until everybody went to bed. He was at the piano all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Then he bought a record player and started playing records. He’d play one record over and over again, all day long sometimes, and he’d improvise along with it on the piano. Or he’d play one section of the record, one chord, one change, one progression, then he’d do it on the piano. Then back to the record. Then back to the piano.
好吧,我真的不知道他们是怎么忍受的。伊莎贝尔最终承认,这根本不像和一个人生活在一起,就像和声音生活在一起。而声音对她来说没有任何意义,对他们中的任何一个来说也没有任何意义——自然而然。在某种程度上,他们开始被这个住在他们家里的存在所折磨。就好像桑尼是某种神灵,或者怪物。他生活在一种与他们完全不同的氛围中。他们喂他,他吃东西,他自己洗澡,他进出他们的门;他当然不讨厌、不愉快或粗鲁,桑尼不是这些;但就好像他被某种云、某种火、某种他自己的幻象包裹着;而且没有任何办法可以接近他。
Well, I really don’t know how they stood it. Isabel finally confessed that it wasn’t like living with a person at all, it was like living with sound. And the sound didn’t make any sense to her, didn’t make any sense to any of them — naturally. They began, in a way, to be afflicted by this presence that was living in their home. It was as though Sonny were some sort of god, or monster. He moved in an atmosphere which wasn’t like theirs at all. They fed him and he ate, he washed himself, he walked in and out of their door; he certainly wasn’t nasty or unpleasant or rude, Sonny isn’t any of those things; but it was as though he were all wrapped up in some cloud, some fire, some vision all his own; and there wasn’t any way to reach him.
同时,他还不是真正的男人,他还是个孩子,他们必须用各种方式照顾他。他们当然不能把他赶出去。他们也不敢因为那架钢琴而大惊小怪,因为就连他们也隐约感觉到,就像我感觉到的那样,在千里之外,桑尼正坐在那架钢琴前拼命地演奏着。
At the same time, he wasn’t really a man yet, he was still a child, and they had to watch out for him in all kinds of ways. They certainly couldn’t throw him out. Neither did they dare to make a great scene about that piano because even they dimly sensed, as I sensed, from so many thousands of miles away, that Sonny was at that piano playing for his life.
但他一直没去上学。一天,学校董事会寄来一封信,伊莎贝尔的母亲收到了——显然,还有其他信,但桑尼把它们撕毁了。这天,桑尼回家时,伊莎贝尔的母亲给他看了那封信,问他最近都去哪儿了。最后她从桑尼口中得知,他去了格林威治村,和音乐家和其他人物一起,住在一个白人女孩的公寓里。这吓坏了伊莎贝尔的母亲,她开始对他大喊大叫,她开始大喊大叫时说出了他们为了给桑尼一个像样的家而做出的牺牲,以及桑尼对此的感激之情——尽管她至今仍否认这一点。
But he hadn’t been going to school. One day a letter came from the school board and Isabel’s mother got it — there had, apparently, been other letters but Sonny had torn them up. This day, when Sonny came in, Isabel’s mother showed him the letter and asked where he’d been spending his time. And she finally got it out of him that he’d been down in Greenwich Village, with musicians and other characters, in a white girl’s apartment. And this scared her and she started to scream at him and what came up, once she began — though she denies it to this day — was what sacrifices they were making to give Sonny a decent home and how little he appreciated it.
桑尼那天没有弹钢琴。到了晚上,伊莎贝尔的母亲平静了下来,但随后她又要面对老人和伊莎贝尔本人。伊莎贝尔说她尽力保持冷静,但她还是崩溃了,开始哭泣。她说她只是看着桑尼的脸。她可以通过观察他来判断他身上发生了什么。他们穿透了他的云层,触及了他的内心。即使他们的手指比人类的手指温柔一千倍,他还是忍不住觉得他们把他剥光了,还朝他身上吐口水。因为他还必须看到,他的存在,那种对他来说生死攸关的音乐,对他们来说是一种折磨,他们忍受这一切,根本不是为了他,而是为了我。桑尼无法接受这一点。他今天可以比以前承受得更好一点,但他仍然不太擅长弹钢琴,坦率地说,我不知道有谁能做到。
Sonny didn’t play the piano that day. By evening, Isabel’s mother had calmed down but then there was the old man to deal with, and Isabel herself. Isabel says she did her best to be calm but she broke down and started crying. She says she just watched Sonny’s face. She could tell, by watching him, what was happening with him. And what was happening was that they penetrated his cloud, they had reached him. Even if their fingers had been a thousand times more gentle than human fingers ever are, he could hardly help feeling that they had stripped him naked and were spitting on that nakedness. For he also had to see that his presence, that music, which was life or death to him, had been torture for them and that they had endured it, not at all for his sake, but only for mine. And Sonny couldn’t take that. He can take it a little better today than he could then but he’s still not very good at it and, frankly, I don’t know anybody who is.
接下来几天的寂静一定比有史以来所有音乐的声音都要响亮。一天早上,在她去上班之前,伊莎贝尔去他的房间找事情,突然意识到他的所有唱片都不见了。她确信他已经走了。他确实走了。他去了海军能带他去的最远的地方。他最后从希腊的某个地方给我寄了一张明信片,那是我第一次知道桑尼还活着。直到我们都回到纽约,战争早已结束,我才再次见到他。
The silence of the next few days must have been louder than the sound of all the music ever played since time began. One morning, before she went to work, Isabel was in his room for something and she suddenly realized that all of his records were gone. And she knew for certain that he was gone. And he was. He went as far as the navy would carry him. He finally sent me a postcard from some place in Greece and that was the first I knew that Sonny was still alive. I didn’t see him any more until we were both back in New York and the war had long been over.
当然,那时他已经是个男人了,但我不愿意看到这一点。他时不时来我家,但我们几乎每次见面都会吵架。我不喜欢他那种举止,总是漫不经心、如梦如幻,我也不喜欢他的朋友,他的音乐似乎只是他生活的借口。听起来就是那么奇怪和混乱。
He was a man by then, of course, but I wasn’t willing to see it. He came by the house from time to time, but we fought almost every time we met. I didn’t like the way he carried himself, loose and dreamlike all the time, and I didn’t like his friends, and his music seemed to be merely an excuse for the life he led. It sounded just that weird and disordered.
后来我们吵了一架,吵得很惨,我好几个月都没见到他。后来我找到了他,他住在村里一个带家具的房间里,我试图和好。但房间里有很多人,桑尼就躺在床上,不肯和我一起下楼,他对待其他人就像对待家人一样,而我不是。所以我生气了,他也生气了,然后我告诉他,他活着还不如死了好。然后他站起来,告诉我以后不要再为他担心了,对我来说,他已经死了。然后他把我推到门口,其他人看着,好像什么事都没发生一样,他砰地关上了身后的门。我站在走廊里,盯着门。我听到房间里有人笑,然后眼泪涌了出来。我开始走下台阶,吹着口哨抑制自己不哭,我不断地对自己吹着口哨,宝贝,在某个寒冷、下雨的日子里,你会需要我的。
Then we had a fight, a pretty awful fight, and I didn’t see him for months. By and by I looked him up, where he was living, in a furnished room in the Village, and I tried to make it up. But there were lots of people in the room and Sonny just lay on his bed, and he wouldn’t come downstairs with me, and he treated these other people as though they were his family and I weren’t. So I got mad and then he got mad, and then I told him that he might just as well be dead as live the way he was living. Then he stood up and he told me not to worry about him any more in life, that he was dead as far as I was concerned. Then he pushed me to the door and the other people looked on as though nothing were happening, and he slammed the door behind me. I stood in the hallway, staring at the door. I heard somebody laugh in the room and then the tears came to my eyes. I started down the steps, whistling to keep from crying, I kept whistling to myself, You going to need me, baby, one of these cold, rainy days.
我在春天读到了桑尼的麻烦。小格蕾丝在秋天去世了。她是个漂亮的小女孩。但她只活了两年多一点。她死于小儿麻痹症,她很痛苦。她发烧了几天,但似乎没什么大不了的,我们只是让她躺在床上。我们肯定会叫医生的,但烧退了,她似乎没事了。所以我们以为她只是感冒了。后来,有一天,她起床玩耍,伊莎贝尔在厨房为两个男孩准备午餐,他们放学回家后,她听到格蕾丝在客厅摔倒了。当你有很多孩子的时候,你不会总是在其中一个摔倒时跑开,除非他们开始尖叫或做别的事。这一次,格蕾丝很安静。然而,伊莎贝尔说,当她听到砰的一声,然后是一片寂静时,她内心发生了一些让她害怕的事情。她跑到客厅,小格蕾丝躺在地板上,浑身扭曲,她没有尖叫的原因是她无法呼吸。伊莎贝尔说,当她尖叫时,那是她一生中听到过的最可怕的声音,有时她仍然在梦中听到这种声音。伊莎贝尔有时会用低沉、呻吟、窒息的声音把我吵醒,我必须迅速唤醒她,把她抱在怀里,伊莎贝尔靠在我身上哭泣的地方看起来像是致命的伤口。
I read about Sonny’s trouble in the spring. Little Grace died in the fall. She was a beautiful little girl. But she only lived a little over two years. She died of polio and she suffered. She had a slight fever for a couple of days, but it didn’t seem like anything and we just kept her in bed. And we would certainly have called the doctor, but the fever dropped, she seemed to be all right. So we thought it had just been a cold. Then, one day, she was up, playing, Isabel was in the kitchen fixing lunch for the two boys when they’d come in from school, and she heard Grace fall down in the living room. When you have a lot of children you don’t always start running when one of them falls, unless they start screaming or something. And, this time, Grace was quiet. Yet, Isabel says that when she heard that thump and then that silence, something happened in her to make her afraid. And she ran to the living room and there was little Grace on the floor, all twisted up, and the reason she hadn’t screamed was that she couldn’t get her breath. And when she did scream, it was the worst sound, Isabel says, that she’d ever heard in all her life, and she still hears it sometimes in her dreams. Isabel will sometimes wake me up with a low, moaning, strangled sound and I have to be quick to awaken her and hold her to me and where Isabel is weeping against me seems a mortal wound.
我想我可能在小格蕾丝下葬的那天就给桑尼写信了。我独自坐在黑暗的客厅里,突然想到了桑尼。我的烦恼让他变得真实起来。
I think I may have written Sonny the very day that little Grace was buried. I was sitting in the living room in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny. My trouble made his real.
一个星期六的下午,桑尼已经和我们住在一起,或者说,住在我们家将近两个星期了,我发现自己漫无目的地在客厅里徘徊,一边喝着一罐啤酒,一边试图鼓起勇气去搜查桑尼的房间。他不在家,我在家的时候他通常也不在家,伊莎贝尔带着孩子们去看望他们的祖父母。突然间,我站在客厅的窗前,一动不动地看着第七大道。搜查桑尼房间的想法让我一动不动。我几乎不敢承认自己在找什么。我不知道如果找到了我会做什么。或者如果我没找到。
One Saturday afternoon, when Sonny had been living with us, or, anyway, been in our house, for nearly two weeks, I found myself wandering aimlessly about the living room, drinking from a can of beer, and trying to work up the courage to search Sonny’s room. He was out, he was usually out whenever I was home, and Isabel had taken the children to see their grandparents. Suddenly I was standing still in front of the living room window, watching Seventh Avenue. The idea of searching Sonny’s room made me still. I scarcely dared to admit to myself what I’d be searching for. I didn’t know what I’d do if I found it. Or if I didn’t.
在我对面的人行道上,靠近一家烧烤店的入口处,一些人正在举行老式的复兴会。烧烤师傅穿着一条脏兮兮的白围裙,头发在苍白的阳光下泛着红色和金属色,嘴里叼着一支香烟,站在门口看着他们。孩子和老人停下手中的差事,站在那里,还有一些老男人和几个看起来很强悍的女人,她们注视着大街上发生的一切,仿佛他们拥有这条街,或者可能是被这条街拥有。好吧,他们也在看着这一切。复兴会由三名身穿黑衣的姐妹和一名兄弟主持。他们只有自己的声音、圣经和一只铃鼓。兄弟在作证,当他作证时,两个姐妹站在一起,似乎在说阿门,第三个姐妹拿着铃鼓四处走动,几个人往里面扔了硬币。然后,弟兄的证言结束了,负责募捐的姐妹把硬币倒进手掌,然后把它们放进她黑色长袍的口袋里。然后她举起双手,用手鼓敲打空气,然后敲打一只手,开始唱歌。另外两个姐妹和弟兄也加入进来。
On the sidewalk across from me, near the entrance to a barbecue joint, some people were holding an old-fashioned revival meeting. The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron, his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood in the doorway, watching them. Kids and older people paused in their errands and stood there, along with some older men and a couple of very tough-looking women who watched everything that happened on the avenue, as though they owned it, or were maybe owned by it. Well, they were watching this, too. The revival was being carried on by three sisters in black, and a brother. All they had were their voices and their Bibles and a tambourine. The brother was testifying and while he testified two of the sisters stood together, seeming to say, amen, and the third sister walked around with the tambourine outstretched and a couple of people dropped coins into it. Then the brother’s testimony ended and the sister who had been taking up the collection dumped the coins into her palm and transferred them to the pocket of her long black robe. Then she raised both hands, striking the tambourine against the air, and then against one hand, and she started to sing. And the two other sisters and the brother joined in.
突然间,看着这些街头集会让我感觉很奇怪,尽管我一生都在观看这些集会。当然,那里的其他人也都一样。然而,他们停下来观看、聆听,而我则站在窗边。“这是锡安的古老之船,”他们唱道,拿着铃鼓的姐妹保持着稳定、叮当作响的节奏,“它拯救了成千上万的人!”在他们的歌声中,没有一个人是第一次听到这首歌,他们中没有一个人获救。他们也没有看到周围有多少救援工作正在进行。他们也不特别相信这三姐妹和那兄弟的圣洁,他们对他们了解太多了,知道他们住在哪里,以及他们的生活。那个拿着铃鼓的女人,歌声响彻云霄,脸上洋溢着喜悦,她和站在那里看着她的女人几乎没有什么区别,她厚重而干裂的嘴唇间夹着一支香烟,头发乱糟糟的,脸上因多次殴打而伤痕累累,黑眼睛像煤炭一样闪闪发光。也许她们都知道这一点,这就是为什么当她们很少称呼对方时,她们会称呼对方为姐妹。随着歌声在空中回荡,那些观看、聆听的面孔发生了变化,他们的眼睛聚焦在内心的某个地方;音乐似乎抚慰了他们身上的毒药;时间似乎从那些阴沉、好斗、饱受摧残的脸上消失了,仿佛他们正在逃回最初的状态,而梦想着他们最后的状态。烧烤厨师摇了摇头,笑了笑,扔下香烟,消失在香烟中。一个男人在口袋里摸索着找零钱,不耐烦地拿着零钱站在那里,好像他刚想起大道另一头有一个紧急的约会。他看起来很生气。然后我看到桑尼站在人群的边缘。他拿着一本宽而平的笔记本,封面是绿色的,从我站着的角度来看,这让他看起来几乎像个小学生。铜色的阳光衬托出他皮肤上的铜色,他淡淡地微笑着,一动不动地站着。然后歌声停止了,铃鼓又变成了一个募捐盘。那个暴怒的男人扔下硬币消失了,几个女人也消失了,桑尼把一些零钱扔进盘子里,面带微笑地直视着那个女人。他穿过大道,朝房子走去。他走得很慢,步履蹒跚,有点像哈莱姆区的嬉皮士走路的方式,只是他强加了自己的半拍。我以前从来没有真正注意到过。
It was strange, suddenly, to watch, though I had been seeing these street meetings all my life. So, of course, had everybody else down there. Yet, they paused and watched and listened and I stood still at the window. “Tis the old ship of Zion,” they sang, and the sister with the tambourine kept a steady, jangling beat, “it has rescued many a thousand!” Not a soul under the sound of their voices was hearing this song for the first time, not one of them had been rescued. Nor had they seen much in the way of rescue work being done around them. Neither did they especially believe in the holiness of the three sisters and the brother, they knew too much about them, knew where they lived, and how. The woman with the tambourine, whose voice dominated the air, whose face was bright with joy, was divided by very little from the woman who stood watching her, a cigarette between her heavy, chapped lips, her hair a cuckoo’s nest, her face scarred and swollen from many beatings, and her black eyes glittering like coal. Perhaps they both knew this, which was why, when, as rarely, they addressed each other, they addressed each other as Sister. As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last. The barbecue cook half shook his head and smiled, and dropped his cigarette and disappeared into his joint. A man fumbled in his pockets for change and stood holding it in his hand impatiently, as though he had just remembered a pressing appointment further up the avenue. He looked furious. Then I saw Sonny, standing on the edge of the crowd. He was carrying a wide, flat notebook with a green cover, and it made him look, from where I was standing, almost like a schoolboy. The coppery sun brought out the copper in his skin, he was very faintly smiling, standing very still. Then the singing stopped, the tambourine turned into a collection plate again. The furious man dropped in his coins and vanished, so did a couple of the women, and Sonny dropped some change in the plate, looking directly at the woman with a little smile. He started across the avenue, toward the house. He has a slow, loping walk, something like the way Harlem hipsters walk, only he’s imposed on this his own half-beat. I had never really noticed it before.
我站在窗边,既感到轻松又感到担忧。当桑尼从我的视线中消失时,他们又开始唱歌。当他的钥匙在锁里转动时,他们还在唱歌。
I stayed at the window, both relieved and apprehensive. As Sonny disappeared from my sight, they began singing again. And they were still singing when his key turned in the lock.
“嘿,”他说。
“Hey,” he said.
“嘿,你自己。要喝点啤酒吗?”
“Hey, yourself. You want some beer?”
“没有。好吧,也许吧。”但他走到窗前,站在我旁边,向外望去。“多么温暖的声音啊,”他说。
“No. Well, maybe.” But he came up to the window and stood beside me, looking out. “What a warm voice,” he said.
他们在唱歌如果我能再次听到母亲的祈祷!
They were singing If I could only hear my mother pray again!
“是的,”我说,“她确实能敲响铃鼓。”
“Yes,” I said, “and she can sure beat that tambourine.”
“但这首歌太难听了,”他笑着说。他把笔记本扔在沙发上,消失在厨房里。“伊莎贝尔和孩子们呢?”
“But what a terrible song,” he said, and laughed. He dropped his notebook on the sofa and disappeared into the kitchen. “Where’s Isabel and the kids?”
“我想他们去看望他们的祖父母了。你饿了吗?”
“I think they went to see their grandparents. You hungry?”
“不。”他拿着啤酒罐回到客厅。“你今晚想和我一起去某个地方吗?”
“No.” He came back into the living room with his can of beer. “You want to come some place with me tonight?”
我感觉到,我不知道怎么回事,我不可能拒绝。“当然可以。去哪儿?”
I sensed, I don’t know how, that I couldn’t possibly say no. “Sure. Where?”
他坐在沙发上,拿起笔记本开始翻看。“我要和几个朋友一起去村里的一家小酒馆坐坐。”
He sat down on the sofa and picked up his notebook and started leafing through it. “I’m going to sit in with some fellows in a joint in the Village.”
“你的意思是,你今晚要去玩吗?”
“You mean, you’re going to play, tonight?”
“没错。”他喝了一口啤酒,又回到窗边。他斜眼看了我一眼。“如果你能忍受的话。”
“That’s right.” He took a swallow of his beer and moved back to the window. He gave me a sidelong look. “If you can stand it.”
“我会试试,”我说。
“I’ll try,” I said.
他暗自微笑,我们俩看着对面的聚会结束了。三姐妹和那兄弟低着头,唱着“愿上帝与你同在,直到我们再次相见”。他们周围的人都很安静。然后歌曲结束了。那一小群人散开了。我们看着三个女人和那个孤独的男人慢慢地走上大街。
He smiled to himself and we both watched as the meeting across the way broke up. The three sisters and the brother, heads bowed, were singing God be with you till we meet again. The faces around them were very quiet. Then the song ended. The small crowd dispersed. We watched the three women and the lone man walk slowly up the avenue.
“她以前唱歌的时候,”桑尼突然说道,“她的声音让我想起了海洛因的感觉——当它进入你的血管时。它让你同时感到温暖和凉爽。而且遥远。而且——而且肯定。”他啜饮着啤酒,故意不看我。我看着他的脸。“它让你感觉——掌控一切。有时你必须要有这种感觉。”
“When she was singing before,” said Sonny, abruptly, “her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes — when it’s in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time. And distant. And — and sure.” He sipped his beer, very deliberately not looking at me. I watched his face. “It makes you feel — in control. Sometimes you’ve got to have that feeling.”
“是吗?”我慢慢地坐在安乐椅上。
“Do you?” I sat down slowly in the easy chair.
“有时候会。”他走到沙发边,再次拿起笔记本。“有些人确实会。”
“Sometimes.” He went to the sofa and picked up his notebook again. “Some people do.”
“为了,”我问,“为了演奏?”我的声音很难听,充满了轻蔑和愤怒。
“In order,” I asked, “to play?” And my voice was very ugly, full of contempt and anger.
“好吧”——他用大大的、忧虑的眼睛看着我,仿佛他希望他的眼睛能告诉我一些他永远无法用其他方式说出来的事情——“他们是这样认为的。如果他们是这样认为的——!”
“Well” — he looked at me with great, troubled eyes, as though, in fact, he hoped his eyes would tell me things he could never otherwise say — “they think so. And if they think so —!”
“您觉得怎么样?”我问。
“And what do you think?” I asked.
他坐在沙发上,把啤酒罐放在地板上。“我不知道,”他说,我不确定他是在回答我的问题还是在继续他的想法。他的表情没有告诉我。“这不只是玩。而是要忍受它,能够做到。在任何层面上。”他皱着眉头笑了笑:“为了不被震成碎片。”
He sat on the sofa and put his can of beer on the floor. “I don’t know,” he said, and I couldn’t be sure if he were answering my question or pursuing his thoughts. His face didn’t tell me. “It’s not so much to play. It’s to stand it, to be able to make it at all. On any level.” He frowned and smiled: “In order to keep from shaking to pieces.”
“但是你的这些朋友,”我说,“他们好像很快就崩溃了。”
“But these friends of yours,” I said, “they seem to shake themselves to pieces pretty goddamn fast.”
“也许吧。”他玩弄着笔记本。有什么东西告诉我,我应该管住自己的舌头,桑尼正在尽力说话,我应该听。“但当然,你只知道那些已经崩溃的人。有些人没有——或者至少他们还没有,而这几乎是我们所有人能说的全部。”他停顿了一下。“还有一些人真的生活在地狱里,他们知道这一点,他们看到了正在发生的事情,然后继续生活。我不知道。”他叹了口气,放下笔记本,双臂交叉。“有些人,你可以从他们玩的方式看出来,他们一直在做某事。你可以看到,嗯,这对他们来说是件真实的事情。但当然,”他从地板上捡起啤酒,啜了一口,又把罐子放下,“他们也想这么做,你必须看到这一点。即使他们中有些人说他们不想——有些人,不是全部。”
“Maybe.” He played with the notebook. And something told me that I should curb my tongue, that Sonny was doing his best to talk, that I should listen. “But of course you only know the ones that’ve gone to pieces. Some don’t — or at least they haven’t yet and that’s just about all any of us can say.” He paused. “And then there are some who just live, really, in hell, and they know it and they see what’s happening and they go right on. I don’t know.” He sighed, dropped the notebook, folded his arms. “Some guys, you can tell from the way they play, they on something all the time. And you can see that, well, it makes something real for them. But of course,” he picked up his beer from the floor and sipped it and put the can down again, “they want to, too, you’ve got to see that. Even some of them that say they don’t — some, not all.”
“那你呢?”我忍不住问道。“那你呢?你想去吗?”
“And what about you?” I asked — I couldn’t help it. “What about you? Do you want to?”
他站起身走到窗前,沉默了许久。然后叹了口气。“我,”他说。然后:“之前我在楼下,在来这里的路上,听着那个女人唱歌,我突然意识到她一定经历了多少痛苦——才能唱得那么好。想到自己必须遭受这么多痛苦,真是令人厌恶。”
He stood up and walked to the window and remained silent for a long time. Then he sighed. “Me,” he said. Then: “While I was downstairs before, on my way here, listening to that woman sing, it struck me all of a sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through — to sing like that. It’s repulsive to think you have to suffer that much.”
我说:“但是没有办法不遭受痛苦——是吗,桑尼?”
I said: “But there’s no way not to suffer — is there, Sonny?”
“我相信不是,”他笑着说,“但这从未阻止过任何人去尝试。”他看着我。“是吗?”我意识到,带着嘲弄的目光,我们之间永远存在着一个事实,超越时间或宽恕的力量,那就是当他需要人类的语言来帮助他时,我一直保持沉默——这么久!他转身面向窗户。“不,没有办法不遭受痛苦。但你尝试了各种方法来避免被淹没,保持对痛苦的控制,让它看起来——嗯,就像你一样。就像你做了什么,现在你正在为此受苦。你知道吗?”我什么也没说。“嗯,你知道,”他不耐烦地说,“人们为什么受苦?也许最好做点什么来给它一个理由,任何理由。”
“I believe not,” he said and smiled, “but that’s never stopped anyone from trying.” He looked at me. “Has it?” I realized, with this mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time or forgiveness, the fact that I had held silence — so long! — when he had needed human speech to help him. He turned back to the window. “No, there’s no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it, to keep on top of it, and to make it seem — well, like you. Like you did something, all right, and now you’re suffering for it. You know?” I said nothing. “Well you know,” he said, impatiently, “why do people suffer? Maybe it’s better to do something to give it a reason, any reason.”
“但我们一致同意,”我说,“没有办法不遭受痛苦。那么,难道不是更好的办法——接受它吗?”
“But we just agreed,” I said, “that there’s no way not to suffer. Isn’t it better, then, just to — take it?”
“但没人会轻易接受,”桑尼喊道,“这就是我要告诉你的!每个人都试图不接受。你只是执着于某些人尝试的方式——这不是你的方式!”
“But nobody just takes it,” Sonny cried, “that’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try — it’s not your way!”
我脸上的汗毛开始发痒,脸也湿了。“那不是真的,”我说,“那不是真的。我才不在乎别人做什么,我甚至不在乎他们受什么苦。我只在乎你受什么苦。”他看着我。“请相信我,”我说,“我不想看到你——死去——努力不受苦。”
The hair on my face began to itch, my face felt wet. “That’s not true,” I said, “that’s not true. I don’t give a damn what other people do, I don’t even care how they suffer. I just care how you suffer.” And he looked at me. “Please believe me,” I said, “I don’t want to see you — die — trying not to suffer.”
“我不会为了避免受苦而死去,”他平静地说道。“至少,不会比别人死得更快。”
“I won’t,” he said, flatly, “die trying not to suffer. At least, not any faster than anybody else.”
“但是没有必要,”我强颜欢笑地说,“不是吗?去自杀。”
“But there’s no need,” I said, trying to laugh, “is there? in killing yourself.”
我想说更多,但我说不出来。我想谈谈意志力,谈谈生活如何变得——嗯,美好。我想说一切都在内心;但真的是这样吗?或者说,这不正是问题所在吗?我想保证我再也不会让他失望。但这些听起来都像是空话和谎言。
I wanted to say more, but I couldn’t. I wanted to talk about will power and how life could be — well, beautiful. I wanted to say that it was all within; but was it? or, rather, wasn’t that exactly the trouble? And I wanted to promise that I would never fail him again. But it would all have sounded — empty words and lies.
所以我向自己许下承诺并祈祷我会实现它。
So I made the promise to myself and prayed that I would keep it.
“内心有时会很可怕,”他说,“这就是问题所在。你走在这些街道上,黑暗、怪异、寒冷,没有活生生的人可以交谈,没有任何东西可以震动,也没有办法发泄内心的风暴。你不能谈论它,你不能和它做爱,当你终于试图和它相处并玩它时,你会发现没有人在听。所以你必须倾听。你必须找到一种倾听的方式。”
“It’s terrible sometimes, inside,” he said, “that’s what’s the trouble. You walk these streets, black and funky and cold, and there’s not really a living ass to talk to, and there’s nothing shaking, and there’s no way of getting it out — that storm inside. You can’t talk it and you can’t make love with it, and when you finally try to get with it and play it, you realize nobody’s listening. So you’ve got to listen. You got to find a way to listen.”
然后他从窗边走开,又坐回沙发上,仿佛突然间所有的气都消失了。“有时你会为了玩而做任何事情,甚至割断你妈妈的喉咙。”他笑着看着我。“或者你哥哥的。”然后他严肃起来。“或者你自己的。”然后:“别担心。我现在没事了,我想我会没事的。但我忘不了——我去过哪里。我不是指我去过的那个地方,而是指我去过的地方。我去过什么地方。”
And then he walked away from the window and sat on the sofa again, as though all the wind had suddenly been knocked out of him. “Sometimes you’ll do anything to play, even cut your mother’s throat.” He laughed and looked at me. “Or your brother’s.” Then he sobered. “Or your own.” Then: “Don’t worry. I’m all right now and I think I’ll be all right. But I can’t forget — where I’ve been. I don’t mean just the physical place I’ve been, I mean where I’ve been. And what I’ve been.”
“你最近怎么样,桑尼?”我问。
“What have you been, Sonny?” I asked.
他笑了笑,但侧身坐在沙发上,手肘靠在椅背上,手指摆弄着嘴和下巴,没有看我。“我一直是那种我不认识的人,我不知道我会成为那样的人。我不知道任何人会成为那样的人。”他停了下来,向内看,看起来无助地年轻,看起来苍老。“我现在不谈论它,因为我感到内疚或诸如此类——也许我如果说了会更好,我不知道。不管怎样,我真的不能谈论它。不能和你,不能和任何人说,”现在他转过身来面对着我。“有时候,你知道,实际上是在我最不属于这个世界的时候,我感觉我身在其中,我和它在一起,真的,我可以玩,也可以不必玩,它就从我身上出来,它就在那里。现在想想,我不知道我是怎么玩的,但我知道那些时候,有时,对别人,我做了可怕的事情。或者不是我对它们做了什么——而是它们不是真实的。”他拿起啤酒罐;它是空的;他把它在手掌间转动:“还有的时候——嗯,我需要解决办法,我需要找个地方依靠,我需要清理出一个空间来倾听——但我找不到,我——发疯了,我做了一些对自己很可怕的事情,我对自己很糟糕。”他开始用手按压啤酒罐,我看着金属开始变形。他玩着它,它像刀子一样闪闪发光,我怕他会割伤自己,但我什么也没说。“哦,好吧。我永远也不能告诉你。我独自一人处于某个东西的底部,臭气熏天,汗流浃背,哭泣着,颤抖着,我闻到了它,你知道吗?我的臭味,我想我会死,如果我不能摆脱它,然而,尽管如此,我知道我所做的一切都只是把我锁在它里面。我不知道,”他停顿了一下,仍然在压扁啤酒罐,“我不知道,我仍然不知道,有什么东西一直告诉我,闻自己的臭味也许很好,但我不认为那是我一直想做的事——而且——谁能忍受呢?”他突然扔下被毁坏的啤酒罐,带着一丝平静的微笑看着我,然后站起来,走到窗前,仿佛那是一块磁石。我看着他的脸,他看着大道。“我无法告诉你妈妈什么时候去世的——但我非常想离开哈莱姆的原因是为了远离毒品。然后,当我逃跑的时候,这就是我在逃避的——真的。当我回来的时候,什么都没有改变,我没有变,我只是——老了。”他停了下来,用手指敲着窗玻璃。太阳已经消失了,黑暗很快就会降临。我看着他的脸。“它会再次来临的,”他说,几乎像是在自言自语。然后他转向我。“它会再次来临的,”他重复道。“我只是想让你知道这一点。”
He smiled — but sat sideways on the sofa, his elbow resting on the back, his fingers playing with his mouth and chin, not looking at me. “I’ve been something I didn’t recognize, didn’t know I could be. Didn’t know anybody could be.” He stopped, looking inward, looking helplessly young, looking old. “I’m not talking about it now because I feel guilty or anything like that — maybe it would be better if I did, I don’t know. Anyway, I can’t really talk about it. Not to you, not to anybody,” and now he turned and faced me. “Sometimes, you know, and it was actually when I was most out of the world, I felt that I was in it, that I was with it, really, and I could play or I didn’t really have to play, it just came out of me, it was there. And I don’t know how I played, thinking about it now, but I know I did awful things, those times, sometimes, to people. Or it wasn’t that I did anything to them — it was that they weren’t real.” He picked up the beer can; it was empty; he rolled it between his palms: “And other times — well, I needed a fix, I needed to find a place to lean, I needed to clear a space to listen — and I couldn’t find it, and I — went crazy, I did terrible things to me, I was terrible for me.” He began pressing the beer can between his hands, I watched the metal begin to give. It glittered, as he played with it, like a knife, and I was afraid he would cut himself, but I said nothing. “Oh well. I can never tell you. I was all by myself at the bottom of something, stinking and sweating and crying and shaking, and I smelled it, you know? my stink, and I thought I’d die if I couldn’t get away from it and yet, all the same, I knew that everything I was doing was just locking me in with it. And I didn’t know,” he paused, still flattening the beer can, “I didn’t know, I still don’t know, something kept telling me that maybe it was good to smell your own stink, but I didn’t think that that was what I’d been trying to do — and — who can stand it?” and he abruptly dropped the ruined beer can, looking at me with a small, still smile, and then rose, walking to the window as though it were the lodestone rock. I watched his face, he watched the avenue. “I couldn’t tell you when Mama died — but the reason I wanted to leave Harlem so bad was to get away from drugs. And then, when I ran away, that’s what I was running from — really. When I came back, nothing had changed, I hadn’t changed, I was just — older.” And he stopped, drumming with his fingers on the windowpane. The sun had vanished, soon darkness would fall. I watched his face. “It can come again,” he said, almost as though speaking to himself. Then he turned to me. “It can come again,” he repeated. “I just want you to know that.”
“好吧,”我终于说道。“所以它还会再来。好吧。”
“All right,” I said, at last. “So it can come again. All right.”
他笑了,但笑容里满是悲伤。“我必须试着告诉你,”他说。
He smiled, but the smile was sorrowful. “I had to try to tell you,” he said.
“是的,”我说。“我明白。”
“Yes,” I said. “I understand that.”
“你是我的兄弟,”他直视着我,脸上没有一丝笑容。
“You’re my brother,” he said, looking straight at me, and not smiling at all.
“是的,”我重复道,“是的。我明白。”
“Yes,” I repeated, “yes. I understand that.”
他转身面向窗外。“那里充满了仇恨,”他说,“充满了仇恨、痛苦和爱。真是奇迹,大火没有把大道炸毁。”
He turned back to the window, looking out. “All that hatred down there,” he said, “all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”
我们去了市中心一条又短又黑的街道上唯一的一家夜总会。我们挤过狭窄、嘈杂、挤满了人的酒吧,来到了乐队演奏台所在的大房间的入口。我们在那里站了一会儿,因为房间里的灯光很暗,我们看不见。然后,“你好,小伙子。”一个声音说道,一个比桑尼和我年长很多的黑人男子从灯光中冲出来,搂住了桑尼的肩膀。“我一直坐在这里等你,”他说。
We went to the only nightclub on a short, dark street, downtown. We squeezed through the narrow, chattering, jam-packed bar to the entrance of the big room, where the bandstand was. And we stood there for a moment, for the lights were very dim in this room and we couldn’t see. Then, “Hello, boy,” said a voice and an enormous black man, much older than Sonny or myself, erupted out of all that atmospheric lighting and put an arm around Sonny’s shoulder. “I been sitting right here,” he said, “waiting for you.”
他的嗓音也很大,黑暗中的人们纷纷转向我们。
He had a big voice, too, and heads in the darkness turned toward us.
桑尼咧嘴一笑,稍稍往后退了一步,说道:“克里奥尔,这是我弟弟。我跟你说过他。”
Sonny grinned and pulled a little away, and said, “Creole, this is my brother. I told you about him.”
克里奥尔握着我的手。“儿子,我很高兴见到你,”他说,显然他很高兴在这里见到我,为了桑尼。他笑着说:“你家里有个真正的音乐家。 ”他从桑尼的肩膀上抽出胳膊,用手背轻轻地、亲切地拍了拍他。
Creole shook my hand. “I’m glad to meet you, son,” he said, and it was clear that he was glad to meet me there, for Sonny’s sake. And he smiled, “You got a real musician in your family,” and he took his arm from Sonny’s shoulder and slapped him, lightly, affectionately, with the back of his hand.
“好吧,现在我全都听到了,”我们身后传来一个声音。这是另一位音乐家,也是桑尼的朋友,一个皮肤黝黑、看起来开朗的男人,身材紧贴地面。他立即开始大声地向我吐露桑尼最可怕的一面,他的牙齿像灯塔一样闪闪发光,他的笑声像地震的开始一样从他身上爆发出来。原来,酒吧里的每个人都认识桑尼,或者几乎每个人都认识桑尼;有些人是音乐家,在那里工作,或者在附近工作,或者不工作,有些人只是随从,有些人来这里听桑尼演奏。我被介绍给了他们所有人,他们都对我很有礼貌。然而,很明显,对他们来说,我只是桑尼的兄弟。在这里,我进入了桑尼的世界。或者更确切地说:他的王国。在这里,他的血管里流淌着皇室血统甚至不是一个问题。
“Well. Now I’ve heard it all,” said a voice behind us. This was another musician, and a friend of Sonny’s, a coal-black, cheerful-looking man, built close to the ground. He immediately began confiding to me, at the top of his lungs, the most terrible things about Sonny, his teeth gleaming like a lighthouse and his laugh coming up out of him like the beginning of an earthquake. And it turned out that everyone at the bar knew Sonny, or almost everyone; some were musicians, working there, or nearby, or not working, some were simply hangers-on, and some were there to hear Sonny play. I was introduced to all of them and they were all very polite to me. Yet, it was clear that, for them, I was only Sonny’s brother. Here, I was in Sonny’s world. Or, rather: his kingdom. Here, it was not even a question that his veins bore royal blood.
他们很快就要开始演奏了,克里奥尔把我安排在一个黑暗角落的一张桌子旁,我一个人坐在那里。然后我看着他们,克里奥尔、那个矮个子黑人、桑尼和其他人,他们站在乐队的舞台下面,嬉闹着。乐队舞台的灯光照在他们身上,离他们只有一小点距离,看着他们笑着、打着手势、四处走动,我感觉他们非常小心,不会太突然地踏进那道光圈:如果他们太突然地、不加思索地走进光圈,他们就会被火烧死。然后,在我注视着的时候,他们中的一个,那个矮个子黑人,走进光圈,穿过乐队的舞台,开始摆弄他的鼓。然后——既有趣又非常有礼貌——克里奥尔抓住桑尼的胳膊,把他带到钢琴旁。一个女人的声音叫着桑尼的名字,几只手开始鼓掌。桑尼也很风趣、彬彬有礼,我想,他感动得差点哭了,但他既不掩饰,也不表露,像个男子汉一样驾驭着它,他咧嘴一笑,把双手放在心上,弯下腰。
They were going to play soon and Creole installed me, by myself, at a table in a dark corner. Then I watched them, Creole, and the little black man, and Sonny, and the others, while they horsed around, standing just below the bandstand. The light from the bandstand spilled just a little short of them and, watching them laughing and gesturing and moving about, I had the feeling that they, nevertheless, were being most careful not to step into that circle of light too suddenly: that if they moved into the light too suddenly, without thinking, they would perish in flame. Then, while I watched, one of them, the small, black man, moved into the light and crossed the bandstand and started fooling around with his drums. Then — being funny and being, also, extremely ceremonious — Creole took Sonny by the arm and led him to the piano. A woman’s voice called Sonny’s name and a few hands started clapping. And Sonny, also being funny and being ceremonious, and so touched, I think, that he could have cried, but neither hiding it nor showing it, riding it like a man, grinned, and put both hands to his heart and bowed from the waist.
克里奥尔接着走到低音提琴前,一个身材瘦削、皮肤黝黑的棕色人跳上演奏台,拿起喇叭。他们就在那里,演奏台上和房间里的气氛开始发生变化,变得紧张起来。有人走到麦克风前宣布他们就在那里。然后传来各种各样的窃窃私语声。酒吧里的一些人让其他人闭嘴。女服务员跑来跑去,疯狂地拿最后的订单,男人和女人彼此靠得更近了,演奏台上、四重奏上的灯光变成了一种靛蓝色。然后他们看起来都不一样了。克里奥尔最后一次环顾四周,好像他在确定所有的鸡都在鸡笼里,然后他——跳起来拉起了提琴。他们就在那里。
Creole then went to the bass fiddle and a lean, very bright-skinned brown man jumped up on the bandstand and picked up his horn. So there they were, and the atmosphere on the bandstand and in the room began to change and tighten. Someone stepped up to the microphone and announced them. Then there were all kinds of murmurs. Some people at the bar shushed others. The waitress ran around, frantically getting in the last orders, guys and chicks got closer to each other, and the lights on the bandstand, on the quartet, turned to a kind of indigo. Then they all looked different there. Creole looked about him for the last time, as though he were making certain that all his chickens were in the coop, and then he — jumped and struck the fiddle. And there they were.
我所知道的关于音乐的事情是,没有多少人真正听过音乐。即使在少数情况下,当内心有某种东西打开,音乐进入时,我们主要听到的或被证实的,是个人的、私密的、消失的召唤。但创造音乐的人听到的是其他东西,是在处理从虚空中升起的咆哮,并在它进入空气时给它施加秩序。因此,在他身上唤起的是另一种秩序,更可怕,因为它没有文字,也因同样的原因而胜利。当他胜利时,他的胜利就是我们的胜利。我只是看着桑尼的脸。他的脸上很不安,他努力工作,但他没有做到。我有一种感觉,在某种程度上,乐队舞台上的每个人都在等他,既在等他,也在推动他前进。但当我开始观察克里奥尔时,我意识到是克里奥尔拖了他们的后腿。他把他们束缚在了缰绳上。在那里,他用整个身体打着节拍,拉着小提琴,眼睛半闭着,他听着一切,但他听的是桑尼。他在和桑尼对话。他想让桑尼离开海岸线,游向深水区。他是桑尼的见证人,深水和溺水不是一回事——他去过那里,他知道。他想让桑尼知道。他在等桑尼在琴键上弹奏,让克里奥尔知道桑尼在水里。
All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations. But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air. What is evoked in him, then, is of another order, more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for that same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours. I just watched Sonny’s face. His face was troubled, he was working hard, but he wasn’t with it. And I had the feeling that, in a way, everyone on the bandstand was waiting for him, both waiting for him and pushing him along. But as I began to watch Creole, I realized that it was Creole who held them all back. He had them on a short rein. Up there, keeping the beat with his whole body, wailing on the fiddle, with his eyes half closed, he was listening to everything, but he was listening to Sonny. He was having a dialogue with Sonny. He wanted Sonny to leave the shoreline and strike out for the deep water. He was Sonny’s witness that deep water and drowning were not the same thing — he had been there, and he knew. And he wanted Sonny to know. He was waiting for Sonny to do the things on the keys which would let Creole know that Sonny was in the water.
当克里奥尔聆听时,桑尼内心深处动了起来,就像一个饱受折磨的人。我以前从未想过音乐家和他的乐器之间的关系会如此糟糕。他必须给这件乐器注入生命的气息,他自己的气息。他必须让它做他想让它做的事。钢琴就是钢琴。它是由许多木头、金属线、小锤子、大锤子和象牙制成的。虽然你能用它做的事情是有限的,但找出答案的唯一方法就是尝试;尝试让它做所有事情。
And, while Creole listened, Sonny moved, deep within, exactly like someone in torment. I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life, his own. He has to make it do what he wants it to do. And a piano is just a piano. It’s made out of so much wood and wires and little hammers and big ones, and ivory. While there’s only so much you can do with it, the only way to find this out is to try; to try and make it do everything.
桑尼已经有一年多没有靠近钢琴了。他的生活也好不到哪里去,尤其是现在他面前的生活。他和钢琴结结巴巴地走着,开始朝一个方向走,害怕了,停了下来;又开始朝另一个方向走,惊慌失措,原地踏步,又重新开始;然后似乎找到了一个方向,又惊慌失措,卡住了。我在桑尼身上看到的那张脸是我以前从未见过的。他身上的一切都烧毁了,同时,他内心深处的战斗之火和狂怒也烧毁了他平时隐藏的东西。
And Sonny hadn’t been near a piano for over a year. And he wasn’t on much better terms with his life, not the life that stretched before him now. He and the piano stammered, started one way, got scared, stopped; started another way, panicked, marked time, started again; then seemed to have found a direction, panicked again, got stuck. And the face I saw on Sonny I’d never seen before. Everything had been burned out of it, and, at the same time, things usually hidden were being burned in, by the fire and fury of the battle which was occurring in him up there.
然而,看着第一组表演接近尾声时克里奥尔的表情,我感觉一定有什么事情发生了,一些我从未听到过的事情。表演结束后,掌声四起,然后,毫无征兆地,克里奥尔开始演奏另一首曲子,几乎是讽刺的,是《我是忧郁的吗》。然后,仿佛他下令一样,桑尼开始演奏。事情开始发生了。克里奥尔放开了缰绳。那个干瘪、低沉的黑人用鼓敲出了一些可怕的话,克里奥尔回答道,鼓声也回应道。然后喇叭声继续响起,甜美而高亢,也许略显超脱,克里奥尔听着,不时发表评论,干瘪而有力,美丽、平静而老练。然后他们又聚在一起,桑尼又成为了这个家庭的一部分。我从他的脸上看得出来。他似乎在自己的手指下发现了一架全新的钢琴。似乎他无法忘怀。然后,有一段时间,他们对桑尼很满意,他们似乎同意他的观点,认为全新的钢琴确实很有趣。
Yet, watching Creole’s face as they neared the end of the first set, I had the feeling that something had happened, something I hadn’t heard. Then they finished, there was scattered applause, and then, without an instant’s warning, Creole started into something else, it was almost sardonic, it was Am I Blue. And, as though he commanded, Sonny began to play. Something began to happen. And Creole let out the reins. The dry, low, black man said something awful on the drums, Creole answered, and the drums talked back. Then the horn insisted, sweet and high, slightly detached perhaps, and Creole listened, commenting now and then, dry, and driving, beautiful and calm and old. Then they all came together again, and Sonny was part of the family again. I could tell this from his face. He seemed to have found, right there beneath his fingers, a damn brand-new piano. It seemed that he couldn’t get over it. Then, for awhile, just being happy with Sonny, they seemed to be agreeing with him that brand-new pianos certainly were a gas.
然后克里奥尔走上前来提醒他们,他们演奏的是蓝调。他触动了他们所有人的心弦,也触动了我,音乐变得紧张而深沉,忧虑开始在空气中弥漫。克里奥尔开始告诉我们蓝调到底是什么。它们并不是什么新东西。他和他的兄弟们冒着毁灭、破坏、疯狂和死亡的风险,保持着它的新鲜感,以找到新的方式让我们倾听。因为,尽管我们如何受苦、如何快乐、如何胜利的故事从来都不是新的,但它总是必须被听到。没有其他故事可讲,这是我们在这片黑暗中唯一的光明。
Then Creole stepped forward to remind them that what they were playing was the blues. He hit something in all of them, he hit something in me, myself, and the music tightened and deepened, apprehension began to beat the air. Creole began to tell us what the blues were all about. They were not about anything very new. He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.
而这个故事,根据那张脸、那具身体、那双有力的拨动琴弦的手,在每个国家都有不同的面貌,在每一代都有新的深度。听着,克里奥尔似乎在说,听着。现在,这些是桑尼的蓝调。他让鼓上的小个子黑人和喇叭上的亮棕色人知道了这一点。克里奥尔不再试图把桑尼弄进水里。他祝他一路平安。然后他慢慢地往后退了一步,空气中充满了强烈的暗示,让桑尼为自己说话。
And this tale, according to that face, that body, those strong hands on those strings, has another aspect in every country, and a new depth in every generation. Listen, Creole seemed to be saying, listen. Now these are Sonny’s blues. He made the little black man on the drums know it, and the bright, brown man on the horn. Creole wasn’t trying any longer to get Sonny in the water. He was wishing him Godspeed. Then he stepped back, very slowly, filling the air with the immense suggestion that Sonny speak for himself.
然后他们都围在桑尼身边,桑尼开始演奏。他们中不时有人说,阿门。桑尼的手指让空气中充满了生命,他的生命。但那生命里包含着许多其他生命。桑尼一路走来,他实际上是从歌曲开头那简洁、平淡的陈述开始的。然后他开始把它变成他的。它非常美丽,因为它不匆忙,也不再是哀歌。我似乎听到了他用怎样的热情把它变成他的,我们用怎样的热情把它变成我们的,我们如何才能停止哀叹。自由潜伏在我们身边,我终于明白,如果我们愿意倾听,他可以帮助我们获得自由,如果我们不倾听,他永远不会获得自由。然而,现在他的脸上没有了战斗的神色。我听到了他所经历的一切,并将继续经历,直到他安息在地球上。他已经把它变成了他的:那条长长的血脉,我们只认识妈妈和爸爸。他正在把它还给别人,正如所有事物都必须归还一样,这样,在经历死亡之后,它才能永生。我又看到了母亲的脸,第一次感觉到,她走过的路上的石头一定伤了她的脚。我看到了父亲的兄弟去世的那条月光下的道路。它让我想起了其他的东西,并带我走过了它。我又看到了我的小女孩,又感觉到伊莎贝尔的眼泪,我感觉到自己的泪水开始涌出。但我还意识到这只是一瞬间,外面的世界像老虎一样饥饿地等待着,麻烦在我们头顶蔓延,比天空还要长。
Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song. Then he began to make it his. It was very beautiful because it wasn’t hurried and it was no longer a lament. I seemed to hear with what burning he had made it his, with what burning we had yet to make it ours, how we could cease lamenting. Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did. Yet, there was no battle in his face now. I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth. He had made it his: that long line, of which we knew only Mama and Daddy. And he was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever. I saw my mother’s face again, and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet. I saw the moonlit road where my father’s brother died. And it brought something else back to me, and carried me past it. I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise. And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky.
然后就结束了。克里奥尔和桑尼都湿透了,他们松了一口气,咧嘴笑着。掌声不断,有些是真心的。黑暗中,女孩走了过来,我请她把饮料带到乐队的舞台上。他们在那里靛蓝的灯光下交谈,沉默了很久。过了一会儿,我看到女孩把一杯苏格兰威士忌和牛奶放在钢琴上给桑尼喝。他似乎没有注意到,但就在他们再次开始演奏之前,他啜了一口,看着我,点了点头。然后他把钢琴放回钢琴上。对我来说,当他们再次开始演奏时,它在我哥哥的头顶上闪闪发光,摇晃着,就像那杯颤抖的酒。
Then it was over. Creole and Sonny let out their breath, both soaking wet, and grinning. There was a lot of applause and some of it was real. In the dark, the girl came by and I asked her to take drinks to the bandstand. There was a long pause, while they talked up there in the indigo light and after awhile I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn’t seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling.
[1957年]
[1957]
谚语:高雅,势利。
aDicty: High-class, snobbish.
(1925–1964)
[1925–1964]
龙就在路边,注视着过往行人。小心它吞噬你。我们要去见灵魂之父,但必须经过龙的身边。
The dragon is by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.
祖母不想去佛罗里达。她想去田纳西州东部看望一些亲戚,她抓住一切机会改变贝利的想法。贝利是她唯一的儿子,和她一起生活。他坐在桌边的椅子边上,弯腰看着《华尔街日报》的橙色体育版。 “现在看这里,贝利,”她说,“看这里,读读这个,”她一只手叉腰,另一只手在他秃头上摇晃着报纸。“这个自称不合群的人从联邦监狱逃出来,正前往佛罗里达,你在这里读到他对这些人做了什么。你读读吧。我不会带我的孩子去任何地方,那里面有这样一个罪犯逍遥法外。如果我这么做,我的良心会受到谴责。”
The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind. Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy. He was sitting on the edge of his chair at the table, bent over the orange sports section of the Journal. “Now look here, Bailey,” she said, “see here, read this,” and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.”
贝利没有抬头看书,于是她转过身,面对着孩子的母亲,一个穿着长裤的年轻女子,她的脸像卷心菜一样宽阔而天真,头上缠着一条绿色的头巾,头巾的顶端有两个尖角,像兔子的耳朵。她坐在沙发上,用罐子里的杏子喂孩子吃。“孩子们以前去过佛罗里达,”老太太说。“你们都应该带他们去别的地方换换环境,这样他们就能看到世界的不同地方,开阔眼界。他们从来没有去过田纳西州东部。”
Bailey didn’t look up from his reading so she wheeled around then and faced the children’s mother, a young woman in slacks, whose face was as broad and innocent as a cabbage and was tied around with a green head-kerchief that had two points on the top like rabbit’s ears. She was sitting on the sofa, feeding the baby his apricots out of a jar. “The children have been to Florida before,” the old lady said. “You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad. They never have been to east Tennessee.”
孩子的母亲似乎没有听见她的话,但那个戴着眼镜的矮胖的八岁男孩约翰·韦斯利却说:“如果你不想去佛罗里达,为什么不呆在家里呢?”他和小女孩琼·斯塔尔正坐在地板上看漫画报纸。
The children’s mother didn’t seem to hear her but the eight-year-old boy, John Wesley, a stocky child with glasses, said, “If you don’t want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay at home?” He and the little girl, June Star, were reading the funny papers on the floor.
“她一天也不愿待在家里当女王,”琼·斯塔低着头说道。
“She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day,” June Star said without raising her yellow head.
“是的,如果这个不合群的家伙抓住了你,你会怎么做?”祖母问道。
“Yes and what would you do if this fellow, The Misfit, caught you?” the grandmother asked.
“我会打他的脸,”约翰·韦斯利说。
“I’d smack his face,” John Wesley said.
“即使给她一百万美元,她也不会待在家里,”琼·斯塔说。“她害怕错过什么。我们去哪儿她都得跟着。”
“She wouldn’t stay at home for a million bucks,” June Star said. “Afraid she’d miss something. She has to go everywhere we go.”
“好的,小姐,”祖母说。“下次你要我给你卷头发的时候,记住这一点。”
“All right, Miss,” the grandmother said. “Just remember that the next time you want me to curl your hair.”
朱恩·斯塔尔说,她的头发天生就是卷曲的。
June Star said her hair was naturally curly.
第二天早上,祖母第一个上车准备出发。她把一个看起来像河马头的黑色大手提箱放在一个角落里,手提箱下面藏着一个篮子,里面有一只名叫皮蒂·辛的猫。她不打算让这只猫独自留在家里三天,因为它会非常想念她,她担心它会碰到煤气炉而意外窒息。她的儿子贝利不喜欢带着猫来汽车旅馆。
The next morning the grandmother was the first one in the car, ready to go. She had her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in one corner, and underneath it she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. She didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself. Her son, Bailey, didn’t like to arrive at a motel with a cat.
她坐在后座中间,约翰·韦斯利和琼·斯塔坐在她两边。贝利和孩子们的母亲以及婴儿坐在前面,他们于八点四十五分离开亚特兰大,车上的里程是 55890。祖母把这个记录下来,因为她认为回来后说出他们走了多少英里会很有趣。他们花了二十分钟才到达市郊。
She sat in the middle of the back seat with John Wesley and June Star on either side of her. Bailey and the children’s mother and the baby sat in front and they left Atlanta at eight forty-five with the mileage on the car at 55890. The grandmother wrote this down because she thought it would be interesting to say how many miles they had been when they got back. It took them twenty minutes to reach the outskirts of the city.
老太太舒舒服服地坐下,脱下白色棉手套,连同手提包一起放在后窗前的架子上。孩子的母亲仍然穿着长裤,头上仍然包着绿色头巾,但祖母戴着一顶海军蓝草帽,帽檐上插着一束白色紫罗兰,穿着一件海军蓝连衣裙,上面有一个小白点。她的衣领和袖口是白色硬纱,镶着花边,领口上别着一束紫色的布制紫罗兰,里面装着一个香囊。如果发生事故,任何人在高速公路上看到她死在路上都会立刻知道她是一位女士。
The old lady settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting them up with her purse on the shelf in front of the back window. The children’s mother still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady.
她说她认为今天是个开车的好日子,既不太热也不太冷,她提醒贝利,限速是每小时五十五英里,巡警们会躲在广告牌和小树丛后面,在你还没来得及减速之前就加速追赶你。她指出了风景中有趣的细节:石头山;有些地方延伸到公路两侧的蓝色花岗岩;鲜红色的粘土河岸上略带紫色条纹;各种农作物在地上形成一排排绿色的花边。树上洒满了银白色的阳光,最不起眼的树闪闪发光。孩子们在看漫画杂志,他们的母亲又睡着了。
She said she thought it was going to be a good day for driving, neither too hot nor too cold, and she cautioned Bailey that the speed limit was fifty-five miles an hour and that the patrolmen hid themselves behind billboards and small clumps of trees and sped out after you before you had a chance to slow down. She pointed out interesting details of the scenery: Stone Mountain; the blue granite that in some places came up to both sides of the highway; the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple; and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground. The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled. The children were reading comic magazines and their mother had gone back to sleep.
“我们快点穿过乔治亚州吧,这样就不用看太多了,”约翰·韦斯利说。
“Let’s go through Georgia fast so we won’t have to look at it much,” John Wesley said.
“如果我是个小男孩,”祖母说,“我就不会那样谈论我的家乡。田纳西州有山,佐治亚州有丘陵。”
“If I were a little boy,” said the grandmother, “I wouldn’t talk about my native state that way. Tennessee has the mountains and Georgia has the hills.”
“田纳西州只是乡巴佬的垃圾场,”约翰·韦斯利说,“乔治亚州也是一个糟糕的州。”
“Tennessee is just a hillbilly dumping ground,” John Wesley said, “and Georgia is a lousy state too.”
“你说得对,”琼·斯塔说。
“You said it,” June Star said.
“在我那个年代,”祖母交叉着她那瘦削而布满青筋的手指说道,“孩子们更尊重他们的出生地、父母和其他一切。那时候人们做得对。哦,看看这个可爱的小黑人孩子!”她指着站在棚屋门口的一个黑人孩子说道。“现在这不就是一幅画吗?”她问道,他们都转过身,从后窗看着那个小黑人。他挥了挥手。
“In my time,” said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, “children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then. Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” she said and pointed to a Negro child standing in the door of a shack. “Wouldn’t that make a picture, now?” she asked and they all turned and looked at the little Negro out of the back window. He waved.
“他没穿裤子,”琼·斯塔说道。
“He didn’t have any britches on,” June Star said.
“他可能什么都没有,”祖母解释道。“乡下的小黑鬼没有我们这样的东西。如果我会画画,我会画那幅画,”她说。
“He probably didn’t have any,” the grandmother explained. “Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. If I could paint, I’d paint that picture,” she said.
孩子们交换漫画书。
The children exchanged comic books.
祖母主动提出要抱抱孩子,孩子的母亲将孩子从前排座位上递给她。她将孩子放在膝盖上,摇晃着,告诉他他们经过的那些东西。她翻了个白眼,皱起嘴巴,将自己那张瘦削的皮革脸贴在他光滑而平淡的脸上。偶尔,他会向她露出一个遥远的微笑。他们经过一片大棉花田,棉花田中间用栅栏围着五六座坟墓,就像一个小岛。“看那片墓地!”祖母指着墓地说道。“那是古老的家族墓地。属于种植园。”
The grandmother offered to hold the baby and the children’s mother passed him over the front seat to her. She set him on her knee and bounced him and told him about the things they were passing. She rolled her eyes and screwed up her mouth and stuck her leathery thin face into his smooth bland one. Occasionally he gave her a faraway smile. They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island. “Look at the graveyard!” the grandmother said, pointing it out. “That was the old family burying ground. That belonged to the plantation.”
“种植园在哪里?”约翰·韦斯利问道。
“Where’s the plantation?” John Wesley asked.
“乱世佳人”,祖母说道。“哈哈。”
“Gone with the Wind,” said the grandmother. “Ha. Ha.”
孩子们看完他们带来的漫画书后,就打开午餐吃了起来。祖母吃了一个花生酱三明治和一颗橄榄,不让孩子们把盒子和纸巾扔出窗外。当没有其他事情可做时,他们玩了一个游戏,选择一朵云,让其他两个人猜它是什么形状。约翰·韦斯利选了一朵牛形状的云,琼·斯塔猜是一头牛,约翰·韦斯利说不,是一辆汽车,琼·斯塔说他玩得不公平,他们开始在祖母面前互相打耳光。
When the children finished all the comic books they had brought, they opened the lunch and ate it. The grandmother ate a peanut butter sandwich and an olive and would not let the children throw the box and the paper napkins out the window. When there was nothing else to do they played a game by choosing a cloud and making the other two guess what shape it suggested. John Wesley took one the shape of a cow and June Star guessed a cow and John Wesley said, no, an automobile, and June Star said he didn’t play fair, and they began to slap each other over the grandmother.
祖母说,只要他们保持安静,她就给他们讲个故事。她讲故事时,总是翻白眼、摇头,非常夸张。她说,当她还是个处女时,一位来自佐治亚州贾斯珀的埃德加·阿特金斯·蒂加登先生向她求爱。她说,他是一个非常英俊的男人,也是一位绅士,他每个星期六下午都会给她带来一个西瓜,上面刻着他的名字缩写,吃。有一天星期六,她说,蒂加登先生拿来了西瓜,但家里没人,他就把西瓜放在前廊,然后坐马车回到贾斯珀,但她从来没有拿到西瓜,她说,因为一个黑鬼男孩看到名字缩写,吃!就把它吃掉了。这个故事逗得约翰·韦斯利忍俊不禁,他咯咯地笑个不停。但琼·斯塔却不认为这个故事有什么好看的。她说,她不会嫁给一个星期六只给她送西瓜的男人。祖母说,她嫁给蒂加登先生是明智之举,因为他是一位绅士,在可口可乐刚上市时就买入了公司的股票,而且他几年前才去世,是个非常富有的人。
The grandmother said she would tell them a story if they would keep quiet. When she told a story, she rolled her eyes and waved her head and was very dramatic. She said once when she was a maiden lady she had been courted by a Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden from Jasper, Georgia. She said he was a very good-looking man and a gentleman and that he brought her a watermelon every Saturday afternoon with his initials cut in it, E. A. T. Well, one Saturday, she said, Mr. Teagarden brought the watermelon and there was nobody at home and he left it on the front porch and returned in his buggy to Jasper, but she never got the watermelon, she said, because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials, E. A. T.! This story tickled John Wesley’s funny bone and he giggled and giggled but June Star didn’t think it was any good. She said she wouldn’t marry a man that just brought her a watermelon on Saturday. The grandmother said she would have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and had bought Coca-Cola stock when it first came out and that he had died only a few years ago, a very wealthy man.
他们在 The Tower 停下来吃烧烤三明治。The Tower 是一座部分用灰泥和木材建成的加油站兼舞厅,坐落在蒂莫西城外的一片空地上。一个叫 Red Sammy Butts 的胖子经营着它,大楼上和高速公路上到处都贴着招牌,上面写着,尝尝 Red Sammy 著名的烧烤吧。没有什么比著名的 Red Sammy's 更好的了!Red Sam!那个笑得很开心的胖男孩。老手!Red Sammy 就是你的男人!
They stopped at The Tower for barbecued sandwiches. The Tower was a part stucco and part wood filling station and dance hall set in a clearing outside of Timothy. A fat man named Red Sammy Butts ran it and there were signs stuck here and there on the building and for miles up and down the highway saying, try red sammy’s famous barbecue. none like famous red sammy’s! red sam! the fat boy with the happy laugh. a veteran! red sammy’s your man!
红萨米躺在塔外的空地上,头埋在卡车下,一只灰色的猴子被拴在一棵小楝树上,高约一英尺,在附近叽叽喳喳地叫着。猴子看到孩子们从车里跳出来跑向它,立刻跳回树上,爬上最高的树枝。
Red Sammy was lying on the bare ground outside The Tower with his head under a truck while a gray monkey about a foot high, chained to a small chinaberry tree, chattered nearby. The monkey sprang back into the tree and got on the highest limb as soon as he saw the children jump out of the car and run toward him.
塔楼内部是一间长长的黑暗房间,一端是柜台,另一端是桌子,中间是跳舞区。他们都坐在五分钱影院旁边的一张木板桌旁,红萨姆的妻子过来帮他们点菜,她是一个身材高挑、皮肤黝黑的女人,头发和眼睛的颜色比皮肤浅。孩子们的母亲在机器里放了一枚一角硬币,播放了《田纳西华尔兹》,祖母说这首曲子总是让她想跳舞。她问贝利是否想跳舞,但他只是瞪着她。他不像她那样天生开朗,旅行让他感到紧张。祖母的棕色眼睛非常明亮。她摇着头,假装坐在椅子上跳舞。琼·斯塔说放点她能跳的舞曲,于是孩子们的母亲又放了一枚一角硬币,放了一首快节奏的曲子,琼·斯塔走上舞池,跳起了踢踏舞。
Inside, The Tower was a long dark room with a counter at one end and tables at the other and dancing space in the middle. They all sat down at a board table next to the nickelodeon and Red Sam’s wife, a tall burnt-brown woman with hair and eyes lighter than her skin, came and took their order. The children’s mother put a dime in the machine and played “The Tennessee Waltz,” and the grandmother said that tune always made her want to dance. She asked Bailey if he would like to dance but he only glared at her. He didn’t have a naturally sunny disposition like she did and trips made him nervous. The grandmother’s brown eyes were very bright. She swayed her head from side to side and pretended she was dancing in her chair. June Star said play something she could tap to so the children’s mother put in another dime and played a fast number and June Star stepped out onto the dance floor and did her tap routine.
“她不是很可爱吗?”红萨姆的妻子探过柜台说道。“你愿意做我的小女儿吗?”
“Ain’t she cute?” Red Sam’s wife said, leaning over the counter. “Would you like to come be my little girl?”
“不,我当然不会,”琼·斯塔说。“就算给我一百万美元,我也不会住在这种破烂的地方!”然后她跑回了桌子旁。
“No I certainly wouldn’t,” June Star said. “I wouldn’t live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!” and she ran back to the table.
“她是不是很可爱?”女人重复道,礼貌地张大了嘴巴。
“Ain’t she cute?” the woman repeated, stretching her mouth politely.
“你不觉得羞耻吗?”祖母嘶嘶地说。
“Aren’t you ashamed?” hissed the grandmother.
红萨姆走进来,告诉妻子别再懒洋洋地躺在柜台上,赶紧把这些人的订单拿来。他的卡其裤刚好到髋骨,肚子挂在裤子上,像一袋饭在衬衫下摇晃。他走过来,坐在附近的一张桌子旁,叹了口气,又哼了一声。“你赢不了,”他说。“你赢不了,”他用一块灰色的手帕擦了擦汗湿的红脸。“现在你不知道该相信谁了,”他说。“这不是事实吗?”
Red Sam came in and told his wife to quit lounging on the counter and hurry up with these people’s order. His khaki trousers reached just to his hip bones and his stomach hung over them like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt. He came over and sat down at a table nearby and let out a combination sigh and yodel. “You can’t win,” he said. “You can’t win,” and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief. “These days you don’t know who to trust,” he said. “Ain’t that the truth?”
“现在的人肯定不像以前那么友善了,”祖母说道。
“People are certainly not nice like they used to be,” said the grandmother.
“上周有两个家伙来这里,”红萨米说,“开着一辆克莱斯勒。那是一辆破旧的车,但车况不错,这两个家伙在我看来也不错。他们说他们在工厂工作,你知道我让这两个家伙给他们买的汽油加油吗?我为什么要这么做?”
“Two fellers come in here last week,” Red Sammy said, “driving a Chrysler. It was a old beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys looked all right to me. Said they worked at the mill and you know I let them fellers charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?”
“因为你是个好人!”祖母立刻说道。
“Because you’re a good man!” the grandmother said at once.
“是的,我想是的,”红萨姆说道,好像他对这个答案很震惊。
“Yes’m, I suppose so,” Red Sam said as if he were struck with this answer.
他的妻子端来了订单,一手端着五盘菜,没有托盘,一只手端着两盘,另一只手扶着一盘。“在这个上帝的绿色世界里,没有一个人是可以信任的,”她说。“我不相信任何人,没有人,”她看着红萨米重复道。
His wife brought the orders, carrying the five plates all at once without a tray, two in each hand and one balanced on her arm. “It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,” she said. “And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody,” she repeated, looking at Red Sammy.
“你读过关于那个逃跑的罪犯“不合群的人”的故事吗?”祖母问。
“Did you read about that criminal, The Misfit, that’s escaped?” asked the grandmother.
“如果他没有袭击这里,我一点都不会感到惊讶,”女人说。“如果他听说这里有东西,我一点都不会惊讶地看到他。如果他听说收银机里有两分钱,我一点也不会惊讶地看到他……”
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he didn’t attack this place right here,” said the woman. “If he hears about it being here, I wouldn’t be none surprised to see him. If he hears it’s two cent in the cash register, I wouldn’t be a tall surprised if he …”
“够了,”红萨姆说。“快去把可乐拿给这些人,”那女人走开去拿剩下的东西。
“That’ll do,” Red Sam said. “Go bring these people their Co’-Colas,” and the woman went off to get the rest of the order.
“好男人难找,”红萨米说。“一切都变得糟糕透了。我记得以前你可以不锁门就走。现在不行了。”
“A good man is hard to find,” Red Sammy said. “Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more.”
他和祖母谈论着美好的时光。老太太说,在她看来,现在的局面完全是欧洲的错。她说,欧洲的行为方式会让你觉得我们是由金钱做成的,而红萨姆说谈论这件事毫无意义,她说得完全正确。孩子们跑到外面洁白的阳光下,看着花边楝树上的猴子。他正忙着抓身上的跳蚤,小心翼翼地用牙齿咬着每一只,仿佛那是美味佳肴。
He and the grandmother discussed better times. The old lady said that in her opinion Europe was entirely to blame for the way things were now. She said the way Europe acted you would think we were made of money and Red Sam said it was no use talking about it, she was exactly right. The children ran outside into the white sunlight and looked at the monkey in the lacy chinaberry tree. He was busy catching fleas on himself and biting each one carefully between his teeth as if it were a delicacy.
他们又驱车出发,进入炎热的午后。祖母打了个盹,每隔几分钟就会被自己的鼾声惊醒。在图姆斯伯勒郊外,她醒来后回忆起自己年轻时曾去过附近的一个老种植园。她说房子前面有六根白色柱子,有一条橡树林荫道通向房子,前面两边各有两个小木棚,在花园里散步后,你可以和你的追求者坐在那里。她记得要从哪条路拐进去才能到达那里。她知道贝利不愿意浪费时间去看一所老房子,但她越说,她就越想再看一眼,看看那对小木棚是否还在。“这所房子里有一个秘密面板,”她狡猾地说,不是说实话,而是希望自己是真的,“据说谢尔曼经过时,家里所有的银器都藏在里面,但一直没找到……”
They drove off again into the hot afternoon. The grandmother took cat naps and woke up every few minutes with her own snoring. Outside of Toombsboro she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady. She said the house had six white columns across the front and that there was an avenue of oaks leading up to it and two little wooden trellis arbors on either side in front where you sat down with your suitor after a stroll in the garden. She recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old house, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing. “There was a secret panel in this house,” she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, “and the story went that all the family silver was hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found …”
“嘿!”约翰·韦斯利说,“我们去看看吧!我们会找到它的!我们会把所有的木制品都挖出来,找到它!谁住在那里?你要在哪儿拐弯?嘿,爸爸,我们不能从那里拐弯吗?”
“Hey!” John Wesley said. “Let’s go see it! We’ll find it! We’ll poke all the woodwork and find it! Who lives there? Where do you turn off at? Hey Pop, can’t we turn off there?”
“我们从来没见过有秘密面板的房子!”琼·斯塔尖叫道。“我们去有秘密面板的房子吧!嘿,爸爸,我们不能去看看有秘密面板的房子吗?”
“We never have seen a house with a secret panel!” June Star shrieked. “Let’s go to the house with the secret panel! Hey Pop, can’t we go see the house with the secret panel!”
“我知道,离这儿不远,”祖母说。“路程不会超过二十分钟。”
“It’s not far from here, I know,” the grandmother said. “It wouldn’t take over twenty minutes.”
贝利直视前方。他的下巴僵硬得像马蹄铁。“不,”他说。
Bailey was looking straight ahead. His jaw was as rigid as a horseshoe. “No,” he said.
孩子们开始大喊大叫,说他们想看那栋有秘密面板的房子。约翰·韦斯利踢了踢前排座椅的后背,琼·斯塔趴在妈妈的肩膀上,拼命地在她耳边抱怨,说他们即使在度假时也从来没有玩得开心过,他们永远不能做他们想做的事。婴儿开始尖叫,约翰·韦斯利用力踢了踢座椅的后背,他父亲能感觉到他的肾脏被踢了。
The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the house with the secret panel. John Wesley kicked the back of the front seat and June Star hung over her mother’s shoulder and whined desperately into her ear that they never had any fun even on their vacation, that they could never do what THEY wanted to do. The baby began to scream and John Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could feel the blows in his kidney.
“好了!”他大叫一声,把车停在路边。“你们能不能闭嘴?你们能不能闭嘴一秒钟?如果你们不闭嘴,我们就哪儿也去不了。”
“All right!” he shouted and drew the car to a stop at the side of the road. “Will you all shut up? Will you all just shut up for one second? If you don’t shut up, we won’t go anywhere.”
“这对他们来说将是非常有教育意义的,”祖母喃喃说道。
“It would be very educational for them,” the grandmother murmured.
“好吧,”贝利说,“但你要知道:这是我们唯一一次停下来做这样的事。这是唯一的一次。”
“All right,” Bailey said, “but get this: this is the only time we’re going to stop for anything like this. This is the one and only time.”
“你要拐弯的那条土路在大约一英里处,”祖母指示道。“我们经过时我做了标记。”
“The dirt road that you have to turn down is about a mile back,” the grandmother directed. “I marked it when we passed.”
“一条土路,”贝利呻吟道。
“A dirt road,” Bailey groaned.
他们转身朝泥路走去后,祖母回忆起房子的其他细节,前门上方漂亮的玻璃和大厅里的烛灯。约翰·韦斯利说,秘密面板可能在壁炉里。
After they had turned around and were headed toward the dirt road, the grandmother recalled other points about the house, the beautiful glass over the front doorway and the candle-lamp in the hall. John Wesley said that the secret panel was probably in the fireplace.
“你不能进这所房子,”贝利说。“你不知道谁住在那里。”
“You can’t go inside this house,” Bailey said. “You don’t know who lives there.”
“当你们和前面的人谈话的时候,我会跑到后面,从窗户进去,”约翰·韦斯利建议道。
“While you all talk to the people in front, I’ll run around behind and get in a window,” John Wesley suggested.
“我们都留在车里,”他的母亲说。
“We’ll all stay in the car,” his mother said.
他们拐上土路,车子在粉红色的尘土中颠簸着。祖母回忆起以前没有铺好的路,一天要走三十英里。土路上山丘密布,路上有突然的冲积,危险的路堤上还有急转弯。突然间,他们来到一座小山上,俯瞰着方圆数英里的蓝色树梢,然后下一分钟,他们就来到一片红色洼地,被尘土覆盖的树木俯视着他们。
They turned onto the dirt road and the car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust. The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles was a day’s journey. The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them.
“这个地方最好马上出现,”贝利说,“否则我就要回去了。”
“This place had better turn up in a minute,” Bailey said, “or I’m going to turn around.”
这条路看上去好像已经好几个月没人走过了。
The road looked as if no one had traveled on it in months.
“没多远了,”祖母说,话音刚落,一个可怕的想法就浮现在她脑海。这个想法让她尴尬不已,脸色通红,眼睛瞪大,双脚一跃而起,把角落里的手提箱打翻在地。手提箱一动,她盖在篮子上的报纸盖子就咆哮着升了起来,猫皮蒂·辛跳到了贝利的肩膀上。
“It’s not much farther,” the grandmother said and just as she said it, a horrible thought came to her. The thought was so embarrassing that she turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up, upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey’s shoulder.
孩子们被甩到地上,他们的母亲抱着婴儿被甩出车门,摔倒在地上;老太太被甩到前排座位上。车子翻了个身,倒在路边的沟壑里。贝利坐在驾驶座上,那只猫——灰色条纹,宽大的白脸,橙色的鼻子——像毛毛虫一样紧紧地抱住他的脖子。
The children were thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the baby, was thrown out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown into the front seat. The car turned over once and landed right-side-up in a gulch off the side of the road. Bailey remained in the driver’s seat with the cat — gray-striped with a broad white face and an orange nose — clinging to his neck like a caterpillar.
孩子们一看到自己的胳膊和腿能动了,就赶紧从车里爬出来,大喊:“出车祸了!”祖母蜷缩在仪表盘下,希望自己受伤,这样贝利的怒火就不会一下子降临到她身上。事故发生前,她有一个可怕的想法:她记忆犹新的房子不在佐治亚州,而是在田纳西州。
As soon as the children saw they could move their arms and legs, they scrambled out of the car, shouting, “We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” The grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured so that Bailey’s wrath would not come down on her all at once. The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee.
贝利用双手把猫从脖子上取下来,扔出车窗,撞在一棵松树上。然后他下车开始寻找孩子的妈妈。她正坐在红色的沟渠边,抱着哭闹的婴儿,但她只是脸上有一道伤口,肩膀骨折了。“我们出事了!”孩子们兴奋地尖叫着。
Bailey removed the cat from his neck with both hands and flung it out the window against the side of a pine tree. Then he got out of the car and started looking for the children’s mother. She was sitting against the side of the red gutted ditch, holding the screaming baby, but she only had a cut down her face and a broken shoulder. “We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” the children screamed in a frenzy of delight.
“但没人死,”琼·斯塔失望地说道,祖母一瘸一拐地从车里走出来,她的帽子仍然固定在头上,但前檐破损,以一个漂亮的角度竖了起来,紫罗兰花枝垂在侧面。除了孩子们,他们都坐在沟里,从震惊中恢复过来。他们都在发抖。
“But nobody’s killed,” June Star said with disappointment as the grandmother limped out of the car, her hat still pinned to her head but the broken front brim standing up at a jaunty angle and the violet spray hanging off the side. They all sat down in the ditch, except the children, to recover from the shock. They were all shaking.
“也许会有车过来。”孩子的母亲嘶哑地说道。
“Maybe a car will come along,” said the children’s mother hoarsely.
“我想我伤到了某个器官,”祖母按着身体的一侧说,但没人回答她。贝利的牙齿咯咯作响。他穿着一件黄色的运动衫,上面有亮蓝色的鹦鹉图案,脸色和衬衫一样黄。祖母决定不提这所房子在田纳西州。
“I believe I have injured an organ,” said the grandmother, pressing her side, but no one answered her. Bailey’s teeth were clattering. He had on a yellow sport shirt with bright blue parrots designed in it and his face was as yellow as the shirt. The grandmother decided that she would not mention that the house was in Tennessee.
路大约在十英尺高的地方,他们只能看到路对面的树梢。他们坐在沟渠后面,后面是更多的树林,又高又黑又深。几分钟后,他们看到远处山顶上有一辆车,慢慢地开过来,好像车里的人在看着他们。祖母站起来,夸张地挥动双臂,以引起他们的注意。那辆车继续慢慢地开过来,在拐弯处消失,然后又出现在他们刚刚翻过的山顶上,速度更慢了。那是一辆黑色的、破旧的灵车。车里有三个人。
The road was about ten feet above and they could only see the tops of the trees on the other side of it. Behind the ditch they were sitting in there were more woods, tall and dark and deep. In a few minutes they saw a car some distance away on top of a hill, coming slowly as if the occupants were watching them. The grandmother stood up and waved both arms dramatically to attract their attention. The car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile. There were three men in it.
车子停在他们上方,几分钟后,司机面无表情地低头看着他们坐着的地方,没有说话。然后他转过头,对另外两个人嘟囔了几句,他们就下了车。一个胖小子穿着黑色长裤和红色运动衫,胸前印着一匹银色的骏马。他走到他们右侧,站在那里盯着他们看,嘴巴微张,露出一种松散的笑容。另一个人穿着卡其裤和蓝色条纹外套,灰色帽子拉得很低,遮住了大部分脸。他慢慢走到左边。两人都没有说话。
It came to a stop just over them and for some minutes, the driver looked down with a steady expressionless gaze to where they were sitting, and didn’t speak. Then he turned his head and muttered something to the other two and they got out. One was a fat boy in black trousers and a red sweat shirt with a silver stallion embossed on the front of it. He moved around on the right side of them and stood staring, his mouth partly open in a kind of loose grin. The other had on khaki pants and a blue striped coat and a gray hat pulled very low, hiding most of his face. He came around slowly on the left side. Neither spoke.
司机下了车,站在车边,低头看着他们。他比另外两个人年纪大一些。他的头发刚刚开始变白,戴着一副银边眼镜,看上去像个学者。他长着一张布满皱纹的脸,没穿衬衫或内衣。他穿着一条对他来说太紧的蓝色牛仔裤,手里拿着一顶黑帽子和一把枪。这两个男孩也有枪。
The driver got out of the car and stood by the side of it, looking down at them. He was an older man than the other two. His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn’t have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. The two boys also had guns.
“我们出事了!”孩子们尖叫道。
“We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” the children screamed.
祖母有一种奇怪的感觉,觉得这个戴眼镜的男人是她认识的人。他的脸对她来说很熟悉,好像她一生都认识他,但她想不起他是谁。他从车上走下来,开始沿着路堤走下来,小心翼翼地站着,以免滑倒。他穿着棕褐色和白色的鞋子,没有穿袜子,脚踝又红又瘦。“下午好,”他说。“我看你们都摔了一跤。”
The grandmother had the peculiar feeling that the bespectacled man was someone she knew. His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was. He moved away from the car and began to come down the embankment, placing his feet carefully so that he wouldn’t slip. He had on tan and white shoes and no socks, and his ankles were red and thin. “Good afternoon,” he said. “I see you all had you a little spill.”
“我们翻了两次!”祖母说。
“We turned over twice!” said the grandmother.
“一次就好,”他纠正道。“我们亲眼见过。试试他们的车,看看能不能开,海勒姆,”他平静地对戴灰色帽子的男孩说。
“Oncet,” he corrected. “We seen it happen. Try their car and see will it run, Hiram,” he said quietly to the boy with the gray hat.
“你拿枪干什么?”约翰·韦斯利问道。“你要拿枪干什么?”
“What you got that gun for?” John Wesley asked. “Whatcha gonna do with that gun?”
“女士,”男人对孩子的母亲说,“您介意叫孩子们坐在您旁边吗?孩子们让我很紧张。我希望你们都坐在一起,就在你们现在的位置。”
“Lady,” the man said to the children’s mother, “would you mind calling them children to sit down by you? Children make me nervous. I want all you all to sit down right together there where you’re at.”
“你告诉我们要做什么干什么?”朱恩·斯塔问道。
“What are you telling US what to do for?” June Star asked.
他们身后,树林像一张张黑色大嘴一样张开。“过来,”母亲说道。
Behind them the line of woods gaped like a dark open mouth. “Come here,” said the mother.
“你看,”贝利突然开口道,“我们陷入困境了!我们……”
“Look here now,” Bailey began suddenly, “we’re in a predicament! We’re in …”
祖母尖叫起来。她慌忙站起来,站在那里盯着看。“你就是那个不合群的人!”她说。“我一眼就认出了你!”
The grandmother shrieked. She scrambled to her feet and stood staring. “You’re The Misfit!” she said. “I recognized you at once!”
“是的,女士,”那人说道,脸上带着淡淡的微笑,仿佛他很高兴被人认识,“但是,女士,如果您不认识我的话,对你们所有人来说都会更好。”
“Yes’m,” the man said, smiling slightly as if he were pleased in spite of himself to be known, “but it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me.”
贝利猛地转过头,对母亲说了一句话,连孩子们都大吃一惊。老太太开始哭泣,贝利的脸也红了。
Bailey turned his head sharply and said something to his mother that shocked even the children. The old lady began to cry and The Misfit reddened.
“女士,”他说,“你别生气。有时男人会说出一些他本意无意的话。我不认为他有意这样跟你说话。”
“Lady,” he said, “don’t you get upset. Sometimes a man says things he don’t mean. I don’t reckon he meant to talk to you thataway.”
“你不会向女士开枪,对吧?”祖母说着,从袖口掏出一块干净的手帕,开始用它擦拭眼睛。
“You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” the grandmother said and removed a clean handkerchief from her cuff and began to slap at her eyes with it.
不合群的人用鞋尖戳了戳地面,戳出一个小洞,然后又把它盖上。“我可不想这么做,”他说。
The Misfit pointed the toe of his shoe into the ground and made a little hole and then covered it up again. “I would hate to have to,” he said.
“听着,”祖母几乎尖叫起来,“我知道你是个好人。你看上去一点也不像有普通血统的人。我知道你一定是好人家的孩子!”
“Listen,” the grandmother almost screamed, “I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!”
“是的,妈妈,”他说,“他们是世界上最优秀的人。”他笑起来时露出一排洁白而结实的牙齿。“上帝从来没有创造过比我妈妈更优秀的女人,而我爸爸的心是纯金的,”他说。穿着红色运动衫的男孩走到他们身后,枪挂在腰间。不合群的人蹲在地上。“看着那些孩子,鲍比·李,”他说。“你知道他们让我很紧张。”他看着面前挤在一起的六个人,似乎很尴尬,好像想不出什么话要说。“天上没有一丝云,”他抬头看着天空说道。“看不到太阳,但也没有看到云。”
“Yes mam,” he said, “finest people in the world.” When he smiled he showed a row of strong white teeth. “God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy’s heart was pure gold,” he said. The boy with the red sweat shirt had come around behind them and was standing with his gun at his hip. The Misfit squatted down on the ground. “Watch them children, Bobby Lee,” he said. “You know they make me nervous.” He looked at the six of them huddled together in front of him and he seemed to be embarrassed as if he couldn’t think of anything to say. “Ain’t a cloud in the sky,” he remarked, looking up at it. “Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud neither.”
“是的,今天天气很好,”祖母说。“听着,”她说,“你不应该叫自己‘不合群的人’,因为我知道你内心是个好人。我只要看看你就能看出来。”
“Yes, it’s a beautiful day,” said the grandmother. “Listen,” she said, “you shouldn’t call yourself The Misfit because I know you’re a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell.”
“嘘!”贝利大喊。“嘘!大家都闭嘴,让我来处理这件事!”他蹲在地上,像一个准备向前冲刺的跑步者,但他一动不动。
“Hush!” Bailey yelled. “Hush! Everybody shut up and let me handle this!” He was squatting in the position of a runner about to sprint forward but he didn’t move.
“我预先通知你,女士,”不合时宜的人说着,用枪托在地上画了一个小圆圈。
“I pre-chate that, lady,” The Misfit said and drew a little circle in the ground with the butt of his gun.
“修好这辆车需要半个小时,”海勒姆看着升起的车盖喊道。
“It’ll take a half a hour to fix this here car,” Hiram called, looking over the raised hood of it.
“好吧,你和鲍比·李先带他和那个小男孩一起过去,”不合群的人指着贝利和约翰·韦斯利说。“孩子们想问你一件事,”他对贝利说。“你介意和他们一起回到那片树林里吗?”
“Well, first you and Bobby Lee get him and that little boy to step over yonder with you,” The Misfit said, pointing to Bailey and John Wesley. “The boys want to ast you something,” he said to Bailey. “Would you mind stepping back in them woods there with them?”
“听着,”贝利开始说道,“我们陷入了可怕的困境!没人知道这是什么情况,”他的声音嘶哑了。他的眼睛像衬衫里的鹦鹉一样蓝,目光深邃,一动不动。
“Listen,” Bailey began, “we’re in a terrible predicament! Nobody realizes what this is,” and his voice cracked. His eyes were as blue and intense as the parrots in his shirt and he remained perfectly still.
祖母伸手整理帽檐,好像要和他一起去森林,但帽檐从她手中掉了下来。她站在那里盯着帽檐看,过了一会儿,她把帽檐扔到了地上。海勒姆拉着贝利的胳膊,好像在帮助一位老人。约翰·韦斯利抓住父亲的手,鲍比·李紧随其后。他们朝森林走去,刚走到黑暗的边缘,贝利转过身,靠在一棵灰色的、光秃秃的松树上,喊道:“我马上就回来,妈妈,等我!”
The grandmother reached up to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a second she let it fall on the ground. Hiram pulled Bailey up by the arm as if he were assisting an old man. John Wesley caught hold of his father’s hand and Bobby Lee followed. They went off toward the woods and just as they reached the dark edge, Bailey turned and supporting himself against a gray naked pine trunk, he shouted, “I’ll be back in a minute, Mamma, wait on me!”
“马上回来!”他的母亲尖叫道,但他们都消失在树林里。
“Come back this instant!” his mother shrilled but they all disappeared into the woods.
“贝利男孩!”祖母悲痛地喊道,但她发现自己正看着蹲在她面前地上的不合群的人。“我只知道你是个好人,”她绝望地说。“你一点也不普通!”
“Bailey Boy!” the grandmother called in a tragic voice but she found she was looking at The Misfit squatting on the ground in front of her. “I just know you’re a good man,” she said desperately. “You’re not a bit common!”
“不,我不是个好人,”不合群的人过了一会儿,好像仔细考虑了她的话,“但我也不是世界上最坏的人。我爸爸说我和兄弟姐妹是不同的品种。‘你知道,’爸爸说,‘有些人可以一辈子不问原因,而其他人必须知道为什么,而这个男孩就是后者之一。他会对一切都感兴趣!’”他戴上黑帽子,突然抬起头,然后望向树林深处,好像他又尴尬了。“很抱歉,在女士们面前我没有穿衬衫,”他说,微微耸起肩膀。“我们把逃跑时穿的衣服埋了起来,我们只是凑合着穿,直到我们的情况好转。我们从遇到的一些人那里借了这些,”他解释道。
“Nome, I ain’t a good man,” The Misfit said after a second as if he had considered her statement carefully, “but I ain’t the worst in the world neither. My daddy said I was a different breed of dog from my brothers and sisters. ‘You know,’ Daddy said, ‘it’s some that can live their whole life out without asking about it and it’s others has to know why it is, and this boy is one of the latters. He’s going to be into everything!’ ” He put on his black hat and looked up suddenly and then away deep into the woods as if he were embarrassed again. “I’m sorry I don’t have on a shirt before you ladies,” he said, hunching his shoulders slightly. “We buried our clothes that we had on when we escaped and we’re just making do until we can get better. We borrowed these from some folks we met,” he explained.
“没关系,”祖母说道。“也许贝利的行李箱里还有一件备用的衬衫。”
“That’s perfectly all right,” the grandmother said. “Maybe Bailey has an extra shirt in his suitcase.”
“我会仔细看看的,”不合时宜的人说。
“I’ll look and see terrectly,” The Misfit said.
“他们要把他带到哪里去?”孩子的母亲尖叫道。
“Where are they taking him?” the children’s mother screamed.
“爸爸自己就是个骗子,”不合群的人说。“你无法欺骗他。不过他从来没有惹上过当局的麻烦。他只是有办法对付他们。”
“Daddy was a card himself,” The Misfit said. “You couldn’t put anything over on him. He never got in trouble with the Authorities though. Just had the knack of handling them.”
“只要你努力,你也可以诚实的,”祖母说。“想想如果能安定下来,过上舒适的生活,不用一直担心有人追你,那该有多好。”
“You could be honest too if you’d only try,” said the grandmother. “Think how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a comfortable life and not have to think about somebody chasing you all the time.”
不合群的人不停地用枪托在地上挠着,好像在思考这件事。“是的,夫人,总有人在追捕你。”他低声说。
The Misfit kept scratching in the ground with the butt of his gun as if he were thinking about it. “Yes’m, somebody is always after you,” he murmured.
祖母站着低头看着他,注意到他帽子后面的肩胛骨很瘦。“你祈祷过吗?”她问。
The grandmother noticed how thin his shoulder blades were just behind his hat because she was standing up looking down at him. “Do you ever pray?” she asked.
他摇了摇头。她只看见他肩胛骨间黑色帽子的摆动。“不,”他说。
He shook his head. All she saw was the black hat wiggle between his shoulder blades. “Nome,” he said.
树林里传来一声枪响,紧接着又是一声。然后一片寂静。老太太猛地转过头。她能听到风吹过树梢,像一声长长的、心满意足的吸气声。“贝利男孩!”她叫道。
There was a pistol shot from the woods, followed closely by another. Then silence. The old lady’s head jerked around. She could hear the wind move through the tree tops like a long satisfied insuck of breath. “Bailey Boy!” she called.
“我当过一段时间福音歌手,”不合群的人说。“我做过各种各样的工作。在军队服役过,陆海军都服过,国内国外都服过,结过两次婚,当过殡葬工,在铁路上干过活,耕过地,经历过龙卷风,还亲眼见过一个人被活活烧死,”他抬头看着孩子的母亲和小女孩,她们坐在一起,脸色苍白,眼神呆滞;“我甚至亲眼见过一个女人被鞭打,”他说。
“I was a gospel singer for a while,” The Misfit said. “I been most everything. Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twict married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet,” and he looked up at the children’s mother and the little girl who were sitting close together, their faces white and their eyes glassy; “I even seen a woman flogged,” he said.
“祈祷,祈祷,”祖母开始说道,“祈祷,祈祷……”
“Pray, pray,” the grandmother began, “pray, pray …”
“我记得我从来都不是一个坏男孩,”不合群的人用一种近乎梦幻般的声音说道,“但不知从什么时候起,我做了错事,被送进了监狱。我被活埋了,”他抬起头,用坚定的目光吸引着她的注意力。
“I never was a bad boy that I remember of,” The Misfit said in an almost dreamy voice, “but somewheres along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive,” and he looked up and held her attention to him by a steady stare.
“那时你就应该开始祈祷,”她说。“你第一次被送进监狱时,做了什么?”
“That’s when you should have started to pray,” she said. “What did you do to get sent to the penitentiary, that first time?”
“向右转,那是一堵墙,”不合群的人说,再次抬头望向万里无云的天空。“向左转,那是一堵墙。向上看,那是天花板;向下看,那是地板。我忘了我做了什么,女士。我坐在那里,试图回忆我做了什么,但直到今天我都记不起来了。偶尔,我会觉得它正在向我走来,但它从来没有出现过。”
“Turn to the right, it was a wall,” The Misfit said, looking up again at the cloudless sky. “Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor. I forgot what I done, lady. I set there and set there, trying to remember what it was I done and I ain’t recalled it to this day. Oncet in a while, I would think it was coming to me, but it never come.”
“也许是他们错误地把你放进去了,”老太太含糊地说道。
“Maybe they put you in by mistake,” the old lady said vaguely.
“不,”他说。“这不是误会。他们有我的文件。”
“Nome,” he said. “It wasn’t no mistake. They had the papers on me.”
“你肯定偷了什么东西,”她说。
“You must have stolen something,” she said.
不合群的人微微冷笑。“没有人有我想要的东西,”他说。“监狱里的一位主治医生说我杀了我爸爸,但我知道那是谎话。我爸爸死于 1901 年的流行性流感,我和这件事一点关系也没有。他被埋葬在霍普韦尔山浸信会教堂墓地,你可以去那里亲眼看看。”
The Misfit sneered slightly. “Nobody had nothing I wanted,” he said. “It was a head-doctor at the penitentiary said what I had done was kill my daddy but I known that for a lie. My daddy died in nineteen ought nineteen of the epidemic flu and I never had a thing to do with it. He was buried in the Mount Hopewell Baptist churchyard and you can go there and see for yourself.”
“如果你祈祷,”老太太说,“耶稣就会帮助你。”
“If you would pray,” the old lady said, “Jesus would help you.”
“没错,”不合时宜的人说。
“That’s right,” The Misfit said.
“那么,你为什么不祈祷呢?”她突然高兴得颤抖着问道。
“Well then, why don’t you pray?” she asked trembling with delight suddenly.
“我不需要帮助,”他说。“我自己就很好了。”
“I don’t want no hep,” he said. “I’m doing all right by myself.”
鲍比·李和海勒姆从树林里慢慢走回来。鲍比·李拖着一件黄色衬衫,衬衫上印着亮蓝色的鹦鹉。
Bobby Lee and Hiram came ambling back from the woods. Bobby Lee was dragging a yellow shirt with bright blue parrots in it.
“把那件衬衫扔给我,鲍比·李,”不合群的人说。衬衫飞到他身上,落在他的肩膀上,他穿上了它。祖母说不出这件衬衫让她想起了什么。“不,女士,”不合群的人一边扣扣子一边说,“我发现罪行并不重要。你可以做这件事,也可以做另一件事,杀了人或从他的车上拆下一个轮胎,因为你迟早会忘记你做了什么,然后为此受到惩罚。”
“Thow me that shirt, Bobby Lee,” The Misfit said. The shirt came flying at him and landed on his shoulder and he put it on. The grandmother couldn’t name what the shirt reminded her of. “No, lady,” The Misfit said while he was buttoning it up, “I found out the crime don’t matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.”
孩子的母亲开始喘息,好像喘不过气来。“女士,”他问道,“你和那个小女孩愿意和鲍比·李和海勒姆一起去那边和你丈夫团聚吗?”
The children’s mother had begun to make heaving noises as if she couldn’t get her breath. “Lady,” he asked, “would you and that little girl like to step off yonder with Bobby Lee and Hiram and join your husband?”
“是的,谢谢你,”母亲有气无力地说道。她的左臂无助地垂着,另一只手抱着已经睡着的婴儿。“扶那位女士起来,海勒姆,”不合群的人一边说,一边挣扎着从沟里爬出来,“鲍比·李,你抓住那个小女孩的手。”
“Yes, thank you,” the mother said faintly. Her left arm dangled helplessly and she was holding the baby, who had gone to sleep, in the other. “Hep that lady up, Hiram,” The Misfit said as she struggled to climb out of the ditch, “and Bobby Lee, you hold onto that little girl’s hand.”
“我不想和他牵手,”琼·斯塔说。“他让我想起一头猪。”
“I don’t want to hold hands with him,” June Star said. “He reminds me of a pig.”
胖男孩红着脸笑了起来,抓住她的胳膊,把她拖进了树林,跟着海勒姆和她妈妈走了。
The fat boy blushed and laughed and caught her by the arm and pulled her off into the woods after Hiram and her mother.
祖母独自和不合群的人在一起时,发现自己失声了。天空中没有一丝云彩,也没有太阳。她周围除了树林什么也没有。她想告诉他必须祈祷。她张了张嘴又闭了好几次,才说出话来。最后,她发现自己说的是“耶稣。耶稣”,意思是耶稣会帮助你,但她说话的方式听起来像是在咒骂。
Alone with The Misfit, the grandmother found that she had lost her voice. There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun. There was nothing around her but woods. She wanted to tell him that he must pray. She opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out. Finally she found herself saying, “Jesus. Jesus,” meaning, Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing.
“是的,夫人,”不合群的人说,好像他同意了。“耶稣把一切都搞乱了。他的情况和我的情况一样,只是他没有犯任何罪,他们可以证明我犯了罪,因为他们有我的证件。当然,”他说,“他们从来没有给我看我的证件。这就是我现在签名的原因。我很久以前就说过,你要签名,签上你做的每一件事,并保留一份副本。然后你就会知道你做了什么,你可以把罪行和惩罚进行比较,看看它们是否相符,最后你会有东西来证明你没有受到公正的对待。我称自己为不合群的人,”他说,“因为我不能把我所做的一切错事与我所遭受的一切惩罚相符。”
“Yes’m,” The Misfit said as if he agreed. “Jesus thown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had the papers on me. Of course,” he said, “they never shown me my papers. That’s why I sign myself now. I said long ago, you get you a signature and sign everything you do and keep a copy of it. Then you’ll know what you done and you can hold up the crime to the punishment and see do they match and in the end you’ll have something to prove you ain’t been treated right. I call myself The Misfit,” he said, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.”
树林里传来一声刺耳的尖叫,紧接着是一声枪响。“女士,您觉得一个人受到严厉惩罚,而另一个人却一点惩罚都没有,这种说法对吗?”
There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report. “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?”
“天啊!”老太太哭了起来。“你血统高尚!我知道你不会枪杀女士!我知道你来自好人家!祈祷吧!天啊,你不该枪杀女士。我会把我所有的钱都给你!”
“Jesus!” the old lady cried. “You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!”
“女士,”不合时宜的人望着她身后树林深处说道,“从来没有一个人给殡仪馆老板小费。”
“Lady,” The Misfit said, looking beyond her far into the woods, “there never was a body that give the undertaker a tip.”
又响起两声枪响,祖母抬起头,像一只渴死的老母火鸡哭着要水喝,大声喊道:“贝利男孩,贝利男孩!”仿佛她的心都要碎了。
There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, “Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!” as if her heart would break.
“耶稣是唯一一个能使死人复活的人,”不合群的人继续说道,“他不应该这么做。他把一切都搞乱了。如果他按他说的做了,那么你只需要抛弃一切,跟随他,如果他没有这样做,那么你只需要尽情享受剩下的几分钟——杀了人,烧了人的房子,或者对他做一些其他卑鄙的事情。没有乐趣,只有卑鄙,”他说着,声音几乎变成了咆哮。
“Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,” The Misfit continued, “and He shouldn’t have done it. He thown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but thow away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best you can — by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,” he said and his voice had become almost a snarl.
“也许他没有让死人复活,”老太太嘟囔着,她不知道自己在说什么,头晕目眩,双腿扭曲着,跌倒在沟里。
“Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,” the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.
“我当时不在场,所以我不能说他没有,”不合群的人说。 “我真希望当时我在场,”他说着,用拳头捶着地面。 “我不在场是不对的,因为如果我在场,我就会知道。听着,女士,”他高声说,“如果我在场,我就会知道,我就不会像现在这样了。” 他的声音似乎要嘶哑了,祖母的头脑一下子清醒了。她看到那个男人的脸扭到她面前,好像要哭了,她低声说:“你是我的孩子之一。你是我自己的孩子之一!” 她伸出手,摸了摸他的肩膀。不合群的人像被蛇咬了一样向后跳了起来,朝她的胸口开了三枪。然后他把枪放在地上,摘下眼镜,开始擦。
“I wasn’t there so I can’t say He didn’t,” The Misfit said. “I wisht I had of been there,” he said, hitting the ground with his fist. “It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady,” he said in a high voice, “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.” His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest. Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them.
海勒姆和鲍比·李从树林里回来,站在沟渠边,低头看着祖母,她半坐半躺在一滩血泊中,双腿像孩子一样交叉,脸上带着微笑,仰望着万里无云的天空。
Hiram and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky.
不合群的人没有戴眼镜,眼睛红肿苍白,看上去毫无防备。“把她拿开,扔到你扔其他人的地方,”他说着,抱起那只在他腿上蹭来蹭去的猫。
Without his glasses, The Misfit’s eyes were red-rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking. “Take her off and thow her where you thown the others,” he said, picking up the cat that was rubbing itself against his leg.
“她很健谈,不是吗?”鲍比·李一边哼唱一边滑下沟渠。
“She was a talker, wasn’t she?” Bobby Lee said, sliding down the ditch with a yodel.
“如果有人在她生命中每时每刻都向她开枪,她会是一个好女人,”The Misfit 说道。
“She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”
“真有趣!”Bobby Lee说道。
“Some fun!” Bobby Lee said.
“闭嘴,鲍比·李,”不合群的人说。“这不是生活中真正的乐趣。”
“Shut up, Bobby Lee,” The Misfit said. “It’s no real pleasure in life.”
[1955年]
[1955]
[1927–2014]
[1927–2014]
格雷戈里·拉巴萨译,1955 年
TRANSLATED BY GREGORY RABASSA, 1955
下雨的第三天,他们在屋子里杀死了太多螃蟹,佩拉约不得不穿过湿透的院子,把它们扔进海里,因为新生儿整晚都在发烧,他们认为这是因为恶臭。从星期二开始,世界就变得悲伤起来。海天一片灰蒙蒙的,三月的夜晚,海滩的沙子像粉末一样闪闪发光,现在却变成了一团泥浆和腐烂的贝类。中午的光线很弱,当佩拉约扔掉螃蟹回到屋里时,他很难看清院子后面动弹和呻吟的是什么。他必须走近才能看到那是一个老人,一个非常老的老人,脸朝下躺在泥里,尽管他费了很大的劲,却无法站起来,因为巨大的翅膀阻碍了他。
On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench. The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish. The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings.
佩拉约被噩梦吓坏了,他跑去叫来正在给生病的孩子敷药的妻子埃莉森达,然后把她带到院子后面。他们俩都目瞪口呆地看着倒下的尸体。他穿得像个拾荒者。秃顶上只剩下几根褪色的头发,嘴里只有几颗牙齿,他那可怜的曾祖父浑身湿透的样子让他失去了任何可能拥有的威严感。他那巨大的秃鹰翅膀脏兮兮的,一半被拔掉了,永远陷在泥里。他们久久地、仔细地看着他,佩拉约和埃莉森达很快就克服了惊讶,最后发现他很面熟。于是他们鼓起勇气和他说话,他用一种难以理解的方言和浓重的水手嗓音回答了他们。就这样,他们忽略了翅膀的不便,非常聪明地断定他是一艘被风暴击沉的外国船上的孤单的遇难者。然而,他们却叫来一位深谙生死的邻居妇女来见他,而她只需看一眼,就能让他们意识到自己的错误。
Frightened by that nightmare, Pelayo ran to get Elisenda, his wife, who was putting compresses on the sick child, and he took her to the rear of the courtyard. They both looked at the fallen body with mute stupor. He was dressed like a ragpicker. There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather had taken away any sense of grandeur he might have had. His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, were forever entangled in the mud. They looked at him so long and so closely that Pelayo and Elisenda very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him familiar. Then they dared speak to him, and he answered in an incomprehensible dialect with a strong sailor’s voice. That was how they skipped over the inconvenience of the wings and quite intelligently concluded that he was a lonely castaway from some foreign ship wrecked by the storm. And yet, they called in a neighbor woman who knew everything about life and death to see him, and all she needed was one look to show them their mistake.
“他是天使,”她告诉他们。“他肯定是来找孩子的,但是这个可怜的家伙太老了,被雨淋倒了。”
“He’s an angel,” she told them. “He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down.”
第二天,大家都知道佩拉约家里关押着一位有血有肉的天使。尽管邻居那位聪明的妇人认为天使是天上阴谋的逃亡者,但他们不忍心将天使打死。佩拉约手持警棍,在厨房里守着他一下午,临睡前将天使从泥地里拖出来,和母鸡一起关在铁丝鸡笼里。半夜,雨停了,佩拉约和埃莉森达还在杀螃蟹。不久之后,孩子醒了,没有发烧,还想吃东西。于是他们心慈手软,决定将天使放在木筏上,木筏上放了三天的淡水和食物,让他在公海上自生自灭。但当他们在第一缕曙光中走进院子时,却发现鸡舍前面的整个街区都在和天使开玩笑,没有丝毫的敬畏,他们从铁丝网的缝隙里往他身上扔东西吃,仿佛他不是超自然的生物,而是马戏团的动物。
On the following day everyone knew that a flesh-and-blood angel was held captive in Pelayo’s house. Against the judgment of the wise neighbor woman, for whom angels in those times were the fugitive survivors of a celestial conspiracy, they did not have the heart to club him to death. Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club, and before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. In the middle of the night, when the rain stopped, Pelayo and Elisenda were still killing crabs. A short time afterward the child woke up without a fever and with a desire to eat. Then they felt magnanimous and decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas. But when they went out into the courtyard with the first light of dawn, they found the whole neighborhood in front of the chicken coop having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal.
贡扎加神父在七点之前就到了,听到这个奇怪的消息后大吃一惊。那时,围观者已经来了,他们比黎明时分的围观者更不轻浮,他们对俘虏的未来做出了各种猜测。他们中最简单的人认为他应该被任命为世界市长。其他一些心胸更坚定的人认为,为了赢得所有战争,应该将他提升为五星上将。一些幻想家希望他能被配种,以便在地球上培育出一群有翅膀的智者,他们可以掌管宇宙。但贡扎加神父在成为神父之前,曾是一名健壮的樵夫。他站在铁丝网旁,一瞬间就复习了教义,然后请他们打开门,这样他就可以仔细看看这个可怜的人,他看起来更像是一群着迷的鸡群中一只巨大的老母鸡。他躺在角落里,在阳光下晒干张开的翅膀,周围是早起的人扔给他的果皮和早餐剩菜。他与世间的无礼格格不入,当冈萨加神父走进鸡舍,用拉丁语向他问好时,他只是抬起古板的眼睛,用他的方言嘟囔了几句。当教区牧师看到他不懂上帝的语言,也不知道如何问候他的牧师时,他第一次怀疑他是骗子。然后他注意到,近距离看他太像人类了:他身上有难以忍受的户外气味,翅膀背面布满寄生虫,主羽毛被陆地上的风吹坏了,他身上没有任何东西能与天使的骄傲尊严相提并论。然后他走出鸡舍,在一次简短的布道中警告好奇的人不要因为天真而冒险。他提醒他们,魔鬼有一个坏习惯,就是利用狂欢节的把戏来迷惑粗心的人。他辩称,如果翅膀不是区分鹰和飞机的必要因素,那么在识别天使方面就更不是了。尽管如此,他还是答应给他的主教写一封信,让他的主教写信给他的大主教,让他的大主教写信给教皇,以便得到最高法院的最终裁决。
Father Gonzaga arrived before seven o’clock, alarmed at the strange news. By that time onlookers less frivolous than those at dawn had already arrived and they were making all kinds of conjectures concerning the captive’s future. The simplest among them thought that he should be named mayor of the world. Others of sterner mind felt that he should be promoted to the rank of five-star general in order to win all wars. Some visionaries hoped that he could be put to stud in order to implant on earth a race of winged wise men who could take charge of the universe. But Father Gonzaga, before becoming a priest, had been a robust woodcutter. Standing by the wire, he reviewed his catechism in an instant and asked them to open the door so that he could take a close look at that pitiful man who looked more like a huge decrepit hen among the fascinated chickens. He was lying in a corner drying his open wings in the sunlight among the fruit peels and breakfast leftovers that the early risers had thrown him. Alien to the impertinences of the world, he only lifted his antiquarian eyes and murmured something in his dialect when Father Gonzaga went into the chicken coop and said good morning to him in Latin. The parish priest had his first suspicion of an impostor when he saw that he did not understand the language of God or know how to greet His ministers. Then he noticed that seen close up he was much too human: he had an unbearable smell of the outdoors, the back side of his wings was strewn with parasites and his main feathers had been mistreated by terrestrial winds, and nothing about him measured up to the proud dignity of angels. Then he came out of the chicken coop and in a brief sermon warned the curious against the risks of being ingenuous. He reminded them that the devil had the bad habit of making use of carnival tricks in order to confuse the unwary. He argued that if wings were not the essential element in determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane, they were even less so in the recognition of angels. Nevertheless, he promised to write a letter to his bishop so that the latter would write to his primate so that the latter would write to the Supreme Pontiff in order to get the final verdict from the highest courts.
他的谨慎让那些心灰意冷的人心碎。天使被俘的消息传得如此之快,几个小时后,院子里就变得像集市一样喧闹,他们不得不叫来上好刺刀的部队来驱散即将推倒房子的暴徒。埃莉森达因为清扫了那么多集市垃圾而脊柱都扭伤了,于是她想出了一个主意,在院子里建起栅栏,收 5 美分的门票才能看到天使。
His prudence fell on sterile hearts. The news of the captive angel spread with such rapidity that after a few hours the courtyard had the bustle of a marketplace and they had to call in troops with fixed bayonets to disperse the mob that was about to knock the house down. Elisenda, her spine all twisted from sweeping up so much marketplace trash, then got the idea of fencing in the yard and charging five cents admission to see the angel.
好奇的人从远方赶来。一个流动嘉年华来了,一个飞行杂技演员在人群上空盘旋了好几次,但没有人注意他,因为他的翅膀不是天使的翅膀,而是恒星蝙蝠的翅膀。世界上最不幸的病人也来寻求康复:一个可怜的女人从小就数着自己的心跳,但数不清了;一个葡萄牙男人因为星星的噪音而无法入睡;一个梦游者半夜起来把醒着时做的事情推翻;还有许多其他疾病不那么严重的人。在这场让大地颤抖的混乱中,佩拉约和埃莉森达疲惫不堪,因为不到一周的时间,他们的房间里就塞满了钱,等待入场的朝圣者队伍仍然延伸到地平线之外。
The curious came from far away. A traveling carnival arrived with a flying acrobat who buzzed over the crowd several times, but no one paid any attention to him because his wings were not those of an angel but, rather, those of a sidereala bat. The most unfortunate invalids on earth came in search of health: a poor woman who since childhood had been counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers; a Portuguese man who couldn’t sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him; a sleep-walker who got up at night to undo the things he had done while awake; and many others with less serious ailments. In the midst of that shipwreck disorder that made the earth tremble, Pelayo and Elisenda were happy with fatigue, for in less than a week they had crammed their rooms with money and the line of pilgrims waiting their turn to enter still reached beyond the horizon.
天使是唯一一个不参与自己行为的人。他整天都在努力让自己在借来的巢穴里舒服地待着,被放在铁丝网旁边的油灯和圣餐蜡烛的酷热弄得晕头转向。起初,他们试图让他吃一些樟脑丸,根据聪明的邻居妇女的智慧,樟脑丸是规定给天使吃的食物。但他拒绝了他们,就像他拒绝了忏悔者带给他的教皇午餐一样,他们也不知道到底是因为他是天使,还是因为他是个老人,最后他只吃了茄子糊。他唯一的超自然美德似乎是耐心。尤其是在最初的日子里,母鸡啄他,寻找在他翅膀上繁殖的星虫,残疾人拔掉羽毛来触摸他们有缺陷的部分,甚至最仁慈的人也向他扔石头,试图让他站起来,这样他们就能看到他站着。他们唯一一次成功唤醒他,是他们用烙牛烙铁烫他的侧身,因为他已经一动不动地呆了好几个小时,他们以为他死了。他突然惊醒,用他那神秘的语言咆哮着,眼里含着泪水,他拍打了几下翅膀,引发了一阵鸡粪和月球尘埃的旋风和一阵似乎不属于这个世界的恐慌。虽然许多人认为他的反应不是愤怒而是痛苦,但从那时起,他们就小心翼翼地不去惹恼他,因为大多数人明白,他的被动不是英雄的悠闲,而是一场静息中的大灾变。
The angel was the only one who took no part in his own act. He spent his time trying to get comfortable in his borrowed nest, befuddled by the hellish heat of the oil lamps and sacramental candles that had been placed along the wire. At first they tried to make him eat some mothballs, which, according to the wisdom of the wise neighbor woman, were the food prescribed for angels. But he turned them down, just as he turned down the papal lunches that the penitents brought him, and they never found out whether it was because he was an angel or because he was an old man that in the end he ate nothing but eggplant mush. His only supernatural virtue seemed to be patience. Especially during the first days, when the hens pecked at him, searching for the stellar parasites that proliferated in his wings, and the cripples pulled out feathers to touch their defective parts with, and even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise so they could see him standing. The only time they succeeded in arousing him was when they burned his side with an iron for branding steers, for he had been motionless for so many hours that they thought he was dead. He awoke with a start, ranting in his hermetic language and with tears in his eyes, and he flapped his wings a couple of times, which brought on a whirlwind of chicken dung and lunar dust and a gale of panic that did not seem to be of this world. Although many thought that his reaction had been one not of rage but of pain, from then on they were careful not to annoy him, because the majority understood that his passivity was not that of a hero taking his ease but that of a cataclysm in repose.
冈萨加神父用女仆式的灵感公式来抑制人群的轻浮,同时等待对俘虏性质的最终判决。但来自罗马的邮件没有表现出任何紧迫感。他们花时间查明囚犯是否有肚脐,他的方言是否与阿拉姆语有任何联系,他能被钉在针头上多少次,或者他是否只是一个长着翅膀的挪威人。如果不是天意事件结束了神父的磨难,这些微不足道的信件可能会一直寄来寄去,直到世界末日。
Father Gonzaga held back the crowd’s frivolity with formulas of maidservant inspiration while awaiting the arrival of a final judgment on the nature of the captive. But the mail from Rome showed no sense of urgency. They spent their time finding out if the prisoner had a navel, if his dialect had any connection with Aramaic, how many times he could fit on the head of a pin, or whether he wasn’t just a Norwegian with wings. Those meager letters might have come and gone until the end of time if a providential event had not put an end to the priest’s tribulations.
碰巧的是,在那些日子里,除了许多其他的狂欢节景点外,镇上还出现了一个巡回演出,表演者是一个女人,她因为不听父母的话而被变成了一只蜘蛛。看她的门票不仅比看天使的门票便宜,而且人们被允许问她各种各样的问题,关于她荒谬的状况,从上到下地检查她,这样就没有人会怀疑她恐怖的真实性。她是一只可怕的狼蛛,大小和公羊一样,头像一个悲伤的少女。然而,最令人心碎的不是她那奇异的外形,而是她讲述不幸遭遇时真诚的痛苦。当她还是个孩子的时候,她偷偷溜出父母家去参加舞会,当她未经允许跳了一整夜的舞,穿过树林回来时,一声可怕的雷声将天空撕成两半,一道硫磺闪电从裂缝中射出,把她变成了一只蜘蛛。她唯一的营养来自仁慈之人扔进她嘴里的肉丸。这样的场面充满了如此多的人类真理和如此可怕的教训,注定会毫不费力地击败一个几乎不屑一顾凡人的傲慢天使。此外,天使所行的几个奇迹表明了某种精神错乱,比如那个盲人没有恢复视力但长出了三颗新牙,或者那个瘫痪的人没有走路但几乎中了彩票,还有那个麻风病人的伤口长出了向日葵。这些更像是嘲弄的安慰奇迹已经毁掉了天使的名声,当那个变成蜘蛛的女人最终彻底压垮他时。就这样,冈萨加神父的失眠症永远治愈了,佩拉约的庭院又回到了三天下雨、螃蟹穿过卧室的那段时间一样空旷。
It so happened that during those days, among so many other carnival attractions, there arrived in town the traveling show of the woman who had been changed into a spider for having disobeyed her parents. The admission to see her was not only less than the admission to see the angel, but people were permitted to ask her all manner of questions about her absurd state and to examine her up and down so that no one would ever doubt the truth of her horror. She was a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of a sad maiden. What was most heart-rending, however, was not her outlandish shape but the sincere affliction with which she recounted the details of her misfortune. While still practically a child she had sneaked out of her parents’ house to go to a dance, and while she was coming back through the woods after having danced all night without permission, a fearful thunderclap rent the sky in two and through the crack came the lightning bolt of brimstone that changed her into a spider. Her only nourishment came from the meatballs that charitable souls chose to toss into her mouth. A spectacle like that, full of so much human truth and with such a fearful lesson, was bound to defeat without even trying that of a haughty angel who scarcely deigned to look at mortals. Besides, the few miracles attributed to the angel showed a certain mental disorder, like the blind man who didn’t recover his sight but grew three new teeth, or the paralytic who didn’t get to walk but almost won the lottery, and the leper whose sores sprouted sunflowers. Those consolation miracles, which were more like mocking fun, had already ruined the angel’s reputation when the woman who had been changed into a spider finally crushed him completely. That was how Father Gonzaga was cured forever of his insomnia and Pelayo’s courtyard went back to being as empty as during the time it had rained for three days and crabs walked through the bedrooms.
房子的主人没有理由哀叹。他们用省下的钱建了一栋两层楼的豪宅,有阳台和花园,还装了高高的网,防止螃蟹在冬天进来,窗户上装了铁条,防止天使进来。佩拉约还在镇子附近建了一个养兔场,永远放弃了法警的工作,埃莉森达买了几双高跟缎子高跟鞋和许多彩虹色丝绸连衣裙,那种裙子是当时最受追捧的女人星期天穿的。鸡笼是唯一没有受到任何关注的东西。如果他们不时用克里昂林冲洗鸡笼,并在里面燃烧没药泪,那不是在向天使致敬,而是为了驱走粪堆的恶臭,粪堆的恶臭仍然像幽灵一样弥漫在各处,把新房子变成了旧房子。起初,当孩子学会走路时,他们小心翼翼,不让他太靠近鸡笼。但后来他们开始不再害怕,习惯了这种气味,在孩子长出第二颗牙齿之前,他就到鸡舍里玩耍,那里的铁丝都散了。天使对他的冷漠不亚于对其他凡人的冷漠,但他以一条没有幻想的狗的耐心忍受着最巧妙的恶行。他们俩同时得了水痘。照顾孩子的医生无法抗拒听天使心脏的诱惑,他发现心脏里有那么多呼呼声,肾脏里有那么多声音,似乎他不可能还活着。然而,最让他吃惊的是他翅膀的逻辑性。它们在这个完全是人类的有机体上看起来是如此自然,以至于他无法理解为什么其他人没有翅膀。
The owners of the house had no reason to lament. With the money they saved they built a two-story mansion with balconies and gardens and high netting so that crabs wouldn’t get in during the winter, and with iron bars on the windows so that angels wouldn’t get in. Pelayo also set up a rabbit warren close to town and gave up his job as bailiff for good, and Elisenda bought some satin pumps with high heels and many dresses of iridescent silk, the kind worn on Sunday by the most desirable women in those times. The chicken coop was the only thing that didn’t receive any attention. If they washed it down with creolin and burned tears of myrrh inside it every so often, it was not in homage to the angel but to drive away the dungheap stench that still hung everywhere like a ghost and was turning the new house into an old one. At first, when the child learned to walk, they were careful that he not get too close to the chicken coop. But then they began to lose their fears and got used to the smell, and before the child got his second teeth he’d gone inside the chicken coop to play, where the wires were falling apart. The angel was no less standoffish with him than with other mortals, but he tolerated the most ingenious infamies with the patience of a dog who had no illusions. They both came down with chicken pox at the same time. The doctor who took care of the child couldn’t resist the temptation to listen to the angel’s heart, and he found so much whistling in the heart and so many sounds in his kidneys that it seemed impossible for him to be alive. What surprised him most, however, was the logic of his wings. They seemed so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn’t understand why other men didn’t have them too.
当孩子开始上学时,鸡舍已经因为日晒雨淋而倒塌,已经有一段时间了。天使像一个垂死的流浪汉一样,到处拖着身子走来走去。他们用扫帚把他赶出卧室,一会儿又在厨房里发现他。他似乎同时出现在很多地方,他们开始认为他被复制了,他正在整个房子里复制自己,而愤怒而精神错乱的埃莉森达喊道,生活在这个充满天使的地狱里真是太可怕了。他几乎吃不下饭,他那双老花眼也变得模糊不清,到处撞到柱子。他只剩下最后几根羽毛的光秃秃的套管。佩拉约给他盖上一条毯子,施舍给他,让他睡在棚子里,这时他们才注意到他晚上发烧,说着挪威老人的绕口令,神志不清。那是他们为数不多的几次感到惊慌的其中一次,因为他们认为他将会死去,而且就连聪明的邻居妇女也无法告诉他们如何处理死去的天使。
When the child began school it had been some time since the sun and rain had caused the collapse of the chicken coop. The angel went dragging himself about here and there like a stray dying man. They would drive him out of the bedroom with a broom and a moment later find him in the kitchen. He seemed to be in so many places at the same time that they grew to think that he’d been duplicated, that he was reproducing himself all through the house, and the exasperated and unhinged Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in that hell full of angels. He could scarcely eat and his antiquarian eyes had also become so foggy that he went about bumping into posts. All he had left were the bare cannulaeb of his last feathers. Pelayo threw a blanket over him and extended him the charity of letting him sleep in the shed, and only then did they notice that he had a temperature at night, and was delirious with the tongue twisters of an old Norwegian. That was one of the few times they became alarmed, for they thought he was going to die and not even the wise neighbor woman had been able to tell them what to do with dead angels.
然而,他不仅熬过了最艰难的冬天,而且在初晴时似乎有所好转。他一动不动地待在院子最远的角落里好几天,没有人看见他。12 月初,他的翅膀上开始长出一些又大又硬的羽毛,像稻草人的羽毛,看起来更像是衰老带来的又一次不幸。但他一定知道这些变化的原因,因为他非常小心,不让任何人注意到它们,不让任何人听到他有时在星空下唱的船歌。一天早上,埃莉森达正在切几捆洋葱准备午餐,一阵风似乎从大海吹进来,吹进了厨房。然后她走到窗前,抓住了天使第一次尝试飞行的情景。他动作太笨拙了,指甲在菜地里划出一条沟,他笨拙的拍打着翅膀,滑落在光线上,无法抓住空气,差点把棚子撞倒。但他确实设法爬升了。当埃莉森达看到他飞过最后几栋房子,像一只老秃鹫一样,用危险的翅膀支撑着自己时,她为自己和他松了一口气。她甚至在切完洋葱后还一直看着他,一直看着,直到她再也看不到他,因为那时他不再是她生活中的烦恼,而是海平面上一个想象中的点。
And yet he not only survived his worst winter, but seemed improved with the first sunny days. He remained motionless for several days in the farthest corner of the courtyard, where no one would see him, and at the beginning of December some large, stiff feathers began to grow on his wings, the feathers of a scarecrow, which looked more like another misfortune of decrepitude. But he must have known the reason for those changes, for he was quite careful that no one should notice them, that no one should hear the sea chanteys that he sometimes sang under the stars. One morning Elisenda was cutting some bunches of onions for lunch when a wind that seemed to come from the high seas blew into the kitchen. Then she went to the window and caught the angel in his first attempts at flight. They were so clumsy that his fingernails opened a furrow in the vegetable patch and he was on the point of knocking the shed down with the ungainly flapping that slipped on the light and couldn’t get a grip on the air. But he did manage to gain altitude. Elisenda let out a sigh of relief, for herself and for him, when she saw him pass over the last houses, holding himself up in some way with the risky flapping of a senile vulture. She kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea.
[1955年]
[1955]
恒星:来自星星。
aSidereal: Coming from the stars.
b管状体:羽毛通过该管状体附着在身体上。
bCannulae: The tubular pieces by which feathers are attached to a body.
(1938–1988)
[1938–1988]
这位盲人是我妻子的老朋友,他正要去过夜。他的妻子去世了。所以他要去康涅狄格州拜访已故妻子的亲戚。他从岳父岳母家给我妻子打电话。安排好了。他会坐火车过来,车程五个小时,我妻子会在车站接他。自从十年前的一个夏天在西雅图为他工作以来,她再也没有见过他。但她和盲人一直保持着联系。他们录了磁带,并互相邮寄。我对他的来访并不热心。我不认识他。他的盲目让我很困扰。我对盲人的概念来自电影。在电影里,盲人行动缓慢,从不笑。有时他们由导盲犬牵着。我并不期待家里有个盲人。
This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night. His wife had died. So he was visiting the dead wife’s relatives in Connecticut. He called my wife from his in-laws’. Arrangements were made. He would come by train, a five-hour trip, and my wife would meet him at the station. She hadn’t seen him since she worked for him one summer in Seattle ten years ago. But she and the blind man had kept in touch. They made tapes and mailed them back and forth. I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.
那个夏天在西雅图,她需要一份工作。她没有钱。她打算在夏天结束时嫁给的那个男人正在军官训练学校学习。他也没有钱。但她爱上了这个男人,他也爱上她,等等。她在报纸上看到过一篇文章:招聘启事——给盲人读书,还有一个电话号码。她打电话过去,当场就被录用了。她整个夏天都和这个盲人一起工作。她给他读书,案例研究、报告,诸如此类。她帮他整理县社会服务部的小办公室。他们成了好朋友,我的妻子和盲人。我怎么会知道这些的?她告诉我的。她还告诉了我另外一件事。在她在办公室的最后一天,盲人问他是否可以摸她的脸。她同意了。她告诉我,他用手指触摸了她脸的每一部分,她的鼻子——甚至脖子!她永远不会忘记。她甚至试着为此写一首诗。她总是想写一首诗。她每年都会写一两首诗,通常是在她经历了一些非常重要的事情之后。
That summer in Seattle she had needed a job. She didn’t have any money. The man she was going to marry at the end of the summer was in officers’ training school. He didn’t have any money, either. But she was in love with the guy, and he was in love with her, etc. She’d seen something in the paper: help wanted — Reading to Blind Man, and a telephone number. She phoned and went over, was hired on the spot. She’d worked with this blind man all summer. She read stuff to him, case studies, reports, that sort of thing. She helped him organize his little office in the county social-service department. They’d become good friends, my wife and the blind man. How do I know these things? She told me. And she told me something else. On her last day in the office, the blind man asked if he could touch her face. She agreed to this. She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose — even her neck! She never forgot it. She even tried to write a poem about it. She was always trying to write a poem. She wrote a poem or two every year, usually after something really important had happened to her.
我们刚开始约会时,她给我看了那首诗。在诗中,她回忆起他的手指,以及它们在她脸上移动的样子。在诗中,她谈到了她当时的感受,谈到了当盲人触摸她的鼻子和嘴唇时她脑子里想的是什么。我记得我当时对这首诗没什么印象。当然,我没有告诉她。也许我只是不懂诗。我承认,当我拿起一本书来读的时候,它不是我首先想到的东西。
When we first started going out together, she showed me the poem. In the poem, she recalled his fingers and the way they had moved around over her face. In the poem, she talked about what she had felt at the time, about what went through her mind when the blind man touched her nose and lips. I can remember I didn’t think much of the poem. Of course, I didn’t tell her that. Maybe I just don’t understand poetry. I admit it’s not the first thing I reach for when I pick up something to read.
不管怎样,这个最初享受她恩惠的男人,未来的军官,是她青梅竹马的恋人。好吧。我是说,在夏天结束时,她让盲人用手抚摸她的脸,和他道别,嫁给了她儿时的朋友,现在是一名军官,她离开了西雅图。但是他们一直保持联系,她和盲人。大约一年后,她第一次联系。一天晚上,她从阿拉巴马州的一个空军基地给他打电话。她想谈谈。他们谈了谈。他让她寄给他一盘磁带,告诉他她的生活。她照做了。她寄了磁带。在磁带上,她告诉盲人她的丈夫和他们在军队的生活。她告诉盲人,她爱她的丈夫,但她不喜欢他们住的地方,也不喜欢他参与军工行业。她告诉盲人,她写了一首诗,他出现在诗里。她告诉他,她正在写一首诗,描述作为一名空军军官的妻子的感受。这首诗还没有完成。她还在写。盲人录了一盘磁带。他把磁带寄给了她。她又录了一盘磁带。这样持续了好几年。我妻子的军官被派往一个又一个基地。她从穆迪空军基地、麦圭尔基地、麦康奈尔基地寄磁带,最后到了萨克拉门托附近的特拉维斯基地,在那里的一天晚上,她感到孤独,与在那种四处奔波的生活中不断失去的人们断绝了联系。她感到自己无法再继续前行。她走进药箱,吞下了药丸和胶囊,用一瓶杜松子酒把它们吞下去。然后她泡了一个热水澡,昏了过去。
Anyway, this man who’d first enjoyed her favors, the officer-to-be, he’d been her childhood sweetheart. So okay. I’m saying that at the end of the summer she let the blind man run his hands over her face, said good-bye to him, married her childhood etc., who was now a commissioned officer, and she moved away from Seattle. But they’d kept in touch, she and the blind man. She made the first contact after a year or so. She called him up one night from an Air Force base in Alabama. She wanted to talk. They talked. He asked her to send him a tape and tell him about her life. She did this. She sent the tape. On the tape, she told the blind man about her husband and about their life together in the military. She told the blind man she loved her husband but she didn’t like it where they lived and she didn’t like it that he was part of the military-industrial thing. She told the blind man she’d written a poem and he was in it. She told him that she was writing a poem about what it was like to be an Air Force officer’s wife. The poem wasn’t finished yet. She was still writing it. The blind man made a tape. He sent her the tape. She made a tape. This went on for years. My wife’s officer was posted to one base and then another. She sent tapes from Moody AFB, McGuire, McConnell, and finally Travis, near Sacramento, where one night she got to feeling lonely and cut off from the people she kept losing in that moving-around life. She got to feeling she couldn’t go it another step. She went in and swallowed all the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of gin. Then she got into a hot bath and passed out.
但她没有死,而是病倒了。她呕吐了。她的警官——他为什么要有名字?他是她青梅竹马的情人,他还想要什么?——从某个地方回来,发现了她,然后叫了救护车。后来,她把这一切都录在磁带上,然后把磁带寄给了盲人。多年来,她把各种各样的东西录在磁带上,然后迅速寄出去。除了每年写一首诗,我认为这是她主要的娱乐方式。在一盘磁带上,她告诉盲人,她决定离开她的警官一段时间。在另一盘磁带上,她告诉他她离婚的事。她和我开始约会,当然她告诉了她的盲人。她告诉了他一切,至少在我看来是这样。有一次她问我是否想听盲人最新的录音带。这是一年前的事了。她说我在磁带上。所以我说好的,我会听的。我给我们拿了饮料,我们在客厅里坐下来。我们准备好听。她先把磁带放进播放器,调了几个刻度盘。然后她按下了控制杆。磁带发出吱吱声,有人开始大声说话。她把音量调低了。经过几分钟无伤大雅的闲聊后,我听到这个陌生人,这个我甚至不认识的盲人说出了我的名字!然后是这句话:“从你对他所说的一切,我只能得出这样的结论——”但我们被打断了,有人敲门,什么的,我们再也没有回到磁带上。也许这样也好。我已经听到了我想听到的一切。
But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up. Her officer — why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want? — came home from somewhere, found her, and called the ambulance. In time, she put it all on a tape and sent the tape to the blind man. Over the years, she put all kinds of stuff on tapes and sent the tapes off lickety-split. Next to writing a poem every year, I think it was her chief means of recreation. On one tape, she told the blind man she’d decided to live away from her officer for a time. On another tape, she told him about her divorce. She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it. She told him everything, or so it seemed to me. Once she asked me if I’d like to hear the latest tape from the blind man. This was a year ago. I was on the tape, she said. So I said okay, I’d listen to it. I got us drinks and we settled down in the living room. We made ready to listen. First she inserted the tape into the player and adjusted a couple of dials. Then she pushed a lever. The tape squeaked and someone began to talk in this loud voice. She lowered the volume. After a few minutes of harmless chitchat, I heard my own name in the mouth of this stranger, this blind man I didn’t even know! And then this: “From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude —” But we were interrupted, a knock at the door, something, and we didn’t ever get back to the tape. Maybe it was just as well. I’d heard all I wanted to.
现在,这位盲人来到我家睡觉。
Now this same blind man was coming to sleep in my house.
“也许我可以带他去打保龄球,”我对妻子说。她正在沥水板前切土豆片。她放下手中的刀,转过身去。
“Maybe I could take him bowling,” I said to my wife. She was at the draining board doing scalloped potatoes. She put down the knife she was using and turned around.
“如果你爱我,”她说,“你可以为我做这件事。如果你不爱我,那好吧。但是如果你有朋友,任何朋友,而朋友来拜访,我会让他感到舒服。”她用洗碗布擦了擦手。
“If you love me,” she said, “you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable.” She wiped her hands with the dish towel.
“我没有任何盲人朋友,”我说。
“I don’t have any blind friends,” I said.
“你没有朋友,”她说。“就是这样。此外,”她说,“该死的,他的妻子刚刚去世了!你不明白吗?这个男人失去了他的妻子!”
“You don’t have any friends,” she said. “Period. Besides,” she said, “goddamn it, his wife’s just died! Don’t you understand that? The man’s lost his wife!”
我没有回答。她告诉了我一些关于盲人妻子的事。她的名字叫贝乌拉。贝乌拉!这是黑人妇女的名字。
I didn’t answer. She’d told me a little about the blind man’s wife. Her name was Beulah. Beulah! That’s a name for a colored woman.
“他的妻子是黑人吗?”我问道。
“Was his wife a Negro?” I asked.
“你疯了吗?”我妻子说。“你是不是摔倒了?”她捡起一个土豆。我看到它掉在地上,然后滚到了炉子下面。“你怎么了?”她说。“你喝醉了吗?”
“Are you crazy?” my wife said. “Have you just flipped or something?” She picked up a potato. I saw it hit the floor, then roll under the stove. “What’s wrong with you?” she said. “Are you drunk?”
“我只是问问,”我说。
“I’m just asking,” I said.
就在那时,妻子向我讲述了一些我不太想知道的细节。我倒了杯饮料,坐在厨房餐桌旁听她讲。故事的片段开始变得清晰起来。
Right then my wife filled me in with more detail than I cared to know. I made a drink and sat at the kitchen table to listen. Pieces of the story began to fall into place.
我妻子不再为盲人工作后,Beulah 在那个夏天去为他工作。不久之后,Beulah 和盲人举行了教堂婚礼。婚礼很小——谁会想参加这样的婚礼呢?——只有他们两个人,加上牧师和牧师的妻子。但不管怎么说,这是教堂婚礼。他说,这是 Beulah 想要的。但即便如此,Beulah 的腺体中肯定也患有癌症。他们形影不离了八年——我妻子的话,形影不离——Beulah 的健康状况迅速恶化。她死在西雅图的一家医院病房里,盲人坐在床边,握着她的手。他们结婚、生活、工作、睡觉——当然,还发生过性关系——然后盲人不得不埋葬她。所有这一切都发生在他从未见过这个该死的女人长什么样子的情况下。这超出了我的理解范围。听到这些,我有点为盲人感到难过。然后,我开始想,这个女人的生活一定很可怜。想象一下,一个女人永远无法像她爱人眼中那样看待自己。一个女人日复一日地生活,却从未得到她爱人哪怕一丁点的赞美。一个女人的丈夫永远无法读懂她脸上的表情,无论是痛苦还是更好的表情。一个可以化妆或不化妆的人——对他来说有什么区别?如果她愿意,她可以在一只眼睛周围涂上绿色眼影,在鼻孔上扎一根针,穿黄色长裤和紫色鞋子,这些都无所谓。然后,她悄悄地死去,盲人的手握着她的手,他盲眼里流着泪水——我现在在想象——她最后的想法可能是:他甚至不知道她长什么样,而她则踏上了通往坟墓的快车。罗伯特只剩下一张小额保险单和半枚二十比索的墨西哥硬币。另一半硬币和她一起放进了盒子里。真可怜。
Beulah had gone to work for the blind man the summer after my wife had stopped working for him. Pretty soon Beulah and the blind man had themselves a church wedding. It was a little wedding — who’d want to go to such a wedding in the first place? — just the two of them, plus the minister and the minister’s wife. But it was a church wedding just the same. It was what Beulah had wanted, he’d said. But even then Beulah must have been carrying the cancer in her glands. After they had been inseparable for eight years — my wife’s word, inseparable — Beulah’s health went into a rapid decline. She died in a Seattle hospital room, the blind man sitting beside the bed and holding on to her hand. They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together — had sex, sure — and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding. Hearing this, I felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit. And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved. A woman whose husband could never read the expression on her face, be it misery or something better. Someone who could wear makeup or not — what difference to him? She could, if she wanted, wear green eye-shadow around one eye, a straight pin in her nostril, yellow slacks and purple shoes, no matter. And then to slip off into death, the blind man’s hand on her hand, his blind eyes streaming tears — I’m imagining now — her last thought maybe this: that he never even knew what she looked like, and she on an express to the grave. Robert was left with a small insurance policy and half of a twenty-peso Mexican coin. The other half of the coin went into the box with her. Pathetic.
所以时间到了,我妻子就去车站接他。我无事可做,只能等着——当然,我怪他——我一边喝酒一边看电视,这时我听到车子驶进车道。我端着饮料从沙发上站起来,走到窗前看。
So when the time rolled around, my wife went to the depot to pick him up. With nothing to do but wait — sure, I blamed him for that — I was having a drink and watching the TV when I heard the car pull into the drive. I got up from the sofa with my drink and went to the window to have a look.
我看到妻子停好车时笑了。我看见她下了车,关上了车门。她脸上还挂着笑容。真是太神奇了。她绕到车的另一边,那个盲人已经开始下车了。这个盲人,特写,他留着满脸的胡子!盲人留胡子!我说,太夸张了。盲人伸手到后座,拖出一个手提箱。我妻子抓住他的胳膊,关上车门,一路上说着话,把他带到车道上,然后走上通往前廊的台阶。我关掉电视。我喝完饮料,冲洗了玻璃杯,擦干了手。然后我走到门口。
I saw my wife laughing as she parked the car. I saw her get out of the car and shut the door. She was still wearing a smile. Just amazing. She went around to the other side of the car to where the blind man was already starting to get out. This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say. The blind man reached into the back seat and dragged out a suitcase. My wife took his arm, shut the car door, and, talking all the way, moved him down the drive and then up the steps to the front porch. I turned off the TV. I finished my drink, rinsed the glass, dried my hands. Then I went to the door.
我妻子说:“我想让你见见罗伯特。罗伯特,这是我丈夫。我跟你讲过他的一切。”她笑容满面。她抓着这个盲人的衣袖。
My wife said, “I want you to meet Robert. Robert, this is my husband. I’ve told you all about him.” She was beaming. She had this blind man by his coat sleeve.
盲人放开了箱子,伸出了手。
The blind man let go of his suitcase and up came his hand.
我接过它。他用力握住我的手,然后松开了它。
I took it. He squeezed hard, held my hand, and then he let it go.
他大声说道:“我感觉我们已经见过面了。”
“I feel like we’ve already met,” he boomed.
“同样,”我说。我不知道还能说什么。然后我说:“欢迎。我听说过很多关于你的事情。”然后我们开始移动,一小群人从门廊走进客厅,我的妻子拉着他的胳膊引导他。盲人用另一只手提着行李箱。我的妻子说了这样的话:“罗伯特,在你的左边。对了。现在看,有一把椅子。就是它。坐在这里。这是沙发。我们两周前才买的这张沙发。”
“Likewise,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say. Then I said, “Welcome. I’ve heard a lot about you.” We began to move then, a little group, from the porch into the living room, my wife guiding him by the arm. The blind man was carrying his suitcase in his other hand. My wife said things like, “To your left here, Robert. That’s right. Now watch it, there’s a chair. That’s it. Sit down right here. This is the sofa. We just bought this sofa two weeks ago.”
我开始谈论那张旧沙发。我很喜欢那张旧沙发。但我什么也没说。然后我想说点别的,闲聊一下哈德逊河沿岸的风景。去纽约时,你应该坐在火车的右侧,从纽约回来时,你应该坐在左侧。
I started to say something about the old sofa. I’d liked that old sofa. But I didn’t say anything. Then I wanted to say something else, small-talk, about the scenic ride along the Hudson. How going to New York, you should sit on the right-hand side of the train, and coming from New York, the left-hand side.
“火车上过得还好吗?”我问道。“顺便问一下,你坐在火车的哪一侧?”
“Did you have a good train ride?” I said. “Which side of the train did you sit on, by the way?”
“这真是个问题,哪边!”我妻子说。“哪边有什么关系?”她说。
“What a question, which side!” my wife said. “What’s it matter which side?” she said.
“我只是问问,”我说。
“I just asked,” I said.
“右边,”盲人说。“我已经有近四十年没有坐过火车了。从小时候开始就没坐过。和我的父母一起坐过。时间太长了。我几乎忘记了那种感觉。现在我的胡子上已经是冬天的痕迹了,”他说。“反正我也是这么听说的。我看起来很出众吗,亲爱的?”盲人问我的妻子。
“Right side,” the blind man said. “I hadn’t been on a train in nearly forty years. Not since I was a kid. With my folks. That’s been a long time. I’d nearly forgotten the sensation. I have winter in my beard now,” he said. “So I’ve been told, anyway. Do I look distinguished, my dear?” the blind man said to my wife.
“你看上去很出色,罗伯特,”她说。“罗伯特,”她说。“罗伯特,见到你真是太好了。”
“You look distinguished, Robert,” she said. “Robert,” she said. “Robert, it’s just so good to see you.”
我妻子终于把目光从盲人身上移开,看向我。我感觉她不喜欢她所看到的。我耸了耸肩。
My wife finally took her eyes off the blind man and looked at me. I had the feeling she didn’t like what she saw. I shrugged.
我从未见过或认识过任何盲人。这位盲人四十多岁,体格魁梧,秃顶,双肩驼背,仿佛背负着巨大的重量。他穿着棕色休闲裤、棕色鞋子、浅棕色衬衫、领带和运动外套。他很帅气。他还留着大胡子。但他不用拐杖,也不戴墨镜。我一直以为墨镜是盲人的必需品。事实上,我希望他有一副。乍一看,他的眼睛和其他人的眼睛没什么不同。但如果你仔细看,就会发现它们有些不同。首先,虹膜中有太多白色,瞳孔似乎在眼窝里移动,而他自己却不知道或无法阻止。令人毛骨悚然。当我盯着他的脸时,我看到左边的瞳孔转向鼻子,而另一个则努力保持在一个位置。但这只是一种努力,因为他的那只眼睛一直在四处游移,而他却不知道,也不想这样。
I’ve never met, or personally known, anyone who was blind. This blind man was late forties, a heavy-set, balding man with stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there. He wore brown slacks, brown shoes, a light-brown shirt, a tie, a sports coat. Spiffy. He also had this full beard. But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses. I’d always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair. At first glance, his eyes looked like anyone else’s eyes. But if you looked close, there was something different about them. Too much white in the iris, for one thing, and the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing it or being able to stop it. Creepy. As I stared at his face, I saw the left pupil turn in toward his nose while the other made an effort to keep in one place. But it was only an effort, for that eye was on the roam without his knowing it or wanting it to be.
我说:“我给你拿点喝的吧。你想喝点什么?我们什么都有一点。这是我们的消遣方式之一。”
I said, “Let me get you a drink. What’s your pleasure? We have a little of everything. It’s one of our pastimes.”
“老兄,我自己就是苏格兰人,”他用很大的声音快速地说道。
“Bub, I’m a Scotch man myself,” he said fast enough in this big voice.
“对,”我说。老兄!“你当然是了。我就知道。”
“Right,” I said. Bub! “Sure you are. I knew it.”
他用手指摸了摸放在沙发旁边的行李箱。他正在辨别方向。我并不怪他。
He let his fingers touch his suitcase, which was sitting alongside the sofa. He was taking his bearings. I didn’t blame him for that.
“我会把它搬到你的房间,”我的妻子说。
“I’ll move that up to your room,” my wife said.
“不用,没关系,”盲人大声说,“我上去就可以了。”
“No, that’s fine,” the blind man said loudly. “It can go up when I go up.”
“加点水和苏格兰威士忌?”我问。
“A little water with the Scotch?” I said.
他说:“很少。”
“Very little,” he said.
“我就知道,”我说。
“I knew it,” I said.
他说:“就一点点。爱尔兰演员巴里·菲茨杰拉德?我就像那个家伙。菲茨杰拉德说,我喝水的时候,我就喝水。我喝威士忌的时候,我就喝威士忌。”我的妻子笑了。盲人把手伸到胡子下面。他慢慢地抬起胡子,然后放下。
He said, “Just a tad. The Irish actor, Barry Fitzgerald? I’m like that fellow. When I drink water, Fitzgerald said, I drink water. When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey.” My wife laughed. The blind man brought his hand up under his beard. He lifted his beard slowly and let it drop.
我喝了三杯苏格兰威士忌,每杯都加了一点水。然后我们坐下来,聊起了罗伯特的旅行。首先,我们谈到了从西海岸到康涅狄格州的长途飞行。然后从康涅狄格州坐火车过来。我们又喝了一杯,谈论那段旅程。
I did the drinks, three big glasses of Scotch with a splash of water in each. Then we made ourselves comfortable and talked about Robert’s travels. First the long flight from the West Coast to Connecticut, we covered that. Then from Connecticut up here by train. We had another drink concerning that leg of the trip.
我记得曾经在某处读到过,盲人不吸烟是因为据推测他们看不见自己呼出的烟雾。我以为我对盲人的了解就这么多,而且仅限于此。但这个盲人抽完一口烟后又点了一支。这个盲人装满了烟灰缸,我的妻子则一扫而空。
I remembered having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, as speculation had it, they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled. I thought I knew that much and that much only about blind people. But this blind man smoked his cigarette down to the nubbin and then lit another one. This blind man filled his ashtray and my wife emptied it.
当我们坐在餐桌旁吃晚饭时,我们又喝了一杯酒。妻子在罗伯特的盘子里堆满了牛排、薯片和青豆。我给他抹了两片面包黄油。我说:“这是你的面包和黄油。”我喝了一些饮料。“现在让我们祈祷吧,”我说,盲人低下了头。妻子看着我,嘴巴张得大大的。“祈祷电话不要响,食物不要变冷,”我说。
When we sat down at the table for dinner, we had another drink. My wife heaped Robert’s plate with cube steak, scalloped potatoes, green beans. I buttered him up two slices of bread. I said, “Here’s bread and butter for you.” I swallowed some of my drink. “Now let us pray,” I said, and the blind man lowered his head. My wife looked at me, her mouth agape. “Pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold,” I said.
我们狼吞虎咽地吃着。我们把桌上所有的食物都吃光了。我们狼吞虎咽地吃着,仿佛没有明天似的。我们什么也没说。我们狼吞虎咽地吃着。我们狼吞虎咽地吃着那张桌子。我们认真地吃着。盲人很快就找到了食物,他知道盘子里所有东西的摆放位置。我钦佩地看着他用刀叉切肉。他切了两块肉,用叉子把肉叉进嘴里,然后全力吃薯片,接下来是豆子,然后撕下一块涂了黄油的面包吃掉。然后他喝了一大口牛奶。偶尔用手指吃一顿似乎也不是什么问题。
We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn’t talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating. The blind man had right away located his foods, he knew just where everything was on his plate. I watched with admiration as he used his knife and fork on the meat. He’d cut two pieces of meat, fork the meat into his mouth, and then go all out for the scalloped potatoes, the beans next, and then he’d tear off a hunk of buttered bread and eat that. He’d follow this up with a big drink of milk. It didn’t seem to bother him to use his fingers once in a while, either.
我们吃完了所有的食物,包括半个草莓派。有那么一会儿,我们像被惊呆了一样坐在那里。汗水从我们的脸上滚滚而下。最后,我们从桌边站起来,丢下了脏盘子。我们没有回头。我们走进客厅,重新坐回自己的位置。罗伯特和我的妻子坐在沙发上。我坐在大椅子上。我们又喝了两三杯酒,他们谈论着过去十年发生在他们身上的大事。大部分时间,我只是听着。偶尔我也会加入进来。我不想让他以为我离开了房间,也不想让她以为我感到被冷落了。他们谈论着过去十年发生在他们身上的事情——发生在他们身上的事!我徒劳地等待着从妻子甜美的嘴唇上听到我的名字:“然后我亲爱的丈夫走进了我的生活”——诸如此类。但我什么也没听到。更多的是谈论罗伯特。罗伯特似乎什么都做过一点,是个典型的盲人万事通。但最近他和他的妻子获得了安利经销权,据我所知,他们就是靠这个谋生的。这位盲人还是一名业余无线电操作员。他大声谈论着他与关岛、菲律宾、阿拉斯加甚至塔希提岛的同行们的对话。他说如果他想去那些地方,他会在那里有很多朋友。他不时地把盲人的脸转向我,把手放在胡子下面,问我一些问题。我在现在的职位上干了多久了?(三年。)我喜欢我的工作吗?(我不喜欢。)我会继续做下去吗?(有什么选择?)最后,当我以为他要累死了的时候,我站起来打开了电视。
We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie. For a few moments, we sat as if stunned. Sweat beaded on our faces. Finally, we got up from the table and left the dirty plates. We didn’t look back. We took ourselves into the living room and sank into our places again. Robert and my wife sat on the sofa. I took the big chair. We had us two or three more drinks while they talked about the major things that had come to pass for them in the past ten years. For the most part, I just listened. Now and then I joined in. I didn’t want him to think I’d left the room, and I didn’t want her to think I was feeling left out. They talked of things that had happened to them — to them! — these past ten years. I waited in vain to hear my name on my wife’s sweet lips: “And then my dear husband came into my life” — something like that. But I heard nothing of the sort. More talk of Robert. Robert had done a little of everything, it seemed, a regular blind jack-of-all-trades. But most recently he and his wife had had an Amway distributorship, from which, I gathered, they’d earned their living, such as it was. The blind man was also a ham radio operator. He talked in his loud voice about conversations he’d had with fellow operators in Guam, in the Philippines, in Alaska, and even in Tahiti. He said he’d have a lot of friends there if he ever wanted to go visit those places. From time to time, he’d turn his blind face toward me, put his hand under his beard, ask me something. How long had I been in my present position? (Three years.) Did I like my work? (I didn’t.) Was I going to stay with it? (What were the options?) Finally, when I thought he was beginning to run down, I got up and turned on the TV.
我妻子恼怒地看着我。她快要怒火中烧了。然后她看着盲人说:“罗伯特,你有电视吗?”
My wife looked at me with irritation. She was heading toward a boil. Then she looked at the blind man and said, “Robert, do you have a TV?”
盲人说:“亲爱的,我有两台电视机。一台是彩色的,一台是黑白的,这是一件古老的古董。很有趣,但是如果我打开电视机,而且我总是打开它,我就会打开彩色的。这很有趣,你不觉得吗?”
The blind man said, “My dear, I have two TVs. I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic. It’s funny, but if I turn the TV on, and I’m always turning it on, I turn on the color set. It’s funny, don’t you think?”
我不知道该说什么。我对此完全无话可说。没有意见。所以我看了新闻节目,并试图听播音员在说什么。
I didn’t know what to say to that. I had absolutely nothing to say to that. No opinion. So I watched the news program and tried to listen to what the announcer was saying.
“这是一台彩色电视机,”盲人说。“别问我怎么看出来的,我看得出来。”
“This is a color TV,” the blind man said. “Don’t ask me how, but I can tell.”
“我们不久前就换了价,”我说。
“We traded up a while ago,” I said.
盲人又尝了一口酒。他抬起胡子,闻了闻,又放下。他靠在沙发上。他把烟灰缸放在咖啡桌上,然后把打火机放在香烟上。他靠在沙发上,双腿交叉。
The blind man had another taste of his drink. He lifted his beard, sniffed it, and let it fall. He leaned forward on the sofa. He positioned his ashtray on the coffee table, then put the lighter to his cigarette. He leaned back on the sofa and crossed his legs at the ankles.
我妻子捂住嘴,然后打了个哈欠。她伸了个懒腰。她说:“我想我要上楼穿上睡袍。我想我要换件别的衣服。罗伯特,你随便点。”她说。
My wife covered her mouth, and then she yawned. She stretched. She said, “I think I’ll go upstairs and put on my robe. I think I’ll change into something else. Robert, you make yourself comfortable,” she said.
“我很舒服,”盲人说道。
“I’m comfortable,” the blind man said.
“我希望你在这所房子里感到舒适,”她说。
“I want you to feel comfortable in this house,” she said.
“我很舒服,”盲人说道。
“I am comfortable,” the blind man said.
她离开房间后,我和他听了天气预报,然后又听了体育新闻。那时,她已经走了很久,我不知道她是否会回来。我想她可能已经去睡觉了。我希望她能下楼来。我不想和一个盲人单独呆在一起。我问他是否想再喝一杯,他说当然可以。然后我问他是否想和我一起抽点大麻。我说我刚抽了一支。我还没抽,但我打算抽两口左右就抽。
After she’d left the room, he and I listened to the weather report and then to the sports roundup. By that time, she’d been gone so long I didn’t know if she was going to come back. I thought she might have gone to bed. I wished she’d come back downstairs. I didn’t want to be left alone with a blind man. I asked him if he wanted another drink, and he said sure. Then I asked if he wanted to smoke some dope with me. I said I’d just rolled a number. I hadn’t, but I planned to do so in about two shakes.
“我会和你一起尝尝,”他说。
“I’ll try some with you,” he said.
“太对了,”我说,“就是这个。”
“Damn right,” I said. “That’s the stuff.”
我端上饮料,和他一起坐在沙发上。然后我卷了两根厚厚的香烟给我们。我点燃一支,递给他。我把香烟递到他手边。他接过,吸了一口。
I got our drinks and sat down on the sofa with him. Then I rolled us two fat numbers. I lit one and passed it. I brought it to his fingers. He took it and inhaled.
我说:“尽量忍住。”我看得出他根本就不懂。
“Hold it as long as you can,” I said. I could tell he didn’t know the first thing.
我的妻子穿着粉红色的长袍和粉红色的拖鞋回到了楼下。
My wife came back downstairs wearing her pink robe and her pink slippers.
“我闻到什么了?”她说。
“What do I smell?” she said.
“我们想买点大麻,”我说。
“We thought we’d have us some cannabis,” I said.
我妻子狠狠地瞪了我一眼。然后她看着盲人说:“罗伯特,我不知道你抽烟。”
My wife gave me a savage look. Then she looked at the blind man and said, “Robert, I didn’t know you smoked.”
他说:“亲爱的,我现在知道了。凡事都有第一次。但我还没感觉到什么。”
He said, “I do now, my dear. There’s a first time for everything. But I don’t feel anything yet.”
“这玩意儿挺温和的,”我说。“这玩意儿很温和。这是你可以讲道理的毒品,”我说。“它不会让你陷入困境。”
“This stuff is pretty mellow,” I said. “This stuff is mild. It’s dope you can reason with,” I said. “It doesn’t mess you up.”
“没什么大不了的,老兄,”他笑着说道。
“Not much it doesn’t, bub,” he said, and laughed.
我妻子坐在我和盲人之间的沙发上。我把号码递给她。她接过号码,抽了一口,然后递还给我。“这到底是怎么回事?”她说。然后她说,“我不应该抽这个。我几乎睁不开眼睛。那顿晚餐让我筋疲力尽。我不应该吃那么多。”
My wife sat on the sofa between the blind man and me. I passed her the number. She took it and toked and then passed it back to me. “Which way is this going?” she said. Then she said, “I shouldn’t be smoking this. I can hardly keep my eyes open as it is. That dinner did me in. I shouldn’t have eaten so much.”
“是草莓派,”盲人说。“就是这个,”他说完,哈哈大笑起来。然后他摇了摇头。
“It was the strawberry pie,” the blind man said. “That’s what did it,” he said, and he laughed his big laugh. Then he shook his head.
“还有草莓派。”我说。
“There’s more strawberry pie,” I said.
“你还要一些吗,罗伯特?”我的妻子问道。
“Do you want some more, Robert?” my wife said.
“也许过一会儿吧,”他说。
“Maybe in a little while,” he said.
我们把注意力集中到电视上。我妻子又打了个哈欠。她说:“罗伯特,你想睡觉的时候床已经铺好了。我知道你今天一定过得很漫长。你想睡觉的时候就说。”她拉着他的胳膊。“罗伯特?”
We gave our attention to the TV. My wife yawned again. She said, “Your bed is made up when you feel like going to bed, Robert. I know you must have had a long day. When you’re ready to go to bed, say so.” She pulled his arm. “Robert?”
他醒了过来,说:“我过得非常愉快。这比录音带好多了,不是吗?”
He came to and said, “I’ve had a real nice time. This beats tapes, doesn’t it?”
我说:“向你袭来。”然后把号码放在他的手指间。他吸了一口烟,憋住,然后吐出。就好像他从九岁起就一直这样做。
I said, “Coming at you,” and I put the number between his fingers. He inhaled, held the smoke, and then let it go. It was like he’d been doing it since he was nine years old.
“谢谢,老兄,”他说。“但我觉得这对我来说已经够了。我觉得我开始有感觉了,”他说。他把燃烧的香烟递给我妻子。
“Thanks, bub,” he said. “But I think this is all for me. I think I’m beginning to feel it,” he said. He held the burning roach out for my wife.
“我也一样,”她说。“我也是。”她拿起枕头递给我。“我可能会坐在你们两个中间闭上眼睛一会儿。但别让我打扰你,好吗?你们两个都可以。如果打扰你,就说出来。否则,我可能会坐在这里闭上眼睛,直到你准备睡觉,”她说。“罗伯特,等你准备好了,你的床就整理好了。就在楼梯顶端我们房间的旁边。等你准备好了,我们会带你上去。如果我睡着了,你们现在就叫醒我。”她说完,闭上眼睛睡着了。
“Same here,” she said. “Ditto. Me, too.” She took the roach and passed it to me. “I may just sit here for a while between you two guys with my eyes closed. But don’t let me bother you, okay? Either one of you. If it bothers you, say so. Otherwise, I may just sit here with my eyes closed until you’re ready to go to bed,” she said. “Your bed’s made up, Robert, when you’re ready. It’s right next to our room at the top of the stairs. We’ll show you up when you’re ready. You wake me up now, you guys, if I fall asleep.” She said that and then she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
新闻节目结束了。我站起来换了频道,又坐回沙发上。我真希望妻子没有晕过去。她的头靠在沙发背上,嘴巴张着。她转过身来,长袍从腿上滑落,露出了一条多汁的大腿。我伸手把她的长袍拉回身上,就在那时,我瞥了一眼盲人。见鬼!我又把长袍翻了开。
The news program ended. I got up and changed the channel. I sat back down on the sofa. I wished my wife hadn’t pooped out. Her head lay across the back of the sofa, her mouth open. She’d turned so that her robe slipped away from her legs, exposing a juicy thigh. I reached to draw her robe back over her, and it was then that I glanced at the blind man. What the hell! I flipped the robe open again.
“你想吃草莓派就说吧,”我说。
“You say when you want some strawberry pie,” I said.
“我会的,”他说。
“I will,” he said.
我说:“你累了吗?要我抱你上床睡觉吗?你准备好睡觉了吗?”
I said, “Are you tired? Do you want me to take you up to your bed? Are you ready to hit the hay?”
“还没,”他说。“不,我会陪着你,老兄。如果可以的话。我会一直陪到你准备睡觉。我们还没机会聊天。明白我的意思吗?我觉得我和她垄断了整个晚上。”他撩起胡子,又垂下。他拿起香烟和打火机。
“Not yet,” he said. “No, I’ll stay up with you, bub. If that’s all right. I’ll stay up until you’re ready to turn in. We haven’t had a chance to talk. Know what I mean? I feel like me and her monopolized the evening.” He lifted his beard and he let it fall. He picked up his cigarettes and his lighter.
“没关系,”我说。然后我说,“我很高兴有你的陪伴。”
“That’s all right,” I said. Then I said, “I’m glad for the company.”
我想我确实是。每天晚上我都会吸毒,在入睡前尽可能地熬夜。我和妻子几乎从不同时上床睡觉。当我入睡时,我会做这些梦。有时我会从梦中醒来,心脏狂跳不已。
And I guess I was. Every night I smoked dope and stayed up as long as I could before I fell asleep. My wife and I hardly ever went to bed at the same time. When I did go to sleep, I had these dreams. Sometimes I’d wake up from one of them, my heart going crazy.
电视上正在播放一些关于教堂和中世纪的节目。不是那种普通的电视节目。我想看点别的。我转到了其他频道。但是它们上面也没有节目。所以我又回到了第一个频道并道了歉。
Something about the church and the Middle Ages was on the TV. Not your run-of-the-mill TV fare. I wanted to watch something else. I turned to the other channels. But there was nothing on them, either. So I turned back to the first channel and apologized.
“小伙子,没事的,”盲人说。“我没问题。你想看什么都可以。我一直在学习。学习永无止境。今晚学到点东西对我没有坏处。我有耳朵,”他说。
“Bub, it’s all right,” the blind man said. “It’s fine with me. Whatever you want to watch is okay. I’m always learning something. Learning never ends. It won’t hurt me to learn something tonight. I got ears,” he said.
有一段时间,我们什么都没说。他身体前倾,头转向我,右耳对着电视机的方向。非常令人不安。他的眼皮不时耷拉下来,然后又突然睁开。他不时把手指伸进胡子里拉扯,好像在思考他在电视上听到的某件事。
We didn’t say anything for a time. He was leaning forward with his head turned at me, his right ear aimed in the direction of the set. Very disconcerting. Now and then his eyelids drooped and then they snapped open again. Now and then he put his fingers into his beard and tugged, like he was thinking about something he was hearing on the television.
屏幕上,一群戴着头巾的男人被穿着骷髅服装的男人和扮成魔鬼的男人攻击和折磨。扮成魔鬼的男人戴着魔鬼面具,长着犄角和长尾巴。这场盛会是游行的一部分。讲述这件事的英国人说,西班牙每年都会举行一次这样的活动。我试着向盲人解释发生了什么。
On the screen, a group of men wearing cowls was being set upon and tormented by men dressed in skeleton costumes and men dressed as devils. The men dressed as devils wore devil masks, horns, and long tails. This pageant was part of a procession. The Englishman who was narrating the thing said it took place in Spain once a year. I tried to explain to the blind man what was happening.
“骷髅,”他说。“我知道骷髅,”他说完点了点头。
“Skeletons,” he said. “I know about skeletons,” he said, and he nodded.
电视上播放着这座大教堂。然后,慢慢地播放了另一座大教堂。最后,画面切换到巴黎著名的那座大教堂,它有着飞拱和高耸入云的尖顶。镜头拉远,展现出大教堂高耸入云的整个景象。
The TV showed this one cathedral. Then there was a long, slow look at another one. Finally, the picture switched to the famous one in Paris, with its flying buttresses and its spires reaching up to the clouds. The camera pulled away to show the whole of the cathedral rising above the skyline.
有时候,讲故事的英国人会闭嘴,只是让镜头在大教堂周围移动。或者镜头会拍摄乡村,田野里的男人们跟在牛后面。我尽可能地等待。然后我觉得我必须说点什么。我说:“他们现在展示的是这座大教堂的外部。怪兽雕像。雕刻成怪物的小雕像。现在我猜他们在意大利。是的,他们在意大利。这座教堂的墙上有画。”
There were times when the Englishman who was telling the thing would shut up, would simply let the camera move around over the cathedrals. Or else the camera would tour the countryside, men in fields walking behind oxen. I waited as long as I could. Then I felt I had to say something. I said, “They’re showing the outside of this cathedral now. Gargoyles. Little statues carved to look like monsters. Now I guess they’re in Italy. Yeah, they’re in Italy. There’s paintings on the walls of this one church.”
“这些是壁画吗,老兄?”他问道,然后抿了一口饮料。
“Are those fresco paintings, bub?” he asked, and he sipped from his drink.
我伸手去拿杯子。但杯子是空的。我努力回忆我能记得的一切。“你问我那些是壁画吗?”我说。“这是个好问题。我不知道。”
I reached for my glass. But it was empty. I tried to remember what I could remember. “You’re asking me are those frescoes?” I said. “That’s a good question. I don’t know.”
镜头移到里斯本郊外的一座大教堂。葡萄牙的大教堂与法国和意大利的大教堂相比,区别并不大。但它们确实存在。主要是内部装饰。然后我突然想到了一件事,我说:“我突然想到了一件事。你知道大教堂是什么吗?它们长什么样?你明白我的意思吗?如果有人对你说大教堂,你知道他们在说什么吗?你知道它和浸信会教堂的区别吗?”
The camera moved to a cathedral outside Lisbon. The differences in the Portuguese cathedral compared with the French and Italian were not that great. But they were there. Mostly the interior stuff. Then something occurred to me, and I said, “Something has occurred to me. Do you have any idea what a cathedral is? What they look like, that is? Do you follow me? If somebody says cathedral to you, do you have any notion what they’re talking about? Do you know the difference between that and a Baptist church, say?”
他让烟雾从嘴里滴落。“我知道它们花了数百名工人五十年或一百年的时间才建成,”他说。“当然,我刚才听那个人这么说。我知道几代同一个家族的人都在建造大教堂。我也听他说过。那些为建造大教堂而付出毕生心血的人,从未活着看到他们的工作完成。从这个意义上说,老兄,他们和我们其他人没什么不同,对吧?”他笑了。然后他的眼睑又垂了下来。他点了点头。他似乎在打瞌睡。也许他想象自己在葡萄牙。电视上正在播放另一座大教堂。这座大教堂在德国。英国人的声音继续嗡嗡作响。“大教堂,”盲人说。他坐起来,来回转动头。“如果你想知道真相,老兄,这就是我所知道的。我刚才说的。我听到他说的。但也许你可以给我描述一个?我希望你能这样做。我很乐意。如果你想知道的话,我真的没有什么好主意。”
He let the smoke dribble from his mouth. “I know they took hundreds of workers fifty or a hundred years to build,” he said. “I just heard the man say that, of course. I know generations of the same families worked on a cathedral. I heard him say that, too. The men who began their life’s work on them, they never lived to see the completion of their work. In that wise, bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?” He laughed. Then his eyelids drooped again. His head nodded. He seemed to be snoozing. Maybe he was imagining himself in Portugal. The TV was showing another cathedral now. This one was in Germany. The Englishman’s voice droned on. “Cathedrals,” the blind man said. He sat up and rolled his head back and forth. “If you want the truth, bub, that’s about all I know. What I just said. What I heard him say. But maybe you could describe one to me? I wish you’d do it. I’d like that. If you want to know, I really don’t have a good idea.”
我目不转睛地盯着电视上大教堂的镜头。我该如何形容它?但我的生命就取决于它。我的生命受到一个疯子的威胁,他说我必须这么做,否则……
I stared hard at the shot of the cathedral on the TV. How could I even begin to describe it? But say my life depended on it. Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else.
我又盯着大教堂看了一会儿,然后画面切换到了乡村。没有用。我转过身对盲人说:“首先,它们非常高。”我环顾房间寻找线索。“它们一直向上延伸。越来越高。直达天空。它们太大了,有些必须有支撑物。可以这么说,是为了帮助支撑它们。这些支撑物被称为扶壁。不知为何,它们让我想起了高架桥。但也许你也不知道高架桥?有时大教堂的正面会雕刻魔鬼之类的东西。有时是贵族和贵妇。别问我这是为什么,”我说。
I stared some more at the cathedral before the picture flipped off into the countryside. There was no use. I turned to the blind man and said, “To begin with, they’re very tall.” I was looking around the room for clues. “They reach way up. Up and up. Toward the sky. They’re so big, some of them, they have to have these supports. To help hold them up, so to speak. These supports are called buttresses. They remind me of viaducts, for some reason. But maybe you don’t know viaducts, either? Sometimes the cathedrals have devils and such carved into the front. Sometimes lords and ladies. Don’t ask me why this is,” I said.
他点点头。他的整个上半身似乎都在前后摆动。
He was nodding. The whole upper part of his body seemed to be moving back and forth.
“我表现得不太好,是吗?”我说。
“I’m not doing so good, am I?” I said.
他不再点头,身体前倾,靠在沙发边上。他一边听我说话,一边用手指梳理着胡子。我看得出来,我没听懂。但他还是等着我继续说下去。他点点头,像是在鼓励我。我努力想着还能说什么。“它们真的很大,”我说。“它们很庞大。它们是用石头砌成的。有时也是用大理石砌成的。在那些古老的日子里,人们建造大教堂是为了接近上帝。在那些古老的日子里,上帝是每个人生活中的重要组成部分。你可以从他们建造大教堂的行为看出来这一点。对不起,”我说,“但看来这是我能为你做的最好的事情了。我只是不擅长这个。”
He stopped nodding and leaned forward on the edge of the sofa. As he listened to me, he was running his fingers through his beard. I wasn’t getting through to him, I could see that. But he waited for me to go on just the same. He nodded, like he was trying to encourage me. I tried to think what else to say. “They’re really big,” I said. “They’re massive. They’re built of stone. Marble, too, sometimes. In those olden days, when they built cathedrals, men wanted to be close to God. In those olden days, God was an important part of everyone’s life. You could tell this from their cathedral-building. I’m sorry,” I said, “but it looks like that’s the best I can do for you. I’m just no good at it.”
“没关系,老兄,”盲人说。“嘿,听着。希望你不介意我问你。我能问你个问题吗?我问你一个简单的问题,是或否。我只是好奇,没有冒犯的意思。你是我的主人。但请允许我问一下,你是否有宗教信仰?你不介意我问吗?”
“That’s all right, bub,” the blind man said. “Hey, listen. I hope you don’t mind my asking you. Can I ask you something? Let me ask you a simple question, yes or no. I’m just curious and there’s no offense. You’re my host. But let me ask if you are in any way religious? You don’t mind my asking?”
我摇了摇头。但他看不出来。对盲人来说,眨眼和点头没什么区别。“我想我不相信它。不相信任何事情。有时候很难。你明白我的意思吗?”
I shook my head. He couldn’t see that, though. A wink is the same as a nod to a blind man. “I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it’s hard. You know what I’m saying?”
“当然了,”他说。
“Sure, I do,” he said.
“对。”我说。
“Right,” I said.
英国人还在滔滔不绝地说着。我妻子在睡梦中叹了口气。她长长地吸了一口气,继续睡觉。
The Englishman was still holding forth. My wife sighed in her sleep. She drew a long breath and went on with her sleeping.
“你得原谅我,”我说,“但我没法告诉你大教堂是什么样子。我没法做到这一点。我只能做到这些了。”
“You’ll have to forgive me,” I said. “But I can’t tell you what a cathedral looks like. It just isn’t in me to do it. I can’t do any more than I’ve done.”
盲人静静地坐着,低着头,听着我讲话。
The blind man sat very still, his head down, as he listened to me.
我说:“事实上,大教堂对我来说并没有什么特别的意义。什么也没有。大教堂就是深夜电视节目中可以观看的东西。仅此而已。”
I said, “The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are.”
就在这时,盲人清了清嗓子。他拿出了一样东西。他从后口袋里掏出一条手帕。然后他说:“我明白了,老兄。没关系。这种事时有发生。别担心,”他说。“嘿,听我说。你能帮我个忙吗?我有个主意。你为什么不给我们找些厚纸?还有一支笔。我们来做点什么。我们一起画一幅画。给我们拿支笔和一些厚纸。快去,老兄,把东西拿来,”他说。
It was then that the blind man cleared his throat. He brought something up. He took a handkerchief from his back pocket. Then he said, “I get it, bub. It’s okay. It happens. Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Hey, listen to me. Will you do me a favor? I got an idea. Why don’t you find us some heavy paper? And a pen. We’ll do something. We’ll draw one together. Get us a pen and some heavy paper. Go on, bub, get the stuff,” he said.
于是我上楼了。我的腿感觉没有力气。感觉就像我跑完步后才有力气一样。在妻子的房间里,我四处张望。我在她桌子上的一个小篮子里找到了一些圆珠笔。然后我试着想去哪里找他所说的那种纸。
So I went upstairs. My legs felt like they didn’t have any strength in them. They felt like they did after I’d done some running. In my wife’s room, I looked around. I found some ballpoints in a little basket on her table. And then I tried to think where to look for the kind of paper he was talking about.
楼下厨房里,我发现一个购物袋,袋子底部有洋葱皮。我把袋子倒空,摇了摇。我把它带到客厅,坐在他腿边。我搬了一些东西,抚平袋子上的褶皱,把它摊开在咖啡桌上。
Downstairs, in the kitchen, I found a shopping bag with onion skins in the bottom of the bag. I emptied the bag and shook it. I brought it into the living room and sat down with it near his legs. I moved some things, smoothed the wrinkles from the bag, spread it out on the coffee table.
盲人从沙发上下来,坐在我旁边的地毯上。
The blind man got down from the sofa and sat next to me on the carpet.
他用手指抚摸着纸张。他从上到下抚摸着纸张的两侧。他抚摸着边缘,甚至边缘处。他抚摸着角落。
He ran his fingers over the paper. He went up and down the sides of the paper. The edges, even the edges. He fingered the corners.
“好吧,”他说。“好吧,我们来搞定她吧。”
“All right,” he said. “All right, let’s do her.”
他找到我的手,拿着笔的手。他把手握在我的手上。“来吧,老兄,画,”他说。“画吧。你会明白的。我会跟着你画。没事的。现在就按照我说的开始吧。你会明白的。画吧,”盲人说。
He found my hand, the hand with the pen. He closed his hand over my hand. “Go ahead, bub, draw,” he said. “Draw. You’ll see. I’ll follow along with you. It’ll be okay. Just begin now like I’m telling you. You’ll see. Draw,” the blind man said.
于是我开始了。首先我画了一个像房子一样的盒子。它可能是我住的房子。然后我给它加了一个屋顶。在屋顶的两端,我画了尖顶。太疯狂了。
So I began. First I drew a box that looked like a house. It could have been the house I lived in. Then I put a roof on it. At either end of the roof, I drew spires. Crazy.
“太棒了,”他说。“太棒了。你做得很好,”他说。“你从来没想过在你的一生中会发生这样的事,是吗,老兄?好吧,这是一种奇怪的生活,我们都知道。现在继续吧。坚持下去。”
“Swell,” he said. “Terrific. You’re doing fine,” he said. “Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you, bub? Well, it’s a strange life, we all know that. Go on now. Keep it up.”
我装了带拱门的窗户。我画了飞扶壁。我挂了大门。我停不下来。电视台停播了。我放下笔,握紧又张开手指。盲人在纸上摸索。他用指尖在纸上摸索,摸索着我画的所有东西,然后点了点头。
I put in windows with arches. I drew flying buttresses. I hung great doors. I couldn’t stop. The TV station went off the air. I put down the pen and closed and opened my fingers. The blind man felt around over the paper. He moved the tips of his fingers over the paper, all over what I had drawn, and he nodded.
“很好,”盲人说道。
“Doing fine,” the blind man said.
我再次拿起笔,他找到了我的手。我继续画。我不是艺术家。但我还是继续画。
I took up the pen again, and he found my hand. I kept at it. I’m no artist. But I kept drawing just the same.
我的妻子睁开眼睛凝视着我们。她坐在沙发上,长袍敞开着。她说:“你在干什么?告诉我,我想知道。”
My wife opened up her eyes and gazed at us. She sat up on the sofa, her robe hanging open. She said, “What are you doing? Tell me, I want to know.”
我没有回答她。
I didn’t answer her.
盲人说:“我们在画一座大教堂。我和他一起画。使劲画,”他对我说。“对。很好,”他说。“当然。你画出来了,老兄。我看得出来。你以前以为自己画不出来。但你画得出来,不是吗?你现在正在用煤气做饭。你懂我的意思吗?我们马上就要画出来了。你的胳膊怎么样了?”他说。“现在把人画进去。没有人的大教堂算什么?”
The blind man said, “We’re drawing a cathedral. Me and him are working on it. Press hard,” he said to me. “That’s right. That’s good,” he said. “Sure. You got it, bub. I can tell. You didn’t think you could. But you can, can’t you? You’re cooking with gas now. You know what I’m saying? We’re going to really have us something here in a minute. How’s the old arm?” he said. “Put some people in there now. What’s a cathedral without people?”
妻子问道:“发生什么事了?罗伯特,你在干什么?发生什么事了?”
My wife said, “What’s going on? Robert, what are you doing? What’s going on?”
“没事的,”他对她说。“现在闭上你的眼睛,”盲人对我说。
“It’s all right,” he said to her. “Close your eyes now,” the blind man said to me.
我做到了。我按照他说的关闭了它们。
I did it. I closed them just like he said.
“他们关门了吗?”他说。“别瞎说。”
“Are they closed?” he said. “Don’t fudge.”
“他们关门了,”我说。
“They’re closed,” I said.
“就保持这个样子,”他说。他说,“现在别停下来。继续画。”
“Keep them that way,” he said. He said, “Don’t stop now. Draw.”
于是我们继续。当我的手在纸上移动时,他的手指也跟着我的手指移动。这是我迄今为止生活中从未有过的体验。
So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now.
然后他说:“我想就是这样了。我想你明白了,”他说。“看一看。你觉得怎么样?”
Then he said, “I think that’s it. I think you got it,” he said. “Take a look. What do you think?”
但我闭上了眼睛。我想再闭一会儿。我想这是我应该做的事。
But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.
“怎么样?”他说。“你在找吗?”
“Well?” he said. “Are you looking?”
我的眼睛仍然闭着。我在家里。我知道这一点。但我感觉自己不像在什么东西里面。
My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.
“这真是太了不起了,”我说。
“It’s really something,” I said.
[1981年]
[1981]
[生于 1938 年]
[b. 1938]
献给鲍勃·迪伦
For Bob Dylan
她叫康妮。她十五岁,经常会紧张地笑,总是伸长脖子照镜子,或者查看别人的脸,以确保自己的脸没问题。她母亲无所不知,无所不见,她再也没有理由看自己的脸了,她总是为此责备康妮。“别再盯着自己看了,你是谁?你以为你很漂亮?”她会说。听到这些熟悉的抱怨,康妮会扬起眉毛,看穿母亲,看到自己当时的影子:她知道自己很漂亮,这就是一切。如果你相信相册里那些旧照片的话,她的母亲也曾经很漂亮,但现在她容貌已不复当年,这就是为什么她总是追逐康妮。
Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors, or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn’t much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it. “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” she would say. Connie would raise her eyebrows at these familiar complaints and look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment: she knew she was pretty and that was everything. Her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.
“你为什么不像你姐姐那样把房间收拾得干干净净?你的头发是怎么弄的——什么鬼东西这么臭?发胶?你没看到你姐姐用那种垃圾吧。”
“Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve you got your hair fixed — what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don’t see your sister using that junk.”
她的姐姐琼 24 岁,仍然住在家里。她在康妮就读的高中当秘书,如果这还不够糟糕的话——和她在同一栋楼里——她是如此的朴素、矮胖和稳重,以至于康妮不得不一直听到她的母亲和她母亲的姐妹们称赞她。琼做这做那,她省钱,帮忙打扫房子,做饭,而康妮什么也做不了,她的脑子里全是垃圾白日梦。他们的父亲大部分时间都在外地工作,当他回家时,他想吃晚饭,他在晚饭时看报纸,晚饭后就上床睡觉了。他懒得和他们多说话,但康妮的母亲一直围着他低着头,直到康妮希望她的母亲死了,她自己也死了,一切都结束了。“她有时让我想吐,”她向朋友抱怨道。她的声音很高,气喘吁吁,带着一种好笑的语气,让她说的每一句话都有点勉强,不管是不是真诚的。
Her sister June was twenty-four and still lived at home. She was a secretary in the high school Connie attended, and if that wasn’t bad enough — with her in the same building — she was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother’s sisters. June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked and Connie couldn’t do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams. Their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed. He didn’t bother talking much to them, but around his bent head Connie’s mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over. “She makes me want to throw up sometimes,” she complained to her friends. She had a high, breathless, amused voice which made everything she said a little forced, whether it was sincere or not.
有一件好事:琼会和她的女友们一起去一些地方,那些女孩和她一样朴实而稳重,所以当康妮想这样做时,她的母亲没有反对。康妮最好的女朋友的父亲开车送她们到三英里外的镇上,把她们放在一个购物广场,这样她们就可以逛逛商店或去看电影,当他 11 点再次来接她们时,他从来没有问过她们做了什么。
There was one good thing: June went places with girl friends of hers, girls who were just as plain and steady as she, and so when Connie wanted to do that her mother had no objections. The father of Connie’s best girl friend drove the girls the three miles to town and left them off at a shopping plaza, so that they could walk through the stores or go to a movie, and when he came to pick them up again at eleven he never bothered to ask what they had done.
她们肯定是熟悉的景象,穿着短裤和平底芭蕾舞鞋在购物广场上走来走去,拖鞋总是在人行道上留下痕迹,纤细的手腕上戴着叮当作响的手链;如果有人路过,让她们觉得有趣或感兴趣,她们就会靠在一起低声说笑。康妮有一头长长的深金色头发,吸引着任何人的目光,她把头发的一部分梳在头上蓬松起来,其余的头发则披散在背后。她穿着一件套头衫,在家时看起来是这个样子,出门时看起来又是另一个样子。她的一切都有两面性,一面适合在家里,另一面适合在家里以外的地方:她的步态可能像孩子一样童真,摇摆不定,也可能懒洋洋地让人觉得她脑子里在听音乐;她的嘴唇大部分时间都很苍白,带着笑意,但在外出的晚上,她的嘴唇会变得明亮而粉嫩;在家里,她的笑声带着玩世不恭和拖长的声音——“哈哈,很有趣”——但在其他地方,她的笑声却尖锐而紧张,就像她手镯上饰物的叮当声一样。
They must have been familiar sights, walking around that shopping plaza in their shorts and flat ballerina slippers that always scuffed the sidewalk, with charm bracelets jingling on their thin wrists; they would lean together to whisper and laugh secretly if someone passed by who amused or interested them. Connie had long dark blond hair that drew anyone’s eye to it, and she wore part of it pulled up on her head and puffed out and the rest of it she let fall down her back. She wore a pullover jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home. Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home: her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head, her mouth which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out, her laugh which was cynical and drawling at home — “Ha, ha, very funny” — but high-pitched and nervous anywhere else, like the jingling of the charms on her bracelet.
有时他们会去购物或看电影,但有时他们会穿过高速公路,快速穿过繁忙的道路,来到一家大孩子们经常光顾的汽车餐厅。这家餐厅的形状像一个大瓶子,但比真正的瓶子矮一些,瓶盖上是一个旋转的男孩形象,他咧嘴大笑,手里高举着一个汉堡包。一个盛夏的夜晚,他们大胆地跑过那里,马上就有人从车窗探出头来邀请他们过去,但那只是一个他们不喜欢的高中男孩。他们觉得能不理会他让他们感觉很好。他们穿过停放和巡游的汽车迷宫,来到灯火通明、苍蝇成群的餐厅,脸上洋溢着喜悦和期待,仿佛他们正进入一座神圣的建筑,这座建筑隐约出现在夜色中,为他们提供他们渴望的避风港和祝福。他们坐在柜台前,交叉双腿,瘦削的肩膀因兴奋而僵硬,听着让一切变得如此美好的音乐:音乐总是在背景中播放,就像教堂礼拜时的音乐一样,这是可以依赖的东西。
Sometimes they did go shopping or to a movie, but sometimes they went across the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out. The restaurant was shaped like a big bottle, though squatter than a real bottle, and on its cap was a revolving figure of a grinning boy who held a hamburger aloft. One night in midsummer they ran across, breathless with daring, and right away someone leaned out a car window and invited them over, but it was just a boy from high school they didn’t like. It made them feel good to be able to ignore him. They went up through the maze of parked and cruising cars to the bright-lit, fly-infested restaurant, their faces pleased and expectant as if they were entering a sacred building that loomed out of the night to give them what haven and what blessing they yearned for. They sat at the counter and crossed their legs at the ankles, their thin shoulders rigid with excitement and listened to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background like music at a church service, it was something to depend upon.
一个叫艾迪的男孩进来和他们聊天。他向后坐在凳子上,急促地转了半圈,然后停下来,又转了一圈,过了一会儿,他问康妮想吃点什么。她说想吃,于是她在出去的时候拍了拍朋友的胳膊——她的朋友扬起脸,露出勇敢而滑稽的表情——康妮说她会十一点在对面和她见面。“我就是不想这样离开她,”康妮认真地说,但男孩说她不会孤单太久。于是他们走到他的车旁,一路上,康妮忍不住把目光扫过挡风玻璃和周围的人脸,她的脸上闪耀着与艾迪或甚至与这个地方无关的喜悦;可能是音乐的缘故。她挺起肩膀,深吸一口气,纯粹地享受活着的快乐,就在那一刻,她碰巧瞥了一眼离她只有几英尺远的一张脸。那是一个有着一头蓬乱黑发的男孩,开着一辆漆成金色的敞篷老爷车。他盯着她看,然后嘴角咧开,露出一丝笑容。康妮眯起眼睛看着他,转过身去,但她忍不住回头看了一眼,发现他还在看着她。他摇了摇手指,笑着说:“我会抓住你的,宝贝。”康妮又转过身去,艾迪什么也没注意到。
A boy named Eddie came in to talk with them. He sat backwards on his stool, turning himself jerkily around in semi-circles and then stopping and turning again, and after a while he asked Connie if she would like something to eat. She said she did and so she tapped her friend’s arm on her way out — her friend pulled her face up into a brave droll look — and Connie said she would meet her at eleven, across the way. “I just hate to leave her like that,” Connie said earnestly, but the boy said that she wouldn’t be alone for long. So they went out to his car and on the way Connie couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over the windshields and faces all around her, her face gleaming with the joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music. She drew her shoulders up and sucked in her breath with the pure pleasure of being alive, and just at that moment she happened to glance at a face just a few feet from hers. It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn’t help glancing back and there he was still watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, “Gonna get you, baby,” and Connie turned away again without Eddie noticing anything.
她和他一起待了三个小时,在餐馆吃汉堡包,喝着用蜡杯盛着的可乐,蜡杯总是冒着汗水,然后他们又去了一英里外的一条小巷,当他在 11 点差五分离开她时,广场上只有电影院还开着。她的女朋友在那里和一个男孩聊天。康妮过来时,两个女孩互相微笑,康妮说:“电影怎么样?”女孩说:“你应该知道。”他们和女孩的父亲一起骑车走了,睡眼惺忪,心满意足。康妮忍不住看了看黑暗的购物广场,那里有一个空荡荡的大停车场,招牌现在已经褪色,鬼影重重,还有那家汽车餐厅,汽车仍然不知疲倦地盘旋着。这么远的地方,她听不到音乐。
She spent three hours with him, at the restaurant where they ate hamburgers and drank Cokes in wax cups that were always sweating, and then down an alley a mile or so away, and when he left her off at five to eleven only the movie house was still open at the plaza. Her girl friend was there, talking with a boy. When Connie came up the two girls smiled at each other and Connie said, “How was the movie?” and the girl said, “You should know.” They rode off with the girl’s father, sleepy and pleased, and Connie couldn’t help but look at the darkened shopping plaza with its big empty parking lot and its signs that were faded and ghostly now, and over at the drive-in restaurant where cars were still circling tirelessly. She couldn’t hear the music at this distance.
第二天早上,琼问她电影怎么样,康妮回答说:“一般。”
Next morning June asked her how the movie was and Connie said, “So-so.”
她和那个女孩,偶尔还有另一个女孩,每周都会这样出去几次,其余的时间康妮都待在家里——那是暑假——挡着母亲的路,想着、梦着她遇到的男孩们。但所有的男孩都退缩了,化作一张脸,那甚至不是一张脸,而是一个想法、一种感觉,与音乐的急促和七月潮湿的夜晚空气混合在一起。康妮的母亲不断地把她拉回白天,给她找点事情做,或者突然说:“佩廷格家的女孩怎么了?”
She and that girl and occasionally another girl went out several times a week that way, and the rest of the time Connie spent around the house — it was summer vacation — getting in her mother’s way and thinking, dreaming, about the boys she met. But all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music and the humid night air of July. Connie’s mother kept dragging her back to the daylight by finding things for her to do or saying suddenly, “What’s this about the Pettinger girl?”
康妮会紧张地说:“哦,她。那个笨蛋。”她总是把自己和这些女孩区分开来,她的母亲很单纯,很善良,相信她的话。康妮想,她的母亲太单纯了,也许这样欺骗她太残忍了。她的母亲穿着旧的卧室拖鞋在家里乱跑,在电话里向一个姐姐抱怨另一个姐姐,然后另一个姐姐打来电话,她们两个又抱怨第三个姐姐。如果提到琼的名字,她母亲的语气是赞同的,如果提到康妮的名字,她母亲的语气就是不赞同的。这并不意味着她真的不喜欢康妮,事实上,康妮认为她母亲更喜欢她而不是琼,因为她更漂亮,但她们两个一直假装恼怒,感觉她们在为一件对她们双方都没什么价值的事情而争吵不休。有时,喝着咖啡,他们几乎成了朋友,但总会发生一些事情——一些烦恼就像一只突然在他们头上嗡嗡叫的苍蝇一样——他们的脸上就会露出鄙视的表情。
And Connie would say nervously, “Oh, her. That dope.” She always drew thick clear lines between herself and such girls, and her mother was simple and kindly enough to believe her. Her mother was so simple, Connie thought, that it was maybe cruel to fool her so much. Her mother went scuffling around the house in old bedroom slippers and complained over the telephone to one sister about the other, then the other called up and the two of them complained about the third one. If June’s name was mentioned her mother’s tone was approving, and if Connie’s name was mentioned it was disapproving. This did not really mean she disliked Connie and actually Connie thought that her mother preferred her to June because she was prettier, but the two of them kept up a pretense of exasperation, a sense that they were tugging and struggling over something of little value to either of them. Sometimes, over coffee, they were almost friends, but something would come up — some vexation that was like a fly buzzing suddenly around their heads — and their faces went hard with contempt.
一个星期天,康妮十一点起床——他们都没有去教堂——然后洗了头发,让头发在阳光下晒一整天。她的父母和姐姐要去参加一个姨妈家的烧烤聚会,康妮说不,她不感兴趣,翻了个白眼,想让妈妈知道她的想法。“那就一个人待在家里吧,”她妈妈厉声说。康妮坐在后排的草坪椅上,看着他们开车离开,她爸爸安静而秃顶,弯着腰,以便把车倒出来,她妈妈的表情仍然很生气,透过挡风玻璃一点也不柔和,后排座位上可怜的老琼打扮得一副不知道烧烤是什么的样子,周围都是跑来跑去喊叫的孩子和苍蝇。康妮坐在阳光下,闭上双眼,沉浸在梦境中,四周的温暖让她晕眩不已,仿佛这是一种爱,爱的抚摸,她的思绪不禁飘忽不定地想起了昨晚和她在一起的那个男孩,他是多么的善良,他总是那么温柔,不像琼那样,而是像电影里和歌里唱的那样温柔、温柔;当她睁开眼睛时,她几乎不知道自己身在何处,后院里杂草丛生,树篱环绕,后面是蔚蓝而宁静的天空。这座已有三年历史的石棉“牧场房子”让她大吃一惊——它看起来很小。她摇了摇头,仿佛想清醒过来。
One Sunday Connie got up at eleven — none of them bothered with church — and washed her hair so that it could dry all day long, in the sun. Her parents and sister were going to a barbecue at an aunt’s house and Connie said no, she wasn’t interested, rolling her eyes, to let mother know just what she thought of it. “Stay home alone then,” her mother said sharply. Connie sat out back in a lawn chair and watched them drive away, her father quiet and bald, hunched around so that he could back the car out, her mother with a look that was still angry and not at all softened through the windshield, and in the back seat poor old June all dressed up as if she didn’t know what a barbecue was, with all the running yelling kids and the flies. Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with the warmth about her as if this were a kind of love, the caresses of love, and her mind slipped over onto thoughts of the boy she had been with the night before and how nice he had been, how sweet it always was, not the way someone like June would suppose but sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs; and when she opened her eyes she hardly knew where she was, the back yard ran off into weeds and a fenceline of trees and behind it the sky was perfectly blue and still. The asbestos “ranch house” that was now three years old startled her — it looked small. She shook her head as if to get awake.
天气太热了。她走进屋子,打开收音机,想盖过屋内的寂静。她光着脚坐在床边,听了一个半小时的《XYZ 周日狂欢》节目,她跟着唱了一首又一首急促、尖锐的歌曲,中间还夹杂着“鲍比·金”的感叹:“拿破仑的姑娘们,看这里——儿子和查理要你们认真听这首歌!”
It was too hot. She went inside the house and turned on the radio to drown out the quiet. She sat on the edge of her bed, barefoot, and listened for an hour and a half to a program called XYZ Sunday Jamboree, record after record of hard, fast, shrieking songs she sang along with, interspersed by exclamations from “Bobby King”: “An’ look here you girls at Napoleon’s — Son and Charley want you to pay real close attention to this song coming up!”
康妮自己也全神贯注地听着,她沐浴在一种缓慢跳动的快乐光辉中,这光辉似乎是从音乐中神秘地升起的,懒洋洋地弥漫在闷热的小房间里,随着胸部的每次轻轻起伏而呼吸。
And Connie paid close attention herself, bathed in a glow of slow-pulsed joy that seemed to rise mysteriously out of the music itself and lay languidly about the airless little room, breathed in and breathed out with each gentle rise and fall of her chest.
过了一会儿,她听到车道上开了一辆车。她吓了一跳,立刻坐了起来,因为这么快就来的人不可能是她父亲。砾石从路上一路嘎吱作响——车道很长——康妮跑到窗边。那是一辆她不认识的车。这是一辆敞篷老爷车,漆成明亮的金色,在阳光下显得不透明。她的心开始怦怦乱跳,手指抓着头发,检查着,她低声说:“天啊。天啊”,心想自己看起来有多糟糕。汽车在侧门停了下来,喇叭短促地响了四下,仿佛这是康妮知道的信号。
After a while she heard a car coming up the drive. She sat up at once, startled, because it couldn’t be her father so soon. The gravel kept crunching all the way in from the road — the driveway was long — and Connie ran to the window. It was a car she didn’t know. It was an open jalopy, painted a bright gold that caught the sun opaquely. Her heart began to pound and her fingers snatched at her hair, checking it, and she whispered “Christ. Christ,” wondering how bad she looked. The car came to a stop at the side door and the horn sounded four short taps as if this were a signal Connie knew.
她走进厨房,慢慢走到门口,然后把纱门伸出去,光着脚趾从台阶上垂下来。车里有两个男孩,现在她认出了司机:他有一头蓬乱、破旧的黑发,看起来像假发一样疯狂,他正对她咧嘴笑着。
She went into the kitchen and approached the door slowly, then hung out the screen door, her bare toes curling down off the step. There were two boys in the car and now she recognized the driver: he had shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig and he was grinning at her.
“我没有迟到,是吗?”他说。
“I ain’t late, am I?” he said.
康妮说:“你以为你是谁?”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Connie said.
“我告诉你了我会出去,不是吗?”
“Toldja I’d be out, didn’t I?”
“我甚至不知道你是谁。”
“I don’t even know who you are.”
她闷闷不乐地说话,小心翼翼地不表现出任何兴趣或愉悦,而他则用快速而明亮的单调语调说话。康妮越过他看向另一个男孩,不慌不忙。他有一头棕色的金发,一绺头发垂在额头上。他的鬓角让他看起来凶狠而尴尬,但到目前为止,他甚至懒得看她一眼。两个男孩都戴着太阳镜。司机的眼镜是金属的,可以把所有东西都微缩成镜。
She spoke sullenly, careful to show no interest or pleasure, and he spoke in a fast bright monotone. Connie looked past him to the other boy, taking her time. He had fair brown hair, with a lock that fell onto his forehead. His sideburns gave him a fierce, embarrassed look, but so far he hadn’t even bothered to glance at her. Both boys wore sunglasses. The driver’s glasses were metallic and mirrored everything in miniature.
“你想一起去吗?”他说。
“You wanta come for a ride?” he said.
康妮笑了笑,头发披散在肩上。
Connie smirked and let her hair fall loose over one shoulder.
“你不喜欢我的车吗?新喷漆的,”他说。“嘿。”
“Don’tcha like my car? New paint job,” he said. “Hey.”
“什么?”
“What?”
“你很可爱。”
“You’re cute.”
她假装坐立不安,把门口的苍蝇赶走。
She pretended to fidget, chasing flies away from the door.
“你难道不相信我吗?”他说。
“Don’tcha believe me, or what?” he said.
“听着,我甚至不知道你是谁,”康妮厌恶地说道。
“Look, I don’t even know who you are,” Connie said in disgust.
“嘿,艾莉有一台收音机,你看。我的坏了。”他抬起朋友的胳膊,向她展示小男孩手里拿着的小晶体管,现在康妮开始听到音乐了。这是屋子里正在播放的同一个节目。
“Hey, Ellie’s got a radio, see. Mine’s broke down.” He lifted his friend’s arm and showed her the little transistor the boy was holding, and now Connie began to hear the music. It was the same program that was playing inside the house.
“鲍比·金?”她说道。
“Bobby King?” she said.
“我经常听他的歌。我觉得他很棒。”
“I listen to him all the time. I think he’s great.”
“他真是太棒了,”康妮不情愿地说道。
“He’s kind of great,” Connie said reluctantly.
“听着,那家伙太棒了。他知道行动在哪里。”
“Listen, that guy’s great. He knows where the action is.”
康妮脸红了,因为戴眼镜她无法看清这个男孩到底在看什么。她不知道自己是喜欢他还是他只是个混蛋,所以她在门口磨磨蹭蹭,既不下来也不回去。她说:“你车上画的那些东西是干什么的?”
Connie blushed a little, because the glasses made it impossible for her to see just what this boy was looking at. She couldn’t decide if she liked him or if he was just a jerk, and so she dawdled in the doorway and wouldn’t come down or go back inside. She said, “What’s all that stuff painted on your car?”
“你看不懂吗?”他小心翼翼地打开车门,仿佛生怕车门掉下来似的。他小心翼翼地滑出车门,双脚稳稳地踩在地上,眼镜中的微小金属世界像明胶一样变硬,慢慢地移动,中间是康妮的亮绿色上衣。“首先,这是我的名字,”他说。阿诺德·弗兰德用焦油般的黑色字母写在侧面,画着一张圆圆的笑脸,让康妮想起了南瓜,只不过它戴着太阳镜。“我想自我介绍一下,我是阿诺德·弗兰德,这是我的真名,我将成为你的朋友,亲爱的,车里的艾莉·奥斯卡,他有点害羞。”艾莉把他的晶体管举到肩膀上,保持平衡。“现在这些数字是一个秘密代码,亲爱的,”阿诺德·弗兰德解释道。他读出 33、19、17 这几个数字,然后扬起眉毛看着她,想看看她怎么想,但她没怎么在意。左后挡泥板被砸坏了,在闪闪发光的金色背景上写着:一个疯狂的女司机干的。康妮不得不笑了起来。阿诺德·弗兰德对她的笑声很满意,抬头看着她。“另一边还有很多——你想去看看吗?”
“Can’tcha read it?” He opened the door very carefully, as if he was afraid it might fall off. He slid out just as carefully, planting his feet firmly on the ground, the tiny metallic world in his glasses slowing down like gelatine hardening and in the midst of it Connie’s bright green blouse. “This here is my name, to begin with,” he said. arnold friend was written in tar-like black letters on the side, with a drawing of a round grinning face that reminded Connie of a pumpkin, except it wore sunglasses. “I wanta introduce myself, I’m Arnold Friend and that’s my real name and I’m gonna be your friend, honey, and inside the car’s Ellie Oscar, he’s kinda shy.” Ellie brought his transistor up to his shoulder and balanced it there. “Now these numbers are a secret code, honey,” Arnold Friend explained. He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it. The left rear fender had been smashed and around it was written, on the gleaming gold background: done by crazy woman driver. Connie had to laugh at that. Arnold Friend was pleased at her laughter and looked up at her. “Around the other side’s a lot more — you wanta come and see them?”
“不。”
“No.”
“为什么不呢?”
“Why not?”
“我为什么要这么做?”
“Why should I?”
“你不想看看车上有什么吗?你不想坐一会吗?”
“Don’tcha wanta see what’s on the car? Don’tcha wanta go for a ride?”
“我不知道。”
“I don’t know.”
“为什么不呢?”
“Why not?”
“我还有事要做。”
“I got things to do.”
“比如什么?”
“Like what?”
“事物。”
“Things.”
他笑了,好像她说了什么好笑的话。他拍了拍大腿。他站着的姿势很奇怪,靠在车上,好像在保持平衡。他不高,只比她走到他面前时高一英寸左右。康妮喜欢他的穿着,他们所有人都是这样的:紧身褪色牛仔裤塞在黑色磨损的靴子里,腰带收紧腰部,显示出他有多瘦,白色套衫有点脏,露出了手臂和肩膀上结实的小肌肉。他看上去好像可能干过辛苦的工作,举起和搬运东西。甚至他的脖子看起来都很有肌肉。他的脸不知怎么的很熟悉:下巴、下巴和脸颊略微变黑,因为他有一两天没刮胡子了,鼻子又长又像鹰一样,嗅来嗅去,好像她是他要狼吞虎咽吃掉的零食,而这一切都是开玩笑。
He laughed as if she had said something funny. He slapped his thighs. He was standing in a strange way, leaning back against the car as if he were balancing himself. He wasn’t tall, only an inch or so taller than she would be if she came down to him. Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pull-over shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders. He looked as if he probably did hard work, lifting and carrying things. Even his neck looked muscular. And his face was a familiar face, somehow: the jaw and chin and cheeks slightly darkened, because he hadn’t shaved for a day or two, and the nose long and hawk-like, sniffing as if she were a treat he was going to gobble up and it was all a joke.
“康妮,你没说实话。今天是我专门为你安排的,陪你一起兜风的日子,你知道的,”他笑着说道。从他从大笑中恢复过来的样子可以看出,这一切都是假的。
“Connie, you ain’t telling the truth. This is your day set aside for a ride with me and you know it,” he said, still laughing. The way he straightened and recovered from his fit of laughing showed that it had been all fake.
她怀疑地说道:“你怎么知道我叫什么名字?”
“How do you know what my name is?” she said suspiciously.
“我是康妮。”
“It’s Connie.”
“也许是,也许不是。”
“Maybe and maybe not.”
“我认识我的康妮,”他摇着手指说道。现在,她更清楚地记得他在餐厅里的样子了,一想到她经过他身边时,她倒吸了一口气——在他眼里她一定长得什么样子,她的脸颊就暖洋洋的。而他还记得她。“艾莉和我特意来这里找你,”他说。“艾莉可以坐在后面。怎么样?”
“I know my Connie,” he said, wagging his finger. Now she remembered him even better, back at the restaurant, and her cheeks warmed at the thought of how she sucked in her breath just at the moment she passed him — how she must have looked to him. And he had remembered her. “Ellie and I come out here especially for you,” he said. “Ellie can sit in back. How about it?”
“在哪里?”
“Where?”
“什么地方?”
“Where what?”
“我们要去哪儿?”
“Where’re we going?”
他看着她。他摘下太阳镜,她看到他眼周的皮肤多么苍白,就像不是在阴影中而是在光线中的洞。他的眼睛就像碎玻璃碎片,以一种和蔼的方式捕捉着光线。他笑了。好像去某个地方兜风的想法对他来说是一个新想法。
He looked at her. He took off the sunglasses and she saw how pale the skin around his eyes was, like holes that were not in shadow but instead in light. His eyes were like chips of broken glass that catch the light in an amiable way. He smiled. It was as if the idea of going for a ride somewhere, to some place, was a new idea to him.
“只是搭车而已,康妮亲爱的。”
“Just for a ride, Connie sweetheart.”
“我从来没说过我叫康妮,”她说。
“I never said my name was Connie,” she said.
“但我知道那是什么。我知道你的名字,知道你的一切,知道很多事情,”阿诺德·弗兰德说。他还没有动,只是站着,靠在他的破车边上。“我对你特别感兴趣,你这么漂亮,我了解你的一切,比如我知道你的父母和妹妹去了某个地方,我知道他们要去哪里,要去多久,我知道你昨晚和谁在一起,你最好的朋友叫贝蒂。对吧?”
“But I know what it is. I know your name and all about you, lots of things,” Arnold Friend said. He had not moved yet but stood still leaning back against the side of his jalopy. “I took a special interest in you, such a pretty girl, and found out all about you like I know your parents and sister are gone somewheres and I know where and how long they’re going to be gone, and I know who you were with last night, and your best friend’s name is Betty. Right?”
他说话的声音简单而轻快,就像在背诵歌词一样。他的微笑让她确信一切都很好。在车里,艾莉把收音机的音量调大,没有回头看他们。
He spoke in a simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song. His smile assured her that everything was fine. In the car Ellie turned up the volume on his radio and did not bother to look around at them.
“艾莉可以坐在后座上,”阿诺德·弗伦德说。他随意地扬了扬下巴,示意他的朋友坐下,仿佛艾莉不算数,她不想理他似的。
“Ellie can sit in the back seat,” Arnold Friend said. He indicated his friend with a casual jerk of his chin, as if Ellie did not count and she could not bother with him.
“你是怎么发现这些事情的?”康妮问。
“How’d you find out all that stuff?” Connie said.
“听着:贝蒂·舒尔茨、托尼·菲奇、吉米·佩廷格和南希·佩廷格,”他高声说道。“雷蒙德·斯坦利和鲍勃·赫特——”
“Listen: Betty Schultz and Tony Fitch and Jimmy Pettinger and Nancy Pettinger,” he said, in a chant. “Raymond Stanley and Bob Hutter —”
“你认识那些孩子吗?”
“Do you know all those kids?”
“我认识所有人。”
“I know everybody.”
“看,你在开玩笑。你不是本地人。”
“Look, you’re kidding. You’re not from around here.”
“当然。”
“Sure.”
“但是——我们以前怎么没见过你呢?”
“But — how come we never saw you before?”
“你当然见过我,”他说。他低头看着自己的靴子,好像有点生气。“你只是不记得了。”
“Sure you saw me before,” he said. He looked down at his boots, as if he were a little offended. “You just don’t remember.”
“我想我会记得你,”康妮说。
“I guess I’d remember you,” Connie said.
“是吗?”他抬头看着他,笑容满面。他很高兴。他开始跟着艾莉收音机里的音乐打拍子,轻轻地敲着拳头。康妮把目光从他的笑容移开,转向那辆车,车漆得如此鲜艳,几乎让她的眼睛都看疼了。她看着那个名字,阿诺德朋友。前挡泥板上有一个熟悉的表情——飞碟。这是孩子们去年用过的表达方式,但今年没用过。她看了一会儿,好像这些词对她来说意味着什么她还不知道的东西。
“Yeah?” He looked up at this, beaming. He was pleased. He began to mark time with the music from Ellie’s radio, tapping his fists lightly together. Connie looked away from his smile to the car, which was painted so bright it almost hurt her eyes to look at it. She looked at that name, arnold friend. And up at the front fender was an expression that was familiar — man the flying saucers. It was an expression kids had used the year before, but didn’t use this year. She looked at it for a while as if the words meant something to her that she did not yet know.
“你在想什么?啊?”阿诺德·弗兰德问道。“你不担心你的头发在车里被吹得乱飞吧?”
“What’re you thinking about? Huh?” Arnold Friend demanded. “Not worried about your hair blowing around in the car, are you?”
“不。”
“No.”
“你认为我可能开得不太好吗?”
“Think I maybe can’t drive good?”
“我怎么知道?”
“How do I know?”
“你真是个难搞的女孩。怎么会这样?”他说。“你不知道我是你的朋友吗?你走过的时候,你没看到我举着牌子吗?”
“You’re a hard girl to handle. How come?” he said. “Don’t you know I’m your friend? Didn’t you see me put my sign in the air when you walked by?”
“什么标志?”
“What sign?”
“我的标志。”他朝她探出身子,在空中画了一个 X。他们相距大约十英尺。他的手落回身侧后,X 仍然在空中,几乎清晰可见。康妮关上纱门,一动不动地站在里面,听着收音机里的音乐和男孩的音乐交织在一起。她盯着阿诺德·弗伦德。他站在那里,僵硬而放松,假装很放松,一只手懒洋洋地放在门把手上,好像他一直保持这种姿势,再也不打算动了。她认出了他的大部分特征,露出大腿和臀部的紧身牛仔裤、油腻的皮靴和紧身衬衫,甚至还有他那滑溜溜的友好微笑,那种睡眼惺忪的梦幻般的微笑,所有的男孩都用它来表达他们不想用语言表达的想法。她认出了这一切,也认出了他说话的节奏感,略带嘲讽和玩笑,但又很严肃,还带点忧郁,她还认出了他用一只拳头敲击另一只拳头,向身后永恒的音乐致敬的方式。但所有这些并没有结合在一起。
“My sign.” And he drew an X in the air, leaning out toward her. They were maybe ten feet apart. After his hand fell back to his side the X was still in the air, almost visible. Connie let the screen door close and stood perfectly still inside it, listening to the music from her radio and the boy’s blend together. She stared at Arnold Friend. He stood there so stiffly relaxed, pretending to be relaxed, with one hand idly on the door handle as if he were keeping himself up that way and had no intention of ever moving again. She recognized most things about him, the tight jeans that showed his thighs and buttocks and the greasy leather boots and the tight shirt, and even that slippery friendly smile of his, that sleepy dreamy smile that all the boys used to get across ideas they didn’t want to put into words. She recognized all this and also the singsong way he talked, slightly mocking, kidding, but serious and a little melancholy, and she recognized the way he tapped one fist against the other in homage to the perpetual music behind him. But all these things did not come together.
她突然说道:“喂,你多大了?”
She said suddenly, “Hey, how old are you?”
他的笑容消失了。她这才明白他不是个孩子,他年纪大得多——三十岁,也许更大。得知这一点,她的心跳开始加快。
His smile faded. She could see then that he wasn’t a kid, he was much older — thirty, maybe more. At this knowledge her heart began to pound faster.
“问这种问题太疯狂了。难道你看不出来我和你同龄吗?”
“That’s a crazy thing to ask. Can’tcha see I’m your own age?”
“你真是该死。”
“Like hell you are.”
“或者可能再大几岁,我已经十八岁了。”
“Or maybe a coupla years older, I’m eighteen.”
“十八?”她怀疑地问。
“Eighteen?” she said doubtfully.
他咧嘴一笑,让她放心,嘴角露出了皱纹。他的牙齿又大又白。他笑得眼睛都眯成了一条缝,她看到他的睫毛又厚又黑,好像涂了一层黑色的焦油状物质。然后他似乎突然变得尴尬起来,扭头看着艾丽。“他,他疯了,”他说。“他真是个暴徒,他是个疯子,一个真正的人物。”艾丽还在听音乐。他的太阳镜丝毫看不出他在想什么。他穿着一件亮橙色的衬衫,扣子解开了一半,露出胸膛,他的胸膛苍白、发青,不像阿诺德·弗伦德那样肌肉发达。他的衬衫领子四周都卷起来了,领尖从下巴往外突出,好像在保护他。他把晶体管收音机贴在耳边,坐在那里,有点发呆,就在阳光下。
He grinned to reassure her and lines appeared at the corners of his mouth. His teeth were big and white. He grinned so broadly his eyes became slits and she saw how thick the lashes were, thick and black as if painted with a black tar-like material. Then he seemed to become embarrassed, abruptly, and looked over his shoulder at Ellie. “Him, he’s crazy,” he said. “Ain’t he a riot, he’s a nut, a real character.” Ellie was still listening to the music. His sunglasses told nothing about what he was thinking. He wore a bright orange shirt unbuttoned halfway to show his chest, which was a pale, bluish chest and not muscular like Arnold Friend’s. His shirt collar was turned up all around and the very tips of the collar pointed out past his chin as if they were protecting him. He was pressing the transistor radio up against his ear and sat there in a kind of daze, right in the sun.
“他有点奇怪,”康妮说。
“He’s kinda strange,” Connie said.
“嘿,她说你有点奇怪!有点奇怪!”阿诺德·弗伦德喊道。他猛敲汽车以引起艾莉的注意。艾莉第一次转过身来,康妮震惊地发现他也不是个孩子——他有一张白皙、没有毛发的脸,脸颊微微发红,好像血管长得太靠近皮肤表面了,一张四十岁婴儿的脸。看到这一幕,康妮感到一阵眩晕,她盯着他,仿佛在等着什么东西来改变此刻的震惊,让一切恢复正常。艾莉的嘴唇不停地吐出几个字,随着他耳边的话语喃喃自语。
“Hey, she says you’re kinda strange! Kinda strange!” Arnold Friend cried. He pounded on the car to get Ellie’s attention. Ellie turned for the first time and Connie saw with shock that he wasn’t a kid either — he had a fair, hairless face, cheeks reddened slightly as if the veins grew too close to the surface of his skin, the face of a forty-year-old baby. Connie felt a wave of dizziness rise in her at this sight and she stared at him as if waiting for something to change the shock of the moment, make it all right again. Ellie’s lips kept shaping words, mumbling along with the words blasting his ear.
“你们两个最好走开。”康妮淡淡地说道。
“Maybe you two better go away,” Connie said faintly.
“什么?怎么会这样?”阿诺德·弗兰德喊道。“我们来这里是想带你兜风。今天是星期天。”他的声音和对讲机里的男人一模一样。康妮心想,还是那个声音。“你知道吗,今天一整天都是星期天,亲爱的,不管你昨晚和谁在一起,今天你都是和阿诺德·弗兰德在一起的,别忘了这一点!——也许你最好走出这里来,”他说,最后这句话的语气不一样了。语气稍微平淡了一些,好像天气终于让他受不了了。
“What? How come?” Arnold Friend cried. “We come out here to take you for a ride. It’s Sunday.” He had the voice of the man on the radio now. It was the same voice, Connie thought. “Don’tcha know it’s Sunday all day and honey, no matter who you were with last night today you’re with Arnold Friend and don’t you forget it! — Maybe you better step out here,” he said, and this last was in a different voice. It was a little flatter, as if the heat was finally getting to him.
“没。我还有事要做。”
“No. I got things to do.”
“嘿。”
“Hey.”
“你们两个最好离开。”
“You two better leave.”
“除非你跟我们一起去,否则我们不会离开。”
“We ain’t leaving until you come with us.”
“我真他妈的——”
“Like hell I am —”
“康妮,别跟我开玩笑。我是说——我是说,别跟我开玩笑, ”他摇着头说。他难以置信地笑了起来。他小心翼翼地把太阳镜戴在头顶上,就像他真的戴了假发一样,把太阳镜的柄垂在耳后。康妮盯着他看,一阵眩晕和恐惧涌上心头,一时间她甚至看不清他,只看到一片模糊,他站在金色的车前,她觉得他确实开上了车道,但在此之前他不知从何而来,也不属于任何地方,他的一切,甚至她所熟悉的音乐,都只是一半真实。
“Connie, don’t fool around with me. I mean — I mean, don’t fool around,” he said, shaking his head. He laughed incredulously. He placed his sunglasses on top of his head, carefully, as if he were indeed wearing a wig, and brought the stems down behind his ears. Connie stared at him, another wave of dizziness and fear rising in her so that for a moment he wasn’t even in focus but was just a blur, standing there against his gold car, and she had the idea that he had driven up the driveway all right but had come from nowhere before that and belonged nowhere and that everything about him and even the music that was so familiar to her was only half real.
“如果我父亲来看你——”
“If my father comes and sees you —”
“他不来了。他去参加烧烤了。”
“He ain’t coming. He’s at a barbecue.”
“你怎么知道的?”
“How do you know that?”
“蒂莉姑妈家。现在他们——呃——在喝酒。闲坐。”他含糊地说,眯着眼睛,仿佛一直盯着镇上和蒂莉姑妈的后院。然后视线似乎清晰起来,他用力地点了点头。“是的。闲坐。你姐姐穿着蓝色连衣裙,嗯?还有高跟鞋,可怜的可怜女人——一点都不像你,甜心!你妈妈在帮一个胖女人收割玉米,他们正在清理玉米——剥玉米皮——”
“Aunt Tillie’s. Right now they’re — uh — they’re drinking. Sitting around,” he said vaguely, squinting as if he were staring all the way to town and over to Aunt Tillie’s back yard. Then the vision seemed to clear and he nodded energetically. “Yeah. Sitting around. There’s your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch — nothing like you, sweetheart! And your mother’s helping some fat woman with the corn, they’re cleaning the corn — husking the corn —”
“哪个胖女人?”康妮叫道。
“What fat woman?” Connie cried.
“我怎么知道哪个胖女人。我又不认识世界上每一个该死的胖女人!”阿诺德·弗兰德笑道。
“How do I know what fat woman. I don’t know every goddamn fat woman in the world!” Arnold Friend laughed.
“哦,那是霍恩比太太……谁邀请她来的?”康妮说。她感到头有点晕,呼吸急促。
“Oh, that’s Mrs. Hornby…. Who invited her?” Connie said. She felt a little light-headed. Her breath was coming quickly.
“她太胖了。我不喜欢胖子。我喜欢你现在的样子,亲爱的,”他睡眼惺忪地对她笑着说。他们隔着纱门对视了一会儿。他轻声说:“现在你要做的是:你要从那扇门出来。你要和我坐在前面,艾莉坐在后面,见鬼去吧?这不是艾莉的约会对象。你是我的约会对象。我是你的爱人,亲爱的。”
“She’s too fat. I don’t like them fat. I like them the way you are, honey,” he said, smiling sleepily at her. They stared at each other for a while, through the screen door. He said softly, “Now what you’re going to do is this: you’re going to come out that door. You’re going to sit up front with me and Ellie’s going to sit in the back, the hell with Ellie, right? This isn’t Ellie’s date. You’re my date. I’m your lover, honey.”
“什么?你疯了——”
“What? You’re crazy —”
“是的,我是你的爱人。你不知道那是什么,但你会知道的,”他说。“我也知道。我了解你的一切。但你看:这真的很好,你找不到比我更好、更有礼貌的人了。我一向信守诺言。我会告诉你是怎么回事,一开始我总是很友好的。我会紧紧地抱住你,你不会觉得你必须试图逃跑或假装什么,因为你知道你做不到。我会进入你的身体,在那里一切都是秘密的,你会屈服于我,你会爱我——”
“Yes, I’m your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will,” he said. “I know that too. I know all about you. But look: it’s real nice and you couldn’t ask for nobody better than me, or more polite. I always keep my word. I’ll tell you how it is, I’m always nice at first, the first time. I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you’ll know you can’t. And I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me —”
“闭嘴!你疯了!”康妮说。她从门口退开。她用手捂住耳朵,好像听到了什么可怕的事情,不是她该说的话。“人们不会这样说话的,你疯了,”她喃喃道。她的心脏几乎快要跳出胸膛,跳动得浑身冒汗。她向外望去,看到阿诺德·弗伦德停了下来,然后蹒跚地朝门廊迈了一步。他差点摔倒。但是,像一个聪明的醉汉一样,他设法保持了平衡。他穿着高筒靴摇摇晃晃地抓住了一根门廊柱子。
“Shut up! You’re crazy!” Connie said. She backed away from the door. She put her hands against her ears as if she’d heard something terrible, something not meant for her. “People don’t talk like that, you’re crazy,” she muttered. Her heart was almost too big now for her chest and its pumping made sweat break out all over her. She looked out to see Arnold Friend pause and then take a step toward the porch lurching. He almost fell. But, like a clever drunken man, he managed to catch his balance. He wobbled in his high boots and grabbed hold of one of the porch posts.
“亲爱的?”他说,“你还在听吗?”
“Honey?” he said. “You still listening?”
“滚出去!”
“Get the hell out of here!”
“乖一点,亲爱的。听我说。”
“Be nice, honey. Listen.”
“我要报警——”
“I’m going to call the police —”
他又摇摇晃晃地从嘴角冒出一句咒骂,这句咒骂不是她应该听见的。但就连这句“天啊!”听起来也像是勉强说出来的。然后他又开始微笑。她看着他露出笑容,尴尬得像是戴着面具在笑。他整张脸都是面具,她疯狂地想,晒黑了脸颊,一直晒到喉咙,然后又消失了,好像他脸上涂了化妆品,却忘了喉咙。
He wobbled again and out of the side of his mouth came a fast spat curse, an aside not meant for her to hear. But even this “Christ!” sounded forced. Then he began to smile again. She watched this smile come, awkward as if he were smiling from inside a mask. His whole face was a mask, she thought wildly, tanned down onto his throat but then running out as if he had plastered make-up on his face but had forgotten about his throat.
“亲爱的——?听着,事情是这样的。我总是说实话,我向你保证:我不会进你家的。”
“Honey —? Listen, here’s how it is. I always tell the truth and I promise you this: I ain’t coming in that house after you.”
“你最好别这么做!如果你不——如果你不——我就报警了。”
“You better not! I’m going to call the police if you — if you don’t —”
“亲爱的,”他直接用她的声音说道,“亲爱的,我不会进去,但你得出来。你知道为什么吗?”
“Honey,” he said, talking right through her voice, “honey, I’m not coming in there but you are coming out here. You know why?”
她气喘吁吁。厨房看起来像是一个她从未见过的地方,她曾经跑进去过但不够好,对她没有帮助。三年来,厨房的窗户从来没有挂过窗帘,水槽里有她要洗的碗碟——很可能——如果你用手抚摸桌子,你可能会感觉到那里有粘糊糊的东西。
She was panting. The kitchen looked like a place she had never seen before, some room she had run inside but which wasn’t good enough, wasn’t going to help her. The kitchen window had never had a curtain, after three years, and there were dishes in the sink for her to do — probably — and if you ran your hand across the table you’d probably feel something sticky there.
“你在听吗,亲爱的?嘿?”
“You listening, honey? Hey?”
“——我要报警——”
“— going to call the police —”
“只要你一碰电话,我就不用遵守诺言,可以进来了。你不会想要那样的。”
“Soon as you touch the phone I don’t need to keep my promise and can come inside. You won’t want that.”
她冲上前去,想把门锁上。她的手指在颤抖。“但为什么要锁呢?”阿诺德·弗兰德温柔地对着她的脸说。“这只是一扇纱门。什么都没有。”他的一只靴子的角度很奇怪,好像他的脚不在里面。它指向左边,脚踝处弯曲。“我的意思是,任何人都可以打破纱门、玻璃、木头、铁或其他任何东西,只要他需要,任何人,特别是阿诺德·弗兰德。如果这个地方被火点燃了,亲爱的,你会跑出来,扑进我的怀里,直接扑进我的怀里,安全回家——就像你知道我是你的爱人,不再胡闹一样,我不介意一个害羞的漂亮女孩,但我不喜欢胡闹。”这些话的一部分带着轻微的节奏,康妮不知怎么就认出了它们——这是去年一首歌的回响,关于一个女孩冲进男朋友的怀抱,又回到了家——
She rushed forward and tried to lock the door. Her fingers were shaking. “But why lock it,” Arnold Friend said gently, talking right into her face. “It’s just a screen door. It’s just nothing.” One of his boots was at a strange angle, as if his foot wasn’t in it. It pointed out to the left, bent at the ankle. “I mean, anybody can break through a screen door and glass and wood and iron or anything else if he needs to, anybody at all and specially Arnold Friend. If the place got lit up with a fire, honey, you’d come runnin’ out into my arms, right into my arms an’ safe at home — like you knew I was your lover and’d stopped fooling around, I don’t mind a nice shy girl but I don’t like no fooling around.” Part of those words were spoken with a slight rhythmic lilt, and Connie somehow recognized them — the echo of a song from last year, about a girl rushing into her boy friend’s arms and coming home again —
康妮光着脚站在油毡地板上,盯着他。“你想干什么?”她低声问。
Connie stood barefoot on the linoleum floor, staring at him. “What do you want?” she whispered.
“我想要你,”他说。
“I want you,” he said.
“什么?”
“What?”
“那天晚上看到你,我就想,就是你了,先生。我再也不需要找你了。”
“Seen you that night and thought, that’s the one, yes sir. I never needed to look any more.”
“但是我爸爸回来了。他来接我了。我得先洗头——”她用干巴巴的、快速的声音说道,几乎没抬高声音让他听见。
“But my father’s coming back. He’s coming to get me. I had to wash my hair first —” She spoke in a dry, rapid voice, hardly raising it for him to hear.
“不,你爸爸不来了,是的,你得洗头发,而且是为了我才洗的。头发又漂亮又闪亮,全都是为了我。谢谢你,亲爱的,”他假装鞠躬说道,但又差点失去平衡。他不得不弯下腰调整靴子。显然他的脚没有完全穿好;靴子里一定塞了什么东西,这样他看起来会更高。康妮盯着他,又盯着他身后车里的艾丽,艾丽似乎正朝康妮的右边望去,茫然无知。然后艾丽说,他一个接一个地从空中抽出几个字,好像他才刚刚发现它们,“你想让我拿出电话吗?”
“No, your daddy is not coming and yes, you had to wash your hair and you washed it for me. It’s nice and shining and all for me. I thank you, sweetheart,” he said, with a mock bow, but again he almost lost his balance. He had to bend and adjust his boots. Evidently his feet did not go all the way down; the boots must have been stuffed with something so that he would seem taller. Connie stared out at him and behind him at Ellie in the car, who seemed to be looking off toward Connie’s right, into nothing. Then Ellie said, pulling the words out of the air one after another as if he were just discovering them, “You want me to pull out the phone?”
“闭上你的嘴,别说出去,”阿诺德·弗兰德说,他的脸因为弯腰而红了,也可能是因为康妮看到了他的靴子而感到尴尬。“这不关你的事。”
“Shut your mouth and keep it shut,” Arnold Friend said, his face red from bending over or maybe from embarrassment because Connie had seen his boots. “This ain’t none of your business.”
“你——你在干什么?你想干什么?”康妮说。“如果我报警,他们会抓到你,会逮捕你——”
“What — what are you doing? What do you want?” Connie said. “If I call the police they’ll get you, they’ll arrest you —”
“我答应过,如果你不碰那部电话,你就别进来,我会遵守诺言的,”他说。他恢复了挺直的姿势,试图把肩膀往后拉。他的声音听起来像电影里的英雄,在宣布一件重要的事情。他说话声音太大,就像是在跟康妮身后的人说话一样。“我没有计划进那间不属于我的房子,只是想让你向我坦白,你应该这样。你不知道我是谁吗?”
“Promise was not to come in unless you touch that phone, and I’ll keep that promise,” he said. He resumed his erect position and tried to force his shoulders back. He sounded like a hero in a movie, declaring something important. He spoke too loudly and it was as if he were speaking to someone behind Connie. “I ain’t made plans for coming in that house where I don’t belong but just for you to come out to me, the way you should. Don’t you know who I am?”
“你疯了,”她低声说。她从门口退开,但不想走进房子的其他地方,好像这样他就可以进门了。“你干什么……你疯了,你……”
“You’re crazy,” she whispered. She backed away from the door but did not want to go into another part of the house, as if this would give him permission to come through the door. “What do you … You’re crazy, you….”
“啊?你说什么呢,亲爱的?”
“Huh? What’re you saying, honey?”
她的目光在厨房里四处扫视。她记不起这是什么房间了。
Her eyes darted everywhere in the kitchen. She could not remember what it was, this room.
“情况就是这样,亲爱的:你出来,我们开车走,一路愉快。但如果你不出来,我们就要等到你的人回家,然后他们都会得到它。”
“This is how it is, honey: you come out and we’ll drive away, have a nice ride. But if you don’t come out we’re gonna wait till your people come home and then they’re all going to get it.”
“你想把电话拔掉吗?”埃利说。他把收音机拿离耳朵远一点,脸上露出痛苦的表情,仿佛没有收音机,空气对他来说太难受了。
“You want that telephone pulled out?” Ellie said. He held the radio away from his ear and grimaced, as if without the radio the air was too much for him.
“我叫你闭嘴,艾莉,”阿诺德·弗伦德说,“你聋了,去买个助听器,行吗?好好照顾自己。这个小姑娘不会惹麻烦,而且会对我很好的,所以艾莉,你还是自己管好自己吧,这不是你的约会对象——行吗?别缠着我,别霸占我,别踩我,别像猎犬一样追我,别跟踪我,”他语速飞快,毫无意义,仿佛他正在重复他学过的所有表达方式,但已经不确定哪一种是时髦的,然后又急忙去学新的表达方式,闭着眼睛编造出来。“别从我的篱笆下爬,别挤进我的花栗鼠洞,别闻我的胶水,别吮吸我的冰棒,别管好你自己油腻的手指!”他用手遮住眼睛,凝视着背靠在厨房桌子上的康妮。“别介意他,亲爱的,他只是个怪人。他是个笨蛋。对吧?我就是你的男孩,就像我说的,你像淑女一样出来,伸出你的手,不会有其他人受伤,我是说,你那善良的老秃头爸爸、你的妈妈和你穿高跟鞋的姐姐。因为听我说:为什么要把他们带进来?”
“I toldja shut up, Ellie,” Arnold Friend said, “you’re deaf, get a hearing aid, right? Fix yourself up. This little girl’s no trouble and’s gonna be nice to me, so Ellie keep to yourself, this ain’t your date — right? Don’t hem in on me, don’t hog, don’t crush, don’t bird dog, don’t trail me,” he said in a rapid, meaningless voice, as if he were running through all the expressions he’d learned but was no longer sure which one of them was in style, then rushing on to new ones, making them up with his eyes closed. “Don’t crawl under my fence, don’t squeeze in my chipmunk hole, don’t sniff my glue, suck my popsicle, keep your own greasy fingers on yourself!” He shaded his eyes and peered in at Connie, who was backed against the kitchen table. “Don’t mind him, honey, he’s just a creep. He’s a dope. Right? I’m the boy for you and like I said, you come out here nice like a lady and give me your hand, and nobody else gets hurt, I mean, your nice old bald-headed daddy and your mummy and your sister in her high heels. Because listen: why bring them in this?”
“别管我。”康妮低声说。
“Leave me alone,” Connie whispered.
“嘿,你知道路上那个养着鸡和其他东西的老妇人吗?你认识她吗?”
“Hey, you know that old woman down the road, the one with the chickens and stuff — you know her?”
“她死了!”
“She’s dead!”
“死了?什么?你认识她吗?”阿诺德·弗兰德说。
“Dead? What? You know her?” Arnold Friend said.
“她死了——”
“She’s dead —”
“你不喜欢她吗?”
“Don’t you like her?”
“她死了——她——她已经不在这里了——”
“She’s dead — she’s — she isn’t here any more —”
“但你不喜欢她吗?我的意思是,你对她有什么不满?有怨恨还是什么?”然后他的声音低了下来,好像他意识到自己很无礼。他摸了摸头顶上的太阳镜,好像要确保它们还在那儿。“现在你要做个好女孩。”
“But don’t you like her, I mean, you got something against her? Some grudge or something?” Then his voice dipped as if he were conscious of rudeness. He touched the sunglasses on top of his head as if to make sure they were still there. “Now you be a good girl.”
“你会怎样做?”
“What are you going to do?”
“只有两件事,或者三件事,”阿诺德·弗兰德说。“但我保证这不会持续太久,你会喜欢我,这样你就可以喜欢你亲近的人。你会的。你在这里一切都结束了,所以出来吧。你不想让你的人陷入任何麻烦,是吗?”
“Just two things, or maybe three,” Arnold Friend said. “But I promise it won’t last long and you’ll like me that way you get to like people you’re close to. You will. It’s all over for you here, so come on out. You don’t want your people in any trouble, do you?”
她转身撞到了椅子或什么东西上,弄伤了腿,但她跑到后面的房间拿起电话。她耳边传来一阵轰鸣,是一阵细小的轰鸣,她吓得要命,只能听着那声音——电话又湿又重,她的手指摸索着拨盘,但太虚弱了,根本碰不到。她开始对着电话尖叫,对着轰鸣声尖叫。她大声哭喊,她哭喊着妈妈,她感到自己的呼吸开始在肺部来回抽搐,仿佛阿诺德·弗伦德正在毫无温柔地一次又一次地刺她。一阵喧闹悲伤的哀号声在她周围响起,她被锁在里面,就像被锁在这所房子里一样。
She turned and bumped against a chair or something, hurting her leg, but she ran into the back room and picked up the telephone. Something roared in her ear, a tiny roaring, and she was so sick with fear that she could do nothing but listen to it — the telephone was clammy and very heavy and her fingers groped down to the dial but were too weak to touch it. She began to scream into the phone, into the roaring. She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness. A noisy sorrowful wailing rose all about her and she was locked inside it the way she was locked inside this house.
过了一会儿,她又听见了。她坐在地板上,湿漉漉的后背靠着墙。
After a while she could hear again. She was sitting on the floor, with her wet back against the wall.
阿诺德·弗兰德在门口说道:“真是个好姑娘。把电话放回去。”
Arnold Friend was saying from the door, “That’s a good girl. Put the phone back.”
她把电话踢到了一边。
She kicked the phone away from her.
“不,亲爱的。把它捡起来。放回原位。”
“No, honey. Pick it up. Put it back right.”
她拿起手机又放回去。拨号音停了。
She picked it up and put it back. The dial tone stopped.
“真是个好姑娘。现在你出来吧。”
“That’s a good girl. Now you come outside.”
她感到空虚,恐惧感从前是那样强烈,但现在却只剩下空虚。所有的尖叫声都把恐惧从她身上驱散了。她坐着,一条腿抽筋,脑海深处有一道光点,像针尖一样,不停地闪烁着,让她无法放松。她想,我再也见不到我妈妈了。她想,我再也睡不着了。她鲜绿色的上衣全湿了。
She was hollow with what had been fear but what was now just an emptiness. All that screaming had blasted it out of her. She sat, one leg cramped under her, and deep inside her brain was something like a pinpoint of light that kept going and would not let her relax. She thought, I’m not going to see my mother again. She thought, I’m not going to sleep in my bed again. Her bright green blouse was all wet.
阿诺德·弗兰德用一种像舞台声音一样柔和而响亮的声音说道:“你来自的地方已经不复存在,你原本想去的地方也已经不复存在了。你现在所处的地方——你爸爸的房子里——只不过是一个我随时可以推倒的纸板箱。你知道这一点,而且一直都知道。你听见了吗?”
Arnold Friend said, in a gentle-loud voice that was like a stage voice, “The place where you came from ain’t there any more, and where you had in mind to go is cancelled out. This place you are now — inside your daddy’s house — is nothing but a cardboard box I can knock down any time. You know that and always did know it. You hear me?”
她想,我必须思考,我必须知道该做什么。
She thought, I have got to think. I have got to know what to do.
“我们去乡下一片美丽的田野,这里空气清新,阳光明媚,”阿诺德·弗兰德说。“我会紧紧拥抱你,这样你就不用想着逃跑了,我会让你见识一下爱是什么样的,爱会做什么。这房子见鬼去吧!它看起来还挺结实的,”他说。他用指甲划过纱窗,但发出的声音并没有让康妮像前一天那样发抖。“现在把手放在心上,亲爱的。感觉到了吗?那感觉也很结实,但我们更清楚。对我好一点,尽可能温柔一点,因为像你这样的女孩,除了温柔漂亮和屈服,还能做什么呢?——在她的人回来之前逃走?”
“We’ll go out to a nice field, out in the country here where it smells so nice and it’s sunny,” Arnold Friend said. “I’ll have my arms tight around you so you won’t need to try to get away and I’ll show you what love is like, what it does. The hell with this house! It looks solid all right,” he said. He ran a fingernail down the screen and the noise did not make Connie shiver, as it would have the day before. “Now put your hand on your heart, honey. Feel that? That feels solid too but we know better. Be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in? — and get away before her people get back?”
她感觉到自己的心脏在怦怦跳动。她的手似乎握住了它。她有生以来第一次觉得,那根本不是她的东西,根本不属于她,而只是这个身体里一个怦怦跳动的活物,而这个身体其实也不属于她。
She felt her pounding heart. Her hand seemed to enclose it. She thought for the first time in her life that it was nothing that was hers, that belonged to her, but just a pounding, living thing inside this body that wasn’t really hers either.
“你不会想让他们受伤的,”阿诺德·弗兰德继续说道。“现在起来吧,亲爱的。你自己起来吧。”
“You don’t want them to get hurt,” Arnold Friend went on. “Now get up, honey. Get up all by yourself.”
她站了起来。
She stood.
“现在转过来。没错。到我这边来——艾莉,把那个收起来,我没告诉你吗?你这个笨蛋。你这个可悲的、令人毛骨悚然的笨蛋,”阿诺德·弗兰德说。他的话并不愤怒,只是咒语的一部分。咒语是善意的。“现在从厨房出来到我这里来,亲爱的,让我们看看你的笑容,试试看,你是一个勇敢可爱的小女孩,现在他们正在吃在户外火上烤得爆裂的玉米和热狗,他们对你一无所知,从来没有,亲爱的,你比他们好,因为他们中没有一个人会为你做这种事。”
“Now turn this way. That’s right. Come over to me — Ellie, put that away, didn’t I tell you? You dope. You miserable creepy dope,” Arnold Friend said. His words were not angry but only part of an incantation. The incantation was kindly. “Now come out through the kitchen to me honey and let’s see a smile, try it, you’re a brave sweet little girl and now they’re eating corn and hotdogs cooked to bursting over an outdoor fire, and they don’t know one thing about you and never did and honey you’re better than them because not a one of them would have done this for you.”
康妮脚下的油毡很凉。她把头发从眼前拂开。阿诺德·弗伦德试探性地放开柱子,张开双臂拥抱她,他的手肘相对,手腕无力,表示这是一个尴尬的拥抱,有点嘲讽,他不想让她感到不自在。
Connie felt the linoleum under her feet; it was cool. She brushed her hair back out of her eyes. Arnold Friend let go of the post tentatively and opened his arms for her, his elbows pointing in toward each other and his wrists limp, to show that this was an embarrassed embrace and a little mocking, he didn’t want to make her self-conscious.
她伸出手去按屏风,看着自己慢慢地把门推开,仿佛她又安全地回到了另一扇门的某个地方,看着这具身体和这颗长发的脑袋走进阳光下,阿诺德·弗兰德在那里等着她。
She put out her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited.
“我可爱的蓝眼睛的小姑娘,”他半唱半叹息地说道,这叹息与她的棕色眼睛毫无关系,但同样被他身后和四周广阔的阳光照射的土地所吸引——这么大的土地,康妮以前从未见过,除了知道她要去那里之外,她什么也没认出来。
“My sweet little blue-eyed girl,” he said in a half-sung sigh that had nothing to do with her brown eyes but was taken up just the same by the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him and on all sides of him — so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it.
[1966年]
[1966]
[生于 1939 年]
[b. 1939]
约翰和玛丽见面。
John and Mary meet.
接下来会发生什么?
What happens next?
如果您想要一个圆满的结局,请尝试 A。
If you want a happy ending, try A.
约翰和玛丽相爱并结婚。他们都有一份值得做、收入丰厚的工作,他们觉得这份工作既刺激又有挑战性。他们买了一栋漂亮的房子。房地产价值上涨。最后,当他们能负担得起住家保姆时,他们有了两个孩子,他们非常爱护他们。孩子们都成长得很好。约翰和玛丽的性生活既刺激又有挑战性,他们也有值得交的朋友。他们一起去度假。他们退休了。他们都有自己的爱好,他们觉得这份爱好既刺激又有挑战性。最后他们死了。这就是故事的结局。
John and Mary fall in love and get married. They both have worthwhile and remunerative jobs which they find stimulating and challenging. They buy a charming house. Real estate values go up. Eventually, when they can afford live-in help, they have two children, to whom they are devoted. The children turn out well. John and Mary have a stimulating and challenging sex life and worthwhile friends. They go on fun vacations together. They retire. They both have hobbies which they find stimulating and challenging. Eventually they die. This is the end of the story.
玛丽爱上了约翰,但约翰并没有爱上玛丽。他只是利用她的身体来满足自己的私欲和不温不火的自我满足。他每周两次来到她的公寓,她为他做晚餐,你会注意到他甚至认为她不值一顿晚餐的钱,吃完晚餐后,他和她做爱,然后他就睡着了,而她则洗碗,这样他就不会觉得她很邋遢,把那些脏盘子扔得到处都是,然后他涂上新口红,这样当他醒来时她会看起来很漂亮,但当他醒来时他甚至没有注意到,他穿上了袜子、短裤、裤子、衬衫、领带和鞋子,顺序和他脱下它们时相反。他没有脱掉玛丽的衣服,而是她自己脱的,每次她都表现得好像很渴望那样,并不是因为她喜欢性爱,她并不喜欢,但她想让约翰认为她喜欢,因为如果他们经常做爱,他肯定会习惯她,会依赖她,然后他们会结婚,但约翰几乎连晚安都没说就出门了,三天后他六点出现,他们又重复了一遍。
Mary falls in love with John but John doesn’t fall in love with Mary. He merely uses her body for selfish pleasure and ego gratification of a tepid kind. He comes to her apartment twice a week and she cooks him dinner, you’ll notice that he doesn’t even consider her worth the price of a dinner out, and after he’s eaten the dinner he fucks her and after that he falls asleep, while she does the dishes so he won’t think she’s untidy, having all those dirty dishes lying around, and puts on fresh lipstick so she’ll look good when he wakes up, but when he wakes up he doesn’t even notice, he puts on his socks and his shorts and his pants and his shirt and his tie and his shoes, the reverse order from the one in which he took them off. He doesn’t take off Mary’s clothes, she takes them off herself, she acts as if she’s dying for it every time, not because she likes sex exactly, she doesn’t, but she wants John to think she does because if they do it often enough surely he’ll get used to her, he’ll come to depend on her and they will get married, but John goes out the door with hardly so much as a goodnight and three days later he turns up at six o’clock and they do the whole thing over again.
玛丽被打倒了。哭泣对脸不好,每个人都知道这一点,玛丽也知道,但她就是停不下来。工作中的人注意到了这一点。她的朋友告诉她约翰是一只老鼠、一头猪、一条狗,他配不上她,但她无法相信。她认为,约翰的内心还有另一个约翰,一个比他好得多的约翰。如果第一个约翰受到足够的挤压,这个另一个约翰就会像茧中的蝴蝶、盒子里的杰克、梅子核一样出现。
Mary gets run down. Crying is bad for your face, everyone knows that and so does Mary but she can’t stop. People at work notice. Her friends tell her John is a rat, a pig, a dog, he isn’t good enough for her, but she can’t believe it. Inside John, she thinks, is another John, who is much nicer. This other John will emerge like a butterfly from a cocoon, a Jack from a box, a pit from a prune, if the first John is only squeezed enough.
一天晚上,约翰抱怨食物。他以前从来没有抱怨过食物。玛丽很伤心。
One evening John complains about the food. He has never complained about the food before. Mary is hurt.
她的朋友告诉她,他们看到他和另一个女人在一家餐馆,那个女人名叫玛吉。最终让玛丽动心的甚至不是玛吉,而是那家餐馆。约翰从来没有带玛丽去过餐馆。玛丽收集了她能找到的所有安眠药和阿司匹林,并服用了它们和半瓶雪利酒。从她喝的甚至不是威士忌这一事实可以看出她是什么样的女人。她给约翰留了一张纸条。她希望约翰能及时发现她,把她送到医院,然后悔改,然后他们就可以结婚了,但这并没有发生,她死了。
Her friends tell her they’ve seen him in a restaurant with another woman, whose name is Madge. It’s not even Madge that finally gets to Mary: it’s the restaurant. John has never taken Mary to a restaurant. Mary collects all the sleeping pills and aspirins she can find, and takes them and half a bottle of sherry. You can see what kind of a woman she is by the fact that it’s not even whiskey. She leaves a note for John. She hopes he’ll discover her and get her to the hospital in time and repent and then they can get married, but this fails to happen and she dies.
约翰与玛奇结婚,一切如 A 中一样继续进行。
John marries Madge and everything continues as in A.
约翰是个老男人,他爱上了玛丽,而玛丽只有 22 岁,她很同情他,因为他担心自己的头发会掉光。她和他上床,尽管她并不爱他。她在工作中认识了他。她爱上了一个叫詹姆斯的人,詹姆斯也是 22 岁,还没有准备好安定下来。
John, who is an older man, falls in love with Mary, and Mary, who is only twenty-two, feels sorry for him because he’s worried about his hair falling out. She sleeps with him even though she’s not in love with him. She met him at work. She’s in love with someone called James, who is twenty-two also and not yet ready to settle down.
相反,约翰早就安定下来了:这就是困扰他的事情。约翰有一份稳定的体面工作,在自己的领域也取得了进步,但玛丽对他并不感兴趣,她对詹姆斯很感兴趣,詹姆斯有一辆摩托车和一套很棒的唱片收藏。但詹姆斯经常骑着摩托车出去,很自由。自由对女孩来说并不一样,所以玛丽在此期间会和约翰一起度过星期四晚上。星期四是约翰唯一可以抽出时间的日子。
John on the contrary settled down long ago: this is what is bothering him. John has a steady respectable job and is getting ahead in his field, but Mary isn’t impressed by him, she’s impressed by James, who has a motorcycle and a fabulous record collection. But James is often away on his motorcycle, being free. Freedom isn’t the same for girls, so in the meantime Mary spends Thursday evenings with John. Thursdays are the only days John can get away.
约翰娶了一位名叫玛吉的妻子,他们有两个孩子,一栋漂亮的房子,是在房地产价格上涨前买的,他们还有业余爱好,只要有时间,他们就会觉得这些爱好既刺激又有挑战性。约翰告诉玛丽,她对他有多重要,但他当然不能离开妻子,因为承诺就是承诺。他对此喋喋不休,玛丽觉得很无聊,但年长的男人可以坚持更长时间,所以总的来说,她过得相当愉快。
John is married to a woman called Madge and they have two children, a charming house which they bought just before the real estate values went up, and hobbies which they find stimulating and challenging, when they have the time. John tells Mary how important she is to him, but of course he can’t leave his wife because a commitment is a commitment. He goes on about this more than is necessary and Mary finds it boring, but older men can keep it up longer so on the whole she has a fairly good time.
一天,詹姆斯骑着摩托车带着一些顶级加州混合动力车轻快地回来了,詹姆斯和玛丽兴奋得超乎你想象,他们爬上了床。一切都变得像水下一样,但约翰来了,他有玛丽公寓的钥匙。他发现他们嗑药了,缠在一起。考虑到玛吉,他几乎没有什么嫉妒的余地,但他还是被绝望所淹没。终于,他到了中年,两年后他就会秃得像个鸡蛋,他受不了了。他买了一把手枪,说他需要用它来练习射击——这是情节中薄弱的部分,但可以稍后处理——然后开枪打死了他们两个,然后自杀了。
One day James breezes in on his motorcycle with some top-grade California hybrid and James and Mary get higher than you’d believe possible and they climb into bed. Everything becomes very underwater, but along comes John, who has a key to Mary’s apartment. He finds them stoned and entwined. He’s hardly in any position to be jealous, considering Madge, but nevertheless he’s overcome with despair. Finally he’s middle-aged, in two years he’ll be bald as an egg, and he can’t stand it. He purchases a handgun, saying he needs it for target practice — this is the thin part of the plot, but it can be dealt with later — and shoots the two of them and himself.
经过一段适当的哀悼期后,玛奇嫁给了一个名叫弗雷德的善解人意的男人,一切继续像在 A 中一样,只是名字不同。
Madge, after a suitable period of mourning, marries an understanding man called Fred and everything continues as in A, but under different names.
弗雷德和玛奇没有问题。他们相处得非常好,善于解决可能出现的任何小困难。但他们迷人的房子在海边,有一天,一个巨大的海啸袭来。房地产价值下跌。故事的其余部分讲述了海啸的原因以及他们如何逃离。他们确实逃了出来,尽管数千人溺水身亡。故事的一部分讲述了数千人如何溺水身亡,但弗雷德和玛奇是善良而幸运的。最后,在高地上,他们紧紧拥抱在一起,浑身湿透,心怀感激,继续着 A 中的故事。
Fred and Madge have no problems. They get along exceptionally well and are good at working out any little difficulties that may arise. But their charming house is by the seashore and one day a giant tidal wave approaches. Real estate values go down. The rest of the story is about what caused the tidal wave and how they escape from it. They do, though thousands drown. Some of the story is about how the thousands drown, but Fred and Madge are virtuous and lucky. Finally on high ground they clasp each other, wet and dripping and grateful, and continue as in A.
是的,但弗雷德心脏不好。故事的其余部分讲的是他们两人多么善良和善解人意,直到弗雷德去世。然后玛奇致力于慈善工作,直到 A 的结尾。如果你喜欢,可以是“玛奇”、“癌症”、“内疚和困惑”和“观鸟”。
Yes, but Fred has a bad heart. The rest of the story is about how kind and understanding they both are until Fred dies. Then Madge devotes herself to charity work until the end of A. If you like, it can be “Madge,” “cancer,” “guilty and confused,” and “bird watching.”
如果你认为这太资产阶级了,那就让约翰成为一名革命者,让玛丽成为一名反间谍特工,看看你能走多远。记住,这是加拿大。你最终还是会选择 A,尽管在这两者之间,你可能会得到一个充满激情的争吵传奇,一部我们时代的编年史。
If you think this is all too bourgeois, make John a revolutionary and Mary a counterespionage agent and see how far that gets you. Remember, this is Canada. You’ll still end up with A, though in between you may get a lustful brawling saga of passionate involvement, a chronicle of our times, sort of.
你必须面对现实,无论你如何看待结局,结局都是一样的。不要被任何其他结局所欺骗,它们都是假的,要么是故意造假,要么是恶意欺骗,要么是出于过度乐观,如果不是彻头彻尾的感伤。
You’ll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it. Don’t be deluded by any other endings, they’re all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality.
唯一真实的结局是这里提供的结局:
The only authentic ending is the one provided here:
约翰和玛丽死了。 约翰和玛丽死了。 约翰和玛丽死了。
John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.
结局就到此为止了。开头总是更有趣。然而,真正的鉴赏家却喜欢中间的那段时间,因为这段时间做任何事情都是最困难的。
So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun. True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with.
关于情节,可以说的就这些了,反正情节就是一件事接着一件事,一个什么、一个什么、一个什么。
That’s about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.
现在尝试一下“如何”和“为什么”。
Now try How and Why.
[1994年]
[1994]
[1939–1995]
[1939–1995]
以前,每个人都年老愚笨,或者年少无知,只有我和 Sugar 才算正常,有位女士在我们街区里活动,头发蓬乱,说话得体,没有化妆。我们很自然地嘲笑她,嘲笑那个垃圾贩子,他做事就像是某个大总统,而他那匹可怜的马是他的秘书。我们也有点讨厌她,讨厌我们对待那些把我们的公园弄得乱七八糟的酒鬼的方式,他们在我们的手球墙上撒尿,把我们的走廊和楼梯弄得臭气熏天,以至于你没法在半途玩捉迷藏,除非你戴上该死的防毒面具。她的名字叫摩尔小姐。她是街区里唯一一个没有名字的女人。她黑得要命,除了她的脚,她的脚是鱼白色,让人毛骨悚然。她总是为我们计划这些无聊的事情,我们是我的表妹,我们住在街区里,因为我们都在同一时间搬到了北方,住在同一个公寓里,然后慢慢地散开来呼吸。我们的父母会把我们的头梳成某种形状,把我们的衣服整理得挺括一些,这样我们就可以和摩尔小姐一起旅行了。摩尔小姐总是看起来像是要去教堂,但她从来没有去过。这只是大人们在背后议论她时谈论的事情之一,就像狗一样。但是当她带着她缝制的小香囊、她做的姜饼或一本书来拜访时,他们都会不好意思拒绝她,然后把我们打扮得漂漂亮亮地交给她。她上过大学,说她应该对年轻人的教育负责,这是理所当然的,她甚至没有婚姻或血缘关系。所以他们会接受。尤其是格雷琴姑妈。她是家里的主要打杂工。如果你有什么愚蠢的蠢事想让别人去做,你就叫格雷琴姑妈来。她被骗了这么久,这对她来说是一件血脉相连的事情。这就是为什么当我们的母亲在楼上的一个豪华公寓里享受美好时光时,她要照顾我、Sugar 和 Junior。
Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup. And quite naturally we laughed at her, laughed the way we did at the junk man who went about his business like he was some big-time president and his sorry-ass horse his secretary. And we kinda hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who cluttered up our parks and pissed on our handball walls and stank up our hallways and stairs so you couldn’t halfway play hide-and-seek without a goddamn gas mask. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block with no first name. And she was black as hell, cept for her feet, which were fish-white and spooky. And she was always planning these boring-ass things for us to do, us being my cousin, mostly, who lived on the block cause we all moved North the same time and to the same apartment then spread out gradual to breathe. And our parents would yank our heads into some kinda shape and crisp up our clothes so we’d be presentable for travel with Miss Moore, who always looked like she was going to church, though she never did. Which is just one of the things the grownups talked about when they talked behind her back like a dog. But when she came calling with some sachet she’d sewed up or some gingerbread she’d made or some book, why then they’d all be too embarrassed to turn her down and we’d get handed over all spruced up. She’d been to college and said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education, and she not even related by marriage or blood. So they’d go for it. Specially Aunt Gretchen. She was the main gofer in the family. You got some ole dumb shit foolishness you want somebody to go for, you send for Aunt Gretchen. She been screwed into the go-along for so long, it’s a blood-deep natural thing with her. Which is how she got saddled with me and Sugar and Junior in the first place while our mothers were in a la-de-da apartment up the block having a good ole time.
所以有一天,摩尔小姐把我们召集到邮箱旁,天气很热,她正在努力学习算术。我听说学校应该在夏天放假,但她从不放假。围裙上的淀粉把我弄得我很难受,我真的很讨厌这个头发蓬乱的婊子和她那该死的大学学位。我宁愿去游泳池或看演出,那里比较凉爽。所以我和 Sugar 靠在邮箱上,一副粗鲁的样子,这是摩尔小姐的用词。Flyboy 检查每个人带了什么午餐。Fat Butt 已经像猪一样浪费他的花生酱和果冻三明治了。Junebug 用拳头打 QT 的胳膊要薯片。Rosie Giraffe 左右摇摆,等着有人踩她的脚或问她是否来自佐治亚州,这样她就可以踢屁股了,最好是梅赛德斯的。摩尔小姐问我们知不知道钱是什么,好像我们都是一群白痴。她说,我是说真正的钱,好像我们只是放在杂货店里的扑克筹码或大富翁纸。所以我马上就厌倦了,就这么说了。我宁愿带着糖糖去日落酒店,恐吓西印度群岛的孩子们,夺走他们的发带和钱。摩尔小姐把这句话记下来,留到下周兄弟情谊课上讲。最后我说我们应该去地铁,因为那里比较凉快,而且我们可能会遇到一些可爱的男孩。糖糖已经把她妈妈的口红抹掉了,所以我们准备好了。
So this one day, Miss Moore rounds us all up at the mailbox and it’s puredee hot and she’s knockin herself out about arithmetic. And school suppose to let up in summer I heard, but she don’t never let up. And the starch in my pinafore scratching the shit outta me and I’m really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree. I’d much rather go to the pool or to the show where it’s cool. So me and Sugar leaning on the mailbox being surly, which is a Miss Moore word. And Flyboy checking out what everybody brought for lunch. And Fat Butt already wasting his peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich like the pig he is. And Junebug punchin on Q.T.’s arm for potato chips. And Rosie Giraffe shifting from one hip to the other waiting for somebody to step on her foot or ask her if she from Georgia so she can kick ass, preferably Mercedes’. And Miss Moore asking us do we know what money is, like we a bunch of retards. I mean real money, she say, like it’s only poker chips or monopoly papers we lay on the grocer. So right away I’m tired of this and say so. And would much rather snatch Sugar and go to the Sunset and terrorize the West Indian kids and take their hair ribbons and their money too. And Miss Moore files that remark away for next week’s lesson on brotherhood, I can tell. And finally I say we oughta get to the subway cause it’s cooler and besides we might meet some cute boys. Sugar done swiped her mama’s lipstick, so we ready.
于是我们沿着街道走去,她无聊地向我们讲述物价、父母挣多少钱、房租要花多少钱以及这个国家的钱分配不均。然后她谈到我们都很穷,住在贫民窟,而我没有提到这一点。我正准备就此发表看法,但她走到街上,就这样招了两辆出租车。然后她催促着一半的工作人员上车,递给我一张五美元的钞票,让我算一下给司机的 10% 小费。然后我们出发了。我、Sugar、Junebug 和 Flyboy 都站在窗外,向每个人大喊大叫,互相涂口红,因为 Flyboy 反正是个同性恋,我们用汗湿的腋窝放屁。但我主要是在想怎么花这笔钱。但他们都着迷于计价器的滴答声,Junebug 开始打赌,看 Flyboy 再也憋不住气的时候计价器会显示多少。然后 Sugar 打赌我们到了那里会花多少钱。所以我陷入困境。没有人愿意接受我的计划,那就是在下一个红绿灯处跳下车,跑到我们能找到的第一家烧烤店。然后司机告诉我们赶紧离开,因为我们已经到了。计价器读数是八十五美分。我拖延着想弄清楚小费,Sugar 说给他一毛钱。我决定他不像我那么需要小费,所以以后再给他。但是然后他试图在 Junebug 的脚还在门口的时候离开,所以我们对他的妈妈说了一些激烈的话。然后我们检查了一下,我们在第五大道上,每个人都穿着长筒袜。一位女士穿着一件皮大衣,天气很热。白人疯了。
So we heading down the street and she’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country. And then she gets to the part about we all poor and live in the slums, which I don’t feature. And I’m ready to speak on that, but she steps out in the street and hails two cabs just like that. Then she hustles half the crew in with her and hands me a five-dollar bill and tells me to calculate 10 percent tip for the driver. And we’re off. Me and Sugar and Junebug and Flyboy hangin out the window and hollering to everybody, putting lipstick on each other cause Flyboy a faggot anyway, and making farts with our sweaty armpits. But I’m mostly trying to figure how to spend this money. But they all fascinated with the meter ticking and Junebug starts laying bets as to how much it’ll read when Flyboy can’t hold his breath no more. Then Sugar lays bets as to how much it’ll be when we get there. So I’m stuck. Don’t nobody want to go for my plan, which is to jump out at the next light and run off to the first bar-b-que we can find. Then the driver tells us to get the hell out cause we there already. And the meter reads eighty-five cents. And I’m stalling to figure out the tip and Sugar say give him a dime. And I decide he don’t need it bad as I do, so later for him. But then he tries to take off with Junebug foot still in the door so we talk about his mama something ferocious. Then we check out that we on Fifth Avenue and everybody dressed up in stockings. One lady in a fur coat, hot as it is. White folks crazy.
“就是这个地方,”摩尔小姐用她在博物馆的口吻向我们介绍。“进去之前,我们先看看橱窗。”
“This is the place,” Miss Moore say, presenting it to us in the voice she uses at the museum. “Let’s look in the windows before we go in.”
“我们可以偷东西吗?”Sugar 非常严肃地问道,就好像她在玩之前要把基本规则搞清楚一样。“请原谅,”Moore 小姐说,然后我们就吵了起来。于是她带着我们绕着玩具店的窗户转了一圈,我和 Sugar 尖叫着,“这是我的,那是我的,我必须得到那个,那是为我而生的,我就是为它而生的,”直到 Big Butt 淹没了我们的声音。
“Can we steal?” Sugar asks very serious like she’s getting the ground rules squared away before she plays. “I beg your pardon,” say Miss Moore, and we fall out. So she leads us around the windows of the toy store and me and Sugar screamin, “This is mine, that’s mine, I gotta have that, that was made for me, I was born for that,” till Big Butt drowns us out.
“嘿,我要去那里买那个。”
“Hey, I’m going to buy that there.”
“那是什么?你根本就不知道那是什么,笨蛋。”
“That there? You don’t even know what it is, stupid.”
“是的,”他用拳头打在罗西长颈鹿身上说。“这是一台显微镜。”
“I do so,” he say punchin on Rosie Giraffe. “It’s a microscope.”
“你要用显微镜干什么,傻瓜?”
“Whatcha gonna do with a microscope, fool?”
“看看东西。”
“Look at things.”
“比如什么,罗纳德?”摩尔小姐问。大屁股根本就没概念。所以摩尔小姐开始喋喋不休地说一滴水中有成千上万的细菌,一滴血中的某种东西,我们周围空气中的上百万种生物是肉眼看不见的。她为什么要这么说?六月虫就“赤裸裸”地去城里买东西,我们也滚了。然后摩尔小姐问它花了多少钱。于是我们都挤到窗户上把它弄脏了,价格标签上写着 300 美元。然后她问大屁股和六月虫要花多长时间才能攒够零花钱。“太久了,”我说。“是啊,”糖糖补充道,“到那时就不适合它了。”摩尔小姐说不,你永远不会长大,不再需要学习乐器。“为什么,即使是医学院的学生和实习生,”等等等等。我们准备掐死大屁股,因为他一开始就提起这件事。
“Like what, Ronald?” ask Miss Moore. And Big Butt ain’t got the first notion. So here go Miss Moore gabbing about the thousands of bacteria in a drop of water and the somethinorother in a speck of blood and the million and one living things in the air around us is invisible to the naked eye. And what she say that for? Junebug go to town on that “naked” and we rolling. Then Miss Moore ask what it cost. So we all jam into the window smudgin it up and the price tag say $300. So then she ask how long’d take for Big Butt and Junebug to save up their allowances. “Too long,” I say. “Yeh,” adds Sugar, “outgrown it by that time.” And Miss Moore say no, you never outgrow learning instruments. “Why, even medical students and interns and,” blah, blah, blah. And we ready to choke Big Butt for bringing it up in the first damn place.
“这个要 480 美元,”罗西·吉拉夫说。于是我们围在她身边,看看她指的是什么。我的眼睛告诉我,这是一块玻璃,被某种很重的东西弄裂了,裂缝处滴上了不同颜色的墨水,然后整个玻璃被放进了烤箱之类的地方。但 480 美元的价格实在是太不合理了。
“This here costs four hundred eighty dollars,” say Rosie Giraffe. So we pile up all over her to see what she pointin out. My eyes tell me it’s a chunk of glass cracked with something heavy, and different-color inks dripped into the splits, then the whole thing put into a oven or something. But for $480 it don’t make sense.
“那是用半宝石在巨大压力下融合在一起制成的镇纸,”她慢慢地解释道,双手负责开采和所有的工厂工作。
“That’s a paperweight made of semi-precious stones fused together under tremendous pressure,” she explains slowly, with her hands doing the mining and all the factory work.
“那么镇纸是什么?”罗西长颈鹿问道。
“So what’s a paperweight?” ask Rosie Giraffe.
“用来称纸,用哑铃”,来自东方的智者弗莱博伊说道。
“To weigh paper with, dumbbell,” say Flyboy, the wise man from the East.
“不完全是,”摩尔小姐说,当你热得发抖或精神不振时她会这样说。“这是为了压住纸张,这样它们就不会散落一地,弄乱你的书桌。”于是我和 Sugar 立刻互相行了屈膝礼,然后向更爱整洁的梅赛德斯行了屈膝礼。
“Not exactly,” say Miss Moore, which is what she say when you warm or way off too. “It’s to weigh paper down so it won’t scatter and make your desk untidy.” So right away me and Sugar curtsy to each other and then to Mercedes who is more the tidy type.
“我们班上,我们不会把纸放在桌子上,”朱尼布格说,她认为摩尔小姐疯了或者在撒谎。
“We don’t keep paper on top of the desk in my class,” say Junebug, figuring Miss Moore crazy or lyin one.
“那么,在家里,”她说。“你做作业的桌子上难道没有日历、铅笔盒、记事本和开信刀吗?”她非常清楚我们的家是什么样子,因为她一有机会就会到处乱逛。
“At home, then,” she say. “Don’t you have a calendar and a pencil case and a blotter and a letter-opener on your desk at home where you do your homework?” And she know damn well what our homes look like cause she nosys around in them every chance she gets.
“我甚至没有办公桌,” Junebug 说。“我们有吗?”
“I don’t even have a desk,” say Junebug. “Do we?”
“没有。而且我也没有家庭作业,”大屁股说。
“No. And I don’t get no homework neither,” say Big Butt.
“我甚至没有家,” Flyboy 像在学校时那样说,以防白人打扰他并同情他。给这个可怜的孩子发海报去夏令营是他的拿手好戏。
“And I don’t even have a home,” say Flyboy like he do at school to keep the white folks off his back and sorry for him. Send this poor kid to camp posters, is his specialty.
“是的,”梅赛德斯说。“我的桌子上有一盒文具和一张我家猫的照片。这些文具和桌子都是我教母买的。每张纸上都有一朵大玫瑰,信封里有玫瑰的香味。”
“I do,” says Mercedes. “I have a box of stationery on my desk and a picture of my cat. My godmother bought the stationery and the desk. There’s a big rose on each sheet and the envelopes smell like roses.”
“谁想知道你那些臭气熏天的文具,”罗西·长颈鹿 (Rosie Giraffe) 说道,我好不容易才插话。
“Who wants to know about your smelly-ass stationery,” say Rosie Giraffe fore I can get my two cents in.
“拥有一个属于自己的工作区域非常重要,这样……”
“It’s important to have a work area all your own so that …”
“请你看一下这艘帆船,”Flyboy 打断她的话,指着那东西,仿佛那是他的。于是我们又一次争先恐后地盯着玩具店里这件宏伟的东西,它刚好大到可以载两只小猫穿过池塘,如果你把它们绑在柱子上的话。我们都开始像在集会上一样背诵价格标签。“手工制作的玻璃纤维帆船,售价一千一百九十五美元。”
“Will you look at this sailboat, please,” say Flyboy, cutting her off and pointin to the thing like it was his. So once again we tumble all over each other to gaze at this magnificent thing in the toy store which is just big enough to maybe sail two kittens across the pond if you strap them to the posts tight. We all start reciting the price tag like we in assembly. “Handcrafted sailboat of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred ninety-five dollars.”
“难以置信,”我听到自己说道,真的很震惊。我又自己读了一遍,以防集体朗诵让我陷入恍惚状态。还是一样。不知为何,这让我很生气。我们看着摩尔小姐,她也看着我们,不知道在等什么。
“Unbelievable,” I hear myself say and am really stunned. I read it again for myself just in case the group recitation put me in a trance. Same thing. For some reason this pisses me off. We look at Miss Moore and she lookin at us, waiting for I dunno what.
“如果你能在 Pop's 以 25 美分的价格买到一套帆船,以 10 美分的价格买到一管胶水,以 8 美分的价格买到一团绳子,谁会愿意花这么多钱呢?它肯定有发动机,还有很多其他东西,”我说。“我的帆船花了我大约 50 美分。”
“Who’d pay all that when you can buy a sailboat set for a quarter at Pop’s, a tube of glue for a dime, and a ball of string for eight cents? It must have a motor and a whole lot else besides,” I say. “My sailboat cost me about fifty cents.”
“但是它会吸水吗?”梅赛德斯自作聪明地说道。
“But will it take water?” say Mercedes with her smart ass.
“有一次我带着我的车去了 Alley Pond 公园,”Flyboy 说。“绳子断了。丢了。真可惜。”
“Took mine to Alley Pond Park once,” say Flyboy. “String broke. Lost it. Pity.”
“我在中央公园驾驶我的船,结果它翻倒了,沉没了。我不得不向我父亲要一美元。”
“Sailed mine in Central Park and it keeled over and sank. Had to ask my father for another dollar.”
“你还被绑了皮带,”大屁股笑道。“这混蛋连绳子都没有。我老爸被他绑得哇哇大哭。”
“And you got the strap,” laugh Big Butt. “The jerk didn’t even have a string on it. My old man wailed on his behind.”
小 QT 正目不转睛地盯着那艘帆船,看得出来他非常想要它。但他太小了,有人会把它从他手里夺走。那又怎么样呢。“这艘船是给孩子们的,摩尔小姐?”
Little Q.T. was staring hard at the sailboat and you could see he wanted it bad. But he too little and somebody’d just take it from him. So what the hell. “This boat for kids, Miss Moore?”
罗西·吉拉夫说:“父母们太傻了,竟然买这样的东西,结果却让自己倾家荡产。”
“Parents silly to buy something like that just to get all broke up,” say Rosie Giraffe.
我想,“有这么多钱应该可以用很久吧。”
“That much money it should last forever,” I figure.
“如果我想要的话,我父亲会给我买的。”
“My father’d buy it for me if I wanted it.”
“你爸爸,我的屁股,”罗西·长颈鹿终于有机会推开梅赛德斯说道。
“Your father, my ass,” say Rosie Giraffe getting a chance to finally push Mercedes.
“肯定有钱人在这里购物,”QT说
“Must be rich people shop here,” say Q.T.
“你真是个聪明的孩子,”Flyboy 说。“你的第一个线索是什么?”他用指关节的背面敲了敲他的头,因为 QT 是唯一一个他能逃脱的人。尽管 QT 很可能会在几年后出现在你身后,在你意想不到的时候给你一顿痛打。
“You are a very bright boy,” say Flyboy. “What was your first clue?” And he rap him on the head with the back of his knuckles, since Q.T. the only one he could get away with. Though Q.T. liable to come up behind you years later and get his licks in when you half expect it.
“我想知道的是,”我对摩尔小姐说,虽然我从未跟她说过话,但我不会让这个婊子满意,“一艘真正的船要多少钱?我想一千块钱可以给你买一艘游艇。”
“What I want to know is,” I says to Miss Moore though I never talk to her, I wouldn’t give the bitch that satisfaction, “is how much a real boat costs? I figure a thousand’d get you a yacht any day.”
“你为什么不去看看,”她说,“然后汇报给小组?”这真是让我很头疼。如果你要搞砸一个完美的游泳日,至少你应该有一些答案。“我们进去吧,”她说,好像她有什么秘密武器。只是她不带路。所以我和 Sugar 拐弯到入口处,但当我们到达那里时,我有点退缩了。不是说我害怕,有什么好怕的,只是一家玩具店。但我感觉很奇怪,很羞愧。但我有什么可羞愧的?和任何人一样有权进去。但不知何故,我似乎无法抓住门,所以我从 Sugar 身边走开,带头。但她也退缩了。我看着她,她看着我,这太荒谬了。我是说,该死的,我从来没有羞于什么都不做或什么都不去。但梅赛德斯走上前来,罗西长颈鹿和大屁股挤在后面,推搡着,然后我们都挤进了门口,只有梅赛德斯从我们身边挤过去,抚平她的套头衫,径直沿着过道走去。然后我们其他人像一块粘在一起的拼图一样跌跌撞撞地走了进来。人们看着我们。就像我和糖糖被人挑战闯进天主教堂的时候一样。但一旦我们进去,一切都那么安静和神圣,蜡烛、弓箭和低垂的头上都戴着手帕,我就是无法继续执行计划。我本来计划是跑到祭坛上跳踢踏舞,而糖糖吹着鼻笛,在圣水中嬉戏。糖糖不停地用手肘推我。后来她又戏弄了我很多,我把她绑在淋浴间,打开淋浴器,把她锁在里面。要不是格雷琴姨妈最终发现我对房客洗澡一事撒了谎,她就会一直待在那里直到今天。
“Why don’t you check that out,” she says, “and report back to the group?” Which really pains my ass. If you gonna mess up a perfectly good swim day least you could do is have some answers. “Let’s go in,” she say like she got something up her sleeve. Only she don’t lead the way. So me and Sugar turn the corner to where the entrance is, but when we get there I kinda hang back. Not that I’m scared, what’s there to be afraid of, just a toy store. But I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody. But somehow I can’t seem to get hold of the door, so I step away from Sugar to lead. But she hangs back too. And I look at her and she looks at me and this is ridiculous. I mean, damn, I have never been shy about doing nothing or going nowhere. But then Mercedes steps up and then Rosie Giraffe and Big Butt crowd in behind and shove, and next thing we all stuffed into the doorway with only Mercedes squeezing past us, smoothing out her jumper and walking right down the aisle. Then the rest of us tumble in like a glued-together jigsaw done all wrong. And people lookin at us. And it’s like the time me and Sugar crashed into the Catholic Church on a dare. But once we got in there and everything so hushed and holy and the candles and the bowin and the handkerchiefs on all the drooping heads, I just couldn’t go through with the plan. Which was for me to run up to the altar and do a tap dance while Sugar played the nose flute and messed around in the holy water. And Sugar kept given me the elbow. Then later teased me so bad I tied her up in the shower and turned it on and locked her in. And she’d be there till this day if Aunt Gretchen hadn’t finally figured I was lying about the boarder takin a shower.
在商店里也是一样。我们都踮着脚尖走路,几乎不碰游戏、拼图之类的东西。我看着摩尔小姐,她一动不动地看着我们,就像在等待一个信号。就像德鲁里妈妈注视着天空,嗅着空气,注意鸟群的倾斜程度。然后我和糖糖撞在一起,忙着盯着玩具,特别是帆船。但我们没有笑,也没有像胖女人那样撞肚子。我们只是盯着那个价格标签。然后糖糖用手指摸了摸整条船。我很嫉妒,想打她。也许不是她,但我肯定想打某人的嘴。
Same thing in the store. We all walkin on tiptoe and hardly touchin the games and puzzles and things. And I watched Miss Moore who is steady watchin us like she waitin for a sign. Like Mama Drewery watches the sky and sniffs the air and takes note of just how much slant is in the bird formation. Then me and Sugar bump smack into each other, so busy gazing at the toys, ’specially the sailboat. But we don’t laugh and go into our fat-lady bump-stomach routine. We just stare at that price tag. Then Sugar run a finger over the whole boat. And I’m jealous and want to hit her. Maybe not her, but I sure want to punch somebody in the mouth.
“你带我们来这里干什么,摩尔小姐?”
“Watcha bring us here for, Miss Moore?”
“你听起来很生气,西尔维娅。你是不是因为什么事生气了?”她对我咧嘴一笑,就像在讲一个永远都不好笑的成人笑话。她非常仔细地看着我,好像她打算凭记忆画我的肖像。我很生气,但我不会让她满意。所以我懒洋洋地在商店里闲逛,非常无聊,然后说:“我们走吧。”
“You sound angry, Sylvia. Are you mad about something?” Givin me one of them grins like she tellin a grown-up joke that never turns out to be funny. And she’s lookin very closely at me like maybe she plannin to do my portrait from memory. I’m mad, but I won’t give her that satisfaction. So I slouch around the store being very bored and say, “Let’s go.”
我和 Sugar 坐在火车尾部,看着铁轨呼啸而过,大块的,小块的,最后在黑暗中被吞噬。我想起了我在商店里看到的一个棘手的玩具。一个小丑在单杠上翻筋斗,然后做引体向上,只要你轻轻拉一下他的腿。售价 35 美元。我可以想象自己向妈妈要一个 35 美元的生日小丑。“你想知道这要花多少钱?”她会说,歪着头看我脑袋上的洞。35 美元可以为 Junior 和 Gretchen 的儿子买新的双层床。35 美元,全家就可以去乡下看望爷爷 Nelson。35 美元还可以付房租和钢琴费。这些花那么多钱请小丑表演,花 1000 美元买玩具帆船的人是谁?他们从事什么样的工作,过着什么样的生活,我们怎么可能不知道呢?我们在哪里就是我们自己,摩尔小姐总是这样说。但事情不一定非得这样,她总是补充说,然后等着有人说,穷人必须醒来,要求得到他们应得的那份,难道我们谁也不知道她在说什么吗?但她没那么聪明,因为我还从出租车上给她拿了四美元,她肯定拿不到。这狗屁事把我的一天搞得一团糟。糖果在我口袋里推了我一下,眨了眨眼。
Me and Sugar at the back of the train watchin the tracks whizzin by large then small then getting gobbled up in the dark. I’m thinkin about this tricky toy I saw in the store. A clown that somersaults on a bar then does chin-ups just cause you yank lightly at his leg. Cost $35. I could see me askin my mother for a $35 birthday clown. “You wanna who that costs what?” she’d say, cocking her head to the side to get a better view of the hole in my head. Thirty-five dollars could buy new bunk beds for Junior and Gretchen’s boy. Thirty-five dollars and the whole household could go visit Grand daddy Nelson in the country. Thirty-five dollars would pay for the rent and the piano bill too. Who are these people that spend that much for performing clowns and $1000 for toy sailboats? What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it? Where we are is who we are, Miss Moore always pointin out. But it don’t necessarily have to be that way, she always adds then waits for somebody to say that poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie and don’t none of us know what kind of pie she talking about in the first damn place. But she ain’t so smart cause I still got her four dollars from the taxi and she sure ain’t gettin it. Messin up my day with this shit. Sugar nudges me in my pocket and winks.
摩尔小姐让我们在信箱前排成一排,我们是从那里出发的,好像是好几年前的事了,我因为想得太多了而头疼。我们互相倚靠在一起,这样我们才能忍受住她总是在最后用无聊的说教来结束我们的说教,然后我们感谢她让我们厌烦得流泪。但她只是看着我们,就像在看茶叶一样。最后她说:“那么,你觉得 FAO Schwarz 怎么样?”
Miss Moore lines us up in front of the mailbox where we started from, seem like years ago, and I got a headache for thinkin so hard. And we lean all over each other so we can hold up under the draggy-ass lecture she always finishes us off with at the end before we thank her for borin us to tears. But she just looks at us like she readin tea leaves. Finally she say, “Well, what did you think of F.A.O. Schwarz?”
长颈鹿罗西嘟囔道:“白人疯了。”
Rosie Giraffe mumbles, “White folks crazy.”
“等我收到生日礼金后,我想再去那里一次,”梅赛德斯说道,我们把她从背包里推出来,这样她就不得不独自靠在邮箱上。
“I’d like to go there again when I get my birthday money,” says Mercedes, and we shove her out the pack so she has to lean on the mailbox by herself.
“我想洗个澡。今天太累了。”飞行员说。
“I’d like a shower. Tiring day,” say Flyboy.
然后,Sugar 让我很惊讶,她说:“你知道吗,Moore 小姐,我认为我们所有人一年吃的钱加起来还不够那艘帆船的价钱。”Moore 小姐兴奋得像被人坑了一样。“然后呢?”她问,催促 Sugar 继续说下去。只是我踩住了她的脚,所以她没能继续说下去。
Then Sugar surprises me by sayin, “You know, Miss Moore, I don’t think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs.” And Miss Moore lights up like somebody goosed her. “And?” she say, urging Sugar on. Only I’m standin on her foot so she don’t continue.
“想象一下,在什么样的社会里,有些人花在玩具上的钱相当于养活一个六七口之家的钱。你怎么看?”
“Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think?”
“我认为,”Sugar 说道,她以前从未这样把我推倒在地,因为我马上就打了她一顿,“如果你问我,这算不上民主。追求幸福的平等机会意味着平等地分配金钱,不是吗?”摩尔小姐非常生气,我对 Sugar 的背叛感到厌恶。所以我又一次踩在她的脚上,看看她是否会推我。她闭嘴了,摩尔小姐看着我,我悲伤地想着。有些奇怪的事情正在发生,我能感觉到它在我的胸口。
“I think,” say Sugar pushing me off her feet like she never done before, cause I whip her ass in a minute, “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?” Miss Moore is besides herself and I am disgusted with Sugar’s treachery. So I stand on her foot one more time to see if she’ll shove me. She shuts up, and Miss Moore looks at me, sorrowfully I’m thinkin. And somethin weird is goin on, I can feel it in my chest.
“今天还有人学到什么吗?”她直视着我。我走开了,Sugar 不得不跑着追上我,她似乎甚至没有注意到我把她的手从我的肩膀上甩开。
“Anybody else learn anything today?” lookin dead at me. I walk away and Sugar has to run to catch up and don’t even seem to notice when I shrug her arm off my shoulder.
“好吧,不管怎样,我们得到了四美元,”她说。
“Well, we got four dollars anyway,” she says.
“嗯,嗯。”
“Uh, hunh.”
“我们可以去哈斯科姆斯吃半份巧克力三明治,然后去日落餐厅,还有足够的钱买薯片和冰淇淋汽水。”
“We could go to Hascombs and get half a chocolate layer and then go to the Sunset and still have plenty money for potato chips and ice cream sodas.”
“嗯,嗯。”
“Uh, hunh.”
“和你一起赛跑去哈斯科姆斯,”她说。
“Race you to Hascombs,” she say.
我们开始沿着街区跑,她跑在前面,这对我来说没问题,因为我要去西区,然后去 Drive 思考这一天。如果她想跑,她可以跑,甚至跑得更快。但没有人能打败我。
We start down the block and she gets ahead which is O.K. by me cause I’m going to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through. She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.
[1972年]
[1972]
[生于 1944 年]
[b. 1944]
送给你的奶奶
For Your Grandmama
我会在昨天下午我和玛吉打扫得干干净净、起伏不平的院子里等她。这样的院子比大多数人想象的要舒适。它不仅仅是一个院子。它就像一个扩大的客厅。当坚硬的粘土被打扫得像地板一样干净,边缘的细沙上布满了细小、不规则的凹槽时,任何人都可以过来坐下来,仰望榆树,等待永远不会进屋的微风。
I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house.
姐姐去世前,玛吉会一直很紧张:她会绝望地站在角落里,为手臂和腿上的烧伤疤痕感到羞愧,羡慕又敬畏地看着姐姐。她认为姐姐一直把生活掌握在自己的手中,这个世界从未学会对她说“不”这个词。
Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that “no” is a word the world never learned to say to her.
你肯定看过这样的电视节目,一个“成功”的孩子突然发现自己的父母从后台蹒跚而来,虚弱不堪。(当然,这是一个惊喜:如果父母和孩子上节目只是为了互相咒骂和侮辱,他们会怎么做?)电视上,母亲和孩子拥抱在一起,面带微笑。有时母亲和父亲会哭泣,孩子会把他们抱在怀里,靠在桌子上,告诉他们如果没有他们的帮助,她不可能成功。我看过这些节目。
You’ve no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has “made it” is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage. (A pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?) On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other’s faces. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs.
有时我会做梦,梦里我和迪伊突然在这样的电视节目上相遇。我从一辆漆黑、座位柔软的豪华轿车里出来,被领进一个明亮的房间,房间里挤满了人。在那里,我遇到了一个笑容可掬、头发花白、喜欢运动的男人,他像约翰尼·卡森一样握着我的手,告诉我我有一个多么漂亮的女孩。然后我们上了舞台,迪伊含着泪水拥抱着我。她在我的裙子上别了一朵大兰花,尽管她曾经告诉过我,她认为兰花是俗气的花。
Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort. Out of a dark and soft-seated limousine I am ushered into a bright room filled with many people. There I meet a smiling, gray, sporty man like Johnny Carsona who shakes my hand and tells me what a fine girl I have. Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tears in her eyes. She pins on my dress a large orchid, even though she has told me once that she thinks orchids are tacky flowers.
现实生活中,我是一个身材高大、骨架大的女人,有着粗糙、像男人一样干活的手。冬天我穿着法兰绒睡衣睡觉,白天穿工作服。我能像男人一样毫不留情地杀猪并清理猪。我的脂肪让我在零度天气中保持温暖。我可以整天在户外工作,打碎冰块取水洗澡;我可以吃在明火上烤几分钟后从猪身上冒出来的热气的猪肝。有一年冬天,我用大锤直接敲进一头小公牛的脑袋,两眼之间,然后把肉挂起来冷却,直到夜幕降临。但当然,这一切都不会在电视上播出。我就是女儿希望我成为的样子:轻一百磅,皮肤像未煮熟的大麦煎饼。我的头发在炽热的灯光下闪闪发光。约翰尼·卡森要跟上我机敏机智的舌头,还有很多事情要做。
In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.
但那是个错误。我甚至在醒来之前就知道了。谁知道约翰逊是个能言善辩的人?谁能想象我直视一个陌生白人的眼睛?我觉得我跟他们说话时总是一只脚飞快地抬起,头转向离他们最远的方向。但迪伊却如此。她总是直视任何人的眼睛。犹豫不决不是她的本性。
But that is a mistake. I know even before I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them. Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.
“妈妈,我看上去怎么样?”玛吉问道,露出了她那裹着粉色裙子和红色上衣的纤细身躯,让我知道她就在那里,几乎被门遮住了。
“How do I look, Mama?” Maggie says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she’s there, almost hidden by the door.
“到院子里来吧,”我说。
“Come out into the yard,” I say.
你见过跛脚的动物,比如被某个有钱人碾死的狗,悄悄靠近一个无知的人,对他很友善吗?这就是我的玛吉走路的方式。自从那场把另一栋房子烧成灰烬的大火之后,她就一直这样,下巴贴在胸前,眼睛盯着地面,脚步蹒跚。
Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground.
迪比玛吉肤色白,头发更漂亮,身材更丰满。她现在是个女人了,尽管有时我会忘记。另一栋房子是多久前烧毁的?十年,十二年?有时我仍然能听到火焰的声音,感觉到玛吉的手臂贴在我身上,她的头发冒烟,裙子从她身上落下,像一片片黑色的纸片。她的眼睛似乎睁开了,被映在眼睛里的火焰照得睁得大大的。还有迪。我看见她站在她过去挖胶树的枫香树下;当她看着房子最后一块肮脏的灰色木板落向炽热的砖烟囱时,脸上露出专注的表情。你为什么不围着灰烬跳舞?我想问她。她非常讨厌那所房子。
Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She’s a woman now, though sometimes I forget. How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie’s arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes. Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflected in them. And Dee. I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why don’t you do a dance around the ashes? I’d want to ask her. She had hated the house that much.
我以前也觉得她恨玛吉。但那是在我们(教会和我)筹钱送她去奥古斯塔上学之前。她以前会毫不留情地给我们读书;把文字、谎言、其他人的习惯、整个生活强加给我们两个,让我们陷在她声音之下,一无所知。她把我们冲进虚假的河流,用很多我们并不需要知道的知识烧灼我们。她用严肃的语气把我们推到她身边,然后在我们似乎即将明白的那一刻把我们推开,就像把我们当傻子一样。
I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school. She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know. Pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to understand.
迪伊想要漂亮的东西。高中毕业时穿的黄色硬纱连衣裙;黑色高跟鞋,与她用别人给我的旧西装改制的绿色西装相配。她决心直面任何失败。她的眼皮一眨不眨。我经常忍住不去摇晃她。十六岁的她有自己的风格:并且知道什么是风格。
Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she’d made from an old suit somebody gave me. She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time. Often I fought off the temptation to shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her own: and knew what style was.
我自己从未受过教育。二年级后学校就关闭了。别问我为什么:1927 年有色人种问的问题比现在少。有时玛吉会给我读书。她走路磕磕巴巴,但眼力不好。她知道自己不聪明。就像美貌和金钱一样,她也失去了敏捷。她会嫁给约翰·托马斯(他一脸真诚,牙齿上长满青苔),然后我就可以自由地坐在这里,我想我只是在教堂里唱着歌。虽然我从来都不是一个好歌手。从来都唱不好。我总是更擅长男人的工作。我以前喜欢挤奶,直到 1949 年我被兼职。奶牛很温顺,动作很慢,不会打扰你,除非你试图用错误的方式挤奶。
I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don’t ask me why: in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturedly but can’t see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by. She will marry John Thomas (who has mossy teeth in an earnest face) and then I’ll be free to sit here and I guess just sing church songs to myself. Although I never was a good singer. Never could carry a tune. I was always better at a man’s job. I used to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in ’49. Cows are soothing and slow and don’t bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.
我故意背弃了那所房子。它有三个房间,就像那所被烧毁的房子一样,只是屋顶是锡制的;他们不再做木瓦屋顶了。它没有真正的窗户,只是在侧面开了一些洞,就像船上的舷窗,但不是圆形也不是方形,外面用生皮把百叶窗固定住。这所房子也和另一所一样坐落在牧场里。毫无疑问,当 Dee 看到它时,她会想把它拆掉。她曾经写信给我说,无论我们“选择”住在哪里,她都会设法来看望我们。但她永远不会带她的朋友来。Maggie 和我想到了这一点,Maggie 问我:“妈妈,Dee 什么时候有过朋友?”
I have deliberately turned my back on the house. It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the roof is tin; they don’t make shingle roofs any more. There are no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside. This house is in a pasture, too, like the other one. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down. She wrote me once that no matter where we “choose” to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends. Maggie and I thought about this and Maggie asked me, “Mama, when did Dee ever have any friends?”
她有几个孩子。穿着粉色衬衫的鬼鬼祟祟的男孩,在放学后的洗衣日四处闲逛。紧张的女孩从不笑。她们对她印象深刻,崇拜她那巧妙的措辞、可爱的形状、像碱液中的气泡一样喷涌而出的尖刻幽默。她给他们读书。
She had a few. Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on wash-day after school. Nervous girls who never laughed. Impressed with her they worshipped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye. She read to them.
当她追求吉米·T时,她没有太多时间陪伴我们,而是把所有的挑剔都用在他身上。他急忙娶了一个出身于无知浮华家庭的廉价城市女孩。她几乎没有时间恢复平静。
When she was courting Jimmy T she didn’t have much time to pay to us, but turned all her faultfinding power on him. He flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people. She hardly had time to recompose herself.
当她来的时候我会见到她——但是他们就在那里!
When she comes I will meet — but there they are!
玛吉试图以她拖着脚步的姿势冲向房子,但我用手拦住了她。“回来,”我说。她停了下来,试图用脚趾在沙子里挖一口井。
Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with my hand. “Come back here,” I say. And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe.
在强烈的阳光下,很难看清她的双腿。但即使从车里第一眼看到她的腿,我也能看出那是迪伊。她的双脚总是那么整洁,仿佛上帝亲自为它们塑造了某种风格。从车的另一边走来一个矮胖的男人。他满头长发,有一英尺长,像卷曲的骡子尾巴一样垂在下巴上。我听到玛吉倒吸了一口气。“嗯嗯”,听起来就是那样。就像你在路上看到一条蛇在你脚前蠕动一样。“嗯嗯。”
It is hard to see them clearly through the strong sun. But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style. From the other side of the car comes a short, stocky man. Hair is all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail. I hear Maggie suck in her breath. “Uhnnnh,” is what it sounds like. Like when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your foot on the road. “Uhnnnh.”
接下来是 Dee。在这种炎热的天气里,她穿着一件及地长裙。这件裙子太鲜艳了,刺痛了我的眼睛。裙子的黄色和橙色足以反射太阳的光芒。我感觉我的整个脸都被它散发出的热浪温暖着。耳环也是金色的,垂到肩膀上。当她抬起手臂,把裙子的褶皱从腋窝里抖开时,手镯晃来晃去,发出声音。裙子宽松飘逸,她走近时,我喜欢上了它。我又听到 Maggie 发出“嗯”的声音。那是她姐姐的头发。它像羊毛一样直立。它像夜一样黑,边缘有两条长长的辫子,像小蜥蜴一样绕在她的耳朵后面。
Dee next. A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpits. The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closer, I like it. I hear Maggie go “Uhnnnh” again. It is her sister’s hair. It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears.
“Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!”她说道,随着裙子的摆动,她以轻盈的姿态走上前来。矮小结实、头发齐及肚脐的家伙咧嘴大笑,接着说道:“Asalamalakim,我的母亲和妹妹!”他走过去拥抱玛吉,但她向后倒去,直接靠在我的椅背上。我感觉到她在那儿颤抖,当我抬头时,我看到汗水从她的下巴上滴落。
“Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!” she says, coming on in that gliding way the dress makes her move. The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with “Asalamalakim, my mother and sister!” He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of my chair. I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see the perspiration falling off her chin.
“别站起来,”迪说。因为我很胖,所以需要用力推。你可以看到我试图移动一两秒钟,然后才站起来。她转过身,从凉鞋中露出白色的高跟鞋,然后回到车里。她又拿出一张宝丽来照片偷看了一眼。她迅速弯下腰,一张接一张地排列着我坐在房子前面的照片,玛吉畏缩在我身后。她从不拍照,除非确保房子在照片里。当一头牛在院子边缘啃食时,她拍下了它,我、玛吉和房子。然后她把宝丽来照片放在汽车后座上,走上前来亲吻我的额头。
“Don’t get up,” says Dee. Since I am stout it takes something of a push. You can see me trying to move a second or two before I make it. She turns, showing white heels through her sandals, and goes back to the car. Out she peeks next with a Polaroid. She stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me. She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included. When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house. Then she puts the Polaroid in the back seat of the car, and comes up and kisses me on the forehead.
与此同时,阿萨拉玛拉基姆正在和玛吉握手。玛吉的手像鱼一样软弱无力,尽管汗流浃背,但可能还是一样冷,她不停地试图把它拉回来。看起来阿萨拉玛拉基姆想握手,但想做得花哨。或者他可能不知道人们是怎么握手的。不管怎样,他很快就放弃了玛吉。
Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie’s hand. Maggie’s hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back. It looks like Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy. Or maybe he don’t know how people shake hands. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie.
“好吧,”我说,“迪伊。”
“Well,” I say. “Dee.”
“不,妈妈,”她说。 “不是'Dee',Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”
“No, Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”
“‘Dee’怎么了?”我想知道。
“What happened to ‘Dee’?” I wanted to know.
“她死了,”万杰罗说。“我再也无法忍受用压迫我的人的名字来命名我了。”
“She’s dead,” Wangero said. “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.”
“你和我都知道,你的名字取自你姑姑迪西,”我说。迪西是我的妹妹。她给迪伊取名。迪伊出生后,我们叫她“大迪伊”。
“You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie is my sister. She named Dee. We called her “Big Dee” after Dee was born.
“但是她是以谁的名字命名的呢?”万杰罗问道。
“But who was she named after?” asked Wangero.
“我想是模仿迪奶奶吧,”我说道。
“I guess after Grandma Dee,” I said.
“她是以谁的名字命名的?”万杰罗问道。
“And who was she named after?” asked Wangero.
“她的母亲,”我说,看到万杰罗累了。“这是我能追溯到的最远的年代,”我说。但事实上,我可能可以透过树枝追溯到内战之前。
“Her mother,” I said, and saw Wangero was getting tired. “That’s about as far back as I can trace it,” I said. Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches.
“好吧,”阿萨拉玛拉基姆说道,“你在这里。”
“Well,” said Asalamalakim, “there you are.”
“嗯嗯,”我听到玛吉说道。
“Uhnnnh,” I heard Maggie say.
“在我家出现‘Dicie’这个名字之前我并不存在,”我说道,“那我为什么要追溯那么久呢?”
“There I was not,” I said, “before ‘Dicie’ cropped up in our family, so why should I try to trace it that far back?”
他只是站在那里咧嘴大笑,俯视着我,就像在检查一辆 A 型车一样。他和万杰罗不时地从我头顶上方发出眼神信号。
He just stood there grinning, looking down on me like somebody inspecting a Model A car. Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over my head.
“这个名字怎么发音?”我问。
“How do you pronounce this name?” I asked.
“如果你不愿意,你不必用这个名字叫我,”万杰罗说道。
“You don’t have to call me by it if you don’t want to,” said Wangero.
“我为什么不可以?”我问道。“如果你想让我们这么叫你,我们就这么叫你。”
“Why shouldn’t I?” I asked. “If that’s what you want us to call you, we’ll call you.”
“我知道这听起来可能有点尴尬,”万杰罗说道。
“I know it might sound awkward at first,” said Wangero.
“我会习惯的,”我说。“再来一次吧。”
“I’ll get used to it,” I said. “Ream it out again.”
好吧,我们很快就想出了名字。Asalamalakim 的名字是他的两倍长,三倍难念。在我被难倒两三次之后,他告诉我就叫他 Hakim-a-barber 吧。我想问他是不是理发师,但我真的不认为他是,所以我没有问。
Well, soon we got the name out of the way. Asalamalakim had a name twice as long and three times as hard. After I tripped over it two or three times he told me to just call him Hakim-a-barber. I wanted to ask him was he a barber, but I didn’t really think he was, so I didn’t ask.
“你肯定是路那头养牛的民族,”我说。他们见到你时也会说“Asalamalakim”,但他们没有握手。他们总是忙得不可开交:喂牛、修栅栏、搭建盐碱棚、撒干草。当白人毒死一些牛群时,男人们整夜不眠,手里拿着步枪。我走了一英里半就为了看这一幕。
“You must belong to those beef-cattle peoples down the road,” I said. They said “Asalamalakim” when they met you, too, but they didn’t shake hands. Always too busy: feeding the cattle, fixing the fences, putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down hay. When the white folks poisoned some of the herd the men stayed up all night with rifles in their hands. I walked a mile and a half just to see the sight.
哈基姆阿巴伯说:“我接受他们的一些教义,但耕种和养牛不是我的风格。”(他们没有告诉我,我也没有问,万杰罗(迪)是否真的嫁给了他。)
Hakim-a-barber said, “I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style.” (They didn’t tell me, and I didn’t ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him.)
我们坐下来吃饭,他马上说他不吃羽衣甘蓝,猪肉不干净。然而,万杰罗继续吃猪肠、玉米面包、蔬菜和其他所有东西。她对红薯滔滔不绝。一切都让她高兴。甚至当我们买不起椅子时,我们仍然使用她爸爸为桌子做的长凳。
We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn’t eat collards and pork was unclean. Wangero, though, went on through the chitlins and corn bread, the greens and everything else. She talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes. Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn’t afford to buy chairs.
“哦,妈妈!”她大叫。然后转向哈基姆理发师。“我从来不知道这些长椅有多可爱。你可以感觉到臀部的印记,”她说着,双手在身下抚摸着长椅。然后她叹了口气,手握住了迪奶奶的黄油盘。“就是这样!”她说。“我知道有件事我想问你,如果我可以的话。”她从桌子上跳起来,走到搅拌器的角落,里面的牛奶现在已经凝固了。她看着搅拌器,看着它。
“Oh, Mama!” she cried. Then turned to Hakim-a-barber. “I never knew how lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints,” she said, running her hands underneath her and long the bench. Then she gave a sigh and her hand closed over Grandma Dee’s butter dish. “That’s it!” she said. “I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have.” She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. She looked at the churn and looked at it.
“我需要的就是这个搅拌器盖,”她说,“它不是巴迪叔叔从你们以前有一棵树上削下来的吗?”
“This churn top is what I need,” she said. “Didn’t Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?”
“是的。”我说道。
“Yes,” I said.
“嗯嗯,”她高兴地说道。“我也想要那把破折号。”
“Uh huh,” she said happily. “And I want the dasher, too.”
“巴迪叔叔也削这个吗?”理发师问道。
“Uncle Buddy whittle that, too?” asked the barber.
Dee(Wangero)抬头看着我。
Dee (Wangero) looked up at me.
“迪姨妈的第一任丈夫削了仪表板,”玛吉低声说,几乎听不见。“他的名字叫亨利,但他们叫他斯塔什。”
“Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash,” said Maggie so low you almost couldn’t hear her. “His name was Henry, but they called him Stash.”
“玛吉的大脑就像大象一样,”万杰罗笑着说。“我可以用搅拌器顶部作为壁龛桌的中心装饰,”她说道,把盘子滑到搅拌器上,“我会想出一些与搅拌器有关的艺术作品。”
“Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s,” Wangero said, laughing. “I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table,” she said, sliding a plate over the churn, “and I’ll think of something artistic to do with the dasher.”
她包好搅拌棒后,搅拌棒的把手露了出来。我把它拿在手里,握了一会儿。你甚至不用仔细看就能看到,搅拌棒在木头上留下了凹痕。事实上,木头上有很多小凹痕;你可以看到拇指和手指陷进木头里的地方。木头是美丽的浅黄色,来自大迪和斯塔什曾经住过的院子里长着的一棵树。
When she finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out. I took it for a moment in my hands. You didn’t even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small sinks; you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived.
晚饭后,迪伊(万格罗)走到我床脚的箱子旁,开始翻找。玛吉在厨房里守着洗碗盆。万格罗拿着两床被子出来了。它们是迪伊奶奶拼接的,然后大迪伊和我把它们挂在前廊的被子框架上,缝制起来。一床是孤星图案的。另一床是绕山而行的。两床被子里都有迪伊奶奶五十多年前穿过的裙子碎片。还有贾雷尔爷爷佩斯利衬衫的碎片。还有一块小小的褪色的蓝色碎片,大约有一分钱火柴盒那么大,那是曾祖父埃兹拉在南北战争中穿的制服。
After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War.
“妈妈,”万杰罗甜美地说道。“这些旧被子能给我吗?”
“Mama,” Wangero said sweet as a bird. “Can I have these old quilts?”
我听到厨房里有东西掉下来的声音,一分钟后厨房门砰地一声关上了。
I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slammed.
“你为什么不拿一两件其他的呢?”我问。“这些旧东西是我和大迪用你奶奶去世前缝制的一些上衣做成的。”
“Why don’t you take one or two of the others?” I asked. “These old things was just done by me and Big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died.”
“不,”万杰罗说。“我不要那些。它们的边缘是用机器缝制的。”
“No,” said Wangero. “I don’t want those. They are stitched around the borders by machine.”
“这会让它们保存得更好,”我说。
“That’ll make them last better,” I said.
“这不是重点,”万杰罗说。“这些都是奶奶以前穿过的裙子的碎片。她手工缝制了这些衣服。想象一下!”她把被子牢牢地抱在怀里,抚摸着它们。
“That’s not the point,” said Wangero. “These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. Imagine!” She held the quilts securely in her arms, stroking them.
“有些碎片,比如那些淡紫色碎片,来自她母亲传给她的旧衣服,”我说道,然后走上前去触摸被子。迪伊(万杰罗)往后退了一点,这样我就够不到被子了。它们已经是她的了。
“Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, come from old clothes her mother handed down to her,” I said, moving up to touch the quilts. Dee (Wangero) moved back just enough so that I couldn’t reach the quilts. They already belonged to her.
“想象一下!”她再次喘息道,紧紧地把它们抱在胸前。
“Imagine!” she breathed again, clutching them closely to her bosom.
“事实是,”我说道,“我答应过把这些被子送给玛吉,等她嫁给约翰·托马斯的时候她就可以用了。”
“The truth is,” I said, “I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas.”
她大口喘息,仿佛被蜜蜂蜇了一样。
She gasped like a bee had stung her.
“玛吉不会欣赏这些被子!”她说。“她可能已经落后到每天都使用它们了。”
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”
“我想她会的,”我说。“上帝知道我保存它们已经很久了,但没人用它们。我希望她会的!”我不想提起当 Dee (Wangero) 去上大学时我曾送给她一条被子的事。然后她告诉我它们已经过时了,过时了。
“I reckon she would,” I said. “God knows I been saving ’em for long enough with nobody using ’em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.
“但它们是无价之宝!”她现在怒气冲冲地说,因为她脾气不好。“玛吉会把它们放在床上,五年后它们就会破烂不堪。比这还便宜!”
“But they’re priceless!” she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!”
“她总能做更多,”我说。“玛吉知道怎样缝被子。”
“She can always make some more,” I said. “Maggie knows how to quilt.”
迪(万杰罗)恨恨地看着我。“你不会明白的。重点是这些被子,这些被子!”
Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred. “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!”
“好吧,”我困惑地说道。“你会怎么处理它们?”
“Well,” I said, stumped. “What would you do with them?”
“把它们挂起来,”她说。就好像这是被子唯一能做的事一样。
“Hang them,” she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts.
玛吉此时正站在门口。我几乎能听到她脚上摩擦的声音。
Maggie by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other.
“妈妈,这些可以给她,”她说,就像一个从来没赢过任何东西,或者没有任何东西留给她一样。“我能想起没有被子的迪奶奶。”
“She can have them, Mama,” she said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. “I can ’member Grandma Dee without the quilts.”
我仔细地看着她。她的下唇上沾满了方格莓鼻烟,脸上露出一副呆滞、垂头丧气的样子。是迪奶奶和迪大爷教她缝被子的。她站在那里,把伤痕累累的双手藏在裙子的褶皱里。她看着姐姐,眼神里带着一种恐惧,但她并没有生姐姐的气。这是玛吉的命运。这是她所知道的上帝的行事方式。
I looked at her hard. She had filled her bottom lip with checkerberry snuff and it gave her face a kind of dopey, hangdog look. It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister with something like fear but she wasn’t mad at her. This was Maggie’s portion. This was the way she knew God to work.
当我这样看着她时,有什么东西击中了我的头顶,并流到我的脚底。就像我在教堂时,上帝的精神触动了我,我高兴得大叫起来。我做了一件我以前从未做过的事:把玛吉抱在怀里,然后把她拖进房间,从万杰罗小姐手中抢过被子,把它们扔到玛吉的腿上。玛吉就坐在我的床上,张着嘴。
When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I’m in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout. I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open.
“拿一两张其他的吧,”我对迪说。
“Take one or two of the others,” I said to Dee.
但她什么也没说就转身走向了哈基姆理发店。
But she turned without a word and went out to Hakim-a-barber.
“你根本就不明白,”当玛吉和我走向汽车时,她说道。
“You just don’t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.
“我不明白什么?”我想知道。
“What don’t I understand?” I wanted to know.
“你的遗产,”她说。然后她转向玛吉,吻了她,说:“玛吉,你也应该努力做点什么。对我们来说,这确实是新的一天。但从你和妈妈的生活方式来看,你永远不会知道这一点。”
“Your heritage,” she said. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it.”
她戴上太阳镜,遮住了鼻尖和下巴以上的部分。
She put on some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin.
玛吉笑了;也许是对着太阳镜笑的。但那是一个真正的微笑,而不是害怕。看着车里的灰尘落定后,我让玛吉给我拿来一包鼻烟。然后我们两个坐在那里享受,直到该回家睡觉的时候。
Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.
[1973年]
[1973]
a约翰尼·卡森 (1925–2005):深夜脱口秀主持人和喜剧演员。《约翰尼·卡森主演的今夜秀》于 1962 年至 1992 年播出。
aJohnny Carson (1925–2005): Late-night talk-show host and comedian. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was on the air from 1962 to 1992.
[生于 1946 年]
[b. 1946]
吉米·克罗斯中尉带着一封信,是新泽西州西巴斯蒂安山学院三年级的玛莎写的。这些信不是情书,但克罗斯中尉希望是,所以他把信用塑料袋包起来放在背包底部。在经过一天的行军后,傍晚时分,他会挖好散兵坑,在水壶下洗手,打开信,用指尖捏着信,假装在最后一小时的阳光下做爱。他会想象在新罕布什尔州白山进行浪漫的露营之旅。有时他会尝尝信封的封口,知道她的舌头曾经在那里。他最希望的是玛莎能像他爱她一样爱他,但这些信大多是闲聊,在爱情问题上含糊其辞。他几乎可以肯定,她是处女。她是西巴斯蒂安山学院英语专业的学生,她用优美的笔触描写了她的教授、室友和期中考试,描写了她对乔叟的尊重和对弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫的深厚感情。她经常引用诗句,从不提及战争,只是说,吉米,保重。这些信重十盎司。信上署名为“爱,玛莎”,但克罗斯中尉明白,“爱”只是一种签名方式,并不代表他有时假装的意思。黄昏时分,他会小心翼翼地把信放回背包里。他会慢慢地、有点心不在焉地站起来,在士兵中间走动,检查周围环境,然后在天黑时回到洞里,看着夜色,想知道玛莎是不是处女。
First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack. In the late afternoon, after a day’s march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending. He would imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire. He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the letters were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love. She was a virgin, he was almost sure. She was an English major at Mount Sebastian, and she wrote beautifully about her professors and roommates and midterm exams, about her respect for Chaucer and her great affection for Virginia Woolf. She often quoted lines of poetry; she never mentioned the war, except to say, Jimmy, take care of yourself. The letters weighed ten ounces. They were signed “Love, Martha,” but Lieutenant Cross understood that “Love” was only a way of signing and did not mean what he sometimes pretended it meant. At dusk, he would carefully return the letters to his rucksack. Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin.
他们携带的东西主要取决于必需品。必需品或近乎必需品包括 P-38 开罐器、小折刀、加热片、手表、狗牌、驱蚊剂、口香糖、糖果、香烟、盐片、酷爱饮料包、打火机、火柴、缝纫工具包、军人付款证、C 口粮、一壶和两壶或三壶水。这些物品加起来重 15 到 20 磅,取决于一个人的习惯或新陈代谢率。身材高大的亨利·多宾斯携带了额外的口粮;他特别喜欢用磅蛋糕搭配浓糖浆罐头桃子。注重战地卫生的戴夫·詹森携带了牙刷、牙线和几块他在澳大利亚悉尼 R&R 偷来的旅馆大小的肥皂。害怕的泰德·拉文德一直携带镇静剂,直到 4 月中旬在 Than Khe 村外头部中枪。出于需要,也因为这是标准操作程序,b他们都携带钢盔,包括内衬和伪装罩在内重达 5 磅。他们携带标准的工作服夹克和裤子。很少有人带内衣。他们脚上穿着丛林靴——2.1 磅——戴夫·詹森还携带了三双袜子和一罐肖尔博士的足粉,以预防战壕足。特德·拉文德在被枪杀前,一直携带着六七盎司的高级毒品,对他来说这是必需品。无线电技术办公室的米切尔·桑德斯c随身携带避孕套。诺曼·鲍克随身携带日记。拉特·基利随身携带漫画书。基奥瓦是一位虔诚的浸信会教徒,随身携带一本带插图的新约圣经,这是他父亲送给他的,他的父亲在俄克拉荷马州的俄克拉荷马城教主日学。然而,为了应对困难时期,基奥瓦还随身携带着他祖母对白人的不信任,以及他祖父的旧狩猎斧。需要如此。由于这片土地布满地雷和炸弹,每个人都必须携带一件钢芯尼龙外覆的防弹衣,这件防弹衣重 6.7 磅,但在炎热的日子里会显得重得多。因为死亡的速度非常快,所以每个人都至少携带一条大号压缩绷带,通常放在头盔带中,方便取用。由于夜晚寒冷,季风潮湿,每个人都携带一件绿色塑料雨披,可用作雨衣、地布或临时帐篷。雨披加上绗缝内衬,重近两磅,但每一盎司都物有所值。例如,4 月,特德·拉文德中枪后,他们用雨披将他裹起来,然后抬着他穿过稻田,再将他抬进直升机,将他带走。
The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist watches, dog tags, mosquito repellant, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations,a and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between fifteen and twenty pounds, depending upon a man’s habits or rate of metabolism. Henry Dobbins, who was a big man, carried extra rations; he was especially fond of canned peaches in heavy syrup over pound cake. Dave Jensen, who practiced field hygiene, carried a toothbrush, dental floss, and several hotel-size bars of soap he’d stolen on R&R in Sydney, Australia. Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April. By necessity, and because it was SOP,b they all carried steel helmets that weighed five pounds including the liner and camouflage cover. They carried the standard fatigue jackets and trousers. Very few carried underwear. On their feet they carried jungle boots — 2.1 pounds — and Dave Jensen carried three pairs of socks and a can of Dr. Scholl’s foot powder as a precaution against trench foot. Until he was shot, Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity. Mitchell Sanders, the RTO,c carried condoms. Norman Bowker carried a diary. Rat Kiley carried comic books. Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father, who taught Sunday school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a hedge against bad times, however, Kiowa also carried his grandmother’s distrust of the white man, his grandfather’s old hunting hatchet. Necessity dictated. Because the land was mined and booby-trapped, it was SOP for each man to carry a steel-centered, nylon-covered flak jacket, which weighed 6.7 pounds, but which on hot days seemed much heavier. Because you could die so quickly, each man carried at least one large compress bandage, usually in the helmet band for easy access. Because the nights were cold, and because the monsoons were wet, each carried a green plastic poncho that could be used as a raincoat or ground sheet or makeshift tent. With its quilted liner, the poncho weighed almost two pounds, but it was worth every ounce. In April, for instance, when Ted Lavender was shot, they used his poncho to wrap him up, then to carry him across the paddy, then to lift him into the chopper that took him away.
它们被称为腿或咕噜声。
They were called legs or grunts.
携带某物就是“扛”它,就像吉米·克罗斯中尉扛着他对玛莎的爱爬上山丘,穿过沼泽一样。在不及物动词形式中,“扛”的意思是“行走”或“行进”,但它所暗示的负担远远超出了不及物动词本身。
To carry something was to “hump” it, as when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps. In its intransitive form, “to hump” meant “to walk,” or “to march,” but it implied burdens far beyond the intransitive.
几乎每个人都随身带着照片。克罗斯中尉的钱包里有两张玛莎的照片。第一张是一张柯达彩色快照,上面署名“爱”,但他知道这不是全部。她背对着一堵砖墙站着。她的眼睛是灰色的,很自然,嘴唇微张,直视着镜头。有时,到了晚上,克罗斯中尉会想是谁拍的这张照片,因为他知道她有男朋友,因为他非常爱她,也因为他能看到拍照者的影子在砖墙上蔓延开来。第二张照片是从 1968 年塞巴斯蒂安山年鉴上剪下来的。这是一张动作照——女子排球——玛莎弯下腰,水平地伸展着身体,手掌清晰对焦,舌头绷紧,表情坦率而有竞争力。没有明显的汗水。她穿着白色的运动短裤。他想,她的腿几乎肯定是处女的腿,干燥而没有毛发,左膝弯曲,承受着她全部的体重,大约一百多磅。克罗斯中尉记得自己摸过她的左膝。他记得,电影院里一片漆黑,电影是《邦妮和克莱德》,玛莎穿着一条粗花呢裙子,在最后的一幕中,当他触摸她的膝盖时,她转过身,用一种悲伤、严肃的眼神看着他,这让他不得不把手缩了回来,但他永远记得粗花呢裙子和裙子下面的膝盖的感觉,还有杀死邦妮和克莱德的枪声,那是多么尴尬,是多么缓慢和压抑。他记得在宿舍门口吻了她道晚安。就在那时,他想,他应该做点勇敢的事。他应该把她抱上楼梯,送到她的房间,把她绑在床上,整晚触摸她的左膝。他应该冒这个险。每当他看到这些照片时,他就会想到自己应该做一些新的事情。
Almost everyone humped photographs. In his wallet, Lieutenant Cross carried two photographs of Martha. The first was a Kodachrome snapshot signed “Love,” though he knew better. She stood against a brick wall. Her eyes were gray and neutral, her lips slightly open as she stared straight-on at the camera. At night, sometimes, Lieutenant Cross wondered who had taken the picture, because he knew she had boyfriends, because he loved her so much, and because he could see the shadow of the picture taker spreading out against the brick wall. The second photograph had been clipped from the 1968 Mount Sebastian yearbook. It was an action shot — women’s volleyball — and Martha was bent horizontal to the floor, reaching, the palms of her hands in sharp focus, the tongue taut, the expression frank and competitive. There was no visible sweat. She wore white gym shorts. Her legs, he thought, were almost certainly the legs of a virgin, dry and without hair, the left knee cocked and carrying her entire weight, which was just over one hundred pounds. Lieutenant Cross remembered touching that left knee. A dark theater, he remembered, and the movie was Bonnie and Clyde, and Martha wore a tweed skirt, and during the final scene, when he touched her knee, she turned and looked at him in a sad, sober way that made him pull his hand back, but he would always remember the feel of the tweed skirt and the knee beneath it and the sound of the gunfire that killed Bonnie and Clyde, how embarrassing it was, how slow and oppressive. He remembered kissing her good night at the dorm door. Right then, he thought, he should’ve done something brave. He should’ve carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long. He should’ve risked it. Whenever he looked at the photographs, he thought of new things he should’ve done.
他们携带什么武器,一部分取决于军衔,一部分取决于战场专业性。
What they carried was partly a function of rank, partly of field specialty.
作为一名中尉和排长,吉米·克罗斯随身携带着指南针、地图、密码本、双筒望远镜和一把装满子弹时重达 2.9 磅的 .45 口径手枪。他还随身携带着闪光灯,肩负着保护士兵生命的责任。
As a first lieutenant and platoon leader, Jimmy Cross carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45-caliber pistol that weighed 2.9 pounds fully loaded. He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.
作为一名无线电通讯官员,米切尔·桑德斯携带了 PRC-25 无线电设备,这是一款杀手级设备,连同电池重达 26 磅。
As an RTO, Mitchell Sanders carried the PRC-25 radio, a killer, twenty-six pounds with its battery.
作为一名医务员,拉特·凯利携带着一个帆布挎包,里面装满了吗啡、血浆、抗疟药、手术胶带、漫画书以及医务员必须携带的所有物品,包括用于特别严重伤口的 M&M 巧克力豆,总重量接近 20 磅。
As a medic, Rat Kiley carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M&M’s for especially bad wounds, for a total weight of nearly twenty pounds.
亨利·多宾斯身材高大,因此是一名机枪手,他携带的 M-60 重 23 磅,未装子弹时重量为 23 磅,但几乎总是装上子弹。此外,多宾斯还携带 10 到 15 磅的弹药,这些弹药挂在胸前和肩上的皮带上。
As a big man, therefore a machine gunner, Henry Dobbins carried the M-60, which weighed twenty-three pounds unloaded, but which was almost always loaded. In addition, Dobbins carried between ten and fifteen pounds of ammunition draped in belts across his chest and shoulders.
作为 PFC d或 Spec 4,他们中的大多数都是普通步兵,携带标准 M-16 气动突击步枪。这种武器未装子弹时重 7.5 磅,装上二十发弹匣后重 8.2 磅。根据地形和心理等多种因素,步枪手携带十二到二十个弹匣,通常放在布制子弹带中,至少再加 8.4 磅,最多十四磅。如果有的话,他们还会携带 M-16 维护装备——杆、钢刷、棉签和 LSA 油管f——所有这些重约一磅。在步兵中,有些人携带 M-79 榴弹发射器,未装子弹时重 5.9 磅,除了弹药外,这是一款相当轻的武器,弹药很重。一发子弹重十盎司。通常装弹量为二十五发。但特德·拉文德害怕极了,他在 Than Khe 村外被枪杀时带了三十四发子弹,他倒下的负担非常沉重,有二十多磅的弹药,还有防弹衣、头盔、口粮、水、卫生纸、镇静剂和其他所有东西,再加上毫无重量的恐惧。他就像死人一样,没有抽搐或扑腾。基奥瓦亲眼目睹了这一切,他说这就像看着一块石头或一个大沙袋或什么东西掉下来——只是砰的一声,然后倒下——不像电影里那样,死人会滚来滚去,做着漂亮的旋转,然后屁股朝下摔倒——不是那样,基奥瓦说,这个可怜的家伙只是平躺着倒下。砰。倒下。没有别的。那是四月中旬一个晴朗的早晨。克罗斯中尉感到很痛苦。他责怪自己。他们拿走了拉文德的水壶和弹药,所有很重的东西。拉特·基利说了显而易见的话,那家伙死了。米切尔·桑德斯用无线电报告了一名美军阵亡者,并请求直升机起飞。然后他们用雨披把拉文德裹起来。他们把他抬到一片干稻田里,安排好安全措施,然后坐在那里抽着死人的毒品,直到直升机到来。克罗斯中尉不与人交往。他想象着玛莎年轻光滑的脸,心想他爱她胜过一切,胜过爱他的手下,而现在特德·拉文德已经死了,因为他太爱她了,无法停止想念她。当灭火器到达时,他们把拉文德抬上船。之后他们烧毁了 Than Khe。他们一直行军到黄昏,然后挖了洞。那天晚上,基奥瓦一直在解释你必须在那里,速度有多快,那个可怜的家伙就像混凝土一样掉下来。轰隆隆,他说。像水泥一样。
As PFCsd or Spec 4s,e most of them were common grunts and carried the standard M-16 gas-operated assault rifle. The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full twenty-round magazine. Depending on numerous factors, such as topography and psychology, the riflemen carried anywhere from twelve to twenty magazines, usually in cloth bandoliers, adding on another 8.4 pounds at minimum, fourteen pounds at maximum. When it was available, they also carried M-16 maintenance gear — rods and steel brushes and swabs and tubes of LSA oilf — all of which weighed about a pound. Among the grunts, some carried the M-79 grenade launcher, 5.9 pounds unloaded, a reasonably light weapon except for the ammunition, which was heavy. A single round weighed ten ounces. The typical load was twenty-five rounds. But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried thirty-four rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than twenty pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus the unweighed fear. He was dead weight. There was no twitching or flopping. Kiowa, who saw it happen, said it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something — just boom, then down — not like the movies where the dead guy rolls around and does fancy spins and goes ass over teakettle — not like that, Kiowa said, the poor bastard just flat-fuck fell. Boom. Down. Nothing else. It was a bright morning in mid-April. Lieutenant Cross felt the pain. He blamed himself. They stripped off Lavender’s canteens and ammo, all the heavy things, and Rat Kiley said the obvious, the guy’s dead, and Mitchell Sanders used his radio to report one U.S. KIAg and to request a chopper. Then they wrapped Lavender in his poncho. They carried him out to a dry paddy, established security, and sat smoking the dead man’s dope until the chopper came. Lieutenant Cross kept to himself. He pictured Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her. When the dust-off arrived, they carried Lavender aboard. Afterward they burned Than Khe. They marched until dusk, then dug their holes, and that night Kiowa kept explaining how you had to be there, how fast it was, how the poor guy just dropped like so much concrete. Boom-down, he said. Like cement.
除了三种标准武器—— M-60、M-16 和 M-79——之外,他们还携带任何出现的或任何看起来适合杀人或活命的武器。他们随身携带各种武器。在不同时间、不同情况下,他们携带 M-14、CAR-15、瑞典 K、注油枪、缴获的 AK-47、Chi-Coms、RPG、西蒙诺夫卡宾枪、黑市乌兹冲锋枪、.38 口径史密斯-韦森手枪、66 毫米 LAW、霰弹枪、消音器、短棍、刺刀和 C-4 塑性炸药。李·斯特伦克带着弹弓,他称之为最后手段。米切尔·桑德斯带着指节铜环。基奥瓦带着他祖父的羽毛斧。每三四个人中就有一个携带一枚克莱莫反步兵地雷——连同发射装置重 3.5 磅。他们都携带了破片手榴弹——每枚 14 盎司。他们都携带了至少一枚 M-18 彩色烟雾弹——每枚 24 盎司。有些人携带 CS 或催泪弹。有些人携带白磷手榴弹。他们携带了所有能承受的武器,甚至更多,包括对他们携带的物品的可怕威力的无声敬畏。
In addition to the three standard weapons — the M-60, M-16, and M-79 — they carried whatever presented itself, or whatever seemed appropriate as a means of killing or staying alive. They carried catch-as-catch-can. At various times, in various situations, they carried M-14s and CAR-15s and Swedish Ks and grease guns and captured AK-47s and Chi-Coms and RPGs and Simonov carbines and black-market Uzis and .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handguns and 66 mm LAWs and shotguns and silencers and blackjacks and bayonets and C-4 plastic explosives. Lee Strunk carried a slingshot; a weapon of last resort, he called it. Mitchell Sanders carried brass knuckles. Kiowa carried his grandfather’s feathered hatchet. Every third or fourth man carried a Claymore antipersonnel mine — 3.5 pounds with its firing device. They all carried fragmentation grenades — fourteen ounces each. They all carried at least one M-18 colored smoke grenade — twenty-four ounces. Some carried CS or tear-gas grenades. Some carried white-phosphorus grenades. They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.
四月的第一周,在拉文德去世前,吉米·克罗斯中尉收到了玛莎送的一块幸运符。那是一块普通的鹅卵石,最多一盎司。摸起来很光滑,呈乳白色,带有橙色和紫色斑点,椭圆形,像一个微型鸡蛋。在附信中,玛莎写道,她是在泽西海岸发现这块鹅卵石的,正是在涨潮时陆地与海水接触的地方,那里东西聚在一起,但又分开。她写道,正是这种分离但在一起的特质,激励她捡起鹅卵石,把它放在胸前的口袋里好几天,在那里它似乎没有重量,然后通过邮件、空运寄出,作为她对他最真挚感情的象征。克罗斯中尉觉得这很浪漫。但他想知道她最真实的感情到底是什么,她所说的分离但在一起是什么意思。他想知道那天下午在新泽西海岸,当玛莎看到那块鹅卵石并弯腰从地质构造中将它捞出来时,潮汐和波浪是如何形成的。他想象着她赤裸的双脚。玛莎是一位诗人,有着诗人的敏感,她的双脚应该是棕色的,光秃秃的,脚趾甲没有涂上指甲油,眼睛像三月的大海一样冰冷而阴沉。虽然这很痛苦,但他想知道那天下午是谁和她在一起。他想象着一对影子沿着沙滩移动,那里的一切汇聚在一起,但又分离。他知道,这是幻影般的嫉妒,但他控制不住自己。他太爱她了。在行军途中,在四月初炎热的日子里,他把鹅卵石放在嘴里,用舌头转动它,品尝着海盐和水分的味道。他的思绪飘忽不定,他很难将注意力集中在战争上。有时他会大喊,让士兵们分散队伍,睁大眼睛,但随后他就会陷入白日梦中,假装自己赤脚走在泽西海岸,和玛莎一起,什么都没带。他会感觉自己正在升起。阳光、海浪和轻柔的风,充满爱和轻松。
In the first week of April, before Lavender died, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha. It was a simple pebble, an ounce at most. Smooth to the touch, it was a milky-white color with flecks of orange and violet, oval-shaped, like a miniature egg. In the accompanying letter, Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline, precisely where the land touched water at high tide, where things came together but also separated. It was this separate-but-together quality, she wrote, that had inspired her to pick up the pebble and to carry it in her breast pocket for several days, where it seemed weightless, and then to send it through the mail, by air, as a token of her truest feelings for him. Lieutenant Cross found this romantic. But he wondered what her truest feelings were, exactly, and what she meant by separate-but-together. He wondered how the tides and waves had come into play on that afternoon along the Jersey shoreline when Martha saw the pebble and bent down to rescue it from geology. He imagined bare feet. Martha was a poet, with the poet’s sensibilities, and her feet would be brown and bare, the toenails unpainted, the eyes chilly and somber like the ocean in March, and though it was painful, he wondered who had been with her that afternoon. He imagined a pair of shadows moving along the strip of sand where things came together but also separated. It was phantom jealousy, he knew, but he couldn’t help himself. He loved her so much. On the march, through the hot days of early April, he carried the pebble in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting sea salts and moisture. His mind wandered. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing. He would feel himself rising. Sun and waves and gentle winds, all love and lightness.
他们携带的物品因任务不同而不同。
What they carried varied by mission.
当任务要求他们前往山区时,他们携带了蚊帐、砍刀、帆布防水布和额外的驱虫剂。
When a mission took them to the mountains, they carried mosquito netting, machetes, canvas tarps, and extra bug juice.
如果任务看起来特别危险,或者涉及他们知道的危险地区,他们会带上所有能带的东西。在某些布满地雷的作战区,即土地上密布着 Toe Poppers 和 Bouncing Betties 的地方,他们会轮流背着一个 28 磅重的地雷探测器。这个设备带有耳机和大传感板,对下背部和肩膀造成压力,难以操作,而且由于地底有弹片,所以经常毫无用处,但他们还是会背着它,部分是为了安全,部分是为了安全感。
If a mission seemed especially hazardous, or if it involved a place they knew to be bad, they carried everything they could. In certain heavily mined AOs,h where the land was dense with Toe Poppersi and Bouncing Betties,j they took turns humping a twenty-eight-pound mine detector. With its headphones and big sensing plate, the equipment was a stress on the lower back and shoulders, awkward to handle, often useless because of the shrapnel in the earth, but they carried it anyway, partly for safety, partly for the illusion of safety.
在伏击或其他夜间任务中,他们会携带一些奇怪的小玩意。基奥瓦总是随身携带他的《新约》和一双保持安静的莫卡辛鞋。戴夫·詹森携带富含胡萝卜素的夜视维生素。李·斯特伦克带着他的弹弓;他声称,弹药永远不是问题。拉特·基利带着白兰地和 M&M 巧克力。在被击中之前,泰德·拉文德一直带着星光瞄准镜,它连同铝制手提箱重 6.3 磅。亨利·多宾斯把女朋友的连裤袜围在脖子上当做棉被。他们都带着鬼魂。天黑后,他们会排成一列穿过草地和稻田,到达他们的伏击地点,在那里他们会悄悄地埋设克莱莫地雷,躺下,整夜等待。
On ambush, or other night missions, they carried peculiar little odds and ends. Kiowa always took along his New Testament and a pair of moccasins for silence. Dave Jensen carried night-sight vitamins high in carotin. Lee Strunk carried his slingshot; ammo, he claimed, would never be a problem. Rat Kiley carried brandy and M&M’s. Until he was shot, Ted Lavender carried the starlight scope, which weighed 6.3 pounds with its aluminum carrying case. Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around his neck as a comforter. They all carried ghosts. When dark came, they would move out single file across the meadows and paddies to their ambush coordinates, where they would quietly set up the Claymores and lie down and spend the night waiting.
其他任务则更为复杂,需要特殊装备。4 月中旬,他们的任务是搜查并摧毁位于 Chu Lai 南部 Than Khe 地区的复杂隧道群。为了炸毁隧道,他们携带一磅重的戊酸高爆炸药块,每人四块,总共六十八磅。他们携带电线、雷管和电池供电的爆竹。Dave Jensen 携带耳塞。通常,在炸毁隧道之前,上级会命令他们搜查隧道,这被认为是坏消息,但总的来说,他们只是耸耸肩,执行命令。由于亨利·多宾斯身材高大,他被免除了隧道任务。其他人会抽号。在拉文德死前,排里有十七个人,抽到十七号的人会脱下装备,头朝下拿着手电筒和克罗斯中尉的 .45 口径手枪爬进去。其余人会散开作为警卫。他们会坐下来或跪下,不面向洞口,聆听脚下的地面声响,想象蜘蛛网和鬼魂,想象下面到底是什么——隧道墙壁挤压着他们——手电筒在手中显得异常沉重,严格意义上来说,这是一种隧道视觉,所有方面,甚至时间,都受到挤压,你不得不扭动着身体——臀部和肘部——一种被吞没的感觉——你发现自己开始担心一些奇怪的事情——你的手电筒会没电吗?老鼠会携带狂犬病吗?如果你尖叫,声音会传多远?你的伙伴会听到吗?他们有勇气把你拖出来吗?在某些方面,虽然不是很多,等待比隧道本身更糟糕。想象力是一种杀手。
Other missions were more complicated and required special equipment. In mid-April, it was their mission to search out and destroy the elaborate tunnel complexes in the Than Khe area south of Chu Lai. To blow the tunnels, they carried one-pound blocks of pentrite high explosives, four blocks to a man, sixty-eight pounds in all. They carried wiring, detonators, and battery-powered clackers. Dave Jensen carried earplugs. Most often, before blowing the tunnels, they were ordered by higher command to search them, which was considered bad news, but by and large they just shrugged and carried out orders. Because he was a big man, Henry Dobbins was excused from tunnel duty. The others would draw numbers. Before Lavender died there were seventeen men in the platoon, and whoever drew the number seventeen would strip off his gear and crawl in head first with a flashlight and Lieutenant Cross’s .45-caliber pistol. The rest of them would fan out as security. They would sit down or kneel, not facing the hole, listening to the ground beneath them, imagining cobwebs and ghosts, whatever was down there — the tunnel walls squeezing in — how the flashlight seemed impossibly heavy in the hand and how it was tunnel vision in the very strictest sense, compression in all ways, even time, and how you had to wiggle in — ass and elbows — a swallowed-up feeling — and how you found yourself worrying about odd things — will your flashlight go dead? Do rats carry rabies? If you screamed, how far would the sound carry? Would your buddies hear it? Would they have the courage to drag you out? In some respects, though not many, the waiting was worse than the tunnel itself. Imagination was a killer.
4 月 16 日,李斯特伦克抽到 17 号时,他笑了笑,嘟囔了几句,然后迅速下楼。早上很热,很静。基奥瓦说,情况不太好。他望着隧道口,然后穿过一片干涸的稻田,朝 Than Khe 村望去。一切都没有动静。没有云,没有鸟,也没有人。等待的时候,人们抽着烟,喝着酷爱饮料,没有多说话,他们同情李斯特伦克,但也觉得抽签的运气很好。米切尔·桑德斯说,有得有失,有时你会选择改日再来。这是一句令人厌倦的话,没有人笑。
On April 16, when Lee Strunk drew the number seventeen, he laughed and muttered something and went down quickly. The morning was hot and very still. Not good, Kiowa said. He looked at the tunnel opening, then out across a dry paddy toward the village of Than Khe. Nothing moved. No clouds or birds or people. As they waited, the men smoked and drank Kool-Aid, not talking much, feeling sympathy for Lee Strunk but also feeling the luck of the draw. You win some, you lose some, said Mitchell Sanders, and sometimes you settle for a rain check. It was a tired line and no one laughed.
亨利·多宾斯吃了一块热带巧克力。泰德·拉文德吃了一剂镇静剂,然后去上厕所。
Henry Dobbins ate a tropical chocolate bar. Ted Lavender popped a tranquilizer and went off to pee.
五分钟后,吉米·克罗斯中尉来到隧道,俯下身子,审视着黑暗。他想,麻烦来了——也许是塌方了。然后突然间,他不由自主地想到了玛莎。压力和骨折,迅速的崩溃,他们两个被活埋在所有的重量之下。浓烈而压倒性的爱。他跪着,看着那个洞,试图把注意力集中在李·斯特伦克和战争上,以及所有的危险上,但他的爱对他来说太过沉重,他感到麻木不仁,他想在她的肺里睡觉,呼吸她的血,然后窒息而死。他希望她既是处女,又不是处女,他想了解她。亲密的秘密——为什么是诗歌?为什么这么悲伤?为什么她的眼睛是灰色的?为什么这么孤独?不是孤独,只是孤独——骑着自行车穿过校园,或者独自坐在自助餐厅里。即使跳舞,她也是一个人跳——正是这种孤独让他充满了爱。他记得有一天晚上告诉过她。她点点头,然后把目光移开。后来,当他吻她时,她没有回应,而是睁大了眼睛,没有恐惧,不像处女的眼睛,只是平淡而无动于衷。
After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down, and examined the darkness. Trouble, he thought — a cave-in maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha. The stresses and fractures, the quick collapse, the two of them buried alive under all that weight. Dense, crushing love. Kneeling, watching the hole, he tried to concentrate on Lee Strunk and the war, all the dangers, but his love was too much for him, he felt paralyzed, he wanted to sleep inside her lungs and breathe her blood and be smothered. He wanted her to be a virgin and not a virgin, all at once. He wanted to know her. Intimate secrets — Why poetry? Why so sad? Why the grayness in her eyes? Why so alone? Not lonely, just alone — riding her bike across campus or sitting off by herself in the cafeteria. Even dancing, she danced alone — and it was the aloneness that filled him with love. He remembered telling her that one evening. How she nodded and looked away. And how, later, when he kissed her, she received the kiss without returning it, her eyes wide open, not afraid, not a virgin’s eyes, just flat and uninvolved.
克罗斯中尉凝视着隧道。但他不在那里。他和玛莎一起埋在泽西海岸的白沙之下。他们紧紧地靠在一起,他嘴里的鹅卵石就是她的舌头。他微笑着。他隐约意识到白天多么安静,稻田多么阴沉,但他无法让自己担心安全问题。他超越了这一点。他只是一个在战争中、在爱情中的孩子。他二十二岁。他控制不住自己。
Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore. They were pressed together, and the pebble in his mouth was her tongue. He was smiling. Vaguely, he was aware of how quiet the day was, the sullen paddies, yet he could not bring himself to worry about matters of security. He was beyond that. He was just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-two years old. He couldn’t help it.
几分钟后,李·斯特伦克从隧道里爬了出来。他咧嘴笑着,浑身脏兮兮的,但还活着。克罗斯中尉点点头,闭上了眼睛,其他人则拍着斯特伦克的后背,开玩笑说他死而复生。
A few moments later Lee Strunk crawled out of the tunnel. He came up grinning, filthy but alive. Lieutenant Cross nodded and closed his eyes while the others clapped Strunk on the back and made jokes about rising from the dead.
蠕虫,拉特·凯利说。直接从坟墓里爬出来。他妈的僵尸。
Worms, Rat Kiley said. Right out of the grave. Fuckin’ zombie.
男人们都笑了。他们都感到如释重负。
The men laughed. They all felt great relief.
幽灵城,米切尔桑德斯说。
Spook City, said Mitchell Sanders.
李斯特伦克发出一种奇怪的幽灵般的声音,一种呻吟声,但非常快乐,就在这时,当斯特伦克发出那种高亢快乐的呻吟声时,当他“啊呼呼”时,特德·拉文德在小便回来的路上头部中弹。他张着嘴躺在地上。牙齿被打断了。左眼下方有一块肿胀的黑色淤青。颧骨不见了。哦,该死,拉特·基利说,那家伙死了。那家伙死了,他不停地说,这听起来很深刻——那家伙死了。我是说真的。
Lee Strunk made a funny ghost sound, a kind of moaning, yet very happy, and right then, when Strunk made that high happy moaning sound, when he went Ahhooooo, right then Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing. He lay with his mouth open. The teeth were broken. There was a swollen black bruise under his left eye. The cheekbone was gone. Oh shit, Rat Kiley said, the guy’s dead. The guy’s dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound — the guy’s dead. I mean really.
他们随身携带的东西在一定程度上是由迷信决定的。克罗斯中尉随身携带着代表好运的鹅卵石。戴夫·詹森随身携带着一只兔子脚。诺曼·鲍克尔,一个非常温和的人,随身携带着米切尔·桑德斯送给他的一根拇指。这根拇指呈深褐色,摸起来像橡胶一样,最多重四盎司。它是从一具越共k 的尸体上割下来的,那是一个十五六岁的男孩。他们在一条灌溉沟渠的底部发现了他,他被严重烧伤,嘴里和眼睛里都是苍蝇。这个男孩穿着黑色短裤和凉鞋。他死的时候,随身携带着一袋米、一支步枪和三个弹夹。
The things they carried were determined to some extent by superstition. Lieutenant Cross carried his good-luck pebble. Dave Jensen carried a rabbit’s foot. Norman Bowker, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a thumb that had been presented to him as a gift by Mitchell Sanders. The thumb was dark brown, rubbery to the touch, and weighed four ounces at most. It had been cut from a VCk corpse, a boy of fifteen or sixteen. They’d found him at the bottom of an irrigation ditch, badly burned, flies in his mouth and eyes. The boy wore black shorts and sandals. At the time of his death he had been carrying a pouch of rice, a rifle, and three magazines of ammunition.
如果你想听我的意见,米切尔桑德斯说,这里面肯定有寓意。
You want my opinion, Mitchell Sanders said, there’s a definite moral here.
他把手放在死去男孩的手腕上。他沉默了一会儿,仿佛在数脉搏,然后他几乎是亲热地拍了拍男孩的肚子,用基奥瓦的猎斧砍掉了男孩的拇指。
He put his hand on the dead boy’s wrist. He was quiet for a time, as if counting a pulse, then he patted the stomach, almost affectionately, and used Kiowa’s hunting hatchet to remove the thumb.
亨利多宾斯问其寓意是什么。
Henry Dobbins asked what the moral was.
道德?
Moral?
你知道的。道德。
You know. Moral.
桑德斯用卫生纸包住拇指,递给诺曼·鲍克。没有血迹。他笑着踢了踢男孩的头,看着苍蝇散开,说:“这就像老电视剧《圣骑士》一样。有枪,就能去旅行。”
Sanders wrapped the thumb in toilet paper and handed it across to Norman Bowker. There was no blood. Smiling, he kicked the boy’s head, watched the flies scatter, and said, It’s like with that old TV show — Paladin. Have gun, will travel.
亨利·多宾斯思考了一下。
Henry Dobbins thought about it.
“是啊,”他最后说道。“我看不出有什么道德。”
Yeah, well, he finally said. I don’t see no moral.
就在那儿,老兄。
There it is, man.
滚开。
Fuck off.
他们携带美国劳军联合组织的文具、铅笔和钢笔。他们还携带 Sterno、安全别针、绊脚石、信号弹、电线轴、剃须刀片、嚼烟、香薰棒、笑面佛雕像、蜡烛、油性铅笔、星条旗、指甲刀、心理战传单、丛林帽、短剑等等。每周两次,当补给直升机到达时,他们会带着装在绿色 Mermite 罐子里的热食和装满冰啤酒和汽水的大帆布袋。他们还携带塑料水容器,每个容量为 2 加仑。米切尔·桑德斯 (Mitchell Sanders) 携带一套用于特殊场合的浆洗过的虎纹工作服。亨利·多宾斯 (Henry Dobbins) 携带黑旗杀虫剂。戴夫·詹森 (Dave Jensen) 携带空沙袋,可以在夜间装满以增强防护。李·斯特伦克 (Lee Strunk) 携带晒黑润肤露。他们携带的一些东西是共同的。他们轮流携带大型 PRC-77 扰频电台,这台电台连电池一起重达 30 磅。他们分担着记忆的重量。他们承担起别人再也无法承受的东西。通常,他们互相搬运,搬运伤员或弱者。他们搬运传染病。他们搬运棋盘、篮球、越英词典、军衔徽章、铜星勋章和紫心勋章、印有行为准则的塑料卡片。他们搬运疾病,其中包括疟疾和痢疾。他们搬运虱子、癣、水蛭、水稻藻类以及各种腐烂物和霉菌。他们搬运土地本身 — — 越南,这个地方,这片土壤 — — 一层覆盖着他们的靴子、工作服和脸的橙红色粉尘。他们搬运天空。他们搬运整个大气,湿度、季风、真菌和腐烂的恶臭,所有这一切,他们搬运着重力。他们像骡子一样移动。白天他们遭到狙击手的射击,晚上他们遭到迫击炮的袭击,但这不是战斗,只是无休止的行军,从一个村庄到另一个村庄,没有目的,没有胜利也没有失败。他们只是为了行军而行军。他们缓慢地、呆滞地向前走,身体前倾以抵御酷热,毫无想法,浑身是血和骨头,只是简单的步兵,用双腿当兵,辛苦地爬上山坡,下到稻田,穿过河流,上上下下,只是驼着背,一步又一步,但没有意志,没有意志,因为这是自动的,这是解剖学的,战争完全是姿势和姿态的问题,驼背就是一切,一种惰性,一种空虚,一种欲望、智慧、良知、希望和人类情感的迟钝。他们的原则在他们的脚下。他们的算计是生物性的。他们没有战略意识或使命感。他们搜查村庄,却不知道要找什么,毫不在意,踢翻米缸,搜查儿童和老人,炸毁隧道,有时放火,有时不放火,然后集合后,他们前往下一个村庄,然后再去其他村庄,但那里的生活永远是一成不变的。他们过着自己的生活。压力巨大。在午后炎热的天气里,他们会脱下头盔和防弹衣,光着身子行走,这很危险,但有助于缓解压力。他们经常在行军途中丢弃物品。纯粹是为了舒适,他们会扔掉口粮,引爆克莱莫地雷和手榴弹,但没关系,因为到了夜幕降临,补给直升机会带着更多同样的东西抵达,一两天后还会带着更多的物品,新鲜的西瓜、一箱箱的弹药、太阳镜和羊毛衫——资源令人惊叹——七月四日的烟花棒,复活节的彩蛋。这是美国的庞大战争基金——科学成果、烟囱、罐头厂、哈特福德的兵工厂、明尼苏达州的森林、机械车间、广阔的玉米和小麦田——他们像货运火车一样运送着;他们把它背在背上、扛在肩上——尽管越南战争充满了不确定性、神秘性和未知性,但至少有一点可以确定,那就是他们永远不会无事可带。
They carried USO stationery and pencils and pens. They carried Sterno, safety pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools of wire, razor blades, chewing tobacco, liberated joss sticksl and statuettes of the smiling Buddha, candles, grease pencils, The Stars and Stripes, fingernail clippers, Psy Opsm leaflets, bush hats, bolos, and much more. Twice a week, when the resupply choppers came in, they carried hot chow in green Mermite cans and large canvas bags filled with iced beer and soda pop. They carried plastic water containers, each with a two-gallon capacity. Mitchell Sanders carried a set of starched tiger fatigues for special occasions. Henry Dobbins carried Black Flag insecticide. Dave Jensen carried empty sandbags that could be filled at night for added protection. Lee Strunk carried tanning lotion. Some things they carried in common. Taking turns, they carried the big PRC-77 scrambler radio, which weighed thirty pounds with its battery. They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak. They carried infections. They carried chess sets, basketballs, Vietnamese-English dictionaries, insignia of rank, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, plastic cards imprinted with the Code of Conduct. They carried diseases, among them malaria and dysentery. They carried lice and ringworm and leeches and paddy algae and various rots and molds. They carried the land itself — Vietnam, the place, the soil — a powdery orange-red dust that covered their boots and fatigues and faces. They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity. They moved like mules. By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost. They marched for the sake of the march. They plodded along slowly, dumbly, leaning forward against the heat, unthinking, all blood and bone, simple grunts, soldiering with their legs, toiling up the hills and down into the paddies and across the rivers and up again and down, just humping, one step and then the next and then another, but no volition, no will, because it was automatic, it was anatomy, and the war was entirely a matter of posture and carriage, the hump was everything, a kind of inertia, a kind of emptiness, a dullness of desire and intellect and conscience and hope and human sensibility. Their principles were in their feet. Their calculations were biological. They had no sense of strategy or mission. They searched the villages without knowing what to look for, not caring, kicking over jars of rice, frisking children and old men, blowing tunnels, sometimes setting fires and sometimes not, then forming up and moving on to the next village, then other villages, where it would always be the same. They carried their own lives. The pressures were enormous. In the heat of early afternoon, they would remove their helmets and flak jackets, walking bare, which was dangerous but which helped ease the strain. They would often discard things along the route of march. Purely for comfort, they would throw away rations, blow their Claymores and grenades, no matter, because by nightfall the resupply choppers would arrive with more of the same, then a day or two later still more, fresh watermelons and crates of ammunition and sunglasses and woolen sweaters — the resources were stunning — sparklers for the Fourth of July, colored eggs for Easter. It was the great American war chest — the fruits of science, the smokestacks, the canneries, the arsenals at Hartford, the Minnesota forests, the machine shops, the vast fields of corn and wheat — they carried like freight trains; they carried it on their backs and shoulders — and for all the ambiguities of Vietnam, all the mysteries and unknowns, there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry.
直升机带走拉文德后,吉米·克罗斯中尉带领士兵进入了 Than Khe 村。他们烧毁了所有东西。他们射杀了鸡和狗,把村子毁得一塌糊涂,他们叫来了炮兵,看着废墟,然后在炎热的下午行军了几个小时,然后到了黄昏,当基奥瓦解释拉文德是如何死去的时候,克罗斯中尉发现自己开始发抖。
After the chopper took Lavender away, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross led his men into the village of Than Khe. They burned everything. They shot chickens and dogs, they trashed the village well, they called in artillery and watched the wreckage, then they marched for several hours through the hot afternoon, and then at dusk, while Kiowa explained how Lavender died, Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling.
他强忍着不哭,用重达五磅的挖壕工具开始在地上挖洞。
He tried not to cry. With his entrenching tool, which weighed five pounds, he began digging a hole in the earth.
他感到羞愧。他恨自己。他爱玛莎胜过爱他的手下,结果拉文德死了,这件事情就像一块石头压在他的心头,他会在战争的余下时间里一直承受着。
He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.
他所能做的就是挖坑。他像用斧头一样用挖坑工具砍伐,心中既有爱又有恨,后来,天完全黑了,他坐在散兵坑底哭泣。他哭了很久。一方面,他是在为泰德·拉文德感到悲伤,但更多的是为玛莎和他自己感到悲伤,因为她属于另一个世界,那并不完全真实,因为她是新泽西州塞巴斯蒂安山学院的一名大三学生,一个诗人,一个处女,没有牵挂,因为他意识到她不爱他,也永远不会爱他。
All he could do was dig. He used his entrenching tool like an ax, slashing, feeling both love and hate, and then later, when it was full dark, he sat at the bottom of his foxhole and wept. It went on for a long while. In part, he was grieving for Ted Lavender, but mostly it was for Martha, and for himself, because she belonged to another world, which was not quite real, and because she was a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, a poet and a virgin and uninvolved, and because he realized she did not love him and never would.
基奥瓦像水泥一样在黑暗中低语。我向上帝发誓——轰然倒塌。一句话也没说。
Like cement, Kiowa whispered in the dark. I swear to God — boom-down. Not a word.
我听说过这个,诺曼·鲍克说。
I’ve heard this, said Norman Bowker.
你知道吗,他是个撒尿小鬼?他仍在拉拉链。拉拉链时被电到了。
A pisser, you know? Still zipping himself up. Zapped while zipping.
好的,没问题。够了。
All right, fine. That’s enough.
是的,但你必须看到它,那家伙只是 -
Yeah, but you had to see it, the guy just —
我听说了,哥们。水泥。那你为什么不闭嘴呢?
I heard, man. Cement. So why not shut the fuck up?
基奥瓦悲伤地摇了摇头,看了一眼吉米·克罗斯中尉坐着观察夜色的洞穴。空气又浓又湿。稻田上笼罩着一层温暖而浓密的雾气,四周一片寂静,仿佛要下雨了。
Kiowa shook his head sadly and glanced over at the hole where Lieutenant Jimmy Cross sat watching the night. The air was thick and wet. A warm, dense fog had settled over the paddies and there was the stillness that precedes rain.
过了一会儿,基奥瓦叹了口气。
After a time Kiowa sighed.
有一件事是肯定的,他说。中尉深受伤害。我的意思是,他哭泣的样子——他表现出来的那种样子——不是假装的,而是真正的沉重的痛苦。这个男人很关心别人。
One thing for sure, he said. The Lieutenant’s in some deep hurt. I mean that crying jag — the way he was carrying on — it wasn’t fake or anything, it was real heavy-duty hurt. The man cares.
“当然,”诺曼·鲍克说。
Sure, Norman Bowker said.
说出你想要的,这个男人确实在乎。
Say what you want, the man does care.
我们都遇到了问题。
We all got problems.
不是薰衣草。
Not Lavender.
“不,我想不是,”鲍克说。“不过,帮我个忙吧。”
No, I guess not, Bowker said. Do me a favor, though.
住口?
Shut up?
那是一个聪明的印度人。闭嘴。
That’s a smart Indian. Shut up.
基奥瓦耸耸肩,脱下靴子。他想说更多,只是为了让自己睡得更舒服一些,但他却打开了《新约》,把它放在头下当枕头。雾气让一切看起来空洞而无依。他试着不去想特德·拉文德,但他又想到这一切来得太快了,没有戏剧性,倒下,死了,除了惊讶,很难感觉到任何东西。这似乎不符合基督教的教义。他希望自己能找到一些巨大的悲伤,甚至是愤怒,但这种情绪并不存在,他也无法让它发生。他最高兴的还是活着。他喜欢脸颊下《新约》的味道,皮革、墨水、纸张和胶水的味道,不管这些化学物质是什么。他喜欢听夜晚的声音。即使是他的疲劳,他感觉也很好,僵硬的肌肉和对自己身体的刺痛感,一种飘浮的感觉。他喜欢没有死。躺在那里,基奥瓦钦佩吉米·克罗斯中尉的悲伤能力。他想分担这个人的痛苦,想像吉米·克罗斯那样关心他。然而,当他闭上眼睛时,他所能想到的只有轰隆声,他所能感受到的只有脱掉靴子、雾气在他周围袅袅升腾、潮湿的土壤、圣经的气味和夜晚的舒适感。
Shrugging, Kiowa pulled off his boots. He wanted to say more, just to lighten up his sleep, but instead he opened his New Testament and arranged it beneath his head as a pillow. The fog made things seem hollow and unattached. He tried not to think about Ted Lavender, but then he was thinking how fast it was, no drama, down and dead, and how it was hard to feel anything except surprise. It seemed un-Christian. He wished he could find some great sadness, or even anger, but the emotion wasn’t there and he couldn’t make it happen. Mostly he felt pleased to be alive. He liked the smell of the New Testament under his cheek, the leather and ink and paper and glue, whatever the chemicals were. He liked hearing the sounds of night. Even his fatigue, it felt fine, the stiff muscles and the prickly awareness of his own body, a floating feeling. He enjoyed not being dead. Lying there, Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s capacity for grief. He wanted to share the man’s pain, he wanted to care as Jimmy Cross cared. And yet when he closed his eyes, all he could think was Boom-down, and all he could feel was the pleasure of having his boots off and the fog curling in around him and the damp soil and the Bible smells and the plush comfort of night.
过了一会儿,诺曼·鲍克在黑暗中坐了起来。
After a moment Norman Bowker sat up in the dark.
“管他呢,”他说,“你想谈就谈吧。跟我说。”
What the hell, he said. You want to talk, talk. Tell it to me.
忘了它。
Forget it.
不,伙计,继续说。我讨厌沉默的印度人。
No, man, go on. One thing I hate, it’s a silent Indian.
大部分时候,他们都保持着镇定,一种尊严。然而,偶尔也会有恐慌的时候,他们会尖叫,或者想尖叫却叫不出来,他们会抽搐,呻吟,捂住头,说着“亲爱的耶稣”,在地上翻滚,盲目地开枪,畏缩,哭泣,乞求声音停止,发狂,对自己、对上帝、对父母许下愚蠢的承诺,希望自己不要死。他们每个人都以不同的方式经历了这一切。之后,当枪声结束时,他们会眨眨眼,抬头看。他们会摸摸自己的身体,感到羞耻,然后迅速掩饰。他们会强迫自己站起来。仿佛慢动作,一帧一帧地,世界会呈现出旧的逻辑——绝对的寂静,然后是风,然后是阳光,然后是声音。这是活着的负担。尴尬的是,男人们会重新集合,先是私下集合,然后成群结队,再次成为士兵。他们会修补眼睛里的漏洞。他们会检查伤亡情况,呼叫扫雷队,点燃香烟,努力微笑,清嗓子,吐口水,开始清理武器。过了一会儿,有人会摇头说,没错,我差点拉裤子了,另一个人会笑,这意味着情况确实很糟糕,是的,但那家伙显然没有拉裤子,情况没有那么糟糕,无论如何,没有人会做这样的事,然后继续谈论它。他们会眯起眼睛,看着浓密、令人压抑的阳光。也许有那么一会儿,他们会沉默下来,点燃一支大麻烟,跟着它从一个人传到另一个人,吸着烟,忍住羞辱。其中一个人可能会说,这太可怕了。但随后另一个人会咧嘴一笑,或者甩甩眉毛说,罗杰·多奇,差点给我切了个新屁眼,差点……
For the most part they carried themselves with poise, a kind of dignity. Now and then, however, there were times of panic, when they squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn’t, when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said Dear Jesus and flopped around on the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and sobbed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and to God and to their mothers and fathers, hoping not to die. In different ways, it happened to all of them. Afterward, when the firing ended, they would blink and peek up. They would touch their bodies, feeling shame, then quickly hiding it. They would force themselves to stand. As if in slow motion, frame by frame, the world would take on the old logic — absolute silence, then the wind, then sunlight, then voices. It was the burden of being alive. Awkwardly, the men would reassemble themselves, first in private, then in groups, becoming soldiers again. They would repair the leaks in their eyes. They would check for casualties, call in dust-offs, light cigarettes, try to smile, clear their throats and spit and begin cleaning their weapons. After a time someone would shake his head and say, No lie, I almost shit my pants, and someone else would laugh, which meant it was bad, yes, but the guy had obviously not shit his pants, it wasn’t that bad, and in any case nobody would ever do such a thing and then go ahead and talk about it. They would squint into the dense, oppressive sunlight. For a few moments, perhaps, they would fall silent, lighting a joint and tracking its passage from man to man, inhaling, holding in the humiliation. Scary stuff, one of them might say. But then someone else would grin or flick his eyebrows and say, Roger-dodger, almost cut me a new asshole, almost.
这样的姿势有很多。有些人表现出一种渴望的顺从,其他人则表现出自豪或严格的军人纪律、良好的幽默感或男子气概的热情。他们害怕死亡,但更害怕表现出来。
There were numerous such poses. Some carried themselves with a sort of wistful resignation, others with pride or stiff soldierly discipline or good humor or macho zeal. They were afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it.
他们找到了可以讲的笑话。
They found jokes to tell.
他们用强硬的词汇来掩盖可怕的柔和。他们会说,涂油,点燃,拉上拉链时被电击。这不是残忍,只是舞台表演。他们是演员,战争以 3D 的形式向他们袭来。当有人死去时,这并不完全是死亡,因为以一种奇怪的方式,这似乎是剧本上的,因为他们的台词大多是背下来的,讽刺与悲剧交织在一起,因为他们用其他名字来称呼它,仿佛是为了将死亡本身的现实包裹起来并摧毁。他们踢尸体。他们切断拇指。他们说着士兵的行话。他们讲述泰德·拉文德的镇静剂供应的故事,那个可怜的家伙什么都感觉不到,他是多么的平静。
They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased, they’d say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn’t cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors and the war came at them in 3-D. When someone died, it wasn’t quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. They kicked corpses. They cut off thumbs. They talked grunt lingo. They told stories about Ted Lavender’s supply of tranquilizers, how the poor guy didn’t feel a thing, how incredibly tranquil he was.
这是一个寓意,米切尔桑德斯说。
There’s a moral here, said Mitchell Sanders.
他们一边等待拉文德的直升机,一边吸着死者的毒品。
They were waiting for Lavender’s chopper, smoking the dead man’s dope.
道理很明显,桑德斯眨眨眼说道。远离毒品。不是开玩笑,毒品每次都会毁了你的一天。
The moral’s pretty obvious, Sanders said, and winked. Stay away from drugs. No joke, they’ll ruin your day every time.
很可爱,亨利·多宾斯说。
Cute, said Henry Dobbins.
太震撼了,明白了吗?说到 wiggy — 什么都没剩下,只有血和脑浆。
Mind-blower, get it? Talk about wiggy — nothing left, just blood and brains.
他们自嘲地大笑。
They made themselves laugh.
他们会一遍又一遍地说,事情就是这样,就好像重复本身就是一种保持镇定的行为,一种在疯狂与近乎疯狂之间的平衡,知其然,不知其所以然。事情就是这样,这意味着冷静下来,顺其自然,因为哦,是的,伙计,你无法改变无法改变的事情,事情就是这样,绝对、绝对、绝对、绝对地就是这样。
There it is, they’d say, over and over, as if the repetition itself were an act of poise, a balance between crazy and almost crazy, knowing without going. There it is, which meant be cool, let it ride, because oh yeah, man, you can’t change what can’t be changed, there it is, there it absolutely and positively and fucking well is.
他们很坚强。
They were tough.
他们背负着所有可能死去的人的情感包袱。悲伤、恐惧、爱、渴望——这些都是无形的,但无形的东西有自己的质量和比重,它们有有形的重量。他们背负着可耻的回忆。他们背负着几乎无法抑制的懦弱的共同秘密,逃跑、僵住或躲藏的本能,在许多方面,这是最沉重的负担,因为它永远无法放下,它需要完美的平衡和完美的姿势。他们背负着自己的名誉。他们背负着士兵最大的恐惧,那就是脸红的恐惧。人们杀人,死去,因为他们羞于不杀人。这正是他们最初参战的原因,没有任何积极的东西,没有荣耀或荣誉的梦想,只是为了避免脸红的耻辱。他们为了不尴尬而死。他们爬进隧道,走在前线,在炮火中前进。每天早上,尽管有未知数,他们还是迈开双腿。他们坚持着。他们继续前进。他们没有选择明显的替代方案,那就是闭上眼睛倒下。其实很简单。瘫倒在地,让肌肉放松,不说话,不动弹,直到你的伙伴把你抱起来,抬进直升机,直升机会轰鸣着,机头低下,把你带到这个世界。这只是摔倒的问题,但没有人摔倒。确切地说,这不是勇气;目的不是英勇。相反,他们太害怕了,不敢当懦夫。
They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing — these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment. They crawled into tunnels and walked point and advanced under fire. Each morning, despite the unknowns, they made their legs move. They endured. They kept humping. They did not submit to the obvious alternative, which was simply to close the eyes and fall. So easy, really. Go limp and tumble to the ground and let the muscles unwind and not speak and not budge until your buddies picked you up and lifted you into the chopper that would roar and dip its nose and carry you off to the world. A mere matter of falling, yet no one ever fell. It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.
总的来说,他们把这些事情藏在心里,保持着镇定的面具。他们嘲笑病人的求医。他们怨恨地谈论那些通过射断自己的脚趾或手指来释放压力的人。他们会说他们是胆小鬼。他们是傻瓜。这是激烈的嘲讽话语,只有一丝嫉妒或敬畏,但即便如此,他们眼中的画面还是浮现在眼前。
By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure. They sneered at sick call. They spoke bitterly about guys who had found release by shooting off their own toes or fingers. Pussies, they’d say. Candyasses. It was fierce, mocking talk, with only a trace of envy or awe, but even so, the image played itself out behind their eyes.
他们想象着枪口对着肉体的攻击,想象着那种瞬间而甜蜜的疼痛,然后撤离到日本,然后进入一家有温暖床铺和可爱艺妓护士的医院。
They imagined the muzzle against flesh. They imagined the quick, sweet pain, then the evacuation to Japan, then a hospital with warm beds and cute geisha nurses.
他们梦想着自由鸟。
They dreamed of freedom birds.
夜晚,他们站岗放哨,凝视着黑暗,被巨型喷气式飞机带走。他们感觉到了起飞的急促。起飞了!他们大喊。然后是速度、机翼和发动机,还有面带微笑的空姐——但那不仅仅是一架飞机,而是一只真正的鸟,一只长着羽毛和爪子、尖声尖叫的银色大鸟。他们在飞翔。重物落下,没有什么可承受的。他们笑着紧紧抓住,感受着寒风和高空的拍打,翱翔着,心想一切都结束了,我走了! ——他们赤身裸体,轻盈而自由——一切都很轻盈,明亮、快速、轻盈,轻如轻云,大脑中氦气嗡嗡作响,肺部兴奋不已,他们飞过云层和战争,超越了责任,超越了重力、屈辱和全球纠葛——Sin loi!他们大喊,对不起,混蛋,但我已脱离了束缚,我被搞糊涂了,我正在太空航行,我走了!——那是一种宁静、无拘无束的感觉,只是乘着光波,驾着那只巨大的银色自由之鸟飞过高山和海洋,飞过美国,飞过农场和沉睡的大城市、墓地、高速公路和麦当劳的金色拱门。那是飞行,一种逃离,一种坠落,越坠越高,从地球边缘旋转而出,飞越太阳,穿过广阔、寂静的真空,那里没有负担,一切都毫无重量。走了!他们尖叫道,对不起,但我走了!于是到了晚上,他们并没有完全做梦,而是让自己沉浸在轻松之中,他们被带着,他们纯粹地被承载着。
At night, on guard, staring into the dark, they were carried away by jumbo jets. They felt the rush of takeoff. Gone! they yelled. And then velocity, wings and engines, a smiling stewardess — but it was more than a plane, it was a real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feathers and talons and high screeching. They were flying. The weights fell off, there was nothing to bear. They laughed and held on tight, feeling the cold slap of wind and altitude, soaring, thinking It’s over, I’m gone! — they were naked, they were light and free — it was all lightness, bright and fast and buoyant, light as light, a helium buzz in the brain, a giddy bubbling in the lungs as they were taken up over the clouds and the war, beyond duty, beyond gravity and mortification and global entanglements — Sin loi!n they yelled, I’m sorry, motherfuckers, but I’m out of it, I’m goofed, I’m on a space cruise, I’m gone! — and it was a restful, disencumbered sensation, just riding the light waves, sailing that big silver freedom bird over the mountains and oceans, over America, over the farms and great sleeping cities and cemeteries and highways and the golden arches of McDonald’s. It was flight, a kind of fleeing, a kind of falling, falling higher and higher, spinning off the edge of the earth and beyond the sun and through the vast, silent vacuum where there were no burdens and where everything weighed exactly nothing. Gone! they screamed, I’m sorry but I’m gone! And so at night, not quite dreaming, they gave themselves over to lightness, they were carried, they were purely borne.
特德·拉文德死后的第二天早上,吉米·克罗斯中尉蹲在散兵坑底部,烧掉了玛莎的信。然后他烧掉了两张照片。当时正下着绵绵细雨,烧起来很困难,但他用热片和斯特诺生了一堆小火,用身体挡着火,用指尖把照片放在紧紧的蓝色火焰上。
On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs. There was a steady rain falling, which made it difficult, but he used heat tabs and Sterno to build a small fire, screening it with his body, holding the photographs over the tight blue flame with the tips of his fingers.
他意识到那只是一种姿态。他想,真蠢。虽然也有些伤感,但主要是蠢。
He realized it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought. Sentimental, too, but mostly just stupid.
拉文德已经死了。你不能把责任推卸给别人。
Lavender was dead. You couldn’t burn the blame.
此外,那些信都在他的脑海里。即使现在,没有照片,克罗斯中尉也能看见玛莎穿着白色运动短裤和黄色 T 恤打排球的情景。他能看到她在雨中移动的身影。
Besides, the letters were in his head. And even now, without photographs, Lieutenant Cross could see Martha playing volleyball in her white gym shorts and yellow T-shirt. He could see her moving in the rain.
大火熄灭后,克罗斯中尉将雨披披在肩上,吃了罐头早餐。
When the fire died out, Lieutenant Cross pulled his poncho over his shoulders and ate breakfast from a can.
他认为,这并没有什么大秘密。
There was no great mystery, he decided.
在那些被烧毁的信中,玛莎从未提到战争,只是说,吉米,照顾好自己。她没有参与其中。她在信上署名“爱”,但那不是爱,所有的细枝末节和技术细节都无关紧要。
In those burned letters Martha had never mentioned the war, except to say, Jimmy, take care of yourself. She wasn’t involved. She signed the letters “Love,” but it wasn’t love, and all the fine lines and technicalities did not matter.
清晨,天色阴沉,雾气蒙蒙。一切似乎都互为组成部分,雾、玛莎和渐浓的雨。
The morning came up wet and blurry. Everything seemed part of everything else, the fog and Martha and the deepening rain.
毕竟,这是一场战争。
It was a war, after all.
吉米·克罗斯中尉微笑着拿出地图。他使劲摇了摇头,仿佛要清醒过来,然后弯下腰开始计划今天的行军路线。十分钟,或者二十分钟后,他会叫醒士兵,收拾行装,向西行进,地图上显示那里的土地是绿色的,很诱人。他们会做他们一直做的事情。雨水可能会增加一些负担,但除此之外,这将是又一天,叠加在其他日子之上。
Half smiling, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross took out his maps. He shook his head hard, as if to clear it, then bent forward and began planning the day’s march. In ten minutes, or maybe twenty, he would rouse the men and they would pack up and head west, where the maps showed the country to be green and inviting. They would do what they had always done. The rain might add some weight, but otherwise it would be one more day layered upon all the other days.
他对此很现实。他的内心又开始变得坚硬起来。
He was realistic about it. There was that new hardness in his stomach.
别再抱有幻想了,他告诉自己。
No more fantasies, he told himself.
从今以后,当他想到玛莎时,他只会认为她属于别处。他会停止做白日梦。这不是塞巴斯蒂安山,而是另一个世界,那里没有美丽的诗歌或期中考试,那里的人因为粗心和愚蠢而死亡。基奥瓦是对的。轰然倒下,你就死了,永远不会半死不活。
Henceforth, when he thought about Martha, it would be only to think that she belonged elsewhere. He would shut down the daydreams. This was not Mount Sebastian, it was another world, where there were no pretty poems or midterm exams, a place where men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity. Kiowa was right. Boom-down, and you were dead, never partly dead.
有一会儿,在雨中,克罗斯中尉看见玛莎的灰色眼睛正注视着他。
Briefly, in the rain, Lieutenant Cross saw Martha’s gray eyes gazing back at him.
他明白了。
He understood.
他想,这真是太悲哀了。男人内心承受着这些事情。男人所做的事或觉得必须做的事。
It was very sad, he thought. The things men carried inside. The things men did or felt they had to do.
他差点向她点头,但是没有。
He almost nodded at her, but didn’t.
相反,他回到地图上。他现在决心坚定不移地履行职责。他知道,这对拉文德没有帮助,但从现在起,他会像个士兵一样行事。他会处理掉这颗好运石。也许吞下去,或者用李·斯特伦克的弹弓,或者干脆把它扔在路上。在行军中,他会严格执行野战纪律。他会小心派出侧翼警卫,防止部队散落或聚集,让他的部队以适当的速度和适当的间隔行进。他会坚持武器清洁。他会没收拉文德剩余的毒品。也许,当天晚些时候,他会把士兵们召集在一起,坦率地和他们谈谈。他会为特德·拉文德的遭遇承担责任。他会像个男子汉一样对待这件事。他会直视他们的眼睛,保持下巴平直,用一种平静、客观的语气(军官的语气)发布新的标准操作程序,不留任何争论或讨论的余地。他会告诉他们,从现在开始,他们将不再在行军路线上丢弃装备。他们会对自己的行为进行监督。他们会把事情处理好,保持秩序井然,保持井然有序。
Instead he went back to his maps. He was now determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence. It wouldn’t help Lavender, he knew that, but from this point on he would comport himself as a soldier. He would dispose of his good-luck pebble. Swallow it, maybe, or use Lee Strunk’s slingshot, or just drop it along the trail. On the march he would impose strict field discipline. He would be careful to send out flank security, to prevent straggling or bunching up, to keep his troops moving at the proper pace and at the proper interval. He would insist on clean weapons. He would confiscate the remainder of Lavender’s dope. Later in the day, perhaps, he would call the men together and speak to them plainly. He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender. He would be a man about it. He would look them in the eyes, keeping his chin level, and he would issue the new SOPs in a calm, impersonal tone of voice, an officer’s voice, leaving no room for argument or discussion. Commencing immediately, he’d tell them, they would no longer abandon equipment along the route of march. They would police up their acts. They would get their shit together, and keep it together, and maintain it neatly and in good working order.
他不会容忍懈怠。他会展现力量,与他人保持距离。
He would not tolerate laxity. He would show strength, distancing himself.
当然,士兵们会抱怨,甚至更糟,因为他们的日子似乎更长,负担更重,但克罗斯中尉提醒自己,他的义务不是被爱戴,而是领导。他不会再有爱戴;现在爱戴已经不重要了。如果有人争吵或抱怨,他只需紧闭双唇,挺直肩膀,摆出正确的指挥姿势。他可能会点点头。或者他不会。他可能只是耸耸肩说“继续”,然后他们会上马,组成一列纵队,向山溪以西的村庄前进。
Among the men there would be grumbling, of course, and maybe worse, because their days would seem longer and their loads heavier, but Lieutenant Cross reminded himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. He would dispense with love; it was not now a factor. And if anyone quarreled or complained, he would simply tighten his lips and arrange his shoulders in the correct command posture. He might give a curt little nod. Or he might not. He might just shrug and say Carry on, then they would saddle up and form into a column and move out toward the villages west of Than Khe.
[1986年]
[1986]
C口粮:战斗口粮。
aC rations: Combat rations.
b SOP:标准操作程序。
bSOP: Standard operating procedure.
c RTO:无线电话操作员。
cRTO: Radiotelephone operator.
d PFC:一等兵。
dPFCs: Privates first class.
e Spec 4s:四级专家,军衔相当于下士。
eSpec 4s: Specialists fourth class, rank equivalent to that of corporal.
f LSA 油:润滑油—小型武器油。
fLSA oil: Lube-small-arms oil.
g KIA: 阵亡。
gKIA: Killed in action.
h AO: 行动区域。
hAOs: Areas of operations.
i Toe Poppers:带有小型撞针的越共反人员地雷。
iToe Poppers: Viet Cong antipersonnel land mines with small firing pins.
j弹跳贝蒂: 弹跳破片地雷,是所有地雷中最致命的。
jBouncing Betties: Bounding fragmentation land mines, the deadliest of all land mines.
k VC:越共,越南共产主义运动的游击战士。
kVC: Viet Cong, a guerrilla fighter of the Vietnamese Communist movement.
l香:细长的香棒。
lJoss sticks: Slender sticks of incense.
m Psy Ops:心理战。
mPsy Ops: Psychological operations.
n Sin loi!: “很抱歉!”
nSin loi!: “Sorry about that!”
[生于 1949 年]
[b. 1949]
星期一洗白色的衣服,然后把它们放在石堆上;星期二洗彩色的衣服,然后把它们放在晾衣绳上晾干;不要光着头在烈日下行走;用很热的甜油烹制南瓜饼;脱下小衣服后立即浸泡;买棉花给自己做一件漂亮的衬衫时,一定要确保上面没有口香糖,因为这样洗完后就不会很耐穿;煮咸鱼前要先浸泡一夜;你在主日学校唱 benna a是真的吗?;吃饭时要以不会让别人反胃的方式吃饭;星期天走路要像个淑女,不要像个荡妇,你一心想成为那样;不要在主日学校唱 benna;你不能和码头上的男孩说话,哪怕是为了指路;不要在街上吃水果——苍蝇会跟着你;但是我星期天根本不唱 benna,在主日学校也从来不唱;这就是缝纽扣的方法;这就是为刚缝上的纽扣打扣眼的方法;这就是当你看到裙子下摆掉下来时如何缝制裙子,以及如何避免自己看起来像个荡妇,我知道你一心想成为这样的人;这就是你熨你爸爸的卡其布衬衫的方法,这样它才不会有折痕;这就是你熨你爸爸的卡其裤子的方法,这样它们才不会有折痕;这就是你种植秋葵的方法 — — 离房子很远,因为秋葵树上有红蚂蚁;当你种植芋头时,一定要确保它得到足够的水,否则你吃它的时候喉咙会发痒;这就是你清扫角落的方法;这就是你清扫整个房子的方法;这就是你清扫院子的方法;这就是你对你不太喜欢的人微笑的方法;这就是你对你一点也不喜欢的人微笑的方法;这就是你对你完全喜欢的人微笑的方法;这是你为茶点摆桌子的方式;这是你为晚餐摆桌子的方式;这是你为重要客人摆晚餐的方式;这是你为午餐摆桌子的方式;这是你为早餐摆桌子的方式;这是在不太了解你的男人面前表现的方式,这样他们就不会立刻认出你就是那个我警告过你不要成为的荡妇;一定要每天洗澡,即使是用你自己的唾液;不要蹲下来玩弹珠——你知道,你不是男孩;不要摘别人的花——你可能会抓到什么东西;不要向黑鸟扔石头,因为它可能根本不是黑鸟;这是做面包布丁的方法;这是做杜科纳的方法;c这是制作胡椒瓶的方法;这是治疗感冒的良药;这是制作在孩子还未成年时就将其丢弃的良药;这是捕鱼的方法;这是把你不喜欢的鱼扔回去的方法,这样就不会有坏事落在你身上;这是欺负男人的方法;这是男人欺负你的方法;这是爱男人的方法,如果这不管用还有其他方法,如果它们不管用,也不要为放弃而感到难过;这是你想吐的时候就往空中吐痰的方法,这是快速移动以免吐痰落在你身上的方法;这是维持生计的方法;总是挤压面包以确保它是新鲜的;但是,如果面包师不让我摸面包怎么办?;你的意思是说,你真的会成为那种面包师不让我靠近面包的女人吗?
Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don’t walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn’t have gum on it, because that way it won’t hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing bennaa in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don’t sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn’t speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions; don’t eat fruits on the street — flies will follow you; but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your father’s khaki pants so that they don’t have a crease; this is how you grow okra — far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen,b make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don’t squat down to play marbles — you are not a boy, you know; don’t pick people’s flowers — you might catch something; don’t throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona;c this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don’t like, and that way something bad won’t fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn’t fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?
[1978]
[1978]
a Benna:卡里普索音乐。
aBenna: Calypso music.
b芋艿:芋头,一种可食用的淀粉植物。
bDasheen: Taro, an edible starchy plant.
c Doukona:辣味大蕉布丁。
cDoukona: A spicy plantain pudding.
[生于 1954 年]
[b. 1954]
莱曼·拉马丁
Lyman Lamartine
我是第一个开敞篷车的人。当然,那是一辆红色的 Olds。我和弟弟小亨利一起拥有那辆车。我们一起拥有它,直到一个刮风的夜晚,他的靴子进水了,他买下了我所拥有的那部分。现在亨利拥有整辆车,他的弟弟莱曼(就是我),莱曼去哪儿都是步行。
I was the first one to drive a convertible on my reservation. And of course it was red, a red Olds. I owned that car along with my brother Henry Junior. We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share. Now Henry owns the whole car, and his younger brother Lyman (that’s myself), Lyman walks everywhere he goes.
我当初是怎么赚到足够的钱买下我的那一份的?我自己的才能就是总能赚钱。我有这方面的天赋,这在齐珀瓦人中并不常见。从一开始我就与众不同,每个人都认出了这一点。例如,我是唯一一个被允许进入美国退伍军人协会大厅擦鞋的孩子,有一年圣诞节,我挨家挨户为传教团卖精神花束。修女们让我提成。一旦我开始工作,似乎赚得越多,钱来得就越容易。每个人都鼓励我这样做。我十五岁时,在乔利埃特咖啡馆找到了一份洗碗的工作,这就是我的第一个重大突破。
How did I earn enough money to buy my share in the first place? My own talent was I could always make money. I had a touch for it, unusual in a Chippewa. From the first I was different that way, and everyone recognized it. I was the only kid they let in the American Legion Hall to shine shoes, for example, and one Christmas I sold spiritual bouquets for the mission door to door. The nuns let me keep a percentage. Once I started, it seemed the more money I made the easier the money came. Everyone encouraged it. When I was fifteen I got a job washing dishes at the Joliet Café, and that was where my first big break happened.
不久之后,我被提拔为餐厅服务员,然后快餐厨师辞职,我被雇来接替她。很快,我就成为了 Joliet 餐厅的经理。剩下的就是历史了。我继续管理。我很快成为部分所有者,当然,那时没有什么能阻止我。不久之后,整个餐厅就都属于我了。
It wasn’t long before I was promoted to busing tables, and then the short-order cook quit and I was hired to take her place. No sooner than you know it I was managing the Joliet. The rest is history. I went on managing. I soon became part owner, and of course there was no stopping me then. It wasn’t long before the whole thing was mine.
我拥有 Joliet 一年后,它被一场当地最严重的龙卷风吹倒了。整个房子被毁了。完全毁了。油炸锅挂在树上,烤架像纸一样被撕成两半。我当时只有十六岁。我把所有财产都记在我母亲的名下,我很快就失去了它,但在失去它之前,我请了所有亲戚和他们的亲戚吃饭,我还买了我提到的那辆红色的 Olds,还有 Henry。
After I’d owned the Joliet for one year, it blew over in the worst tornado ever seen around here. The whole operation was smashed to bits. A total loss. The fryalator was up in a tree, the grill torn in half like it was paper. I was only sixteen. I had it all in my mother’s name, and I lost it quick, but before I lost it I had every one of my relatives, and their relatives, to dinner, and I also bought that red Olds I mentioned, along with Henry.
我们第一次看到它!我来告诉你我们第一次看到它的时候。我们搭车去了温尼伯,我们俩都有钱。别问我为什么,因为我们从来没有提到过汽车或任何东西,我们只是有所有的钱。我的是现金,来自乔利埃特保险的一大笔资金。亨利有两张支票——被解雇一周的额外工资,以及珠宝轴承厂的定期支票。
The first time we saw it! I’ll tell you when we first saw it. We had gotten a ride up to Winnipeg, and both of us had money. Don’t ask me why, because we never mentioned a car or anything, we just had all our money. Mine was cash, a big bankroll from the Joliet’s insurance. Henry had two checks — a week’s extra pay for being laid off, and his regular check from the Jewel Bearing Plant.
无论如何,我们正沿着 Portage 走着,欣赏着美景,这时我们看到了它。它就停在那里,栩栩如生。真的就像是活的一样。我想到“安息”这个词,因为那辆车不是简单地停着、停着,或者其他什么。那辆车安息着,平静而闪亮,左前窗上挂着一块待售标志。然后,在我们完全没有考虑之前,那辆车就属于我们了,我们的口袋空了。我们只剩下足够的钱回家加油。
We were walking down Portage anyway, seeing the sights, when we saw it. There it was, parked, large as life. Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn’t simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming, a for sale sign in its left front window. Then, before we had thought it over at all, the car belonged to us and our pockets were empty. We had just enough money for gas back home.
我和亨利开着那辆车去了很多地方。整个夏天我们都在开车。我们出发前往小刀河和伯特霍尔德堡的曼达里,然后不知怎么地我们发现自己到了瓦克帕拉,然后突然间我们乘坐洛基男孩号来到了蒙大拿,而那时夏天甚至还没过去一半。有些人在旅行时会关注细节,但我们不会让它们困扰我们,只是从这里到那里过着我们的日常生活。
We went places in that car, me and Henry. We took off driving all one whole summer. We started off toward the Little Knife River and Mandaree in Fort Berthold and then we found ourselves down in Wakpala somehow, and then suddenly we were over in Montana on the Rocky Boy, and yet the summer was not even half over. Some people hang on to details when they travel, but we didn’t let them bother us and just lived our everyday lives here to there.
我确实记得一个有柳树的地方。我记得我躺在那些树下,感觉很舒服。太舒服了。树枝像帐篷或马厩一样在我周围弯曲。而且很安静,很安静,尽管附近有一场聚会,我可以看到它正在进行。空气不太平静,风也不太大。当尘土像那样在舞者周围扬起并悬浮在空中时,我感觉很好。亨利张开双臂睡着了。后来,他醒了,我们又开始开车了。我们在蒙大拿州的某个地方,或者可能是在血保护区——可能是任何地方。无论如何,那是我们遇到那个女孩的地方。
I do remember this one place with willows. I remember I laid under those trees and it was comfortable. So comfortable. The branches bent down all around me like a tent or a stable. And quiet, it was quiet, even though there was a powwow close enough so I could see it going on. The air was not too still, not too windy either. When the dust rises up and hangs in the air around the dancers like that, I feel good. Henry was asleep with his arms thrown wide. Later on, he woke up and we started driving again. We were somewhere in Montana, or maybe on the Blood Reserve — it could have been anywhere. Anyway it was where we met the girl.
她的头发都扎成了发髻,围绕在耳朵周围,这是我注意到她的第一点。她站在路边,伸出胳膊,所以我们停了下来。那个女孩很矮,矮到她穿伐木工衬衫的样子很滑稽,就像睡衣一样。她穿着牛仔裤和花哨的莫卡辛鞋,提着一个小行李箱。
All her hair was in buns around her ears, that’s the first thing I noticed about her. She was posed alongside the road with her arm out, so we stopped. That girl was short, so short her lumber shirt looked comical on her, like a nightgown. She had jeans on and fancy moccasins and she carried a little suitcase.
亨利说:“快上车。”于是她爬到了我们中间。
“Hop on in,” says Henry. So she climbs in between us.
“我们会送你回家,”我说。“你住在哪里?”
“We’ll take you home,” I says. “Where do you live?”
“鸡肉,”她说。
“Chicken,” she says.
“那到底是哪儿?”我问她。
“Where the hell’s that?” I ask her.
“阿拉斯加州。”
“Alaska.”
“好的,”亨利说,然后我们就开车了。
“Okay,” says Henry, and we drive.
我们到了那里,就再也不想离开。夏天太阳不会真正落下,夜晚更像是柔和的黄昏。有时你可能会打个瞌睡,但不知不觉你又会醒来,就像大自然中的动物一样。你永远不会觉得你必须睡得很沉,或者把世界抛在一边。万物在那里生长。一天只是泥土或苔藓,第二天就长出鲜花和长草。女孩的名字叫苏西。她的家人很喜欢我们。他们给我们吃的,给我们住的。我们在他们家旁边有自己的帐篷,孩子们整天整夜进出那里。他们无法接受我和亨利是兄弟,我们长得如此不同。我们告诉他们,我们知道我们有同一个母亲。
We got up there and never wanted to leave. The sun doesn’t truly set there in summer, and the night is more a soft dusk. You might doze off, sometimes, but before you know it you’re up again, like an animal in nature. You never feel like you have to sleep hard or put away the world. And things would grow up there. One day just dirt or moss, the next day flowers and long grass. The girl’s name was Susy. Her family really took to us. They fed us and put us up. We had our own tent to live in by their house, and the kids would be in and out of there all day and night. They couldn’t get over me and Henry being brothers, we looked so different. We told them we knew we had the same mother, anyway.
一天晚上,苏西来看望我们。我们坐在帐篷里,聊着天。季节在变化。那时天色渐暗,寒冷甚至变得有些可怕。我告诉她我们该走了。她站在椅子上。
One night Susy came in to visit us. We sat around in the tent talking of this and that. The season was changing. It was getting darker by that time, and the cold was even getting just a little mean. I told her it was time for us to go. She stood up on a chair.
“你从来没见过我的头发,”苏西说。
“You never seen my hair,” Susy said.
确实如此。她站在椅子上,但当她解开发髻时,头发仍然垂到地上。我们睁大了眼睛。当头发卷得如此整齐时,你看不出她的头发有多长。然后我哥哥亨利做了一件有趣的事。他走到椅子前说:“跳到我肩膀上。”于是她就跳到我肩膀上,她的头发垂到他的腰部以下,他开始左右旋转,她的头发从一边甩到另一边。
That was true. She was standing on a chair, but still, when she unclipped her buns the hair reached all the way to the ground. Our eyes opened. You couldn’t tell how much hair she had when it was rolled up so neatly. Then my brother Henry did something funny. He went up to the chair and said, “Jump on my shoulders.” So she did that, and her hair reached down past his waist, and he started twirling, this way and that, so her hair was flung out from side to side.
“我一直想知道拥有一头漂亮的长发会是什么感觉,”亨利说。我们笑了。他做这件事的方式很有趣。第二天早上,我们起床,向那些人告别。
“I always wondered what it was like to have long pretty hair,” Henry says. Well we laughed. It was a funny sight, the way he did it. The next morning we got up and took leave of those people.
正如人们所说,我们前往更绿的牧场。我们穿过斯波坎,穿过爱达荷州,然后是蒙大拿州,很快我们就沿着加拿大边境穿过哥伦布、德拉克斯,然后到达博蒂诺县,很快就到家了。那个夏天,我们大部分时间都没有盖上车盖。结果我们到家的时候正好赶上军队,正好赶上亨利报名参军。
On to greener pastures, as they say. It was down through Spokane and across Idaho then Montana and very soon we were racing the weather right along under the Canadian border through Columbus, Des Lacs, and then we were in Bottineau County and soon home. We’d made most of the trip, that summer, without putting up the car hood at all. We got home just in time, it turned out, for the army to remember Henry had signed up to join it.
我并不奇怪军队为何如此高兴地招募了我哥哥,以至于把他变成了一名海军陆战队员。反正他身材魁梧,就像一座砖砌的厕所。我们喜欢取笑他,说他们想要他,是因为他的印第安鼻子。他的鼻子又大又尖,像斧头一样,就像杀死坐牛的印第安人红战斧的鼻子一样,他的侧脸出现在北达科他州公路沿线的所有路标上。亨利去训练营,圣诞节期间回家一次,然后你知道的下一件事就是我们收到了他寄来的一封海外信件。那是 1970 年,他说他驻扎在北部山区。我不知道他在哪里。他写信不太好,只写了两封信就被敌人抓住了。我一直都记不清那些优秀的越南士兵来自哪个方向。
I don’t wonder that the army was so glad to get my brother that they turned him into a Marine. He was built like a brick outhouse anyway. We liked to tease him that they really wanted him for his Indian nose. He had a nose big and sharp as a hatchet, like the nose on Red Tomahawk, the Indian who killed Sitting Bull, whose profile is on signs all along the North Dakota highways. Henry went off to training camp, came home once during Christmas, then the next thing you know we got an overseas letter from him. It was 1970, and he said he was stationed up in the northern hill country. Whereabouts I did not know. He wasn’t such a hot letter writer, and only got off two before the enemy caught him. I could never keep it straight, which direction those good Vietnam soldiers were from.
我给他回了好几次信,尽管我不知道这些信是否会寄到。我让他了解了有关这辆车的所有信息。大多数时候,我都把它放在院子里的木块上或半拆开,因为那次长途旅行对引擎盖造成了很大的损坏。
I wrote him back several times, even though I didn’t know if those letters would get through. I kept him informed all about the car. Most of the time I had it up on blocks in the yard or half taken apart, because that long trip did a hard job on it under the hood.
我总是对数字很在行,而且自己从来不担心征兵。我甚至从来不用考虑我的数字是多少。但亨利从来没有像我一样幸运。亨利回家至少三年了。到那时,我想整个战争在政府的脑海中已经解决了,但对他来说,战争还会继续。在那些年里,我把他的车修得几乎完美无缺。他不在的时候,我总是把它当成他的车,尽管他离开时说:“现在它是你的了”,然后把钥匙扔给了我。
I always had good luck with numbers, and never worried about the draft myself. I never even had to think about what my number was. But Henry was never lucky in the same way as me. It was at least three years before Henry came home. By then I guess the whole war was solved in the government’s mind, but for him it would keep on going. In those years I’d put his car into almost perfect shape. I always thought of it as his car while he was gone, even though when he left he said, “Now it’s yours,” and threw me his key.
“谢谢你给我备用钥匙,”我说,“我会把它放在你的抽屉里,以备不时之需。”他笑了。
“Thanks for the extra key,” I’d said. “I’ll put it up in your drawer just in case I need it.” He laughed.
然而,当他回家时,亨利已经完全变了,我要说的是:这种改变并不好。我知道,你很难指望他变得更好。但他很安静,非常安静,总是站起来四处走动,从不习惯静坐。我回想起我们曾经一动不动地坐了整个下午,一动不动,只是在地上移动身体,和坐在我们旁边的人聊天,看着东西。那时他也总是开玩笑,但现在你无法让他笑,或者当他笑的时候,他发出的声音更像是一个男人窒息的声音,那种声音堵住了他周围其他人的喉咙。他们大多数时候都让他一个人呆着,我并不责怪他们。这是事实:亨利很紧张,很刻薄。
When he came home, though, Henry was very different, and I’ll say this: the change was no good. You could hardly expect him to change for the better, I know. But he was quiet, so quiet, and never comfortable sitting still anywhere but always up and moving around. I thought back to times we’d sat still for whole afternoons, never moving a muscle, just shifting our weight along the ground, talking to whoever sat with us, watching things. He’d always had a joke, then, too, and now you couldn’t get him to laugh, or when he did it was more the sound of a man choking, a sound that stopped up the throats of other people around him. They got to leaving him alone most of the time, and I didn’t blame them. It was a fact: Henry was jumpy and mean.
亨利不在的时候,我给妈妈和我们大家买了一台彩色电视机。钱还是很容易赚到的。不过,因为亨利,我很后悔买了这台电视机。我也后悔买了彩色电视机,因为黑白电视机拍出来的照片看起来更老更远。但是你打算怎么办呢?他坐在电视机前面,看着电视机,那是他唯一完全静止的时刻。但那是一种静止,就像兔子僵住,然后逃跑时那种静止。他可不简单。他坐在椅子上,用尽全力抓住扶手,好像椅子本身在高速移动,如果他一松手,他就会向前冲,也许会撞穿电视机。
I’d bought a color TV set for my mom and the rest of us while Henry was away. Money still came very easy. I was sorry I’d ever bought it though, because of Henry. I was also sorry I’d bought color, because with black-and-white the pictures seem older and farther away. But what are you going to do? He sat in front of it, watching it, and that was the only time he was completely still. But it was the kind of stillness that you see in a rabbit when it freezes and before it will bolt. He was not easy. He sat in his chair gripping the armrests with all his might, as if the chair itself was moving at a high speed and if he let go at all he would rocket forward and maybe crash right through the set.
有一次我和亨利在房间里看电视,我听到他咬着什么东西发出咔哒声。我看过去,他咬破了嘴唇。血顺着下巴流下来。我告诉你,当时我真想把那根管子砸碎。我走过去,但亨利肯定知道我在干什么。他从椅子上跳起来,把我推到墙边。我告诉自己,他不知道自己在干什么。
Once I was in the room watching TV with Henry and I heard his teeth click at something. I looked over, and he’d bitten through his lip. Blood was going down his chin. I tell you right then I wanted to smash that tube to pieces. I went over to it but Henry must have known what I was up to. He rushed from his chair and shoved me out of the way, against the wall. I told myself he didn’t know what he was doing.
我妈妈进来了,把电视机关得很安静,告诉我们她已经做了晚饭。于是我们去坐了下来。亨利的下巴上还有血,但他没有注意到,也没人说什么,尽管每次他咬一口面包,他的血就会滴到面包上,直到他把自己的血和食物混在一起吃下去。
My mom came in, turned the set off real quiet, and told us she had made something for supper. So we went and sat down. There was still blood going down Henry’s chin, but he didn’t notice it and no one said anything, even though every time he took a bite of his bread his blood fell onto it until he was eating his own blood mixed in with the food.
亨利不在的时候,我们谈论着他接下来的命运。保留地里没有印第安医生,我妈妈不敢相信那个老头摩西·皮拉杰,因为他很久以前就追求过她,而且嫉妒她的丈夫。他可能会通过她的儿子来报复。我们担心如果我们把亨利送到一家普通医院,他们会把他留下来。
While Henry was not around we talked about what was going to happen to him. There were no Indian doctors on the reservation, and my mom was afraid of trusting the old man, Moses Pillager, because he courted her long ago and was jealous of her husband. He might take revenge through her son. We were afraid that if we brought Henry to a regular hospital they would keep him.
“他们不会在那些地方治病,”妈妈说,“他们只是给他们毒品。”
“They don’t fix them in those places,” Mom said; “they just give them drugs.”
“我们根本就不会把他送到那里,”我同意道,“所以我们还是忘掉这事吧。”
“We wouldn’t get him there in the first place,” I agreed, “so let’s just forget about it.”
然后我想到汽车。
Then I thought about the car.
亨利回家后甚至都没看过那辆车,尽管就像我说的,那辆车状况极佳,随时可以开。我想这辆车可能会让亨利重拾昔日的魅力。所以我等待时机,等待机会让他对这辆车产生兴趣。
Henry had not even looked at the car since he’d gotten home, though like I said, it was in tip-top condition and ready to drive. I thought the car might bring the old Henry back somehow. So I bided my time and waited for my chance to interest him in the vehicle.
一天晚上,亨利不在家。我拿了一把锤子,走到那辆车旁边,在它的底部做了一番修缮。把它砸烂。把排气管弯了两圈。把消声器扯松了。等我修好车时,它看起来比任何一辆在保留地道路上行驶了一辈子的典型印度汽车还要糟糕,人们总说这些保留地就像政府的承诺一样——千疮百孔。我告诉你,它差点把我弄伤了!我往化油器里扔了些泥土,把座椅上的电工胶带全部撕掉。我尽量让它看起来破破烂烂的。然后我坐下来等亨利找到它。
One night Henry was off somewhere. I took myself a hammer. I went out to that car and I did a number on its underside. Whacked it up. Bent the tail pipe double. Ripped the muffler loose. By the time I was done with the car it looked worse than any typical Indian car that has been driven all its life on reservation roads, which they always say are like government promises — full of holes. It just about hurt me, I’ll tell you that! I threw dirt in the carburetor and I ripped all the electric tape off the seats. I made it look just as beat up as I could. Then I sat back and waited for Henry to find it.
尽管如此,他还是花了一个多月的时间。不过没关系,因为天气已经暖和了,虽然没有融化,但已经暖和到可以在户外工作了。
Still, it took him over a month. That was all right, because it was just getting warm enough, not melting, but warm enough to work outside.
“莱曼,”有一天他走进来时说道,“那辆红色的车看起来糟透了。”
“Lyman,” he says, walking in one day, “that red car looks like shit.”
“嗯,它很旧了,”我说。“你必须预料到这一点。”
“Well it’s old,” I says. “You got to expect that.”
“不可能!”亨利说。“那辆车是经典之作!但你却把它开坏了,莱曼,你知道它不值得这样。我把那辆车保养得非常好。你不记得了。你太年轻了。但我离开的时候,那辆车运转得就像手表一样。现在我甚至不知道我是否能让它重新启动,更不用说让它恢复到以前的状态了。”
“No way!” says Henry. “That car’s a classic! But you went and ran the piss right out of it, Lyman, and you know it don’t deserve that. I kept that car in A-one shape. You don’t remember. You’re too young. But when I left, that car was running like a watch. Now I don’t even know if I can get it to start again, let alone get it anywhere near its old condition.”
“那你试试看,”我好像要生气了一样说道,“但我认为这是一堆垃圾。”
“Well you try,” I said, like I was getting mad, “but I say it’s a piece of junk.”
然后我走了出去,他还没有意识到我已经知道他一下子说了六个以上的单词。
Then I walked out before he could realize I knew he’d strung together more than six words at once.
之后,我以为他会因为修理那辆车而冻死。他整天都在外面,晚上他装了一盏小灯,把电线从窗户拉出来,这样他工作时就能有光亮照到。他比以前好多了,但这仍然没有说明什么。他做我们其他人做的事情更容易了。他吃饭更慢了,吃饭时不会跳上跳下地拿这个拿那个,也不会往窗外看。我承认,我把手伸进电视机的背面,摆弄得手忙脚乱,现在几乎不可能看清楚画面。反正他也不经常看电视机。他总是开着那辆车出去,或者去买零件。等到外面真的开始融化的时候,他已经修好了。
After that I thought he’d freeze himself to death working on that car. He was out there all day, and at night he rigged up a little lamp, ran a cord out the window, and had himself some light to see by while he worked. He was better than he had been before, but that’s still not saying much. It was easier for him to do the things the rest of us did. He ate more slowly and didn’t jump up and down during the meal to get this or that or look out the window. I put my hand in the back of the TV set, I admit, and fiddled around with it good, so that it was almost impossible now to get a clear picture. He didn’t look at it very often anyway. He was always out with that car or going off to get parts for it. By the time it was really melting outside, he had it fixed.
那时我对亨利感到很失落。我们以前一直在一起。亨利和莱曼。但他现在如此孤僻,我不知道该如何接受。所以有一天,当亨利看起来很友好时,我抓住了这个机会。他并没有微笑或做其他什么。他只是说,“让我们开着那辆破旧的破车去兜风吧。”单是他说话的方式就让我觉得他可能会回心转意。
I had been feeling down in the dumps about Henry around this time. We had always been together before. Henry and Lyman. But he was such a loner now that I didn’t know how to take it. So I jumped at the chance one day when Henry seemed friendly. It’s not that he smiled or anything. He just said, “Let’s take that old shitbox for a spin.” Just the way he said it made me think he could be coming around.
我们走到车边。春天来了。阳光明媚。我唯一的妹妹,刚满十一岁的博尼塔,走了出来,让我们站在一起拍了张照片。亨利将手肘靠在红色汽车的挡风玻璃上,另一只手小心翼翼地搭在我的肩膀上,好像他抬不起来很重,他不想一下子把重物放下来。
We went out to the car. It was spring. The sun was shining very bright. My only sister, Bonita, who was just eleven years old, came out and made us stand together for a picture. Henry leaned his elbow on the red car’s windshield, and he took his other arm and put it over my shoulder, very carefully, as though it was heavy for him to lift and he didn’t want to bring the weight down all at once.
“笑一笑,”博尼塔说,他就笑了。
“Smile,” Bonita said, and he did.
那张照片,我再也没有看过。几个月前,我不知道为什么,我把他的照片拿出来钉在墙上。当时我对亨利很满意,离他很近。把他的照片挂在墙上让我感觉很好,直到一天晚上,我在看电视。我有点醉了,有点嗑药了。我抬头看着墙,亨利正盯着我。我不知道那是什么,但他的笑容变了,或者可能消失了。我只知道我不能和那张照片呆在同一个房间里。我浑身发抖。我站起来,关上门,走进厨房。过了一会儿,我的朋友雷过来了,我们一起回到了那个房间。我们把照片放进一个棕色的袋子里,把袋子紧紧地折起来,然后把它放回壁橱里。
That picture, I never look at it anymore. A few months ago, I don’t know why, I got his picture out and tacked it on the wall. I felt good about Henry at the time, close to him. I felt good having his picture on the wall, until one night when I was looking at television. I was a little drunk and stoned. I looked up at the wall and Henry was staring at me. I don’t know what it was, but his smile had changed, or maybe it was gone. All I know is I couldn’t stay in the same room with that picture. I was shaking. I got up, closed the door, and went into the kitchen. A little later my friend Ray came over and we both went back into that room. We put the picture in a brown bag, folded the bag over and over tightly, then put it way back in a closet.
我现在仍然能看到那张照片,好像每次经过壁橱门时它都会吸引我。那张照片在我脑海里非常清晰。那天阳光明媚,亨利不得不眯着眼睛抵御强光。或者也许在拍下这张照片之前,博尼塔手里的相机像镜子一样闪动,让他眼花缭乱。我的脸就在阳光下,又大又圆。但他可能已经退缩了,因为他脸上的阴影深如深洞。他的笑容的两端有两个像小钩子一样弯曲的阴影,好像要框住它并试图将它留在那里——那第一次微笑看起来可能会伤害到他的脸。他穿着野战夹克和他回来后一直穿着的破旧衣服。博尼塔拍完照片后,她进了屋,我们上了车。后备箱里有一个装满的冷藏箱。我们向东出发,朝着彭比纳和红河走去,因为亨利说他想看涨潮。
I still see that picture now, as if it tugs at me, whenever I pass that closet door. The picture is very clear in my mind. It was so sunny that day Henry had to squint against the glare. Or maybe the camera Bonita held flashed like a mirror, blinding him, before she snapped the picture. My face is right out in the sun, big and round. But he might have drawn back, because the shadows on his face are deep as holes. There are two shadows curved like little hooks around the ends of his smile, as if to frame it and try to keep it there — that one, first smile that looked like it might have hurt his face. He has his field jacket on and the worn-in clothes he’d come back in and kept wearing ever since. After Bonita took the picture, she went into the house and we got into the car. There was a full cooler in the trunk. We started off, east, toward Pembina and the Red River because Henry said he wanted to see the high water.
那趟旅途很美好。当一切都开始改变,天气变干、放晴时,你会感觉整个生活都开始了。亨利也感受到了。车顶放下来,车子像陀螺一样嗡嗡作响。他真的把它修好了,甚至连座椅上的胶带都小心翼翼地贴下来,一层层地粘回去。并不是说他又笑了,甚至开玩笑,但在我看来,他的脸似乎更清澈、更平静了。看起来,他除了我们经过的荒芜的田野、防风林和房屋外,什么也没想。
The trip over there was beautiful. When everything starts changing, drying up, clearing off, you feel like your whole life is starting. Henry felt it, too. The top was down and the car hummed like a top. He’d really put it back in shape, even the tape on the seats was very carefully put down and glued back in layers. It’s not that he smiled again or even joked, but his face looked to me as if it was clear, more peaceful. It looked as though he wasn’t thinking of anything in particular except the bare fields and windbreaks and houses we were passing.
我们到达那里时,河水涨得很高,满是冬天的垃圾。太阳还没落山,但河边更冷。河岸上到处还有小块的脏雪。水还没有漫过河岸,但你看得出来会漫过河岸的。它已经到了极限,硬邦邦的,肿胀的,光滑的,就像一条灰色的旧伤疤。我们生了一堆火,坐下来看着水流。看着它的时候,我感觉有什么东西在挤压我,收紧,同时又想放开。我知道我不只是自己有这种感觉;我知道我感受到了亨利当时所经历的一切。只是我无法忍受这种收缩和张开。我跳了起来。我抓住亨利的肩膀,开始摇晃他。“醒醒,”我说,“醒醒,醒醒,醒醒!”我不知道自己怎么了。我又坐在他旁边。
The river was high and full of winter trash when we got there. The sun was still out, but it was colder by the river. There were still little clumps of dirty snow here and there on the banks. The water hadn’t gone over the banks yet, but it would, you could tell. It was just at its limit, hard swollen glossy like an old gray scar. We made ourselves a fire, and we sat down and watched the current go. As I watched it I felt something squeezing inside me and tightening and trying to let go all at the same time. I knew I was not just feeling it myself; I knew I was feeling what Henry was going through at that moment. Except that I couldn’t stand it, the closing and opening. I jumped to my feet. I took Henry by the shoulders and I started shaking him. “Wake up,” I says, “wake up, wake up, wake up!” I didn’t know what had come over me. I sat down beside him again.
他的脸色惨白而僵硬,然后崩裂了,就像石头里水沸腾时突然崩裂一样。
His face was totally white and hard. Then it broke, like stones break all of a sudden when water boils up inside them.
“我知道,”他说,“我知道。我没办法。没用。”
“I know it,” he says. “I know it. I can’t help it. It’s no use.”
我们开始交谈。他说他知道我对这辆车做了什么。很明显,这辆车被撞坏了,而不仅仅是被忽视了。他说他现在想把车永远给我,没有用了。他说他修好它只是为了还给我,我应该把它拿走。
We start talking. He said he knew what I’d done with the car. It was obvious it had been whacked out of shape and not just neglected. He said he wanted to give the car to me for good now, it was no use. He said he’d fixed it just to give it back and I should take it.
“没办法,”我说,“我不要它。”
“No way,” I says, “I don’t want it.”
“没关系,”他说,“你拿着吧。”
“That’s okay,” he says, “you take it.”
“但我并不想,”我回答他,然后为了强调,只是为了强调,你明白,我摸了摸他的肩膀。他拍掉了我的手。
“I don’t want it, though,” I says back to him, and then to emphasize, just to emphasize, you understand, I touch his shoulder. He slaps my hand off.
“开那辆车,”他说。
“Take that car,” he says.
“不,”我说。“逼我,”我说,然后他抓住我的夹克,扯开袖子。那件夹克是上等的,是带有标签和拉链的绒面革。我把亨利往后推,从原木上摔了下来。他跳起来,把我撞倒在地。我们扭打在一起,然后站起来,用尽全力挥拳。他狠狠地打了我的下巴,我感觉我的下巴都松开了。然后我冲到他的肋骨处,狠狠地打在他的下巴下面,他的头猛地往后仰。他眼花缭乱。他看着我,我也看着他,然后他的眼睛里充满了泪水和鲜血,一开始我以为他在哭。但不,他在笑。“哈!哈!”他说。“哈!哈!好好照顾它。”
“No,” I say. “Make me,” I say, and then he grabs my jacket and rips the arm loose. That jacket is a class act, suede with tags and zippers. I push Henry backwards, off the log. He jumps up and bowls me over. We go down in a clinch and come up swinging hard, for all we’re worth, with our fists. He socks my jaw so hard I feel like it swings loose. Then I’m at his rib cage and land a good one under his chin so his head snaps back. He’s dazzled. He looks at me and I look at him and then his eyes are full of tears and blood and at first I think he’s crying. But no, he’s laughing. “Ha! Ha!” he says. “Ha! Ha! Take good care of it.”
“好的,”我说,“好的,没问题。哈!哈!”
“Okay,” I says, “okay, no problem. Ha! Ha!”
我忍不住也笑了起来。我的脸感觉又胖又奇怪,过了一会儿,我从后备箱里的冰箱里拿出一瓶啤酒,当我把啤酒递给亨利时,他脱下衬衫帮我擦掉了身上的细菌。“口蹄疫,”他说。不知为何,这句话让我忍俊不禁,所以我们真的笑了一会儿,然后我们把剩下的啤酒一瓶一瓶地喝掉,然后把它们扔进河里,看看在它们被水灌满并沉下去之前,水流会把它们冲多远、冲多快。
I can’t help it, and I start laughing, too. My face feels fat and strange, and after a while I get a beer from the cooler in the trunk, and when I hand it to Henry he takes his shirt and wipes my germs off. “Hoof-and-mouth disease,” he says. For some reason this cracks me up, and so we’re really laughing for a while, and then we drink all the rest of the beers one by one and throw them in the river and see how far, how fast, the current takes them before they fill up and sink.
“你想回去吗?”过了一会儿我问道。“也许我们可以搭上几个漂亮的 Kashpaw 女孩。”
“You want to go on back?” I ask after a while. “Maybe we could snag a couple nice Kashpaw girls.”
他什么也没说。但我看得出他的情绪又好起来了。
He says nothing. But I can tell his mood is turning again.
“她们全都疯了,这里的女孩们,每一个人都是疯子。”
“They’re all crazy, the girls up here, every damn one of them.”
“你也疯了,”我说道,想让他高兴起来。“疯狂的拉马丁兄弟!”
“You’re crazy too,” I say, to jolly him up. “Crazy Lamartine boys!”
一开始,他看起来好像会误解这件事。他的脸扭曲了一下,然后恢复了平静,他跳了起来。“没错!”他说。“简直太疯狂了。疯狂的印第安人!”
He looks as though he will take this wrong at first. His face twists, then clears, and he jumps up on his feet. “That’s right!” he says. “Crazier ’n hell. Crazy Indians!”
我想他又变成了老亨利。他脱掉外套,开始像花式舞者一样从膝盖开始摆动双腿。他跳着介于草舞和兔子跳之间的舞,我从未见过这种舞,但这片绿意盎然的土地上也没有其他人跳过这种舞。他很狂野。他想大喊大叫!他站起来,朝我扑过来。这段时间我一直笑得很厉害,笑得肚子都快打结了。
I think it’s the old Henry again. He throws off his jacket and starts swinging his legs out from the knees like a fancy dancer. He’s down doing something between a grass dance and a bunny hop, no kind of dance I ever saw before, but neither has anyone else on all this green growing earth. He’s wild. He wants to pitch whoopee! He’s up and at me and all over. All this time I’m laughing so hard, so hard my belly is getting tied up in a knot.
“得让我冷静一下!”他突然大喊。然后他跑到河边跳了进去。
“Got to cool me off!” he shouts all of a sudden. Then he runs over to the river and jumps in.
水流中夹杂着木板和其他东西。水流太高了。他溅起水花之后,河里没有一点声音,所以我立刻跑了过去。我环顾四周。天色渐暗。我看到他已经游到了河的一半,我知道他不是游到那里的,而是被水流冲走了。水流很远。但我能清楚地听到他的声音。
There’s boards and other things in the current. It’s so high. No sound comes from the river after the splash he makes, so I run right over. I look around. It’s getting dark. I see he’s halfway across the water already, and I know he didn’t swim there but the current took him. It’s far. I hear his voice, though, very clearly across it.
他说:“我的靴子已经满了。”
“My boots are filling,” he says.
他用正常的声音说了这句话,就像他刚刚注意到了,不知道该怎么想。然后他就走了。一根树枝过来了。另一根树枝。然后我进去了。
He says this in a normal voice, like he just noticed and he doesn’t know what to think of it. Then he’s gone. A branch comes by. Another branch. And I go in.
等我从河里出来,从我爬上去的障碍物上下来时,太阳已经落山了。我走回车里,打开远光灯,把车开上岸。我挂上一档,然后把脚从离合器上松开。我下车,关上车门,看着它轻轻地驶入水中。车头灯在下行时探了进去,搜寻着,即使在水从车尾翻滚而过后,它仍然亮着。我等待着。电线短路了。终于一片漆黑。然后只剩下水,还有它流淌、流淌、流淌、流淌的声音。
By the time I get out of the river, off the snag I pulled myself onto, the sun is down. I walk back to the car, turn on the high beams, and drive it up the bank. I put it in first gear and then I take my foot off the clutch. I get out, close the door, and watch it plow softly into the water. The headlights reach in as they go down, searching, still lighted even after the water swirls over the back end. I wait. The wires short out. It is all finally dark. And then there is only the water, the sound of it going and running and going and running and running.
[1984年]
[1984]
[生于 1954 年]
[b. 1954]
在英语中,我的名字意味着希望。在西班牙语中,它意味着字母太多。它意味着悲伤,意味着等待。它就像数字 9。一种泥泞的颜色。它是我父亲星期天早上刮胡子时播放的墨西哥唱片,像哭泣一样的歌曲。
In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.
这是我曾祖母的名字,现在成了我的名字。她也是属马的女人,和我一样,生于中国马年——如果你生为女性,那么这会带来厄运——但我认为这是中国人的谎言,因为中国人和墨西哥人一样,不喜欢强势的女人。
It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse — which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female — but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong.
我的曾祖母。我真想认识她,她是个野性十足的女人,野得她都嫁不出去。直到我的曾祖父把一个麻袋套在她的头上,把她带走了。就这样,好像她是一盏漂亮的吊灯。他就是这样做的。
My great-grandmother. I would’ve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That’s the way he did it.
故事说她从未原谅他。她一生都望着窗外,就像许多女人一样,把悲伤寄托在手肘上。我不知道她是否已经尽力做到最好,还是因为无法成为她想成为的一切而感到遗憾。埃斯佩兰萨。我继承了她的名字,但我不想继承她在窗边的位置。
And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.
在学校里,他们把我的名字说得很奇怪,好像音节是用铁皮做成的,会伤到上颚。但在西班牙语中,我的名字是用一种更柔软的东西做成的,比如银,不像姐姐的名字玛格达莱娜那么粗,玛格达莱娜比我的丑。玛格达莱娜至少可以回家变成妮妮。但我永远是埃斯佩兰萨。
At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister’s name — Magdalena — which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza.
我想给自己取一个新名字,一个更像真实的我、一个无人知晓的我的名字。
I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees.
埃斯佩兰萨扮演丽桑德拉或玛丽莎或泽泽 X。是的。像泽泽 X 这样的名字就可以了。
Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.
[1984年]
[1984]
[生于 1958 年]
[b. 1958]
每年的感恩节晚上,我们都跟在爸爸后面,他把圣诞老人的衣服拖到路边,披在院子里用金属杆做成的十字架上。超级碗周,杆子上穿着运动衫和罗德的头盔,如果罗德想摘下头盔,就得先征得爸爸的同意。独立日那天,杆子是山姆大叔,退伍军人节那天,杆子是士兵,万圣节那天,杆子是鬼魂。杆子是爸爸唯一可以欢乐的地方。我们一次只能从盒子里拿出一支绘儿乐颜料。一个圣诞节前夜,他对金米尖叫,因为她浪费了一片苹果。我们倒番茄酱时,他站在我们面前,说,够好了,够好了,够好了。生日聚会只有纸杯蛋糕,没有冰淇淋。我第一次带约会对象过来时,她说,你爸爸和那根杆子怎么了?我坐在那里眨着眼睛。
Every year thanksgiving night we flocked out behind Dad as he dragged the Santa suit to the road and draped it over a kind of crucifix he’d built out of metal pole in the yard. Super Bowl week the pole was dressed in a jersey and Rod’s helmet and Rod had to clear it with Dad if he wanted to take the helmet off. On Fourth of July the pole was Uncle Sam, on Veterans Day a soldier, on Halloween a ghost. The pole was Dad’s one concession to glee. We were allowed a single Crayola from the box at a time. One Christmas Eve he shrieked at Kimmie for wasting an apple slice. He hovered over us as we poured ketchup, saying, Good enough good enough good enough. Birthday parties consisted of cupcakes, no ice cream. The first time I brought a date over she said, What’s with your dad and that pole? and I sat there blinking.
我们离开家,结婚,生子,发现卑鄙的种子也在我们心中绽放。父亲开始把杆子装饰得更复杂,逻辑性更不强。在土拨鼠日,他给杆子披上某种毛皮,并拿出一盏泛光灯以确保有阴影。当智利发生地震时,他把杆子侧放,用喷漆在地上喷出一道裂缝。妈妈去世了,他把杆子打扮成死神,在横杆上挂上妈妈婴儿时期的照片。我们会停下来,发现他年轻时的一些奇怪的护身符摆放在底座周围:军队勋章、剧院门票、旧运动衫、妈妈的化妆品。一个秋天,他把杆子漆成了亮黄色。那年冬天,他用棉签盖住杆子以保暖,并在院子周围用锤子敲入六根交叉的木棍,为后代提供后代。他在杆子和木棍之间拉了一根绳子,用胶带把道歉信、承认错误、请求理解的信都粘在绳子上,所有这些都是用匆忙的笔迹写在索引卡上的。他画了一块写着“爱”的牌子并把它挂在柱子上,另一块写着“原谅”,然后他在大厅里去世,收音机还在播放着,我们把房子卖给了一对年轻夫妇,他们在垃圾日拔掉柱子并将其丢弃在路边。
We left home, married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming also within us. Dad began dressing the pole with more complexity and less discernible logic. He draped some kind of fur over it on Groundhog Day and lugged out a floodlight to ensure a shadow. When an earthquake struck Chile he laid the pole on its side and spray-painted a rift in the earth. Mom died and he dressed the pole as Death and hung from the crossbar photos of Mom as a baby. We’d stop by and find odd talismans from his youth arranged around the base: army medals, theater tickets, old sweatshirts, tubes of Mom’s makeup. One autumn he painted the pole bright yellow. He covered it with cotton swabs that winter for warmth and provided offspring by hammering in six crossed sticks around the yard. He ran lengths of string between the pole and the sticks, and taped to the string letters of apology, admissions of error, pleas for understanding, all written in a frantic hand on index cards. He painted a sign saying love and hung it from the pole and another that said forgive? and then he died in the hall with the radio on and we sold the house to a young couple who yanked out the pole and left it by the road on garbage day.
[1994年]
[1994]
[生于 1966 年]
[b. 1966]
就在维克多失去 BIA 的工作后,他还得知父亲在亚利桑那州凤凰城因心脏病去世。维克多已经几年没见过父亲了,只和他通过一两次电话,但遗传性的疼痛仍然存在,很快就会变成像骨折一样真实而直接的疼痛。
Just after Victor lost his job at the BIA,a he also found out that his father had died of a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona. Victor hadn’t seen his father in a few years, only talked to him on the telephone once or twice, but there still was a genetic pain, which was soon to be pain as real and immediate as a broken bone.
维克多没有钱。除了香烟和烟花销售员,印第安保留地里谁有钱呢?他父亲有一个储蓄账户等着他去领取,但维克多需要找到去凤凰城的方法。维克多的母亲和他一样穷,他的家人根本不需要他。于是维克多打电话给部落委员会。
Victor didn’t have any money. Who does have money on a reservation, except the cigarette and fireworks salespeople? His father had a savings account waiting to be claimed, but Victor needed to find a way to get to Phoenix. Victor’s mother was just as poor as he was, and the rest of his family didn’t have any use at all for him. So Victor called the Tribal Council.
“听着,”维克多说,“我父亲刚刚去世。我需要一些钱去凤凰城安排事情。”
“Listen,” Victor said, “My father just died. I need some money to get to Phoenix to make arrangements.”
“现在,维克多,”委员会说。“你知道我们正面临经济困难。”
“Now, Victor,” the council said. “You know we’re having a difficult time financially.”
“但我认为议会已经拨出了专项资金来应对此类事情。”
“But I thought the council had special funds set aside for stuff like this.”
“现在,维克多,我们确实有一些钱可以用来妥善归还部落成员的遗体。但我认为我们没有足够的钱把你父亲从凤凰城一路带回来。”
“Now, Victor, we do have some money available for the proper return of tribal members’ bodies. But I don’t think we have enough to bring your father all the way back from Phoenix.”
“好吧,”维克多说,“花不了多少钱。他必须火化。情况有点糟糕。他死于心脏病发作,死在拖车里,一个星期都没人发现他。天气也真的很热。你明白的。”
“Well,” Victor said. “It ain’t going to cost all that much. He had to be cremated. Things were kind of ugly. He died of a heart attack in his trailer and nobody found him for a week. It was really hot, too. You get the picture.”
“现在,维克多,我们对你的损失和情况感到抱歉。但我们真的只能给你一百美元。”
“Now, Victor, we’re sorry for your loss and the circumstances. But we can really only afford to give you one hundred dollars.”
“这甚至不够买一张机票。”
“That’s not even enough for a plane ticket.”
“那么,你可以考虑开车去凤凰城。”
“Well, you might consider driving down to Phoenix.”
“我没有车。另外,我本来要开着我爸爸的皮卡车回来。”
“I don’t have a car. Besides, I was going to drive my father’s pickup back up here.”
“现在,维克多,”委员会说。“我们肯定有人能开车送你去凤凰城。或者有人能借给你剩下的钱吗?”
“Now, Victor,” the council said. “We’re sure there is somebody who could drive you to Phoenix. Or is there somebody who could lend you the rest of the money?”
“你知道周围没人有那么多钱。”
“You know there ain’t nobody around with that kind of money.”
“好吧,维克多,我们很抱歉,但这是我们能做的最好的事情。”
“Well, we’re sorry, Victor, but that’s the best we can do.”
维克多接受了部落理事会的提议。他还能做什么呢?于是他签了相关文件,拿起支票,走到贸易站兑现。
Victor accepted the Tribal Council’s offer. What else could he do? So he signed the proper papers, picked up his check, and walked over to the Trading Post to cash it.
维克多排队时,他看到托马斯·毕德斯站在杂志架旁边自言自语。他一如既往地自言自语。托马斯是个没人愿意听的故事讲述者。这就像在一个每个人都戴假牙的小镇里当牙医一样。
While Victor stood in line, he watched Thomas Builds-the-Fire standing near the magazine rack, talking to himself. Like he always did. Thomas was a storyteller that nobody wanted to listen to. That’s like being a dentist in a town where everybody has false teeth.
Victor 和 Thomas Builds-the-Fire 同龄,一起长大,一起在泥土中玩耍。自从 Victor 记事以来,Thomas 总是有话要说。
Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire were the same age, had grown up and played in the dirt together. Ever since Victor could remember, it was Thomas who always had something to say.
有一次,他们七岁的时候,维克多的父亲还和他们一家住在一起,托马斯闭上眼睛,给维克多讲了这个故事:“你爸爸的心很脆弱。他害怕自己的家人。他害怕你。深夜,他坐在黑暗中。看着电视,直到除了噪音什么都没有。有时他觉得他想买一辆摩托车骑走。他想逃跑,躲起来。他不想被人发现。”
Once, when they were seven years old, when Victor’s father still lived with the family, Thomas closed his eyes and told Victor this story: “Your father’s heart is weak. He is afraid of his own family. He is afraid of you. Late at night he sits in the dark. Watches the television until there’s nothing but that white noise. Sometimes he feels like he wants to buy a motorcycle and ride away. He wants to run and hide. He doesn’t want to be found.”
托马斯·毕德斯·怀斯费尔比任何人都更早知道维克多的父亲要离开。现在维克多站在交易站,手里拿着一张一百美元的支票,想知道托马斯是否知道维克多的父亲已经去世,是否知道接下来会发生什么。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire had known that Victor’s father was going to leave, knew it before anyone. Now Victor stood in the Trading Post with a one-hundred-dollar check in his hand, wondering if Thomas knew that Victor’s father was dead, if he knew what was going to happen next.
就在这时,托马斯看着维克多,笑了笑,走到了他身边。
Just then Thomas looked at Victor, smiled, and walked over to him.
“维克多,我对你父亲的事感到很遗憾,”托马斯说道。
“Victor, I’m sorry about your father,” Thomas said.
维克多问:“你怎么知道的?”
“How did you know about it?” Victor asked.
“我从风中听到了它。我从鸟儿的鸣叫中听到了它。我在阳光下感受到了它。而且,你妈妈刚才还在这儿哭。”
“I heard it on the wind. I heard it from the birds. I felt it in the sunlight. Also, your mother was just in here crying.”
“哦,”维克多说,环顾了一下贸易站。其他印第安人都盯着看,惊讶于维克多竟然在和托马斯说话。没人再和托马斯说话了,因为他一遍又一遍地讲着同样的故事。维克多感到很尴尬,但他认为托马斯也许能帮到他。维克多突然感到需要传统。
“Oh,” Victor said and looked around the Trading Post. All the other Indians stared, surprised that Victor was even talking to Thomas. Nobody talked to Thomas anymore because he told the same damn stories over and over again. Victor was embarrassed, but he thought that Thomas might be able to help him. Victor felt a sudden need for tradition.
“我可以借给你所需的钱,”托马斯突然说道。“但你得带我一起去。”
“I can lend you the money you need,” Thomas said suddenly. “But you have to take me with you.”
“我不能拿你的钱,”维克多说。“我是说,我已经好几年没跟你说话了。我们真的不再是朋友了。”
“I can’t take your money,” Victor said. “I mean, I haven’t hardly talked to you in years. We’re not really friends anymore.”
“我没说我们是朋友。我说的是你必须带我一起去。”
“I didn’t say we were friends. I said you had to take me with you.”
“让我考虑一下。”
“Let me think about it.”
维克多拿着一百美元回家,坐在厨房的餐桌旁。他双手抱头,想着托马斯生火的故事,想起那些小细节、眼泪和伤疤、他们一起骑过一个夏天的自行车,还有那么多的故事。
Victor went home with his one hundred dollars and sat at the kitchen table. He held his head in his hands and thought about Thomas Builds-the-Fire, remembered little details, tears and scars, the bicycle they shared for a summer, so many stories.
托马斯·毕兹尔坐在自行车上,在维克多的院子里等着。他十岁,身材瘦削。他的头发很脏,因为那天是七月四日。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire sat on the bicycle, waited in Victor’s yard. He was ten years old and skinny. His hair was dirty because it was the Fourth of July.
“维克多,”托马斯大喊。“快点。我们要错过烟花表演了。”
“Victor,” Thomas yelled. “Hurry up. We’re going to miss the fireworks.”
几分钟后,维克多跑出房子,跳过门廊的栏杆,优雅地落在人行道上。
After a few minutes, Victor ran out of his house, jumped the porch railing, and landed gracefully on the sidewalk.
“评委给了他 9.95 分,这是今年夏天的最高分,”托马斯一边鼓掌一边笑着说道。
“And the judges award him a 9.95, the highest score of the summer,” Thomas said, clapped, laughed.
“太完美了,表哥,”维克多说。“现在轮到我骑自行车了。”
“That was perfect, cousin,” Victor said. “And it’s my turn to ride the bike.”
托马斯把自行车放下,他们一起向游乐场走去。天色已近黑,烟花表演即将开始。
Thomas gave up the bike and they headed for the fairgrounds. It was nearly dark and the fireworks were about to start.
“你知道,”托马斯说。“我们印第安人庆祝独立日的方式很奇怪。我们独立日并不是每个人都在为之奋斗的。”
“You know,” Thomas said. “It’s strange how us Indians celebrate the Fourth of July. It ain’t like it was our independence everybody was fighting for.”
“你想得太多了,”维克多说。“这本来就应该很有趣。也许小家伙会来。”
“You think about things too much,” Victor said. “It’s just supposed to be fun. Maybe Junior will be there.”
“哪个小辈?这个保留地上的每个人都叫小辈。”
“Which Junior? Everybody on this reservation is named Junior.”
两人都笑了。
And they both laughed.
烟花很小,几乎不过是几枚瓶装火箭和一个喷泉。但对两个印度男孩来说,这已经足够了。多年后,他们会需要更多。
The fireworks were small, hardly more than a few bottle rockets and a fountain. But it was enough for two Indian boys. Years later, they would need much more.
之后,坐在黑暗中驱赶蚊子,维克多转向托马斯·毕德斯·伊格纳斯。
Afterwards, sitting in the dark, fighting off mosquitoes, Victor turned to Thomas Builds-the-Fire.
“嘿,”维克多说。“给我讲个故事吧。”
“Hey,” Victor said. “Tell me a story.”
托马斯闭上眼睛,讲起了这个故事:“有两个印第安男孩想成为战士。但是按照以前的方式当战士已经太晚了。所有的马都不见了。于是这两个印第安男孩偷了一辆车,开车去了城里。他们把偷来的车停在警察局前面,然后搭便车回到了保留地。当他们回来时,他们所有的朋友都欢呼起来,他们的父母的眼睛里闪烁着自豪的光芒。你们很勇敢,每个人都对这两个印第安男孩说。非常勇敢。”
Thomas closed his eyes and told this story: “There were these two Indian boys who wanted to be warriors. But it was too late to be warriors in the old way. All the horses were gone. So the two Indian boys stole a car and drove to the city. They parked the stolen car in front of the police station and then hitchhiked back home to the reservation. When they got back, all their friends cheered and their parents’ eyes shone with pride. You were very brave, everybody said to the two Indian boys. Very brave.”
“好啊,”维克多说。“这话说得好。我希望自己也能成为一名战士。”
“Ya-hey,” Victor said. “That’s a good one. I wish I could be a warrior.”
“我也是,”托马斯说。
“Me, too,” Thomas said.
他们一起在黑暗中回家,托马斯骑着自行车,维克多步行。他们穿过路灯的阴影和灯光。
They went home together in the dark, Thomas on the bike now, Victor on foot. They walked through shadows and light from streetlamps.
“我们已经取得了很大进展,”托马斯说。“我们有户外照明。”
“We’ve come a long ways,” Thomas said. “We have outdoor lighting.”
“我需要的只是星星,”维克多说。“而且,你还是想得太多了。”
“All I need is the stars,” Victor said. “And besides, you still think about things too much.”
然后他们就分开了,各自回家,一路上都有笑声。
They separated then, each headed for home, both laughing all the way.
维克多坐在厨房餐桌旁。他一遍又一遍地数着他的一百美元。他知道他需要更多的钱才能往返凤凰城。他知道他需要托马斯生火。于是他把钱放进钱包,打开前门,发现托马斯在门廊上。
Victor sat at his kitchen table. He counted his one hundred dollars again and again. He knew he needed more to make it to Phoenix and back. He knew he needed Thomas Builds-the-Fire. So he put his money in his wallet and opened the front door to find Thomas on the porch.
“耶,维克多,”托马斯说。“我就知道你会给我打电话。”
“Ya-hey, Victor,” Thomas said. “I knew you’d call me.”
托马斯走进客厅,坐在维克多最喜欢的椅子上。
Thomas walked into the living room and sat down on Victor’s favorite chair.
“我存了一些钱,”托马斯说。“足够我们去那里了,但你必须把我们带回来。”
“I’ve got some money saved up,” Thomas said. “It’s enough to get us down there, but you have to get us back.”
“我有这一百美元,”维克多说。“我爸爸有一个储蓄账户,我要去领取。”
“I’ve got this hundred dollars,” Victor said. “And my dad had a savings account I’m going to claim.”
“你爸的账户里有多少钱?”
“How much in your dad’s account?”
“够了。几百个就够了。”
“Enough. A few hundred.”
“听起来不错。我们什么时候出发?”
“Sounds good. When we leaving?”
当他们十五岁,早已不再是朋友时,维克多和托马斯打了一架。也就是说,维克多真的喝醉了,毫无理由地殴打了托马斯。所有其他印度男孩都站在旁边看着这件事发生。朱尼尔在场,莱斯特、西摩和其他很多人也在场。如果不是诺玛·马尼·霍斯赶来阻止,这场殴打可能会一直持续到托马斯死去。
When they were fifteen and had long since stopped being friends, Victor and Thomas got into a fistfight. That is, Victor was really drunk and beat Thomas up for no reason at all. All the other Indian boys stood around and watched it happen. Junior was there and so were Lester, Seymour, and a lot of others. The beating might have gone on until Thomas was dead if Norma Many Horses hadn’t come along and stopped it.
“嘿,你们这帮家伙,”诺玛喊道,然后跳下了车。“别再来打扰他了。”
“Hey, you boys,” Norma yelled and jumped out of her car. “Leave him alone.”
如果是其他人,哪怕是另一个男人,这些印第安男孩也会无视警告。但诺玛是一名战士。她很厉害。她可以把两个男孩抓起来,然后把他们的头骨砸在一起。但更糟糕的是,她会把他们拖到某个帐篷里,让他们听某个长者讲一个尘封已久的故事。
If it had been someone else, even another man, the Indian boys would’ve just ignored the warnings. But Norma was a warrior. She was powerful. She could have picked up any two of the boys and smashed their skulls together. But worse than that, she would have dragged them all over to some tipi and made them listen to some elder tell a dusty old story.
印度男孩们散开了,诺玛走到托马斯身边,把他抱了起来。
The Indian boys scattered, and Norma walked over to Thomas and picked him up.
“嘿,小家伙,你还好吗?”她问道。
“Hey, little man, are you okay?” she asked.
托马斯对她竖起了大拇指。
Thomas gave her a thumbs up.
“为什么他们总是找你的麻烦?”
“Why they always picking on you?”
托马斯摇摇头,闭上眼睛,但脑子里却没有故事,没有文字,也没有音乐。他只想回家,躺在床上,让梦境为他讲述故事。
Thomas shook his head, closed his eyes, but no stories came to him, no words or music. He just wanted to go home, to lie in his bed and let his dreams tell his stories for him.
托马斯·毕德斯-特-费雷和维克多坐在飞机经济舱的旁边。靠窗的座位上坐着一位身材娇小的白人妇女。她正忙着扭动着身体。她很灵活。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Victor sat next to each other in the airplane, coach section. A tiny white woman had the window seat. She was busy twisting her body into pretzels. She was flexible.
“我得问问,”托马斯说道,维克多尴尬地闭上了眼睛。
“I have to ask,” Thomas said, and Victor closed his eyes in embarrassment.
“别这样,”维克多说。
“Don’t,” Victor said.
“抱歉,小姐,”托马斯问道。“你是体操运动员吗?”
“Excuse me, miss,” Thomas asked. “Are you a gymnast or something?”
“没什么特别的,”她说。“我是 1980 年奥运会代表队的第一个替补队员。”
“There’s no something about it,” she said. “I was first alternate on the 1980 Olympic team.”
“真的吗?”托马斯问。
“Really?” Thomas asked.
“真的。”
“Really.”
“我的意思是,你曾经是一名世界级的运动员吗?”托马斯问道。
“I mean, you used to be a world-class athlete?” Thomas asked.
“我的丈夫仍然认为我是。”
“My husband still thinks I am.”
托马斯·布迪斯·费雷笑了。她也是个脑力体操运动员。她把腿伸直,贴在身体上,这样她就可以亲吻膝盖骨了。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire smiled. She was a mental gymnast, too. She pulled her leg straight up against her body so that she could’ve kissed her kneecap.
“我希望我也能做到这一点,”托马斯说道。
“I wish I could do that,” Thomas said.
维克多已经准备好跳出飞机了。托马斯,那个留着破烂辫子、牙齿脱落的疯狂印第安说书人,正在和一位美丽的奥运体操运动员调情。在印第安保留地,没有人会相信这是真的。
Victor was ready to jump out of the plane. Thomas, that crazy Indian storyteller with ratty old braids and broken teeth, was flirting with a beautiful Olympic gymnast. Nobody back home on the reservation would ever believe it.
“好吧,”体操运动员说。“很简单。试试看。”
“Well,” the gymnast said. “It’s easy. Try it.”
托马斯抓住他的腿,试图把它拉到与体操运动员相同的位置。他根本无法接近,这让维克多和体操运动员笑了起来。
Thomas grabbed at his leg and tried to pull it up into the same position as the gymnast. He couldn’t even come close, which made Victor and the gymnast laugh.
“嘿,”她问道。“你们两个是印度人,对吧?”
“Hey,” she asked. “You two are Indian, right?”
“纯血统,”维克多说。
“Full-blood,” Victor said.
“我可不是,”托马斯说。“我妈妈那边的人一半是魔术师,我爸爸那边的人一半是小丑。”
“Not me,” Thomas said. “I’m half magician on my mother’s side and half clown on my father’s.”
他们都笑了。
They all laughed.
“你们叫什么名字?”她问。
“What are your names?” she asked.
“维克多和托马斯。”
“Victor and Thomas.”
“我叫凯茜。很高兴认识你们。”
“Mine is Cathy. Pleased to meet you all.”
三个人在飞行途中一直在聊天。体操运动员凯茜抱怨政府如何通过抵制奥运会来欺骗 1980 年的奥运代表队。
The three of them talked for the duration of the flight. Cathy the gymnast complained about the government, how they screwed the 1980 Olympic team by boycotting.
“听起来你们和印度人有很多共同点,”托马斯说。
“Sounds like you all got a lot in common with Indians,” Thomas said.
没人笑。
Nobody laughed.
飞机降落在菲尼克斯后,他们都找到了航站楼,体操运动员凯茜微笑着挥手告别。
After the plane landed in Phoenix and they had all found their way to the terminal, Cathy the gymnast smiled and waved good-bye.
“她人真的很好,”托马斯说。
“She was really nice,” Thomas said.
“是的,但在飞机上每个人都会和其他人交谈,”维克多说。“可惜我们不能一直这样。”
“Yeah, but everybody talks to everybody on airplanes,” Victor said. “It’s too bad we can’t always be that way.”
“你以前总是说我想太多,”托马斯说。“现在听起来你确实是想太多了。”
“You always used to tell me I think too much,” Thomas said. “Now it sounds like you do.”
“也许是从你那里感染的。”
“Maybe I caught it from you.”
“是的。”
“Yeah.”
托马斯和维克多乘坐出租车来到维克多父亲去世的拖车那里。
Thomas and Victor rode in a taxi to the trailer where Victor’s father died.
“听着,”他们在拖车前停下时维克多说道。“我从没跟你说过我为那次殴打你感到抱歉。”
“Listen,” Victor said as they stopped in front of the trailer. “I never told you I was sorry for beating you up that time.”
“哦,没什么。我们只是孩子,你喝醉了。”
“Oh, it was nothing. We were just kids and you were drunk.”
“是啊,但我还是很抱歉。”
“Yeah, but I’m still sorry.”
“没关系。”
“That’s all right.”
维克多付了出租车费,两人站在凤凰城炎热的夏天里。他们能闻到拖车的味道。
Victor paid for the taxi and the two of them stood in the hot Phoenix summer. They could smell the trailer.
“这可不是什么好事,”维克多说。“你没必要进去。”
“This ain’t going to be nice,” Victor said. “You don’t have to go in.”
“你需要帮助。”
“You’re going to need help.”
维克多走到前门,打开了门。一股臭味扑面而来,让他们俩都作呕。维克多的父亲在那个拖车里,在华氏 100 度的高温下躺了一个星期,才有人发现他。人们之所以能找到他,唯一的原因是那股臭味。他们需要牙科记录来确认他的身份。验尸官就是这么说的。他们需要牙科记录。
Victor walked to the front door and opened it. The stink rolled out and made them both gag. Victor’s father had lain in that trailer for a week in hundred-degree temperatures before anyone found him. And the only reason anyone found him was because of the smell. They needed dental records to identify him. That’s exactly what the coroner said. They needed dental records.
“哦,天哪,”维克多说。“我不知道我能不能做到。”
“Oh, man,” Victor said. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“好吧,那就别这么做。”
“Well, then don’t.”
“但那里面也许有一些值钱的东西。”
“But there might be something valuable in there.”
“我以为他的钱在银行里。”
“I thought his money was in the bank.”
“是的。我说的是照片、信件和类似的东西。”
“It is. I was talking about pictures and letters and stuff like that.”
“哦,”托马斯屏住呼吸,跟着维克多走进拖车。
“Oh,” Thomas said as he held his breath and followed Victor into the trailer.
十二岁那年,维克多踏进了一个地下黄蜂巢。他的脚被卡在洞里,无论他怎么挣扎,维克多都无法挣脱。要不是托马斯·毕德斯·毕德斯·费雷赶到,他可能就死在那里了,被蛰了一千次。
When Victor was twelve, he stepped into an underground wasp nest. His foot was caught in the hole, and no matter how hard he struggled, Victor couldn’t pull free. He might have died there, stung a thousand times, if Thomas Builds-the-Fire had not come by.
“快跑,”托马斯大喊,把维克多的脚从洞里拔出来。然后他们开始拼命奔跑,比比利·米尔斯、吉姆·索普、黄蜂飞得都快。
“Run,” Thomas yelled and pulled Victor’s foot from the hole. They ran then, hard as they ever had, faster than Billy Mills, faster than Jim Thorpe, faster than the wasps could fly.
维克多和托马斯一直跑到喘不过气来,跑到外面又冷又黑,跑到迷路,花了好几个小时才找到回家的路。一路上,维克多数着自己被蛰了多少次。
Victor and Thomas ran until they couldn’t breathe, ran until it was cold and dark outside, ran until they were lost and it took hours to find their way home. All the way back, Victor counted his stings.
“七,”维克多说。“我的幸运数字。”
“Seven,” Victor said. “My lucky number.”
维克多在拖车里没找到什么可以留着的东西。只有一本相册和一台立体声音响。其他东西都沾上了味道,要不就是没用了。
Victor didn’t find much to keep in the trailer. Only a photo album and a stereo. Everything else had that smell stuck in it or was useless anyway.
“我想就这些了,”维克多说。“没什么。”
“I guess this is all,” Victor said. “It ain’t much.”
“总比没有好,”托马斯说。
“Better than nothing,” Thomas said.
“是的,我确实有皮卡。”
“Yeah, and I do have the pickup.”
“是的,”托马斯说。“状况很好。”
“Yeah,” Thomas said. “It’s in good shape.”
“爸爸对这些事情很在行。”
“Dad was good about that stuff.”
“是的,我记得你爸爸。”
“Yeah, I remember your dad.”
“真的吗?”维克多问。“你记得什么?”
“Really?” Victor asked. “What do you remember?”
托马斯·毕德斯-特-费尔闭上眼睛,讲述了这个故事:“我记得我曾经做过一个梦,梦见我去斯波坎,站在市中心的瀑布边等待路标。我知道我必须去那里,但是我没有车,也没有驾照。我当时只有十三岁。所以我一路步行,花了一整天,最后终于到了瀑布。我在那里站了一个小时等。然后你爸爸走了过来。他问我,你在这里干什么?我说,等待幻象。然后你父亲说,你在这里只会被抢劫。于是他开车送我去了丹尼餐厅,给我买了晚餐,然后开车送我回了保留地。很长一段时间我都很生气,因为我觉得我的梦欺骗了我。但是事实并非如此。你的爸爸就是我的幻象。我的梦告诉我,要互相照顾。互相照顾。”
Thomas Builds-the-Fire closed his eyes and told this story: “I remember when I had this dream that told me to go to Spokane, to stand by the Falls in the middle of the city and wait for a sign. I knew I had to go there but I didn’t have a car. Didn’t have a license. I was only thirteen. So I walked all the way, took me all day, and I finally made it to the Falls. I stood there for an hour waiting. Then your dad came walking up. What the hell are you doing here? he asked me. I said, Waiting for a vision. Then your father said, All you’re going to get here is mugged. So he drove me over to Denny’s, bought me dinner, and then drove me home to the reservation. For a long time I was mad because I thought my dreams had lied to me. But they didn’t. Your dad was my vision. Take care of each other is what my dreams were saying. Take care of each other.”
维克多沉默了许久。他搜索着脑海里有关父亲的记忆,找到了一些美好的回忆,也找到了一些不好的回忆,他把这些回忆加在一起,然后笑了。
Victor was quiet for a long time. He searched his mind for memories of his father, found the good ones, found a few bad ones, added it all up, and smiled.
“我父亲从来没告诉过我在斯波坎找到你的事情,”维克多说道。
“My father never told me about finding you in Spokane,” Victor said.
“他说他不会告诉任何人。他不想让我惹上麻烦。但他说作为交易的一部分,我必须照顾你。”
“He said he wouldn’t tell anybody. Didn’t want me to get in trouble. But he said I had to watch out for you as part of the deal.”
“真的吗?”
“Really?”
“真的。你父亲说你需要帮助。他是对的。”
“Really. Your father said you would need the help. He was right.”
“这就是你跟我来这里的原因,不是吗?”维克多问道。
“That’s why you came down here with me, isn’t it?” Victor asked.
“我是因你父亲而来的。”
“I came because of your father.”
维克多和托马斯爬上皮卡车,开车去了银行,领取了储蓄账户中的三百美元。
Victor and Thomas climbed into the pickup, drove over to the bank, and claimed the three hundred dollars in the savings account.
托马斯·毕尔巴鄂之火 (Thomas Builds-the-Fire) 可以飞。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire could fly.
有一次,他从部落学校的屋顶跳了下来,像一只疯狂的老鹰一样挥动着手臂。然后他就飞了起来。有那么一秒钟,他悬在空中,高高地悬在所有其他印第安男孩的上方,那些男孩要么太聪明,要么太害怕,不敢跳下去。
Once, he jumped off the roof of the tribal school and flapped his arms like a crazy eagle. And he flew. For a second, he hovered, suspended above all the other Indian boys who were too smart or too scared to jump.
“他在飞,”小托马斯大喊,而西摩则忙着寻找特技电线或镜子。但这是真的。就像托马斯失去高度坠落地面时泥土一样真实。
“He’s flying,” Junior yelled, and Seymour was busy looking for the trick wires or mirrors. But it was real. As real as the dirt when Thomas lost altitude and crashed to the ground.
他的手臂有两处骨折。
He broke his arm in two places.
“他的翅膀断了。”维克多唱道,其他印第安男孩也加入进来,把这首部落歌曲唱了起来。
“He broke his wing,” Victor chanted, and the other Indian boys joined in, made it a tribal song.
“他的翅膀断了,他的翅膀断了,他的翅膀断了,”所有的印第安男孩一边喊着,一边跑开,拍打着翅膀,希望他们也能飞。他们恨托马斯的勇气,恨他作为鸟儿的短暂时光。每个人都有飞翔的梦想。托马斯飞了。
“He broke his wing, he broke his wing, he broke his wing,” all the Indian boys chanted as they ran off, flapping their wings, wishing they could fly, too. They hated Thomas for his courage, his brief moment as a bird. Everybody has dreams about flying. Thomas flew.
他的一个梦想仅仅实现了一秒钟,足以使其成为现实。
One of his dreams came true for just a second, just enough to make it real.
维克多的父亲,他的骨灰,装在一个木盒子里,剩下的足以装满一个纸板箱。
Victor’s father, his ashes, fit in one wooden box with enough left over to fill a cardboard box.
“他一直都是一个大人物,”托马斯说道。
“He always was a big man,” Thomas said.
维克多抬着父亲的遗体,托马斯则把遗体抬到皮卡车上。他们小心翼翼地把父亲的遗体放在座位后面,把一顶牛仔帽放在木箱上,把一顶道奇队的帽子放在纸板箱上。这才是应该的样子。
Victor carried part of his father and Thomas carried the rest out to the pickup. They set him down carefully behind the seats, put a cowboy hat on the wooden box and a Dodgers cap on the cardboard box. That’s the way it was supposed to be.
“准备回家了吗?”维克多问道。
“Ready to head back home,” Victor asked.
“这将是一次长途旅行。”
“It’s going to be a long drive.”
“是的,也许需要几天时间。”
“Yeah, take a couple days, maybe.”
“我们可以轮流,”托马斯说。
“We can take turns,” Thomas said.
“好的,”维克多说,但他们没有轮流。维克多一直向北开了十六个小时,开到内华达州的一半路程后才终于把车停了下来。
“Okay,” Victor said, but they didn’t take turns. Victor drove for sixteen hours straight north, made it halfway up Nevada toward home before he finally pulled over.
“嘿,托马斯,”维克多说。“你得开一会儿车。”
“Hey, Thomas,” Victor said. “You got to drive for a while.”
“好的。”
“Okay.”
托马斯·毕斯-特里尔开着车沿着公路出发了。在整个内华达州,托马斯和维克多都对这里动物稀少、水源匮乏、交通不便感到惊讶。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire slid behind the wheel and started off down the road. All through Nevada, Thomas and Victor had been amazed at the lack of animal life, at the absence of water, of movement.
“所有东西都在哪儿?”维克多不止一次地问过。
“Where is everything?” Victor had asked more than once.
现在,当托马斯终于开车时,他们看到了第一只动物,也许是内华达州唯一的动物。那是一只长耳兔。
Now when Thomas was finally driving they saw the first animal, maybe the only animal in Nevada. It was a long-eared jackrabbit.
“看,”维克多大喊。“它还活着。”
“Look,” Victor yelled. “It’s alive.”
托马斯和维克多正忙着庆祝他们的发现,这时那只长耳大野兔突然冲到路上,钻到了皮卡车的轮子下面。
Thomas and Victor were busy congratulating themselves on their discovery when the jackrabbit darted out into the road and under the wheels of the pickup.
“停下那辆该死的车!”维克多大喊,托马斯果然停了下来,把皮卡车倒到了那只死去的长耳大野兔旁边。
“Stop the goddamn car,” Victor yelled, and Thomas did stop, backed the pickup to the dead jackrabbit.
“哦,天哪,他死了,”维克多看着这只被压扁的动物说道。
“Oh, man, he’s dead,” Victor said as he looked at the squashed animal.
“真的死了。”
“Really dead.”
“它是整个州内唯一活着的东西,而我们就把它杀了。”
“The only thing alive in this whole state and we just killed it.”
“我不知道,”托马斯说。“我认为这是自杀。”
“I don’t know,” Thomas said. “I think it was suicide.”
维克多环顾沙漠,嗅嗅空气,感受到空虚和孤独,点了点头。
Victor looked around the desert, sniffed the air, felt the emptiness and loneliness, and nodded his head.
“是的,”维克多说。“肯定是自杀。”
“Yeah,” Victor said. “It had to be suicide.”
“我简直不敢相信,”托马斯说。“我开了一千英里,挡风玻璃上竟然没有一只虫子。我开了十秒钟,就把内华达州唯一的生物杀死了。”
“I can’t believe this,” Thomas said. “You drive for a thousand miles and there ain’t even any bugs smashed on the windshield. I drive for ten seconds and kill the only living thing in Nevada.”
“是啊,”维克多说。“也许我该开车。”
“Yeah,” Victor said. “Maybe I should drive.”
“也许你应该这么做。”
“Maybe you should.”
托马斯·毕德斯独自一人走过部落学校的走廊。因为那些故事,没人愿意靠近他。一个又一个故事。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire walked through the corridors of the tribal school by himself. Nobody wanted to be anywhere near him because of all those stories. Story after story.
托马斯闭上眼睛,这个故事浮现在他的脑海里:“我们每个人都拥有一样东西来衡量我们的生活,那就是一个决心。我的故事可以改变世界,也可以不改变世界。只要我继续讲述这些故事,那改变世界与否并不重要。我的父亲,他在第二次世界大战中死于冲绳,他为这个多年来一直试图杀死他的国家而战。我的母亲,她在生我时就去世了,当时我还在她体内。她用最后一口气把我带到这个世界上。我没有兄弟姐妹。我只有我的故事,这些故事在我学会说话之前就浮现在我的脑海里。在我迈出第一千步之前,我就学会了一千个故事。这就是我拥有的一切。这是我唯一能做的事情。”
Thomas closed his eyes and this story came to him: “We are all given one thing by which our lives are measured, one determination. Mine are the stories which can change or not change the world. It doesn’t matter which as long as I continue to tell the stories. My father, he died on Okinawa in World War II, died fighting for this country, which had tried to kill him for years. My mother, she died giving birth to me, died while I was still inside her. She pushed me out into the world with her last breath. I have no brothers or sisters. I have only my stories which came to me before I even had the words to speak. I learned a thousand stories before I took my first thousand steps. They are all I have. It’s all I can do.”
托马斯·毕德斯·怀斯-费雷特斯向所有停下来听的人讲他的故事。即使人们已经不再听他讲,他仍旧继续讲下去。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire told his stories to all those who would stop and listen. He kept telling them long after people had stopped listening.
太阳刚刚升起,维克多和托马斯就回到了保护区。地球上新的一天开始了,但保护区里还是老样子。
Victor and Thomas made it back to the reservation just as the sun was rising. It was the beginning of a new day on earth, but the same old shit on the reservation.
“早上好,”托马斯说。
“Good morning,” Thomas said.
“早上好。”
“Good morning.”
部落里的人都已经醒来,准备上班,吃早餐,看报纸,就像其他人一样。威琳·勒布雷特穿着浴袍在花园里。当托马斯和维克多开车经过时,她挥手示意。
The tribe was waking up, ready for work, eating breakfast, reading the newspaper, just like everybody else does. Willene LeBret was out in her garden wearing a bathrobe. She waved when Thomas and Victor drove by.
“疯狂的印第安人做到了,”她自言自语道,然后回到她的玫瑰花丛中。
“Crazy Indians made it,” she said to herself and went back to her roses.
维克多把皮卡车停在托马斯·布德斯-费雷的 HUD b房子前面。他们俩都打了个哈欠,伸了个懒腰,抖了抖身上的灰尘。
Victor stopped the pickup in front of Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s HUDb house. They both yawned, stretched a little, shook dust from their bodies.
“我累了,”维克多说。
“I’m tired,” Victor said.
“一切的一切,”托马斯补充道。
“Of everything,” Thomas added.
他们俩都想找个词来结束这次旅程。维克多需要感谢托马斯的帮助和金钱,并承诺会把钱全部还清。
They both searched for words to end the journey. Victor needed to thank Thomas for his help, for the money, and make the promise to pay it all back.
“别担心钱的事,”托马斯说。“反正也没关系。”
“Don’t worry about the money,” Thomas said. “It don’t make any difference anyhow.”
“可能不是吧?”
“Probably not, enit?”
“没有。”
“Nope.”
维克多知道托马斯会一直是那个疯狂的说书人,他会和狗和汽车说话,听风和松树的声音。维克多知道,即使发生了所有这些事情,他也无法真正和托马斯成为朋友。这很残酷,但却是真实的。就像灰烬一样真实,就像维克多的父亲坐在座位后面一样真实。
Victor knew that Thomas would remain the crazy storyteller who talked to dogs and cars, who listened to the wind and pine trees. Victor knew that he couldn’t really be friends with Thomas, even after all that had happened. It was cruel but it was real. As real as the ashes, as Victor’s father, sitting behind the seats.
“我知道这是怎么回事,”托马斯说。“我知道你不会比以前对我更好了。我知道你的朋友会因此而对你大加指责。”
“I know how it is,” Thomas said. “I know you ain’t going to treat me any better than you did before. I know your friends would give you too much shit about it.”
维克多为自己感到羞愧。部落纽带、社区意识究竟怎么了?他与任何人分享的唯一真实的东西就是一瓶酒和破碎的梦想。他欠托马斯一些东西,任何东西。
Victor was ashamed of himself. Whatever happened to the tribal ties, the sense of community? The only real thing he shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams. He owed Thomas something, anything.
“听着,”维克多说着,把装着他父亲一半尸体的纸盒递给了托马斯。“我想让你拥有这个。”
“Listen,” Victor said and handed Thomas the cardboard box which contained half of his father. “I want you to have this.”
托马斯接过骨灰,微笑着闭上眼睛,讲了这样一个故事:“我要最后一次去斯波坎瀑布,把这些骨灰撒进水里。你父亲会像鲑鱼一样浮出水面,跳过桥,越过我,找到回家的路。那将是美丽的。他的牙齿会像银子一样闪闪发光,像彩虹一样。他会复活的,维克多,他会复活的。”
Thomas took the ashes and smiled, closed his eyes, and told this story: “I’m going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss these ashes into the water. And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way home. It will be beautiful. His teeth will shine like silver, like a rainbow. He will rise, Victor, he will rise.”
维克多笑了。
Victor smiled.
“我也打算用我的另一半做同样的事情,”
“I was planning on doing the same thing with my half,”
维克多说,“但我没想到我父亲会长得像鲑鱼。我以为那会像打扫阁楼之类的。就像把不再有用的东西扔掉一样。”
Victor said. “But I didn’t imagine my father looking anything like a salmon. I thought it’d be like cleaning the attic or something. Like letting things go after they’ve stopped having any use.”
“什么都不能停下来,表哥,”托马斯说。“什么都不能停下来。”
“Nothing stops, cousin,” Thomas said. “Nothing stops.”
托马斯·毕德斯·费尔下了皮卡车,走上车道。维克多启动皮卡车,开始开车回家。
Thomas Builds-the-Fire got out of the pickup and walked up his driveway. Victor started the pickup and began the drive home.
“等一下,”托马斯突然在门廊上喊道。“我只想请你帮个忙。”
“Wait,” Thomas yelled suddenly from his porch. “I just got to ask one favor.”
维克多停下皮卡车,探出车窗,大声回应道:“你有什么事吗?”
Victor stopped the pickup, leaned out the window, and shouted back. “What do you want?”
“就一次,当我在某个地方讲故事的时候,你为什么不停下来听听呢?”托马斯问道。
“Just one time when I’m telling a story somewhere, why don’t you stop and listen?” Thomas asked.
“就一次?”
“Just once?”
“仅一次。”
“Just once.”
维克多挥动双臂,让托马斯知道这笔交易很好。这是一笔公平的交易,这也是维克多一生的愿望。于是维克多开着他父亲的皮卡车回家,而托马斯则走进屋子,关上身后的门,在寂静中听着一个新的故事浮现在他的脑海里。
Victor waved his arms to let Thomas know that the deal was good. It was a fair trade, and that was all Victor had ever wanted from his whole life. So Victor drove his father’s pickup toward home while Thomas went into his house, closed the door behind him, and heard a new story come to him in the silence afterwards.
[1993年]
[1993]
BIA:印第安人事务局。
aBIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs.
b HUD:美国住房和城市发展部。
bHUD: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
我当时正在缅因州南部的一个小镇萨科看望我的母亲,萨科距离我长大的地方有三个城镇。我们去了我父亲的坟墓,清理了坟墓,在那里举行了我们版本的韩国传统祭祀,忍受着其他访客的注视,然后她让我去当地的汉纳福德杂货店买一些晚餐用的东西,包括泡菜,我们为我是否可以在那里买到泡菜而争执不下。“这不是你记忆中的那个州,”她坚持说。现在,当我手里拿着泡菜站在收银台前,知道她赢了,我很惊讶能在这么久以前离开的地方买到泡菜,我注意到站在我身后的那个男人。
I was visiting my mom in the southern Maine town she lives in now, Saco, three towns over from where I grew up. We had gone to my father’s grave, cleaned it, and had our version of the traditional Korean offering there, enduring the stares of the other visitors, and then she sent me on an errand to the local Hannaford grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner, including kimchi, and we’d disagreed about whether I could buy kimchi there. “It’s not the same state you remember,” she said when she insisted. Now as I stood in line for the checkout, holding the kimchi in my hand, knowing she had won, and amazed at being able to buy kimchi in this place I’d left behind so long ago, I noticed the man who came to stand behind me.
他看起来很眼熟,虽然他和我上学时的所有孩子都一样——晒黑了,金发碧眼,自信满满,或者,即使不自信,仍然能虚张声势。事情并没有像他想要的那样发展,这是显而易见的。他就像是受了点伤的过去的他,但很明显,他仍然相信事情最终会按照他想要的方式发展。我想我也是一样。从这一点上来说,我们是最接近彼此的。然后我明白了,我确实认识他。
He looked familiar, though he was like all the kids I’d gone to school with — sunburned, blond, confident, or, if not confident, still capable of a good bluff. Things hadn’t turned out quite the way he’d wanted, that was clear. He was like a slightly hurt version of who he used to be, but it was also clear he still believed things would go his way eventually. I suppose I was the same. In that one way, we were the closest we’d ever be to being like each other. And then I understood that I actually did know him.
他和我同校——曾因贩卖可卡因被捕,但我不知道他是否坐过牢。我更了解他的妹妹。她曾和她的孩子一起拍了毕业纪念册的照片,不知为何,这比他被捕或她实际怀孕更令人震惊,好像毕业纪念册是一件可以毁掉的神圣之物。
He was from my high school — had been arrested for being a coke dealer, though I didn’t know if he’d done time. I knew his sister better. She’d posed for her senior yearbook photo with her baby, which was more of a scandal for some reason than his arrest, or her actual pregnancy, as if the year-book were something sacred you could spoil.
我想,让我们开始讨论接下来发生的事情,然后问道:“你姐姐怎么样了?”
I figured, Let’s just begin what happens next, and asked, “How’s your sister?”
他眨了眨眼。“你认识我妹妹吗?”
He blinked. “You knew my sister?”
“是的,”我说。“我认识你姐姐。”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know your sister.”
听起来比我本意要更下流一些——而且说实话,这也不是完全无辜的。他姐姐和我高中时不太可能是朋友,但我们确实是朋友,甚至在醉酒时勾搭过一次。我没打算告诉她哥哥这件事,但这对我来说意义重大。她是我唯一一个在向她承认我是同性恋之前发生过性关系的女人,然后我最终向全世界承认了这一点。
It sounded a little dirtier than I meant it — and, truth be told, it wasn’t entirely innocent. His sister and I were not the most likely of friends at our high school, but we really had been friends, and had even drunkenly, hooked up, exactly once. It was nothing I was prepared to tell her brother about, but it meant a lot to me. She was the one woman I’d ever had sex with before admitting to her, and then eventually to the rest of the world, that I was gay.
当时,他的妹妹凯蒂很受欢迎,即使不算很受欢迎。她从不试图获得任何人的认可。她看起来像一个有着娃娃脸的金发甜美女孩,仍然穿着她哥哥的牛仔裤上学,外面套着粉色针织斗篷——他早已穿不下的牛仔裤——但她时不时会转过身来,她的眼睛里流露出一种冷静的神色,好像她比我们大多数人都大。即使穿着斗篷。你知道穿着粉色斗篷要保持冷静有多难吗?她总是看起来像刚看到一个非常好笑的素材走过。那是我第一天走进来参加培训时她给我的表情。
At the time, his sister Katie was well-liked, if not quite popular. She was never trying to get the approval of anyone. She seemed like a sweet baby-faced blonde who still wore her brother’s boy jeans to school under pink knitted ponchos — jeans he’d long outgrown — but then she’d turn every so often, and her eyes let off a coolness, like she was older than most of us somehow. Even in that poncho. Do you know how hard it is to be cool in a pink poncho? She always looked like she’d just seen the makings of a very good joke walk by. That was the look she gave me when I walked in that first day and presented myself for training.
“Stanley Yu,”当我走到柜台后面,打卡并从口袋里掏出名牌时,她说道。“说真的。”
“Stanley Yu,” she said as I walked behind the counter, clocked in, and pulled a name tag from my pocket. “Seriously.”
“是的,”我说道。
“Yeah,” I said.
“今天我要训练的人就是你。”
“You’re the one I’m training today.”
“是的。”
“Yes, that is correct.”
她弯下腰大笑起来,这笑声尖锐,但不知何故却并不完全令人感到羞辱。“你撑不过一个星期,”她站起来说道。“但我们会看看能不能让你撑到星期五。”
She bent over laughing, a sharp laugh that also somehow wasn’t completely humiliating. “You won’t last a week,” she said as she stood up. “But we’ll see if we can get you to Friday.”
我之所以接受这份工作,是因为一个月前我在学校玩刺客游戏时,开着我妈妈的车撞破了一堵石墙。这也许就是她笑的原因。结果,学校永远禁止玩这款游戏;我永远蒙羞,因为我被贴上了“把游戏玩得太过分”的标签;现在又要找这份工作,因为我还需要赔偿我妈妈的车损和墙修。至于作为她独生子的耻辱,在镇上让她丢脸,我永远也还不起。
I had taken the job because a month previous I’d driven my mother’s car through a stone wall while playing Assassin up at the school. This may have been why she laughed. It resulted in the game being banned from the school forever; my eternal humiliation, for being labeled the guy who took the game too far; and now this job, as I also needed to pay my mother back for the car damage, and the wall repair. As for the disgrace of being her only child, who had embarrassed her in front of the town, I could never pay that back.
无论如何,我当时是个贱民,有点太聪明,对自己不利,而且我坚信我不仅比这些人优秀,而且我会一直比他们优秀。我说的“这些人”指的是整个城镇。我们是唯一的韩国家庭——事实上,是唯一的非白人家庭;其他人都是白人。每次学校里的孩子们叫我“中国佬”时,我都会轻蔑地回答说:“我不是中国人,我是韩国人”,好像我在告诉他们一些对他们很重要的事情。我的傲慢是我的堡垒,它让我不想要这些孩子喜欢我。我想我仍然相信我比他们优秀,尽管那时我喜欢想,当我讨厌他们时,我只是公平而已。但这不是你开始成功的高中社交生活的那种立场——这甚至不是任何真正智力优越的人的合理立场。这只是一种辩护,是一个无意回来的人的计划。
I was a pariah back then anyway, a little too smart and unfriendly for my own good, and convinced that not only was I better than these people, I would always be better than them. And by “these people” I meant my whole town. We were the only Korean family — the only non-white family, for that matter; everyone else was white. Each time the kids at school called me a “chink” I would reply, contemptuously, “I’m not Chinese, I’m Korean,” like I was telling them something that could matter to them. My arrogance was my fortress, built to keep me safe from even wanting these kids to like me. I think I still believed I was better than them, though I liked to think back then that I was just being fair when I hated them. But this was not the sort of position you launched a successful high school social life from — it was not even the plausible position of anyone who really was an intellectual superior. It was only a defense, the plan of someone with no intention of ever coming back.
事故发生的那天早上,我正要走出家门去学校,正好碰上那个传闻中会赢得刺客比赛的男孩停在了我家门前。如果你不知道游戏规则,它大致如下:小组中的每个人——在这个例子中是高年级——都是刺客,每个人都知道游戏中另一个人的名字。一旦你“杀死”了另一个人,你就会知道他们要杀死的人的名字,然后继续寻找下一个目标。在我们的游戏中,有两名或两名以上目击者在场意味着杀戮是不可能的,所有教室都是安全区。他有一把水枪——我们都有——用于“射击”,所以,为了以防万一,我跳上车,然后开车离开,很快这场追逐就变成了一场疯狂的汽车追逐。
On the morning of the accident, I walked outside of my house on my way to school just as the boy rumored to be winning Assassin pulled up in front. If you don’t know the rules of the game, they are approximately as follows: everyone in the group — in this case, the senior class — is an assassin, and everyone has the name of one other person in the game. Once you “kill” the other person, you get the name of the person they were supposed to kill, and go on to your next target. In our game, the presence of two or more witnesses meant no kill was possible, and all classrooms were safe zones. He had a water gun — we all did — for the “shooting,” and so, as a precaution, I jumped in my car for what quickly turned into a frantic car chase, and drove away.
当我们驶过学校并驶出城镇时,我先以最高限速行驶,但很快时速就从限速 30 的路段变成了 65 的路段;当我们拐过一条被称为“魔鬼之肘”的路段时(因为这条路段发生过很多事故),我能感觉到我母亲的蓝色奥兹莫比尔旅行车滑入了对面的车道。在那里,我看到一辆卡车的车头灯转弯,正朝我驶来。
I drove first at the top of the speed limit as we cruised past the school and were headed on our way out of town, but was soon doing about 65 in a 30; and as we turned the corner of a stretch of road called Devil’s Elbow, because it had caused so many accidents, I could feel my mother’s blue Oldsmobile station wagon slide into the oncoming lane. There I saw the headlights of a semi turning the corner and heading right for me.
我不知怎么想起了驾驶课上的指示——“失去控制时,要顺着转弯方向打方向盘,不要逆着方向打,因为你没法跟车对抗”——于是我照做了。这个办法奏效了。我驶出车道,驶上路肩,然后又驶离路肩,直到撞上一堵石墙,在某人美丽家园前院一棵古老而坚固的橡树几英尺外的地方直接停了下来。
I somehow remembered my driver’s ed instructions — “When losing control, turn the wheel into the turn, not against it, because you can’t fight the car” — and so I did. It worked. I went out of the lane and onto the shoulder, and then off it again, until I crashed through a stone wall and came to a direct stop a few feet from an ancient and very solid oak tree in the front yard of someone’s beautiful home.
我惊恐万分地走出了车,但当时我什么感觉也没有,好像死亡的恐惧已经烧毁了我所有的神经末梢。我走过去,靠在一棵非常坚硬的树上。从那里我看到我试图逃离的那个男孩杰拉尔德·米尼开着他的小道奇 Dart 停了下来。他从车里站出来,用水枪指着我,令我震惊的是,他射出的水射中了我的额头。我完了,出局了。
I stepped out of the car in total shock, which at that point felt like nothing, as if the fear of dying had seared all my nerve endings shut. I walked over and leaned on the very hard tree. From there I saw the boy I was trying to escape, Gerald Meany, pull up in his little Dodge Dart. He stood out of the car and pointed his water gun at me, and — to my stunned surprise — the jet of water he shot hit me in the forehead. I was done, out of the game.
“亚历克斯·鲁尔,”我对他说。这是我的目标的名字,现在是他的了。他点点头。然后开车走了。
“Alex Rule,” I said to him. The name of my target, now his. He nodded. And then he drove away.
房子的主人原来是我妈妈怀孕的前秘书,我已经多年没见过她了,我当然不想把她吓坏,比如把我们的奥兹莫比尔旅行车撞到她那堵旧石墙上。不知何故,那辆车本身完好无损——如果你真的需要开车撞石墙的话,请记住这一点——但我没有。我没有受伤,但我知道发生了一件可怕的事情,一件不可原谅的事情。我只是不知道到底发生了什么。我设法告诉她发生的事情,令我惊讶的是,当我描述水打在我脸上时,她笑了。很快,当我讲这个故事时,每个人都笑了,除了我妈妈。
The owner of the house turned out to be the very pregnant ex-secretary of my mom’s, someone I hadn’t seen in years and who I certainly didn’t want to frighten so badly, say, by smashing our Oldsmobile wagon through her old stone wall. The car itself was in pretty good shape, somehow — keep this in mind if you ever need to drive a car through a stone wall — but I was not. I wasn’t injured, but I knew something terrible had happened, something unforgivable. I just didn’t know what exactly. I managed to tell her the story of what had happened, and to my surprise she laughed as I described the water hitting my face. And soon everyone would laugh when I told the story, except my mother.
这件事发生时,我母亲正在波特兰海岸外的一艘船上,参加鸡尾酒会,她认为那是一个美好的夏日。当我看到她时,她对我来说并不那么冷静,而是平静——我想,这种平静是因为她知道自己即将承受多大的惩罚。
My mother had been on a boat off the coast of Portland when this happened, at a cocktail party, having what she thought of as a beautiful summer day. By the time I saw her, she was not so much cool to me as calm — a calm supplied, I think, by the knowledge of just how much punishment she was about to bring to bear.
多年后,我记得三年前我妈妈接到过一个电话,说是一场车祸,夺走了我父亲的生命。我设法重演了那个永远改变了她一生的电话。正如人们所说,历史重演,先是悲剧,然后是喜剧。为了我们的故事目的,让我们看看多年后的我,我知道自己做了一件非常可怕的事情,一件我希望可以挽回但又觉得永远无法挽回的事情,而当时我甚至还不明白那是什么。与此同时,我可以去 CVS 找这份工作,我可以尽我所能保住它。
Years later I would remember that my mom had taken a call about a car accident three years before this one, the one that took my father’s life. I’d managed to replicate a call that had changed her life forever. History repeating, as they say, first as tragedy and then as comedy. For our purposes in the story, see me years afterward, knowing I had done a terrible, terrible thing, a thing I wished I could undo and also felt I could never undo, and that right then I didn’t even understand enough to know what it was. In the meantime, I could go to the CVS and get this job, and I could do what I could to try and keep it.
我的职责并不繁重。我必须给顾客结账、扫地、补货并定价。轮班开始和结束时清点收银台。休息时我拿到了折扣,用它买了一瓶汽水。这很容易,但却非常无聊。这份工作最辛苦的部分是你必须待在那里。几周过去后,我明白了,这就是凯蒂所说的坚持下去的意思。你必须忍受这种无聊。这比在家里忍受我母亲时而沉默时而说教要容易得多。
My duties were not strenuous to the eye. I had to ring people up, sweep the floors, restock items and price them. Count out my register at the beginning and end of my shift. I got a discount and used it on a soda during my break. It was easy enough, but it was incredibly boring. The most strenuous part of the job was that you had to be there. That was what Katie meant about lasting, I understood, after some weeks had gone by. You had to withstand the boredom of it. And it was easier than enduring my mother’s alternating silence and lectures back home.
老实说,我缺乏毅力。她这样想没错。在此之前,我曾经尝试过一次工作——在汉堡王,我工作了不到一天。我填了申请表,经理面试了我,他让我看 BKU(汉堡王大学,对于外行来说)视频,然后他给我制服让我在浴室试穿。在那里,在浓浓的尿液气味中,当我看着浴室镜子里穿着棕色和橙色涤纶衣服的自己时,我才惊恐地意识到,不仅是我长得什么样子,还有我的未来会是什么样子。是的,我引以为傲的头发,在阳光下留下的条纹和波浪,被可怕的遮阳帽遮住了,棕色的涤纶把我的皮肤洗成了蜡黄色,我的几颗雀斑突然成了我唯一的特征,除了我那双因恐惧而睁大的眼睛。但是衣领、短袖、衬衫和裤子的沉重——我想象自己站在柜台后面,空气中沾满汉堡和油炸食品的油脂慢慢渗入布料,然后渗入我的身体,直到我变成世界上从未见过的某种新化石,就在那里柜台后面。那里会展出我,那个神奇的韩国孩子,已经变成了一块浸满汉堡油的聚酯纤维。
And, to be honest, I lacked stamina. She wasn’t wrong to think that. I had tried to get a job exactly once before this — a job I had for less than one day, at Burger King. I filled out the application, the manager interviewed me, he left me to watch the BKU (Burger King University, for the uninitiated) video, and then he gave me my uniform to try on in the bathroom. There, amid the thick scent of urinal cake, when I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, in the brown and orange polyester, only then did I realize, with horror, not just what I looked like but what my future looked like. Yes, my hair, of which I was inordinately proud, with its Sun In sun streaks and waves, covered by the horrible visor, its brown polyester washing out my skin to a sallow color, my few freckles suddenly my only distinguishing factor except for my eyes, which were wide with fear. But the collar, the short sleeves, the sad weight of the shirt and the pants — I had a vision of myself behind the counter, the air slick with hamburger and fry grease slowly mixing into the fabric and from there into my being, until I became some new kind of fossil the world had never seen, there behind the counter. There would be exhibits of me, the amazing Korean kid who had turned into a single piece of hamburger-grease-soaked polyester.
那天我走出卫生间,把制服挂在隔间里,然后开车回家。我再也没有回去,他们也再也没有打电话到家里找我。在和妈妈谈论我可以找份工作来偿还她时,我从未提到过汉堡王。当我来到 CVS 并拿到背心和别针时,相比之下,这似乎微不足道。空调让我从潮湿的夏天中解脱出来,荧光灯让我感觉好像我死了,醒来后进入了来世,被迫做一些事情,比如清点收银机抽屉。
I walked out of the bathroom that day, left the uniform hanging on the stall, and drove home. I never went back and they never called the house to find me. In my conversations with my mother about jobs I could get to pay her back, I never mentioned Burger King. When I got to the CVS and was handed the vest and pin, that seemed like very little to bear by comparison. The air-conditioning was a nice break from the damp summer, and the fluorescent light made it seem as if I’d died and woken up in an afterlife where I was forced to do things like count out cash register drawers.
与此同时,刺客事件让我在学校出名,校方因此取消了所有未来的比赛,这就像我在镇子周围的田野里被抓到喝醉一样,从春天到秋天,我们晚上都去那里喝酒。但情况更糟。在那之前,我一直被认为是一个正直的年轻公民,一个好的韩国孩子,成绩很好,尽管有点不合群。
Meanwhile, after the Assassin incident had made me the wrong kind of famous at school and the administration canceled all future games because of it, it was as if I’d gotten caught drunk in the fields around the town, where we all went to drink at night from spring through fall. Except much worse. I’d been considered an upstanding young citizen prior to that, the good Korean kid, the getter of good grades, if antisocial.
当然,那是学校里正确的出名方式。但如果有谁知道什么是错误的出名方式,那就是凯蒂。或者,她会知道。只是现在还不知道。
That was, of course, the right kind of famous at the school. But if there was anyone who knew about the wrong kind of famous, it was Katie. Or, she would. Just not yet.
在凯蒂和孩子的照片被刊登在年鉴上后,人们开始猜测孩子的父亲是三个人中的其中一个。一个是她当时的男朋友德里克,一个是她的前男友鲍勃,还有一个是杰夫,德里克最好的朋友。正如我所说,她之前并不是一个臭名昭著的女孩。她既没有参加那些受欢迎女孩之间玩的厌食症/贪食症减肥比赛,导致她们到学校时看起来有点像一幅画,她也不是那种为了搭车回家、一箱啤酒或一壶伏特加会做任何事的女孩。她之所以受人欢迎,部分原因是她很正常——不拘谨,会卷一支像样的大麻烟,会递给你一支香烟并跟你打招呼。
After she was photographed with her baby for the year-book, speculation as to the father of Katie’s child settled on one of three different guys. There was her boyfriend at the time, Derrick. There was an ex of hers, Bob. And then there was Geoff, Derrick’s best friend. She was, as I’ve said, not a notorious girl before this. She neither participated in the anorexia/bulimia weight-loss races the popular girls played with each other, which had them arriving at school looking a little like a line drawing, nor was she known as the sort of girl who would do anything for a ride home, a twelve-pack, or a handle of vodka. She was well-liked in part because she was so normal — not a prude, could roll a decent joint, would give you a cigarette and say hi.
她的男朋友德里克爱她就像爱一场不幸的爱情,尽管这段爱情已经结束。他似乎害怕失去她,即使是在她怀里。我想起初她觉得这像是激情,觉得这一定是爱,因为它太强烈了。但她厌倦了这种强烈。
Derrick, her boyfriend, loved her like it was a star-crossed romance, even though it had worked out. He seemed afraid of losing her even while in her arms. I think at first it seemed like passion to her, like this had to be love, it was so strong. But she grew tired of this intensity.
我知道,因为我们讨论过这个话题——很多次。
I know because we talked about it — a lot.
“我的意思是,他什么时候才能明白?”她说。我们在 CVS 外面,刚刚结束轮班,抽着她的烟。那是星期五,我坚持了一周。对这个故事来说最重要的事情还没有发生在她身上。她总是左臂交叉在胸前抽烟,右肘平衡在左手上,这样她的手臂就会以直角向上举起,就像香烟敬礼一样。她的手势就在那里。她会把手挥进去,吸一口,再挥出来,说话时,话语里充满了烟雾。“我爱他。我真的爱。我哪儿也不去。但感觉我所有的爱对他都无济于事。他仍然会在那里,以为我随时都会离开。”
“I mean, when is he just going to get it?” she said. We were outside the CVS, having just finished a shift, smoking her cigarettes. It was Friday, and I’d made it, lasted out the week. The thing that matters to this story hadn’t happened to her yet. She always smoked with her left arm across her chest, her right elbow balanced on her left hand so her arm went up at a right angle like a cigarette salute. Her hand gestures happened up there. She would swing her hand in, take a drag, and swing it back out, and the words would be full of smoke as she talked. “I love him. I really do. I’m not going anywhere. But it feels like all the love I have wouldn’t make a difference to him. He’d still be there believing I was going to leave at any second.”
我没有这方面的经验;我点了点头,着迷于德里克可能会失去她,因为他无法感受到他所说的想要的、她正在给予的爱。我想听更多。如果真是这样,那似乎也是世界上最糟糕的事情。我唯一的关系都是幻想。即使是被渴望,更不用说被爱,也是一种幻想。我很清楚我是学校里的“同性恋”,可能还有其他人。我只是不认识他们。每当我觉得一个男孩喜欢我时,我很快就决定这只是一厢情愿,并把这种想法抛在脑后。当然,我还创造了延伸的幻想,涉及高中里的许多男孩,彼此之间,但从不涉及我。
I had no experience with this; I nodded, fascinated by the idea of how Derrick might lose her because he couldn’t feel the love he said he wanted from her, and that she was offering. I wanted to hear more. It seemed like the worst thing in the world, too, if it happened. My only relationships were fantasies. Even being desired, much less loved, was a fantasy. I knew well enough to know I was “the gay” at the school, and that there might be others. I just didn’t know them. Anytime I thought a boy liked me, I quickly decided it was just wishful thinking and pushed the thought out of my mind. And, of course, created extended fantasies that involved many of the boys in the high school, with each other but never me.
我当时的幻想从来没有包括我自己。
My fantasies back then never included me.
CVS 里的灯都关了,初夏的夜色慢慢降临。她的头发在阳光下显得格外金黄,与她身后街对面的橡树林形成鲜明对比。她当时就是我的女神。
The lights were off inside the CVS, and the early summer dark was slow in coming down. Her hair in the sunlight seemed extra gold contrasted against the oak forest across the street behind her. She was my goddess right then.
一辆棕色的科迈罗停了下来。“杰夫,”她问司机。“德里克派你来的吗?”
A brown Camaro pulled up. “Geoff,” she said to the driver. “Did Derrick send you?”
他笑了笑,“是啊。”
He grinned. “Yeah.”
“所以他醉得不会来接我?”她说这话时,声音提高了“我”这个词。“而你不是吗?”
“So he’s too shit-faced to come get me?” She said this with her voice rising on the “me.” “And you’re not?”
他点点头。“大概就是这样。”
He nodded. “That’s about the shape of it.”
她把烟头扔到停车场里。“这可不浪漫。”她用运动鞋把烟头踩灭。“晚安,”她一边绕着车走,一边在包里翻找,没有看我一眼。“明天见。”
She tossed her cigarette down into the parking lot. “Well isn’t that romantic.” She crushed it out with her sneaker. “Good night,” she said to me as she walked around the car, not looking, fishing in her purse. “See you tomorrow.”
第二天上班时,她很安静。当我问她晚上过得怎么样时,她只是耸了耸肩。杰夫不怎么喝酒,而德里克喝得越来越多。德里克喝得越多,杰夫似乎就越喜欢成为德里克的得力助手。凯蒂的男朋友很快就派他最好的朋友来接她了。我想,凯蒂一开始觉得自己很特别,就像德里克派了一辆车给她一样。即使那是杰夫的皮卡。很快,在 CVS 关门的时候看到杰夫的卡车停在 CVS 前面等她就不是什么稀奇事了。
At work the next day she was quiet. When I asked her about how her night was, she just shrugged. Geoff didn’t drink much, while Derrick drank more and more. And the more Derrick drank, the more Geoff seemed to like being Derrick’s go-to guy. Katie’s boyfriend was soon sending his best friend to pick her up most of the time. Katie, I think, at first felt special in a way, like Derrick had sent a car for her. Even if it was Geoff’s pickup. Soon it was nothing unusual to see Geoff’s truck in front of the CVS at closing time, waiting for her.
一天晚上下班后,德里克既没有派杰夫过来,也没有给他打电话。凯蒂和我站在已关门的 CVS 外面,一边抽烟一边看日落。
One night after work, Derrick had neither sent Geoff nor called. Katie and I were outside the closed CVS, smoking as the sun set.
“去他妈的,”她说。“斯坦利,你妈妈还让你开车吗?”
“Fuck this,” she said. “Stanley, your mother still let you drive?”
我笑了。“她现在明白了。她不想开车送我。”修好的旅行车停在外面,有点郁闷,但看上去还不错。我确实觉得开着它好多了,因为我知道我可以开着它翻过一堵石墙,还能活下来。
I laughed. “She does now. She doesn’t want to have to drive me.” The repaired station wagon sat outside a little glumly but looking fine. And I did feel better about driving it, knowing I could take it over a stone wall and live.
我们去了她家,拿了一些啤酒,然后,她烟盒里装着几根大麻烟,开车去了我们认为男孩们会去的地方。那是 80 年代,还没有手机和短信。你得开车转悠才能找到人。在我们所在的小镇伊丽莎白角,只有几个已知的地方:有海湾,有岩石,有田野,还有另一片田野。孩子们认识这些地方,警察也认识。这是一个小镇。海湾开始挤满了人——其实是海湾的停车场——当我开车经过时,凯蒂面无表情地在人群中寻找德里克的踪影,她的头发在其他汽车的前灯下显得格外苍白。我们看的时候,岩石空无一人,要检查一下真是太麻烦了:你必须把车停在路边,然后徒步一小段路才能到达岩石,当我们到达那里时,周围一个人也没有。当我们站在第一块田地里喝酒,正想着去第二块田地的时候,她说:“你知道吗?他应该在找我。 ”她从烟盒里抽出一根大麻烟,迅速点燃,深深地吸了一口。
We went by her house, picked up some beers, and, with a few joints she had in her cigarette pack, drove out to the places we thought the boys would be. It was the eighties, before cell phones and texting. You had to drive around to look for someone. In our town, Cape Elizabeth, there were just a few known places: there was the cove, there was the Rock, there was a field, another field. The kids knew them and the cops knew them. It was a small town. The cove was starting to fill up with people — it was really the parking lot for the cove — and heads turned as I drove by with Katie looking stonily through the crowd for a sign of Derrick, her hair extra pale in the headlights of the other cars. The Rock, when we looked, was empty and it was a pain to check out: you had to park off the road and take a short hike up to the Rock, and when we got there, no one was around. By the time we stood in the first of the fields for drinking, as we thought about heading to the second one, she said, “You know what? He should be looking for me.” She tapped a joint out of her cigarette pack and lit it swiftly, inhaling deeply.
“是吗?”她问。
“Ain’t that right?” she asked.
“是的。”我说道。
“Yes,” I said.
“你有男人了吗?”
“You got a man?”
我眨了眨眼。
I blinked.
“我知道是怎么回事。我看到你在德里克来找我的时候检查他的屁股。见鬼,我不怪你。就目前而言,这是个好屁股。但如果他继续这样喝酒,那就不好了。”
“I know what’s up. I’ve seen you checking out Derrick’s ass when he comes in to see me. Hell, I don’t blame you. It’s a good ass, for now. Though if he keeps drinking like that, it won’t be.”
“不,”我说,“我……”
“No,” I said. “I …”
“除了整个学校,谁知道你是同性恋?”她笑着把大麻烟递给我。我们周围的田野里,萤火虫开始飞舞。大麻烟的尖端发出橙色的光,然后随着烟灰的覆盖而变成灰色。
“Besides the whole school, who knows you’re gay?” She laughed and handed me the joint. Around us, fireflies had started up in the field. The tip of the joint glowed orange and then went gray as the ash covered it.
我把大麻烟卷放到嘴边,深深地吸了一口,她说:“你知道自己是同性恋,对吧?”
I lifted the joint to my mouth, and as I pulled in a deep draw, she said, “You do know you’re gay, right?”
我只是笑了笑。如果我什么都不说,我可以再等一会儿。等到我真的、真的、真的确定了。我从来没有对任何人说过什么。然而,我不知道如何解释我的感受,而她在这里,让这一切感觉很轻松,很好,但也可能不是真的。
I just smiled. If I said nothing, I could wait a bit longer. Wait until I was really, really, really sure. I had never said anything to anyone. I didn’t know how else to explain what I felt, though, and here she was, making it feel sort of easy and okay but also possibly not true.
“据我所知,德里克很可能是你的下一个目标。他和杰夫在一起的时间肯定够多了。”她望向左边远处,穿过田野,望向汽车,仿佛她能穿越时空看到他们所在的地方。“不过,你得把他从杰夫身边带走。上帝知道我做不到。”
“For all I know, Derrick could very well be your man next. He and Geoff certainly spend enough time together.” She looked out into the distance to her left, back across the field toward the car, as if she could see through time and space to where they were. “You’d have to get him away from Geoff, though. God knows I can’t.”
“下一个”是这里的关键词。想到德里克和杰夫在杰夫的卡车里交织在一起,我隐约感到兴奋。
“Next” was the operative word here. I felt a vague thrill at the idea of Derrick and Geoff intertwined somewhere in Geoff’s truck.
“你真的认为——”
“Do you really think — ”
她打断了我的话。“我不知道我怎么想的。我可能只是没有醉,也没有嗨起来,在 CVS 度过了美好的一天。”她用运动鞋的鞋底擦去烟头,又把烟头塞回香烟里。“我就是这么想的。没有醉,也没有嗨起来。不要浪费,不要匮乏,”她愉快地说,把烟盒收起来。“你觉得呢?”
She cut me off. “I don’t know what I think. I’m just not drunk and high enough, I guess, after a good day at the CVS.” She rubbed out the roach of the joint on the bottom of her sneaker and stuck it back in her cigarettes. “So that’s what I think. Not drunk enough, not high enough. Waste not, want not,” she said merrily, tucking the pack away. “What do you think?”
“我认为他应该对你好一点,”我说。
“I think he ought to treat you better,” I said.
“说起来容易做起来难,”她说。“来吧,斯坦利。我教过你比这更好的,不是吗?”她从我们放在地上的啤酒中拿起一瓶,把翻盖压在臀部上,平衡了一下。“只有自己才能了解自己,对吧?你认为德里克是同性恋吗?”
“That’s an easy thing to say,” she said. “Come on, now, Stanley. I’ve taught you better than that, haven’t I?” She pulled a beer up from where we’d set them on the ground and cracked the flip top as she balanced it against her hip. “It takes one to know one, right? Do you think Derrick is gay?”
我不想回答这个问题。因为答案是肯定的,我确实和她一样想。德里克和杰夫,似乎……杰夫没有理由成为德里克的仆人。他没有理由像对待德里克的奴隶一样开车带她到处转。没有理由,除非他非常爱德里克。而且,德里克酗酒的原因可能是,尽管和凯蒂在一起,但他也爱着杰夫。也许他害怕在她面前失去她,因为他对她没有任何感觉,尽管他想,或者他知道如果她知道他是同性恋,她会离开他,他就必须面对同性恋的现实。
I didn’t want to answer this. Because the answer was yes, I did think what she did. Derrick and Geoff, seemed, well … Geoff had no reason to be Derrick’s apparent servant. He had no reason to just drive her around like he was Derrick’s slave. No reason, that is, unless he was desperately in love with Derrick. And it made sense, too, that maybe the reason Derrick drank so much was that, despite being with Katie, he was in love with Geoff also. That perhaps he feared losing her while he was in front of her because he couldn’t feel anything for her, despite wanting to, or knew that if she knew he was gay, she’d leave him and he’d have to face being gay.
是的,他们可能只是最好的朋友。但其中有些非常悲伤的事情让这一切看起来似乎不仅仅是那样。一年后,毕业后,我回到田野参加一个聚会,无意中听到德里克醉醺醺地告诉杰夫他为他们安排了两个女孩,杰夫犹豫了。这让德里克说:“告诉我你不是同性恋,杰夫。告诉我你不是同性恋。”
Yes, they could just be best buds. But there was something terrifically sad about it that made it seem like it wasn’t just that. And a year later, after graduation, I would be back in the field for a party, overhearing Derrick drunkenly telling Geoff about two girls he had lined up for them, and Geoff balking. Which caused Derrick to say, “Tell me you’re not gay, Geoff. Tell me you’re not gay.”
然后一片沉默。然后:“告诉我你不是同性恋。告诉我你不是同性恋。”
And then silence. And then: “Tell me you’re not gay. Tell me you’re not gay.”
但目前我在这里,那事还没有发生,我听不到它。“没关系,你已经受够了,”凯蒂说。“别回答这个问题。他他妈的在哪儿?”
But for now I was here and that hadn’t happened, not where I could hear it. “It’s okay, you’ve been through enough,” Katie said. “Don’t answer that. Where the fuck is he?”
我问:“你为什么认为我是同性恋?”
“Why do you think I’m gay?” I asked.
“我冒犯你了吗?”她问道,这更像是一种肯定而不是疑问。
“Did I offend you?” she said, more of an assertion than a question.
“不,”我说,“我只是想知道。”
“No,” I said. “I just want to know.”
“你长得真帅,但身边却没有人管你,”她说,“我的意思是,你可能无性恋。我知道在疯狂的八十年代,无性恋很普遍。但我认为你是有性欲的。我只是觉得你还不喜欢这个问题的答案。”
“You’re an awfully good-looking guy to just not have anyone around doing anything about it,” she said. “I mean, you could be asexual. I understand that’s a thing now in the wild eighties. But I think you’re sexual. I just think you don’t like the answer to the question yet.”
我考虑过这个问题,但她是对的。
I thought about this, but she was right.
“我敢打赌,有人会喜欢这个答案的,”看到我沉默了一会儿后,她说道。
“I bet there’s people who like the answer, though,” she said, after watching me say nothing for a little bit.
当有人对我感兴趣时,我从来都不是一个能很快注意到的人。
I have never been one to notice quickly when someone was interested in me.
我可以告诉你,那晚之后,我再也无法回避自己是同性恋的事实。凯蒂确实让我兴奋不已,让我做了这件事,而且,我要为自己辩解,我当时只有十七岁。那么,很多人都能做到。想到杰夫和德里克,我就已经兴奋不已。而且,我知道这确实意味着什么;并不是说这对我来说毫无意义。恰恰相反。我确实想爱她,因为我觉得她值得被爱,甚至幻想过这意味着什么,她在一个英俊的幻想情人的怀抱里,当然,那个情人不是我。但我想我可以模仿他。
I can tell you, after that night, I could no longer avoid that I was gay. Katie had, it’s true, turned me on sufficiently that I did the deed, and, in my defense, I was seventeen. A lot could, then. I was already turned on by the thought of Geoff and Derrick. Also, I knew that it did mean something; it wasn’t that it didn’t mean anything, her and I. Quite the opposite. I did want to love her as I felt she deserved to be loved, and even had a fantasy about what that meant, her in the arms of a handsome fantasy lover that was not, of course, me. But I thought I could impersonate him.
做完这件事后,我感到非常尴尬,就像我说了一个最不可思议、最受人欢迎的谎言,以为自己作为一个异性恋者表现得非常出色。但我明白,我并没有这样做,因为凯蒂抬头看着我,笑了起来。
After the deed was done, I was incredibly embarrassed, like I’d told the most incredible, well-received lie, thinking I’d performed admirably as a heterosexual. I hadn’t, though, I understood, as Katie looked up at me with laughter.
“好吧……现在我们知道了,”凯蒂说。“我们再也不会这样做了。”我松了一口气,我们开始大笑,浑身颤抖,直到停下,在田野里,在我从车后座拉出的毯子上。
“Well … now we know,” Katie said. “Let’s never do that again.” I was so relieved, we just started to laugh, shaking until we stopped, there in the field, on the blanket I had pulled out from the back of the car.
比我们做爱时笑得更开心。
Happier laughing than we had been during sex.
我们离开后回家了。那天晚上杰夫和德里克不见了,在下一个班次,我听凯蒂向我讲述了她和德里克的争吵。听着她讲述,我注意到我们现在更亲近了,但那是一种共同的伤痛的亲近,而不是爱的亲密。但同时,我从来没有一个朋友像她那样和我说话。镇上的大多数孩子都不把我当人看,因为我是唯一一个韩国孩子。她是那里唯一一个为我付出这么多时间的人,现在,她知道我是同性恋,并接受了这一点,使她成为全世界唯一真正了解我的人。
We left and went home. Geoff and Derrick were never found that night, and on the next shift I listened as Katie filled me in on the fight she had had with Derrick. As she did, I noticed we were closer now, but it was the closeness of a shared hurt, not the intimacy of love. But also, I had never had a friend who talked to me the way she did. Most of the kids in the town didn’t treat me like a person, for being the one Korean kid. She was the only one there who had ever made this much time for me, and now, knowing I was gay, and accepting it, made her the only person who really knew me in the entire world.
我在那里的剩余时间里,我们一直这样,除了我们之外,还有很多事情要考虑,比如杰夫和德里克那天晚上去哪儿了。或者几天后,她和德里克怎么就没事了。后来她感觉不舒服,然后她把验孕试纸塞到柜台上给我,我帮她结账,第二天她来上班时,答案就在她的眼睛里。
We continued this way for the rest of my time there, and there was a lot to think about besides us, like just where Geoff and Derrick had been that night. Or how, a few days later, she and Derrick were fine. And then she wasn’t feeling well, and then she was slipping the pregnancy test over the counter at me and I rang it up for her, and when she came in to work the next day, the answer was in her eyes.
我认为,我们之间达成了心照不宣的共识,那就是我们忘掉了彼此之间发生的一切。或者至少我们其中一人是这么做的。
By what I thought was an unspoken agreement, we put it out of our minds, what had happened between us. Or at least one of us did.
我一直想给她写信,但从未写过。我当时的所有朋友都是这样。当时我在旧金山上大学,加州艺术学院。我终于遇到了一些男生,他们会看着我的眼睛,一边对我眨眼睛一边约我出去。我的种族在那里并不奇怪,我有很多和我一样的朋友。有时我甚至真的很普通。在可以做回自己的人身边,我的怨恨就少了,写信回家……嗯,感觉就像回信意味着要把我留下的哪怕一点点都从我过去的生活和新生活之间筑起的墙里释放出来。所以我从来没有这样做过。
I always meant to write to her but I never did. This was true in regard to all my friends from back then. I was off at college in San Francisco, the California College of the Arts. I was finally meeting guys who would look me in the eye and ask me out while they twinkled at me. My ethnicity was not weird there and I had many friends who shared it. I was even at times really ordinary. I grew less bitter in the company of people I could be myself with, and writing home … well, it felt as if to reach back meant letting even a little of what I had left behind through the wall I had put up between my old life and my new one. And so I never did.
后来,当人们认为这可能是杰夫的孩子时,她翻了个白眼。“他们会的,”凯蒂说。“他们他妈的会的。”
Later, when people thought it was maybe Geoff’s baby, she rolled her eyes. “They would,” Katie said. “They fucking would.”
她看了我一会儿。“他让杰夫开车,并不意味着他真的让他开车。”我们为此大笑起来,然后笑得更厉害,然后笑得更厉害,直到我们很快就躲在柜台后面,因为我们笑个不停。
She looked at me for a minute. “Just because he let Geoff do the driving doesn’t mean he let him do the driving.” We laughed about that one pretty hard, and then harder, and then even harder, until soon we hid behind the counter, because we could not stop laughing.
“这都是你的错,”当她最终跑到卫生间换裤子时,她说。事实证明,怀孕时很容易在大笑时发生小意外。那时我们就像老朋友一样。我已经工作了五个月。我的薪水很少,但我知道,每当我下班回家,把蓝白相间的 CVS 背心放在厨房的吧台凳上时,我妈妈都会感觉好一些。而我,我感到一种不同的自豪,因为我是学校里最大的丑闻的内幕人士,而这个丑闻已经不再是我了。凯蒂的怀孕对我来说很有趣,之所以成为丑闻,部分原因是她不仅宣布了怀孕,而且对此毫无羞耻感:“什么?”她说,她决定分享这个消息。“好像你们都不知道一样?”然后她说,“我也要保留它。”在她大三的年鉴照片中,她甚至争取到展示怀孕多久的权利,尽管她失败了。德里克提出要娶她,但她拒绝了,并与他分手了。
“This is your fault,” she said when she eventually ran to the bathroom to change her pants. It turns out when you are pregnant it is easy to have a little accident while laughing. By then we were like old friends. I was five months into the job. My checks were tiny, but I knew my mother felt better every time she watched me come in from work and put my blue and white CVS vest on the barstool in the kitchen. And I, I felt a different kind of pride for being on the inside of the biggest scandal at school, which was no longer me. Katie’s pregnancy was interesting to me, a scandal partly because she not only announced it, she had no apparent shame about it: “What?” she said, of her decision to share the news. “Like you all weren’t gonna know?” And then she said, “I’m keeping it, too.” In her junior year photo for the yearbook, she even fought for the right to show how far along she was, though she lost. Derrick offered to marry her, but she turned him down and broke up with him.
我认为她这样做是错误的,但我也认为这样做很美。这让我很困惑,但也让这件事显得很重要。我还年轻,这是我第一次有这样的经历。我很快就后悔认为这是错误的。但我也毕业了,除了听说她把儿子放进照片里后,我再也没有看过第二年的毕业纪念册。我打开它看了一次。我记得她看起来很开心,很自豪。她的小男孩很可爱,但也只是一个长着头发的小肿块,是小照片中最小的部分。就是这样。
I thought it was wrong of her to do, but I also thought it was beautiful. This confused me but also made it seem important. I was young, and it was my first time having that experience. I soon regretted thinking it was wrong. But I also graduated, and I never checked the next year’s yearbook except after hearing she’d gotten her son into the photo. I opened it up to look at it once. She looked happy and proud, I remember. Her baby boy was cute, but also just a bump with hair, the smallest part of a small photo. That was about it.
她的哥哥似乎对此一无所知。我们在 Shaw 家附近的酒吧里坐下来聊天,中间有几次尴尬的沉默。我一度担心他的妹妹已经死了——担心我会以某种我无法忍受的方式发现这件事。但他却掏出钱包,给我看了她最近发来的她和她儿子的照片。
Her brother didn’t seem to know much about this at all. At the bar we found near Shaw’s, we sat and talked amid several awkward silences. I worried that his sister was dead at one point — that I would find out in some way I couldn’t bear. But instead he pulled out his wallet and showed me the picture she’d sent recently of her and her son.
“他很可爱,”我说。
“He’s cute,” I said.
“是的。他是。他看上去不太白,对吧?”
“Yeah. He is. He looks like he’s not quite white, right?”
我眯起眼睛。“也许是美洲原住民,”我说道。
I squinted. “Native American, maybe,” I said.
“我也是这么想的!但她不肯说出孩子的父亲是谁,说实话,我妹妹就像奥运会一样:向全世界开放!”他说着,做了一个欢迎的手势,然后像疯子一样大笑起来。我放了一会儿,然后,我出其不意地打了他一拳,让他从凳子上飞了起来,这举动让我和他都很惊讶。
“That’s what I was thinking! But she won’t say who the dad is, and honestly, my sister is like the Olympics: open to countries from around the world!” he said, making a welcoming gesture and then laughing like a maniac. I let it go for a moment and then, in a move that surprised both me and him, I sucker punched him, and it sent him flying off his stool.
我不知道你是否知道,出拳时,你会有怎样的感觉。这需要某种不情愿的愤怒和伪装。你必须装作不在乎,因为如果你退缩,如果你发出最轻微的信号,那就完了。然而,这样做很残忍,因为受害者永远不会预料到,尽管通常接受者活该。但再次说明,我经常对自己撒谎,以便对自己的生活感觉更好。我等着他,在他开玩笑的时候什么也没说,因为出于某种类似科学的好奇心,我想听听他接下来会说什么,当他说完这句话时,我的行动方针就很明确了。
I don’t know if you know about how a sucker punch feels to set up and throw. It takes a certain kind of grudging anger and pretense. You have to act like you don’t care, because if you flinch, if you emit the slightest signal, it is off. It’s a cruel thing to do, though, as the victim never sees it coming, though usually the recipient deserves it. But again, to be clear, I lie to myself a lot so as to feel better about my life. I had waited for him and said nothing during his little joke, because out of something like scientific curiosity I wanted to hear what he would say next, and when he said it, my course of action was clear.
他摇摇头,鼻子里流着血,惊讶地眨着眼睛。我当时在握着我的手,因为打人确实很疼。
He shook his head, whipping blood from his nose around him, blinking in surprise. I was shaking my hand, because, well, it hurts to punch someone.
所以,是的,她哥哥是个混蛋,但这不是我打他的原因。我打他是因为看到那张照片,我突然知道了一些事情,一些我从未让自己相信的事情,一次也没有,从来没有,从来都没有。也许这甚至是她一边说“这都是你的错”一边抱着肚子跑到 CVS 后面,跑向卫生间时的意思。照片上的男孩,他长得像我爸爸。像我。那孩子是我的。
So, yes, her brother was a dick, but that wasn’t why I punched him. I punched him because I suddenly knew something, looking at the photo, something I hadn’t let myself believe, not even once, not ever, this whole time. Maybe it was even what she meant when she said “This is your fault” as she ran to the back of the CVS, holding her belly, running to the bathroom. The boy in that photo, he looked like my dad. Like me. The kid was mine.
“你本可以说些什么的,”我说。
“You could have said something,” I said.
“你可以问的,”凯蒂说。她仍然像以前一样拿着香烟。她注意到我注意到了,并说:“我只在他上学的时候才抽烟。”我们在等他回家。她笑了。她仍然在 CVS 工作,但她现在是药剂师。她做得很好。
“You could have asked,” Katie said. She still held her cigarettes the same way. She noticed me noticing and said of it, “I only smoke while he’s at school.” We were waiting for him to come home. She smiled. She still worked at the CVS, but she was the pharmacist now. She’d done well for herself.
“那我该怎么办呢?嫁给镇上的同性恋吗?不。不。绝不可能。”她弹了弹烟灰。“如果你不这么认为,那你就太过分了。”
“And what was I to do, marry the town gay? No. No. It was never going to be like that.” She flicked her ash. “You’re high if you think otherwise.”
我听后不由得笑了起来。打断凯蒂的哥哥并不是得到她地址的最佳方式,但他明白后就把地址给了我并道了歉。“你这个混蛋真是太卑鄙了,我承认,”我们握手时他说。
I laughed at that against my will. Punching out Katie’s brother hadn’t been the greatest way to get her address, but once he understood, he’d given it to me and apologized. “You got a mean sucker punch for a faggot, I’ll give you that,” he said as we shook hands on it.
现在我仍在试图生她的气,因为她没有告诉我,但是我太高兴见到她了,而且知道我所知道的事情后,我感到太内疚了。
Now I was still trying to be mad at her, for not telling me, but I was also too happy to see her and too guilty, knowing what I knew.
“你永远都不会留在这里,”她说。“我也不会强迫你留在这里。我很高兴你现在在这里,但你得明白,在得知德里克和杰夫的事情后,我再也不想见到你们中的任何一个人了。”她把香烟扔进烟灰缸,然后转身走进屋子,把它扔到水槽下面。我跟着她。
“You were never going to stay here,” she said. “And I wasn’t going to make you. I’m glad you’re here now, but understand, after what I learned about Derrick and Geoff, I never wanted to see any of you again.” She pushed her cigarette out into an ashtray, then turned and walked into the house to run it under the sink and throw it away. I followed her.
她告诉我,毕业后,德里克和杰夫一起去了加利福尼亚,他们用积蓄买了一套公寓,德里克上学,杰夫在一家体育用品店工作,供他生活。他们最终结婚了——杰夫对婚姻的忠诚和德里克的犹豫不决的秘密已经不复存在了。
She told me about how, after graduation, Derrick and Geoff left for California together, where they bought a condo with money they’d saved, and Derrick went to school while Geoff worked at a sporting goods shop and supported him. They eventually got married — the secret to Geoff’s devotion and Derrick’s hesitancy a secret no more.
然后我告诉她我是如何成为一名职业同性恋的,可以说,自从我离开后,我就一直在同性恋企业、同性恋媒体工作。我有过男朋友;最后,我有一个男人,然后我失去了他。我又有了另一个,也失去了他。后来又找到了另一个,到回家的路上,他仍然在我身边。她在门廊上抽烟,向我讲述了她和她曾经有过、失去过、又拥有过的男人的情况;他们离婚了,现在又开始约会了。
I then told her about how I became a professional gay, as it were, working inside of gay businesses, for gay media, for my life since I went away. I had had boyfriends; finally, I had a man, and then I lost him. Had another, lost him too. Found another, still had him, as of the trip back home. She smoked on her stoop and filled me in on her and on the man she’d had and lost and had again; they had divorced and now were dating again.
我一直在想象我稍后要给我妈妈和男朋友打电话。结果发现,我是个父亲,这似乎不太合适。到目前为止,我对未来生活的设想中没有一个孩子,一个我自己的儿子。这不是我为自己计划的,这一切让我感觉我几乎无法照顾自己,更不用说照顾别人了。然后公共汽车停了下来,当我等着他出现在我眼前时,我内心一片寂静,直到那时我所有的一切都消失了。
All the while, I tried to imagine the call I was going to make later, to my mother, as well as my boyfriend. Turns out I’m a dad seemed like not quite the right tone to strike. My idea of my life going forward up until now had no room for a child, a son of my own. This was nothing I had planned for myself, and it all made me feel like I was barely able to take care of myself, much less anyone else. The bus stopped then, and as I waited for him to come into view, there was a silence in me into which everything I had been until then vanished.
我不记得有我像他这么大时拍过的视频,但我确信他过马路时我认得他的步态。我十四岁的儿子,凯蒂给那个文静、英俊的孩子取名为布默,他自信满满,但又略带忧伤,就像我一样,和我父亲一模一样。
I don’t think there’s any video of me from when I was his age, but I’m pretty sure that as he crossed the street I knew his walk. My fourteen-year-old son, the quiet, good-looking kid Katie had named Boomer, confident but with a slight sad streak of the kind that ran through me as well, the spitting image of me and my dad.
我努力想着如何解释见到他时的感受。站在他面前,凯蒂说:“这是你爸爸。”我想着我还没有准备好忍受他对我的审视,即使我突然拥抱了他,我知道他不确定他是否喜欢。
I am trying to think of how I can explain how it was to meet him. To stand in front of him and for Katie to say, “This is your father.” Me thinking of how I wasn’t ready to suffer his scrutiny of me, even as I found myself holding him in a sudden hug I knew he wasn’t sure he liked.
但直到我和他以及凯蒂一起走进我母亲的房子,看到我母亲的眼睛,看到我和这位在我离开去上大学后多年来一直为她配药的老朋友,我才明白我做了什么。我告诉过我的母亲要寻找它,要为此做好准备,但当她看到我在布默身上看到的东西时,我几乎说不出任何介绍的话,然后一切都不重要了,我的儿子很善良,而一个他不认识的女人在他肩上哭泣,轻轻地摇着他,用韩语轻声说话,自从我还是个孩子以来,我从来没有听她说过这些话。对她来说,这是一个新名字:sonja。孙子。
But only when I walked into my mother’s house with him and Katie and saw my mom’s eyes, me with this old friend she’d had filling her prescriptions for all the years after I’d left for college, did I understand what I had done. I had told my mother to look for it, to prepare for it, but when she saw what I’d seen right away in Boomer, I could barely get the words out for introductions and then it didn’t matter, my son being kind while a woman he didn’t know wept on his shoulder, gently rocking him from side to side, speaking softly, in Korean, words I hadn’t heard her say since I was a boy. And a new one for her: sonja. Grandson.
凯蒂对她很好,等了一会儿才静静地走过去,让她的儿子看到她。我们的儿子?我想直到那时我才知道家庭是什么,或者可以是什么,尽管我一直生活在家庭里。那是你为了保护你所爱的人免受时间和世界的蹂躏而建立的东西,不管怎样,它们都会把你所爱的人引向毁灭和死亡。我母亲一直呆在这里,尽管她很孤独。她和我父亲是我们镇上唯一的一对韩国夫妇,后来她失去了他。只有我。然后我离开了。我父亲埋葬在那里,她从未再婚。她接受了我是同性恋,以及我不生孩子的决定。不知何故,我以为这意味着我们没事了,然而,所有这些都让我看不清父亲去世造成的直接和强制的分离是如何在她或我身上都没有治愈的,也许一点也没有。我不知道她还有多么想念他。我经常不让自己感受到我做了多少。然而,当我妈妈伏在 Boomer 的肩膀上哭泣时,我知道我终于以正确的方式伤了她的心,而这么多年之前我以错误的方式伤了她的心。我给这个世界带来了一些东西,我们俩永远不会承认我们需要它,直到他就在我们面前。
Katie was kind to her, and waited before quietly walking over so her son could see her. Our son? I don’t think I knew until then what a family was or could be, despite having been in one all this time. That it was something you built to keep what you could of what you loved from the depredations of time and the world and how they would lead all you loved to ruin and death, no matter what. My mother had stayed here all this time, despite how alone she was. She and my father had been the only Korean couple in our town, and then she was without him. Just with me. And then I left. My father was buried there, and she had never remarried. She had accepted my being gay, and my decision not to have children. Somehow I had thought this meant we were okay, and yet all of this had obscured for me how the blunt and forcible separations caused by my father’s death were not healed, maybe not even a little, in her or in me. I didn’t know how much she still missed him. I often didn’t let myself feel how much I did. As my mom wept on Boomer’s shoulder, though, I knew I’d finally broken her heart the right way after breaking it the wrong way all those years ago. I had brought something into the world that neither of us was ever going to admit we needed, not until he was right in front of us.
我不知道也知道很多事情,比如我和凯蒂要如何处理这件事,她是否会让我做我可能做的三件事,她是否准备好让布默有一位祖母,而且就在我身边,还有我的家人。但就在那时,当我看到妈妈放开布默,转过身来对我微笑时,我眼前看到的是,这是我的惩罚,我在 CVS 度过的时光——这从来都不是因为她对我的事故、对汽车和墙壁的损坏而感到愤怒,甚至不是因为她的耻辱。这一切都是因为……在她失去了我的父亲之后,我怎么能如此粗心大意?我怎么能假装我不会死?
There was a lot I didn’t know and would come to know, about how Katie and I were going to manage this, or whether she would even let me do the three things I could probably do, or if she was ready for Boomer to have a grandmother, and one so close by, and my family in the bargain too. But just then, what stared out at me as I watched my mom let go of Boomer and turn to me, and smile, was that my punishment, my time at the CVS — this had never been about her anger at my accident and the damage to the car and the wall, or even her shame. It was all because … How could I be so careless, after she had lost my dad? How could I act like I could not die?
[2018]
[2018]
[生于 1967 年]
[b. 1967]
人类利用阿雷西博望远镜寻找外星智慧生物。他们建立联系的愿望如此强烈,以至于他们创造了一只能够听到宇宙中的声音的耳朵。
The humans use Areciboa to look for extraterrestrial intelligence. Their desire to make a connection is so strong that they’ve created an ear capable of hearing across the universe.
但我和我的鹦鹉伙伴们就在这里。为什么它们不感兴趣听我们的声音呢?
But I and my fellow parrots are right here. Why aren’t they interested in listening to our voices?
我们是能够与它们沟通的非人类物种,这不正是人类所寻找的吗?
We’re a nonhuman species capable of communicating with them. Aren’t we exactly what humans are looking for?
宇宙如此浩瀚,智慧生命必定曾多次出现。宇宙也如此古老,甚至一个科技物种也有足够的时间扩张并填满整个星系。然而,除了地球以外,任何地方都没有生命迹象。人类称之为费米悖论。
The universe is so vast that intelligent life must surely have arisen many times. The universe is also so old that even one technological species would have had time to expand and fill the galaxy. Yet there is no sign of life anywhere except on Earth. Humans call this the Fermi paradox.
费米悖论的一个解决方案是,智慧物种会主动隐藏自己的存在,以避免成为敌对入侵者的目标。
One proposed solution to the Fermi paradox is that intelligent species actively try to conceal their presence, to avoid being targeted by hostile invaders.
作为一个几乎被人类逼到灭绝的物种的成员,我可以证明这是一个明智的策略。
Speaking as a member of a species that has been driven nearly to extinction by humans, I can attest that this is a wise strategy.
保持安静并避免引起注意是有道理的。
It makes sense to remain quiet and avoid attracting attention.
费米悖论有时被称为“大寂静”。宇宙本应充满嘈杂的声音,但事实却是令人不安的安静。
The Fermi paradox is sometimes known as the Great Silence. The universe ought to be a cacophony of voices, but instead it’s disconcertingly quiet.
有些人认为,智慧物种在能够向外太空扩张之前就已经灭绝了。如果他们是对的,那么夜空的寂静就如同墓地的寂静。
Some humans theorize that intelligent species go extinct before they can expand into outer space. If they’re correct, then the hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard.
几百年前,我们族群繁衍生息,里奥阿巴霍森林里回荡着我们的声音。现在我们几乎消失了。很快这片雨林可能就会变得和宇宙其他地方一样寂静。
Hundreds of years ago, my kind was so plentiful that the Río Abajo Forestb resounded with our voices. Now we’re almost gone. Soon this rainforest may be as silent as the rest of the universe.
有一只名叫亚历克斯的非洲灰鹦鹉。它因认知能力强而闻名。也就是说,它在人类中很出名。
There was an African grey parrot named Alex. He was famous for his cognitive abilities. Famous among humans, that is.
一位名叫艾琳·佩珀伯格的人类研究员花了三十年时间研究亚历克斯。她发现亚历克斯不仅知道形状和颜色的单词,而且他实际上理解形状和颜色的概念。
A human researcher named Irene Pepperberg spent thirty years studying Alex. She found that not only did Alex know the words for shapes and colors, he actually understood the concepts of shape and color.
许多科学家都怀疑鸟类能否掌握抽象概念。人类则认为鸟类是独一无二的。但佩珀伯格最终说服了他们,亚历克斯不仅仅是在重复单词,他知道自己在说什么。
Many scientists were skeptical that a bird could grasp abstract concepts. Humans like to think they’re unique. But eventually Pepperberg convinced them that Alex wasn’t just repeating words, that he understood what he was saying.
在我的所有表兄弟中,亚历克斯是最接近被人类认真对待作为交流伙伴的一个。
Out of all my cousins, Alex was the one who came closest to being taken seriously as a communication partner by humans.
亚历克斯突然去世,当时他还很年轻。去世前一天晚上,亚历克斯对佩珀伯格说:“你要乖。我爱你。”
Alex died suddenly, when he was still relatively young. The evening before he died, Alex said to Pepperberg, “You be good. I love you.”
如果人类正在寻求与非人类智慧的联系,那么他们还能要求什么呢?
If humans are looking for a connection with a nonhuman intelligence, what more can they ask for than that?
每只鹦鹉都有一种独特的叫声来识别自己;生物学家将此称为鹦鹉的“接触叫声”。
Every parrot has a unique call that it uses to identify itself; biologists refer to this as the parrot’s “contact call.”
1974 年,天文学家利用阿雷西博向外太空发送了一条信息,旨在展示人类的智慧。这是人类的联络电话。
In 1974, astronomers used Arecibo to broadcast a message into outer space intended to demonstrate human intelligence. That was humanity’s contact call.
在野外,鹦鹉会用名字来称呼彼此。一只鹦鹉会模仿另一只鹦鹉的联络声来引起另一只鹦鹉的注意。
In the wild, parrots address each other by name. One bird imitates another’s contact call to get the other bird’s attention.
如果人类能够探测到发回地球的阿雷西博信息,他们就会知道有人在试图引起他们的注意。
If humans ever detect the Arecibo message being sent back to Earth, they will know someone is trying to get their attention.
鹦鹉是声音学习者:我们听到新声音后就能学会发出新声音。很少有动物拥有这种能力。狗可能听懂几十条命令,但它除了吠叫什么也不会做。
Parrots are vocal learners: we can learn to make new sounds after we’ve heard them. It’s an ability that few animals possess. A dog may understand dozens of commands, but it will never do anything but bark.
人类也是声音学习者。我们有共同点。因此,人类和鹦鹉与声音有着特殊的关系。我们不会简单地叫喊。我们会发音。我们会清晰地表达。
Humans are vocal learners too. We have that in common. So humans and parrots share a special relationship with sound. We don’t simply cry out. We pronounce. We enunciate.
也许这就是人类建造阿雷西博望远镜的原因。接收器不一定是发射器,但阿雷西博兼具两者。它是一只用来倾听的耳朵,也是一张用来说话的嘴巴。
Perhaps that’s why humans built Arecibo the way they did. A receiver doesn’t have to be a transmitter, but Arecibo is both. It’s an ear for listening, and a mouth for speaking.
人类与鹦鹉共同生活了数千年,直到最近人们才意识到我们可能具有智慧。
Humans have lived alongside parrots for thousands of years, and only recently have they considered the possibility that we might be intelligent.
我想我不能责怪它们。我们鹦鹉过去认为人类不太聪明。很难理解与你自己的行为如此不同的行为。
I suppose I can’t blame them. We parrots used to think humans weren’t very bright. It’s hard to make sense of behavior that’s so different from your own.
但鹦鹉与人类的相似度比任何外星物种都要高,而且人类可以近距离观察我们;它们可以直视我们的眼睛。如果它们只能在一百光年之外偷听,它们又怎么能认出外星智慧生物呢?
But parrots are more similar to humans than any extraterrestrial species will be, and humans can observe us up close; they can look us in the eye. How do they expect to recognize an alien intelligence if all they can do is eavesdrop from a hundred light-years away?
“aspiration” 既表示希望,又表示呼吸,这并非巧合。
It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing.
当我们说话时,我们用肺部的呼吸将我们的想法具体化。我们发出的声音既是我们的意图,也是我们的生命力。
When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force.
我言故我存。像鹦鹉和人类这样的声音学习者可能是唯一能够完全理解这一真理的生物。
I speak, therefore I am. Vocal learners, like parrots and humans, are perhaps the only ones who fully comprehend the truth of this.
用嘴巴发出声音会带来一种乐趣。这种乐趣是如此原始和本能,以至于在整个人类历史中,人类都认为这种活动是通往神灵的途径。
There’s a pleasure that comes with shaping sounds with your mouth. It’s so primal and visceral that throughout their history, humans have considered the activity a pathway to the divine.
毕达哥拉斯神秘主义者认为元音代表天体的音乐,并通过吟唱来从中获取力量。
Pythagorean mystics believed that vowels represented the music of the spheres, and chanted to draw power from them.
五旬节派基督徒相信,当他们说方言时,他们说的是天堂天使使用的语言。
Pentecostal Christians believe that when they speak in tongues, they’re speaking the language used by angels in Heaven.
婆罗门印度教徒相信通过念诵咒语,他们可以加强现实的基石。
Brahmin Hindus believe that by reciting mantras, they’re strengthening the building blocks of reality.
只有声音学习者才会在神话中如此重视声音。我们鹦鹉能体会到这一点。
Only a species of vocal learners would ascribe such importance to sound in their mythologies. We parrots can appreciate that.
根据印度神话,宇宙是用“Om”这个声音创造的。这个音节包含了过去存在的一切以及未来将要存在的一切。
According to Hindu mythology, the universe was created with a sound: “Om.” It’s a syllable that contains within it everything that ever was and everything that will be.
当阿雷西博望远镜指向恒星之间的空间时,它会听到微弱的嗡嗡声。
When the Arecibo telescope is pointed at the space between stars, it hears a faint hum.
天文学家称之为“宇宙微波背景”。它是 140 亿年前创造宇宙的大爆炸的残留辐射。
Astronomers call that the “cosmic microwave background.” It’s the residual radiation of the Big Bang, the explosion that created the universe fourteen billion years ago.
但你也可以把它看作是原始“Om”的几乎听不见的回响。这个音节如此共鸣,只要宇宙存在,夜空就会持续震动。
But you can also think of it as a barely audible reverberation of that original “Om.” That syllable was so resonant that the night sky will keep vibrating for as long as the universe exists.
当阿雷西博没有聆听任何其他声音时,它听到了创造的声音。
When Arecibo is not listening to anything else, it hears the voice of creation.
我们波多黎各鹦鹉有自己的神话。它们比人类的神话简单,但我认为人类会从中获得乐趣。
We Puerto Rican parrots have our own myths. They’re simpler than human mythology, but I think humans would take pleasure from them.
唉,随着我们这个物种的灭绝,我们的神话也随之消失。我怀疑人类在我们灭绝之前是否能破译我们的语言。
Alas, our myths are being lost as my species dies out. I doubt the humans will have deciphered our language before we’re gone.
所以,我们这个物种的灭绝不仅仅意味着一群鸟类的消失。这也意味着我们的语言、我们的仪式、我们的传统的消失。这意味着我们的声音被噤声了。
So the extinction of my species doesn’t just mean the loss of a group of birds. It’s also the disappearance of our language, our rituals, our traditions. It’s the silencing of our voice.
人类的活动已经把我们的种族推向了灭绝的边缘,但我并不为此责怪他们。他们这样做并不是出于恶意。他们只是没有注意到而已。
Human activity has brought my kind to the brink of extinction, but I don’t blame them for it. They didn’t do it maliciously. They just weren’t paying attention.
人类创造了如此美丽的神话,他们拥有多么丰富的想象力啊。也许这就是他们志向如此远大的原因。看看阿雷西博。任何能够建造这样东西的物种都一定具有伟大的品质。
And humans create such beautiful myths; what imagination they have. Perhaps that’s why their aspirations are so immense. Look at Arecibo. Any species that can build such a thing must have greatness within it.
我的物种可能活不了多久了;我们很可能会过早死去,加入大寂静。但在我们离开之前,我们要向人类发出一个信息。我们只是希望阿雷西博的望远镜能让他们听到这个信息。
My species probably won’t be here for much longer; it’s likely that we’ll die before our time and join the Great Silence. But before we go, we are sending a message to humanity. We just hope the telescope at Arecibo will enable them to hear it.
信息如下:
The message is this:
你要做个好孩子。我爱你。
You be good. I love you.
[2016]
[2016]
a阿雷西博:位于波多黎各阿雷西博的国家天文学和电离层中心的射电望远镜和设施。
aArecibo: A radio telescope and facility of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
b里奥阿巴霍森林:波多黎各的一处森林保护区,这里是极度濒危的鹦鹉物种的栖息地。
bRío Abajo Forest: A forest preserve in Puerto Rico that is home to a critically endangered species of parrot.
[生于 1968 年]
[b. 1968]
妈妈最小的妹妹——我的外祖母——那年终于来到了美国。她和米格尔叔叔在布朗克斯大广场附近租了一套公寓,大家都决定我们应该开个派对。其实是我爸爸决定的,但每个人——包括妈妈、外祖母、米格尔叔叔和他们的邻居——都认为这是一个好主意。派对那天星期五,爸爸六点左右下班回家。正好。那时我们都穿好了衣服,这是我们的明智之举。如果爸爸进来发现我们穿着内衣闲逛,天哪,他肯定会狠狠地揍我们一顿。
Mami’s youngest sister — my Tía Yrma — finally made it to the United States that year. She and Tío Miguel got themselves an apartment in the Bronx, off the Grand Concourse, and everybody decided that we should have a party. Actually, my dad decided, but everybody — meaning Mami, Tía Yrma, Tío Miguel, and their neighbors — thought it a dope idea. On the Friday of the party Papi got back from work around six. Right on time. We were all dressed by then, which was a smart move on our part. If Papi had walked in and caught us lounging around in our underwear, man, he would have kicked our asses something serious.
他什么也没对任何人说,甚至对我妈妈也没有说。他只是从她身边挤过去,在她试图跟他说话时举起手,然后跳进淋浴间。拉法看了我一眼,我也回以同样的眼神;我们都知道爸爸和他约会的波多黎各女人出去了,他想尽快洗掉证据。
He didn’t say nothing to nobody, not even to my moms. He just pushed past her, held up his hand when she tried to talk to him, and jumped into the shower. Rafa gave me the look and I gave it back to him; we both knew Papi had been out with the Puerto Rican woman he was seeing and wanted to wash off the evidence quick.
妈妈那天看起来真的很漂亮。美国终于让她长胖了;她不再是三年前刚来这里的那个小混混了。她剪短了头发,戴着一堆廉价的珠宝,这些珠宝在她身上还挺吸引人的。她身上有她自己的气味,也就是说她闻起来很香,就像风吹过树梢。她总是等到最后一分钟才喷香水,因为她说早早喷上香水,然后到了派对现场又得喷一次,太浪费了。
Mami looked really nice that day. The United States had finally put some meat on her; she was no longer the same flaca who had arrived here three years before. She had cut her hair short and was wearing tons of cheap-ass jewelry, which on her was kinda attractive. She smelled like herself, which meant she smelled good, like the wind through a tree. She always waited until the last possible minute to put on her perfume because she said it was a waste to spray it on early and then have to spray it on again once you got to the party.
我们——包括我、弟弟、妹妹和妈妈——等着爸爸洗完澡。妈妈一如既往地冷漠,似乎有些焦虑。她的手一遍又一遍地调整着腰带扣。那天早上,当她叫我们起床去上学时,妈妈告诉我们,她想在派对上玩得开心。我想跳舞,她说,但现在,太阳像从墙上掉下来一样从天空中滑落,她似乎准备就此结束这一切。
We — meaning me, my brother, my little sister, and Mami — waited for Papi to finish his shower. Mami seemed anxious, in her usual dispassionate way. Her hands adjusted the buckle of her belt over and over again. That morning, when she had gotten us up for school, Mami told us that she wanted to have a good time at the party. I want to dance, she said, but now, with the sun sliding out of the sky like spit off a wall, she seemed ready to just get this over with.
拉法也不太想参加任何聚会,而我,从来不想和家人一起去任何地方。外面的停车场正在举行一场棒球比赛,我们听到朋友们互相喊着“嘿”,“你真烂”。我们听到球飞过汽车时发出的啪啪声,还有铝棒掉在水泥地上的咔嗒声。并不是说我和拉法喜欢棒球;我们只是喜欢和当地的孩子们一起玩,打他们做任何事情。从喊叫声中,我们都知道比赛很激烈,我们中的任何一个人都可以改变结果。拉法皱起了眉头,当我皱起眉头时,他举起了拳头。“你别照本宣科,”他说。
Rafa didn’t much want to go to no party either, and me, I never wanted to go anywhere with my family. There was a baseball game in the parking lot outside and we could hear our friends yelling, Hey, and, You suck, to one another. We heard the pop of a ball as it sailed over the cars, the clatter of an aluminum bat dropping to the concrete. Not that me or Rafa loved baseball; we just liked playing with the local kids, thrashing them at anything they were doing. By the sounds of the shouting, we both knew the game was close, either of us could have made a difference. Rafa frowned, and when I frowned back, he put up his fist. Don’t you mirror me, he said.
我说,你别模仿我。
Don’t you mirror me, I said.
他打了我一拳——我本想还手的,但就在这时,爸爸围着毛巾走进了客厅,看上去比穿好衣服时小了很多。他的乳头周围有几缕毛,嘴巴紧闭,表情很不高兴,好像他的舌头被烫伤了什么的。
He punched me — I would have hit him back but right then Papi marched into the living room with his towel around his waist, looking a lot smaller than he did when he was dressed. He had a few strands of hair around his nipples and a surly closed-mouth expression, like maybe he had scalded his tongue or something.
他们吃饭了吗?他问妈妈。
Have they eaten? he asked Mami.
她点点头。我给你做了点东西。
She nodded. I made you something.
你没有让他吃饭吧?
You didn’t let him eat, did you?
“天哪,”她说道,双臂垂在身侧。
Dios mio, she said, letting her arms fall to her side.
“天哪,我说得对,”爸爸说。
Dios mio is right, Papi said.
开车出行前我本不应该吃东西,但早些时候,当妈妈端出我们的晚餐——米饭、豆子和甜大蕉时,猜猜谁是第一个狼吞虎咽吃下饭菜的人?你真的不能责怪妈妈,她一直很忙——做饭、准备、给我妹妹玛黛穿衣服。我应该提醒她不要喂我,但我当时没想那么多。即使我这么做了,我也怀疑我会告诉她。
I was never supposed to eat before our car trips, but earlier, when she had put out our dinner of rice, beans, and sweet platanos, guess who had been the first one to gobble his meal down? You couldn’t blame Mami really, she had been busy — cooking, getting ready, dressing my sister Madai. I should have reminded her not to feed me but I hadn’t been thinking. Even if I had, I doubt I would have told her.
爸爸转过头问我。你为什么吃饭?
Papi turned to me. Why did you eat?
拉法已经离我远了一些。我曾经对他说,每次爸爸要打我的时候,他总是闪开,我觉得他是个卑鄙的胆小鬼。
Rafa had already inched away from me. I’d once told him I considered him a low-down chickenshit for moving out of the way every time Papi was going to smack me.
“附带损害,”他说。听说过吗?
Collateral damage, he said. Ever heard of it?
不。
No.
查一下。
Look it up.
不管是不是胆小鬼,当时我都不敢看他一眼。爸爸是个老派的人;他希望你照顾他,但不要在你被打屁股的时候盯着他的眼睛。我研究了爸爸的肚脐,它圆润无瑕。爸爸抓着我的耳朵把我拉起来。
Chickenshit or not, right then I didn’t dare glance at him. Papi was old-fashioned; he expected you to attend him, but not stare into his eyes, while you were getting your ass whupped. I studied Papi’s bellybutton, which was perfectly round and immaculate. Papi pulled me to my feet by my ear.
如果你呕吐——
If you throw up —
“我不会,”我说道,眼里噙满了泪水,更多的是出于反射而不是痛苦。
I won’t, I said, tears in my eyes, more out of reflex than pain.
“这不是他的错,”妈妈说,“我在提醒他们派对之前就已经喂饱他们了。”
It’s not his fault, Mami said. I fed them before I reminded them about the party.
他们早就知道这个派对了。他们认为我们怎么去那里?坐飞机?
They’ve known about this party forever. How did they think we were going to get there? Fly?
他终于放开了我的耳朵,我回到座位上。玛黛吓得不敢睁开眼睛。她一辈子都和爸爸在一起,这让她变成了一个胆小鬼。每当爸爸提高声音时,她的嘴唇就会开始颤抖,就像是某种特殊的音叉。拉法假装他有指关节可以掰,当我推他时,他给了我一个“别动手”的眼神。但即使是那么一点点的认可也让我感觉好多了。
He finally let go of my ear and I went back to my seat. Madai was too scared to open her eyes. Being around Papi all her life had turned her into a big-time wuss. Anytime Papi raised his voice her lip would start trembling, like it was some sort of specialized tuning fork. Rafa pretended that he had knuckles to crack, and when I shoved him, he gave me a Don’t start look. But even that little bit of recognition made me feel better.
我总是惹父亲生气。惹他生气,做他讨厌的事,这似乎是上帝赋予我的职责。其实,这并没有让我太过困扰。我仍然希望他爱我,直到多年后他离开我们的生活,这件事才显得奇怪或矛盾。
I was the one who was always in trouble with my dad. It was like my God-given role to piss him off, to do everything the way he hated. It didn’t bother me too much, really. I still wanted him to love me, something that never seemed strange or contradictory until years later, when he was out of our lives.
在我还没反应过来之前,爸爸已经穿好衣服,妈妈正严肃地在我们每个人身上画十字,就像我们要去打仗一样。我们依次说“祝福,妈妈”,妈妈一边说“上帝保佑你”,一边用手指戳我们的五穴。b
Before I knew it Papi was dressed and Mami was crossing each one of us, solemnly, like we were heading off to war. We said, in turn, Bendición,a Mami, and she poked us in our five cardinal spots while saying, Que Dios te bendiga.b
这就是我们每次旅行的开始,这些话每次我离开家时都跟随着我。
This was how we began all our trips, the words that followed me every time I left the house.
我们谁也没再说什么,直到上了爸爸的大众面包车。崭新的,黄绿色,买来是为了给人留下深刻印象。哦,我们确实很印象深刻,因为我们买不起大众面包车,不管是二手的还是新的,但我每次坐上那辆大众,爸爸开到二十英里每小时以上,我就会呕吐。我以前从来没有遇到过汽车故障,那辆面包车就像我的诅咒。妈妈怀疑是内饰的问题。在她看来,美国的东西——电器、漱口水、外观奇特的内饰——似乎都具有内在的糟糕之处。爸爸开着大众车带我去任何地方都很小心,但当他这样做的时候,比如那天晚上,我不得不坐在妈妈的常用座位上,这样我就可以吐出车窗外。
None of us said anything else until we were in Papi’s Volkswagen van. Brand new, lime green, bought to impress. Oh, we were impressed, considering we couldn’t afford no VW van, used or new, but me, each time I got in that VW and Papi went above twenty miles an hour, I vomited. I’d never had trouble with cars before, and that van was like my curse. Mami suspected it was the upholstery. In her mind, American things — appliances, mouthwash, funny-looking upholstery — all seemed to have an intrinsic badness. Papi was careful about taking me anywhere in the VW, but when he did, like that night, I had to ride up front in Mami’s usual seat so I could throw up out a window.
你还好吗?爸爸带我们上了收费公路,妈妈回头问我。她把手放在我的脖子上。妈妈有一点,即使她很紧张,手掌也从来不出汗。
You okay? Mami asked over my shoulder as Papi got us onto the turnpike. She had her hand on the small of my neck. One thing about Mami, even when she was nervous, her palms never sweated.
“我没事,”我说,眼睛直视前方。我绝对不想和爸爸对视。他那眼神既愤怒又犀利,总是让我心有余悸。
I’m okay, I said, keeping my eyes straight ahead. I definitely didn’t want to trade glances with Papi. He had this one look, furious and sharp, that always left me feeling bruised.
托玛。c妈妈递给我四颗薄荷糖。在我们旅行开始时,她从窗户扔出了几颗,作为对埃舒的祭品;d其余的都是给我的。妈妈认为这些糖果是治疗任何疾病的灵丹妙药。
Toma.c Mami handed me four mentas. She had thrown a few out her window at the beginning of our trip, an offering to Eshú;d the rest were for me. Mami considered these candies a cure-all for any disorder.
我拿起一片,慢慢地吮吸,用舌头将它敲打在牙齿上。一如既往,这很管用。我们平安无事地通过了纽瓦克机场。如果玛黛醒着,她会哭的,因为飞机飞得太靠近汽车了。
I took one and sucked it slowly, my tongue knocking it up against my teeth. As always, it helped. We passed Newark Airport without any incident. If Madai had been awake she would have cried because the planes flew so close to the cars.
“他感觉怎么样?”爸爸问道。
How’s he feeling? Papi asked.
好吧,我说。我回头看了看拉法,他假装没看见我。他就是这样,无论是在学校还是在家里。当我遇到麻烦时,他都不认识我。玛黛睡得很香,但即使她满脸皱纹、口水直流,她看起来也很可爱。
Fine, I said. I glanced back at Rafa and he pretended like he didn’t see me. That was the way he was, both at school and at home. When I was in trouble, he didn’t know me. Madai was solidly asleep, but even with her face all wrinkled up and drooling she looked cute.
我转过身,专心看着糖果。爸爸甚至开始开玩笑说,我们今晚可能不必把货车擦得一干二净。他开始放松下来,不再看手表。也许他在想那个波多黎各女人,或者他只是很高兴我们在一起。我永远也说不准。在收费站,他心情很好,真的下了车,在篮子下面寻找掉落的硬币。这是他曾经为了逗马黛开心而做的事情,但现在这已经成为习惯了。我们后面的汽车按响了喇叭,我滑坐在座位上。拉法不在乎;他只是对着其他车辆咧嘴一笑。他真正的工作是确保没有警察来。妈妈把马黛摇醒,当她看到爸爸弯腰去拿几个 25 美分硬币时,她发出一声高兴的尖叫,差点把我的头顶掀翻。
I turned around and concentrated on the candy. Papi even started to joke that we might not have to scrub the van out tonight. He was beginning to loosen up, not checking his watch too much. Maybe he was thinking about that Puerto Rican woman or maybe he was just happy that we were all together. I could never tell. At the toll, he was feeling positive enough to actually get out of the van and search around under the basket for dropped coins. It was something he had once done to amuse Madai, but now it was habit. Cars behind us honked their horns and I slid down in my seat. Rafa didn’t care; he just grinned back at the other cars. His actual job was to make sure no cops were coming. Mami shook Madai awake, and as soon as she saw Papi stooping for a couple of quarters she let out this screech of delight that almost took the top of my head off.
美好时光就此结束。刚走出华盛顿大桥,我就开始感到头晕。室内装饰品的味道在我脑中弥漫,我发现自己满嘴都是口水。妈妈的手紧紧抓住我的肩膀,当我看到爸爸的目光时,他说,没办法。别这么做。
That was the end of the good times. Just outside the Washington Bridge, I started feeling woozy. The smell of the upholstery got all up inside my head and I found myself with a mouthful of saliva. Mami’s hand tensed on my shoulder and when I caught Papi’s eye, he was like, No way. Don’t do it.
我第一次在货车里呕吐是在爸爸带我去图书馆的时候。拉法和我们在一起,他不敢相信我吐了。我以坚韧的胃而闻名。在第三世界长大的人也会有这种胃。爸爸很担心,拉法刚把书送来,我们就回家了。妈妈给我调了一碗蜂蜜洋葱汤,我的胃感觉好多了。一周后,我们又去了图书馆,这一次我没能及时打开窗户。爸爸把我送回家后,亲自去清理了货车,脸上露出了惊讶的表情。这可是个大问题,因为爸爸几乎从来不自己打扫任何东西。他回到屋里,发现我坐在沙发上;我感觉糟透了。
The first time I got sick in the van Papi was taking me to the library. Rafa was with us and he couldn’t believe I threw up. I was famous for my steel-lined stomach. A third-world childhood could give you that. Papi was worried enough that just as quick as Rafa could drop the books off we were on our way home. Mami fixed me one of her honey-and-onion concoctions and that made my stomach feel better. A week later we tried the library again, and on this go-around I couldn’t get the window open in time. When Papi got me home, he went and cleaned out the van himself, an expression of asco on his face. This was a big deal, since Papi almost never cleaned anything himself. He came back inside and found me sitting on the couch; I was feeling like hell.
他对妈妈说,是汽车让他感到恶心。
It’s the car, he said to Mami. It’s making him sick.
这次损坏很小,爸爸用水管一冲,门上的东西就被冲掉了。但他很生气;他用手指戳我的脸颊,狠狠地戳了一下。这就是他惩罚我的方式:富有想象力。那年早些时候,我在学校写了一篇名为“我的父亲是折磨者”的文章,但老师让我重新写一篇。她以为我在开玩笑。
This time the damage was pretty minimal, nothing Papi couldn’t wash off the door with a blast of the hose. He was pissed, though; he jammed his finger into my cheek, a nice solid thrust. That was the way he was with his punishments: imaginative. Earlier that year I’d written an essay in school called “My Father the Torturer,” but the teacher made me write a new one. She thought I was kidding.
我们一路沉默地开到了布朗克斯。我们只停了一次,让我刷牙。妈妈带了我的牙刷和一管牙膏,当所有汽车从我们身边疾驰而过时,她一直站在外面陪着我,这样我就不会感到孤独。
We drove the rest of the way to the Bronx in silence. We only stopped once, so I could brush my teeth. Mami had brought along my toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste and while every car known to man sped by us she stood outside with me so I wouldn’t feel alone.
米格尔叔叔身高约七英尺,头发向上梳成半蓬蓬头。他给了我和拉法一个大大的拥抱,然后亲吻了妈妈,最后把玛黛抱在肩上。我最后一次见到米格尔叔叔是在机场,那是他到美国的第一天。我记得他似乎并没有因为身处另一个国家而感到那么不安。
Tío Miguel was about seven feet tall and had his hair combed up and out, into a demi-’fro. He gave me and Rafa big spleen-crushing hugs and then kissed Mami and finally ended up with Madai on his shoulder. The last time I’d seen Tío was at the airport, his first day in the United States. I remembered how he hadn’t seemed all that troubled to be in another country.
他低头看着我。卡拉乔,尤尼尔,你们看上去太可怕了!
He looked down at me. Carajo, Yunior, you look horrible!
他吐了,我哥哥解释说。
He threw up, my brother explained.
我推了拉法一把。非常感谢,混蛋。
I pushed Rafa. Thanks a lot, ass-face.
“嘿,”他说。蒂奥问道。
Hey, he said. Tío asked.
叔叔拍了拍我的肩膀,就像一个泥瓦匠。每个人都会生病,他说。你应该看看我在这边飞机上的样子。我的天啊!他翻了翻亚洲人的小眼睛,强调道。我以为我们都会死。
Tío clapped a bricklayer’s hand on my shoulder. Everybody gets sick sometimes, he said. You should have seen me on the plane over here. Dios mio! He rolled his small Asian-looking eyes for emphasis. I thought we were all going to die.
每个人都看得出他在撒谎。我笑了笑,好像他这样能让我感觉好受些。
Everybody could tell he was lying. I smiled like he was making me feel better.
你要我给你拿点喝的吗?叔叔问。我们拿了啤酒和朗姆酒。
Do you want me to get you a drink? Tío asked. We got beer and rum.
“米格尔,”妈妈说。“他还年轻。”
Miguel, Mami said. He’s young.
年轻?如果回到圣多明各,他现在肯定已经和人上床了。
Young? Back in Santo Domingo, he’d be getting laid by now.
妈妈抿紧嘴唇,这需要花费一番功夫。
Mami thinned her lips, which took some doing.
嗯,确实如此,蒂奥说道。
Well, it’s true, Tío said.
所以,妈妈,我说,我什么时候可以去参观 DR?
So, Mami, I said, when do I get to go visit the D.R.?
够了,尤尼尔。
That’s enough, Yunior.
“这是你唯一能得到的小猫,”拉法用英语对我说。
It’s the only pussy you’ll ever get, Rafa said to me in English.
当然不包括你的女朋友。
Not counting your girlfriend, of course.
拉法笑了。他不得不承认这一点。
Rafa smiled. He had to give me that one.
爸爸停好货车走了进来。他和米格尔握手的方式让我的手指都变成了神奇面包。
Papi came in from parking the van. He and Miguel gave each other the sort of handshakes that would have turned my fingers into Wonder bread.
“好久不见,朋友,”叔叔说。
Long time, compa’i, Tío said.
公司,您如何看待一切?
Compa’i, ¿como va todo?e
蒂娅随后走了出来,她围着围裙,戴着可能是我这辈子见过的最长的 Lee Press-On 指甲。我曾在吉尼斯世界纪录中见过一位指甲更长的大师,但我告诉你,她离纪录还差得远。她亲吻了每个人,告诉我和拉法我们有多可爱——拉法当然相信她——告诉玛黛她有多漂亮,但当她走到帕皮身边时,她有点愣住了,好像她看到一只黄蜂在他鼻尖上,但随后她还是亲吻了他。其实只是轻轻一吻。
Tía came out then, with an apron on and maybe the longest Lee Press-On Nails I’ve ever seen in my life. There was this one guru guy I’d seen in the Guinness Book of World Records who had longer nails, but I tell you, it was close. She gave everybody kisses, told me and Rafa how guapo we were — Rafa, of course, believed her — told Madai how bella she was, but when she got to Papi, she froze a little, like maybe she’d seen a wasp on the tip of his nose, but then she kissed him all the same. Just a peck really.
看那个,拉法用英语对我低声说。
Look at that, Rafa whispered to me in English.
妈妈让我们和其他孩子一起去客厅。蒂奥说,等一下,我想带你们看看公寓。我很高兴蒂亚说,等一下,因为从我目前所见,这地方的家具都是当代多米尼加俗气风格。我看得越少越好。我是说,我喜欢塑料沙发套,但该死的,蒂奥和蒂亚把它带到了另一个层次。他们在客厅里挂了一个迪斯科球,还有那种看起来像钟乳石天堂的灰泥天花板。沙发的边缘都垂着金色的流苏。蒂亚和一些我不认识的人从厨房出来,等她介绍完所有人时,只有爸爸和妈妈被带去参观这套四居室的三楼公寓。我和拉法和孩子们一起去了客厅。他们的父母要很晚才过来,但孩子们还是过来了。 “我们饿了,”其中一个女孩手里拿着一根 Pastelito 冰淇淋解释道。男孩比我小三岁,但说话的女孩莱蒂和我同龄。她和另一个女孩一起坐在沙发上,可爱极了。
Mami told us to join the other kids in the living room. Tío said, Wait a minute, I want to show you the apartment. I was glad Tía said, Hold on, because from what I’d seen so far, the place had been furnished in Contemporary Dominican Tacky. The less I saw, the better. I mean, I liked plastic sofa covers but damn, Tío and Tía had taken it to another level. They had a disco ball hanging in the living room and the type of stucco ceilings that looked like stalactite heaven. The sofas all had golden tassels dangling from their edges. Tía came out of the kitchen with some people I didn’t know and by the time she got done introducing everybody, only Papi and Mami were given the guided tour of the four-room, third-floor apartment. Me and Rafa joined the kids in the living room. Their parents wouldn’t be over until late, but the kids had come over anyway. We were hungry, one of the girls explained, a pastelito in hand. The boy was about three years younger than me but the girl who’d spoken, Leti, was my age. She and another girl were on the sofa together and they were cute as hell.
莱蒂介绍他们:男孩是她哥哥威尔昆斯,另一个女孩是她的邻居玛丽。莱蒂的眼神很严肃,我看得出我哥哥要对她下手了。他对女孩的品味是可以预料的。他坐在莱蒂和玛丽中间,从她们对他微笑的样子,我知道他会做得很好。两个女孩都只是匆匆地打了个招呼,这并不困扰我。当然,我喜欢女孩,但我总是太害怕和她们说话,除非我们在争吵,或者我在骂她们笨蛋,那是我那年最喜欢的话之一。我转向威尔昆斯,问他这附近有什么可做的。玛丽的声音是我听过的最低沉的,她说,他不会说话。
Leti introduced them: the boy was her brother Wilquins and the other girl was her neighbor Mari. Leti had some serious tetas and I could tell that my brother was going to gun for her. His taste in girls was predictable. He sat down right between Leti and Mari, and by the way they were smiling at him I knew he’d do fine. Neither of the girls gave me more than a cursory one-two, which didn’t bother me. Sure, I liked girls, but I was always too terrified to speak to them unless we were arguing or I was calling them stupidos, which was one of my favorite words that year. I turned to Wilquins and asked him what there was to do around here. Mari, who had the lowest voice I’d ever heard, said, He can’t speak.
这意味着什么?
What does that mean?
他是个哑巴。
He’s mute.
我难以置信地看着威尔金斯。他微笑着点点头,就好像他中了奖似的。
I looked at Wilquins incredulously. He smiled and nodded, as if he’d won a prize or something.
“他明白了吗?”我问道。
Does he understand? I asked.
“他当然明白,”拉法说,“他不傻。”
Of course he understands, Rafa said. He’s not dumb.
我看得出拉法这么说只是为了在女生面前占便宜。两人都点了点头。玛丽低声说:“他是他年级里最优秀的学生。”
I could tell Rafa had said that just to score points with the girls. Both of them nodded. Low-voice Mari said, He’s the best student in his grade.
我想,对于一个哑巴来说,这还不错。我坐在威尔金斯旁边。看了两秒钟的电视节目后,威尔金斯拿出一袋多米诺骨牌,向我示意。我想玩吗?当然。我和他玩了拉法和莱蒂,我们把他们打得落花流水,这让拉法心情很不好。莱蒂不停地在拉法耳边低语,告诉他没关系。
I thought, Not bad for a mute. I sat next to Wilquins. After about two seconds of TV, Wilquins whipped out a bag of dominoes and motioned to me. Did I want to play? Sure. Me and him played Rafa and Leti and we whupped their collective asses twice, which put Rafa in a real bad mood. Leti kept whispering into Rafa’s ear, telling him it was okay.
在厨房里,我能听到父母又回到了他们惯常的模式。爸爸的声音很大,而且很有争论性;你不必靠近他就能听懂他的意思。至于妈妈,你得竖起耳朵才能听清她的声音。我进过厨房几次:一次是为了让叔叔们炫耀过去几年我脑子里塞了多少废话,另一次是为了喝一桶苏打水。妈妈和蒂娅正在煎炸炸大蕉片和最后一块帕斯利托斯。她现在看起来更开心了,从她为我们做晚餐的双手来看,你会觉得她在别的地方生活,做着稀有珍贵的东西。她不时用肘部推推蒂娅,她们一辈子肯定都在做这些事。不过,妈妈一看到我,就用眼神告诉我,别呆太久。别惹你老爸生气。
In the kitchen I could hear my parents slipping into their usual modes. Papi’s voice was loud and argumentative; you didn’t have to be anywhere near him to catch his drift. And Mami, you had to strain your ears to hear her. I went into the kitchen a few times: once so the tíos could show off how much bullshit I’d been able to cram in my head the last few years, another time for a bucket-sized cup of soda. Mami and Tía were frying tostones and the last of the pastelitos. She appeared happier now, and the way her hands worked on our dinner you would think she had a life somewhere else making rare and precious things. She nudged Tía every now and then, shit they must have been doing all their lives. As soon as Mami saw me, though, she gave me the eye. Don’t stay long, that eye said. Don’t piss your old man off.
爸爸忙着争论猫王,没注意到我。后来有人提到古巴人,爸爸也对他们说了很多。
Papi was too busy arguing about Elvis to notice me. Then somebody mentioned Cubans and Papi had plenty to say about them, too.
也许我已经习惯了他。他的声音比大多数成年人都大,但我一点也不介意,尽管其他孩子在座位上不安地挪动着。威尔奎恩斯站起来想调高电视音量,但拉法说,我不会这么做。哑巴男孩有点胆量。他还是这么做了,然后坐了下来。威尔奎恩斯的父亲一秒钟后走进客厅,手里拿着一瓶 Presidente。那家伙一定有蜘蛛感应之类的。你调高了音量吗?他问威尔奎恩斯,威尔奎恩斯点了点头。
Maybe I was used to him. His voice — louder than most adults’ — didn’t bother me none, though the other kids shifted uneasily in their seats. Wilquins got up to raise the volume on the TV, but Rafa said, I wouldn’t do that. Muteboy had some balls. He did it anyway and then sat down. Wilquins’s pop came into the living room a second later, a bottle of Presidente in hand. That dude must have had Spider-senses or something. Did you raise that? he asked Wilquins, and Wilquins nodded.
“这是你的房子吗?”威尔奎恩斯爸爸问道。他看上去想揍威尔奎恩斯,但他却压低了声音。
Is this your house? Pa Wilquins asked. He looked ready to kick Wilquins’s ass but he lowered the volume instead.
瞧,”拉法说道,“你差点就被打了屁股。”
See, Rafa said. You nearly got your ass kicked.
爸爸开上货车后,我遇到了那个波多黎各女人。他带我去短途旅行,试图治好我的呕吐症。虽然这招没用,但我很期待我们的旅行,尽管每次旅行结束后我都会呕吐。这是我和爸爸唯一一起做事的时候。当我们独处时,他对我好多了,好像我是他儿子什么的。
I met the Puerto Rican woman right after Papi had gotten the van. He was taking me on short trips, trying to cure me of my vomiting. It wasn’t really working but I looked forward to our trips, even though at the end of each one I’d be sick. These were the only times me and Papi did anything together. When we were alone he treated me much better, like maybe I was his son or something.
每次开车之前,妈妈总会跟我争吵。
Before each drive Mami always crossed me.
我会说,Bendición,妈妈。
Bendición, Mami, I would say.
她会亲吻我的额头。上帝保佑我。然后她会给我一把薄荷糖,因为她希望我没事。妈妈不认为这些旅行能治愈我,但有一次她向爸爸提起这件事,爸爸让她闭嘴,而她又知道些什么呢?
She would kiss my forehead. Que Dios te bendiga. And then she would give me a handful of mentas because she wanted me to be okay. Mami didn’t think these excursions would cure me, but the one time she had brought it up to Papi, he had told her to shut up and what did she know about anything anyway?
我和爸爸没怎么说话。我们只是开车在附近转了一圈。他偶尔会问:“怎么样?”
Me and Papi didn’t talk much. We just drove around our neighborhood. Occasionally he would ask, How is it?
无论我感觉如何,我都会点头。
And I would nod, no matter how I felt.
有一天,我在珀斯安博伊郊外生病了。他没有像往常一样送我回家,而是沿着工业大道往另一边走,几分钟后停在了一栋我不认识的浅蓝色房子前。这让我想起了我们在学校涂的复活节彩蛋,我们把这些彩蛋从公交车窗户扔向其他车辆。
One day I got sick outside of Perth Amboy. Instead of taking me home like he usually did, he went the other way on Industrial Avenue, stopping a few minutes later in front of a light blue house I didn’t recognize. It reminded me of the Easter eggs we colored at school, the ones we threw out the bus windows at other cars.
波多黎各女人在场,她帮我打扫卫生。她的手干巴巴的,像纸一样,她用毛巾擦我的胸部,用力很大,好像我是她正在打蜡的保险杠。她很瘦,一头棕色的头发高耸在她那张窄脸上,还有一双你见过的最锐利、最黑的眼睛。
The Puerto Rican woman was there and she helped me clean up. She had dry papery hands and when she rubbed the towel on my chest, she did it hard, like I was a bumper she was waxing. She was very thin and had a cloud of brown hair rising above her narrow face and the sharpest, blackest eyes you’ve ever seen.
“他很可爱,”她对爸爸说。“你叫什么名字?”她问我。“你是拉法吗?”
He’s cute, she said to Papi. What’s your name? she asked me. Are you Rafa?
我摇了摇头。
I shook my head.
那么是尤尼尔吧?
Then it’s Yunior, right?
我点点头。
I nodded.
“你很聪明,”她突然对自己很满意,“也许你想看看我的书?”
You’re the smart one, she said, suddenly happy with herself. Maybe you want to see my books?
这不是她的。我认出那是我父亲留在她家里的书。爸爸是个贪婪的读者,即使不带一本平装书也不敢偷懒。
They weren’t hers. I recognized them as ones my father must have left in her house. Papi was a voracious reader, couldn’t even go cheating without a paperback in his pocket.
你为什么不去看电视?爸爸建议道。他已经把手放在她的屁股上了,根本不在乎我在看。他看着她,就好像她是地球上最后一块鸡肉。
Why don’t you go watch TV? Papi suggested. He already had his hand on her ass and didn’t care that I was watching. He was looking at her like she was the last piece of chicken on earth.
“我们有足够多的频道,”她说,“如果你想看的话,就用遥控器看吧。”
We got plenty of channels, she said. Use the remote if you want.
他们俩上楼了,我太害怕了,没法四处打探。我只是坐在那里,羞愧难当,以为会有什么东西又大又火的东西砸到我们所有人的头上。我看了整整一个小时的新闻,然后爸爸下楼说,我们走吧。
The two of them went upstairs and I was too scared of what was happening to poke around. I just sat there, ashamed, expecting something big and fiery to crash down on all our heads. I watched a whole hour of the news before Papi came downstairs and said, Let’s go.
大约两个小时后,女人们把食物摆上桌,像往常一样,除了孩子们,没有人向她们道谢。这一定是多米尼加的某种传统。我喜欢的食物应有尽有——炸猪皮、炸鸡、炸大蕉片、桑科乔、米饭、炸奶酪、木薯、鳄梨、土豆沙拉、一块陨石大小的红椒,甚至还有一份拌沙拉,我可以不吃——但当我和其他孩子一起坐在餐桌旁时,爸爸说,哦,你不必吃,然后从我手里拿走了纸盘子。他的手很不温柔。
About two hours later the women laid out the food and like always nobody but the kids thanked them. It must have been some Dominican tradition or something. There was everything I liked — chicharrónes, fried chicken, tostones, sancocho, rice, fried cheese, yucca, avocado, potato salad, a meteor-sized hunk of pernil, even a tossed salad, which I could do without — but when I joined the other kids around the serving table, Papi said, Oh, no you don’t, and took the paper plate out of my hand. His fingers weren’t gentle.
“现在怎么了?”蒂娅递给我另一盘食物问道。
What’s wrong now? Tía asked, handing me another plate.
“他不吃东西,”爸爸说。妈妈假装帮拉法清理垃圾。
He ain’t eating, Papi said. Mami pretended to help Rafa with the pernil.
他为什么不能吃?
Why can’t he eat?
因为我这么说。
Because I said so.
那些不认识我们的大人假装什么都没听到,而蒂奥只是尴尬地笑了笑,告诉大家继续吃饭。所有的孩子——现在大约有十个——都端着堆满盘子的盘子回到客厅,所有的大人都躲进了厨房和餐厅,收音机里正在播放响亮的巴恰塔舞曲。我是唯一一个没有盘子的人。在我离开他之前,爸爸拦住了我。他把声音压得很低,这样别人就听不到他的声音了。
The adults who didn’t know us made like they hadn’t heard a thing and Tío just smiled sheepishly and told everybody to go ahead and eat. All the kids — about ten of them now — trooped back into the living room with their plates aheaping, and all the adults ducked into the kitchen and the dining room, where the radio was playing loud-ass bachatas. I was the only one without a plate. Papi stopped me before I could get away from him. He kept his voice nice and low so nobody else could hear him.
如果你吃任何东西,我就要打你了。¿Entiendes? f
If you eat anything, I’m going to beat you. ¿Entiendes?f
我点点头。
I nodded.
如果你哥哥给你吃的,我也会揍他。就在大家面前。¿Entiendes?
And if your brother gives you any food, I’ll beat him, too. Right here in front of everybody. ¿Entiendes?
我又点点头。我想杀了他,他肯定也感觉到了,因为他轻轻推了一下我的头。
I nodded again. I wanted to kill him, and he must have sensed it because he gave my head a little shove.
所有的孩子都看着我走进来并坐在电视机前。
All the kids watched me come in and sit down in front of the TV.
“你爸爸怎么了?”莱蒂问道。
What’s wrong with your dad? Leti asked.
我说,他是个混蛋。
He’s a dick, I said.
拉法摇摇头。别在别人面前说这种话。
Rafa shook his head. Don’t say that shit in front of people.
我说,吃饭的时候表现得友善很容易。
Easy for you to be nice when you’re eating, I said.
嘿,如果我是一个呕吐的小婴儿,我也不会得到任何食物。
Hey, if I was a pukey little baby, I wouldn’t get no food either.
我差点就回嘴了,但我专心看着电视。我可不想挑起事端。绝对不可能。所以我看着李小龙把查克·诺里斯打倒在竞技场地板上,并试图假装房子里没有食物。蒂娅最终救了我。她走进客厅说,既然你不吃东西,尤尼尔,你至少可以帮我拿点冰。
I almost said something back but I concentrated on the TV. I wasn’t going to start it. No fucking way. So I watched Bruce Lee beat Chuck Norris into the floor of the Coliseum and tried to pretend that there was no food anywhere in the house. It was Tía who finally saved me. She came into the living room and said, Since you ain’t eating, Yunior, you can at least help me get some ice.
我不想,但她却误以为我的不情愿是别的什么。
I didn’t want to, but she mistook my reluctance for something else.
我已经问过你父亲了。
I already asked your father.
我们走路时,她牵着我的手;蒂娅没有孩子,但我看得出来她想要孩子。她是那种总是记得你生日的亲戚,但你只有在不得不去的时候才会去看她。我们还没走到一楼楼梯口,她就打开钱包,把她从公寓偷偷带出来的三块 Pastelitos 中的第一块递给我。
She held my hand while we walked; Tía didn’t have any kids but I could tell she wanted them. She was the sort of relative who always remembered your birthday but who you only went to visit because you had to. We didn’t get past the first-floor landing before she opened her pocketbook and handed me the first of three pastelitos she had smuggled out of the apartment.
去吧,她说。一进门,一定要刷牙。
Go ahead, she said. And as soon as you get inside, make sure you brush your teeth.
“非常感谢,蒂亚,”我说。
Thanks a lot, Tía, I said.
那些 pastelitos 根本就没有机会。
Those pastelitos didn’t stand a chance.
她坐在楼梯上我旁边抽烟。在二楼,我们能听到音乐、大人的声音和电视的声音。蒂亚长得很像妈妈;她们两个都很矮,皮肤也很白。蒂亚总是面带微笑,这是她们最与众不同的地方。
She sat next to me on the stairs and smoked her cigarette. All the way down on the first floor we could hear the music and the adults and the television. Tía looked a ton like Mami; the two of them were both short and light-skinned. Tía smiled a lot and that was what set them the most apart.
尤尼尔,家里怎么样?
How is it at home, Yunior?
你是什么意思?
What do you mean?
公寓里怎么样?孩子们还好吗?
How’s it going in the apartment? Are you kids okay?
我一听到审讯就知道,不管它是多么甜言蜜语或含蓄。我什么也没说。别误会,我爱我的奶奶,但有什么东西告诉我要闭嘴。也许是出于对家人的忠诚,也许我只是想保护妈妈,或者我害怕爸爸会发现——真的,这可能是任何事情。
I knew an interrogation when I heard one, no matter how sugarcoated or oblique it was. I didn’t say anything. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my tía, but something told me to keep my mouth shut. Maybe it was family loyalty, maybe I just wanted to protect Mami or I was afraid that Papi would find out — it could have been anything really.
你妈妈还好吗?
Is your mom all right?
我耸耸肩。
I shrugged.
发生过很多争吵吗?
Have there been lots of fights?
我说,没有。耸肩太多次和回答一样糟糕。爸爸工作太忙了。
None, I said. Too many shrugs would have been just as bad as an answer. Papi’s at work too much.
工作,蒂亚说道,就好像这是她不喜欢的某个人的名字一样。
Work, Tía said, like it was somebody’s name she didn’t like.
我和拉法很少谈论那个波多黎各女人。爸爸带我们去她家吃晚饭的时候,我们仍然表现得像什么事都没有发生过一样。把番茄酱递过来,伙计。没事的,兄弟。这件事就像我们客厅地板上的一个洞,我们已经习惯了绕着它转,有时甚至忘记了它的存在。
Me and Rafa, we didn’t talk much about the Puerto Rican woman. When we ate dinner at her house, the few times Papi had taken us over there, we still acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. Pass the ketchup, man. No sweat, bro. The affair was like a hole in our living room floor, one we’d gotten so used to circumnavigating that we sometimes forgot it was there.
到了午夜,所有的大人都在舞池里疯狂地跳舞。我坐在蒂亚的卧室外面,玛黛正在睡觉,尽量不引起别人的注意。拉法让我守着门;他和莱蒂也在那里,还有其他几个孩子,毫无疑问,他们很忙。威尔金斯已经穿过大厅去睡觉了,所以我只能和蟑螂们玩闹。
By midnight all the adults were getting crazy on the dance floor. I was sitting outside Tía’s bedroom, where Madai was sleeping, trying not to attract attention. Rafa had me guarding the door; he and Leti were in there, too, with some of the other kids, getting busy no doubt. Wilquins had gone across the hall to bed, so I had only the roaches to mess around with.
每当我往主厅里看时,我都能看到大约二十个爸爸妈妈在跳舞、喝啤酒。时不时有人喊一声“Quisqueya!”然后其他人就会大喊大叫,跺脚。从我所看到的,我的父母似乎玩得很开心。
Whenever I peered into the main room I saw about twenty moms and dads dancing and drinking beers. Every now and then somebody yelled, Quisqueya! And then everybody else would yell and stomp their feet. From what I could see, my parents seemed to be enjoying themselves.
妈妈和蒂娅并肩低语了好久,我一直以为会有什么结果,也许是一场争吵。我和家人出门时,每次都会闹得不可开交。我们就像车轮上的末日。我们甚至不像其他家庭那样夸张或疯狂。我们像六年级学生一样打架,毫无尊严。我想整个晚上我都在等着爸爸和妈妈之间爆发一场争吵。我一直以为爸爸会这样被揭露,在公众面前,每个人都会知道。
Mami and Tía spent a lot of time side by side, whispering, and I kept expecting something to come of this, a brawl maybe. I’d never once been out with my family when it hadn’t turned to shit. We were a Doomsday on wheels. We weren’t even theatrical or straight crazy like other families. We fought like sixth graders, without any real dignity. I guess the whole night I’d been waiting for a blowup, something between Papi and Mami. This was how I always figured Papi would be exposed, out in public, where everybody would know.
你是一个骗子!
You’re a cheater!
但一切都比平时平静。妈妈看起来也不像是要对爸爸说什么。他们俩不时地跳起舞来,但每次跳完一首歌,妈妈就会和蒂亚一起聊天。
But everything was calmer than usual. And Mami didn’t look like she was about to say anything to Papi. The two of them danced every now and then, but they never lasted more than a song before Mami rejoined Tía in whatever conversation they were having.
我试着想象妈妈离开爸爸之前的样子。也许我累了,或者只是因为想到家人的状况而感到难过。也许我已经知道几年后妈妈没有爸爸会变成什么样子,所以我才这么做。想象她独自一人的样子并不容易。似乎爸爸一直和她在一起,即使我们在圣多明各等他来接我们的时候。
I tried to imagine Mami before Papi. Maybe I was tired, or just sad, thinking about the way my family was. Maybe I already knew how it would all end up in a few years, Mami without Papi, and that was why I did it. Picturing her alone wasn’t easy. It seemed like Papi had always been with her, even when we were waiting in Santo Domingo for him to send for us.
我们家唯一一张妈妈年轻时的照片,是在她嫁给爸爸之前,有人在一次竞选派对上为她拍的,那是我有一天在翻找去游戏厅的钱时发现的。妈妈把这张照片夹在了移民文件里。照片里,她被我永远见不到的表亲们围在中间,他们个个都因为跳舞而容光焕发,衣服皱巴巴的,松垮垮的。你可以看出当时是晚上,天气很热,蚊子叮咬过。她坐得笔直,即使在人群中,她也显得格外突出,静静地微笑着,仿佛她就是大家庆祝的对象。你看不到她的手,但我想象她的手在打结一根稻草或一根线。这就是我父亲一年后在马雷贡遇到的那个女人,妈妈以为她会一直都是那个女人。
The only photograph our family had of Mami as a young woman, before she married Papi, was the one that somebody took of her at an election party, which I found one day while rummaging for money to go to the arcade. Mami had it tucked into her immigration papers. In the photo, she’s surrounded by laughing cousins I will never meet who are all shiny from dancing, whose clothes are rumpled and loose. You can tell it’s night and hot and that the mosquitoes have been biting. She sits straight, and even in a crowd she stands out, smiling quietly like maybe she’s the one everybody’s celebrating. You can’t see her hands but I imagined they’re knotting a straw or a bit of thread. This was the woman my father met a year later on the Malecón, the woman Mami thought she’d always be.
妈妈一定发现我在观察她,因为她停下了手头的工作,对我微笑,这也许是她今晚第一次微笑。突然间,我想过去拥抱她,因为我爱她,但我们之间有大约十一具肥胖的摇晃身体。所以我坐在瓷砖地板上等待。
Mami must have caught me studying her because she stopped what she was doing and gave me a smile, maybe her first one of the night. Suddenly I wanted to go over and hug her, for no other reason than I loved her, but there were about eleven fat jiggling bodies between us. So I sat down on the tiled floor and waited.
我肯定是睡着了,因为接下来我知道的是拉法踢了我一下,说,走吧。他看上去像是在和那些女孩子打情骂俏;他满脸笑容。我及时站起来,吻别蒂亚和叔叔。妈妈手里拿着她带来的餐盘。
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew Rafa was kicking me and saying, Let’s go. He looked like he’d been hitting off those girls; he was all smiles. I got to my feet in time to kiss Tía and Tío goodbye. Mami was holding the serving dish she had brought with her.
“爸爸在哪儿?”我问道。
Where’s Papi? I asked.
他下楼开着货车过来。妈妈俯身吻了我。
He’s downstairs, bringing the van around. Mami leaned down to kiss me.
“你今天表现很好,”她说。
You were good today, she said.
然后爸爸冲进来,叫我们赶紧下楼,不然就会有警察给他开罚单。我们又亲吻又握手,然后我们就走了。
And then Papi burst in and told us to get the hell downstairs before some pendejo cop gave him a ticket. More kisses, more handshakes, and then we were gone.
我不记得在遇到那个波多黎各女人后我有什么不顺心的事,但我肯定是,因为妈妈只有在她觉得我的生活出了问题时才问我问题。她问了我大概十次,但终于在一天下午,当我们单独在公寓里时,她把我逼到了角落。我们楼上的邻居正在狠狠地打他们的孩子,我和她整个下午都在听。她把手放在我的手上,说:“一切都好吗,尤尼尔?你和你哥哥打架了吗?”
I don’t remember being out of sorts after I met the Puerto Rican woman, but I must have been, because Mami only asked me questions when she thought something was wrong in my life. It took her about ten passes but finally she cornered me one afternoon when we were alone in the apartment. Our upstairs neighbors were beating the crap out of their kids, and me and her had been listening to it all afternoon. She put her hand on mine and said, Is everything okay, Yunior? Have you been fighting with your brother?
我和拉法已经谈过了。我们当时在地下室,父母听不到我们说话。他告诉我,是的,他知道她的情况。
Me and Rafa had already talked. We’d been in the basement, where our parents couldn’t hear us. He told me that yeah, he knew about her.
爸爸已经带我去过那里两次了。
Papi’s taken me there twice now.
我问:“你为什么不告诉我?”
Why didn’t you tell me? I asked.
我到底要说什么?
What the hell was I going to say?
我也没有对妈妈说什么。她非常非常仔细地看着我。后来我想,如果我告诉了她,她可能会质问他,会做些什么,但谁能知道这些事情呢?我说我在学校遇到了麻烦,就这样我们之间一切又恢复了正常。她把手放在我的肩膀上,紧紧地握住,就这样。
I didn’t say anything to Mami either. She watched me, very, very closely. Later I would think, maybe if I had told her, she would have confronted him, would have done something, but who can know these things? I said I’d been having trouble in school, and like that everything was back to normal between us. She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed, and that was that.
我们上了收费公路,刚过 11 号出口,我又开始有这种感觉了。我从靠在拉法身上的姿势坐了起来。他的手指散发着臭味,他几乎一上车就睡着了。玛黛也不在,但至少她没有打呼噜。
We were on the turnpike, just past Exit 11, when I started feeling it again. I sat up from leaning against Rafa. His fingers smelled and he’d gone to sleep almost as soon as he got into the van. Madai was out, too, but at least she wasn’t snoring.
在黑暗中,我看到爸爸一只手放在妈妈的膝盖上,他们两个一动不动。他们没有瘫倒在地,也没有其他动作;他们两个都清醒着,系好安全带坐在座位上。我看不到他们两人的脸,无论我怎么努力,我都无法想象他们的表情。不时地,面包车里充斥着别人车头灯的明亮光芒。最后我说了一声“妈妈”,他们俩都回头看了看,已经知道发生了什么。
In the darkness, I saw that Papi had a hand on Mami’s knee and that the two of them were quiet and still. They weren’t slumped back or anything; they were both wide awake, buckled into their seats. I couldn’t see either of their faces and no matter how hard I tried I could not imagine their expressions. Every now and then the van was filled with the bright rush of somebody else’s headlights. Finally I said, Mami, and they both looked back, already knowing what was happening.
[1996年]
[1996]
祝福。
aBendición: Blessing.
b Que Dios te Bendiga:上帝保佑你。
bQue Dios te bendiga: God bless you.
c Toma:服用(如药物服用)。
cToma: Take (as in medication).
d Eshú:一种骗子之神,起源于西非约鲁巴宗教,但传播到世界其他地区,包括拉丁美洲。
dEshú: A trickster god originating from the Yoruba religion of West Africa but spread to other parts of the world, including Latin America.
e Compa'i, como va todo?:“哥们,一切都好吗?”
eCompa’i, como va todo?: “Buddy [friend], how’s everything going?”
f Entiendes?: “你明白吗?”
fEntiendes?: “Do you understand?”
[生于 1972 年]
[b. 1972]
八个月来,我一直告诉我的客户,他没有侵权索赔。b索耶从事建筑行业三十年,为怀揣蒙大拿幻想的人们建造房屋。他正在盖屋顶,这时一个桁架倒塌,其他桁架也倒塌了,索耶也跟着倒塌了。他开始晕厥、记忆力减退,无法工作。我们得到了和解,不算多但也不算差。承包商显然疏忽了,没有加固桁架,但工伤赔偿排除了侵权索赔——我们不能起诉。
For eight months, I had been telling my client he had no tort claim.b Sawyer had worked construction for thirty years, building houses for people with Montana fantasies. He was putting up a roof when one of the trusses fell, collapsing the others and taking him down with them. He started to have fainting spells and memory loss and couldn’t work. We got a settlement, not a great one but not bad. The contractor was clearly negligent, having failed to brace the trusses, but workers’ compensation precluded the tort claim — we couldn’t sue.
索耶一生都在忙于户外工作,突然间他什么也做不了了。让他发疯的似乎是懒惰,而不是脑损伤。他无法阅读,因为读出来的字很乱,他几乎无法静坐以待毙。他每天给我打三次电话。我的秘书不再接听他的电话,所以他步行来到办公室,因为他们不让他开车。他是一个身材魁梧、头发花白、留着金色胡须的男人,和我父亲同龄,肌肉发达,但没有工作就发胖了。他把我当女儿一样对待,责骂我,哄骗我。他想起诉,要求起诉。他的妻子厌倦了他在家里闷闷不乐的样子,他的朋友就是他一起工作的人;他失去了生活中所有他喜欢的东西。我知道工伤赔偿,我试图解释:他得到了他应该得到的。我再也帮不上他了。
Sawyer had worked active, outside jobs all his life, and suddenly he could do nothing. It seemed to be the idleness, more than the brain damage, that made him crazy. He couldn’t read, because the words came out scrambled, and he could barely sit still to try. He phoned me three times a day. My secretary stopped putting his calls through, so he came to the office, on foot because they wouldn’t let him drive. He was a big, graying, blond-bearded man, my father’s age, muscular but getting fat without his work. He treated me like a daughter, scolding and cajoling me. He wanted to sue, demanded to sue. His wife was sick of his moping at the house, and his friends had been the men he’d worked with; he’d lost everything he liked about his life. I knew workers’ comp and I tried to explain: he’d gotten what he was going to get. There was nothing more I could do for him.
最后,我在比林斯找到了一位侵权律师,他愿意给他另一个意见,比林斯位于东边,车程四小时。反正我得去博兹曼,路程只有一半,所以我开车过去,在律师事务所见到了索耶和他的妻子。我认为索耶虽然很沮丧,而且一时冲动,不应该独自陈述他的案子,而他的妻子会跳出来纠正他。律师是一个瘦削的男人,穿着黑色西装,坐在一张大皮椅上。墙上挂着羚羊头,书挡是熊爪。我们解释了情况。律师说:“你没有侵权索赔权。”
Finally I found a tort lawyer in Billings, four hours east, who was willing to give him another opinion. I had to be in Bozeman anyway, halfway there, so I drove over and met Sawyer and his wife at the lawyer’s office. I didn’t think Sawyer, frustrated and hair-triggered as he was, should be making his case alone, with his wife jumping in and correcting him. The lawyer was a thin man in a dark suit and a big leather chair. There were antelope heads on the walls, bear claws as bookends. We explained the situation. The lawyer said, “You have no tort claim.”
索耶说:“好的。”
Sawyer said, “Okay.”
我想,这就是做男人的感觉。如果我是男人,我可以解释法律,人们会听完并说,“好的。”那会很轻松。
I thought, That’s what it’s like to be a man. If I were a man I could explain the law and people would listen and say, “Okay.” It would be so restful.
我们又回到外面。律师办公室可以看到悬崖。我们到比林斯十五分钟了,除了开车回家,没什么事要做。我的委托人和我握手,他的妻子,一个身材矮小、卷发的女人,曾经很漂亮,给了我一个母亲般的拥抱。她身上有玫瑰和香烟的味道。当我在商场停下来吃三明治时,他们把车停在我旁边的停车位上。索耶下车冲着妻子大喊大叫,责怪她的态度太糟糕了,从座位上抓起夹克,砰地关上了车门。
We went back outside. The lawyer’s office had a view of the cliffs. We’d been in Billings fifteen minutes and had nothing to do but drive home. My client shook my hand, and his wife, a small, curly-haired woman who had been pretty once, gave me a quick motherly hug. She smelled like roses and cigarettes. When I stopped at the mall for a sandwich, they pulled up in the parking space next to mine. Sawyer got out of the car screaming at his wife about her fucking attitude, grabbed his jacket from the seat and slammed the door.
他说:“我要坐你的车去。”他的妻子驶出停车场,驶向高速公路。
He said, “I’m going in your car.” His wife peeled out of the lot and turned toward the highway.
我和我的客户独自站在停车场里,然后我告诉他我还没走,他爬到我的副驾驶座上等着。他的头碰到了我的车顶。我提出要给他买午餐,他摇着头,就像一个生气的小孩。所以我把他留在那里,一边吃着三明治,一边绕着商场走了两圈。当我回来时,他一动不动:外套放在腿上,眼睛盯着膝盖,等着他的车。
We stood alone in the parking lot, my client and I, and then I told him I wasn’t going yet, and he climbed in my passenger seat to wait. His head touched the ceiling of my car. I offered to get him lunch and he shook his head like a great, sulky child. So I left him there and walked the length of the mall twice, eating my sandwich. When I returned, he hadn’t moved: jacket in his lap, eyes on his knees, he waited for his ride.
在我们离开比林斯之前,他说唯一能做的就是拿把机关枪杀掉所有人。我停下了车。我说我不会让他这么说,并叫他离开。没有人知道我在哪里,索耶的体重是我的两倍,但我并不害怕,我只是厌倦了他。他保证不会再这样做了。
Before we were out of Billings he said the only thing to do was get a machine gun and kill everyone. I stopped the car. I said I wouldn’t have him talking like that, and told him to get out. No one knew where I was, and Sawyer weighed twice what I did, but I wasn’t afraid, I was only tired of him. He promised not to do it again.
在看到劳雷尔郊外通往红屋镇的第一个岔路口时,索耶说道:“我希望我的妻子能在高速公路上翻车。”
At the first sign for the turnoff to Red Lodge, outside Laurel, Sawyer said, “I wish my wife would roll over on the highway.”
我把车停在路肩上,说道:“我发誓,我会把你留在劳雷尔。”
I stopped the car on the shoulder and said, “I swear, I’ll leave you in Laurel.”
行驶了二十英里后,他开始低声哀嚎,抱怨他疏忽大意的老板,抱怨他疏忽大意的妻子,抱怨没有人理解他有多痛苦。我告诉他,如果他在剩下的路上一直张嘴,我就放他下车,不管我们到哪里。他没有发火。他什么也没说。我找到了一个乡村电台来填补沉默,索耶开始哭泣。他一路坐在副驾驶座上抽泣,一言不发。
Twenty miles on he began a low, keening rant about his negligent boss, about his negligent wife, about how no one understood how miserable he was. I told him if he opened his mouth for the rest of the drive I would let him out wherever we were. He didn’t bridle. He didn’t say anything at all. I found a country station to fill the silence, and Sawyer began to weep. He sobbed in the passenger seat all the way home, without saying a word.
一周后,我的电话半夜响了。当时我正独自睡觉,除了接电话别无选择。半夜打来电话可能意味着任何事情。这个电话意味着索耶在州基金大楼里劫持了一名人质并带了一把枪,想让我查看他的工伤赔偿档案。镇上的人质专家说我不必进去。但我害怕他们会对他做什么,所以我站在衣柜前,犹豫着要不要穿律师的衣服,然后穿上牛仔裤,在睡觉时穿的运动衫下面戴上胸罩。在大楼后面的停车场,警察有三辆巡逻车、办公室的局长和一大瓶咖啡。他们打电话给索耶,说他很冷静。人质是一名守夜人,一个来这里上大学踢足球的萨摩亚孩子。我曾经知道他的名字,一个很长的名字,里面有a和n,但每个人都叫他大个子。我的客户打败了大个子,这让我印象深刻,只是一瞬间。
A week later my phone rang in the middle of the night. I was sleeping alone then, and there was nothing to do but answer it. A call in the night could mean anything. This one meant Sawyer had a hostage and a gun at the state fund building and wanted me to look at his workers’ comp file. The hostage specialists in town, such as they were, said I didn’t have to go in. But I was afraid of what they might do to him, so I stood in front of my closet deciding whether to wear lawyer clothes or not, then pulled on jeans and put a bra on under the sweatshirt I’d slept in. In the parking lot behind the building, the cops had three patrol cars, the bureau chief from the office, and a big thermos of coffee. They had Sawyer on the telephone, and said he was calm. The hostage was a night watchman, a Samoan kid who’d come here to play football at the college. I’d known his name once, something long with a’s and n’s in it, but everyone called him Big Man. I was impressed, just for a moment, that my client had taken Big Man down.
我一边喝咖啡,一边等局长给我画了一张办公室地图。他们给了我钥匙和一件厚重的防弹背心,我尴尬地在警车后座换衣服,背心在运动衫下面冰冷地贴着我的皮肤。帮我系好背心的警官为我的一个子女抚养案写了一份报告,其中包括这样一句话:“被告教唆我吃粪便。”我一直很喜欢他。他拍了拍我的肩膀,告诉我要好好表现,然后我就进去了。
I drank the coffee while the bureau chief drew me a map of the office. They gave me keys and a heavy, bulletproof vest, and I changed awkwardly in the back of a squad car, the vest cold under my sweatshirt, against my skin. The officer who helped me fasten it had written a report for a child-support case of mine, including the line, “The defendant instructed me to consume feces.” I’d always liked him. He socked me on the shoulder and told me to do good, and I went in.
这栋建筑有四层,是深色砖墙,位于淘金热时期的旧大街尽头。里面很暗,底层全是小隔间,麻布隔板上挂着日历和漫画。我借着屏幕保护程序和出口标志的亮光找到了楼梯,然后走到三楼,我的客户就在那里关押大个子。
The building was four stories, dark brick, at the end of the old gold-rush main street. It was dark inside, and the bottom floor was all cubicles, the burlap-faced dividers hung with calendars and cartoons. I found my way to the stairs by the light of screen savers and exit signs, and walked up to the third floor, where my client was keeping Big Man.
“索耶?”我走出楼梯,走进另一个黑暗的隔间迷宫,喊道。“是我。我来找你的文件。”
“Sawyer?” I called, as I came out of the stairwell into another dark maze of cubicles. “It’s me. I’m here to find your file.”
我听到了沙沙的声音,但是没有人回应。
I heard a rustling noise, but no one answered.
“我应该去找你还是自己去拿文件?”我问道。
“Should I come to you or go get the file?” I asked.
索耶的声音从黑暗中传来,沙哑而疲惫。“去拿文件,”他说。
Sawyer’s voice came out of the gloom, hoarse and tired. “Go get the file,” he said.
我不知道声音是从哪个隔间里传来的,但肯定是在大楼东侧,在我右边。警察叫我和他交谈。“大个子还好吗?”我问道。
I couldn’t tell which cubicle the voice came from, but it was on the east side of the building, to my right. The cops had told me to engage in conversation. “Is Big Man okay?” I asked.
“他的名字是阿米图阿纳,”索耶说。“你知道他是萨摩亚王室成员吗?”
“His name is Amituana,” Sawyer said. “Did you know he’s a member of the Samoan royal family?”
“我没有,”我说。我跟着局长的地图来到一个存放死文件的米色大文件柜。柜子上的锁上有一个小小的数字 6,我翻遍钥匙圈,直到找到那个数字 6。我问:“这是否意味着他是一位王子?”
“I didn’t,” I said. I followed the bureau chief’s map to the big beige file cabinet where they kept the dead files. The lock on the cabinet had a tiny six on it, and I flipped through the ring of keys until I found the six. I asked, “Does that make him a prince?”
两个低沉的声音商议着。然后传来一个比索耶低八度的声音。“差不多吧,”大个子说。“如果十四个人死了,我就成为国王。”
Two low voices conferred. Then came a voice an octave lower than Sawyer’s. “Sort of,” Big Man said. “If fourteen people die, I will be king.”
我在S下找到了索耶的文件夹,那是一本厚厚的棕色折纸文件夹。“这有多大可能?”我问道。
I found Sawyer’s file, a fat brown accordion, under S. “How likely is that?” I asked.
又是一阵沉默。“不太好。”大个子的声音说道。
There was another pause. “Not very,” Big Man’s voice said.
现在,我可以通过出口标志和路灯看清楚房间了。“我拿到了文件,”我喊道。“我该怎么办?”
I could see the room well now, by the exit signs and the streetlights. “I have the file,” I called. “What should I do?”
“我们在从门口往里数第三个隔间,”索耶说,“靠近窗户。里面有马年历。”
“We’re in the third cubicle from the door,” Sawyer said. “Near the windows. With the horse calendar.”
大个子盘腿坐在地板上,双手被橙色打包绳绑在身后,索耶坐在那种可以支撑下背部的跪椅上,旁边是一台电脑屏幕,屏幕上不断变换着大海的照片。他把一把猎枪放在膝盖上,似乎已经挂断了警察的电话。这两个人挤满了整个房间。大个子留着短发,留着山羊胡,胡子很窄。
Big Man sat cross-legged on the floor, hands tied behind his back with orange baling twine, and Sawyer sat in one of those kneeling chairs that support the lower back, by a computer screen with changing photographs of the sea. He rested a hunting rifle on his knee, and seemed to have hung up the phone on the police. The two men filled the entire space. Big Man had close-cropped hair and a narrow mustache with a goatee.
“我们一直在谈论足球,”索耶说。
“We’ve been talking football,” Sawyer said.
大个子说:“他在大学里既打进攻,又打防守。”他似乎真的被打动了。
Big Man said, “He played both offense and defense in college.” He seemed genuinely impressed.
“那是一所专科学校,”索耶解释道。他看着我,我穿着运动衫,里面穿着凯夫拉背心。“很抱歉把你吵醒了,”他说。“坐下。”
“It was a junior college,” Sawyer explained. He looked at me in my sweatshirt, bulked by the Kevlar vest underneath. “Sorry to get you out of bed,” he said. “Sit down.”
我坐在大个子旁边剩下的地板上,他点点头。他举止优雅,没有给他的家人或未来的臣民丢脸。
I sat in the remaining floor space next to Big Man, who nodded. He was carrying himself beautifully, no dishonor to his family or his future subjects.
“把文件读给我听,”索耶说。“不是我说的那些,只是他们说的那些关于我的事情。我想听听所有的信件。”
“Read me the file,” Sawyer said. “Not the stuff I said, just the stuff they said about me. I want to hear all the letters.”
“那得花一整晚的时间,”我说。
“That’ll take all night,” I said.
“那么开始吧。”
“So start.”
我开始在昏暗的灯光下阅读。电脑上有一幕海洋场景比其他的要暗,每次出现暗的场景,阅读就更加困难。我读了保险理赔员写给分局局长的信、局长秘书写给她老板的备忘录,还有索耶雇主律师的信。我读的是我口述得太快,听起来太像律师,由我的秘书打印出来,扔进了下午的邮件里。不尴尬的是悲伤,不悲伤的是乏味,但索耶坐在那里全神贯注。我不时抬起头来看看能不能停下来。他手里拿着步枪示意我继续。我读了神经科医生对索耶能做什么的描述,读了赔偿金。我读了索耶因失去工作而将得到的赔偿金额。
I began to read in the dim light. One of the computer’s ocean scenes was darker than the others, and each time the dark one came around the reading was harder. I read the letters from the insurance adjuster to the bureau chief, the memos from the chief’s secretary to her boss, the letters from Sawyer’s employer’s attorney. I read letters by me, dictated too quickly, sounding too lawyerly, typed up by my secretary and flung into the afternoon mail. What wasn’t embarrassing was sad, and what wasn’t sad was stultifying, but Sawyer sat riveted. I looked up from time to time to see if I could stop. He gestured me on with the rifle in his hand. I read through the neurologist’s account of what Sawyer could do, and through the settlement. I read the figure Sawyer was to receive for the loss of his work.
“你被坑了,”大个子说。
“You got screwed,” Big Man said.
“谢谢你,”索耶说,语气里没有讽刺,只是因为有人能看见这种不公而感到欣慰。“我现在能做什么?”他问我。“现在告诉我,我能做什么?”
“Thank you,” Sawyer said, with no irony in his voice, only relief that someone else could see the injustice. “What can I do now?” he asked me. “Tell me, now, what can I do?”
“自首吧。”
“Give yourself up.”
“不,我是认真的。我指的是索赔的事。”
“No, I’m serious here. I mean about the claim.”
我看着腿上厚厚的一叠文件。“我觉得你什么也做不了,”我说。“去做理疗吧,好好对待你的妻子。”
I looked at the heavy stack of papers in my lap. “I don’t think you can do anything,” I said. “Go to physical therapy, be nice to your wife.”
“她走了,”他说。“不,一切都结束了。这件事也结束了,不是吗?这个案子已经结案了。”
“She’s gone,” he said. “No, that’s all over. This is over, too, isn’t it? It’s a wrapped-up case.”
我点点头。它和那些已死的档案放在一起。这些信件读起来具有决定性的效果:这件事已经完成了。
I nodded. It was in with the dead files. And finality was the effect of the letters, read together: it was a thing done.
“我放了阿米图阿纳,”索耶说。他扶着那孩子站起来,这可真是费了好大劲,他一只手拿着步枪,孩子的手腕被绑着,两个人都那么重。阿米图阿纳踉踉跄跄地靠在隔间隔板上,隔板一颤,然后他们俩都站直了。“他要统治一个国家,”索耶说。“十四个人很容易死。”
“I’m letting Amituana go,” Sawyer said. He helped the kid to his feet, which was a struggle with the rifle in one hand, the kid’s wrists tied and both men so heavy. Amituana staggered back against a cubicle divider and it shuddered, and then they were both upright. “He’s got a country to rule,” Sawyer said. “Fourteen people could die, easy.”
他用空着的手拂去孩子的衣服。“如果你成为萨摩亚国王,我出现在那里,”他说,“你会给我一份工作,对吧?你会记得我被坑了,然后我放你走了?”
He brushed off the kid’s clothes with his free hand. “If you get to be king of Samoa and I show up there,” he said, “you’ll have a job for me, right? You’ll remember I got screwed and I let you go?”
“当然可以,”大个子说。
“Sure,” Big Man said.
“好的,”索耶说,“你从楼梯上走到外面,告诉他们,如果他们敢动手,我就杀了那个女人。她是我的律师,我有理由杀了她。告诉他们。”
“Okay,” Sawyer said. “You take the stairs and go outside, and tell them if they try anything I’ll kill the woman. She’s my lawyer, I’ve got reason to kill her. Tell them that.”
我看着索耶,想知道他是否是认真的,但我看不出来。
I looked at Sawyer to see if he was serious, but I couldn’t tell.
“好的,”大个子说。
“Okay,” Big Man said.
索耶转过身,拍了拍他那强壮的中卫肩膀,那孩子朝我们俩点了点头,就像离开派对一样。他朝楼梯走去,绑着的手腕上拖着一条橙色的细绳。
Sawyer turned him around and clapped him on one of his great halfback shoulders, and the kid nodded at both of us like he was leaving a party. He walked off toward the staircase, trailing orange twine from his bound wrists.
“他是个好孩子,”索耶在我们目送他离开时说道。楼梯上沉重而谨慎的脚步声渐渐消失了。然后索耶转向我。
“He’s a good kid,” Sawyer said as we watched him go. The heavy, careful steps died away on the stairs below. Then Sawyer turned to me.
“你还可以帮助我,”他说。
“You can still help me,” he said.
“如果你自首的话”,我说,“我们可以为你安排精神痛苦辩护,并为你找一位好律师。”
“If you turn yourself in,” I said, “we can gin up a mental distress defense, get you a good lawyer for it.”
“不,”索耶说。他看了看手表。“我会从前门溜出去,他们不会想到我会在那里。你从后门出去,到你进来时的停车场,让他们忙个不停。站在门口,假装我带着枪,然后像躲在那里一样向警察传递信息。比如说,我想要一辆车,我想要三千美元,我想要一个小时的提前出发时间。可以吗?之后,他们永远不会知道我当时没有带枪。只要给我一个机会,让我从前门溜走。”
“Nope,” Sawyer said. He checked his watch. “I’ll slip out the front, where they don’t expect me. You go out the back, to the parking lot where you came in, and keep them busy. Stand in the door and pretend I’ve got the gun on you, and relay messages to the cops like I’m hiding there. Say I want a car, and I want three thousand dollars, and I want an hour’s head start. Okay? Afterward, they’ll never know I wasn’t there with the gun. Just give me a chance to get out the front and get away.”
他很冷静,看上去神志清醒,即使手里拿着步枪。他只是我的客户,处境仍然不好,仍然希望我帮助他,而我也在努力。
He was calm and seemed sane, even with the rifle in his hand. He was just my client, still in a bad spot, still wanting me to help him, and I was trying.
“前面没有警察吗?”
“Aren’t there cops out front?”
“我一直在观察,”他说。“他们都待在后面,我告诉他们我会出来。所以你会这么做吗?”
“I’ve been watching,” he said. “They’ve all stayed out back, where I told them I’d come out. So will you do it?”
我说好的。我没法和他争辩,也没法再说什么。他拨打了 911,我们等着接线员想办法让他接通楼下的警车。我再次要求他放弃,他拒绝了。他告诉他们我们马上就出来。我们下楼,我的两只手腕被他抓在身后,他的手温暖而潮湿,但不紧。然后他拿走了办公室钥匙,让我等一会儿再出去。他蹲下身子,穿过隔间隔板,来到前门。我听到门闩发出刮擦声。蓝色的路灯勾勒出他的身影,他挥手示意我走。
I said okay. There was no arguing with him, and nothing else I could say. He called 911 and we waited while the operator figured out how to patch him through to the squad cars below. I asked him again to give up and he said no. He told them we were coming out. We went downstairs with both my wrists held behind me, his grip warm and damp but not tight. Then he took the office keys and told me to wait a minute before I went out. Crouched down, he dodged through the cubicle dividers to the front door. I heard a dead bolt scrape. Blue streetlight outlined his body, and he waved to me to go.
后门是一扇不用钥匙就能打开的防火门,我按下门闩,伸出一只手挥动,这样他们就不会开枪打我,然后我背着一只手站着,门几乎没有缝隙。我以为我会这么做,扮演索耶为我编写的角色,但不知何故,这似乎是不可能的,这件事在黑暗中是合理的,但现在却不可能了。他是一个拿着枪的人。我举起双手走出来,说:“他在前面,”但我的声音嘶哑了,我不得不再说一遍,更大声地说。“他在前面。”
The back door was a fire door that opened without a key, and I pressed the bar and put a hand out to wave so they wouldn’t shoot me, and then I stood with one hand behind my back, the door barely cracked. I thought I was going to do it, to play the part Sawyer had scripted for me, and then somehow it seemed impossible, a thing that was plausible back in the dark but now was not. He was a man with a gun. I stepped out with my hands up and said, “He’s in front,” but my voice cracked and I had to say it again, louder. “He’s in front.”
索耶在监狱里给我写了一封信。他说:
Sawyer wrote me a letter from prison. He said,
如果你能来,那一定很棒。每周二下午 2 点到 4 点,我可以接待访客,见到你真的很棒。或者如果你写封信。你不会相信收到来自现实世界的来信有多棒。在好日子里,我现在可以正常阅读,我可以回信,在糟糕的日子里,有人会读给我听。除了我的辩护律师,没有人给我写信,他是个混蛋,而且几乎再也不写信了。(不要告诉他我说他是个混蛋。我知道你们律师都很抠门。)不要对发生的事情感到太难过。当然,他们站在前面。你做了你能做的。
It would sure be great if you came by. Tuesdays from 2–4 I can have visitors and it would be really something to see you. Or if you wrote a letter. You wouldn’t believe how great it is to get a letter from the real world. On good days I can read okay now, and I can write back, and on bad days someone will read it to me. No one writes to me except my defense lawyer, and he’s an asshole, and hardly writes anymore anyway. (Don’t tell him I said he was an asshole. I know all you lawyers are tight.) And don't feel too bad about what happened. Of course they were out front. You did what you could do.
几个星期以来,我一直把这封信放在收件箱的顶部,一直把它移到最上面,放在我看得见的地方,但我没有回信。无论我能对他说什么,都不足以让我在纸上写下来。我解决了一个案子,又开始了另一个案子,剩下的案子就这样慢慢地堆积在我的桌子上,而索耶的便条却一直浮在最上面。
I kept the letter on top of my in-box for weeks, always moving it to the top, keeping it where I could see it, but I didn’t write back. Whatever I could say to him would be so inadequate I couldn’t imagine it on paper. I settled one case, started another, and the rest plodded along, piling up on my desk, while Sawyer’s note kept floating to the top.
最后,在一个寒冷的星期二,道路干燥,我把所有东西都收拾得干干净净,打电话给我认识的监狱长,征得他允许我带食物,并在去鹿屋的路上买了汉堡。他们把索耶带到监狱的探视区,让我们坐在同一张桌子上,没有任何隔阂。几个月的闲暇让他瘦了下来,但看起来并不健康。他脸色苍白,脸色有点灰暗,年纪也大了。我们尴尬地看着对方,好像我们都不知道我们在那里做什么。纸袋仍然温热,散发着油炸食品的味道,我手里拿着感觉很重,很不舒服。
Finally, one cold blue Tuesday when the roads were dry, I left everything in the mess it was in, called a warden I knew for permission to bring food and picked up burgers on the way out to Deer Lodge. They brought Sawyer into the prison’s visiting area and let us sit at the same table, no barrier at all. He’d lost the weight of the idle months, but he didn’t look healthy. He looked pale, a little gray in the face, and older. We looked at each other awkwardly, like neither of us knew what we were doing there. The paper bags, still warm and smelling of fried things, felt heavy and wrong in my hands.
“我想你刚吃过午饭,”我说。
“I guess you’ve just had lunch,” I said.
索耶用赞赏的目光看着我。“那里有震动吗?”
Sawyer gave me an appraising look. “Is there a shake in there?”
有时我会有点运气——我喝了一杯巧克力奶昔和一杯香草奶昔,大部分还是冻着的。我们打开行李,坐在桌边,索耶一边吃着,一边谈论着囚犯,直呼其名,讲着听起来像是他已经在脑子里计划好了的故事,等着外面的人来听。他一边吃着汉堡,一边喝着巧克力奶昔,用吸管大声地吸着。
Sometimes I have a little luck — I had a chocolate shake and a vanilla one, still mostly frozen. We unpacked the bags and sat at the table, and Sawyer ate and talked about the inmates, using first names, telling stories that sounded like he’d planned them in his mind for someone to come from the outside and listen. He washed down burger with chocolate shake, sucked noisily through the straw.
“你知道我妻子走了,”他最后说道。“你知道她去哪儿了吗?”
“You know my wife’s gone,” he said finally. “You know where she went?”
我摇了摇头。
I shook my head.
“当我停止工作并开始发疯时,她交了一个笔友。一个在怀俄明州监狱服刑的人。他们一年到头都在写信,而我却从来不知道。后来他休假了,她就和他一起生活了。她给我寄了一封信,说他们住在一个农场里,养了四十只猫,她从来没有这么开心过。你能相信吗?她从另一个城镇寄了这封信,所以我找不到她。”
“When I stopped working and started getting crazy, she got a pen pal. A guy in prison in Wyoming. They wrote back and forth all year and I never knew. Then he got furloughed and she went to live with him. She sent me a letter that says they’re living on a farm and have forty cats and she’s never been so happy. Can you believe that? She mailed the letter from another town so I couldn’t find her.”
“你想找到她吗?”
“Would you want to find her?”
“是的!”他说。“——不,我不知道。一个在监狱里的男人。我不敢相信她找到了一个在监狱里的男人。我就是一个在监狱里的男人。我怎么了?但无论如何她都会离开的。”
“Yeah!” he said. “ — No. I don’t know. A guy in prison. I can’t believe she found a guy in prison. I’m a guy in prison. What’s wrong with me? But she would have left anyway.”
“那家伙做了什么?”
“What did the guy do?”
“她不会告诉我的。可能是个用斧头杀人的凶手。那是怀俄明州。”他咧嘴一笑,脸上浮现出以前没有的皱纹,但那笑容很迷人。索耶仍然很勇敢。
“She won’t tell me. Probably an ax murderer. It’s Wyoming.” He grinned and his face stretched into wrinkles he didn’t have before, but the grin was charming. Sawyer was still game.
“所以,你从来没给我写过信,”他一边说,一边吃着最后一根薯条。袋子、盒子和杯子散落在我们中间,现在都空了,满地都是油污,让人尴尬。
“So, you never wrote to me,” he said, picking at the last of his fries. The bags and boxes and cups were strewn between us, empty now, an embarrassment of grease.
“我本想这么做的,”我说,“我一直想这么做。”
“I meant to,” I said. “I kept meaning to.”
“这并不难,”他说。“你知道吗?”
“It wouldn’t be so hard,” he said. “You know?”
“我知道。”
“I know.”
“伙计,你不会相信邮件的感觉有多好。我想我告诉过你。”
“Man, you wouldn’t believe how good mail feels. I think I told you that.”
“我会的,我会写,”我说。“我不知道该说什么。”
“I will, I’ll write,” I said. “I didn’t know what to say.”
“关键是,你不必说任何特别的话,”他说。“我告诉你没关系,不管发生了什么。他们无论如何都会抓到我的。我搞砸了。但我的意思是,你可以谈论任何事情,谈论天气,谈论你的一天。只要你把它装进信封,然后寄出去就行了。”
“That’s the thing, is you don’t have to say anything special,” he said. “I told you it’s okay, about what happened. They would have got me anyway. I fucked up. But I mean this, you could talk about anything, talk about the weather, talk about your day. Just so you put it in an envelope and put it in the mail.”
“好的,”我说。
“Okay,” I said.
“并不一定要是大部头的书,”他说。
“It doesn’t have to be a tome,” he said.
天色开始变暗时,我开车回家。迪尔洛奇的招牌上写着晚餐剧院,老监狱剧团将在古老的石头监狱大楼里八点上演《毒药与老妇人》。我很好奇他们在哪里找到顾客,但我并不想成为其中的一员。
I drove home as the sky was beginning to darken. A sign in Deer Lodge advertised dinner theater, the Old Prison Players doing Arsenic and Old Lace at eight in the old stone prison building. I wondered where they found customers, but I didn’t wonder enough to go be one.
那时我并不是一个人睡的,这是我自从上次见到索耶以来唯一一个消息,但我可能也只是一个人。这家伙是一名检察官,午夜前从不离开办公室,有时他会过来。所以夜晚在我面前延伸:地平线上长长的蓝灰色云朵,桌子上搁置的工作,空荡荡的房子。我可以回到办公室,也许碰见我的秘书锁门,道晚安,然后继续工作,直到我再次感到饥饿,然后吃点东西,洗澡,上床睡觉。我可能会被检察官的民兵案和性爱的消息吵醒,然后回去睡觉,床上还有另一个人。
I wasn’t sleeping alone then, which was the only news in my life since I had seen Sawyer last, but I might as well have been. The guy was a prosecutor who never left the office before midnight, and sometimes then he’d stop by. So the evening stretched before me: long blue-gray clouds on the horizon, the abandoned work on my desk, my empty house. I could go back to the office, maybe catch my secretary locking up, say good night and stay to work until I was hungry again, and could get a bite to eat and a bath and go to bed. I would maybe be awakened to news of my prosecutor’s militia case, and to sex, and then go back to sleep with another body in the bed.
这个计划还算可以接受,但我没法集中精力。我所做的就是观察天空。随着天空的变化,随着云朵伸展,橙色闪耀,粉色延伸到蓝色,我开始把它看作是一种描述,一封信,不是律师信,也不是一本书,而是一个开始,一个向索耶和我讲述这一天在这里发生的一切以及它是什么样子的描述。
It was a tolerable plan but I couldn’t focus on it. What I did was watch the sky. As it changed, as the clouds stretched out and the orange flared up and pink reached out to meet the blue, I started thinking of it as a description, a letter, not a lawyer-sounding one, and not a tome, but a start, an account for Sawyer and for me of what the day did out here, and what it was like.
[2002]
[2002]
一本书:一本大型的学术书籍。
atome: A large, scholarly book.
b侵权索赔:某人因他人的错误行为寻求赔偿的法律索赔。
btort claim: A legal claim in which someone seeks compensation for someone else’s wrongdoing.
[1972 年生]
[b. 1972]
施先生是一名火箭科学家,当人们问起他的职业时,他会这样回答。当人们惊叹不已时,他会谦虚地补充说,他已经退休了。施先生在底特律停留期间从一位女士那里学到了这句话,当时他试图向她解释他的工作,当他的英语无法帮助他时,他画了些画。“火箭科学家!”那位女士大笑着说道。
A rocket scientist, Mr. Shi tells people when they ask about his profession in China. Retired, he then adds, out of modesty, when people marvel. Mr. Shi learned the phrase from a woman during a layover at Detroit, when he tried to explain to her his work, drawing pictures when his English failed to help. “A rocket scientist!” the woman exclaimed, laughing out loud.
在美国,他遇见的人本来就很友好,在了解了他的职业后,更是友善了许多,因此,只要有机会,他都喜欢重复他的话。在这座美国中西部小镇女儿家做客的第五天,石先生结识了不少朋友。推着婴儿车的母亲们向他招手。一对老夫妇,丈夫穿着西装,妻子穿着裙子,每天早上九点出现在公园里,妻子的手挽着丈夫的胳膊;他们停下来和他打招呼,说话的总是丈夫,妻子则面带微笑。住在一个街区外养老院的一位妇女过来和他聊天。她今年 77 岁,比他大两岁,来自伊朗。尽管他们都不会说太多英语,但他们彼此都能理解,很快就成了朋友。
People he meets in America, already friendly, seem more so when they learn his profession, so he likes to repeat the words whenever possible. Five days into his visit at his daughter’s place, in this Midwest town, Mr. Shi has made quite a few acquaintances. Mothers with babies in strollers wave at him. An old couple, the husband in suit and the wife in skirt, show up in the park every morning at nine o’clock, her hand on his arm; they stop and greet him, the husband always the one speaking, the wife smiling. A woman living in the retirement home a block away comes to talk to him. She is seventy-seven, two years his senior, and was originally from Iran. Despite the fact they both speak little English, they have no problem understanding each other, and in no time they become friends.
她经常说:“美国是个好国家。儿子能赚大钱。”
“America good country,” she says often. “Sons make rich money.”
美国确实是个好国家,施先生的女儿在大学图书馆东亚部当管理员,一年的薪水比他二十年的还多。
America is indeed a good country. Mr. Shi’s daughter works as a librarian in the East Asian department in the college library and earns more in a year than he made in twenty.
“我的女儿,她也赚了很多钱。”
“My daughter, she make lots of money, too.”
“我爱美国。对每个人来说都是一个好国家。”
“I love America. Good country for everybody.”
“是的,是的。我在中国是一名火箭科学家。但是很穷。火箭科学家,你知道吗?”施先生说着,双手比划着。
“Yes, yes. A rocket scientist I am in China. But very poor. Rocket scientist, you know?” Mr. Shi says, his hands making a peak.
“我爱中国。中国是一个好国家,非常古老,”这位女士说道。
“I love China. China a good country, very old,” the woman says.
“美国是一个年轻的国家,就像年轻人一样。”
“America is young country, like young people.”
“美国是一个幸福的国家。”
“America a happy country.”
“年轻人比老年人更幸福,”施先生说,然后意识到这个结论太突然了。他自己此刻感觉比他记忆中一生中任何时候都幸福。他面前的这个女人,不管有没有理由,都爱着一切,看起来也很幸福。
“Young people are more happy than old people,” Mr. Shi says, and then realizes that it is too abrupt a conclusion. He himself feels happier at this moment than he remembers he ever did in his life. The woman in front of him, who loves everything with or without a good reason, seems happy, too.
有时他们说不出英语。她会改用波斯语,中间夹杂着几句英语。施先生觉得很难用中文和她交谈。那时,只有她一个人在谈话,一谈就是十到二十分钟。他点头并热情地微笑。他听不懂她在说什么,但他能感觉到她和他交谈时的快乐,就像他听她说话时的快乐一样。
Sometimes they run out of English. She switches to Persian, mixed with a few English words. Mr. Shi finds it hard to speak Chinese to her. It is she who carries the conversation alone then, for ten or twenty minutes. He nods and smiles effusively. He does not understand much of what she is saying, but he feels her joy in talking to him, the same joy he feels listening to her.
施先生开始期待着每天早上坐在公园里等她。他用“夫人”来称呼她,因为他从没问过她的名字。夫人穿的衣服颜色是他想象不到的,像她这个年纪或她来自哪里的女人会穿的,红色、橙色、紫色和黄色。她戴着一副金属发夹,一只白色的大象和一只蓝绿色的孔雀。它们摇摇晃晃地夹在她稀疏的头发上,让他想起女儿小时候的样子——那时她的头发还没有完全长出来,一只塑料蝴蝶松松地挂在额头上。施先生有一瞬间想告诉夫人,他多么怀念女儿小时候充满希望的日子。但他肯定,甚至在开始之前,他的英语就会不及格。此外,他从来不习惯谈论过去。
Mr. Shi starts to look forward to the mornings when he sits in the park and waits for her. “Madam” is what he uses to address her, as he has never asked her name. Madam wears colors that he does not imagine a woman of her age, or where she came from, would wear, red and orange and purple and yellow. She has a pair of metal barrettes, a white elephant and blue-and-green peacock. They clasp on her thin hair in a wobbly way that reminds him of his daughter when she was a small child — before her hair was fully grown, with a plastic butterfly hanging loose on her forehead. Mr. Shi, for a brief moment, wants to tell Madam how much he misses the days when his daughter was small and life was hopeful. But he is sure, even before he starts, that his English would fail him. Besides, it is never his habit to talk about the past.
晚上,女儿回家后,施先生就做好了晚饭。几年前,妻子去世后,他参加了烹饪班,从那时起,他便以与大学时学习数学和物理时同样的热情学习烹饪艺术。“每个人天生就拥有的天赋比他知道如何利用的要多,”他在晚餐时说道。“我从来没想过要从事烹饪,但现在我做得比我想象的还要好。”
In the evenings, when his daughter comes home, Mr. Shi has the supper ready. He took a cooking class after his wife died, a few years ago, and ever since has studied the culinary art with the same fervor with which he studied mathematics and physics when he was a college student. “Every man is born with more talents than he knows how to use,” he says at dinner. “I would’ve never imagined taking up cooking, but here I am, better than I imagined.”
“是的,非常令人印象深刻,”他的女儿说。
“Yes, very impressive,” his daughter says.
“同样,”施先生快速看了一眼女儿,“生活给予我们的幸福比我们想象的还要多。我们必须训练自己去寻找它。”
“And likewise” — Mr. Shi takes a quick glance at his daughter — “life provides more happiness than we ever know. We have to train ourselves to look for it.”
他的女儿没有回答。尽管他为自己的厨艺感到自豪,女儿也称赞他,但她吃得很少,而且是出于责任感。他担心女儿没有像她应该的那样对生活投入足够的热情。当然,她有她自己的原因,结婚七年后刚刚离婚。他的前女婿离婚后永久回到了北京。施先生不知道是什么导致他们的婚姻之舟触礁,但无论原因是什么,这都不是她的错。她天生就是一个好妻子,声音温柔,心地善良,孝顺美丽,是她母亲的年轻版。当女儿打电话告诉他离婚的消息时,施先生想象着女儿痛苦不堪,要求来美国帮助她康复。她拒绝了,他开始每天打电话恳求,花了整整一个月的退休金来支付长途电话费。当他宣布他 75 岁生日的愿望是去美国看看时,她终于同意了。这虽然是个谎言,但后来却发现这是一个很好的理由。美国值得一看;更重要的是,美国让他成为一个全新的人,一个火箭科学家,一个善于交谈的人,一个慈爱的父亲,一个快乐的男人。
His daughter does not reply. Despite the pride he takes in his cooking and her praises for it, she eats little and eats out of duty. It worries him that she is not putting enough enthusiasm into life as she should be. Of course, she has her reasons, newly divorced after seven years of marriage. His ex-son-in-law went back to Beijing permanently after the divorce. Mr. Shi does not know what led the boat of their marriage to run into a hidden rock, but whatever the reason is, it must not be her fault. She is made for a good wife, soft-voiced and kindhearted, dutiful and beautiful, a younger version of her mother. When his daughter called to inform him of the divorce, Mr. Shi imagined her in inconsolable pain, and asked to come to America, to help her recover. She refused, and he started calling daily and pleading, spending a good solid month of his pension on the long-distance bill. She finally agreed when he announced that his wish for his seventy-fifth birthday was to take a look at America. A lie it was, but the lie turned out to be a good reason. America is worth taking a look at; more than that, America makes him a new person, a rocket scientist, a good conversationalist, a loving father, a happy man.
晚饭后,施先生的女儿要么躲在卧室看书,要么开车回家,很晚才回家。施先生要求和她一起出去,陪她看他想象中她会独自看的电影,但她以礼貌但坚定的态度拒绝了。对于一个女人,尤其是像他女儿这样沉思的女人,独自度过太长时间肯定是不健康的。他开始多和她说话,以解决她的孤独问题,询问她生活中他没有目睹的部分。他问她今天的工作怎么样?她疲惫地回答说很好。他没有气馁,他问起她的同事,女的是否比男的多,他们的年龄,如果他们结婚了,有没有孩子。他问她午餐吃什么,是否一个人吃饭,她用什么电脑,读什么书。他问起她的老同学,他认为她因为离婚的耻辱而与这些人断绝了联系。他询问她对未来的计划,希望她能理解自己处境的紧迫性。20 多岁和 30 岁出头的适婚女性就像从树上摘下来的荔枝,每过一天,她们就会变得不再新鲜,不再有吸引力,很快就会失去价值,不得不以低价出售。
After dinner, Mr. Shi’s daughter either retreats to her bedroom to read or drives away and comes home at late hours. Mr. Shi asks to go out with her, to accompany her to the movies he imagines that she watches alone, but she refuses in a polite but firm manner. It is certainly not healthy for a woman, especially a contemplative woman like his daughter, to spend too much time alone. He starts to talk more to tackle her solitude, asking questions about the part of her life he is not witnessing. How was her work of the day? he asks. Fine, she says tiredly. Not discouraged, he asks about her colleagues, whether there are more females than males, how old they are, and, if they are married, whether they have children. He asks what she eats for lunch and whether she eats alone, what kind of computer she uses, and what books she reads. He asks about her old school friends, people he believes she is out of contact with because of the shame of the divorce. He asks about her plan for the future, hoping she understands the urgency of her situation. Women in their marriageable twenties and early thirties are like lychees that have been picked from the tree; each passing day makes them less fresh and less desirable, and only too soon will they lose their value, and have to be gotten rid of at a sale price.
施先生知道得够多了,所以不提售价。但他还是忍不住要说人生的丰硕成果。他越说,就越被自己的耐心所感动。然而,他的女儿并没有好转。她一天比一天吃得少,越来越安静。当他终于指出她没有像她应该的那样享受生活时,她说:“你是怎么得出这个结论的?我的生活过得还不错。”
Mr. Shi knows enough not to mention the sale price. Still, he cannot help but lecture on the fruitfulness of life. The more he talks, the more he is moved by his own patience. His daughter, however, does not improve. She eats less and becomes quieter each day. When he finally points out that she is not enjoying her life as she should, she says, “How do you get this conclusion? I’m enjoying my life all right.”
“但那是谎言。一个快乐的人永远不会这么安静!”
“But that’s a lie. A happy person will never be so quiet!”
她从碗里的米饭上抬起头来。“爸爸,你以前很安静,记得吗?那时你不开心吗?”
She looks up from the bowl of rice. “Baba, you used to be very quiet, remember? Were you unhappy then?”
施先生没有料到女儿会如此直率,无法回答。他等着女儿道歉并转移话题,有礼貌的人意识到自己的问题让别人尴尬时就会这样做,但她没有放过他。她眼镜后面的眼睛睁得大大的,目光坚定,让他想起了她小时候。当她四五岁的时候,她一有机会就追着他,问问题,要求他回答。那双眼睛也让他想起了她的母亲;在他们结婚的某个时候,她用这种疑惑的眼神盯着他,等待着他没有给她的答案。
Mr. Shi, not prepared for such directness from his daughter, is unable to reply. He waits for her to apologize and change the topic, as people with good manners do when they realize they are embarrassing others with their questions, but she does not let him go. Her eyes behind her glasses, wide open and unrelenting, remind him of her in her younger years. When she was four or five, she went after him every possible moment, asking questions and demanding answers. The eyes remind him of her mother too; at one time in their marriage, she gazed at him with this questioning look, waiting for an answer he did not have for her.
他叹了口气。“我当然一直很快乐。”
He sighs. “Of course I’ve always been happy.”
“就这样吧,爸爸。我们可以安静又快乐,不是吗?”
“There you go, Baba. We can be quiet and happy, can’t we?”
“为什么不跟我谈谈你的幸福呢?”施先生说。“跟我多讲讲你的工作吧。”
“Why not talk about your happiness with me?” Mr. Shi says. “Tell me more about your work.”
“你也不怎么谈论你的工作,记得吗?即使我问起的时候你也没有多谈。”
“You didn’t talk much about your work either, remember? Even when I asked.”
“火箭科学家,你知道的。我的工作是保密的。”
“A rocket scientist, you know how it was. My work was confidential.”
他的女儿说:“你们什么都没说。”
“You didn’t talk much about anything,” his daughter says.
石先生张了张嘴,却说不出话来。过了好一会儿,他才说:“我现在说话比较多了。我在进步,不是吗?”
Mr. Shi opens his mouth but finds no words coming. After a long moment, he says, “I talk more now. I’m improving, no?”
“当然可以,”他的女儿说。
“Sure,” his daughter says.
“这就是你需要做的。多说话,”施先生说。“现在就开始。”
“That’s what you need to do. Talk more,” Mr. Shi says. “And start now.”
然而,他的女儿却没那么热情。她像往常一样沉默寡言,很快吃完了饭,在他吃完饭之前就离开了公寓。
His daughter, however, is less enthusiastic. She finishes her meal quickly in her usual silence and leaves the apartment before he finishes his.
第二天早上,石先生向夫人坦白:“女儿不开心。”
The next morning, Mr. Shi confesses to Madam, “The daughter, she’s not happy.”
“有女儿真幸福,”夫人说。
“Daughter a happy thing to have,” Madam says.
“她离婚了。”
“She’s divorced.”
夫人点点头,开始用波斯语说话。施先生不确定夫人是否知道离婚意味着什么。像她这样大胆地爱着这个世界的女人,一定有丈夫或儿子的庇护,让她免受生活中的不快。施先生看着夫人,她的脸上因为说说笑笑而变得明亮,他几乎羡慕她有比他小四十岁的女儿所没有的活力。今天夫人穿着一件亮橙色的上衣,上面印着紫色的猴子,它们翻滚着,咧着嘴笑;她头上戴着一条同样图案的围巾。她是一个流离失所的女人,但毫无疑问,她是一个快乐的流离失所者。施先生试图回忆他对伊朗和这个国家近代史的了解;凭借他有限的知识,他只能得出这样的结论:夫人一定是个幸运的女人。尽管有大大小小的缺陷,但他也是一个幸运的男人。史先生心想,真是难得,他和夫人,来自不同的世界,说着不同的语言,能坐在秋日的阳光下聊天。
Madam nods, and starts to talk in Persian. Mr. Shi is not sure if Madam knows what divorce means. A woman so boldly in love with the world like her must have been shielded from life’s unpleasantness, by her husband, or her sons maybe. Mr. Shi looks at Madam, her face brightened by her talking and laughing, and almost envies her for the energy that his daughter, forty years younger, does not possess. For the day Madam wears a bright orange blouse with prints of purple monkeys, all tumbling and grinning; on her head she wears a scarf with the same pattern. A displaced woman she is, but no doubt happily displaced. Mr. Shi tries to recall what he knows about Iran and the country’s recent history; with his limited knowledge, all he can conclude is that Madam must be a lucky woman. A lucky man he is, too, despite all the big and small imperfections. How extraordinary, Mr. Shi thinks, that Madam and he, from different worlds and with different languages, have this opportunity to sit and talk in the autumn sunshine.
“在中国,我们说‘修百世可同舟’,”石先生在夫人停下脚步时说道。“要祈祷三百年,才能有机会与同舟共济。”他想用英语向夫人解释,但语言之间有什么区别呢?不管有没有翻译,夫人都能听懂。“我们能见面并交谈——一定是经过了很长时间的祈祷,我们才来到这里。”他用中文对夫人说。
“In China we say, Xiu bai shi ke tong zhou,” Mr. Shi says when Madam stops. It takes three hundred years of prayers to have the chance to cross a river with someone in the same boat, he thinks of explaining to Madam in English, but then, what’s the difference between the languages? Madam would understand him, with or without the translation. “That we get to meet and talk to each other — it must have taken a long time of good prayers to get us here,” he says in Chinese to Madam.
夫人微笑着表示同意。
Madam smiles in agreement.
“每一段关系都有原因,这就是那句谚语的意思。丈夫和妻子、父母和孩子、朋友和敌人,以及你在街上碰到的陌生人。要与所爱之人并肩枕枕,需要祈祷三千年。至于父亲和女儿?也许要祈祷一千年。人们不会无缘无故地成为父亲和女儿,这是肯定的。但女儿不明白这一点。她一定认为我是个讨厌的人。她希望我闭嘴,因为她一直都是这样认识我的。她不明白我和她母亲以及她很少说话,因为我当时是一名火箭科学家。一切都是保密的。我们整天工作,到了晚上,保安来收拾我们所有的笔记本和草稿纸。我们在档案夹上签上名字,这就是一天的工作。我们永远不允许告诉家人我们在做什么。我们被训练不说话。”
“There’s a reason for every relationship, that’s what the saying means. Husband and wife, parents and children, friends and enemies, strangers you bump into in the street. It takes three thousand years of prayers to place your head side by side with your loved one’s on the pillow. For father and daughter? A thousand years, maybe. People don’t end up randomly as father and daughter, that’s for sure. But the daughter, she doesn’t understand this. She must be thinking I’m a nuisance. She prefers I shut up because that’s how she’s known me always. She doesn’t understand that I didn’t talk much with her mother and her because I was a rocket scientist back then. Everything was confidential. We worked all day and when evening came, the security guards came to collect all our notebooks and scratch papers. We signed our names on the archive folders, and that was a day’s work. Never allowed to tell our family what we were doing. We were trained not to talk.”
夫人双手合十,听着。石先生自从妻子去世后,就没有坐在同龄女人这么近的地方,就算妻子在世,也没跟她说过这么多话。他眼眶有些沉重。想像一下,他跨越半个地球来到女儿身边,弥补女儿小时候不曾说的话,却发现女儿对他的话毫无兴趣。想像一下,夫人,一个连他的语言都不懂的陌生人,能更理解地听他说话。石先生用两个拇指揉着眼睛。他这个年纪的男人,不应该放纵自己的不健康情绪,他长吸一口气,轻笑一声。“当然,感情不好也是有原因的——我肯定是心不在焉地为女儿祈祷了一千年。”
Madam listens, both hands folding on her heart. Mr. Shi hasn’t been sitting so close to a woman his age since his wife died; even when she was alive, he had never talked this much to her. His eyes feel heavy. Imagine he’s traveled half a world to his daughter, to make up for all the talks he denied her when she was younger, but only to find her uninterested in his words. Imagine Madam, a stranger who does not even know his language, listens to him with more understanding. Mr. Shi massages his eyes with his two thumbs. A man his age shouldn’t indulge himself in unhealthy emotions; he takes long breaths, and laughs slightly. “Of course, there’s a reason for a bad relationship, too — I must be praying halfheartedly for a thousand years for the daughter.”
夫人严肃地点点头。她理解他,他也知道,但他不想让自己的琐碎不快成为她的负担。他搓着手,仿佛要甩掉记忆的灰尘。“老故事,”他用最好的英语说道。“老故事并不令人兴奋。”
Madam nods solemnly. She understands him, he knows, but he does not want to burden her with his petty unhappiness. He rubs his hands as if to get rid of the dust of memory. “Old stories,” he says in his best English. “Old stories are not exciting.”
“我喜欢故事,”女士说完,便开始讲起来。施先生听着,而她则一直面带微笑。他看着她头上咧嘴笑的猴子,当她放声大笑时,猴子便会上下摆动。
“I love stories,” Madam says, and starts to talk. Mr. Shi listens, and she smiles all the time. He looks at the grinning monkeys on her head, bobbing up and down when she breaks out laughing.
“我们是幸运儿,”她说完后他说。“在美国,我们可以谈论任何事情。”
“Lucky people we are,” he says after she finishes talking. “In America, we can talk anything.”
“美国是个好国家。” 女士点点头。“我爱美国。”
“America good country.” Madam nods. “I love America.”
当天晚上,石先生对女儿说:“我在公园里遇见了一位伊朗女士,你见过她吗?”
That evening, Mr. Shi says to his daughter, “I met this Iranian lady in the park. Have you met her?”
“不。”
“No.”
“你应该找个时间见见她。她非常乐观。你可能会发现她对你的处境很有启发。”
“You should meet her sometime. She’s so very optimistic. You may find her illuminating for your situation.”
“我的情况怎么样?”他的女儿低头吃饭问道。
“What’s my situation?” his daughter asks without looking up from her food.
“你告诉我,”施先生说。当女儿没有采取任何行动来帮忙谈话时,他说:“你正在经历一段黑暗时期。”
“You tell me,” Mr. Shi says. When his daughter makes no move to help the conversation, he says, “You’re experiencing a dark time.”
“你怎么知道她会照亮我的生活?”
“How do you know she would shed light on my life?”
石先生张了张嘴,却找不到答案。他担心如果他解释他和夫人说的是不同的语言,他的女儿会认为他是个疯老头。以前有意义的事情,换个角度看,突然变得荒谬。他对自己的女儿感到失望,他和她同语,却再也无法分享亲密时光。沉默了很久,他说:“你知道,女人不应该问这么直接的问题。好女人是恭敬的,懂得如何让别人说话。”
Mr. Shi opens his mouth, but cannot find an answer. He is afraid that if he explains he and Madam talk in different languages, his daughter will think of him as a crazy old man. Things that make sense at one time suddenly seem absurd in a different light. He feels disappointed in his daughter, someone he shares a language with but with whom he can no longer share a dear moment. After a long pause, he says, “You know, a woman shouldn’t ask such direct questions. A good woman is deferential and knows how to make people talk.”
“我离婚了,所以按照你的标准我肯定不是一个好女人。”
“I’m divorced, so certainly I’m not a good woman according to your standard.”
施先生觉得女儿的讽刺太不公平,便没再理会。“你妈妈就是好女人的典范。”
Mr. Shi, thinking his daughter is unfairly sarcastic, ignores her. “Your mother was an example of a good woman.”
“她成功让你开口说话了吗?”他的女儿问道,她的眼睛直视着他,眼神比他想象的还要凶狠。
“Did she succeed in making you talk?” his daughter asks, and her eyes, looking directly into his, are fiercer than he knows.
“你的母亲不会这么好斗。”
“Your mother wouldn’t be so confrontational.”
“爸爸,你先是指责我太安静。我开始说话,你却说我说话的方式不对。”
“Baba, first you accused me of being too quiet. I start to talk, and you are saying I’m talking in a wrong way.”
“谈话不仅仅是问问题。谈话就是你告诉别人你对他们的感受,并邀请他们告诉你他们对你的感觉。”
“Talking is not only asking questions. Talking is you telling people how you feel about them, and inviting them to tell you how they feel about you.”
“爸爸,你什么时候成为一名治疗师的?”
“Baba, since when did you become a therapist?”
“我来这里是为了帮助你,我正在尽我所能,”施先生说。“我需要知道你为什么离婚。我需要知道哪里出了问题,并帮助你下次找到合适的人。你是我的女儿,我希望你幸福。我不想让你再次跌倒。”
“I’m here to help you, and I’m trying my best,” Mr. Shi says. “I need to know why you ended up in a divorce. I need to know what went wrong and help you to find the right person the next time. You’re my daughter and I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to fall twice.”
“爸爸,我之前没问过你,你打算在美国呆多久?”他的女儿说道。
“Baba, I didn’t ask you before, but how long do you plan to stay in America?” his daughter says.
“直到你康复。”
“Until you recover.”
他的女儿站了起来,椅子腿刮到了地板。
His daughter stands up, the legs of the chair scraping the floor.
“现在我们就是彼此唯一的家人了,”施先生几乎是恳求地说道,但他的女儿在他继续说下去之前就关上了卧室的门。施先生看着女儿几乎没碰过的那些菜,炸豆腐块里塞满了切碎的蘑菇、虾和姜,还有竹笋、红辣椒和荷兰豆的拼盘。尽管他的女儿每天晚上都对他的厨艺赞不绝口,但他还是能感觉到她赞美中的半心半意;她不知道烹饪已经成为他的祈祷,她没有回应他的祈祷。
“We’re the only family for each other now,” Mr. Shi says, almost pleading, but his daughter closes her bedroom door before he says more. Mr. Shi looks at the dishes that are barely touched by his daughter, the fried tofu cubes stuffed with chopped mushrooms, shrimps, and ginger, the collage of bamboo shoots, red peppers, and snow peas. Even though his daughter admires his cooking every evening, he senses the halfheartedness in her praise; she does not know the cooking has become his praying, and she leaves the prayers unanswered.
“妻子本可以更好地让女儿高兴起来,”第二天早上,施先生对夫人说。现在,他用中文和她交谈时感觉更自在了。“他们彼此更亲近了。我和他们不亲近不是吗?我非常爱他们。当你是一名火箭科学家时,就会发生这种情况。我白天努力工作,晚上却无法停止思考工作。一切都是保密的,所以我不能和家人谈论我在想什么。但是妻子,她是世界上最善解人意的女人。她知道我忙于工作,她不会打断我的思绪,也不会让女儿打断。现在我知道这对女儿不利。我应该把我的工作留在办公室。我当时太小了,不懂这一点。现在女儿,她没有什么可对我说的。”
“The wife would’ve done a better job of cheering the daughter up,” Mr. Shi says to Madam the next morning. He feels more at ease speaking to her in Chinese now. “They were closer to each other. Wasn’t that I was not close to them. I loved them dearly. It’s what happened when you were a rocket scientist. I worked hard during the day, and at night I couldn’t stop thinking about my work. Everything was confidential so I couldn’t talk to my family about what I was thinking about. But the wife, she was the most understanding woman in the world. She knew I was so occupied with my work, and she wouldn’t interrupt my thoughts, and wouldn’t let the daughter, either. I know now that it was not healthy for the daughter. I should’ve left my working self in the office. I was too young to understand that. Now the daughter, she doesn’t have anything to say to me.”
确实,这是他的错误,他从未养成与女儿交谈的习惯。但他为自己辩解道——在他的时代,像他这样的人,是少数被选中为伟大事业工作的人之一,他必须对工作承担比对家庭更多的责任。光荣而悲伤,但光荣大于悲伤。
Truly it was his mistake, never establishing a habit of talking to his daughter. But then, he argues for himself — in his time, a man like him, among the few chosen to work for a grand cause, he had to bear more duties toward his work than his family. Honorable and sad, but honorable more than sad.
晚上吃饭时,施先生的女儿告诉他,她找到了一家会说中文的旅行社,经营东海岸和西海岸的旅游。“你来这里是想看看美国。我觉得你最好在冬天到来之前参加几次旅游。”
At the dinner table that evening, Mr. Shi’s daughter informs him that she’s found a Chinese-speaking travel agency that runs tours both on the East Coast and the West. “You’re here to take a look at America. I think it’s best you take a couple of tours before winter comes.”
“它们贵吗?”
“Are they expensive?”
“我来付钱,爸爸。这是你生日时想要的礼物,不是吗?”
“I’ll pay, Baba. It’s what you wanted for your birthday, no?”
毕竟她是他的女儿,她记得他的愿望,也尊重他的愿望。但她不明白的是,他想看到的美国是她幸福婚姻的国家。他把蔬菜和鱼舀到她的碗里。“你应该多吃点,”他温柔地说。
She is his daughter after all; she remembers his wish and she honors it. But what she does not understand is that the America he wants to see is the country where she is happily married. He scoops vegetables and fish into her bowl. “You should eat more,” he says in a gentle voice.
“所以,我明天要给他们打电话预订旅游行程,”他的女儿说。
“So, I’m going to call them tomorrow and book the tours,” his daughter says.
“你知道,留在这里可能对我更有好处。我现在是个老人了,不太适合旅行。”
“You know, staying here probably does more good for me. I’m an old man now, not very good for traveling.”
“但这里没什么可看的。”
“But there’s not much to see here.”
“为什么不呢?这就是我想看到的美国。别担心。我这里有朋友。我不会给你添太多麻烦的。”
“Why not? This is the America I wanted to see. Don’t worry. I have my friends here. I won’t be too much of an annoyance to you.”
女儿接电话之前,电话铃响了。她拿起电话,下意识地走进卧室。他等着门被关上。她从不在他面前接电话,即使陌生人试图在电话里向她推销东西。有几个晚上,当她说话时间长,声音又小的时候,他不得不努力不把耳朵贴在门上听。然而,今天晚上,她似乎又改变了主意,把卧室的门打开了。
The phone rings before his daughter replies. She picks up the phone and automatically goes into her bedroom. He waits for the bang of the door. She never takes a call in front of him, even with strangers trying to sell her something on the phone. A few evenings when she talked longer and talked in a hushed voice, he had to struggle not to put his ear on the door and listen. This evening, however, she seems to have a second thought, and leaves the bedroom door open.
他听着她在电话里说英语,她的声音比他所知道的要尖锐得多。她说话很快,经常笑。他听不懂她的话,更不明白她的态度。她的声音太尖锐、太大声、太不谦虚,听起来很不舒服,有那么一刻,他觉得自己好像无意中瞥见了她赤裸的身体,一个完全陌生的人,而不是他认识的女儿。
He listens to her speak English on the phone, her voice shriller than he has ever known it to be. She speaks fast and laughs often. He does not understand her words, but even more, he does not understand her manner. Her voice, too sharp, too loud, too immodest, is so unpleasant to his ears that for a moment he feels as if he had accidentally caught a glimpse of her naked body, a total stranger, not the daughter he knows.
她走出房间时,他盯着她看。她把听筒放回去,一言不发地坐在桌边。他看了一会儿她的脸,问道:“是谁打来的电话?”
He stares at her when she comes out of the room. She puts the receiver back, and sits down at the table without saying anything. He watches her face for a moment, and asks, “Who was it on the phone?”
“一个朋友。”
“A friend.”
“男性朋友,还是女性朋友?”
“A male friend, or a female?”
“是男性。”
“A male.”
他等着她进一步解释,但她似乎没有这个意思。过了一会儿,他说:“这个男人——他是我特别要好的朋友吗?”
He waits for her to give further explanation, but she seems to have no such intention. After a while, he says, “Is this man — is he a special friend?”
“特别吗?当然。”
“Special? Sure.”
“他有多特别?”
“How special is he?”
“爸爸,也许这样你就不会那么担心我了——是的,他很特别。不只是朋友,”他的女儿说。“还是爱人。现在你知道我的生活并不像你想象的那么悲惨,是不是感觉好些了?”
“Baba, maybe this’ll make you worry less about me — yes, he is a very special one. More than a friend,” his daughter says. “A lover. Do you feel better now that you know my life isn’t as miserable as you thought?”
“他是美国人吗?”
“Is he American?”
“是的,他现在是美国人,但他来自罗马尼亚。”
“An American now, yes, but he came from Romania.”
施先生想,至少这个人是在共产主义国家长大的,他努力保持乐观。“你了解他吗?他了解你吗?你来自哪里,你的文化?记住,你不能犯同样的错误两次。你必须非常小心。”
At least the man grew up in a communist country, Mr. Shi thinks, trying to be positive. “Do you know him well? Does he understand you — where you were from, and your culture — well? Remember, you can’t make the same mistakes twice. You have to be really careful.”
“我们认识很久了。”
“We’ve known each other for a long time.”
“很长时间?一个月不算长啊!”
“A long time? A month is not a long time!”
“比这还要长,爸爸。”
“Longer than that, Baba.”
“最多一个半月吧?听着,我知道你很痛苦,但女人不应该着急,尤其是你这种情况。被抛弃的女人——她们在孤独中犯错!”
“One and half months at most, right? Listen, I know you are in pain, but a woman shouldn’t rush, especially in your situation. Abandoned women — they make mistakes in loneliness!”
女儿抬起头来。“爸爸,我的婚姻和你想象的不一样。我没有被抛弃。”
His daughter looks up. “Baba, my marriage wasn’t what you thought. I wasn’t abandoned.”
施先生看着女儿,她的眼睛里流露出坦诚和决心,以及如释重负。有那么一刻,他几乎想让她不要再说更多细节,但和所有人一样,一旦她开口说话,他就无法阻止她。“爸爸,我们离婚就是因为这个男人。如果你想用这个词,我就是抛弃者。”
Mr. Shi looks at his daughter, her eyes candid with resolve and relief. For a moment he almost wants her to spare him any further detail, but like all people, once she starts talking, he cannot stop her. “Baba, we were divorced because of this man. I was the abandoner, if you want to use the term.”
“但为什么?”
“But why?”
“婚姻出了问题,爸爸。”
“Things go wrong in a marriage, Baba.”
“夫妻一夜情,百日恩爱。你们结婚七年了!你怎么能这样对待你的丈夫?除了你们那点婚外情,到底还有什么问题?”石先生说。他最不想把女儿培养成不忠的女人。
“One night of being husband and wife in bed makes them in love for a hundred days. You were married for seven years! How could you do this to your husband? What was the problem, anyway, besides your little extramarital affair?” Mr. Shi says. A disloyal woman is the last thing he raised his daughter to be.
“现在谈论这个已经没有意义了。”
“There’s no point talking about it now.”
“我是你父亲。我有权知道,”石先生用手敲着桌子说道。
“I’m your father. I have a right to know,” Mr. Shi says, banging on the table with a hand.
“我们的问题是,我从来没有跟丈夫说足够多的话。我沉默寡言,他总是怀疑我向他隐瞒了什么事情。”
“Our problem was I never talked enough for my husband. He always suspected that I was hiding something from him because I was quiet.”
“你向他隐瞒了你的情人。”
“You were hiding a lover from him.”
施先生的女儿不理会他的话。“他越是要我说话,我就越想安静地待着。正如你所指出的,我不擅长说话。”
Mr. Shi’s daughter ignores his words. “The more he asked me to talk, the more I wanted to be quiet and alone. I’m not good at talking, as you’ve pointed out.”
“但那是谎言。你刚才在电话里说话太不雅了!你说话、你笑,就像个妓女!”
“But that’s a lie. You just talked over the phone with such immodesty! You talked, you laughed, like a prostitute!”
施先生的女儿被施先生的激烈言辞吓了一跳,她看了他好一会儿,然后才柔和地回答道:“爸爸,这不一样。我们说英语,这样比较容易。我说中文不太好。”
Mr. Shi’s daughter, startled by the vehemence of his words, looks at him for a long moment before she replies in a softer voice. “It’s different, Baba. We talk in English, and it’s easier. I don’t talk well in Chinese.”
“这借口太可笑了!”
“That’s a ridiculous excuse!”
“爸爸,如果你从小就用一种你从未用过的语言来表达自己的感受,那么学习另一种语言并用这种新语言多说话会更容易。它会让你成为一个全新的人。”
“Baba, if you grew up in a language that you never used to express your feelings, it would be easier to take up another language and talk more in the new language. It makes you a new person.”
“你把你的通奸行为怪罪于你母亲和我吗?”
“Are you blaming your mother and me for your adultery?”
“爸爸,我不是这个意思!”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Baba!”
“但这不就是你的意思吗?我们没能很好地用中文教育你,所以当你无法和你丈夫坦诚地谈论你的婚姻时,你就决定寻找一种新的语言和一个新的爱人。”
“But isn’t it what you meant? We didn’t do a good job bringing you up in Chinese so you decided to find a new language and a new lover when you couldn’t talk to your husband honestly about your marriage.”
“当你们都知道婚姻出了问题时,你和妈妈从不说话。我学会了不说话。”
“You never talked, and Mama never talked, when you both knew there was a problem in your marriage. I learned not to talk.”
“我和你妈妈从来没有发生过矛盾。我们只是安静的人。”
“Your mother and I never had a problem. We were just quiet people.”
“但这是谎言!”
“But it’s a lie!”
“不,不是。我知道我犯了太专注于工作的错误,但你必须明白,我之所以保持沉默是因为我的职业。”
“No, it’s not. I know I made the mistake of being too preoccupied with my work, but you have to understand I was quiet because of my profession.”
“爸爸,”石先生的女儿眼里满是怜悯,“你也知道这是个谎言。你从来就不是火箭科学家。妈妈知道。我知道。大家都知道。”
“Baba,” Mr. Shi’s daughter said, pity in her eyes. “You know it’s a lie, too. You were never a rocket scientist. Mama knew. I knew. Everybody knew.”
石先生盯着女儿许久,“我不明白你的意思。”
Mr. Shi stares at his daughter for a long time. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“但是你知道,爸爸。你从不谈论你在工作中做了什么,没错,但其他人——他们谈论你。”
“But you know, Baba. You never talked about what you did at work, true, but other people — they talked about you.”
石先生想找些话来为自己辩解,但嘴唇颤抖着,发不出声音。
Mr. Shi tries to find some words to defend himself, but his lips quiver without making a sound.
他的女儿说:“对不起,爸爸。我不是有意伤害你的。”
His daughter says, “I’m sorry, Baba. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
石先生深吸了一口气,努力保持尊严。这并不难,毕竟,他一生都对灾难保持冷静。“你没有伤害我。就像你说的,你只是在说真话,”他说完站了起来。在他回到客房之前,她在他身后轻声说:“爸爸,我明天给你订旅游团。”
Mr. Shi takes long breaths and tries to maintain his dignity. It is not hard to do so, after all, as he has, for all his life, remained calm about disasters. “You didn’t hurt me. Like you said, you were only talking about truth,” he says, and stands up. Before he retreats to the guest bedroom, she says quietly behind him, “Baba, I’ll book the tours for you tomorrow.”
施先生坐在公园里,等着和夫人道别。他让女儿安排他在美国之行结束后离开旧金山。离开前还有一个星期,但他只有勇气和夫人最后一次谈话,澄清他对自己说过的所有谎言。他不是火箭科学家。他受过训练,在研究所工作的三十八年中,他当了三年火箭科学家。一个年轻人很难对自己的工作保持沉默,施先生在心里默默地想着。一个年轻的火箭科学家,如此的自豪和荣耀。你只是想和别人分享这种兴奋。
Mr. Shi sits in the park and waits to say his farewell to Madam. He has asked his daughter to arrange for him to leave from San Francisco after his tour of America. There’ll still be a week before he leaves, but he has only the courage to talk to Madam one last time, to clarify all the lies he has told about himself. He was not a rocket scientist. He had had the training, and had been one for three years out of the thirty-eight years he worked for the Institute. Hard for a young man to remain quiet about his work, Mr. Shi rehearses in his mind. A young rocket scientist, such pride and glory. You just wanted to share the excitement with someone.
那个人——四十二年前,二十五岁——是为施先生操作打卡机的女孩。当时他们被称为打卡员,这个职业早已被更先进的计算机取代,但在他生活中消失的所有事物中,打卡员是他最怀念的。他的打卡员。“我叫伊兰,”施先生大声喊道,有人高兴地打招呼。夫人拿着一篮秋叶朝他走来。她拿起一片递给施先生。“漂亮,”她说。
That someone — twenty-five years old, forty-two years ago — was the girl working on the card-punching machine for Mr. Shi. Punchers they were called back then, a profession that has long been replaced by more advanced computers, but of all the things that have disappeared from his life, a card puncher is what he misses most. His card puncher. “Name is Yilan,” Mr. Shi says aloud to the air, and someone greets the name with a happy hello. Madam is walking toward him with basket of autumn leaves. She picks up one and hands it to Mr. Shi. “Beautiful,” she says.
石先生研究着树叶,从叶脉到最细小的枝条,再到黄色和橙色的不同色调。他从未如此细致地观察过这个世界。他试图回忆起他更习惯的柔和边缘和暗淡的颜色,但就像一个白内障被摘除的病人一样,他发现一切都是尖锐而明亮的,令人震惊却又充满吸引力。“我想告诉你一件事,”石先生说,夫人露出了热切的微笑。
Mr. Shi studies the leaf, its veins to the tiniest branches, the different shades of yellow and orange. Never before has he seen the world in such detail. He tries to remember the softened edges and dulled colors he was more used to, but like a patient with his cataracts taken away, he finds everything sharp and bright, appalling yet attractive. “I want to tell something to you,” Mr. Shi says, and Madam flashes an eager smile.
施正荣在工作台上动了动身子,用英语说道:“我并不是一名火箭科学家。”
Mr. Shi shifts on the bench, and says in English, “I was not a rocket scientist.”
夫人用力地点点头。石先生看了她一眼,又移开视线。“我当火箭科学家不是因为一个女人。我们唯一做的事就是聊天。你可以想象,聊天没什么不好,但是,已婚男人和未婚女孩聊天是不被接受的。我们那个时代就是这么悲惨。”是的,用悲惨这个词来形容,而不是像年轻人谈论那个时代时所说的疯狂。“人们总是想聊天,即使不说话也是我们训练的一部分。”聊天是如此平常的事情,但人们却沉迷其中!他们从办公室休息的五分钟开始聊天,后来他们坐在餐厅里聊了整个午休时间。他们谈到了他们参与的伟大历史的希望和兴奋,为他们年轻的共产主义母亲建造了第一枚火箭。
Madam nods hard. Mr. Shi looks at her, and then looks away. “I was not a rocket scientist because of a woman. The only thing we did was talk. Nothing wrong with talking, you would imagine, but no, talking between a married man and an unmarried girl was not accepted. That’s how sad our time was back then.” Yes, sad is the word, not crazy as young people use to talk about that period. “One would always want to talk, even when not talking was part of our training.” And talking, such a commonplace thing, but how people got addicted to it! Their talking started from five minutes of break in the office, and later they sat in the cafeteria and talked the whole lunch break. They talked about their hope and excitement in the grand history they were taking part in, of building the first rocket for their young communist mother.
“一旦开始交谈,你们就会说得越来越多。这和回家和妻子交谈不同,因为你们不必隐瞒任何事情。当然,我们谈论的是自己的生活。交谈就像骑着一匹没有缰绳的马,你不知道自己会走到哪里,也不必去想它。我们就是这样交谈的,但我们并没有像他们所说的那样有外遇。我们从来没有恋爱过,”施先生说,然后,一瞬间,他被自己的话弄糊涂了。他所说的是什么样的爱?他们肯定是相爱的,但不是人们怀疑的那种爱——他总是保持着尊重的距离,他们的手从不碰触。但他们自由交谈的爱,他们心灵相通的爱——这不也是爱吗?他的女儿结束婚姻的原因不就是因为和另一个男人谈论了那么多事情吗?施先生在长椅上动了动,尽管十月的微风很凉,但他还是开始出汗了。当他们被指控有外遇时,他坚称他们是无辜的;当她被调到省城时,他为她上诉。她是个好打卡员,但打卡员总是更容易训练。然而,他被承诺继续留任,条件是他公开承认自己的恋情并进行自我批评。他拒绝了,因为他认为自己受到了委屈。“我三十二岁就不再做火箭科学家了。从那以后,我再也没有参与过任何研究,但工作中的一切都是保密的,所以妻子不知道。”至少在前一天晚上之前,他是这样想的。他被分配到一个受过他这种训练的人可能遇到的最低职位——他为毛主席和党的生日装饰办公室;他把笔记本和文件从一个研究小组推到另一个研究小组;晚上,他收集同事的笔记本和文件,登记,并在两名保安的陪同下将它们锁在文件柜里。他在工作中保持尊严,回到妻子身边时,他是一个心事重重、沉默寡言的火箭科学家。他不再理会妻子眼中的疑问,直到有一天疑问消失了;他看着女儿长大,像妻子一样安静、善解人意,是个好女孩,好女人。在他的职业生涯中,他与 32 名警卫共事过,他们都是身穿制服的年轻人,腰带上挂着空枪套,但他们步枪上的刺刀是真的。
“Once you started talking, you talked more, and more. It was different than going home and talking to your wife because you didn’t have to hide anything. We talked about our own lives, of course. Talking is like riding with an unreined horse, you don’t know where you end up and you don’t have to think about it. That’s what our talking was like, but we weren’t having an affair as they said. We were never in love,” Mr. Shi says, and then, for a short moment, is confused by his own words. What kind of love is he talking about? Surely they were in love, not the love they were suspected of having — he always kept a respectful distance, their hands never touched. But a love in which they talked freely, a love in which their minds touched — wasn’t it love, too? Wasn’t it how his daughter ended her marriage, because of all the talking with another man? Mr. Shi shifts on the bench, and starts to sweat despite the cool breeze of October. He insisted they were innocent when they were accused of having an affair; he appealed for her when she was sent down to a provincial town. She was a good puncher, but a puncher was always easier to train. He was, however, promised to remain in the position on the condition that he publicly admitted his love affair and gave a self-criticism. He refused because he believed he was wronged. “I stopped being a rocket scientist at thirty-two. Never was I involved in any research after that, but everything at work was confidential so the wife didn’t know.” At least that was what he thought until the previous night. He was assigned to the lowest position that could happen to someone with his training — he decorated offices for the birthdays of Chairman Mao and the Party; he wheeled the notebooks and paperwork from one research group to the other; in the evening he collected his colleagues’ notebooks and paperwork, logged them in, and locked them in the file cabinet in the presence of two security guards. He maintained his dignity at work, and went home to his wife as a preoccupied and silent rocket scientist. He looked away from the questions in his wife’s eyes until the questions disappeared one day; he watched his daughter grow up, quiet and understanding as his wife was, a good girl, a good woman. Thirty-two guards he worked with during his career, young men in uniforms and carrying empty holsters on their belts, but the bayonets on their rifles were real.
但那时,他别无选择。他做出的决定——难道不是出于对妻子和另一个女人的忠诚吗?他怎么能承认这段恋情,伤害他的好妻子,继续做一个自私的火箭科学家——或者更不可能的是,为了与另一个女人共度一生这一不那么光彩的愿望而放弃事业、妻子和两岁的女儿?“正是我们所牺牲的东西,才让生活变得有意义”——施先生说着他们在训练中经常重复的这句话。他用力摇了摇头。他想,异国他乡会让人产生异国情调。对于像他这样的老人来说,过多地回忆往事是不健康的。一个好男人应该活在当下,亲爱的朋友夫人坐在他旁边,举着一片完美的金色银杏叶在阳光下让他看。
But then, there was no other choice for him. The decision he made — wasn’t it out of loyalty to the wife, and to the other woman? How could he have admitted the love affair, hurt his good wife, and remained a selfish rocket scientist — or, even more impossible, given up a career, a wife, and a two-year-old daughter for the not so glorious desire to spend a lifetime with another woman? “It is what we sacrifice that makes life meaningful” — Mr. Shi says the line that was often repeated in their training. He shakes his head hard. A foreign country gives one foreign thoughts, he thinks. For an old man like him, it is not healthy to ponder too much over memory. A good man should live in the present moment, with Madam, a dear friend sitting next to him, holding up a perfect golden ginkgo leaf to the sunshine for him to see.
[2006]
[2006]
[生于 1973 年]
[b. 1973]
到了克雷森多营的第二天,我所在的女童军小队的女孩们决定要打败 909 号女童军小队的每个女孩。909 号小队从入营第一天起就注定要失败;她们都是白人女孩,肤色就像冰淇淋的混合体:草莓色、香草色。她们成对地从巴士里出来,卷起的睡袋上画满了迪士尼人物:睡美人、白雪公主、米老鼠;或者那些吝啬的父母买的普通睡袋:褪色的彩虹、独角兽、卷睫毛的青蛙。有些人抓着冰屋冷藏箱,还有一些人抓着奶嘴之类的毛绒玩具,环顾四周,就像一群决心要被迷住的游客。
By our second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls in my Brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909. Troop 909 was doomed from the first day of camp; they were white girls, their complexions a blend of ice cream: strawberry, vanilla. They turtled out from their bus in pairs, their rolled-up sleeping bags chromatized with Disney characters: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Mickey Mouse; or the generic ones cheap parents bought: washed-out rainbows, unicorns, curly-eyelashed frogs. Some clutched Igloo coolers and still others held on to stuffed toys like pacifiers, looking all around them like tourists determined to be dazzled.
我们的队伍蜿蜒前行,经过他们的大巴,经过护林站,经过像藏宝图一样绘制的彩色路线指南,用玻璃锁起来。
Our troop was wending its way past their bus, past the ranger station, past the colorful trail guide drawn like a treasure map, locked behind glass.
“伙计,你闻到它们的味道了吗?”阿内塔慢慢地扫了女孩们一眼,“它们闻起来像吉娃娃。湿漉漉的吉娃娃。”他们的队伍还在入口处,虽然我们已经经过了他们几码远,但阿内塔还是抬起鼻子,做了个鬼脸。
“Man, did you smell them?” Arnetta said, giving the girls a slow once-over, “They smell like Chihuahuas. Wet Chihuahuas.” Their troop was still at the entrance, and though we had passed them by yards, Arnetta raised her nose in the air and grimaced.
阿内塔站在队伍的最后面说这番话,离马戈林夫人很远,她总是把我们的队伍像一群听话的小鸭子一样拉在她身后。马戈林夫人甚至看起来像一只母鸭——她的头发剪得很短,几乎成了一个球形,几乎没有脖子,还有一对神奇的巨大乳房。她系着一条巨大的腰带,看起来像举重运动员戴的那种,只不过她的腰带是廉价的金属金或兔毛,或者上面覆盖着巨大的假向日葵,这些腰带往往本身就成了自然课。“看,”马戈林夫人有一次指着她的腰带对我们说,“这条腰带完全是用小鸽子的羽毛做成的。”
Arnetta said this from the very rear of the line, far away from Mrs. Margolin, who always strung our troop behind her like a brood of obedient ducklings. Mrs. Margolin even looked like a mother duck — she had hair cropped close to a small ball of a head, almost no neck, and huge, miraculous breasts. She wore enormous belts that looked like the kind that weightlifters wear, except hers would be cheap metallic gold or rabbit fur or covered with gigantic fake sunflowers, and often these belts would become nature lessons in and of themselves. “See,” Mrs. Margolin once said to us, pointing to her belt, “this one’s made entirely from the feathers of baby pigeons.”
这条布满羽毛的腰带已经够诡异了,但更让我不安的是,我从来没有真正见过一只小鸽子。我花了数周时间寻找,但徒劳无功——每次我和父亲去市中心时,我都会追赶鸽子。
The belt layered with feathers was uncanny enough, but I was more disturbed by the realization that I had never actually seen a baby pigeon. I searched weeks for one, in vain — scampering after pigeons whenever I was downtown with my father.
但自然课并不是马戈林夫人的首要任务。她认为童子军领袖的职位是一个福音派的职位。在举行女童军会议的 AME 教堂,马戈林夫人特别喜欢用离合诗传授宗教格言——“撒旦”是“总是诱惑和讨厌的蛇”;她将“圣经”称为“离开地球前的基本指示”。每当她问我们这些问题时,她都希望听到我们鹦鹉学舌地重复离合诗,只有阿内塔的正确回答能盖过我们含糊不清的喃喃自语。“耶稣?”马戈林夫人可能会满怀期待地问,只有阿内塔会尽职尽责地回答,“耶和华的榜样,拯救我们这些罪人。”
But nature lessons were not Mrs. Margolin’s top priority. She saw the position of troop leader as an evangelical post. Back at the A.M.E. churcha where our Brownie meetings were held, Mrs. Margolin was especially fond of imparting religious aphorisms by means of acrostics — “Satan” was the “Serpent Always Tempting and Noisome”; she’d refer to the “Bible” as “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” Whenever she quizzed us on these, expecting to hear the acrostics parroted back to her, only Arnetta’s correct replies soared over our vague mumblings. “Jesus?” Mrs. Margolin might ask expectantly, and Arnetta alone would dutifully answer, “Jehovah’s Example, Saving Us Sinners.”
阿内塔总是会认真倾听马戈林夫人的宗教演讲,并给她讲她想听的内容。正因为如此,阿内塔可以通过扩音器大声喊出 909 部队的白人女孩是“湿吉娃娃”,而马戈林夫人连眼睛都不会眨一下。有一次,阿内塔给部队的金鱼喂了一条沾满番茄酱的炸薯条,结果把金鱼都喂死了。马戈林夫人要求她解释发生了什么事,声称这条金鱼盯着她的食物看了好几个小时,然后这条鱼——屈服于诱惑——跳了起来,从她的指尖上抢走了一整条金黄色的炸薯条。
Arnetta always made a point of listening to Mrs. Margolin’s religious talk and giving her what she wanted to hear. Because of this, Arnetta could have blared through a megaphone that the white girls of Troop 909 were “wet Chihuahuas” without so much as a blink from Mrs. Margolin. Once, Arnetta killed the troop goldfish by feeding it a french fry covered in ketchup, and when Mrs. Margolin demanded that she explain what had happened, claimed the goldfish had been eyeing her meal for hours, then the fish — giving in to temptation — had leapt up and snatched a whole golden fry from her fingertips.
“严肃的吉娃娃,”奥克塔维亚补充道,虽然阿内塔和奥克塔维亚都不会拼写“吉娃娃”,也从未见过吉娃娃,但在伍德罗·威尔逊小学,三音节词在我们四年级的课堂上已经获得了一种异国情调。阿内塔和奥克塔维亚会翻阅字典,决心在谈话中使用“吉布提”和“愚蠢”等听起来粗俗的词。
“Serious Chihuahua,” Octavia added, and though neither Arnetta nor Octavia could spell “Chihuahua,” had ever seen a Chihuahua, trisyllabic words had gained a sort of exoticism within our fourth-grade set at Woodrow Wilson Elementary. Arnetta and Octavia would flip through the dictionary, determined to work the vulgar-sounding ones like “Djibouti” and “asinine” into conversation.
“高加索吉娃娃,”阿内塔说道。
“Caucasian Chihuahuas,” Arnetta said.
就这样,我班的女孩们都变得灵活起来:德雷玛和艾丽丝像缠在一起的风筝一样紧紧地抱在一起;奥克塔维亚拍了拍肚子;贾妮丝跳到了空中,然后又跳了一次,好像要把自己的头扣在水里。她们笑个不停。自从一个叫马特兹的男孩把铅笔插进电源插座,脸上挂着奇怪的笑容一整天后,没有人笑得这么开心过。
That did it. The girls in my troop turned elastic: Drema and Elise doubled up on one another like inextricably entwined kites; Octavia slapped her belly; Janice jumped straight up in the air, then did it again, as if to slam-dunk her own head. They could not stop laughing. No one had laughed so hard since a boy named Martez had stuck a pencil in the electric socket and spent the whole day with a strange grin on his face.
“女孩们,女孩们,”我们的家长助手海蒂太太说道。海蒂太太是奥克塔维亚的母亲,她随意地摇着食指,就像雨刷一样。“现在就停下来。乖一点。”她大声说,让大家听得见,但语气却很懒散,丝毫没有要大家听从她的意思,仿佛只要按下她身上的某个按钮,她就能以同样的音调重复这些话。
“Girls, girls,” said our parent helper, Mrs. Hedy. Mrs. Hedy was Octavia’s mother, and she wagged her index finger perfunctorily, like a windshield wiper. “Stop it, now. Be good.” She said this loud enough to be heard, but lazily, bereft of any feeling of indication that she meant to be obeyed, as though she could say these words again at the exact same pitch if a button somewhere on her were pressed.
但其余女孩并未停下,只是笑得更大声了。让她们兴奋不已的是“白种人”这个词。在布朗尼露营之旅前大约一个月的一天,阿内塔转身对一个穿着高得离谱的牛仔裤的男孩说:“你是什么?白种人? ”从那时起,这个词就广为流传,很快一切都变成了白种人。如果你吃得太快,你就像白种人一样,如果你吃得太慢,你就像白种人一样。伍德罗·威尔逊任何人能做的最大壮举就是从秋千上跳下来,在秋千弧线的最高点,如果你摔倒(就像我摔倒过不止一次一样),而不是像奥运会体操运动员那样双膝弯曲着地,阿内塔和奥克塔维亚准备对此发表评论。他们会像侥幸逃脱事故的乘客一样沉默地看着对方,然后点头,带着严肃的恐惧低声说:“白种人。”
But the rest of the girls didn’t stop; they only laughed louder. It was the word “Caucasian” that got them all going. One day at school, about a month before the Brownie camping trip, Arnetta turned to a boy wearing impossibly high-ankled floodwater jeans and said, “What are you? Caucasian?” The word took off from there, and soon everything was Caucasian. If you ate too fast you ate like a Caucasian, if you ate too slow you ate like a Caucasian. The biggest feat anyone at Woodrow Wilson could do was to jump off the swing in midair, at the highest point in its arc, and if you fell (as I had, more than once) instead of landing on your feet, knees bent Olympic gymnast — style, Arnetta and Octavia were prepared to comment. They’d look at each other with the silence of passengers who’d narrowly escaped an accident, then nod their heads, whispering with solemn horror, “Caucasian.”
甚至连我们学校里唯一的白人孩子丹尼斯也加入了白人表演。那次,当马特兹把一支铅笔插进插座时,丹尼斯指着它大喊:“这太白人化了!”
Even the only white kid in our school, Dennis, got in on the Caucasian act. That time when Martez stuck a pencil in the socket, Dennis had pointed and yelled, “That was so Caucasian!”
当你住在亚特兰大南郊时,很容易忘记白人。白人就像那些小鸽子:真实存在,但很少被看到或想到。每个人都去过 Rich's 买衣服,每个人都见过白人女孩和她们的母亲对裙子情不自禁地低声细语;每个人都去过市中心的图书馆,看到白人商人走过来,手腕弯曲着看时间,仿佛他们随时都会从克拉克·肯特变成超人。但这些画面就像一副牌中洗牌一样转瞬即逝,而我们身后的十个白人女孩——阿内塔后来称她们为入侵者——却是真实的,令人难忘的,她们的头发像洗发水广告中那样长,就像盒子里的意大利面条一样直。仅凭这一点就足以让人嫉妒和憎恨。我们大多数人见过的唯一一个头发这么长的黑人女孩是 Octavia,她的头发像夏威夷草裙舞者的头发一样垂到屁股上。看到 Octavia 的长发,其他女孩都会虔诚地听她讲话,仿佛她说的话会以某种方式激活她们的毛囊。例如,在夏令营的第一天,Octavia 假装要说话,所有人都沉默了。“没有人,”Octavia 说,“叫我们黑鬼。”
When you lived in the south suburbs of Atlanta, it was easy to forget about whites. Whites were like those baby pigeons: real and existing, but rarely seen or thought about. Everyone had been to Rich’s to go clothes shopping, everyone had seen white girls and their mothers coo-cooing over dresses; everyone had gone to the downtown library and seen white businessmen swish by importantly, wrists flexed in front of them to check the time as though they would change from Clark Kent into Superman at any second. But those images were as fleeting as cards shuffled in a deck, whereas the ten white girls behind us — invaders, Arnetta would later call them — were instantly real and memorable, with their long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as spaghetti from the box. This alone was reason for envy and hatred. The only black girl most of us had ever seen with hair that long was Octavia, whose hair hung past her butt like a Hawaiian hula dancer’s. The sight of Octavia’s mane prompted other girls to listen to her reverentially, as though whatever she had to say would somehow activate their own follicles. For example, when, on the first day of camp, Octavia made as if to speak, and everyone fell silent. “Nobody,” Octavia said, “calls us niggers.”
第一天结束时,我们一半的队员在上完厕所后回到小屋,阿内塔说她听到 909 队的一名女孩骂达芙妮是黑鬼。另一半女孩和我正在帮马戈林夫人收拾篝火晚宴上用过的锅碗瓢盆。当我们去洗手间洗漱刷牙时,我们在半路上遇到了阿内塔。
At the end of that first day, when half of our troop made their way back to the cabin after tag-team restroom visits, Arnetta said she’d heard one of the Troop 909 girls call Daphne a nigger. The other half of the girls and I were helping Mrs. Margolin clean up the pots and pans from the campfire ravioli dinner. When we made our way to the restrooms to wash up and brush our teeth, we met up with Arnetta midway.
“伙计,我完全听清了那个女孩说的话,”阿内塔说。“对吧,达芙妮?”
“Man, I completely heard the girl,” Arnetta reported. “Right, Daphne?”
达芙妮几乎从来不说话,但说话时,她的声音娇小而清脆,就像是戴着闪亮的新耳环时发出的声音。她曾经写过一首诗,是为兰斯顿·休斯日写的,这首诗充满了所有赢得教师青睐的元素——树木和海洋、日落和月亮——但真正让这首诗在成年人中脱颖而出,从奥克塔维亚为闪电大师和盖世五人组创作的音乐颂歌中夺得冠军的是达芙妮的最后几句:
Daphne hardly ever spoke, but when she did, her voice was petite and tinkly, the voice one might expect from a shiny new earring. She’d written a poem once, for Langston Hughes Day, a poem brimming with all the teacher-winning ingredients — trees and oceans, sunsets and moons — but what cinched the poem for the grown-ups, snatching the win from Octavia’s musical ode to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, were Daphne’s last lines:
你是我的父亲,老兵
当你在黑暗中哭泣
我心里下着雨,下着雨
You are my father, the veteran
When you cry in the dark
It rains and rains and rains in my heart
当时尚牛仔裤流行时,她总是穿着干净的(虽然褪色了)套头衫和连衣裙,但当她走上领奖台领取奖品日记时,日记页上镶着金边,她穿着一件新裙子,上面是天鹅绒紧身胸衣,下面是宽如雨伞的塔夫绸裙子。所有的孩子都鼓掌,尽管他们中没有一个人理解这首诗。我读百科全书就像别人读漫画一样,但我不明白。但最后几行刺痛了我,它们是如此怪异,当我和父亲吃麦片时,我会一边吃 Froot Loops 一边低声说,就像一句咒语,“你是我的父亲,老兵。你是我的父亲,老兵,老兵,老兵, ”直到我的父亲,他曾在戏剧中扮演卡利班和奥赛罗,但他并不是老兵,一天早上,他把我带到老师面前,说:“你能告诉我这孩子怎么了?”
She’d always worn clean, though faded, jumpers and dresses when Chic jeans were the fashion, but when she went up to the dais to receive her prize journal, pages trimmed in gold, she wore a new dress with a velveteen bodice and a taffeta skirt as wide as an umbrella. All the kids clapped, though none of them understood the poem. I’d read encyclopedias the way others read comics, and I didn’t get it. But those last lines pricked me, they were so eerie, and as my father and I ate cereal, I’d whisper over my Froot Loops, like a mantra, “You are my father, the veteran. You are my father, the veteran, the veteran, the veteran,” until my father, who acted in plays as Caliban and Othello and was not a veteran, marched me up to my teacher one morning and said, “Can you tell me what’s wrong with this kid?”
我以为达芙妮和我可能会成为朋友,但我想她会被我对她低声说的那些话吓到,乞求她告诉我这些话的意思,我很快就明白,像我们两个安静的人最好独自安静。
I thought Daphne and I might become friends, but I think she grew spooked by me whispering those lines to her, begging her to tell me what they meant, and I soon understood that two quiet people like us were better off quiet alone.
“达芙妮?你没听到他们叫你黑鬼吗?”阿内塔用肘推了推达芙妮,问道。
“Daphne? Didn’t you hear them call you a nigger?” Arnetta asked, giving Daphne a nudge.
太阳在树后落下,树叶的顶端形成了一个黑色的蕾丝状天篷,太阳的火焰从中穿过。达芙妮起初耸耸肩膀,但当阿内塔狠狠地看着她时,她慢慢地点了点头。
The sun was setting behind the trees, and their leafy tops formed a canopy of black lace for the flame of the sun to pass through. Daphne shrugged her shoulders at first, then slowly nodded her head when Arnetta gave her a hard look.
二十分钟后,当我们的洗手间小组回到小屋时,阿内塔仍在谈论 909 部队。我们的洗手间小组已经从一些 909 部队的女孩身边经过。大多数情况下,她们都顺从我们,挥手让我们进洗手间,尽管她们先到了那里,但还是让我们进去了。
Twenty minutes later, when my restroom group returned to the cabin, Arnetta was still talking about Troop 909. My restroom group had passed by some of the 909 girls. For the most part, they deferred to us, waving us into the restrooms, letting us go even though they’d gotten there first.
我们见过她们,但只是远远地望着,从未靠近她们,无法看清她们的脸是否和电视上所有白人女孩的脸一样——扎着马尾辫,精力充沛,满脸都是爱和金钱。我只能看到她们中的一些人用手快速扇着脸,尽管白天的炎热早已过去。有几个人似乎在慢慢地转圈,一半是故意的,好像在锻炼脖子上的肌肉,一半是欣喜若狂,就像史蒂夫·旺德一样。
We’d seen them, but from afar, never within their orbit enough to see whether their faces were the way all white girls appeared on TV — ponytailed and full of energy, bubbling over with love and money. All I could see was that some of them rapidly fanned their faces with their hands, though the heat of the day had long passed. A few seemed to be lolling their heads in slow circles, half purposefully, as if exercising the muscles of their necks, half ecstatically, like Stevie Wonder.
“我们不能让他们逍遥法外,”阿内塔说,她的声音低沉得像喉咙里的耳语。“我们不能让他们逍遥法外,骂我们是黑鬼。我说我们要给他们一个教训。”她盘腿坐在睡袋上,像一尊愤愤不平的佛像,眼睛里闪烁着黑色的丙烯酸。“我们也不能去告诉玛戈林夫人。玛戈林夫人会说一些关于对他人所为和正义之路之类的话。忘掉那些狗屁事吧。”她不敬地眨着眼睛,直到它们半闭着,仿佛无视一种不值得回击的侮辱。我们都能听到玛戈林夫人在外面收拾最后的金属露营用具。
“We can’t let them get away with that,” Arnetta said, dropping her voice to a laryngitic whisper. “We can’t let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach them a lesson.” She sat down cross-legged on a sleeping bag, an embittered Buddha, eyes glimmering acrylic-black. “We can’t go telling Mrs. Margolin, either. Mrs. Margolin’ll say something about doing unto others and the path of righteousness and all. Forget that shit.” She let her eyes flutter irreverently till they half closed, as though ignoring an insult not worth returning. We could all hear Mrs. Margolin outside, gathering the last of the metal campware.
一段时间内,没人说话。通常,阿内塔说完话后,大家就会安静下来。她的语气中带着一种自信,既高贵又粗俗。她说话时,需要大家保持片刻的沉默,就像教堂的钟声或熄灯号一样。有时,奥克塔维亚会赞同或反对阿内塔说的话,这是其他人可以说话的信号。但这次,奥克塔维亚只是把一缕长发卷成椒盐卷饼的形状。
Nobody said anything for a while. Usually people were quiet after Arnetta spoke. Her tone had an upholstered confidence that was somehow both regal and vulgar at once. It demanded a few moments of silence in its wake, like the ringing of a church bell or the playing of taps. Sometimes Octavia would ditto or dissent to whatever Arnetta had said, and this was the signal that others could speak. But this time Octavia just swirled a long cord of hair into pretzel shapes.
“怎么样?”阿内塔说。她看起来好像已经意识到了事情的严重性,正在等我们其他人跟上。每个人都从阿内塔看向达芙妮。毕竟,达芙妮应该是被叫过名字的,但达芙妮坐在光秃秃的小屋地板上,翻阅着女童子军手册的书页,眉毛拱起,假装惊讶,好像手册是一本目录,里面满是鲜艳而令人吃惊的外国服装。贾尼丝打破了沉默。她拍了拍手,提出了一个计划的想法。
“Well?” Arnetta said. She looked as if she had discerned the hidden severity of the situation and was waiting for the rest of us to catch up. Everyone looked from Arnetta to Daphne. It was, after all, Daphne who had supposedly been called the name, but Daphne sat on the bare cabin floor, flipping through the pages of the Girl Scout handbook, eyebrows arched in mock wonder, as if the handbook were a catalogue full of bright and startling foreign costumes. Janice broke the silence. She clapped her hands to broach her idea of a plan.
“他们会睡着的,”她偷偷地低声说,“然后我们会偷偷溜进他们的小屋,然后我们会把长腿爸爸放进他们的睡袋里。然后他们会醒来。然后我们会把他们打得像煎锅一样扁!”她把拳头塞进手掌,然后发出嘶嘶的声音。
“They gone be sleeping,” she whispered conspiratorially, “then we gone sneak into they cabin, then we’ll put daddy longlegs in they sleeping bags. Then they’ll wake up. Then we gone beat ’em up till they’re as flat as frying pans!” She jammed her fist into the palm of her hand, then made a sizzling sound.
珍妮丝的乡下口音很可笑,她的长相很朴素,她那紧张的杂技令人尴尬。每当珍妮丝开口说话时,阿内塔和奥克塔维亚都会露出好笑、傲慢的笑容,但珍妮丝从来都没有领会到她的暗示,她想说什么就说什么,在阿内塔和奥克塔维亚身边飞来飞去,徒劳地向他们离去的背影发表她的意见。每当阿内塔和奥克塔维亚把她赶走时,珍妮丝就会徘徊在那里,直到两人最终叹息着问:“怎么了,白种人小姐?你想要什么?”
Janice’s country accent was laughable, her looks homely, her jumpy acrobatics embarrassing to behold. Arnetta and Octavia volleyed amused, arrogant smiles whenever Janice opened her mouth, but Janice never caught the hint, spoke whenever she wanted, fluttered around Arnetta and Octavia futilely offering her opinions to their departing backs. Whenever Arnetta and Octavia shooed her away, Janice loitered until the two would finally sigh and ask, “What is it, Miss Caucasoid? What do you want?”
“闭嘴,珍妮丝,”奥克塔维亚说道,用手指将一缕头发垂到腰间,仿佛珍妮丝的声音破坏了她扭头发的乐趣。
“Shut up, Janice,” Octavia said, letting a fingered loop of hair fall to her waist as though just the sound of Janice’s voice had ruined the fun of her hair twisting.
珍妮丝服从了,她张着嘴,露出一丝轻松的笑容,镇定自若,没有受到任何伤害。
Janice obeyed, her mouth hung open in a loose grin, unflappable, unhurt.
“好吧,”阿内塔站起来说道。“我们要开个秘密会议,讨论下一步该怎么做。”
“All right,” Arnetta said, standing up. “We’re going to have a secret meeting and talk about what we’re going to do.”
每个人都严肃地点点头。“秘密”这个词本身就很重要,这个词的修饰语比名词更有影响力。秘密毫无意义;就像八卦一样:只是关于某人的一点不愉快的消息,而这个人恰好不是你。秘密会议或秘密俱乐部则完全不同。
Everyone gravely nodded her head. The word “secret” had a built-in importance, the modifier form of the word carried more clout than the noun. A secret meant nothing; it was like gossip: just a bit of unpleasant knowledge about someone who happened to be someone other than yourself. A secret meeting, or a secret club was entirely different.
就在那时,阿内塔转向我,好像她知道这样做既是一种赞美,也是一种施舍。
That was when Arnetta turned to me as though she knew that doing so was both a compliment and a charity.
“鼻涕虫,你不会像个婊子一样告诉玛戈林夫人吧?”
“Snot, you’re not going to be a bitch and tell Mrs. Margolin, are you?”
自从一年级以来,我就被叫做“鼻涕虫”,当时我在课堂上打喷嚏,两股长长的鼻涕溅到了旁边的一个女孩身上。
I had been called “Snot” ever since first grade, when I’d sneezed in class and two long ropes of mucus had splattered a nearby girl.
“嘿,”我说,“也许你没听清楚——我的意思是——”
“Hey,” I said. “Maybe you didn’t hear them right — I mean —”
“你到底要不要告发我们?”这是阿内塔唯一想知道的,而当我问出这个问题的时候,我们女童子军的其他成员都看着我,好像他们已经决定好了行动方案,而我则是唯一的障碍。
“Are you gonna tell on us or not?” was all Arnetta wanted to know, and by the time the question was asked, the rest of our Brownie troop looked at me as though they’d already decided their course of action, me being the only impediment.
克雷森多营地曾经兼作高中乐队和曲棍球训练营,直到一个弧形的曲棍球落在一个女孩的金属发夹扣上,割伤了颅骨神经,导致她右侧身体瘫痪。营地关闭了几年,女孩的队友们建了一座纪念碑,在女孩倒下的地方堆满了曲棍球,他们用指甲油在球上画上了祝福、鲜花和爱心。球仍然堆在那里,就像一座埋在地下的鸵鸟蛋神龛。
Camp Crescendo used to double as a high-school-band and field hockey camp until an arcing field hockey ball landed on the clasp of a girl’s metal barrette, knifing a skull nerve and paralyzing the right side of her body. The camp closed down for a few years and the girl’s teammates built a memorial, filling the spot on which the girl fell with hockey balls, on which they had painted — all in nail polish — get-well tidings, flowers, and hearts. The balls were still stacked there, like a shrine of ostrich eggs embedded in the ground.
训练营第二天,909 部队的队员们围着一堆冰球跳舞,她们的肢体笨拙地叮当作响,她们的叫喊声就像游乐园里夏日里不断传来的尖叫声。曲棍球场边有一条小溪,我们部队的姑娘们坐在小溪边,狼吞虎咽地吃着午餐的最后剩菜:用萨拉米香肠做成的三明治和被冰箱里融化的冰浸湿的西红柿片。阿内塔站在河岸上注视着 909 部队的姑娘们,仔细观察她们的动作,从中汲取战斗的灵感。
On the second day of camp, Troop 909 was dancing around the mound of hockey balls, their limbs jangling awkwardly, their cries like the constant summer squeal of an amusement park. There was a stream that bordered the field hockey lawn, and the girls from my troop settled next to it, scarfing down the last of lunch: sandwiches made from salami and slices of tomato that had gotten waterlogged from the melting ice in the cooler. From the stream bank, Arnetta eyed the Troop 909 girls, scrutinizing their movements to glean inspiration for battle.
“伙计,”阿内塔说道,“如果那该死的女士离开,我们现在就可以彻底打败他们。”
“Man,” Arnetta said, “we could bumrush them right now if that damn lady would leave.”
909 队的队长是一名白人女性,留着古埃及式的严肃花童发型。她躺在野餐毯上,像狮身人面像,吃着香蕉,有时像麦克风一样把香蕉举在面前。她旁边坐着一个女孩,像一只翅膀折断的鸟一样慢慢地拍打着一只手。偶尔,队长会喊出那些试图跳蛙跳和翻腾的女孩的名字,或者喊出那些喊得太大声或偏离圈子的女孩的名字。
The 909 troop leader was a white woman with the severe pageboy hairdo of an ancient Egyptian. She lay on a picnic blanket, sphinx-like, eating a banana, sometimes holding it out in front of her like a microphone. Beside her sat a girl slowly flapping one hand like a bird with a broken wing. Occasionally, the leader would call out the names of girls who’d attempted leapfrogs and flips, or of girls who yelled too loudly or strayed far from the circle.
“我很高兴大胖妈妈没有跟着我们来这里,”奥克塔维亚说。“至少我们不用担心她。”奥克塔维亚向我们保证,玛戈林夫人正在她找到的一片空地上,用蚊帐遮住,做着下午的祷告。海蒂夫人正在小屋里清理她帆布鞋上的泥巴。
“I’m just glad Big Fat Mama’s not following us here,” Octavia said. “At least we don’t have to worry about her.” Mrs. Margolin, Octavia assured us, was having her Afternoon Devotional, shrouded in mosquito netting, in a clearing she’d found. Mrs. Hedy was cleaning mud from her espadrilles in the cabin.
“我处理过它们。”阿内塔吸了吸牙齿,骄傲地笑了笑。“我告诉她我们要去收集树叶。”
“I handled them.” Arnetta sucked on her teeth and proudly grinned. “I told her we was going to gather leaves.”
“收集树叶,”奥克塔维亚恭敬地点点头说。“这个主意不错。尤其是他们这么热衷于露营这件事。”她从地面望向天空,又从天空望向地面。她的头发像印第安妇女的辫子一样,扎成两条辫子垂在背后。“我的意思是,我真的不知道这为什么被称为露营——我们与大自然相处的唯一方式就是找到一些树枝,然后说‘哇,这是从树上掉下来的。’”然后她研究了一下三明治。她用两根不屑的手指挑出一片滴着水的西红柿,西红柿的切片上凝结着红色的黏液。她把它扔进小溪里,溪水里满是枯叶和其他死物的模糊身影,但在浑浊的水中,出现了一群银褐色的小鱼。它们围着西红柿,啃着西红柿。
“Gather leaves,” Octavia said, nodding respectfully. “That’s a good one. Especially since they’re so mad-crazy about this camping thing.” She looked from ground to sky, sky to ground. Her hair hung down her back in two braids like a squaw’s. “I mean, I really don’t know why it’s even called camping — all we ever do with Nature is find some twigs and say something like, ‘Wow, this fell from a tree.’ ” She then studied her sandwich. With two disdainful fingers, she picked out a slice of dripping tomato, the sections congealed with red slime. She pitched it into the stream embrowned with dead leaves and the murky effigies of other dead things, but in the opaque water, a group of small silver-brown fish appeared. They surrounded the tomato and nibbled.
“看!”珍妮丝大叫。“鱼!鱼?”当她爬到溪边观看时,一群昆虫从小麦草和荨麻中发出了愤怒的声音,一群微型电动机器同时运转。奥克塔维亚偷偷溜到珍妮丝身后,好像要把她推下去。达芙妮和我交换了惊恐的眼神。似乎只有我们知道奥克塔维亚离她足够近——也足够大胆——真的把珍妮丝推入溪中。珍妮丝迅速转过身,但奥克塔维亚已经平静地盯着平静的水面,好像她正在从中汲取某种勇气。“有什么好笑的?”珍妮丝说,怀疑地看着他们所有人。
“Look!” Janice cried. “Fishes! Fishes?” As she scrambled to the edge of the stream to watch, a covey of insects threw up tantrums from the wheatgrass and nettle, a throng of tiny electric machines, all going at once. Octavia sneaked up behind Janice as if to push her in. Daphne and I exchanged terrified looks. It seemed as though only we knew that Octavia was close enough — and bold enough — to actually push Janice into the stream. Janice turned around quickly, but Octavia was already staring serenely into the still water as though she was gathering some sort of courage from it. “What’s so funny?” Janice said, eyeing them all suspiciously.
艾莉丝开始哼唱“Karma Chameleon”的曲调,所有的女孩都加入进来,她们的哼唱轻快而流畅。珍妮丝也开始哼唱“Beat It”的开头,与其他人不同,这首歌曲的开头旋律充满激情。
Elise began humming the tune to “Karma Chameleon,” all the girls joining in, their hums light and facile. Janice also began to hum, against everyone else, the high-octane opening chords of “Beat It.”
“我很喜欢迈克尔·杰克逊,”詹妮丝哼完歌后说道,她咂着嘴,好像迈克尔·杰克逊是她最爱的饭菜一样。“我要嫁给迈克尔·杰克逊。”
“I love me some Michael Jackson,” Janice said when she’d finished humming, smacking her lips as though Michael Jackson were a favorite meal. “I will marry Michael Jackson.”
还没等任何人向珍妮丝说明这是不可能的,阿内塔就突然站了起来,用手做了一个遮阳板,目送 909 部队离开曲棍球场。
Before anyone had a chance to impress upon Janice the impossibility of this, Arnetta suddenly rose, made a sun visor of her hand, and watched Troop 909 leave the field hockey lawn.
“该死!”她说道,“我们必须单独处理掉他们。”
“Dammit!” she said, “We’ve got to get them alone.”
“她们永远不会孤单。”我说。其他女孩都看着我,因为我通常保持沉默。如果我说一句话,我就能指望有人叫我鼻涕虫。每个人似乎都认为我们可以打败这些女孩;没有人想到她们会反击。 “她们唯一无人看管的时候是在浴室里。”
“They won’t ever be alone.” I said. All the rest of the girls looked at me, for I usually kept quiet. If I spoke even a word, I could count on someone calling me Snot. Everyone seemed to think that we could beat up these girls; no one entertained the thought that they might fight back. “The only time they’ll be unsupervised is in the bathroom.”
“哦,闭嘴,鼻涕虫,”奥克塔维亚说。
“Oh shut up, Snot,” Octavia said.
但阿内塔慢慢地点了点头。“浴室,”她说。“浴室,”她一遍又一遍地说。“浴室!浴室!”
But Arnetta slowly nodded her head. “The bathroom,” she said. “The bathroom,” she said, again and again. “The bathroom! The bathroom!”
根据 Octavia 的手表,我们花了五分钟走到位于我们小木屋和 909 部队小木屋中间的洗手间。洗手间里,水槽上方的镜子反射出的光线非常模糊,就好像有人用百洁布擦过镜子表面,遮住了镜子的光泽。松针、树叶和脏兮兮的扁平口香糖团像马赛克一样铺满了地板。头发网缠在地板中间的排水管上。在水槽上方和镜子下方,一叠叠折叠的白色纸巾放在长长的金属柜台上。蓬松的白色纸巾球排成一排,就像展示的胸花。一缕牙线从一团沾满淡淡红粉色血迹的纸巾中蜿蜒而出。我想,其中一个白人女孩刚刚掉了一颗牙。
According to Octavia’s watch, it took us five minutes to hike to the restrooms, which were midway between our cabin and Troop 909’s. Inside, the mirrors above the sinks returned only the vaguest of reflections, as though someone had taken a scouring pad to their surfaces to obscure the shine. Pine needles, leaves, and dirty, flattened wads of chewing gum covered the floor like a mosaic. Webs of hair matted the drain in the middle of the floor. Above the sinks and below the mirrors, stacks of folded white paper towels lay on a long metal counter. Shaggy white balls of paper towels sat on the sinktops in a line like corsages on display. A thread of floss snaked from a wad of tissues dotted with the faint red-pink of blood. One of those white girls, I thought, had just lost a tooth.
虽然卫生间看上去和前一天晚上的几乎一模一样,但现在却显得有些奇怪。我们没有注意到木椽子呈巨大的 V 字形连接在一起。我们似乎在鲸鱼体内,看着它嘴顶的肋骨。
Though the restroom looked almost the same as it had the night before, it somehow seemed stranger now. We hadn’t noticed the wooden rafters coming together in great V’s. We were, it seemed, inside a whale, viewing the ribs of the roof of its mouth.
“哇,太乱了。”艾莉丝说道。
“Wow. It’s a mess,” Elise said.
“你可以再说一遍。”
“You can say that again.”
阿内塔靠在厕所隔间的门框上。“他们又会来这里,”她说。只要看到这个地方,只要有一个计划,她就很满意了。“我们会进去和他们谈谈。你知道的,‘你好吗?你会在这里待多久?’之类的。然后奥克塔维亚和我会告诉他们,如果他们骂我们中的任何一个人是黑鬼,会发生什么。”
Arnetta leaned against the doorjamb of a restroom stall. “This is where they’ll be again,” she said. Just seeing the place, just having a plan seemed to satisfy her. “We’ll go in and talk to them. You know, ‘How you doing? How long’ll you be here?’ That sort of thing. Then Octavia and I are gonna tell them what happens when they call any one of us a nigger.”
“我也要说些什么,”贾尼丝说。
“I’m going to say something, too,” Janice said.
阿内塔考虑了一下。“当然可以,”她说。“当然可以。你想做什么都可以。”
Arnetta considered this. “Sure,” she said. “Of course. Whatever you want.”
贾妮丝像枪一样用手指着奥克塔维亚,重复着她想出来的台词,“‘我们要给你一个教训!’这就是我要说的。”她像电视里的黑帮一样眯起眼睛。“‘我们要给你们这些小女孩一个教训!’”
Janice pointed her finger like a gun at Octavia and rehearsed the line she’d thought up, “ ‘We’re gonna teach you a lesson!’ That’s what I’m going to say.” She narrowed her eyes like a TV mobster. “ ‘We’re gonna teach you little girls a lesson!’ ”
奥克塔维亚用手背拂开珍妮丝的手指。“你没法教我在马桶里拉屎。”
With the back of her hand, Octavia brushed Janice’s finger away. “You couldn’t teach me to shit in a toilet.”
“但是,”我说,“如果他们说‘我们没这么说过?我们没有叫任何人‘黑鬼’,那该怎么办呢?”
“But,” I said, “what if they say, ‘We didn’t say that? We didn’t call anyone an N-I-G-G-E-R.’ ”
“鼻涕,”阿内塔说,然后叹了口气。“别想了。只管战斗。如果你知道怎么做的话。”
“Snot,” Arnetta said, and then sighed. “Don’t think. Just fight. If you even know how.”
除了达芙妮,大家都笑了。阿内塔轻轻地把手放在达芙妮的肩膀上。“达芙妮。你不必反抗。我们这样做都是为了你。”
Everyone laughed except Daphne. Arnetta gently laid her hand on Daphne’s shoulder. “Daphne. You don’t have to fight. We’re doing this for you.”
达芙妮走到柜台前,拿了一张干净的纸巾,像地图一样小心翼翼地展开,开始收拾周围的垃圾。所有人都看着。
Daphne walked to the counter, took a clean paper towel, and carefully unfolded it like a map. With it, she began to pick up the trash all around. Everyone watched.
“来吧,”阿内塔对大家说。“我们走吧。”我们都慢慢地走向门口,阳光在门口形成一个巨大的白色矩形光斑。我们立刻就看不见了,我们用手和前臂遮住了眼睛。
“C’mon,” Arnetta said to everyone. “Let’s beat it.” We all ambled toward the doorway, where the sunshine made one large white rectangle of light. We were immediately blinded, and we shielded our eyes with our hands and our forearms.
“达芙妮?”阿内塔问道。“你一起来吗?”
“Daphne?” Arnetta asked. “Are you coming?”
我们全都回头看着这个弯腰的女孩,她瘦削的背脊像舞台上的看门人一样弯着,被聚光灯照得通红。她散落的头发像近乎透明的细光纤线一样闪闪发光。她没有点头表示同意,也没有摇头表示不同意。她弯着腰,继续工作。然后她又开始捡树叶、纸团、破损的毛绒玩具里的棉绒内芯。她做事如此有条不紊,如此精致,如此谦逊,她一定受过训练。我想起了她穿的那些衣服,虽然褪色了,但又熨烫得干干净净。然后我看到了衣服里的贫穷;然后我就能想象她的母亲在打扫别人的房子时,疲惫地回家。
We all looked back at the bending girl, the thin of her back hunched like the back of a custodian sweeping a stage, caught in limelight. Stray strands of her hair were lit near-transparent, thin fiber-optic threads. She did not nod yes to the question, nor did she shake her head no. She abided, bent. Then she began again, picking up leaves, wads of paper, the cotton fluff innards from a torn stuffed toy. She did it so methodically, so exquisitely, so humbly, she must have been trained. I thought of those dresses she wore, faded and old, yet so pressed and clean. I then saw the poverty in them; I then could imagine her mother, cleaning the houses of others, returning home, weary.
“我猜她不会来了。”
“I guess she’s not coming.”
我们离开了她,走回我们的小屋,越过松针和树叶,沿着充满树荫的小路走去。
We left her and headed back to our cabin, over pine needles and leaves, taking the path full of shade.
“那我们的秘密会议怎么办?”伊莉丝问。
“What about our secret meeting?” Elise asked.
阿内塔以一种不容置疑的方式清晰地吐露了自己的想法:“我们刚刚得到了它。”
Arnetta enunciated her words in a way that defied contradiction: “We just had it.”
已经快到睡觉时间了,但太阳还没有落山。
It was nearing our bedtime, but the sun had not yet set.
“嘿,你妈妈来了,”当阿内塔看到海蒂太太抽泣着走向小屋时,她对奥克塔维亚说。当奥克塔维亚的母亲没有发出无聊的、狭隘的命令时,她会不停地抽泣,为即将与丈夫离婚而悲伤。她可能会这样开头:“我不知道奥克塔维亚和我走后罗伯特会做什么。谁会给他买烟?”奥克塔维亚会激动地低声说:“妈妈”,意思是:请不要在大家面前谈论我们的问题。请闭嘴。
“Hey, your mama’s coming,” Arnetta said to Octavia when she saw Mrs. Hedy walk toward the cabin, sniffling. When Octavia’s mother wasn’t giving bored, parochial orders, she sniffled continuously, mourning an imminent divorce from her husband. She might begin a sentence, “I don’t know what Robert will do when Octavia and I are gone. Who’ll buy him cigarettes?” and Octavia would hotly whisper, “Mama,” in a way that meant: Please don’t talk about our problems in front of everyone. Please shut up.
但是,当海蒂太太开始谈论她的丈夫、想着她的丈夫、看到像她丈夫头一样的云朵时,她就无法安静下来,没有人能让她从自己的悲伤中解脱出来。只有一件事能让她振作起来——布朗尼歌曲。如果女孩们都很安静,而海蒂太太正处于昏昏沉沉、悲伤的情绪中,她就会说:“你们都知道我喜欢那些歌,女孩们。你们为什么不唱一首呢?”除了我和达芙妮,每个人都会呻吟。就我个人而言,我喜欢其中的一些歌曲。
But when Mrs. Hedy began talking about her husband, thinking about her husband, seeing clouds shaped like the head of her husband, she couldn’t be quiet, and no one could dislodge her from the comfort of her own woe. Only one thing could perk her up — Brownie songs. If the girls were quiet, and Mrs. Hedy was in her dopey, sorrowful mood, she would say, “Y’all know I like those songs, girls. Why don’t you sing one?” Everyone would groan, except me and Daphne. I, for one, liked some of the songs.
“来吧,各位,”奥克塔维亚沉闷地说道,“她最喜欢布朗尼的歌。”
“C’mon, everybody,” Octavia said drearily, “She likes the Brownie song best.”
我们高声唱道,声音大到海蒂夫人都能听到:
We sang, loud enough to reach Mrs. Hedy:
“我口袋里有东西;
它属于我的脸。
我把它放在手边
在最方便的地方。
我肯定你猜不到
如果你猜的话,很长很长一段时间。
所以我会把它拿出来并戴上——
这真是布朗尼式的灿烂笑容!”
“I’ve got something in my pocket;
It belongs across my face.
And I keep it very close at hand
in a most convenient place.
I’m sure you couldn’t guess it
If you guessed a long, long while.
So I’ll take it out and put it on —
It’s a great big Brownie smile!”
布朗尼之歌本应是欢快地唱的,就像我们是工坊里的精灵,一边唱一边欢快地补鞋,但除了我之外,每个人都非常讨厌这首歌,他们把它唱得像一张伤感的唱片,用最慢的转速播放。
The Brownie song was supposed to be sung cheerfully, as though we were elves in a workshop, singing as we merrily cobbled shoes, but everyone except me hated the song so much that they sang it like a maudlin record, played on the most sluggish of rpms.
“那太好了,”海蒂夫人说着,关上了身后的舱门。“那不是很棒吗,琳达?”
“That was good,” Mrs. Hedy said, closing the cabin door behind her. “Wasn’t that nice, Linda?”
“感谢上帝”,玛戈林夫人正忙着清点第二天手工课所需的冰棒棍,头也不抬地回答道。
“Praise God,” Mrs. Margolin answered without raising her head from the chore of counting out Popsicle sticks for the next day’s craft session.
“再唱一首,”海蒂太太说。她说话时带着一种愉悦的侵略性,就像我曾经见过的一个醉汉拒绝离开一家韩国杂货店一样。
“Sing another one,” Mrs. Hedy said. She said it with a sort of joyful aggression, like a drunk I’d once seen who’d refused to leave a Korean grocery.
“天哪,妈妈,别再想这件事了,”奥克塔维亚用只对阿内塔说的声音低声说道,但海蒂夫人听到了,便开始离开小屋。
“God, Mama, get over it,” Octavia whispered in a voice meant only for Arnetta, but Mrs. Hedy heard it and started to leave the cabin.
“别走,”阿内塔说。她追上海蒂夫人,抓住她的胳膊。“我们还没唱完呢。”她用眼神推了推我们。“我们来唱《朋友之歌》吧。献给海蒂夫人。”
“Don’t go,” Arnetta said. She ran after Mrs. Hedy and held her by the arm. “We haven’t finished singing.” She nudged us with a single look. “Let’s sing the ‘Friends Song.’ For Mrs. Hedy.”
尽管我喜欢其中的一些歌曲,但我讨厌这首:
Although I liked some of the songs, I hated this one:
结交新朋友
但要保留旧的,
一个是银色的
还有另外一块金子。
Make new friends
But keep the o-old,
One is silver
And the other gold.
如果队伍中的大多数女孩可以是任何类型的金属,那么她们可能就是一团团的锡箔,或者是生锈的铁钉,你必须为它们注射破伤风疫苗。
If most of the girls in the troop could be any type of metal, they’d be bunched-up wads of tinfoil, maybe, or rusty iron nails you had to get tetanus shots for.
“不,不,不,”玛戈林夫人抢在大家开始唱《朋友之歌》之前说道。“这是一首振奋人心的歌。可以让她振作起来,让她忘记世间所有的负担。”
“No, no, no,” Mrs. Margolin said before anyone could start in on the “Friends Song.” “An uplifting song. Something to lift her up and take her mind off all these earthly burdens.”
阿内塔和奥克塔维亚翻了个白眼。每个人都知道玛戈林夫人说的是什么歌,但没有人愿意唱这首歌。
Arnetta and Octavia rolled their eyes. Everyone knew what song Mrs. Margolin was talking about, and no one, no one, wanted to sing it.
“请不要唱,”一个声音喊道。“不要唱《甜甜圈之歌》。”
“Please, no,” a voice called out. “Not ‘The Doughnut Song.’ ”
“请不要唱《甜甜圈之歌》”,奥克塔维亚恳求道。
“Please not ‘The Doughnut Song,’ ” Octavia pleaded.
“如果不用唱《甜甜圈》的话,我会刷两次牙——”
“I’ll brush my teeth two times if I don’t have to sing ‘The Doughnut — ’ ”
“唱歌!”玛戈林夫人要求道。
“Sing!” Mrs. Margolin demanded.
我们唱道:
We sang:
“没有耶稣的生活就像甜甜圈一样!
像个大傻瓜!
像个大傻瓜!
没有耶稣的生活就像甜甜圈一样!
我的灵魂中间有一个洞!”
“Life without Jesus is like a do-ough-nut!
Like a do-ooough-nut!
Like a do-ooough-nut!
Life without Jesus is like a do-ough-nut!
There’s a hole in the middle of my soul!”
还有其他诗句,涉及其他糕点,但我们在读完第一句后就停了下来,向玛戈林夫人瞥了一眼,看看能否得到喘息的机会。玛戈林夫人的眼睛幸福地眨着。她半睡半醒。
There were other verses, involving other pastries, but we stopped after the first one and cast glances toward Mrs. Margolin to see if we could gain a reprieve. Mrs. Margolin’s eyes fluttered blissfully. She was half asleep.
“噢,”海蒂夫人说道,仿佛巨人马戈林夫人是个可爱的婴儿,“马戈林夫人这一天过得很漫长。”
“Awww,” Mrs. Hedy said, as though giant Mrs. Margolin were a cute baby, “Mrs. Margolin’s had a long day.”
“是的,”玛戈林太太回答道。“如果你不介意的话,我可能会去有床的小屋。自从手术后我就变了样。”
“Yes indeed,” Mrs. Margolin answered. “If you don’t mind, I might just go to the lodge where the beds are. I haven’t been the same since the operation.”
我没有听说过这次手术,也不知道手术发生的时间,因为玛戈林夫人从不缺席每周一次的女童军会议,但我从达芙妮的脸上看出她很担心,我也看出其他女孩已经认定玛戈林夫人的手术一定是很久以前发生的,与我们无关。尽管如此,她们还是摆出一副悲伤的表情。我们都被教导说,成年人的生活充满了悲伤和痛苦、税收和账单、可怕的工作和与白人打交道、疾病和死亡。我试着做其他人做的事。我试着保持沉默。
I had not heard of this operation, or when it had occurred, since Mrs. Margolin had never missed the once-a-week Brownie meetings, but I could see from Daphne’s face that she was concerned, and I could see that the other girls had decided that Mrs. Margolin’s operation must have happened long ago in some remote time unconnected to our own. Nevertheless, they put on sad faces. We had all been taught that adulthood was full of sorrow and pain, taxes and bills, dreaded work and dealings with whites, sickness and death. I tried to do what the others did. I tried to look silent.
“去吧,琳达,”海蒂太太说,“我来照看女儿们。”海蒂太太似乎暂时忘了离婚的事,她用水汪汪的眼睛看着我们,仿佛我们是神秘的毛茸茸的生物。与此同时,玛戈林太太穿过睡袋迷宫,直到找到自己的睡袋。她慢慢地收拾好一摞整齐的衣服和睡衣,好像这样做几乎是痛苦的。她拿起牙刷、牙膏和枕头。“好的!”玛戈林太太站在小屋门口对我们所有人说。“九点前上床睡觉。”她声音里闪烁着光芒,让我们知道她允许我们淘气,熬夜到九点十五分。
“Go right ahead, Linda,” Mrs. Hedy said, “I’ll watch the girls.” Mrs. Hedy seemed to forget about divorce for a moment; she looked at us with dewy eyes, as if we were mysterious, furry creatures. Meanwhile, Mrs. Margolin walked through the maze of sleeping bags until she found her own. She gathered a neat stack of clothes and pajamas slowly, as though doing so was almost painful. She took her toothbrush, her toothpaste, her pillow. “All right!” Mrs. Margolin said, addressing us all from the threshold of the cabin. “Be in bed by nine.” She said it with a twinkle in her voice, letting us know she was allowing us to be naughty and stay up till nine-fifteen.
“大家快来吧,”马戈林夫人离开后,阿内塔说道。“我们该洗漱了。”
“C’mon everybody,” Arnetta said after Mrs. Margolin left. “Time for us to wash up.”
每个人都密切注视着海蒂夫人,想知道她是否会坚持与我们同行,因为天色已晚,与 909 部队的战斗几乎不可能。909 部队很快就会进入浴室,洗脸、刷牙——完全没有意识到我们的伏击。
Everyone watched Mrs. Hedy closely, wondering whether she would insist on coming with us since it was night, making a fight with Troop 909 nearly impossible. Troop 909 would soon be in the bathroom, washing their faces, brushing their teeth — completely unsuspecting of our ambush.
“我们很快就能回去了,”阿内塔说。“我们已经长大了,可以自己去卫生间了。”
“We won’t be long,” Arnetta said. “We’re old enough to go to the restrooms by ourselves.”
面对这种两难的处境,海蒂女士撅起了嘴唇。“好吧,我想你们女童军差不多就是女童子军了,对吧?”
Ms. Hedy pursed her lips at this dilemma. “Well, I guess you Brownies are almost Girl Scouts, right?”
“正确的!”
“Right!”
“再多一个徽章就够了,”德雷玛说。
“Just one more badge,” Drema said.
“还有,”奥克塔维亚嗡嗡地说,“还有一百万块饼干要卖。”奥克塔维亚看着我们所有人,她的脸上似乎在说,现在是我们的机会,但我们要做什么,我并不确切知道。
“And about,” Octavia droned, “a million more cookies to sell.” Octavia looked at all of us, Now’s our chance, her face seemed to say, but our chance to do what, I didn’t exactly know.
最后,海蒂夫人走到门口,奥克塔维亚恭敬地站在那里等着道别,但看上去很无聊。海蒂夫人托着奥克塔维亚的下巴。“你会乖乖的吗?”
Finally, Mrs. Hedy walked to the doorway where Octavia stood dutifully waiting to say goodbye but looking bored doing it. Mrs. Hedy held Octavia’s chin. “You’ll be good?”
“是的,妈妈。”
“Yes, Mama.”
“如果你回来的时候我睡着了,记得为我和你父亲祈祷吗?”
“And remember to pray for me and your father? If I’m asleep when you get back?”
“是的,妈妈。”
“Yes, Mama.”
当其他女孩准备好牙刷、毛巾和手电筒准备去集体厕所时,我正在画一些羽毛太多的小鸟。达芙妮坐在睡袋上看书。
When the other girls had finished getting their toothbrushes and washcloths and flashlights for the group restroom trip, I was drawing pictures of tiny birds with too many feathers. Daphne was sitting on her sleeping bag, reading.
“你不来吗?”Octavia问道。
“You’re not going to come?” Octavia asked.
达芙妮摇了摇头。
Daphne shook her head.
“我也要留下来,”我说。“等达芙妮和海蒂太太走了,我就去洗手间。”
“I’m gonna stay, too,” I said. “I’ll go to the restroom when Daphne and Mrs. Hedy go.”
阿内塔俯下身子,悄声对我说,以免海蒂太太(她接替了玛戈林太太清点冰棍棒)听见。“不,鼻涕虫。如果我们惹上麻烦,你也会和我们一起惹上麻烦。”
Arnetta leaned down toward me and whispered so that Mrs. Hedy, who’d taken over Mrs. Margolin’s task of counting Popsicle sticks, couldn’t hear. “No, Snot. If we get in trouble, you’re going to get in trouble with the rest of us.”
我们借着手电筒在黑暗中前行。几个小时前,我们沿着同一条路前行,树枝还为我们遮荫,现在它们看起来像是长出了威胁的手。星星像洒落的盐一样洒满天空。它们似乎牢牢地固定在黑暗中,高高在上,神圣无比,当我们在它们下面移动时,它们的位置是固定的、明确的。
We made our way through the darkness by flashlight. The tree branches that had shaded us just hours earlier, along the same path, now looked like arms sprouting menacing hands. The stars sprinkled the sky like spilled salt. They seemed fastened to the darkness, high up and holy, their places fixed and definite as we stirred beneath them.
有些人,比如我,因为害怕黑暗而保持安静;其他人因为同样的原因而疯狂地说话。
Some, like me, were quiet because we were afraid of the dark; others were talking like crazy for the same reason.
“哇!”德雷玛抬头说道。“为什么这里全是星星?我在奥奈达街上从来没见过星星。”
“Wow!” Drema said, looking up. “Why are all the stars out here? I never see stars back on Oneida Street.”
“这是一次露营之旅,这就是原因,”奥克塔维亚说。“露营之旅应该能看到星星。”
“It’s a camping trip, that’s why,” Octavia said. “You’re supposed to see stars on camping trips.”
贾尼丝说:“这个地方闻起来就像我妈妈的空气清新剂。”
Janice said, “This place smells like my mother’s air freshener.”
“这些木材都是松树,”艾莉丝说。“你妈妈可能用松树空气清新剂。”
“These woods are pine,” Elise said. “Your mother probably uses pine air freshener.”
珍妮丝夸张地应了一声“哦”,点了点头,仿佛她刚才明白了世界上最大的秘密之一。
Janice mouthed an exaggerated “Oh,” nodding her head as though she just then understood one of the world’s great secrets.
没人谈论战斗。每个人光是穿过无边无际的森林深处就已经很害怕了。尽管我并不是为了战斗而战斗,我害怕战斗,但我感觉自己是队伍中的一员;就像我在保卫什么一样。我们沿着小路的轻微斜坡艰难前行,阿内塔在前面带路。
No one talked about fighting. Everyone was afraid enough just walking through the infinite deep of the woods. Even though I didn’t fight to fight, was afraid of fighting, I felt I was part of the rest of the troop; like I was defending something. We trudged against the slight incline of the path, Arnetta leading the way.
“你知道,”我说,“他们的头目会在那里。或者他们根本不会在那里。天已经黑了。昨晚太阳还在天上。我敢肯定他们已经完了。”
“You know,” I said, “their leader will be there. Or they won’t even be there. It’s dark already. Last night the sun was still in the sky. I’m sure they’re already finished.”
阿内塔假装没听见我的话。我用手电筒顺着她的目光望去,就在这时,我看到了黑暗中的方块光亮。浴室就在前面。
Arnetta acted as if she hadn’t heard me. I followed her gaze with my flashlight, and that’s when I saw the squares of light in the darkness. The bathroom was just ahead.
但女孩们就在那儿。我们在看到她们之前就听到了她们的声音。
But the girls were there. We could hear them before we could see them.
“我和 Octavia 会先进去,这样他们就会以为只有我们两个人,然后等我说‘我们要给你一点教训’,”Arnetta 说。“然后,你就可以闯进去。这会让他们大吃一惊。”
“Octavia and I will go in first so they’ll think there’s just two of us, then wait till I say, ‘We’re gonna teach you a lesson,’ ” Arnetta said. “Then, bust in. That’ll surprise them.”
“这正是我应该说的,”贾尼丝说。
“That’s what I was supposed to say,” Janice said.
阿内塔走了进去,奥克塔维亚跟在她身后。贾尼丝跟在后面,我们其他人则在外面等着。
Arnetta went inside, Octavia next to her. Janice followed, and the rest of us waited outside.
她们在里面待了好几分钟,但有些不对劲。阿内塔还没有发出信号。我和女孩们在外面,听到 909 部队的一个女孩说:“不。那没有发生!”
They were in there for what seemed like whole minutes, but something was wrong. Arnetta hadn’t given the signal yet. I was with the girls outside when I heard one of the Troop 909 girls say, “NO. That did NOT happen!”
他们会否认整件事,这是意料之中的事。我没想到的是他们否认的声音。女孩的声音听起来好像舌头被卡在嘴里了。“那是脏话!”女孩继续说。“我们不说脏话!”
That was to be expected, that they’d deny the whole thing. What I hadn’t expected was the voice in which the denial was said. The girl sounded as though her tongue were caught in her mouth. “That’s a BAD word!” the girl continued. “We don’t say BAD words!”
“我们进去吧,”伊莉丝说。
“Let’s go in,” Elise said.
“不,”德雷玛说,“我不想。如果我们被打了怎么办?”
“No,” Drema said, “I don’t want to. What if we get beat up?”
“鼻涕?”艾莉丝转过身来,手电筒的灯光很刺眼。这是第一次有人问我的意见,虽然我知道他们问这个问题只是因为他们害怕。
“Snot?” Elise turned to me, her flashlight blinding. It was the first time anyone had asked my opinion, though I knew they were just asking because they were afraid.
“我说我们进去看看到底发生了什么事。”
“I say we go inside, just to see what’s going on.”
“但阿内塔没有给我们信号,”德雷玛说。“她应该说,‘我们要给你一个教训’,但我没听到她说。”
“But Arnetta didn’t give us the signal,” Drema said. “She’s supposed to say, ‘We’re gonna teach you a lesson,’ and I didn’t hear her say it.”
“来吧,”我说,“我们进去吧。”
“C’mon,” I said. “Let’s just go in.”
我们走进去。在那里,我们看到了那几个白人女孩——大约五个女孩挤在一个大女孩旁边。我立刻知道她就是我们听到的那个声音的主人。我们一进门,阿内塔和奥克塔维亚就朝我们靠近了一点。
We went inside. There we found the white girls — about five girls huddled up next to one big girl. I instantly knew she was the owner of the voice we’d heard. Arnetta and Octavia inched toward us as soon as we entered.
“珍妮丝在哪儿?”艾丽丝问道,然后我们听到一阵冲水声。“哦。”
“Where’s Janice?” Elise asked, then we heard a flush. “Oh.”
“我觉得,”奥克塔维亚低声对伊莉丝说,“他们是弱智。”
“I think,” Octavia said, whispering to Elise, “they’re retarded.”
“我们不是弱智!”大女孩说,虽然很明显她是弱智。她们都是。她周围的女孩开始呜咽起来。
“We ARE NOT retarded!” the big girl said, though it was obvious that she was. That they all were. The girls around her began to whimper.
“他们只是假装,”阿内塔说道,试图说服自己。“我知道他们只是假装。”
“They’re just pretending,” Arnetta said, trying to convince herself. “I know they are.”
奥克塔维亚转向阿内塔。“阿内塔。我们走吧。”
Octavia turned to Arnetta. “Arnetta. Let’s just leave.”
贾尼丝从一个摊位走出来,高兴而又如释重负,然后她突然想起了自己的台词,指着那个大女孩说:“我们要给你一个教训。”
Janice came out of a stall, happy and relieved, then she suddenly remembered her line, pointed to the big girl, and said, “We’re gonna teach you a lesson.”
“闭嘴,珍妮丝,”奥克塔维亚说,但她的心思并不在这上面。阿内塔的脸上露出一丝茫然和深深的愁容。奥克塔维亚转向这个大女孩,大声而缓慢地说道,好像她们都是聋子,“我们要走了。很高兴见到你,好吗?你不必告诉任何人我们来过这里。好吗?”
“Shut up, Janice,” Octavia said, but her heart was not in it. Arnetta’s face was set in a lost, deep scowl. Octavia turned to the big girl and said loudly, slowly, as if they were all deaf, “We’re going to leave. It was nice meeting you, O.K.? You don’t have to tell anyone that we were here. O.K.?”
“为什么不呢?”大女孩像在嘲讽她一样说道。她说话时,双唇没有合拢,嘴巴也没有闭合。她的舌头像一条小粉鱼一样擦过上颚。“你会惹上麻烦的。我知道。我知道。”
“Why not?” said the big girl, like a taunt. When she spoke, her lips did not meet, her mouth did not close. Her tongue grazed the roof of her mouth, like a little pink fish. “You’ll get in trouble. I know. I know.”
阿内塔又恢复了往日的狡猾。“如果你说了什么,那你就是个告密者。”
Arnetta got back her old cunning. “If you said anything, then you’d be a tattletale.”
女孩一时看上去有些伤心,但很快又振作起来。她脸上闪过一丝天才的神情。“我喜欢告密。”
The girl looked sad for a moment, then perked up quickly. A flash of genius crossed her face. “I like tattletale.”
“没事的,姑娘们。一切都会好起来的!”909 部队的队长说道。909 部队的所有人都泪流满面。就好像有人指示她们一起哭一样。队长夹着几个女孩,其余的女孩都围在她身边。这让我想起了我在一次实地考察中看到的一头猪,所有的小猪在喂食时都聚集在母猪周围,吮吸着母猪的乳头。909 部队的队长走进了浴室,就在大女孩威胁要告诉别人之后不久。然后护林员来了,然后,护林员用无线电通知了车站,马戈林夫人带着达芙妮来了。
“It’s all right, girls. It’s gonna be all right!” the 909 troop leader said. All of Troop 909 burst into tears. It was as though someone had instructed them all to cry at once. The troop leader had girls under her arm, and all the rest of the girls crowded about her. It reminded me of a hog I’d seen on a field trip, where all the little hogs gathered about the mother at feeding time, latching onto her teats. The 909 troop leader had come into the bathroom, shortly after the big girl had threatened to tell. Then the ranger came, then, once the ranger had radioed the station, Mrs. Margolin arrived with Daphne in tow.
护林员已经离开了卫生间,但其他人都挤在外面拍打蚊子。
The ranger had left the restroom area, but everyone else was huddled just outside, swatting mosquitoes.
“哦,他们会道歉的,”马戈林夫人对 909 队队长说,但她说话的语气非常愤怒,我知道她更多的是在对我们说话,而不是对其他队队长说。“等他们的父母知道了,他们每个人都会受到惩罚。”
“Oh. They will apologize,” Mrs. Margolin said to the 909 troop leader, but she said this so angrily, I knew she was speaking more to us than to the other troop leader. “When their parents find out, every one a them will be on punishment.”
“没事的,没事的,”909 部队的队长安慰马戈林夫人。她的声音和对女孩们讲话时一样轻快。她说话时一直面带微笑。她就像电视烹饪节目里的那些女人一样,一边说话,一边切洋葱,一边微笑。
“It’s all right, it’s all right,” the 909 troop leader reassured Mrs. Margolin. Her voice lilted in the same way it had when addressing the girls. She smiled the whole time she talked. She was like one of those TV-cooking-show women who talk and dice onions and smile all at the same time.
“看吧。这事可能发生。我可没说你家女孩是骗子之类的。”她使劲地摇着头,埃及风格的花童头像厚重的窗帘一样拍打着她的脸颊。“这事可能发生。看吧。我们的女孩不是智障。她们是学习迟缓。”她用甜言蜜语的指导语气说着,好像我们的队伍也可能是学习迟缓的人,“我们来自迪凯特儿童学院。她们中的许多人只是有特殊需要。”
“See. It could have happened. I’m not calling your girls fibbers or anything.” She shook her head ferociously from side to side, her Egyptian-style pageboy flapping against her cheeks like heavy drapes. “It could have happened. See. Our girls are not retarded. They are delayed learners.” She said this in a syrupy instructional voice, as though our troop might be delayed learners as well, “We’re from the Decatur Children’s Academy. Many of them just have special needs.”
“现在我们自己没法走到厕所了!”大女孩说道。
“Now we won’t be able to walk to the bathroom by ourselves!” the big girl said.
“是的,”队长说,“不过也许我们要等回到迪凯特后再说——”
“Yes you will,” the troop leader said, “but maybe we’ll wait till we get back to Decatur —”
“我不想等!”女孩说。“我想要我的独立徽章!”
“I don’t want to wait!” the girl said. “I want my Independence badge!”
我所在的小队里的女孩们全都哑口无言。阿内塔看上去很镇定,仿佛她很快就要遭受折磨,但她决心不表现出软弱。马戈林夫人严肃地撅起嘴唇说:“上帝保佑他们。保佑他们。”
The girls in my troop were entirely speechless. Arnetta looked stoic, as though she were soon to be tortured but was determined not to appear weak. Mrs. Margolin pursed her lips solemnly and said, “Bless them, Lord. Bless them.”
相比之下,909 部队的队长则精力充沛,话也多。“我们有些女孩是模仿型的——”她微笑着,高兴地介绍着一个女孩,但女孩惊恐地睁大了眼睛,猛地从关注的中心抽身而出,感觉自己正在为村里的罪恶而牺牲。“模仿型的,”部队队长继续说道。“这意味着她们会说任何她们听到的话,就像回声一样——这就是这个词的来源。它来自‘回声’。”她抱歉地低下头,“我的意思是,并不是所有人都有最开明的父母,所以如果他们听到一个坏话,他们可能会重复它。但我保证这不是故意的。”
In contrast, the Troop 909 leader was full of words and energy. “Some of our girls are echolalic —” She smiled and happily presented one of the girls hanging onto her, but the girl widened her eyes in horror, and violently withdrew herself from the center of attention, sensing she was being sacrificed for the village sins. “Echolalic,” the troop leader continued. “That means they will say whatever they hear, like an echo — that’s where the word comes from. It comes from ‘echo.’ ” She ducked her head apologetically, “I mean, not all of them have the most progressive of parents, so if they heard a bad word, they might have repeated it. But I guarantee it would not have been intentional.”
阿内塔说道:“我看到她说了那个词。我听到了。”她指着一个小女孩,比我们任何人都小,穿着一件超大号的 T 恤,上面写着:“吃 Bertha 的贻贝。”
Arnetta spoke. “I saw her say the word. I heard her.” She pointed to a small girl, smaller than any of us, wearing an oversized T-shirt that read: “Eat Bertha’s Mussels.”
队长摇头笑道:“不可能,她不说话,能说会说,但是不说。”
The troop leader shook her head and smiled, “That’s impossible. She doesn’t speak. She can, but she doesn’t.”
阿妮塔皱起眉头,“不,不是她。没错,是她。”
Arnetta furrowed her brow. “No. It wasn’t her. That’s right. It was her.”
阿内塔指着的那个女孩咧嘴笑了,仿佛她受到了表扬。她是两个小队中唯一一个穿着全套制服的人:摩卡色的 A 字形衬衫、橙色的领巾、布满徽章的腰带,不过都是同一个徽章——试用徽章。她朝阿内塔走了几步,朝腰带做了一个大手势。“看,”她自负地说,“我是小女童军。”我很难想象这个女孩会叫别人“黑鬼”;这个女孩看起来总是很高兴,好像如果有人允许的话,她会和一只灰熊依偎在一起。
The girl Arnetta pointed to grinned as though she’d been paid a compliment. She was the only one from either troop actually wearing a full uniform: the mocha-colored A-line shift, the orange ascot, the sash covered with badges, though all the same one — the Try-It patch. She took a few steps toward Arnetta and made a grand sweeping gesture toward the sash. “See,” she said, full of self-importance, “I’m a Brownie.” I had a hard time imagining this girl calling anyone a “nigger”; the girl looked perpetually delighted, as though she would have cuddled up with a grizzly if someone had let her.
第四天早上,我们坐上回家的车。
On the fourth morning, we boarded the bus to go home.
前一天我们用冰棍棒搭建了微型教堂。我们几乎没有离开过小屋。玛戈林夫人和海蒂夫人把我们看得很严实,几乎一整天都没有人说话。
The previous day had been spent building miniature churches from Popsicle sticks. We hardly left the cabin. Mrs. Margolin and Mrs. Hedy guarded us so closely, almost no one talked for the entire day.
甚至在离开克雷森多营地的那天,一切都显得严肃而沉默。巴士之旅开始时相当安静。阿内塔不得不坐在马戈林夫人旁边;奥克塔维亚不得不坐在她母亲旁边。我坐在达芙妮旁边,她没有解释就把她的获奖日记给了我。
Even on the day of departure from Camp Crescendo, all was serious and silent. The bus ride began quietly enough. Arnetta had to sit beside Mrs. Margolin; Octavia had to sit beside her mother. I sat beside Daphne, who gave me her prize journal without a word of explanation.
“你不想要吗?”
“You don’t want it?”
她摇摇头,说没有。它是空的。
She shook her head no. It was empty.
然后海蒂太太开始哭泣。“奥克塔维亚,”海蒂太太没有看她,而是对女儿说,“我要和玛戈林太太坐在一起。好吗?”
Then Mrs. Hedy began to weep. “Octavia,” Mrs. Hedy said to her daughter without looking at her, “I’m going to sit with Mrs. Margolin. All right?”
阿内塔和海蒂太太换了座位。两位女士坐在前面,伊莉丝觉得可以放心说话了。“嗨,”她说,然后摆出一副平静、茫然的表情,试图模仿 909 部队女孩的表情。阿内塔鼓起勇气,向一条想象中的腰带做了一个假装自豪的手势,就像那个穿着制服的女孩做的那样。然后,她们都玩起了游戏,试图模仿 909 部队女孩最夸张的动作,全程不说话,笑声也不够大,无法引起女人们的注意。
Arnetta exchanged seats with Mrs. Hedy. With the two women up front, Elise felt it safe to speak. “Hey,” she said, then she set her face into a placid, vacant stare, trying to imitate that of a Troop 909 girl. Emboldened, Arnetta made a gesture of mock pride toward an imaginary sash, the way the girl in full uniform had done. Then they all made a game of it, trying to do the most exaggerated imitations of the Troop 909 girls, all without speaking, all without laughing loud enough to catch the women’s attention.
达芙妮低头看着她的鞋子,鞋子上涂了运动鞋油,已经变白了。我打开她给我的日记本。我望着窗外,想着写点什么,想找些句子,但没有什么能比得上达芙妮写的“我的父亲,老兵”,我最喜欢的一句台词。这句话在我脑海里重现,我放弃了写作的念头。
Daphne looked down at her shoes, white with sneaker polish. I opened the journal she’d given me. I looked out the window, trying to decide what to write, searching for lines, but nothing could compare with what Daphne had written, “My father, the veteran,” my favorite line of all time. It replayed itself in my head, and I gave up trying to write.
到那时,似乎其余的队员已经不再取笑 909 队的女孩了。她们现在悄悄地闲聊着谁在学校里给谁传过纸条。一时间,闲聊声消失了,我只听到我们沿着道路疾驰而过的公共汽车的嗡嗡声,以及海蒂夫人和马戈林夫人谈论严肃事情的低沉声音。
By then, it seemed that the rest of the troop had given up making fun of the girls in Troop 909. They were now quietly gossiping about who had passed notes to whom in school. For a moment the gossiping fell off, and all I heard was the hum of the bus as we sped down the road and the muffled sounds of Mrs. Hedy and Mrs. Margolin talking about serious things.
“你知道吗,”奥克塔维亚低声说,“我们为什么被困在一个有智障女孩的营地里?你知道吗?”
“You know,” Octavia whispered, “why did we have to be stuck at a camp with retarded girls? You know?”
“你知道为什么,”阿内塔回答道。她眯起眼睛,像只猫。“我和妈妈在巴克海特的购物中心,一个白人女士一直盯着我们看。我的意思是,好像我们是外国人一样。好像我们是中国人。”
“You know why,” Arnetta answered. She narrowed her eyes like a cat. “My mama and I were in the mall in Buckhead, and this white lady just kept looking at us. I mean, like we were foreign or something. Like we were from China.”
“那个女人说了什么?”伊莉丝问道。
“What did the woman say?” Elise asked.
“没什么,”阿内塔说。“她什么也没说。”
“Nothing,” Arnetta said. “She didn’t say nothing.”
几个女孩默默地点了点头。
A few girls quietly nodded their heads.
“有一次,”我说,“我和我爸爸在商场里——”
“There was this time,” I said, “when my father and I were in the mall and —”
“哦,闭嘴,鼻涕虫,”奥克塔维亚说。
“Oh shut up, Snot,” Octavia said.
我盯着 Octavia,然后把眼睛从她身上翻到窗外。当我看着树木模糊不清时,我只想结束这一切:乘坐公共汽车、参加部队、上学——所有这一切。但我们要回家了。第二天我会在学校看到同样的女孩。我们坐在公共汽车上,没有别的地方可去。
I stared at Octavia, then rolled my eyes from her to the window. As I watched the trees blur, I wanted nothing more than to be through with it all: the bus ride, the troop, school — all of it. But we were going home. I’d see the same girls in school the next day. We were on a bus, and there was nowhere else to go.
“继续说,劳雷尔,”达芙妮对我说。这似乎是她整个旅程中第一次说话,而且她还叫了我的名字。我转过身来,虚弱地笑了笑,以免哭出来,希望她还记得我曾试图和她做朋友,也许她送的日记是友谊的邀请。但她没有回以微笑。她只是说:“发生了什么事?”
“Go on, Laurel,” Daphne said to me. It seemed like the first time she’d spoken the whole trip, and she’d said my name. I turned to her and smiled weakly so as not to cry, hoping she’d remember when I’d tried to be her friend, thinking maybe that her gift of the journal was an invitation of friendship. But she didn’t smile back. All she said was, “What happened?”
我观察着这些女孩,等着 Octavia 再次叫我闭嘴,我甚至还没来得及说一句话,但每个人都对 Daphne 的发言感到惊讶。车里一片寂静。我收拾好声音。“好吧,”我说。“我和父亲在这个商场里,但我是那个盯着看的人。”我停下来,从一张脸扫到另一张脸。我继续说。“有些白人穿得像清教徒,但他们不是清教徒。他们是门诺派教徒。他们是这样的,如果你请他们帮忙,比如粉刷你的门廊之类的,他们必须照做。这是他们的规矩。”
I studied the girls, waiting for Octavia to tell me to shut up again before I even had a chance to utter another word, but everyone was amazed that Daphne had spoken. The bus was silent. I gathered my voice. “Well,” I said. “My father and I were in this mall, but I was the one doing the staring.” I stopped and glanced from face to face. I continued. “There were these white people dressed like Puritans or something, but they weren’t Puritans. They were Mennonites. They’re these people who, if you ask them to do a favor, like paint your porch or something, they have to do it. It’s in their rules.”
有人说道:“太糟糕了。”
“That sucks,” someone said.
“得了吧,”阿内塔说。“你撒谎了。”
“C’mon,” Arnetta said. “You’re lying.”
“我没有。”
“I am not.”
“你怎么知道这不是某人编造的故事?”艾莉丝问道,她的脑袋里充满了勇气。“我的意思是,谁会按照你的要求去做呢?”
“How do you know that’s not just some story someone made up?” Elise asked, her head cocked full of daring. “I mean, who’s gonna do whatever you ask?”
“这不是编造的。我知道,因为当我看着他们时,我父亲说,‘看到那些人了吗?如果你让他们做某事,他们就会去做。任何你想要他们做的事。’”
“It’s not made up. I know because when I was looking at them, my father said, ‘See those people? If you ask them to do something, they’ll do it. Anything you want.’ ”
没人会说别人的父亲是骗子——那样他们就得和这个人打架。但德雷玛仔细分析了她的话。“你父亲怎么知道那不是故事?嗯?”
No one would call anyone’s father a liar — then they’d have to fight the person. But Drema parsed her words carefully. “How does your father know that’s not just some story? Huh?”
“因为,”我说,“他走到那个人面前,问他是否愿意粉刷我们的门廊,那个人答应了。这是他们的宗教。”
“Because,” I said, “he went up to the man and asked him would he paint our porch, and the man said yes. It’s their religion.”
“伙计,我很高兴我是一名浸信会教徒,”艾丽丝摇着头说道,对门诺派教徒表示同情。
“Man, I’m glad I’m a Baptist,” Elise said, shaking her head in sympathy for the Mennonites.
“那么,是那个男人干的吗?”德雷玛问道,她凑近了些,想听听故事是否还有什么有趣的内容。
“So did the guy do it?” Drema asked, scooting closer to hear if the story got juicy.
“是的,”我说,“他全家人都和他在一起。我爸爸开车把他们带到我们家。他们都粉刷了我们的门廊。那位女士和女孩戴着软帽,穿着长长的裙子,裙子的纽扣一直延伸到脖子上。那位男士戴着一顶奇怪的帽子,穿着巨大的吊带裤。”
“Yeah,” I said. “His whole family was with him. My dad drove them to our house. They all painted our porch. The woman and girl were in bonnets and long, long skirts with buttons up to their necks. The guy wore this weird hat and these huge suspenders.”
“为什么,”阿内塔狡猾地问道,好像她一个字都不相信,“有人会选择门廊?如果他们愿意做任何事情,为什么不让他们粉刷整个房子?为什么不要求一百美元?”
“Why,” Arnetta asked archly, as though she didn’t believe a word, “would someone pick a porch? If they’ll do anything, why not make them paint the whole house? Why not ask for a hundred bucks?”
我想了想,然后想起了父亲说过的关于粉刷门廊的话,尽管在他说完这些话之后,我似乎从未想过他的话。
I thought about it, and then remembered the words my father had said about them painting our porch, though I had never seemed to think about his words after he’d said them.
“他说,”我开始说道,直到那时才明白他从嘴里说出的话,“这是唯一一次他让一个白人跪下来免费为黑人做事。”
“He said,” I began, only then understanding the words as they uncoiled from my mouth, “it was the only time he’d have a white man on his knees doing something for a black man for free.”
我现在明白他的意思,也明白他为什么这么做,尽管我不喜欢他这么做。当你长时间被折磨时,你会抓住机会对别人做同样的事情。我记得门诺派教徒弯下腰的样子,就像达芙妮打扫厕所时弯下腰的样子。我记得他们的帽子是深蓝色的,鞋子是黑色的。他们把门廊漆成擦地板的样子。我颤抖着,达芙妮轻声问道:“他感谢他们了吗?”
I now understood what he meant, and why he did it, though I didn’t like it. When you’ve been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others. I remembered the Mennonites bending the way Daphne had bent when she was cleaning the restroom. I remembered the dark blue of their bonnets, the black of their shoes. They painted the porch as though scrubbing a floor. I was already trembling before Daphne asked quietly, “Did he thank them?”
我望向窗外。我分不清哪些是想法,哪些是树木。“不,”我说,突然意识到世界上有些卑鄙的事我无法阻止。
I looked out the window. I could not tell which were the thoughts and which were the trees. “No,” I said, and suddenly knew there was something mean in the world that I could not stop.
阿内塔笑道:“如果我让她们脱下长裙和软帽,换上牛仔裤,她们会这么做吗?”
Arnetta laughed. “If I asked them to take off their long skirts and bonnets and put on some jeans, would they do it?”
达芙妮的声音平静而坚定:“也许他们会的。只是为了友善。”
And Daphne’s voice, quiet, steady: “Maybe they would. Just to be nice.”
[1999年]
[1999]
A.ME教堂:非洲卫理公会教堂。
aA.M.E. church: African Methodist Episcopal church.
[生于 1974 年]
[b. 1974]
“第一幅画展示了几栋城市公寓楼的夜景。第二幅画展示了一位身着工作服的女士走进公寓。她左手拎着一个纸袋。她看着坐在沙发上的一位男士,大叫道:“嘿,亲爱的!”男士回答道:“嗨,工作怎么样?”第三幅画展示了男士亲吻女士的嘴唇。女士说:“嗯……很忙……不过小费不错。我给你带了个三明治。”第四幅画展示了男士坐在沙发上。男士坐在沙发上,一边看杂志,一边问:“嗯?什么杂志?”女人回答说:“火腿和奶酪。我把它放进冰箱了。”第五幅画中,女人把三明治放进冰箱。男人说:“谢谢,宝贝。也许我过会儿会吃。”在这一幅画中,男人是看不见的。他坐在客厅的沙发上说话。第六幅画中,女人脱下外套走进卧室。第七幅画中,女人从卧室窗外偷看。她说:“嘿,亲爱的……猜猜怎么了?”男人在客厅里反问道:“什么?”
"The first panel shows several urban apartment buildings at night. The second panel shows a woman in work attire entering an apartment. She carries a paper bag in her left hand. She looks at a man seated on a couch and exclaims, ""Hey Hon!"" The man replies back, ""Hi there, How was work?"" The third panel shows the man kissing the woman's lips. The woman says, ""mm...hectic... Good tips, though. I brought you a sandwich."" The fourth panel shows the man seated on a couch. The man, while sitting on the couch, reads a magazine and asks, ""Yeah? what kind?” The woman replies, ""Ham and cheese. I'm putting it in the fridge."" The fifth panel shows the woman putting the sandwich in the fridge. The man says, ""Thanks, Baby. Maybe I'll eat it in a while."" In this panel, the man is not visible. He speaks while sitting on the couch in the living room. The sixth panel shows the woman entering the bedroom while she takes her blazer off. The seventh panel shows the woman peeking outside the bedroom window. She says, ""Hey honey... guess what?"" The man asks back from the living room, ""What?"""
第一幅画显示一名女子正在与另一间房间的一名男子交谈。她透过窗户看着,说道:“有人搬进了街对面的公寓,看起来老房客把窗帘也带走了。”第二幅画显示男子转头看向另一间房间,并回答道:“是吗?你看见什么了吗?”第三幅画显示女子正在透过窗户偷看。她说:“现在我只看到一个男人没穿衬衫走来走去。呃……他戴着奇怪的橡胶手套!”第四幅画显示男子在另一个房间里看报纸。他说:“好吧,如果发生任何事情请告诉我。”第五幅画显示女子小心翼翼地站在外面观察。第六幅画显示一名赤裸上身的男子和一名年轻女孩站在对面公寓的房间里。一个对话框写着:“嘿!刚刚来了个女孩!”第七幅画显示男子走进房间,并说:“你是认真的吗?”女人继续透过窗户看着。第八幅画展示了男人和女人焦虑地交谈。男人说:“天哪!把灯关掉好吗?”女人回答说:“当然可以。”第九幅画展示了女人关灯。旁边还有一段文字“咔嚓”。第十幅画展示了对面公寓的年轻夫妇正在接吻。与另一间公寓的对话相对应的对话框写着“哦,我的天”。第十一幅画展示了男人从窗外望出去说“我真不敢相信!你知道这有多幸运吗?”第十二幅画展示了对面公寓的年轻夫妇的影子。他们站在墙边,彼此很近。与另一间公寓的对话相对应的两个对话框写着“等等……他们去哪儿了?”和“看!你可以在墙上看到他们的影子。他们点了蜡烛什么的。”
The first panel shows a woman speaking to a man in the other room. She says, “Someone moved into that apartment across the street, and it looks like the old tenants took the curtains with them.” as she watches through the windows. The second panel shows the man turning his head toward the other room and replies, “Yeah? Can you see anything?” The third panel shows the woman peeking through the windows. She says, “Right now I just see some guy pacing around without a shirt on. Ew…He’s wearing these weird rubber gloves!” The fourth panel shows the man reading a newspaper in the other room. He says, "Well, let me know if anything happens.” The fifth panel shows the woman cautiously standing and watching outside. The sixth panel shows a shirtless man and a young girl standing in a room, in the opposite apartment. A speech bubble reads, "Hey! Some girl just showed up!". The seventh panel shows the man entering the room and says, “Are you serious?” to the woman who continues to watch through the windows. The eighth panel shows the man and woman conversing with each other in anxiety. The man says, “Holy shit! Turn out the light, will ya?” and the woman replies, “Sure." The ninth panel shows the woman switching off the lights. A text besides read, "Click." The tenth panel shows the young couple, from the opposite apartment, kissing each other. A speech bubble corresponding to the conversation in the other apartment reads, “Oh my god”. The eleventh panel shows the man looking out of the window and says “I can’t believe this! Do you realize how lucky this is?” The twelfth panel shows the shadow of the young couple, from the opposite apartment. They are standing close to each other, besides the walls. Two speech bubbles corresponding to the conversation in the other apartment reads, “Wait… Where’d they go?” and “Look! You can see their shadows on the wall. They lit candles or something.”
“第一幅画中,男人和女人正在交谈。女人问道:“嘿……你不觉得他们能看见我们吗?”男人回答:“不……关灯后就看不见。”第二幅画中,男人说:“此外……他们看起来就像那种会因此而兴奋的怪人。”第三幅画中,另一间公寓的一对夫妇赤身裸体,紧紧站在一起。两个对话框写着:“看!他们赤身裸体!”和“我不相信!”第四幅画中,女人问道:“嘿,你想去拿几把椅子吗,亲爱的?”男人回答:“天哪……我们在干什么?”第五幅画中,女人站在黑暗的房间里,透过窗户看着。第六幅画中,男人拿着几把椅子走进房间。他说:“我漏掉了什么吗?”第七幅画中,男人把椅子放到女人面前。女人说:“他们坐在地板上,所以我什么都看不见了。”男人说:“该死!”第八幅画中,对面公寓里的裸体男人表情怪异。他身后的墙壁映出他的影子。与另一间公寓里男人和女人的对话相对应的对话框上写着:“嘿,看!他在那里!”第九幅画中,男人和女人正在交谈。女人说:“哦!老兄……他真的要干了!”男人回答说:“哈哈!看看他的脸!我这样看起来有那么蠢吗……”第十幅画展示了一个裸体男人的脸部特写,他的脸被一个女孩的脚夹住。与另一间公寓里的男人和女人的对话相对应的对话框写着:“这是什么鬼?”第十一幅画展示了一个男人舔女孩脚的特写。相应的对话框写着:“哎呀!”第十二幅画展示了男人和女人坐在黑暗房间里的椅子上,透过窗户看着。男人说:“情况正在逐渐好转!”
"The first panel shows the man and the woman talking to each other. The woman asks, “Hey…You don’t think they can see us, do you?” and the man replies, “Nah…not with the lights out.” The second panel shows the man saying, “Besides…they look like the kind of weirdos who’d get off on that, anyways.” The third panel shows the couple from the other apartment, standing close to each other, naked. Two speech bubbles read, “Look! They’re naked!” and “I don’t believe this!” In the fourth panel, the woman asks, “Hey, you wanna go grab a couple chairs, honey?” and the man replies, “Jeez…what are we doing?” The fifth panel shows the woman standing in a dark room, watching through the windows. The sixth panel shows the man entering the room with a couple of chairs. He says, “Did I miss anything?” The seventh panel shows the man putting a chair for the woman to sit on it. The woman says, “They got down on the floor, so I can’t see anything now” and the man says, “Damn it!” The eighth panel shows the naked man, in the opposite apartment, with a weird expression. The walls behind him reflect his shadow. A speech bubble corresponding to the conversation between the man and woman in the other apartment reads, ""Hey look! There he is!” The ninth panel shows the man and the woman conversing. The woman says, “ Oh! Man…He’s really goin’ at it!” and the man replies, “Ha-ha! Check out his face! Do I look that stupid when I’m…” The tenth panel shows a close-up view of the naked man's face, with his face held between a girl's feet. A speech bubble that corresponds to the conversation of the man and woman in the other apartment reads, ""What the hell?"". The eleventh panel shows a close-up view of a man licking a girl's foot. A corresponding speech bubble reads, “Ew!” The twelfth panel shows the man and the woman seated in the chairs, inside a dark room, and watching through their windows. The man says, “ This is getting better by the second!”."
“第一幅画展示了对面的公寓。与另一间公寓中的男人和女人的对话相对应的对话框显示:“嘿!他们又不见了!”第二幅画展示了男人和女人在他们房间里的对话。男人说:“来吧……来吧……”第三幅画展示了透过对面公寓窗户看到的景色,女人的脚被高高地抬起。第四幅画展示了另一间公寓中的男人和女人在交谈。女人说:“这是她的脚!不,是他的……”男人回答说:“看它在抖!他妈的?”第五幅画展示了对面公寓的窗户。与另一间公寓中的男人和女人的对话相对应的对话框显示:“该死!”第六幅画展示了男人和女人在交谈。女人说:“你知道……我真的想喝一杯。想喝吗?”男人同意了,“好啊,当然。”第七幅画中,男人问女人:“嘿!也把那个三明治拿上,好吗?”女人回答说:“哈哈!好的。”第八幅画中,女人走过走廊。第九幅画中,女人从厨房架子上的瓶子里挑选饮料。第十幅画中,女人往两个杯子里倒饮料。对话框上写着“呵呵……”第十一幅画中,女人一边倒饮料,一边自嘲地笑着“呵呵……”和“哈哈哈哈……”。第十二幅画中,女人一脸震惊的表情。隔壁房间的男人说:“哦,该死!”
"The first panel shows the opposite apartment. A speech bubble that corresponds to the conversation of the man and the woman in the other apartment reads, “ Hey! They disappeared again!” The second panel shows the conversation between the man and the woman, inside their room. The man says, “C’mon…C’mon..” The third panel shows a view through the windows of the opposite apartment, where a woman's foot is lifted high. The fourth panel shows the man and woman in the other apartment conversing with each other. The woman says, “It’s her foot! No, it’s his…“ and the man replies, “Look how it’s shaking! What the fuck?” The fifth panel shows the windows of the opposite apartment. A speech bubble that corresponds to the conversation of the man and woman in the other apartment reads, “Shit!” The sixth panel shows the man and the woman conversing with each other. The woman says, “Y’know…I could really go for a drink. Want one?” and the man agrees, “Yeah, sure.” The seventh panel shows the man who asks the woman, “Hey! Grab that sandwich, too, will ya?” The woman replies, “Ha- Ha! Okay.” The eighth panel shows the woman walking through a hallway. The ninth panel shows the woman picking a drink from the bottles on the shelves in the kitchen. The tenth panel shows the woman pouring drinks in two glasses. A speech bubble reads, “Heh…” The eleventh panel shows the woman laughing to herself “Heh-Heh…” and “A-ha-ha-ha-ha...” while she pours the drink. The twelfth panel shows the woman with a shocked expression. The man from the other room says, “Oh shit!”"
“第一幅画显示女人跑过走廊。第二幅画显示女人进入房间。她问:“什么?我错过了什么?”第三幅画显示男人一脸失望。他说:“没什么。他们只是……关了灯。”第四幅画显示女人一脸震惊,说:“该死!真的吗?”第五幅画显示男人和女人正在交谈。女人说:“我想知道什么……”男人打断道:“离窗户远一点。”第六幅画显示男人的手拉着女人的手的特写镜头。女人说:“为什么?我只是想……”男人打断道:“我告诉你离窗户远一点!”第七幅画显示男人抓住女人的肩膀,说:“只是……别看。”第八幅画显示男人和女人站得很近。女人问:“怎么了,亲爱的?”第八幅画的是男人和女人拥抱在一起。女人问:“你怎么了?”第九幅画的是夜晚的城市街区建筑。”
"The first panel shows the woman running through a hallway. The second panel shows the woman entering the room. She asks, ""What? What did I miss?” The third panel shows the man with a disappointed expression. He says, “Nothing. They just…turned out the lights.” The fourth panel shows the woman with a shocked expression who says, “Damn! Really?“. The fifth panel shows the man and woman talking to each other. The woman says, “I wonder what…” and the man interrupts, “Stay away from the window”. The sixth panel shows the close-up view of the man's hands pulling the woman's hand. The woman says, “Why? I just wanna…” and the man interrupts, ""I told you to stay away from the window!” The seventh panel shows the man holding the woman by her shoulders and says, “Just…Don’t look.” The eighth panel shows the man and the woman standing close to each other. The woman asks, “What’s the matter, honey?” The eighth panel shows the man and the woman hugging each other. The woman asks, “What’s gotten into you?” The ninth panel shows the buildings in the urban neighborhood at night."
[1994年]
[1994]
[b. 1977]
[b. 1977]
你以为美国每个人都有车有枪,你的叔叔阿姨们也这么认为。就在你中了美国签证抽签之后,你的叔叔阿姨和表兄弟们就告诉你:“一个月后,你就会有一辆大车。很快,你就会有一栋大房子。但不要像那些美国人一样买枪。”
You thought everybody in America had a car and a gun, your uncles and aunts thought so, too. Right after you won the American visa lottery, your uncles and aunts and cousins told you, “In a month, you will have a big car. Soon, a big house. But don’t buy a gun like those Americans.”
他们成群结队地来到拉各斯的棚户区,站在钉满钉子的锌墙旁,因为椅子已经摆满了,他们大声地向你道别,然后压低声音告诉你他们想让你寄给他们什么。与豪车和豪宅(可能还有枪)相比,他们想要的东西微不足道——手袋、鞋子、香水和衣服。你说好的,没问题。
They trooped into the shantytown house in Lagos, standing beside the nail-studded zinc walls because chairs did not go round, to say good-bye in loud voices and tell you with lowered voices what they wanted you to send them. In comparison to the big car and house (and possibly gun), the things they wanted were minor — handbags and shoes and perfumes and clothes. You said okay, no problem.
你在美国的叔叔说,你可以和他一起生活,直到你站稳脚跟。他去机场接你,给你买了一个大热狗,上面撒着让你恶心的黄芥末。他笑着说,这是对美国的介绍。他住在缅因州一个白人小镇,住在湖边一栋有三十年历史的房子里。他告诉你,他工作的公司为他提供了几千多股股票,因为他们拼命想让自己看起来更多元化。他们把他列入每一份宣传册,甚至那些与工程无关的宣传册。他笑着说,这份工作很好,值得住在一个全是白人的小镇,尽管他的妻子不得不开车一个小时去找一家给黑人做头发的美发沙龙。关键是要了解美国,要知道美国是一个互惠互利的地方。你放弃了很多,但也收获了很多。
Your uncle in America said you could live with him until you got on your feet. He picked you up at the airport and bought you a big hot dog with yellow mustard that nauseated you. Introduction to America, he said with a laugh. He lived in a small white town in Maine, in a thirty-year-old house by a lake. He told you that the company he worked for had offered him a few thousand more plus stocks because they were desperately trying to look diverse. They included him in every brochure, even those that had nothing to do with engineering. He laughed and said the job was good, was worth living in an all-white town even though his wife had to drive an hour to find a hair salon that did black hair. The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take. You gave up a lot but you gained a lot too.
他教你如何在主街加油站申请收银员的工作,还帮你报了社区大学,那里的女孩们都盯着你的头发看。你把辫子解开后,头发是竖起来还是垂下来?全部都竖起来了?怎么会这样?为什么?你用梳子梳头发吗?
He showed you how to apply for a cashier job in the gas station on Main Street and he enrolled you in a community college, where the girls gawked at your hair. Does it stand up or fall down when you take the braids out? All of it stands up? How? Why? Do you use a comb?
当他们问这些问题时,你紧张地笑了笑。你叔叔告诉你,这是无知和傲慢的结合。然后他告诉你,在他搬进新家几个月后,邻居们说松鼠开始消失了。他们听说非洲人吃各种各样的野生动物。
You smiled tightly when they asked those questions. Your uncle told you to expect it — a mixture of ignorance and arrogance, he called it. Then he told you how the neighbors said, a few months after he moved into his house, that the squirrels had started to disappear. They had heard Africans ate all kinds of wild animals.
你和叔叔一起欢笑,在他家感觉像在家一样,他的妻子叫你nwanne,姐姐,他两个学龄的孩子叫你阿姨。他们说伊博语,午餐吃garri b,就像在家一样。直到你的叔叔来到你和旧箱子、旧衣箱和旧书一起睡觉的狭窄地下室,拉扯你的乳房,仿佛他正在从树上摘芒果,呻吟着。他其实不是你的叔叔;他实际上是你阿姨丈夫的远房表亲,没有血缘关系。
You laughed with your uncle and you felt at home in his house, his wife called you nwanne, sister, and his two school-age children called you Aunty. They spoke Igboa and ate garrib for lunch and it was like home. Until your uncle came into the cramped basement where you slept with old boxes and trunks and books and pulled your breasts, as though he were plucking mangoes from a tree, moaning. He wasn’t really your uncle; he was actually a distant cousin of your aunt’s husband, not related by blood.
那天晚上,当你收拾行李时,他坐在你的床上——毕竟这是他的房子——笑着说你没地方可去。如果你让他去,他会为你做很多事情。聪明的女人总是这么做。你认为那些在拉各斯有高薪工作的女人是怎么做到的?甚至纽约市的女人也是这样吗?
As you packed your bags that night, he sat on your bed — it was his house after all — and smiled and said you had nowhere to go. If you let him, he would do many things for you. Smart women did it all the time. How did you think those women back home in Lagosc with well-paying jobs made it? Even women in New York City?
你把自己锁在浴室里,第二天早上,你离开了,走在蜿蜒的长路上,闻着湖里小鱼的味道。你看到他开车经过——他总是把你送到主街——而且他没有按喇叭。你想知道他会怎么告诉他妻子,你为什么要离开。你想起他说过的话,美国是一个互惠互利的国家。
You locked yourself in the bathroom, and the next morning, you left, walking the long windy road, smelling the baby fish in the lake. You saw him drive past — he had always dropped you off at Main Street — and he didn’t honk. You wondered what he would tell his wife, why you had left. And you remembered what he said, that America was give-and-take.
你最终来到了康涅狄格州的另一个小镇,因为那是你乘坐的 Bonanza 巴士的最后一站;Bonanza 是最便宜的巴士。你走进附近的餐馆,说你的工资比其他女服务员低两美元。店主胡安有一头乌黑的头发,笑起来露出一口亮黄色的牙齿。他说他从未雇佣过尼日利亚员工,但所有移民都努力工作。他知道,他经历过。他会少付你一美元,但都是私下支付的;他不喜欢他们让他交的所有税。
You ended up in Connecticut, in another little town, because it was the last stop of the Bonanza bus you got on; Bonanza was the cheapest bus. You walked into the restaurant nearby and said you would work for two dollars less than the other waitresses. The owner, Juan, had inky black hair and smiled to show a bright yellowish tooth. He said he had never had a Nigerian employee but all immigrants worked hard. He knew, he’d been there. He’d pay you a dollar less, but under the table; he didn’t like all the taxes they were making him pay.
你没钱上学,因为你要为那间地毯脏兮兮的小房间支付房租。此外,康涅狄格州的小镇上没有社区大学,而州立大学的学分费用又太高。所以你去了公共图书馆,在学校网站上查找课程大纲,阅读一些书籍。有时你坐在凹凸不平的单人床床垫上,想着家、父母、叔叔阿姨、表兄弟姐妹、朋友。那些从贩卖芒果和阿卡拉中赚不到一分钱的人,他们的房子——用钉子固定的锌板——在雨季倒塌。那些出来向你道别的人,那些为你赢得美国签证抽签而欢欣鼓舞的人,那些向你表白羡慕的人。那些把孩子送到中学的人,在那里,只要有人塞给他们棕色信封,老师就会给他们一个 A。
You could not afford to go to school, because now you paid rent for the tiny room with the stained carpet. Besides, the small Connecticut town didn’t have a community college and a credit at the state university cost too much. So you went to the public library, you looked up course syllabi on school websites and read some of the books. Sometimes you sat on the lumpy mattress of your twin bed and thought about home, your parents, your uncles and aunts, your cousins, your friends. The people who never broke a profit from the mangoes and akarad they hawked, whose houses — zinc sheets precariously held by nails — fell apart in the rainy season. The people who came out to say good-bye, to rejoice because you won the American visa lottery, to confess their envy. The people who sent their children to the secondary school where teachers gave an A when someone slipped them brown envelopes.
你从来不需要花钱买 A,也从来没在中学时给老师寄过棕色信封。但你还是选择用长长的棕色信封把一个月收入的一半寄给父母;你总是用胡安给你的钞票,因为那些钞票很新,不像小费。每个月都这样。你没有写信。没什么可写的。
You had never needed to pay for an A, never slipped a brown envelope to a teacher in secondary school. Still, you chose long brown envelopes to send half your month’s earnings to your parents; you always used the bills that Juan gave you because those were crisp, unlike the tips. Every month. You didn’t write a letter. There was nothing to write about.
但最初几周你还是想写,因为你有故事要讲。你想写美国人令人惊讶的坦诚,他们如何热切地告诉你他们的母亲与癌症作斗争,他们嫂子的早产儿——这些都是人们应该隐瞒的,应该只向那些希望他们好的家庭成员透露的。你想写人们在盘子里留下那么多食物,把几张钞票揉成一团,好像那是祭品,是浪费食物的补偿。你想写那个开始哭泣并拉扯金发的孩子,她的父母没有让她闭嘴,而是恳求她,然后他们都起身离开了。
The first weeks you wanted to write though, because you had stories to tell. You wanted to write about the surprising openness of people in America, how eagerly they told you about their mother fighting cancer, about their sister-in-law’s preemie — things people should hide, should reveal only to the family members who wished them well. You wanted to write about the way people left so much food on their plates and crumpled a few dollar bills down, as though it were an offering, expiation for the wasted food. You wanted to write about the child who started to cry and pull at her blond hair and instead of the parents making her shut up, they pleaded with her and then they all got up and left.
你想写那些身着破烂衣服、脚穿破烂运动鞋的有钱美国人,他们看上去就像拉各斯大院门前的守夜人。你想写那些肥胖的穷人和瘦弱的富人。你想写并不是每个人都有大房子和汽车;但你仍然不确定枪支是否安全,因为他们的包和口袋里可能装着枪。
You wanted to write about the rich Americans who wore shabby clothes and tattered sneakers, who looked like the night watchmen in front of the large compounds in Lagos. You wanted to write about the poor people who were fat and the rich people who were thin. And you wanted to write that everybody in America did not have a big house and car; you still were not sure about the guns, though, because they might have them inside their bags and pockets.
你想写信的对象不只是你的父母,还有你的朋友、表亲、姑姑和叔叔。但你永远买不起足够的香水、衣服、手袋和鞋子,无法四处走动,还要靠做服务员来支付房租,所以你没有给任何人写信。
It wasn’t just your parents you wanted to write, it was your friends, and cousins and aunts and uncles. But you could never afford enough perfumes and clothes and handbags and shoes to go around and still pay your rent on the waitressing job so you wrote nobody.
没人知道你在哪里,因为你没有告诉任何人。有时你觉得自己是隐形人,试图穿过房间的墙壁进入走廊,当你撞到墙上时,你的手臂上留下了瘀伤。有一次,胡安问你是否有男人打你,因为他会照顾他,你神秘地笑了起来。
Nobody knew where you were because you told no one. Sometimes you felt invisible and tried to walk through your room wall into the hallway and when you bumped into the wall, it left bruises on your arms. Once, Juan asked if you had a man who hit you because he would take care of him, and you laughed a mysterious laugh.
晚上,总有什么东西缠住你的脖子,在你醒来之前,它几乎总是会勒住你的脖子。
At nights, something wrapped itself around your neck, something that very nearly always choked you before you woke up.
有些人以为你来自牙买加,因为他们认为每个有口音的黑人都是牙买加人。或者有些人猜你是非洲人,他们会问你是否认识来自肯尼亚的某某或来自津巴布韦的某某,因为他们认为非洲是一个人人都认识其他人的国家。
Some people thought you were from Jamaica because they thought that every black person with an accent was Jamaican. Or some who guessed that you were African asked if you knew so and so from Kenya or so and so from Zimbabwe because they thought Africa was a country where everyone knew everyone else.
因此,在昏暗的餐厅里,在你背诵完每日特色菜后,他问你来自哪个非洲国家,你说尼日利亚,并以为他会问你是否认识他在塞内加尔或博茨瓦纳结交的朋友。但他问你是约鲁巴人还是 lgbo,因为你没有富拉尼人的脸。你很惊讶——你认为他一定是人类学教授,有点年轻,但谁知道呢?伊博人,你说。他问你的名字,说阿昆纳很漂亮。幸运的是,他没有问这是什么意思,因为你厌倦了人们说“父亲的财富”?你的意思是,你的父亲真的会把你卖给丈夫?
So when he asked you, in the dimness of the restaurant after you recited the daily specials, what African country you were from, you said Nigeria and expected him to ask if you knew a friend he had made in Senegal or Botswana. But he asked if you were Yorubae or lgbo, because you didn’t have a Fulanif face. You were surprised — you thought he must be a professor of anthropology, a little young but who was to say? Igbo, you said. He asked your name and said Akunna was pretty. He did not ask what it meant, fortunately, because you were sick of how people said, Father’s Wealth? You mean, like, your father will actually sell you to a husband?
他去过加纳、肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚,他读过有关其他非洲国家、它们的历史和复杂性的书籍。你想感受到鄙视,在你给他送菜时表现出来,因为太喜欢非洲和太不喜欢非洲的白人都是一样的——傲慢自大。但他并没有表现得好像他知道的太多,没有像以前缅因社区大学的一位教授在谈到安哥拉时那样高高在上地摇头,没有表现出任何傲慢自大。第二天他来了,坐在同一张桌子旁,当你问鸡肉还好吗时,他问了你一些关于拉各斯的事情。第二天他来了,聊了很久——经常问你是否认为蒙博托和伊迪·阿明很相似——你不得不告诉他,这违反了餐厅的规定。当你放下咖啡时,他拂袖而去。第三天,你告诉胡安你不想再坐在那张桌子了。
He had been to Ghana and Kenya and Tanzania, he had read about all the other African countries, their histories, their complexities. You wanted to feel disdain, to show it as you brought his order, because white people who liked Africa too much and who liked Africa too little were the same — condescending. But he didn’t act like he knew too much, didn’t shake his head in the superior way a professor back at the Maine community college once did as he talked about Angola, didn’t show any condescension. He came in the next day and sat at the same table, and when you asked if the chicken was okay, he asked you something about Lagos. He came in the second day and talked for so long — asking you often if you didn’t think Mobutug and Idi Aminh were similar — you had to tell him, it was against restaurant policy. He brushed your hand when you placed the coffee down. The third day, you told Juan you didn’t want that table anymore.
那天你下班后,他正倚着一根柱子在外面等你,邀请你和他一起出去,因为你的名字和hakuna matata押韵,而《狮子王》是他唯一喜欢的伤感电影。你不知道《狮子王》是什么。你在明亮的灯光下看着他,发现他的眼睛是特级初榨橄榄油的颜色,一种绿金色。特级初榨橄榄油是你在美国唯一喜欢的东西,真正喜欢的东西。
After your shift that day, he was waiting outside, leaning on a pole, asking you to go out with him because your name rhymed with hakuna matata and The Lion King was the only maudlin movie he’d ever liked. You didn’t know what The Lion King was. You looked at him in the bright light and realized that his eyes were the color of extra-virgin olive oil, a greenish gold. Extra-virgin olive oil was the only thing you loved, truly loved, in America.
他是州立大学的一名大四学生。他告诉你他多大了,你问他为什么还没毕业。毕竟这里是美国,不像美国那样,大学经常关闭,人们不得不在正常的学习课程基础上多读三年,讲师们一次又一次地罢工,却仍然拿不到工资。他说,高中毕业后,他休了几年假,去探索自我,旅行,主要去非洲和亚洲。你问他最后去了哪里,他笑了。你没有笑。你不知道人们可以简单地选择不上学,人们可以决定生活。你习惯于接受生活给予的一切,写下生活所决定的一切。
He was a senior at the state university. He told you how old he was and you asked why he had not graduated yet. This was America, after all, it was not like back home where universities closed so often that people added three years to their normal course of study and lecturers went on strike after strike and were still not paid. He said he had taken time off, a couple of years after high school, to discover himself and travel, mostly to Africa and Asia. You asked him where he ended up finding himself and he laughed. You did not laugh. You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school, that people could dictate to life. You were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life dictated.
接下来的三天里,你拒绝和他出去,因为你觉得这样不对,因为他看你的眼神让你不舒服,你听他说完话就笑得前仰后合。然后第四天晚上,你下班后发现他没有站在门口,你惊慌失措。你很久以来第一次祈祷,当他走到你身后说“嗨”时,你甚至在他开口之前就答应和他出去。你害怕他不会再开口。
You said no the following three days, to going out with him, because you didn’t think it was right, because you were uncomfortable with the way he looked in your eyes, the way you laughed so easily at what he said. And then the fourth night, you panicked when he was not standing at the door, after your shift. You prayed for the first time in a long time, and when he came up behind you and said hey, you said yes you would go out with him even before he asked. You were scared he would not ask again.
第二天,他带你去了 Chang's,你的幸运饼干里有两条纸条。两条都是空白的。
The next day, he took you to Chang’s and your fortune cookie had two strips of paper. Both of them were blank.
当你告诉他你要求胡安换桌的真正原因时,你知道你已经适应了—— 《危险边缘!》。当你在餐厅电视上看《危险边缘!》时,你按以下顺序支持以下人——有色人种女性、黑人男性、白人女性,最后是白人男性,这意味着你从不支持白人男性。他笑着告诉你,他已经习惯了没有人支持他,他的母亲教女性研究。
You knew you had become comfortable when you told him the real reason you asked Juan for a different table — Jeopardy! When you watched Jeopardy! on the restaurant TV, you rooted for the following, in this order — women of color, black men, white women, before finally, white men, which meant you never rooted for white men. He laughed and told you he was used to not being rooted for, his mother taught women’s studies.
当你告诉他,你父亲其实不是拉各斯的一名教师,而是一名出租车司机时,你知道你们已经变得很亲近了。你告诉他,那天你坐在父亲的车里,在拉各斯的交通中,当时下着雨,你的座位因为车顶生锈而湿透了。交通很拥堵,拉各斯的交通总是很拥堵,下雨的时候更是一片混乱。道路排水很差,有些车会陷在泥泞的坑洼里,你的一些表亲会得到报酬,把车推出来。你认为,雨水和泥泞的道路让你父亲那天踩刹车太晚了。你听到了撞击声,然后才感觉到。你父亲撞上的那辆车很宽,很陌生,是深绿色的,车头灯是黄色的,就像猫眼一样。你父亲甚至还没下车,趴在路上,堵住了交通,就开始哭泣和乞求。 “对不起先生,对不起先生,如果你卖掉我和我的家人,你连你车上的一个轮胎都买不到,”他高声说道。“对不起先生。”
And you knew you had become close when you told him that your father was really not a schoolteacher in Lagos, that he was a taxi driver. And you told him about that day in Lagos traffic in your father’s car, it was raining and your seat was wet because of the rust-eaten hole in the roof. The traffic was heavy, the traffic was always heavy in Lagos, and when it rained it was chaos. The roads were so badly drained some cars would get stuck in muddy potholes and some of your cousins got paid to push the cars out. The rain and the swampy road — you thought — made your father step on the brakes too late that day. You heard the bump before you felt it. The car your father rammed into was wide, foreign, and dark green, with yellow headlights like the eyes of a cat. Your father started to cry and beg even before he got out of the car and laid himself flat on the road, stopping the traffic. Sorry sir, sorry sir, if you sell me and my family you cannot even buy one tire in your car, he chanted. Sorry sir.
坐在后面的大个子没有出来,他的司机出来了,检查损坏情况,从眼角余光看着你父亲四肢伸展的身躯,仿佛那恳求是一首他羞于承认自己喜欢的歌。最后,他放开了你父亲。挥手示意他离开。其他车辆鸣笛,司机咒骂。当你父亲回到车里时,你拒绝看他,因为他就像在市场周围沼泽地里蹒跚而行的猪一样。你父亲看起来像nsi。该死。
The Big Man seated at the back did not come out, his driver did, examining the damage, looking at your father’s sprawled form from the corner of his eye as though the pleading was a song he was ashamed to admit he liked. Finally, he let your father go. Waved him away. The other cars honked and drivers cursed. When your father came back into the car you refused to look at him because he was just like the pigs that waddled in the marshes around the market. Your father looked like nsi. Shit.
你告诉他这些后,他撅起嘴唇握住你的手说他明白。你恼怒地甩开你的手,因为他认为这个世界上,或者说应该充满像他这样的人。你告诉他没什么可理解的,事情就是这样。
After you told him this, he pursed his lips and held your hand and said he understood. You shook your hand free, annoyed, because he thought the world was, or ought to be, full of people like him. You told him there was nothing to understand, it was just the way it was.
他不吃肉,因为他认为杀戮动物的方式是错误的,他说这样做会释放恐惧毒素到动物体内,恐惧毒素会让人变得偏执。在家里,你吃的肉块(如果有肉的话)只有半根手指那么大。但你没有告诉他这些。你也没有告诉他,你妈妈做任何菜时都会放的达瓦达瓦i块,因为咖喱和百里香太贵了,里面有味精,就是味精。他说味精会致癌,这就是他喜欢 Chang's 的原因;Chang 不用味精做饭。
He didn’t eat meat, because he thought it was wrong the way they killed animals, he said they released fear toxins into the animals and the fear toxins made people paranoid. Back home, the meat pieces you ate, when there was meat, were the size of half your finger. But you did not tell him that. You did not tell him either that the dawadawai cubes your mother cooked everything with, because curry and thyme were too expensive, had MSG, was MSG. He said MSG caused cancer, it was the reason he liked Chang’s; Chang didn’t cook with MSG.
有一次在 Chang's 餐厅,他告诉服务员他在上海住了一年,会说一点普通话。服务员热情地告诉他什么汤最好喝,然后问他:“你在上海有女朋友吗?”他笑了笑,什么也没说。
Once, at Chang’s, he told the waiter he lived in Shanghai for a year, that he spoke some Mandarin. The waiter warmed up and told him what soup was best and then asked him, “You have girlfriend in Shanghai?” And he smiled and said nothing.
你失去了食欲,乳房下方感觉里面堵住了。那天晚上,他进入你体内时你没有呻吟,你咬着嘴唇假装没有高潮,因为你知道他会担心。最后你告诉他你为什么不高兴,那个中国男人认为你不可能是他的女朋友,他笑了笑什么也没说。在他道歉之前,他茫然地看着你,你知道他不明白。
You lost your appetite, the region beneath your breasts felt clogged, inside. That night, you didn’t moan when he was inside you, you bit your lips and pretended that you didn’t come because you knew he would worry. Finally you told him why you were upset, that the Chinese man assumed you could not possibly be his girl-friend, and that he smiled and said nothing. Before he apologized, he gazed at you blankly and you knew that he did not understand.
他给你买礼物,当你对价格提出异议时,他说他有信托基金,没关系。他的礼物让你感到困惑。一个拳头大小的球,你摇晃着它看雪花落在小房子上,或看粉红色塑料芭蕾舞女演员旋转。一块闪闪发光的石头。一条昂贵的墨西哥手绘围巾,因为颜色太重你永远都不能戴。最后你告诉他,声音里带着讽刺,第三世界国家的礼物总是有用的。比如说,这块石头,如果你能用它磨东西或者戴在身上,它就会有用。他大笑起来,但你没有笑。你意识到,在他的一生中,他可以买的礼物仅仅是礼物,没有别的,没有任何用处。当他开始给你买鞋子、衣服和书时,你要求他不要买,你根本不想要任何礼物。
He bought you presents and when you objected about the cost, he said he had a trust fund, it was okay. His presents mystified you. A fistsized ball that you shook to watch snow fall on a tiny house, or watch a plastic ballerina in pink spin around. A shiny rock. An expensive scarf hand-painted in Mexico that you could never wear because of the color. Finally you told him, your voice stretched in irony, that Third World presents were always useful. The rock, for instance, would work if you could grind things with it, or wear it. He laughed long and hard, but you did not laugh. You realized that in his life, he could buy presents that were just presents and nothing else, nothing useful. When he started to buy you shoes and clothes and books, you asked him not to, you didn’t want any presents at all.
但你们并没有吵架。真的没有。你们争吵过后,和好了,做爱了,你们的手抚摸着对方的头发,他的头发柔软而黄,像正在生长的玉米芯摆动的流苏,而你的头发乌黑而有弹性,像枕头的填充物。在他的怀抱里,你感到安全,就像你在家里,在锌制的棚户区房子里所感到的安全一样,就像当他晒得太久,皮肤变成熟西瓜的颜色,你亲吻他的后背,然后给他涂上乳液时,你也感到安全。他在哈特福德黄页上找到了那家非洲商店,然后开车送你去了。店主是加纳人,问他是不是非洲人,像白人肯尼亚人或南非人一样,他笑着说是的,但他在美国已经很久了,很怀念童年的食物。他没有告诉店主他只是在开玩笑。你为他做饭;他喜欢吃jollof rice,但吃了garri和onugbu j汤后,他吐到了你的水槽里。不过你并不介意,因为现在你可以用肉来煮onugbu汤了。
Still, you did not fight. Not really. You argued and then you made up and made love and ran your hands through each other’s hair, his soft and yellow like the swinging tassels of growing corncobs, yours dark and bouncy like the filling of a pillow. You felt safe in his arms, the same safeness you felt back home, in the shantytown house of zinc, the same safeness you felt when he got too much sun and his skin turned the color of a ripe watermelon and you kissed portions of his back before you rubbed lotion on it. He found the African store in the Hartford Yellow Pages and drove you there. The store owner, a Ghanaian, asked him if he was African, like the white Kenyans or South Africans, and he laughed and said yes, but he’d been in America for a long time, had missed the food of his childhood. He didn’t tell the store owner that he was just joking. You cooked for him; he liked jollof rice, but after he ate garri and onugbuj soup, he threw up in your sink. You didn’t mind, though, because now you could cook onugbu soup with meat.
那东西缠在你的脖子上,在你入睡前几乎总是让你窒息,现在开始松动、放手了。
The thing that wrapped itself around your neck, that nearly always choked you before you fell asleep, started to loosen, to let go.
从人们的反应中,你就知道你是不正常的——坏人太坏,好人太好。那些对他嘟囔、怒目而视的老白人妇女,那些对你摇头的黑人男子,那些用可怜的眼神哀叹你缺乏自尊、自我厌恶的黑人妇女。或者那些迅速露出秘密团结微笑的黑人妇女,那些竭力原谅你、向他打招呼的黑人男子,那些白人妇女说:“真是一对好看的情侣”,声音太明亮、太响亮,仿佛是为了向自己证明她们的宽容。
You knew by people’s reactions that you were abnormal — the way the nasty ones were too nasty and the nice ones too nice. The old white women who muttered and glared at him, the black men who shook their heads at you, the black women whose pitiful eyes bemoaned your lack of self-esteem, your self-loathing. Or the black women who smiled swift secret solidarity smiles, the black men who tried too hard to forgive you, saying a too-obvious hi to him, the white women who said, “What a good-looking pair,” too brightly, too loudly, as though to prove their own tolerance to themselves.
但他的父母却不同;他们几乎让你认为这一切都很正常。他的母亲告诉你,除了高中舞会的约会对象,他从来没有带女孩来见他们,他僵硬地笑着握住你的手。桌布遮住了你紧握的双手。他握紧你的手,你也握紧回握,想知道他为何如此僵硬,为什么他和父母说话时,他那双特级橄榄色的眼睛会变得阴暗。他的母亲问你辫子里挂着的那些是不是真的宝贝,还问你是否读过西蒙娜·德·波伏娃和纳瓦尔·埃尔·萨达维的书。他的父亲问印度菜和尼日利亚菜有多相似,并取笑你结账时要付钱。你看着他们,感激他们没有像审视一件异国情调的战利品或象牙一样审视你。
But his parents were different; they almost made you think it was all normal. His mother told you that he had never brought a girl to meet them, except for his high school prom date, and he smiled stiffly and held your hand. The tablecloth shielded your clasped hands. He squeezed your hand and you squeezed back and wondered why he was so stiff, why his extra-virgin olive-colored eyes darkened as he spoke to his parents. His mother asked if those were real cowries strung through your dreadlocks and if you’d read Simone de Beauvoirk and Nawal El Saadawi.l His father asked how similar Indian food was to Nigerian food and teased you about paying when the check came. You looked at them and felt grateful that they did not examine you like an exotic trophy, an ivory tusk.
他后来告诉你他和父母之间的矛盾,他们如何像生日蛋糕一样分配爱,如果他去读法学院,他们会给他更大的一块。你想同情他。但你却很生气。
He told you about his issues with his parents later, how they portioned out love like a birthday cake, how they would give him a bigger slice if only he’d go to law school. You wanted to sympathize. But instead you were angry.
当他告诉你他拒绝和他们一起去加拿大魁北克乡下的避暑别墅待上一两个星期时,你更生气了。他们甚至要求他带你一起去。他向你展示了别墅的照片,你想知道为什么它被称为别墅,因为你家乡附近那些这么大的建筑都是银行和教堂。你摔了一个玻璃杯,碎在他公寓的硬木地板上,他问你出了什么事,你什么也没说,尽管你认为很多事情都不对劲。你的世界错了。
You were angrier when he told you he had refused to go up to Canada with them for a week or two, to their summer cottage in the Quebec countryside. They had even asked him to bring you. He showed you pictures of the cottage, and you wondered why it was called a cottage because the buildings that big around your neighborhood back home were banks and churches. You dropped a glass and it shattered on the hardwood of his apartment floor and he asked what was wrong and you said nothing, although you thought a lot was wrong. Your worlds were wrong.
后来,在淋浴的时候,你开始哭泣,你看着水稀释你的眼泪,你不知道自己为什么哭。
Later, in the shower, you started to cry, you watched the water dilute your tears and you didn’t know why you were crying.
终于,你给家里写了封信,此时脖子上的那个东西几乎已经完全松开了。几乎。一封写给你父母和兄弟姐妹的短信夹在崭新的美元钞票中间,你附上了地址。几天后,你收到了回信,是快递员送来的。这封信是你母亲亲自写的——从那潦草的字迹和拼写错误的单词,你就知道是母亲写的。
You wrote home finally, when the thing around your neck had almost completely let go. Almost. A short letter to your parents and brothers and sisters, slipped in between the crisp dollar bills, and you included your address. You got a reply only days later, by courier. Your mother wrote the letter herself — you knew from the spidery penmanship, from the misspelled words.
你父亲死了,他瘫倒在出租车的方向盘上。五个月了,她写道。他们用你寄来的部分钱给他办了一场隆重的葬礼。他们为客人杀了一只山羊,把他埋在真正的棺材里,而不仅仅是木板。
Your father was dead; he had slumped over the steering wheel of his taxi. Five months now, she wrote. They had used some of the money you sent to give him a nice funeral. They killed a goat for the guests and buried him in a real coffin, not just planks of wood.
你蜷缩在床上,双膝紧贴胸口,哭了起来。你哭的时候他抱着你,抚平你的头发,提出要和你一起回尼日利亚老家。你说不,你得一个人去。他问你是否会回来,你提醒他你有绿卡,如果一年内不回来,你就会失去绿卡。他说你知道他的意思,你会回来吗,回来吗?
You curled up in bed, pressed your knees tight to your chest, and cried. He held you while you cried, smoothed your hair, and offered to go with you, back home to Nigeria. You said no, you needed to go alone. He asked if you would come back and you reminded him that you had a green card and you would lose it if you did not come back in one year. He said you knew what he meant, would you come back, come back?
你转身走开,什么也没说。当他开车送你去机场时,你紧紧地抱住他,紧紧抓住他后背的肌肉,直到肋骨疼痛。然后你说了谢谢。
You turned away and said nothing, and when he drove you to the airport, you hugged him tight, clutching at the muscles of his back, until your ribs hurt. And you said thank you.
[2009]
[2009]
a伊博语:尼日利亚东南部的一个民族伊博人所使用的一种语言。
aIgbo: A language spoken by the Igbo people, an ethnic group of southeast Nigeria.
b garri:一种常见的西非食物,由木薯植物的根制成。
bgarri: A common West African food made from the root of the cassava plant.
c拉各斯: 尼日利亚西南部的一个人口众多的大城市。
cLagos: A large and populous city in southwest Nigeria.
d akara:用黑眼豌豆制作的油炸圈饼;西非的常见菜肴。
dakara: Fritters made from black-eyed peas; a common dish in West Africa.
e约鲁巴人:西非的一个民族,特别是尼日利亚西南部和贝宁的一个民族。
eYoruba: An ethnic group of western Africa, especially southwest Nigeria and Benin.
f富拉尼人:西非最大的、分布最广的民族之一。
fFulani: One of the largest and most widely dispersed ethnic groups of West Africa.
g蒙博托:蒙博托·塞塞·塞科·库库·恩格本杜·瓦·扎·班加(1930-1997)刚果政治家和军官,1965 年至 1997 年任刚果民主共和国(前扎伊尔)总统。
gMobutu: Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (1930–1997) Congolese politician and military officer who was President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire) from 1965–1997.
h伊迪·阿明:伊迪·阿明·达达·奥米 (1923-2003) 乌干达军事官员和政治家,1971 年至 1979 年任乌干达总统。
hIdi Amin: Idi Amin Dada Oumee (1923–2003) Ugandan military office and politician who was President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979.
i dawadawa:经过发酵后用于调味食物的非洲槐豆。
idawadawa: African locust beans that are fermented and used to flavor food.
j onugbu:苦叶汤,尼日利亚美食中的传统菜肴。
jonugbu: Bitter leaf soup, a traditional dish in Nigerian cuisine.
k西蒙娜·德·波伏娃:(1908–1986)法国女权主义作家和社会理论家。
kSimone de Beauvoir: (1908–1986) French feminist writer and social theorist.
l纳瓦尔·埃尔·萨达维(Nawal El Saadawi):(生于1931年)埃及女权主义作家和精神病学家。
lNawal El Saadawi: (b. 1931) Egyptian feminist writer and psychiatrist.
[约10世纪]
[c. 10th Century]
我唱这首歌是关于我自己的,充满悲伤,
I sing this song about myself, full sad,
我自己的苦恼,告诉我我所经历的艰辛
My own distress, and tell what hardships I
我从小就受苦,
Have had to suffer since I first grew up,
现在和过去,但永远不会超过现在;
Present and past, but never more than now;
5我曾因被放逐而遭受悲痛。
5I ever suffered grief through banishment.
自从我主离开这人民以来,
For since my lord departed from this people
在海上,每个黎明我都担心
Over the sea, each dawn have I had care
想知道我的主人在陆地的哪个地方。
Wondering where my lord may be on land.
当我出发去侍奉我的主公时,
When I set off to join and serve my lord,
10在我悲惨的处境中,我是一个没有朋友的流亡者,
10A friendless exile in my sorry plight,
我丈夫的亲戚暗中密谋
My husband’s kinsmen plotted secretly
它们如何将我们彼此分开
How they might separate us from each other
我们可能会分开过着悲惨的生活
That we might live in wretchedness apart
世界上最广泛的:并且我的心渴望。
Most widely in the world: and my heart longed.
15首先,我的主人命令我
15In the first place my lord had ordered me
定居于此,尽管我
To take up my abode here, though I had
这些人中很少有忠诚的朋友;
Among these people few dear loyal friends;
因此我的心很悲伤。那时我发现
Therefore my heart is sad. Then had I found
一个合适的人,但却是一个不幸的人,一个苦恼的人,
A fitting man, but one ill-starred, distressed,
20他的内心深处正在策划犯罪,
20Whose hiding heart was contemplating crime,
虽然他的举止很开朗。我们发誓
Though cheerful his demeanour. We had vowed
很多时候,我们之间不应该有任何隔阂
Full many a time that nought should come between us
但只有死亡,没有其他。
But death alone, and nothing else at all.
一切都变了,现在好像
All that has changed, and it is now as though
二十五我们的婚姻和爱情从未如此,
25Our marriage and our love had never been,
我将永远受苦
And far or near forever I must suffer
我亲爱的丈夫的不和。
The feud of my beloved husband dear.
于是他们让我住在这片树林里,
So in this forest grove they made me dwell,
在橡树下,在这土丘之中。
Under the oak-tree, in this earthy barrow.
三十此土洞如此古老,我所能做的只是向往。
30Old is this earth-cave, all I do is yearn.
山谷阴暗,山丘高耸,
The dales are dark with high hills up above,
四周是尖尖的篱笆,长满了荆棘,
Sharp hedge surrounds it, overgrown with briars,
这里毫无欢乐。这里常常爆满
And joyless is the place. Full often here
主人的缺席令我感到十分难过。
The absence of my lord comes sharply to me.
三十五世上亲爱的情侣们躺在床上,
35Dear lovers in this world lie in their beds,
而我必须在黎明独自行走
While I alone at crack of dawn must walk
在土洞周围的橡树下,
Under the oak-tree round this earthy cave,
我必须在那里度过漫长的夏日,
Where I must stay the length of summer days,
我可以在那里哭泣我的流放和一切
Where I may weep my banishment and all
40我的许多艰辛,因为我永远不能
40My many hardships, for I never can
设法使我忧愁的心安息,
Contrive to set at rest my careworn heart,
也没有给我带来今生所有的渴望。
Nor all the longing that this life has brought me.
年轻人总要严肃,
A young man always must be serious,
并坚守他的性格;同样他也应该
And tough his character; likewise he should
四十五看上去很开心,尽管心里很悲伤
45Seem cheerful, even though his heart is sad
带着无数的忧虑。世间所有的欢乐
With multitude of cares. All earthly joy
必须来自他自己。因为我亲爱的主
Must come from his own self. Since my dear lord
被放逐到遥远的地方,
Is outcast, far off in a distant land,
被暴风雨冻在悬崖下
Frozen by storms beneath a stormy cliff
50住在荒凉的住所
50And dwelling in some desolate abode
在海边,我疲惫不堪的主
Beside the sea, my weary-hearted lord
必须忍受无情的焦虑。
Must suffer pitiless anxiety.
他常常会回忆起
And all too often he will call to mind
一个更幸福的住所。悲伤必须永远
A happier dwelling. Grief must always be
55献给渴望挚爱之人。
55For him who yearning longs for his beloved.
(1503–1542)
[1503–1542]
Whoso list[1] to hunt, I know where is an hind,[2]
但就我而言,唉,我可能不再能做到了。
But as for me, alas, I may no more.
徒劳的劳作使我疲惫不堪,
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
我是落在最后的人之一。
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
5然而我绝不会,我疲惫的心灵
5Yet may I, by no means, my wearied mind
拔出鹿,但当它先前逃走时,
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore,
我晕倒了。因此我停了下来,
Fainting I follow. I leave off, therefore,
因为我试图用网来捕捉风。
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
谁列出了她的狩猎清单,我让他不再怀疑,
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
10和我一样,他的时间可能都白白浪费了。
10As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
用钻石刻上简单的字母
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
上面写着,她美丽的脖子周围,
There is written, her fair neck round about,
“ Noli me tangere,因为我是凯撒的,
“Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,b
尽管我看似温顺,却很野蛮。”
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.”
[1557]
[1557]
谁要狩猎的名单:怀亚特的十四行诗是彼特拉克的《里玛 190》的松散翻译。
aWhoso list to hunt: Wyatt’s sonnet is a loose translation of Petrarch’s Rima 190.
b 13. Noli me tangere,因为我是凯撒的:不要碰我,因为我是凯撒的。这里的“凯撒”可能指的是英国国王亨利八世,他的妻子安妮·博林可能是怀亚特的欲望对象。
b13. Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am: Touch me not, for I belong to Caesar. “Caesar” in this case may have referred to Henry VIII, King of England, whose wife, Anne Boleyn, may have been Wyatt’s object of desire.
[1]关心
[1]cares
[2]母鹿
[2]female deer
(1533–1603)
[1533–1603]
我很伤心,不敢表露我的不满,
I grieve and dare not show my discontent,
我爱却又被迫表现出恨,
I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
我真心实意,但我不敢说我曾有意,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
我外表沉默,内心却在喋喋不休。[1]
I seem stark mute but inwardly do prate.[1]
5我存在又不存在,我冻结又灼伤,
5I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned,
因为我已从自己转变为另一个自己。
Since from myself another self I turned.
我的忧虑就像阳光下的影子,
My care is like my shadow in the sun,
跟着我飞,我追它它就飞,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
站在我身边,躺在我身边,做着我所做的事。
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
他过于亲切的关心确实令我后悔[2]。
His too familiar care doth make me rue[2] it.
10我没有办法把他从我心里赶走,
10No means I find to rid him from my breast,
直到事情结束它才被压制。
Till by the end of things it be suppressed.
一些更温和的激情涌入我的脑海,
Some gentler passion slide into my mind,
因为我是柔软的,由融化的雪做成;
For I am soft and made of melting snow;
15或者更残忍一点,爱,所以善良。
15Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind.
让我或[3]漂浮或下沉,高或低。
Let me or[3] float or sink, be high or low.
或者让我活得更甜蜜一些,
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
或者死去,然后忘记爱情的意义。
Or die and so forget what love ere meant.
[约 1582 年]
[c. 1582]
a关于“先生的离去”:标题中的“先生”可能指的是法国安茹公爵,他追求过伊丽莎白女王。经过几年的宫廷访问和亲密交流,伊丽莎白于 1581 年结束了这段关系。
aOn Monsieur’s Departure: The “monsieur” of the title might refer to French Duke of Anjou, who courted Queen Elizabeth. After several years of court visits and intimate communication, Elizabeth ended the relationship in 1581.
[1]闲聊
[1]chatter
[2]遗憾
[2]regret
[3]要么
[3]either
(1564–1593)
[1564–1593]
来和我一起生活,做我的爱人,
Come live with me and be my love,
我们将用一切快乐来证明
And we will all the pleasures prove
山谷、树林、山丘和田野,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
树林,或陡峭的山坡上的作物。
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
5我们将坐在岩石上,
5And we will sit upon the rocks,
看到牧羊人喂养羊群,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
沿着浅浅的河流,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
悦耳的鸟儿唱着牧歌。
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
我将为你铺满玫瑰花床
And I will make thee beds of roses
10还有一千朵芳香的花束,
10And a thousand fragrant posies,
一顶花帽和一件长袍[1]
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle[1]
全部都绣上了桃金娘的叶子。
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.
用最优质的羊毛制成的长袍
A gown made of the finest wool
我们从我们美丽的羔羊身上拉出
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
15寒冷天气穿的细软拖鞋,
15Fair lined slippers for the cold,
配有纯金制成的扣环。
With buckles of the purest gold.
一条用稻草和常春藤芽编织而成的腰带,
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
珊瑚扣和琥珀饰钉,
With coral clasps and amber studs,
如果这些快乐能打动你,
And if these pleasures may thee move,
20来和我一起生活,做我的爱人。
20Come live with me, and be my love.
牧羊人将载歌载舞
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
为你五月的每个早晨带来欢乐。
For thy delight each May morning.
如果这些快乐能让你心动,
If these delights thy mind may move,
那么就和我一起生活并成为我的爱人。
Then live with me and be my love.
[1599]
[1599]
[1]长袍
[1]a long gown
(1554–1618)
[1554–1618]
如果整个世界和爱情都年轻,
If all the world and love were young,
牧羊人的舌头上充满真理,
And truth in every shepherd’s tongue,
这些美好的乐趣可能会让我感动
These pretty pleasures might me move
与你一起生活并成为你的爱人。
To live with thee and be thy love.
5时间把羊群从田野赶进羊圈
5Time drives the flocks from field to fold
当河水汹涌,岩石变冷,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
菲洛梅勒[1]就哑口无言了。
And Philomel[1] becometh dumb;
其余的人则抱怨即将来临的忧虑。
The rest complains of cares to come.
花儿终将凋谢,田野也终将荒芜
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
10任性的冬天屈服了;
10To wayward winter reckoning yields;
甜言蜜语,胆怯的心,
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
是幻想的春天,却是悲伤的秋天。
Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.
你的长袍、你的鞋子、你的玫瑰花床,
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
你的帽子,你的裙子,[2]和你的花束
Thy cap, thy kirtle,[2] and thy posies
15很快就会破裂,很快就会枯萎,很快就会被遗忘——
15Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten —
愚昧已成熟,理智已腐烂。
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
你的腰带是用稻草和常春藤花蕾织成的,
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
你的珊瑚扣和琥珀饰钉,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
这一切在我心中根本无法动摇
All these in me no means can move
来到你身边并成为你的爱人。
To come to thee and be thy love.
20但青春能否永存,爱情能否继续滋生,
20But could youth last and love still breed,
欢乐不分日期[3],也不需要年龄,
Had joys no date[3] nor age no need,
然后我的心可能会被这些快乐所吸引
Then these delights my mind might move
与你一起生活并成为你的爱人。
To live with thee and be thy love.
[1600]
[1600]
[1]夜莺
[1]the nightingale
[2]裙子,外衬裙
[2]skirt, outer petticoat
[3]结局
[3]ending
(1564–1616)
[1564–1616]
我可否将你比作夏日?
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
你更加可爱,更加温和:
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
狂风吹落五月娇嫩的花蕾,
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease[1] hath all too short a date;[2]
5有时天堂之眼的光芒太过耀眼,
5Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
他的金色面色常常黯淡;
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair[3] from fair[4] sometimes declines,
偶然或自然变化的过程未经修整; [5]
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;[5]
但你的永恒夏天不会消逝,
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10也不会失去你所拥有的那份美丽;[6]
10Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;[6]
死亡也不会夸口说你在他的阴影下徘徊,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
当你在永恒的诗句中随着时间成长:°
When in eternal linesa to time thou grow’st:°
只要人类还能呼吸,只要眼睛还能看见,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
它长存不朽,[7]它赋予你生命。
So long lives this,[7] and this gives life to thee.
[1609]
[1609]
12.行:(诗歌); …成长:你被嫁接到时间上。
a12. lines: (Of poetry); to … grow’st: You are grafted to time.
[1]分配时间
[1]allotted time
[2]持续时间
[2]duration
[3]美丽的事物
[3]beautiful thing
[4]美丽
[4]beauty
[5]失去了美丽
[5]stripped of its beauty
[6]你拥有的美丽
[6]beauty you own
[7]这首十四行诗
[7]this sonnet
(1564–1616)
[1564–1616]
那时你也许会从我身上看到
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
当黄叶或无叶或少叶垂下时,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
在那些迎着严寒颤抖的树枝上,
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs,[1] where late[2] the sweet birds sang.
5在我身上你看到了这样一天的黄昏
5In me thou seest the twilight of such day
日落西山之后,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
渐渐地黑夜将把这一切带走,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
死亡的第二个自我,将一切都封存于安息之中。
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
在我身上你看到了这样一团火焰
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
10在他青春的灰烬上,
10That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
就像它必须死去的床,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
被它所滋养的东西所消耗。
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
你察觉到这一点,你的爱就更加强烈,
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
去爱那你不久后就要离开的地方。
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
[1609]
[1609]
[1]唱诗班席位
[1]choir stalls
[2]最近
[2]lately
(1564–1616)
[1564–1616]
让我不要对真心相爱的人结婚
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
承认障碍。爱不是爱
Admit impediments. Love is not love
当它发现改变时,它就会改变,
Which alters when it alteration finds,
或者用拆除器将弯头拆除:
Or bends with the remover to remove:
5哦,不!这是永远固定的标记,
5Oh, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
它面对风暴而永不动摇;
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
它是每艘流浪船的星星,[1]
It is the star to every wandering bark,[1]
虽然他的身高已被测量,但其价值尚不清楚。
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
爱情不是时间的傻瓜,尽管红润的嘴唇和脸颊
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
10在他弯曲的镰刀的范围内;
10Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
爱情不会因短暂的时光和星期而改变,
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
但即便到了毁灭的边缘,它仍然坚持下去。
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
如果这是错误的,并且证明是我错了,
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
我从不写过东西,也没人爱过。
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
[1609]
[1609]
[1]一艘小帆船
[1]a small sailing ship
(1569–1645)
[1569–1645]
Now Pontius Pilatea is to judge the cause[1]
在他面前站立着无瑕疵的耶稣,
Of faultless Jesus, who before him stands,
谁没有冒犯君王或法律,
Who neither hath offended prince, nor laws,
尽管他现在被带入了悲惨的境地。
Although he now be brought in woeful bands.
5尊贵的总督啊,请你稍等一下,
5O noble governor, make thou yet a pause,
不要让无辜者的血沾满你的手。
Do not in innocent blood inbrue[2] thy hands;
但听听你最可敬的妻子的话,
But hear the words of thy most worthy wife,
谁派人来向你请求她的救世主的生命b。
Who sends to thee, to beg her Savior’s lifeb.
让野蛮的残酷远离你,
Let barb’rous cruelty far depart from thee,
10用真正的正义去承担苦难;
10And in true justice take affliction’s part;
睁开你的眼睛,你就能看见真相。
Open thine eyes, that thou the truth may’st see.
不要做违背你心意的事,
Do not the thing that goes against thy heart,
不要谴责那位必定是你的救世主的人;
Condemn not him that must thy Savior be;
但看看他神圣的生活,他的善行。
But view his holy life, his good desert.
15我们女人不要因男人的堕落而自豪,
15Let not us women glory in men’s fall,
谁拥有统治我们所有人的权力。
Who had power given to overrule us all.
直到现在,你的轻率行为才让我们获得自由。
Till now your indiscretion sets us free.
使我们以前的过错显得不那么明显;
And makes our former fault much less appear;
我们的母亲夏娃尝了树上的果子,
Our mother Eve, who tasted of the tree,
20把她最珍爱的东西送给亚当,
20Giving to Adam what she held most dear,
只是很好,并没有能力看见;c
Was simply good, and had no power to see;c
后续危害并未出现:
The after-coming harm did not appear:
我们的性别背叛了狡猾的蛇
The subtle serpent that our sex betrayed
在我们垮台之前,肯定有一个阴谋已经设下。
Before our fall so sure a plot had laid.
二十五缺乏辨别力的无知
25That undiscerning ignorance perceived
他并没有打算使用任何诡计或诡计;
No guile or craft that was by him intended;
如果她知道我们失去了亲人,[3]
For had she known of what we were bereaved,[3]
对于他的请求,她并未屈尊。[4]
To his request she had not condescended.[4]
但她,可怜的人,却被狡猾的人欺骗了;
But she, poor soul, by cunning was deceived;
三十她那颗善良的心无意伤害她:
30No hurt therein her harmless heart intended:
For she alleged[5] God’s word, which he[6] denies,
他们应该死去,但也要像神一样有智慧。
That they should die, but even as gods be wise.
但亚当肯定是不能被原谅的;
But surely Adam cannot be excused;
虽然她的过错很大,但他才是罪魁祸首;
Her fault though great, yet he was most to blame;
三十五软弱的提议,强者可能会拒绝,
35What weakness offered, strength might have refused,
作为一切的主宰者,他的耻辱就更大了。
Being lord of all, the greater was his shame.
尽管蛇的诡计让她受尽折磨,
Although the serpent’s craft had her abused,
他的一切行动都应遵循上帝圣言,[7]
God’s holy word ought all his actions frame,[7]
因为他是全地的主宰和君王,
For he was lord and king of all the earth,
40在可怜的夏娃还没有生命或呼吸之前,
40Before poor Eve had either life or breath,
被上帝永恒之手所陷害[8]
Who being framed[8] by God’s eternal hand
地球上最完美的男人;
The perfectest man that ever breathed on earth;
从神口中领受了那明确的[9]命令,
And from God’s mouth received that strait[9] command,
他知道,违反这一规定就会面临死亡;
The breach whereof he knew was present death;
四十五是的,有能力统治海洋和陆地,
45Yea, having power to rule both sea and land,
然而,赢得一个苹果却失去了呼吸
Yet with one apple won to lose that breath
上帝在他英俊的脸上吹进了气息,
Which God had breathed in his beauteous face,
使我们大家陷入危险和耻辱。
Bringing us all in danger and disgrace.
然后把过错推到佩兴斯身上,
And then to lay the fault on Patience’ back,
50我们(可怜的妇女)必须忍受这一切。
50That we (poor women) must endure it all.
我们很清楚他缺乏判断力,
We know right well he did discretion lack,
根本没被说服。
Being not persuaded thereunto at all.
如果夏娃确实犯了错,那也是为了知识;
If Eve did err, it was for knowledge sake;
果实美丽,引诱他跌倒:
The fruit being fair persuaded him to fall:
55狡猾的蛇的谎言没有出卖他;
55No subtle serpent’s falsehood did betray him;
如果他要吃它,谁有能力阻止[10]他呢?
If he would eat it, who had power to stay[10] him?
不是夏娃,她的错只是爱得太深,
Not Eve, whose fault was only too much love,
这使得她送给亲爱的朋友这份礼物,
Which made her give this present to her dear,
他也想证明她尝到了什么,[11]
That what she tasted he likewise might prove,[11]
60这样他的知识就会变得更加清晰;
60Whereby his knowledge might become more clear;
他从不利用她的弱点来责备
He never sought her weakness to reprove
他听到了上帝发出的那些严厉的话语;
With those sharp words which he of God did hear;
然而人们会夸耀他所获得的知识,
Yet men will boast of knowledge, which he took
出自夏娃美丽的双手,如同出自一本博学的书。
From Eve’s fair hand, as from a learned book.
65如果她身上还残留着邪恶,
65If any evil did in her remain,
由于他是由一切构成的,因此他是一切的基础。
Being made of him,d he was the ground of all.
如果众多世界中的一个能留下污点
If one of many worlds could lay a stain
对我们的性别,工作如此之大,
Upon our sex, and work so great a fall
对可怜的人,撒旦狡猾的训练,
To wretched man by Satan’s subtle train,e
你们之间有什么如此恶劣的错误?
What will so foul a fault amongst you all?
她的软弱使蛇听从了她的命令,
Her weakness did the serpent’s words obey,
但你们却恶意出卖上帝的爱子,
But you in malice God’s dear Son betray,
如果你不公正地判处他死刑,
Whom, if unjustly you condemn to die,
她的罪孽与你所犯的罪孽相比微不足道;
Her sin was small to what you do commit;
75所有为了复仇而犯下的大罪都会哭泣
75All mortal sins that do for vengeance cry
无法与之相比。
Are not to be compared unto it.
如果许多世界一起尝试
If many worlds would altogether try
他们所有的罪孽都招致了上帝的愤怒,
By all their sins the wrath of God to get,
你的这个罪孽超越了所有罪孽
This sin of yours surmounts them all as far
80就像太阳是另一颗小星星一样。
80As doth the sun another little star.
那么让我们重获自由,
Then let us have our liberty again,
你们不要向自己挑战[12]任何主权。
And challenge[12] to yourselves no sovereignty.
你来到这个世界上,没有我们的痛苦,
You came not in the world without our pain,
以此作为你残忍行为的约束;
Make that a bar against your cruelty;
85你的过错更大,你为什么要鄙视
85Your fault being greater, why should you disdain
我们和你们平等,没有暴政?
Our being your equals, free from tyranny?
如果一个弱女子真的冒犯了
If one weak woman simply did offend,
你的罪孽无可宽恕,无可终止,
This sin of yours hath no excuse nor end,
可怜的人啊,我们从来没有同意过。
To which, poor souls, we never gave consent.
90彼拉多啊,你的妻子为大家作证,
90Witness, thy wife, O Pilate, speaks for all,
谁只是做了一个梦,却收到一个信息
Who did but dream, and yet a message sent
你什么也不用做
That thou shouldest have nothing to do at all
[13]你若心存怜悯,
With that just man[13] which, if thy heart relent,
Why wilt thou be a reprobate[14] with Saulf
95寻求那位如此善良的人的死亡,
95To seek the death of him that is so good,
为了你灵魂的健康而流出他最珍贵的血?
For thy soul’s health to shed his dearest blood?
[1611]
[1611]
a 1. 本丢·彼拉多:迫于民众压力,下令将耶稣钉死在十字架上的罗马总督。在兰耶尔的诗中,彼拉多和亚当代表全人类,而夏娃和彼拉多的妻子代表全女性。
a1. Pontius Pilate: The Roman prefect who, bowing to popular pressure, authorized the crucifixion of Jesus. In Lanyer’s poem, Pilate and Adam represent all of mankind, and Eve and Pilate’s wife represent all of womankind.
b 8. 她的救世主的生命:在马太福音 27.19 中,提到彼拉多的妻子给她的丈夫发了一条紧急信息,恳求他饶恕耶稣的生命。
b8. her Savior’s life: In Matthew 27.19, Pilate’s wife is mentioned as having sent her husband an urgent message pleading him to spare Jesus’ life.
c 21. 无力看见:在《创世纪》中,夏娃被蛇说服在亚当之前先吃禁果。
c21. had no power to see: In Genesis, Eve is persuaded by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit first before Adam.
d 66. 由他创造:在《创世纪》2.21-22 中,上帝用亚当的肋骨创造了夏娃。
d66. Being made of him: In Genesis 2.21–22, God creates Eve from Adam’s rib.
e 69. 撒旦的狡猾手段:《创世纪》的常见解释把蛇认定为撒旦。
e69. Satan’s subtle train: Common interpretation of Genesis identifies the serpent as Satan.
f 94. 扫罗:以色列之王(公元前 11 世纪),他企图置先知王大卫于死地。
f94. Saul: The King of Israel (11th century BCE) who sought the death of David, the prophet-king.
[1]案例
[1]case
[2]污点
[2]stain
[3]被剥夺
[3]deprived
[4]同意
[4]consented
[5]断言
[5]asserted
[6]蛇
[6]serpent
[7]确定
[7]determine
[8]时尚
[8]fashioned
[9]严格
[9]strict
[10]预防
[10]prevent
[11]经验
[11]experience
[12]索赔
[12]claim
[13]基督
[13]Christ
[14]该死的
[14]damned
(1572–1631)
[1572–1631]
有德之人安然逝去,
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
并低声对他们的灵魂说,
And whisper to their souls to go,
虽然他们的一些悲伤的朋友确实说
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
现在呼吸停止了,有人说,不;
The breath goes now, and some say, No;
5让我们融化,不要发出声音,
5So let us melt, and make no noise,
没有泪水的洪流,也没有叹息的风暴;
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
我们的欢乐被亵渎了
’Twere profanation of our joys
向俗人诉说我们的爱。
To tell the laity our love.
地球的移动带来伤害和恐惧,
Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears,
10人们估摸着它做了什么、意味着什么;
10Men reckon what it did and meant;
但天体的惊恐,
But trepidation of the spheres,
沉闷的尘世[1]恋人的爱情
Dull sublunary[1] lovers’ love
(灵魂是感觉)不能承认
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
15缺席,因为它会移除
15Absence, because it doth remove
但我们,因爱而变得如此纯洁
But we, by a love so much refined
我们自己不知道那是什么,
That our selves know not what it is,
彼此心灵相通,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
20稍不留神,就会错过眼睛、嘴唇和手。
20Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.
因此,我们两个灵魂合而为一,
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
虽然我必须离开,但还不能忍受
Though I must go, endure not yet
突破,但扩张,
A breach, but an expansion,
像黄金一样跳动至轻薄之极。
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
二十五如果他们是两个,那么他们就是两个
25If they be two, they are two so
你的灵魂,那固定的脚,不显露
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
移动,但如果对方移动,我们也会移动。
To move, but doth, if th’ other do.
尽管它位于中心,
And though it in the center sit,
三十但当另一半走得很远时,
30Yet when the other far doth roam,
它倾身倾听,
It leans and hearkens after it,
回到家后,它就直立起来。
And grows erect, as that comes home.
你对我而言也应该如此,
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
像另一只脚一样斜着跑;
Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;
三十五你的坚定使我的圆周正确,
35Thy firmness makes my circle just,
让我在开始的地方结束。
And makes me end where I begun.
[1633]
[1633]
a 9–12。移动……无害:地震会造成破坏,并被视为预示着进一步的变化或危险。震颤(托勒密宇宙体系中第八或第九球体的震荡运动)比地震更剧烈,但并不有害或不祥。
a9–12. Moving … innocent: Earthquakes cause damage and were taken as portending further changes or dangers. Trepidation (an oscillating motion of the eighth or ninth sphere, in the Ptolemaic cosmological system) is greater than an earthquake, but not harmful or ominous.
[1]在月下;因此,无常
[1]under the moon; hence, inconstant
[2]作曲
[2]composed
[3]画圆规
[3]drawing compasses
(1572–1631)
[1572–1631]
死亡,不要骄傲,尽管有人叫你
Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee
强大而可怕,因为你并非如此;
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
对于那些你认为你推翻的人
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
不要死,可怜的死神,你也无法杀死我。
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
从休息和睡眠中,它们不过是你的照片,
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
5非常快乐;那么你还会有更多快乐,
5Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
我们最好的士兵很快就和你一起出发,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
他们的尸骨安息了,灵魂也交付了。
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
你是命运、机遇、君王和绝望之人的奴隶,
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
毒药、战争、疾病都与它同在,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
10罂粟[1]或护身符也能让我们入睡
10And poppy[1] or charms can make us sleep as well
比你的打击更好;那么你为什么膨胀[2]呢?
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st[2] thou then?
短暂的睡眠过去后,我们永远醒来
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
不再有死亡;死亡,你将会死去。
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
[1633]
[1633]
[1]鸦片
[1]opium
[2] (自豪地)
[2](with pride)
(1572–1637)
[1572–1637]
再见,我右手边的孩子,和欢乐;
Farewell, thou child of my right hand,a and joy;
我的罪过就是对你抱有太大的希望,亲爱的孩子:
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy:
你借给我七年,我却还给你,
Seven years thou’wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
在正义的一天,你的命运要求你这么做。
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5哦,我现在可以失去所有的父亲!因为为什么
5O could I lose all father now! for why
人类会不会为自己所羡慕的状态而悲叹,
Will man lament the state he should envy,
这么快就摆脱了世界和肉体的愤怒,
To have so soon ’scaped world’s and flesh’s rage,
如果没有其他痛苦,那么还有年龄吗?
And, if no other misery, yet age?
安息吧,问:“这里躺着
Rest in soft peace, and asked, say, “Here doth lie
10本·琼森是他最好的诗歌。”
10Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.”
为了他的缘故,他所有的誓言都是如此
For whose sake henceforth all his[1] vows be such
因为他所爱的东西可能永远不会太喜欢。
As what he loves may never likeb too much.
[1616]
[1616]
1.孩子……手:希伯来语名字“本杰明”的直译。这个男孩以他父亲的名字命名,出生于 1596 年,死于 1603 年他的生日(“[确切] 日期”——贷款到期的那一天)。
a1. child … hand: A literal translation of the Hebrew name “Benjamin.” The boy, named for his father, was born in 1596 and died on his birthday (“the [exact] day” — that on which the loan came due) in 1603.
b 12. like:古语,意为“请”。
b12. like: Archaic meaning “please.”
[1] (父亲的)
[1](the father’s)
(1591–1674)
[1591–1674]
趁你们还可以的时候,采集玫瑰花蕾,
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
旧时光仍在飞逝;
Old time is still a-flying;
这朵今天微笑的花
And this same flower that smiles today
明天就会死去。
Tomorrow will be dying.
5天上的光辉之灯,太阳,
5The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
他越往上爬,
The higher he’s a-getting,
他的比赛越快结束,
The sooner will his race be run,
天色已近日落。
And nearer he’s to setting.
最好的年龄是第一个,
That age is best which is the first,
10当青春和热血愈加温暖;
10When youth and blood are warmer;
但花光了,更糟糕的是,
But being spent, the worse, and worst
时代仍然在前者之后。
Times still succeed the former.
那么不要害羞,利用你的时间,
Then be not coy, but use your time,
趁你还来得及,赶紧结婚吧;
And while ye may, go marry;
15因为你曾经失去过青春,
15For having lost but once your prime,
你可以永远逗留。
You may forever tarry.
[1648]
[1648]
(1593–1633)
[1593–1633]
我敲着木板喊道:“不行;
I struck the board and cried, “No more;
我要出国!
I will abroad!
什么?我是否永远都会叹息和忧愁?
What? Shall I ever sigh and pine?
我的路线和生活是自由的,像道路一样自由,
My lines and life are free, free as the road,
5像风一样飘逸,像商店一样庞大。
5Loose as the wind, as large as store.
我没有收获,只有一根刺
Have I no harvest but a thorn
让我血,而不是恢复
To let me blood, and not restore
我喝了浓缩B果后失去了什么?
What I have lost with cordialb fruit?
10 当然有酒
10 Sure there was wine
在我的叹息将它吹干之前,有玉米
Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn
在我的泪水淹没它之前。
Before my tears did drown it.
难道这一年只对我一个人失去了吗?
Is the year only lost to me?
15没有鲜花,没有花环?全都毁了?
15No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?
都浪费了?
All wasted?
我的心哪,并非如此;但有果实,
Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,
你也有手。
And thou hast hands.
恢复你所有叹息的年龄
Recover all thy sigh-blown age
20论双重快乐:别再冷漠地争论
20On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute
什么适合什么不适合。抛弃你的牢笼,
Of what is fit and not. Forsake thy cage,
你的沙绳,
Thy rope of sands,
这些琐碎的想法让你
Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee
良好的电缆,以加强和拉动,
Good cable, to enforce and draw,
二十五 愿你的律法成为
25 And be thy law,
你却眨眨眼,不愿看见。
While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
走开!小心;
Away! Take heed;
我会出国。
I will abroad.
把你的死神召唤到那里;束缚住你的恐惧。
Call in thy death’s-head there; tie up thy fears.
三十 他忍耐
30 He that forbears
为了满足他的需要,
To suit and serve his need,
他应得这份负担。”
Deserves his load.”
但当我变得狂野而疯狂时
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
每说一句话,
At every word,
三十五 我好像听到有人在叫我“孩子!”
35 Methoughts I heard one calling, Child!
我回答说:“我的主。”
And I replied, My Lord.
[1633]
[1633]
6.穿着西装:总是在等待恩惠。
a6. in suit: Always waiting in attendance for a favor.
b 9. 补药:强心药。
b9. cordial: Medicine that invigorates the heart.
c 14. 月桂:月桂叶或桂树叶,作为王冠佩戴,是诗歌才华的象征。
c14. bays: Bay leaves or laurel leaves, which, when worn as a crown, are a symbol of poetic virtuosity.
(1605–1678)
[1605–1678]
为什么那些皱眉的烟雾会介入
Why do those frowning vapors interpose
在明亮的扩展和我的眼睛之间,
Between the bright expansion and my eyes,
由于他的不友善,我一度失去了
By whose unkindness for a time I lose
蔚蓝天空的美丽景色?
The beauteous prospect of the azure skies?
5不要因此而拒绝让我的目光满足,
5Deny not thus my sight to satisfy,
恶意的云,在你面前稀薄化。
Malicious clouds, before you rarefy.a
因为你的情况是多变的
For you are of a variable condition
和我一样,不久就会消失;
As well as I, and shall ere long dissolve;
那么荣耀就不是插话了,b
Glory not then in interposition,b
10对于其他元素旋转
10For into other elements revolve
你必须,也许通过凝结; c
You must, perhaps by condensation;c
那么,不要妨碍如此贫乏的争论。d
Hinder not then so poor a contentation.d
而你,悲哀的、沉重的、被动的地球,
And thou, sad, pond’rous, passive, globe of earth,
虽然你无法因体重而攀上高处,
Though for thy weight thou canst not mount above,
15尽管我的卑劣部分是从你而生,
15And though from thee my baser parts took birth,
但你对我却恨多于爱,
Yet dost thou show to me more hate than love,
你的影子遮蔽了光明
For with thy shadow thou eclipsed the light
在我微弱的视线中看不到光辉的菲比。
Of splendent Phoebee from my feeble sight.
你当然知道你的命运,
Surely thy destiny is known to thee,
20持续不断的革命
20And the continual revolution
我们每时每刻都能看到各种元素,
Of elements as we do hourly see,
你的不可挽回的解体
And thy irrevocable dissolution
以及我的,或者更确切地说,大火;f
As well as mine, or rather, conflagration;f
那么,不要嫉妒(羞愧)我的满足。
Then envy not (for shame) my contentation.
二十五你,月亮的黑暗身躯
25And thou, dark body of the globious moon
遮住了光芒四射的迪莉娅的视线,
That dost obscure the radiant Delia’sg sight,
威胁要让我的太阳在中午落下,
Threat’ning to make my sun to set at noon,h
我因此失去了他的影响和光芒:
Whereby I lose his influence and light:
难道你不知道不可避免的命运吗?
Dost thou not know inevitable fate?
三十那么在连词中我不会表现出你的仇恨。
30Then in conjunctionsi do not shew thy hate.
对于公正的帕卡j现在已经旋转
For the impartial Parcaej now have spun
你的线(和我的线);然后他借给你光
Thy thread (and mine); then he that lends thee light
你的太阳将要衰弱,黑暗将要降临,
Shall wane himself, and dark shall be thy sun,
如同混乱之中,夜色渐浓;
As in the chaosk were the shades of night;
三十五然后你们闪亮的球体将因热情而融化,
35Then shall your shining spheres with fervor melt,
那你就照你所行的去行吧。
Then shall be done by thee as thou has dealt.
但啊,死亡,只有你
But O, Mortality, ’tis thou alone
那确实遮蔽了我灵魂的光明光辉。
That dost obscure bright glory from my soul.
是你用血肉和骨头束缚着我
’Tis thou that fett’rest me with flesh and bone
40让我在尘土和灰烬中翻滚,
40And mak’st me here in dust and ashes roll,
送给我短暂的玩具
Presenting to me transitory toys
并将天堂的欢乐从我的灵魂中隐藏起来。
And hidest from my soul celestial joys.
但死亡并不因我的消亡而得胜,
But Death, triumph not in my dissolution,
尽管你用你那该死的嘴巴,
For though thou holdest in thy curséd jaws,
四十五我通过革命来前进,
45And I my passage make through revolution,
谦卑地服从造物主的法律,
Humbly obedient to my maker’s laws,
然而,那位拥有无限力量的人却超越了
Yet he that doth in infinite power excel
因为爱我,我战胜了死亡和地狱。
In love to me hath conquered Death and Hell.
但是,我的罪孽啊,除了这些,
But O, my sins (my sins), and none but those,
50让我可怜的灵魂充满悲伤的烦恼,
50Make my poor soul o’er flow with sad annoy,
只有他们才能干预
’Tis they and none but they do interpose
在天堂与我之间,遮蔽了我的欢乐;
’Twixt heaven and me, and doth eclipse my joy;
它既不是云,也不是月亮,也不是大地的阴影
’Tis neither clouds, nor moon, nor shades of earth
可以让我灵魂远离她出生的地方。
Could keep my soul from whence she had her birth.
55如果我灵魂能脱离一切罪孽,
55For were my soul from all transgression free,
我将鄙视尘世间渐渐消逝的欢乐,
Earth’s fading pleasures I would then despise,
我将践踏腐败
Corruption I would trample over thee
我要用鹰一样的迅捷翅膀飞上蓝天,
And with swift eagle’s wings I’d mount the skies,
但是,我的罪孽啊,它们不会让我飞走,
But O, my sins, they will not let me fly,
60它们比死亡更束缚我。
60They fetter me more than mortality.
但我的救世主却用希望喂养我,
But yet my savior with hope me doth feed,
谁用爱夺走了我可诅咒的天性,
Who did in love my curséd nature take,
为了让我能活在死亡中,我流了血,
And that poor I might live in death did bleed,
他将带我进入永恒的荣耀;
He to eternal glory will me take;
65那么罪恶就不再战胜我,
65Then Sin, triumph no longer over me,
因为我,在基督里,已经战胜了死亡和你。
For I, in Christ, have conquered Death and thee.
[约 1640–1660 年]
[c. 1640–1660]
[1]此处出现的注释来自扩充版,由温迪·沃尔 (Wendy Wall) 编辑,并作为利亚·奈特 (Leah Knight) 和温迪·沃尔 (Wendy Wall) 编辑的《普尔特计划:诗人的诞生》(在线) 的一部分出版。
[1] Gloss notes that appear here are from the Amplified Edition, edited by Wendy Wall and published as part The Pulter Project: Poet in the Making (online), edited by Leah Knight and Wendy Wall.
一个6. 稀薄:消散,净化。
a6. rarefy: Dissipate, purify.
b9. 插手:干预。
b9. interposition: Intervention.
c11–d12. contentation: Satisfaction.
e 18.菲比:月亮。
e18. Phoebe: The moon.
f 23. 大火:熊熊燃烧的火焰。
f23. conflagration: Blazing fire.
g 26. 迪莉娅 (Delia's):指男性太阳神(来自提洛岛)“迪莉娅”,这个名字传统上用来指代女性月亮女神。
g26. Delia’s: Reference to the male sun God (from Delos) as “Delia,” a name that conventionally identifies the female moon goddess.
h 27. 我的太阳在中午落下:普尔特可能暗指基督被钉十字架时天空漆黑,有些人将其解释为日食:“约在正午的时候,遍地都黑暗了,直到申初。日头也变为黑暗了。”(路加福音 23:44-45)
h27. my sun to set at noon: Pulter may be alluding to the darkened sky at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, which some interpreted as an eclipse: “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened” (Luke 23:44–45).
i 30. 合相:天体的连线。
i30. conjunctions: Alignment of celestial bodies.
j 31. Parcae:希腊神话中的命运。
j31. Parcae: The fates of Greek myth.
钾34. 混沌:宇宙诞生之前的无形虚空。
k34. chaos: The formless void before the creation of the universe.
(1608–1674)
[1608–1674]
当我考虑到我的光是如何被消耗的时候
When I consider how my light is spenta
在我生命的一半之前,在这黑暗而广阔的世界里,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
而这种才能却是难以隐藏的
And that one talent which is death to hide
毫无用处地寄宿在我身边,尽管我的灵魂更加
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
以此侍奉我的造物主,并献上
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
5我如实汇报,免得他回来责备。
5My true account, lest he returning chide.
“上帝是否要求日工,却拒绝光明?”
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
我满怀深情地问;但耐心阻止
I fondly ask; but patience to prevent
那低语很快回答道:“上帝不需要
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
无论是人类的工作还是他自己的天赋;谁最好
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
10承受他温和的轭,他们为他服务最好。他的状态
10Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
是王者。成千上万的人听从他的命令
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
不停地在陆地和海洋上空巡逻:
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
那些只站着等待的人也能提供服务。”
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
[约 1652 年; 1673年]
[c. 1652; 1673]b
a 1. 当……耗尽时:弥尔顿于 1652 年失明。第 1-2 行引用了《马太福音》25:1-13;第 3 行引用了《马太福音》25:14-30;第 11 行引用了《马太福音》11:30。
a1. When … spent: Milton went blind in 1652. Lines 1–2 allude to Matthew 25:1–13; line 3, to Matthew 25:14–30; and line 11, to Matthew 11:30.
b [约 1652 年; 1673 年]:当出现两个日期时,第一个日期(斜体)是创作的大致时间,第二个日期是最早出版的年份。当两个日期相隔太远以至于出版日期不能反映诗歌的创作时间时,会同时包含这两个日期。
b[c. 1652; 1673]: When two dates appear, the first date (in italics) is an approximate time of composition and the second date is the year of earliest publication. Both dates are included when the two dates are so far apart that publication doesn’t reflect the time the poem was written.
(约 1612–1672)
[c. 1612–1672]
从一张松散的纸上抄下来
Copied Out of a Loose Paper
在寂静的夜晚,当我休息的时候
In silent night when rest I took
我没有因悲伤而靠近
For sorrow near I did not look
我被雷鸣声惊醒
I wakened was with thund’ring noise
还有可怕的尖叫声。
And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.
5“着火了!”“着火了!”那令人恐惧的声音。
5That fearful sound of “Fire!” and “Fire!”
我的愿望是不要让任何人知道。
Let no man know is my desire.
我惊醒过来,看见了光,
I, starting up, the light did spy,
我的心向上帝呼喊
And to my God my heart did cry
在我患难中坚固我
To strengthen me in my distress
10并且不要让我孤立无援。
10And not to leave me succorless.
然后,出来,看到一片空间
Then, coming out, beheld a space
火焰吞噬了我的住所。
The flame consume my dwelling place.
当我再也无法观看的时候,
And when I could no longer look,
我赞美他的名字,他给予并索取,
I blest His name that gave and took,
15这就使我的货物变得一文不值。
15That laid my goods now in the dust.
是的,事实确实如此,而且非常公正。
Yea, so it was, and so ’twas just.
这是他的,不是我的,
It was His own, it was not mine,
我绝不会抱怨;
Far be it that I should repine;
他或许理应被剥夺一切
He might of all justly bereft
20但对我们来说剩下的已经足够了。
20But yet sufficient for us left.
当我常常经过废墟时
When by the ruins oft I past
我悲伤的目光转向一边,
My sorrowing eyes aside did cast,
到处都有间谍
And here and there the places spy
我常常在那里坐着,躺着;
Where oft I sat and long did lie:
二十五那儿有一只箱子,那儿有一只箱子,
25Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,
那里有我认为最好的商店。
There lay that store I counted best.
我的美好事物化为灰烬,
My pleasant things in ashes lie,
我不再看见他们了。
And them behold no more shall I.
你的屋檐下不会有客人坐下,
Under thy roof no guest shall sit,
三十也不要在你的餐桌上吃一点东西。
30Nor at thy table eat a bit.
永远不会有愉快的故事被讲述,
No pleasant tale shall e’er be told,
也没有叙述过去做过的事。
Nor things recounted done of old.
蜡烛永远不会照亮你,
No candle e’er shall shine in thee,
再也听不到新郎的声音。
Nor bridegroom’s voice e’er heard shall be.
三十五你将永远沉默,
35In silence ever shall thou lie,
再见,再见,一切都是虚空。
Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.
我立刻开始责备,
Then straight I ’gin my heart to chide,
你的财富还在地上吗?
And did thy wealth on earth abide?a
你是否将希望寄托在尘土铸成的模具上?
Didst fix thy hope on mold’ringb dust?
40血肉之躯让你如此信任?
40The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?
让你的思想飞向天空
Raise up thy thoughts above the sky
那粪堆雾气可能会飞走。
That dunghill mists away may fly.
你有一座高耸的房子,
Thou hast an house on high erect,
由那位伟大的建筑师设计,
Framed by that mighty Architect,
四十五带着丰盛的荣耀,
45With glory richly furnished,
尽管这已被逃离,但它依然永恒屹立。
Stands permanent though this be fled.
它也需要购买和支付
It’s purchased and paid for too
由那位有足够事情要做的人去做。
By Him who hath enough to do.
价格高得难以想象
A price so vast as is unknown
50然而他的礼物却使你成为自己的;
50Yet by His gift is made thine own;
财富已经够多了,我不需要更多,
There’s wealth enough, I need no more,
再见,我的皮囊,再见,我的商店。
Farewell, my pelf,c farewell my store.
世界不再让我爱,
The world no longer let me love,
我的希望和财富就在上面。
My hope and treasure lies above.
[1666]
[1666]
38.遵守:等待,期待。
a38. abide: Wait for, expect.
b 39. mould'ring:摇摇欲坠,腐烂。
b39. mold’ring: Crumbling, decaying.
c 52.pelf:物质财产。
c52. pelf: Material possessions.
(1621–1678)
[1621–1678]
如果我们有足够的世界和时间,
Had we but world enough, and time,
女士,这种羞怯并不算什么罪过。
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
我们会坐下来思考
We would sit down, and think which way
一起走,度过我们漫长的爱情时光。
To walk, and pass our long love’s day.
5你在印度恒河边
5Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
应该找到红宝石;我通过潮汐
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
亨伯b会抱怨。我会
Of Humberb would complain. I would
洪水来临前十年我就爱你,
Love you ten years before the Flood,
如果你愿意的话,你应该拒绝
And you should, if you please, refuse
10直到犹太人皈依。c
10Till the conversion of the Jews.c
我的蔬菜[1]爱应该成长
My vegetable[1] love should grow
比帝国更广阔,也更缓慢;
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
值得用一百年去赞美
An hundred years should go to praise
你的眼睛,凝视你的额头;
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
15每只乳房都有两百个爱慕者,
15Two hundred to adore each breast,
其余的有三万人;
But thirty thousand to the rest;
至少每一部分都有年龄,
An age at least to every part,
而最后的岁月应该展现你的心。
And the last age should show your heart.
女士,你值得拥有这样的地位,[2]
For, lady, you deserve this state,[2]
20我也不会以更低的价格去爱。
20Nor would I love at lower rate.
但在我的背后我总是听到
But at my back I always hear
时间的飞车匆匆驶来;
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
而我们面前的一切
And yonder all before us lie
浩瀚永恒的沙漠。
Deserts of vast eternity.
二十五你的美丽将不复存在,
25Thy beauty shall no more be found,
在你的大理石墓室里,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
我的歌声回荡;然后蠕虫将尝试
My echoing song; then worms shall try
长久保持的贞操,
That long-preserved virginity,
你的荣誉将化为尘土,
And your quaint honor turn to dust,
三十把我的欲望全部化为灰烬:
30And into ashes all my lust:
坟墓是个很好的、私密的地方,
The grave’s a fine and private place,
但我认为,没有人会拥抱。
But none, I think, do there embrace.
因此,现在,青春的色彩
Now therefore, while the youthful hue
像晨露一样停留在你的皮肤上,
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
三十五当你心甘情愿的灵魂蒸发时[3]
35And while thy willing soul transpires[3]
每一个毛孔都瞬间燃起火焰,[4]
At every pore with instant fires,[4]
现在让我们尽情玩乐吧,
Now let us sport us while we may,
现在,就像多情的猛禽一样,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
相反,我们的时间一下子吞噬了
Rather at once our time devour
40比在他缓慢破裂的力量中萎靡不振。
40Than languish in his slow-chappedd power.
让我们尽我们所能
Let us roll all our strength and all
我们的甜蜜聚成一个球,
Our sweetness up into one ball,
用粗暴的争斗来破坏我们的欢乐
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
闯过[5]生命的铁门,
Thorough[5] the iron gates of life;
因此,虽然我们不能制造太阳,
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
四十五站着别动,否则我们会让他跑。
45Stand still,e yet we will make him run.
[约 1650 年;1681 年]
[c. 1650; 1681]
腼腆的情妇:在十七世纪,“coy” 可以有其旧义“害羞”,或现代意义“风骚”。“情妇” 当时可以指“被男人爱慕和追求的女人;女性情人”。
aCoy Mistress: In the seventeenth century, “coy” could carry its older meaning, “shy,” or the modern sense of “coquettish.” “Mistress” then could mean “a woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart.”
b 5–7. 印度恒河、亨伯河:印度的恒河给人以遥远而浪漫的联想,与流经马维尔家乡英格兰东北部赫尔的亨伯河形成了鲜明对比。
b5–7. Indian Ganges’, Humber: The Ganges River in India, with its distant, romantic associations, contrasts with the Humber River, running through Hull in northeast England, Marvell’s hometown.
c 10. 皈依......犹太人:在某些传统中,这一事件被预言为人类历史的终结事件之一。
c10. conversion … Jews: An occurrence foretold, in some traditions, as one of the concluding events of human history.
d 40. slow-chapped:慢慢地咬牙切齿,慢慢地吞咽。
d40. slow-chapped: Slow-jawed, devouring slowly.
e 45–46. 让太阳静止:暗示约书亚记 10:12。为了回应约书亚的祷告,上帝让太阳静止,延长白天,让以色列人有更多时间击败亚摩利人。
e45–46. make our sun stand still: An allusion to Joshua 10:12. In answer to Joshua’s prayer, God made the sun stand still, to prolong the day and give the Israelites more time to defeat the Amorites.
[1]生存与成长
[1]living and growing
[2]尊严
[2]dignity
[3]呼吸
[3]breathes forth
[4]迫切的热情
[4]urgent passion
[5]通过
[5]through
(1716-1771)
[1716–1771]
宵禁[1]敲响了一天的丧钟,
The curfew[1] tolls the knell of parting day,
牛群在草地上慢慢地鸣叫,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
农夫拖着疲惫的步伐回家,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
把世界留给黑暗和我。
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
5如今,眼前闪闪发光的风景渐渐褪色,
5Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
空气中弥漫着庄严的寂静,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
除了甲虫嗡嗡地飞翔,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
昏昏欲睡的铃声使远处的羊圈平静下来;
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;
除此以外,从那边爬满常春藤的塔上
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
10忧郁的猫头鹰向月亮抱怨
10The moping owl does to the moon complain
那些徘徊在她秘密凉亭附近的人,
Of such, as wandering near her secret bower,
骚扰她古老孤独的统治。
Molest her ancient solitary reign.
在那些粗犷的榆树下,在那紫杉树的树荫下,
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree’s shade,
那里有许多腐烂的草皮堆积起来,
Where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap,
15每个人都永远躺在自己狭小的牢房里,
15Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
清晨芬芳的微风呼唤,
The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,
燕子在草棚里叽叽喳喳地叫着,
The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
公鸡的尖鸣,或号角的回响,[3]
The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,[3]
20再也没有人能将他们从卑微的床上唤醒。
20No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.
他们不再有熊熊的炉火,
For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
或者忙碌的家庭主妇忙于晚间护理;
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;
没有孩子跑去呼喊父亲的归来,
No children run to lisp their sire’s return,
或者爬上他的膝盖去分享令人羡慕的吻。
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
二十五他们的镰刀常常能使收成达到最高产量,
25Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
他们多么欢快地将他们的队伍赶往战场!
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
树林在他们强劲的打击下弯曲到了何种程度!
How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
不要让野心嘲笑他们的辛劳,
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
三十他们朴实的欢乐和晦暗的命运;
30Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
也不会听到庄严的轻蔑微笑
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
穷人的简短而简单的年鉴。
The short and simple annals of the poor.
纹章的夸耀,权力的浮华,
The boast of heraldry,[5] the pomp of power,
有了这些美丽和财富,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
三十五等待着不可避免的时刻。
35Awaits alike the inevitable hour.
荣耀之路最终只会通向坟墓。
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
你们这些骄傲的人,不要把过错归咎于他们,
Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
穿过长长的过道和雕饰有回纹的拱顶
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted[7] vault
40响亮的圣歌唱响了赞美的音调。
40The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
Can storied[8] urn or animated[9] bust
回其府邸呼唤那转瞬即逝的气息?
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
荣誉的声音能否激起[10]沉寂的尘埃,
Can Honor’s voice provoke[10] the silent dust,
或者奉承能抚慰死亡沉闷冰冷的耳朵?
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
四十五也许在这个被忽视的地方埋藏着
45Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
有人的心曾孕育着天火;
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
帝国的权杖可能挥动着双手,
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,
或被活生生的七弦琴唤醒而欣喜若狂。
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.
但知识在他们眼中是她那丰富的页面
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
50时间的流逝,留下了丰富的战利品;
50Rich with the spoils of time did ne’er unroll;
寒冷的贫困压抑了他们高贵的愤怒,
Chill Penury repressed their noble rage,
并冻结了灵魂的热情流。
And froze the genial current of the soul.
充满许多最纯净宁静的宝石,
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
黑暗深不可测的海洋洞穴蕴藏着:
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
55许多花儿生来羞涩,
55Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
并将其甜蜜浪费在沙漠空气中。
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
汉普顿村,一个勇敢的村庄,
Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast
他田地里的小暴君经受住了考验;
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
某个沉默寡言、名声不佳的弥尔顿也许会在这里安息,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
听着参议院的掌声,
The applause of listening senates to command,
蔑视痛苦和毁灭的威胁,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
把丰饶散布到微笑的大地上,
To scatter plenty o’er a smiling land,
用一个民族的眼光来阅读他们的历史,
And read their history in a nation’s eyes,
65他们的命运不允许:[11]也不单独限制
65Their lot forbade: nor[11] circumscribed alone
他们的美德不断增长,但他们的罪行却受到限制;
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
禁止通过屠杀登上王位,
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
并关闭了人类仁慈之门,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,
隐藏意识真相的痛苦挣扎,
The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
70为了抚平天真的羞愧之情,
70To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
或者堆砌奢华和骄傲的神殿
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
缪斯之火燃起芳香。
With incense kindled at the Muse’s flame.
远离喧嚣尘上的纷争,
Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
他们清醒的愿望从未迷失;
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
75沿着凉爽僻静的生命之谷
75Along the cool sequestered vale of life
他们一路保持着安静的步调。
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
然而,即使这些骨头免受侮辱,
Yet even these bones from insult to protect
用粗俗的韵律和不成形的雕塑装饰,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
80恳求路过的人们以一声叹息表达敬意。
80Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
他们的名字,他们的年龄,由无知的缪斯拼写,
Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered Muse,
名声和挽歌供给的地方:
The place of fame and elegy supply:
她把许多圣书散布在周围,
And many a holy text around she strews,
教导乡村道德家去死。
That teach the rustic moralist to die.
85对于那些愚蠢的健忘者来说,
85For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
这令人愉悦的焦虑总是顺从的,
This pleasing anxious being e’er resigned,
离开了欢快日子的温暖区域,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
也不曾向后投去一丝渴望的目光?
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind?
离别的灵魂依靠着某个深爱的胸怀,
On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
甚至从坟墓中,大自然的声音也在呼喊,
Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
即使在我们的灰烬中,仍旧燃起他们惯常的火焰。
Even in our ashes live their wonted fires.
14你啊,你记念那些不光彩的死者
For thee,[14] who mindful of the unhonored dead
在这些诗句中,你讲述了他们朴实的故事;
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
95如果偶然,通过孤独的沉思引导,
95If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
某个志趣相投的人会询问你的命运,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,
Haply[15] some hoary-headed swain[16] may say,
匆匆地踏去露水,
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
100在高地草坪上迎接太阳。
100To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.
“在那边摇曳的山毛榉树脚下
“There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
它盘绕着古老而奇异的根系,
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
他会懒洋洋地在正午伸懒腰,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
凝视着潺潺的小溪。
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.
“105树林那边,他微笑着,仿佛在嘲笑,
“105Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
他一边嘟囔着自己的幻想,一边四处游荡,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove,
时而垂头丧气,面色苍白,像一个被遗弃的人,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
或者因忧虑而疯狂,或者因无望的爱情而受挫。
Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.
“一天早上,我在惯常的山坡上错过了他,
“One morn I missed him on the customed hill,
110沿着荒野,在他最喜欢的树附近;
110Along the heath and near his favorite tree;
Another[18] came; nor yet beside the rill,[19]
他既不在草坪上,也不在树林里;
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;
“下一首是悲伤的挽歌
“The next with dirges due in sad array
我们看见他慢慢地走过教堂小路。
Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne.
115走近并阅读(因为你可以阅读)这首诗,
115Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
刻在那根古老荆棘下的石头上。”
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.”
他的头枕在大地的怀抱里
Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
一个没有前途和名声的年轻人。
A youth to fortune and to Fame unknown.
公平科学[20]并不鄙视他卑微的出身,
Fair Science[20] frowned not on his humble birth,
120忧郁症把他视为自己的忧郁症。
120And Melancholy marked him for her own.
他的慷慨和真诚,
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
上天也赐予了丰厚的回报:
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
他把他所有的一切都给了苦难,一滴眼泪,
He gave to Misery all he had, a tear,
他从上天获得了一位朋友(这是他唯一的愿望)。
He gained from Heaven (’twas all he wished) a friend.
125不再寻求他的功绩来揭露,
125No farther seek his merits to disclose,
或者把他的弱点从可怕的住所中抽出来
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode
(他们在那里怀着颤抖的希望安息),
(There they alike in trembling hope repose),
他父亲和上帝的怀抱。
The bosom of his Father and his God.
[1751]
[1751]
a 57—60。汉普登,克伦威尔:约翰·汉普登(1594-1643)拒绝缴纳 1636 年征收的特别税,并在议会领导人民权利的辩护。奥利弗·克伦威尔(1599-1658)是英国内战中的叛军领袖。
a57—60. Hampden, Cromwell: John Hampden (1594–1643) refused to pay a special tax imposed in 1636 and led a defense of the people’s rights in Parliament. Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) was a rebel leader in the English Civil War.
[1]晚钟
[1]evening bell
[2]卑微的祖先
[2]humble ancestors
[3] (猎人)
[3](of a hunter)
[4]土壤
[4]soil
[5]贵族血统
[5]noble ancestry
[6]纪念碑
[6]memorials
[7]装饰
[7]ornamented
[8]装饰
[8]decorated
[9]栩栩如生
[9]lifelike
[10]呼唤
[10]call forth
[11]不是
[11]not
[12] (简易墓碑)
[12](simple tombstone)
[13]眼泪
[13]tears
[14] (诗人本人)
[14](the poet himself)
[15]也许
[15]perhaps
[16]老牧羊人
[16]elderly shepherd
[17]诗人
[17]the poet
[18] (另一天)
[18](another day)
[19]小溪
[19]small brook
[20]学习
[20]learning
(1753–1784)
[1753–1784]
是慈悲把我带出了异教的土地,
’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
教导我愚昧的灵魂去理解
Taught my benighted soul to understand
有一位上帝,也有一位救世主:
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:
我曾经不寻求救赎,也不知道救赎。
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
5有些人用轻蔑的眼光看待我们黑貂种族,
5Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“它们的颜色就像恶魔的骰子。”
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
记住,基督徒,黑人,黑得像该隐,
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,a
可能会被精炼,并加入天使的队伍。
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.
[1773]
[1773]
a 7. 皮肤像该隐一样黑:根据《创世纪》(4:15),该隐是亚当和夏娃的长子。他谋杀了他的弟弟亚伯,因此受到上帝的诅咒,上帝在他身上做了一个标记——这个标记通常被《圣经》的读者与黑人联系在一起。
a7. black as Cain: According to Genesis (4:15), Cain was the eldest son of Adam and Eve. He murdered his brother Abel and was consequently cursed by God, who put a mark on him — a mark that was commonly associated with blackness by readers of the Bible.
(1757–1827)
[1757–1827]
小羊羔,谁创造了你?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
你知道是谁创造了你吗?
Dost thou know who made thee?
给你生命,给你食物,
Gave thee life & bid thee feed,
在溪边和草地上;
By the stream & o’er the mead;
5给你快乐的衣服,
5Gave thee clothing of delight,
最柔软的衣服,毛茸茸的,明亮的;
Softest clothing wooly bright;
给了你如此温柔的声音,
Gave thee such a tender voice,
让所有山谷欢欣鼓舞!
Making all the vales rejoice!
小羊羔,谁创造了你?
Little Lamb who made thee?
10你知道是谁创造了你吗?
10Dost thou know who made thee?
小羊羔,我告诉你,
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
小羊羔我来告诉你!
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!
他以你的名字命名,
He is callèd by thy name,
因为他称自己为羔羊:
For he calls himself a Lamb:
15他温柔又温和,
15He is meek & he is mild,
他变成了一个小孩子:
He became a little child:
我是孩子,你是羔羊,
I a child & thou a lamb,
我们以他的名字命名。
We are callèd by his name.
小羊羔上帝保佑你。
Little Lamb God bless thee.
20小羊羔上帝保佑你。
20Little Lamb God bless thee.
[1789]
[1789]
(1757–1827)
[1757–1827]
老虎,老虎,光芒四射
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
在夜晚的森林里,
In the forests of the night,
什么不朽的手或眼睛
What immortal hand or eye
能构成你那可怕的对称吗?
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
5在遥远的深渊或天空
5In what distant deeps or skies
你眼中的火焰燃烧了吗?
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
他敢以什么样的翅膀飞翔?
On what wings dare he aspire?
这只手,敢夺火吗?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
什么样的肩膀,什么样的艺术,
And what shoulder, & what art,
10能扭曲你的心筋吗?
10Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
当你的心脏开始跳动,
And when thy heart began to beat,
什么可怕的手?什么可怕的脚?
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
什么是锤子?什么是链条?
What the hammer? what the chain?
你的大脑在什么样的熔炉里?
In what furnace was thy brain?
15铁砧是什么?什么可怕的把握
15What the anvil? what dread grasp
敢于承受其致命的恐怖吗?
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
当星星投下它们的长矛
When the stars threw down their spears
他们的泪水浇灌了天堂,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
他有没有对他的作品露出笑容?
Did he smile his work to see?
20创造羔羊的人也创造了你吗?
20Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
老虎,老虎,光芒四射
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
在夜晚的森林里,
In the forests of the night,
什么不朽的手或眼睛
What immortal hand or eye
敢构成你那可怕的对称吗?
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
[1794]
[1794]
[1763–1828]
[1763–1828]
译者:罗伯特·哈斯
TRANSLATED BY ROBERT HASS
我一直向佛祖祈祷
All the time I pray to Buddha
我继续
I keep on
杀死蚊子。
killing mosquitoes.
[约 19 世纪初]
[c. early 1800s]
[1763–1828]
[1763–1828]
译者:罗伯特·哈斯
TRANSLATED BY ROBERT HASS
别担心,蜘蛛,
Don’t worry, spiders,
我做家务
I keep house
随便地。
casually.
[约 19 世纪初]
[c. early 1800s]
[1763–1828]
[1763–1828]
译者:罗伯特·哈斯
TRANSLATED BY ROBERT HASS
出去,
Goes out,
回来了 —
comes back —
猫的爱情生活。
the love life of a cat.
[约 19 世纪初]
[c. early 1800s]
(1770–1850)
[1770–1850]
1798 年 7 月 13 日,重游怀伊河岸
On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798
五年过去了,五个夏天,
Five years have past; five summers, with the length
五个漫长的冬天!我又听到
Of five long winters! and again I hear
这些水从山泉流出
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
随着内陆的柔和低语。——再一次
With a soft inland murmur. — Once again
5当我看到这些陡峭而高耸的悬崖时,
5Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
在荒野僻静的场景中给人留下深刻印象
That on a wild secluded scene impress
更深的隐居思想;并连接
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
天空静谧的风景。
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
我再次休息的日子已经到来
The day is come when I again repose
10在这黑色的梧桐树下,
10Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
这些农舍地、这些果园,
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
在这个季节,果实还未成熟,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
披着一身绿色,迷失了自己
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
“在树林和灌木丛中。我又一次看到
’Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
15这些树篱行,几乎算不上树篱行,小线
15These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
嬉戏的树林里野外奔跑:这些牧场,
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
绿到门口;烟雾缭绕
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
从树林中静静地升起!
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
似乎有一些不确定的通知
With some uncertain notice, as might seem
20无家可归的森林里的流浪者,
20Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
或者隐士的洞穴,那里有火
Or of some Hermit’s cave, where by his fire
隐士独自坐着。
The Hermit sits alone.
这些美丽的形态,
These beauteous forms,
很久没来找我了
Through a long absence, have not been to me
犹如盲人眼中的风景:
As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:
二十五但常常在寂寞的房间里,在喧闹声中
25But oft, in lonely rooms, and ’mid the din
在城镇和城市中,我欠他们
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
在疲惫的时刻,感觉甜蜜,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
感受血液,感受心脏;
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
甚至进入我更纯洁的心灵,
And passing even into my purer mind,
三十随着平静的恢复:——感觉也是如此
30With tranquil restoration: — feelings too
忘记了的快乐:也许,
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
没有任何轻微或微不足道的影响
As have no slight or trivial influence
在一个好人一生中最美好的时光里,
On that best portion of a good man’s life,
他那些无名无姓、无人记得的小举动
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
三十五仁慈和爱。我相信,
35Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,
我可能还欠他们另一份礼物,
To them I may have owed another gift,
更为崇高的外观;那幸福的心情,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
其中的神秘负担,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
其中沉重和疲惫的重量
In which the heavy and the weary weight
40在这不可理解的世界中,
40Of all this unintelligible world,
变得轻松:——那种宁静而幸福的心情,
Is lightened: — that serene and blessed mood,
在其中,情感温柔地引领我们前行——
In which the affections gently lead us on, —
直到这肉体的呼吸
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
甚至我们人体血液的运动
And even the motion of our human blood
四十五我们几乎悬浮在空中,睡着了
45Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
在肉体上,成为一个活着的灵魂:
In body, and become a living soul:
而用力量使眼睛安静下来
While with an eye made quiet by the power
和谐与欢乐的深厚力量,
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
我们洞察事物的生命。
We see into the life of things.
如果
If this
50只是一种徒劳的信仰,然而,哦!多少次——
50Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft —
在黑暗中,在众多形状中
In darkness and amid the many shapes
寂静的白天;当烦躁的骚动
Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir
无利可图,以及世界的狂热,
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
一直萦绕在我心头——
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart —
55我曾多少次在心灵中转向你,
55How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,
哦,森林里的怀伊!你这在森林里游荡的人,
O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro’ the woods,
我的心灵多少次转向你!
How often has my spirit turned to thee!
现在,随着思想的光芒半熄灭,
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,
很多认知都模糊不清,
With many recognitions dim and faint,
60有点悲伤困惑的是,
60And somewhat of a sad perplexity,
脑海中的画面再次浮现:
The picture of the mind revives again:
当我站在这里,不仅有感觉
While here I stand, not only with the sense
眼前的快乐,但带着愉快的想法
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
这一刻有生命和食物
That in this moment there is life and food
65为未来的岁月。所以我敢于希望,
65For future years. And so I dare to hope,
虽然毫无疑问,与我第一次
Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
我来到这些山丘之间;像一头鹿
I came among these hills; when like a roe
我越过群山,沿着山边
I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides
深河和寂寞的溪流,
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
70随自然而行:更像一个男人
70Wherever nature led: more like a man
逃离他所害怕的东西,而不是
Flying from something that he dreads, than one
他追求他所爱的东西。因为自然界
Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then
(我童年时那些粗俗的快乐,
(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days,
它们的欢快动作都消失了)
And their glad animal movements all gone by)
75对我来说,这就是一切。——我不会画画
75To me was all in all. — I cannot paint
我当时是什么。
What then I was. The sounding cataract
像激情一样困扰着我:高大的岩石,
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
那座高山,那座幽深阴暗的森林,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
它们的颜色和形状,对我来说
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
80一种欲望、一种感觉和一种爱,
80An appetite; a feeling and a love,
不需要遥远的魅力,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
通过思想提供,也没有任何兴趣
By thought supplied, nor any interest
不从眼睛借来的。——那个时代已经过去了,
Unborrowed from the eye. — That time is past,
一切痛苦的欢乐都已不复存在,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
85以及它所有的令人眩晕的狂喜。不是因为这个
85And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
我并不晕倒,也不悲伤,也不抱怨;其他的礼物
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts
我相信,即使损失如此惨重,
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,
丰厚的回报。因为我已经学会了
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
观察自然,不像在小时
To look on nature, not as in the hour
90轻率的年轻人;但经常听到
90Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
人类那寂静而悲伤的音乐,
The still, sad music of humanity,
既不刺耳也不刺耳,尽管力量强大
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
惩罚和制服。我感觉到
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
一个让我因喜悦而不安的存在
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
95思想高尚;感觉崇高
95Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
某种更为深厚的融合,
Of something far more deeply interfused,
落日的光芒就是它的居所,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
还有圆圆的海洋和活跃的空气,
And the round ocean and the living air,
还有蓝天,还有人的心灵:
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
100一种运动和精神,推动
100A motion and a spirit, that impels
一切思考的事物,一切思考的对象,
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
并穿过一切事物。因此我依然
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
热爱草地和树林,
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
还有群山;还有我们所看到的一切
And mountains; and of all that we behold
105从这片绿色的土地;从整个强大的世界
105From this green earth; of all the mighty world
眼睛和耳朵——它们都是半创造的,
Of eye, and ear, — both what they half create,
并且察觉到什么;很高兴认识到
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
在自然界和感官语言中,
In nature and the language of the sense,
我最纯洁的思想的锚,护士,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
110我的心灵和灵魂的向导和守护者
110The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
我全部的道德品质。
Of all my moral being.
也有可能,
Nor perchance,
如果我没受过这样的教育,我是否应该更
If I were not thus taught, should I the more
让我那和蔼可亲的[1]精神的天赋衰败吧:
Suffer my genial[1] spirits genius to decay:
因为你和我一起在河岸上
For thou art with me here upon the banks
115这条美丽的河流;你我最亲爱的朋友,
115Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,b
我亲爱的朋友,我从你的声音中
My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch
我以前心中的语言,读
The language of my former heart, and read
我以前在射击灯下的乐趣
My former pleasures in the shooting lights
你那狂野的眼睛。哦!还有一会儿
Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while
120愿我在你身上看到我曾经的样子,
120May I behold in thee what I was once,
我亲爱的姐妹!我祈祷,
My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,
知道大自然从不背叛
Knowing that Nature never did betray
一颗爱她的心;这是她的权利,
The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege,
在我们这一生的岁月里,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
125从欢乐到欢乐:因为她可以如此告知
125From joy to joy: for she can so inform
我们内心的思想,如此令人印象深刻
The mind that is within us, so impress
安静而美丽,
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
有崇高的思想,既不恶言,
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
鲁莽的判断,以及自私之人的嘲笑,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
130在没有善意的地方,也没有问候,也没有
130Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
日常生活中乏味的交往,
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
能战胜我们,或扰乱我们
Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb
我们乐观地相信,我们所看到的一切
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
充满祝福。因此让月亮
Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon
135在你孤独的行走中照耀你;
135Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
让迷雾笼罩的山风自由
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
向你吹去:在以后的岁月里,
To blow against thee: and, in after years,
当这些狂喜成熟时
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
进入一种清醒的快乐;当你的思想
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
140将成为一切美好形态的居所,
140Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
愿你的记忆成为我的居所
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
一切美妙的声音和和声,噢!然后,
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then,
如果孤独、恐惧、痛苦、悲伤,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
你的命运应是怎样的治愈思想
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
145你会怀着温柔的喜悦想起我,
145Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
这些都是我的劝告!也许——
And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance —
如果我身处一个不再能听到的地方
If I should be where I no more can hear
你的声音,也没有从你狂野的眼睛里捕捉到这些光芒
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
你会忘记过去的存在吗
Of past existence — wilt thou then forget
150在这条美丽的小溪边
150That on the banks of this delightful stream
我们站在一起;而我,这么久
We stood together; and that I, so long
一位自然崇拜者来到这里
A worshipper of Nature, hither came
不知疲倦地服务;更确切地说
Unwearied in that service; rather say
带着更温暖的爱——哦!带着更深沉的热情
With warmer love — oh! with far deeper zeal
155更圣洁的爱。你也不会忘记,
155Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,
经过许多年的流浪
That after many wanderings, many years
那些陡峭的树林和高耸的悬崖,
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
这片绿色的田园风光,对我来说
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
更加亲爱的,不仅为了他们自己,也为了你!
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!
[1798]
[1798]
一行……丁登寺:我写这首诗的心情比这更愉快。我离开丁登寺时,穿过怀伊河,开始写这首诗,傍晚我刚要进入布里斯托尔,和妹妹一起漫游了四五天。我一行一行地修改,直到我到达布里斯托尔,才把其中的任何部分写下来 [华兹华斯的注释]。这首诗作为《抒情歌谣集》的最后一篇出版。
aLines … Tintern Abbey: No poem of mine was composed under circumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this. I began it upon leaving Tintern, after crossing the Wye, and concluded it just as I was entering Bristol in the evening, after a ramble of 4 or 5 days, with my sister. Not a line of it was altered, and not any part of it written down till I reached Bristol [Wordsworth’s note]. The poem was printed as the last item in Lyrical Ballads.
b 115. 最亲爱的朋友:指他的妹妹多萝西。
b115. dearest Friend: Refers to his sister, Dorothy.
[1]天才
[1]genius
(1772–1834)
[1772–1834]
或者,梦中的一个景象。一个片段。
Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
忽必烈汗在上都
In Xanadub did Kubla Khan
庄严的快乐穹顶法令:
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
圣河阿尔夫流经的地方
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
穿过人类无法测量的洞穴
Through caverns measureless to man
5坠落至没有阳光的大海。
5Down to a sunless sea.
因此两倍五英里的肥沃土地
So twice five miles of fertile ground
城墙和塔楼环绕四周;
With walls and towers were girdled round;
那里有花园,溪水蜿蜒,光彩夺目,[1]
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,[1]
那里有许多盛开的香树;
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
10这里有和山丘一样古老的森林,
10And here were forests ancient as the hills,
包围着阳光明媚的绿色斑点。
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
但哦!那深深的浪漫鸿沟倾斜
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
沿着青山走下,穿过雪松林!
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
一个野蛮的地方!神圣而迷人
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
15就像在残月之下总是有鬼魂出没
15As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
女人为她的恶魔情人哀号!
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
从这深渊中,随着无休止的骚乱,
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
仿佛这穿着厚厚裤子的地球在呼吸,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
一股巨大的喷泉瞬间涌出:
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
20在它快速的半间歇的爆发中
20Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
巨大的碎片像反弹的冰雹一样飞起来,
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
或脱粒机连枷下的谷壳:
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
在这些舞动的岩石中
And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
它瞬间将圣河掀起。
It flung up momently the sacred river.
二十五蜿蜒五英里,迷宫般
25Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
圣河穿过森林和山谷,
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
然后到达了人类无法测量的洞穴,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
并在喧嚣中沉入一片死寂的海洋;
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;
在这喧嚣中,忽必烈从远处听到
And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
三十祖先的声音预言战争!
30Ancestral voices prophesying war!
欢乐穹顶的阴影
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
漂浮在波浪中途;
Floated midway on the waves;
哪里听见那混合的韵律
Where was heard the mingled measure
来自喷泉和洞穴。
From the fountain and the caves.
三十五这是一个罕见装置的奇迹,
35It was a miracle of rare device,
阳光明媚的游乐场,还有冰洞!
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
一位少女与扬琴
A damsel with a dulcimer
我曾在幻象中看到:
In a vision once I saw:
这是一只阿比西尼亚c女仆
It was an Abyssinianc maid
40她弹奏扬琴,
40And on her dulcimer she played,
歌唱阿伯拉山。d
Singing of Mount Abora.d
我能否在我内心复活
Could I revive within me
她的交响乐和歌曲,
Her symphony and song,
让我如此深感欣喜,
To such a deep delight ’twould win me,
四十五随着音乐的响亮和持久,
45That with music loud and long,
我会建造一个空中穹顶,
I would build that dome in air,
那阳光明媚的穹顶!那些冰洞!
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
凡听见的人都看见他们在那里,
And all who heard should see them there,
所有人都应该大喊:“小心!小心!”
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
50他那闪烁的眼睛,他那飘扬的头发!
50His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
绕着他织三圈,
Weave a circle round him thrice,
带着神圣的恐惧闭上眼睛
And close your eyes with holy dread
因为他以蜜露为食,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
并喝下天堂的乳汁。
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
[1816年]
[1816]
忽必烈汗(1215-1294 年);蒙古王朝的将军和皇帝。
aKubla Khan (1215–1294); A general and emperor of the Mongolian dynasty.
b 1. 上都:柯勒律治在诗中虚构的一座城市,原型是忽必烈汗在蒙古建立的上都。
b1. Xanadu: A city that is in part a fantasy that Coleridge created for his poem. It is also based on Shangdu, a city in Mongolia founded by Kubla Khan.
c 39. 阿比西尼亚人:埃塞俄比亚帝国的古老名称。
c39. Abyssinian: An archaic name for what was the Ethiopian Empire.
d 41. 阿伯拉山:埃塞俄比亚的一座山,皇帝在其上建造了宫殿。
d41. Mount Abora: A mountain in Ethiopia upon which the emperor built his palace.
[1]小溪
[1]small streams
[1788–1824]
[1788–1824]
泰坦!他的不朽之眼
Titan! to whose immortal eyes
死亡的痛苦,
The sufferings of mortality,
从他们悲惨的现实来看,
Seen in their sad reality,
并不是神所鄙视的事物;
Were not as things that gods despise;
5你的怜悯得到了什么回报?
5What was thy pity’s recompense?
一种无声的痛苦,而且强烈;
A silent suffering, and intense;
岩石、秃鹫和锁链,
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
骄傲的人所感受到的一切痛苦,
All that the proud can feel of pain,
他们没有表现出痛苦,
The agony they do not show,
10令人窒息的悲伤感,
10The suffocating sense of woe,
它只在孤独中说话,
Which speaks but in its loneliness,
然后嫉妒天空
And then is jealous lest the sky
应该有一个倾听者,也不会叹息
Should have a listener, nor will sigh
直到它的声音没有回音。
Until its voice is echoless.
15泰坦!你被赋予了争斗
15Titan! to thee the strife was given
在苦难与意志之间,
Between the suffering and the will,
他们无法杀人,却遭受酷刑;
Which torture where they cannot kill;
无情的天堂,
And the inexorable Heaven,
命运的暴政充耳不闻,
And the deaf tyranny of Fate,
20仇恨的统治原则,
20The ruling principle of Hate,
它为了快乐而创造
Which for its pleasure doth create
它可能会毁灭一切,
The things it may annihilate,
甚至拒绝赐予你死亡的恩惠:
Refused thee even the boon to die:
可怜的礼物永恒
The wretched gift Eternity
二十五是你的——而你已经承受得很好了。
25Was thine — and thou hast borne it well.
雷神从你身上榨取的一切
All that the Thunderer wrung from thee
只是被反弹回来的威胁
Was but the menace which flung back
他将遭受你的折磨;
On him the torments of thy rack;
你如此清楚地预见了命运,
The fate thou didst so well foresee,
三十但不会安抚他;
30But would not to appease him tell;
你的沉默就是他的判决,
And in thy Silence was his Sentence,
他的心里充满了徒劳的悔恨,
And in his Soul a vain repentance,
邪恶的恐惧如此不堪掩饰,
And evil dread so ill dissembled,
他手中的闪电颤抖着。
That in his hand the lightnings trembled.
三十五你的神圣罪行就是仁慈,
35Thy Godlike crime was to be kind,
使你的训诫变得不那么
To render with thy precepts less
人类苦难的总和,
The sum of human wretchedness,
并以自己的心智强化人类;
And strengthen Man with his own mind;
你从高处被惊扰,
And baffled as thou wert from high,
40你仍保持着耐心,
40Still in thy patient energy,
在忍耐和击退中
In the endurance, and repulse
你那不可穿透的灵魂,
Of thine impenetrable Spirit,
大地和天堂都无法震动,
Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse,
我们继承了重要的教训:
A mighty lesson we inherit:
四十五你是一个象征和一个标志
45Thou art a symbol and a sign
对凡人来说,他们的命运和力量;
To Mortals of their fate and force;
像你一样,人在某种程度上是神圣的,
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
一股来自纯净源头的湍急溪流;
A troubled stream from a pure source;
人类可以部分预见
And Man in portions can foresee
50他自己悲惨的命运;
50His own funereal destiny;
他的悲惨和他的反抗,
His wretchedness, and his resistance,
和他那悲惨的孤独生活:
And his sad unallied existence:
他的灵可能会反对
To which his Spirit may oppose
它本身——和所有苦难一样,
Itself — and equal to all woes,
55坚定的意志和深邃的洞察力,
55And a firm will, and a deep sense,
即使在酷刑中也能看出
Which even in torture can descry
它自己集中的报应,
Its own concenter’d recompense,
敢于挑战,必将胜利,
Triumphant where it dares defy,
并使死亡成为胜利。
And making Death a Victory.
[1816年]
[1816]
普罗米修斯:根据希腊诗人和剧作家的说法,泰坦巨人普罗米修斯从众神手中偷走了火种,并将其传给全人类。作为惩罚,宙斯将普罗米修斯铐在山上的一块岩石上。每天,秃鹫都会来吃他的内脏,他一直生活在痛苦之中,直到最后被赫拉克勒斯解救。
aPrometheus: According to various Greek poets and playwrights, Prometheus, a Titan, stole fire from the gods and gave it to all mankind. As punishment, Zeus shackled Prometheus to a rock in the mountain. Each day, vultures came to eat his entrails, and he lived in agony until he was eventually freed by Hercules.
(1792–1822)
[1792–1822]
啊,狂野的西风,你是秋天的气息,
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
你,从你看不见的存在中,死亡的叶子
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
像被巫师驱赶的鬼魂一样,
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
黄色、黑色、苍白色和狂热的红色,b
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,b
5瘟疫肆虐的民众:噢,
5Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O Thou,
谁驾着战车,回到黑暗的冬日床铺
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
长着翅膀的种子,躺在寒冷而低矮的地方,
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
每个人都像坟墓里的尸体,直到
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
你的春天的蔚蓝姐妹将吹拂
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
10她的号角覆盖了梦想的大地,充满了
10Her clarionc o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(驱赶着像羊群一样的甜美花蕾在空中觅食)
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
平原和山丘上充满着鲜活的色彩和气息:
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
野性精神,无处不在;
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
毁灭者和保护者;听着,听着!
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!
15你在溪流上,在险峻的天空中,
15Thou on whose stream, ’mid the steep sky’s commotion,
松散的云朵像地球上腐烂的树叶一样散落,
Loose clouds like Earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
从天堂和海洋纠结的树枝上摇晃而下,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
雨和闪电的天使:遍布
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
在你那蓝色的气浪上,
On the blue surface of thine aery surge,
20就像头顶上扬起的亮丽头发
20Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
一些凶猛的玛纳德,甚至在昏暗的边缘
Of some fierce Mænad,d even from the dim verge
从地平线到天顶,
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,
暴风雨即将来临,你的挽歌
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou Dirge
即将过去的一年,在这落幕之夜
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
二十五将会是一座巨大坟墓的圆顶,
25Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
用你所有的聚集力量拱起
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
蒸汽,[1]来自其固体大气
Of vapours,[1] from whose solid atmosphere
黑雨、火焰和冰雹将会爆发:听着!
Black rain and fire and hail will burst: O hear!
[1]云
[1]clouds
你从夏日的梦中醒来
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
三十他躺在蔚蓝的地中海,
30The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
被他那晶莹剔透的溪流催眠,
Lulled by the coil of his chrystalline streams,
在巴伊亚湾的一个浮石岛旁边,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ’s bay,e
梦里看见古老的宫殿和塔楼
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
在海浪愈发猛烈的日子里颤抖,
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,
三十五长满了青苔和鲜花
35All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
如此甜蜜,想象它们的感觉都晕厥了!你
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
大西洋的水平线为谁的路径提供力量
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
裂开裂缝,而在下面
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
海上盛开的花朵和渗出水的树林
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
40海洋里枯萎的树叶,知道
40The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
你的声音突然因恐惧而变得灰暗,
Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
并且颤抖和掠夺他们自己:听着!
And tremble and despoil themselves:f O hear!
如果我是一片枯叶,你也许会承受;
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
如果我是一朵快速的云与你一起飞翔;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
波浪在你的力量下喘息,分享
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
四十五你的力量的冲动,只是不那么自由
45The impulse of thy strength, only less free
比你,哦,无法控制!如果甚至
Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even
我就像小时候一样,
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
你在天上漫游的同伴,
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
50那时,当你超越你的天空速度时
50As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
几乎不可能实现,我从来不会努力
Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven
就像我在极度需要的时候向你祈祷一样。
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
噢!将我托起,如同托起波浪、托起树叶、托起云朵!
Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
我跌倒在生活的荆棘上!我流血了!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
55时间的沉重束缚着我们,
55A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
它也像你一样:野性、敏捷、骄傲。
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
让我成为你的竖琴,g就像森林一样:
Make me thy lyre,g even as the forest is:
如果我的叶子也像它的叶子一样掉落怎么办!
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
你那强大和谐的喧嚣
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
60既有深沉的秋日色调,
60Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
悲伤中却充满甜蜜。你,灵魂啊,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
我的灵魂!你就是那个我吧,冲动之人!
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
将我死去的思绪带向宇宙
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
像枯叶催生新生!
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
65并且,通过这节经文的咒语,
65And, by the incantation of this verse,
散落,如同从未熄灭的炉火中
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
灰烬与火花,我的言语在人类之中!
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
通过我的嘴唇传到尚未觉醒的地球
Be through my lips to unawakened Earth
预言的号角!风啊,
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
70冬天来了,春天还会远吗?
70If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
[1819;1820]
[1819; 1820]
西风颂:这首诗是在佛罗伦萨附近阿诺河畔的一片树林中构思和创作的,那天,狂风呼啸,温度温和而令人精神抖擞,收集着倾盆而下的秋雨的水汽 [雪莱注]。
aOde to the West Wind: This poem was conceived and chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, and on a day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapours which pour down the autumnal rains [Shelley’s note].
b 4. 潮红:结核病引起的发烧类型。
b4. hectic red: The type of fever that comes with tuberculosis.
c 10. 号角:一种高音喇叭。
c10. clarion: A high-pitched trumpet.
d 21. 酒神迈那得斯:酒神和丰收之神狄俄尼索斯的女性追随者。酒神迈那得斯以狂喜之舞而闻名。
d21. Maenad: Female followers of Dionysus, god of wine and fruitfulness. Maenads were known for their ecstatic dances.
e 32. 拜亚湾:在古代意大利,拜亚湾是一个以矿泉水闻名的海滨小镇。它最终被火山喷发所吞没;因此雪莱将其描述为“浮石岛”。
e32. Baiae’s bay: In ancient Italy, Baiae was a seaside town known for its mineral springs. It was eventually subsumed by volcanic eruptions; hence Shelley’s description of the “pumice isle.”
f 40–42. 无汁的树叶……自我毁灭:海底的植被……随着季节的变化与陆地上的植被产生共鸣[雪莱的注释]。
f40–42. The sapless foliage … despoil themselves: The vegetation at the bottom of the sea … sympathizes with that of the land in the change of seasons [Shelley’s note].
g 57. 七弦琴:指伊奥利亚七弦琴或竖琴,这是一种弦乐器,当放在窗台或门廊上时,可以利用风来产生声音。
g57. lyre: A reference to the Eolian lyre, or harp, a stringed instrument that, when left on a windowsill or porch, uses the wind to create sound.
(1795–1821)
[1795–1821]
当我担心自己可能不再存在
When I have fears that I may cease to be
在我笔下收集我丰富的思想之前,
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
在高高的书籍堆前,[1]
Before high piled books, in charactry,[1]
5当我凝视夜空中繁星点点的面容,
5When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
巨大的云朵象征着极致的浪漫,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
我想我可能永远无法活到
And think that I may never live to trace
他们的影子,在机遇的魔力下;
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
当我感觉到,一个小时的美丽生物,
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
10我再也不会看见你,
10That I shall never look upon thee more,
永远不要对仙女的力量津津乐道
Never have relish in the fairy power
不加思索的爱情;——然后在岸上
Of unreflecting love; — then on the shore
我独自站在广阔的世界中,思考
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
直到爱情和名誉都沉入虚无。
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
[ 1818年;1848年]
[1818; 1848]
[1]写作
[1]writing
[2]粮仓
[2]granaries
(1795–1821)
[1795–1821]
我的心很痛,昏昏欲睡的麻木感让我痛苦不已
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
或者把一些沉闷的鸦片排进下水道
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
5不是因为嫉妒你的幸福,
5’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
但你太幸福了——
But being too happy in thine happiness, —
你,长着轻翼的树木之神,
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
在一些优美的情节中
In some melodious plot
山毛榉的绿色,无数的阴影,
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
10用宽阔的嗓音轻松歌唱夏天。
10Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
哦,喝一杯葡萄酒吧!
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
在深埋的地底下冷却了很久,
Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
品尝 Flora d和乡村绿色植物,
Tasting of Florad and the country green,
舞蹈、普罗旺斯歌曲和灼热的欢乐!
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
15噢,一杯充满温暖南方的酒,
15O for a beaker full of the warm South,
充满真实,羞涩的希波克里涅,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,e
杯沿处闪着珠状气泡,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
和紫色的嘴巴;
And purple-stained mouth;
我要喝酒,让世界看不见我,
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
20和你一起消失在幽暗的森林里:
20And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
渐渐消失,消散,彻底忘记
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
树叶间的你从未知道的事,
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
疲倦、发烧和烦躁
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
这里,人们坐在一起,听着彼此的呻吟;
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
瘫痪使最后几根灰白的头发摇晃不已,
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
二十五青春渐渐苍白,瘦弱如鬼,然后死去;
25Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;f
想想就充满悲伤
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
以及铅灰色的绝望,
And leaden-eyed despairs,
当美女无法保持她闪亮的眼睛时,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
三十或许新的爱情会在明天之后眷恋他们。
30Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
走开!走开!我要飞向你,
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
但在诗歌无形的羽翼上,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
尽管愚钝的大脑会让人困惑和迟钝:
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
三十五已经和你在一起!夜色温柔,
35Already with thee! tender is the night,
[1]绿叶
[1]green-leaved
我看不见脚下有什么花,
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
树枝上飘荡着淡淡的芳香,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
但,在防腐的[1]黑暗中,猜猜每一颗甜蜜
But, in embalmed[1] darkness, guess each sweet
季节赋予
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
四十五草、灌木丛和野生的果树;
45The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
白山楂、田园玫瑰;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;h
迅速凋谢的紫罗兰被树叶遮盖着;
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
五月中旬的长子,
And mid-May’s eldest child,
即将来临的麝香玫瑰,充满露水的酒香,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
50夏夜里苍蝇的嗡嗡声。
50The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
[1]芳香
[1]perfumed
Darkling [1]我倾听;而且,很多时候
Darkling[1] I listen; and, for many a time
我曾半爱着轻松的死亡,
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
在许多沉思的[2]韵文中温柔地称呼他,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused[2] rhyme,
把我平静的呼吸吸入空气中;
To take into the air my quiet breath;
55现在比以往任何时候都更觉得死亡是有意义的,
55Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
毫无痛苦地停息于午夜,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
当你倾吐你的灵魂时
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
如此狂喜!
In such an ecstasy!
你仍要歌唱,而我却无力倾听——
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain —
你的安魂曲已化为一片草皮。
To thy high requiem become a sod.
[1]在黑暗中
[1]in darkness
[2]介导
[2]mediated
不朽的鸟儿,你不是为了死亡而生的!
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
没有饥饿的世代践踏你;
No hungry generations tread thee down;
我今夜听到的声音
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
在古代,皇帝和小丑:
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
65也许同一首歌找到了一条路
65Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
[1]小麦
[1]wheat
绝望!这个词就像一口钟声
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
让我从你身边回到我孤独的自我!
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
再见!幻想不能欺骗你
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
正如她所知道的那样,欺骗精灵。
As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.
75再见!再见!你的哀歌[1]渐渐消逝
75Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem[1] fades
穿过附近的草地,越过平静的小溪,
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
山坡上,现在它被深深地埋起来
Up the hill-side; and now ’tis buried deep
在下一个山谷林间空地:
In the next valley-glades:
这是一个幻象,还是一个白日梦?
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
80 那音乐已远去:——我是醒着还是睡着了?
80 Fled is that music: — Do I wake or sleep?
[1819]
[1819]
夜莺颂:查尔斯·布朗,与济慈一起住在汉普斯特德,写道:“1819 年春天,一只夜莺在我家附近筑巢。济慈在夜莺的歌声中感受到一种宁静而持续的快乐;一天早上,他从早餐桌旁把椅子搬到李子树下的草地上,在那里坐了两三个小时。当他进屋时,我发现他手里拿着几张纸片,他悄悄地把这些纸片塞在书后面。经过询问,我发现这些纸片(四五张)包含了他对我们家夜莺歌声的诗意感受。”
aOde to a Nightingale: Charles Brown, with whom Keats lived in Hampstead, wrote: “In the spring of 1819 a nightingale had built her nest near my house. Keats felt a tranquil and continual joy in her song; and one morning he took his chair from the breakfast table to the grass plot under a plum tree, where he sat for two or three hours. When he came into the house, I perceived he had some scraps of paper in his hand, and these he was quietly thrusting behind the books. On inquiry, I found those scraps, four or five in number, contained his poetic feeling on the song of our nightingale.”
b 2. 毒芹:一种原产于欧洲和北非的剧毒草本植物。
b2. hemlock: A highly poisonous herb native to Europe and North Africa.
c 4. 忘川:冥界五条河流之一,相传能使人忘事。
c4. Lethe: One of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades said to cause forgetfulness.
d 13. 弗洛拉:罗马花神。
d13. Flora: Roman goddess of flowers.
e 16. Hippocrene:字面意思是“马的喷泉”:指的是赫利孔山上的淡水泉眼,是缪斯的圣地,据说其泉水能提供诗歌的灵感。
e16. Hippocrene: Literally “horse’s fountain”: refers to the fresh water spring on Mount Helicon, sacred to the muses, whose waters supposedly provide poetic inspiration.
f 26. 死去:指济慈的兄弟,他死于肺结核。
f26. dies: A reference to Keats’s brother, who died of tuberculosis.
g 32.巴克斯:酒神。
g32. Bacchus: God of wine.
h 46. eglantine: sweetbriar 的另一个术语。
h46. eglantine: Another term for sweetbriar.
i 66. 路得记:希伯来圣经《路得记》中的年轻寡妇。
i66. Ruth: The young widow in the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible.
[1]圣歌
[1]hymn
(1806–1861)
[1806–1861]
我如何爱你?让我细数一下。
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
我爱你,爱到极致
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
当我感觉看不见的时候,我的灵魂可以到达
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
为了存在的目的和理想的恩典。
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
5我爱你就像每天
5I love thee to the level of everyday’s
最需要安静,在阳光和烛光下。
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
我自由地爱你,就像人们争取正义一样;
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
我纯粹地爱你,而他们却不再赞美你。
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
我爱你,用尽我的热情
I love thee with the passion put to use
10在我的旧日悲伤中,以及在我童年的信念中。
10In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
我对你的爱,似乎已经失去
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
和我失去的圣徒们一起——我用呼吸爱你,
With my lost saints — I love thee with the breath,
我一生的笑容、泪水!——如果上帝选择,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
死后我只会更加爱你。
I shall but love thee better after death.
[1850]
[1850]
(1809–1849)
[1809–1849]
那是好多年前的事了,
It was many and many a year ago,
在一个海边王国里,
In a kingdom by the sea,
那里住着一位姑娘,你也许认识她
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
名叫安娜贝尔·李;
By the name of Annabel Lee;
5她对这个少女的生活毫无其他想法
5And this maiden she lived with no other thought
而不是爱我和被我爱。
Than to love and be loved by me.
她还是个孩子,我也还是个孩子,
She was a child and I was a child,
在这个海边王国里,
In this kingdom by the sea,
但我们的爱超越了爱——
But we loved with a love that was more than love —
10我和我的 Annabel Lee —
10I and my Annabel Lee —
怀着爱,天堂的六翼天使[1]
With a love that the wingèd seraphs[1] of Heaven
觊觎她和我。
Coveted her and me.
这就是为什么很久以前,
And this was the reason that, long ago,
在这个海边王国里,
In this kingdom by the sea,
15夜晚,一阵风从云层中吹来
15A wind blew out of a cloud by night
让我的安娜贝尔·李 (Annabel Lee) 感到寒冷;
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
于是她的高贵亲戚来了
So that her highborn kinsmen came
并把她从我身边夺走,
And bore her away from me,
把她关进坟墓里
To shut her up in a sepulchre
20在这个海边的王国。
20In this kingdom by the sea.
天使在天堂里没有这么快乐,
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
羡慕她和我:
Went envying her and me:
是的!这就是原因(众所周知,
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
在这个海边的王国)
In this kingdom by the sea)
二十五风从云层中吹出,令人心寒
25That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling
并杀死我的安娜贝尔·李。
And killing my Annabel Lee.
但我们的爱比爱情更强烈
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
那些比我们年长的人——
Of those who were older than we —
比我们聪明得多的人——
Of many far wiser than we —
三十天上的天使也不
30And neither the angels in Heaven above
海底的恶魔也不例外,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
能将我的灵魂与灵魂分开
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
美丽的安娜贝尔·李:
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
月亮每次发光都会给我带来梦想
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
三十五美丽的安娜贝尔·李;
35Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
星星从未升起,但我看见明亮的眼睛
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
美丽的安娜贝尔·李;
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
于是,整个夜晚,我躺在旁边
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
我的爱人,我的爱人,我的生命和我的新娘,
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
40在海边的坟墓里——
40In her sepulchre there by the sea —
在她海边的坟墓里。
In her tomb by the side of the sea.
[1849]
[1849]
[1]最高级别的天使
[1]angels of the highest order
[1809–1892]
[1809–1892]
一个懒惰的国王,
It little profits that an idle king,
在这寂静的炉边,在这荒芜的峭壁之间,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
配上一位年迈的妻子,我满足并施舍
Matched with an agèd wife, I mete and dole
野蛮人受到不平等的法律,
Unequal laws unto a savage race,b
5贮藏、睡觉、进食,却不认识我。
5That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
我不能停止旅行;我要喝酒
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
生活随风而逝。c我享受过的所有时光
Life to the lees.c All times I have enjoyed
遭受了巨大的痛苦,
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
她爱我,独自一人;在岸上,当
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
10Through scudding driftsd the rainy Hyadese
扰乱了昏暗的大海。我成了一个名字;
Vexed the dim sea. I am become a name;
总是怀着一颗饥渴的心去流浪
For always roaming with a hungry heart
我见过和知道过很多东西——人类的城市
Much have I seen and known — cities of men
还有风俗、气候、议会、政府,
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
15我并非最不重要,但我是他们当中最荣幸的人——
15Myself not least, but honored of them all —
和同伴们战斗的醉意,
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
远处是风雨肆虐的特洛伊平原。
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
我是我所遇见的一切的一部分;
I am a part of all that I have met;
然而所有的经验都是一座拱门,
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
20照亮那片人迹罕至的世界,其边缘渐渐消失
20Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades
当我移动时,永远永远。
Forever and forever when I move.
停下来,结束,是多么无趣,
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
未打磨即生锈,使用时更不发亮!
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
仿佛呼吸就是生命!生命堆积如山
As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life
二十五对我来说,一切都太小了,
25Were all too little, and of one to me
剩下的不多了,但每个小时都节省了
Little remains; but every hour is saved
从那永恒的沉默中,还有更多的东西,
From that eternal silence, something more,
带来新事物的人,而他却卑鄙无耻
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
为了储存和贮藏三个太阳[1] ,
For some three suns[1] to store and hoard myself,
三十这灰色的灵魂渴望着
30And this gray spirit yearning in desire
追寻知识犹如追寻下沉的星辰,
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
超越人类思维的极限。
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
这是我的儿子,我的忒勒马科斯,
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
我将权杖和岛屿留给他——
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle —
三十五我深爱着你,善于履行
35Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
这项劳动,通过缓慢的谨慎,使温和
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
一个坚韧的民族,通过柔软的程度
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
使他们向有用和善良的方向发展。
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
他是最无辜的,他位于球体的中心
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
40履行共同职责,体面而不失败
40Of common duties, decent not to fail
在温柔的办公室里,
In offices of tenderness, and pay
满足[2]对我家神明的崇拜,
Meet[2] adoration to my household gods,
当我不在的时候。他做他的工作,我做我的工作。
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
港口就在那里;船只扬起风帆;
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
四十五那里是黑暗、广阔的大海。我的水手们,
45There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
那些与我一起辛勤劳作、思考过的灵魂——
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me —
总是以欢快的欢迎
That ever with a frolic welcome took
雷霆和阳光,反对
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
自由的心,自由的额头——你和我都老了;
Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old;
50老年仍有他的荣耀和辛劳。
50Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
死亡结束了一切,但在死亡之前,
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
也许还会有一些值得注意的高尚工作,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
与神争斗的人并无不妥。
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
岩石上的灯光开始闪烁;
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
55漫长的白昼渐渐消逝,缓慢的月亮渐渐升起,深邃的
55The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
呻吟声四起。来吧,我的朋友们,
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
寻找一个新的世界还不算晚。
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
推开,坐好,以便打击
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
响亮的犁沟;为我的目的而存在
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
60航行到日落之外,沐浴在
60To sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsf
在所有西方的星星中,直到我死去。
Of all the western stars, until I die.
也许海湾会把我们冲走;
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
也许我们会触及幸福岛,
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,g
看看我们认识的伟大的阿喀琉斯。
And see the great Achilles,h whom we knew.
65虽然拿走很多,留下的也很多;虽然
65Though much is taken, much abides; and though
我们如今的力量已不再是过去
We are not now that strength which in old days
感动天地,感动我们,感动我们——
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are —
英雄的心胸一样坚强,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
时间和命运使我变得软弱,但意志坚强
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
70努力、寻找、发现,并且不屈服。
70To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
[1833年]
[1833]
a尤利西斯(奥德修斯的罗马形式):荷马史诗《奥德赛》中的英雄,讲述了奥德修斯与其他希腊英雄打败特洛伊之后,返回伊萨卡岛(他是该岛的国王)的旅途中的冒险故事。奥德修斯花了十年时间才到达伊萨卡,他的妻子(佩内洛普)和儿子(忒勒马科斯)在那里等待着他。回来后,他击败了那些想娶忠贞的佩内洛普的追求者,恢复了王位并恢复了往日的生活方式。荷马的故事到此结束,但在《地狱篇》第 26 章中,但丁延续了这个故事:奥德修斯最终变得焦躁不安,对安定的生活感到不满,决定重返大海,向西航行,驶向未知的大海,去寻找他能在那里找到的任何冒险。丁尼生的诗扩展了但丁诗中的演讲,尤利西斯挑战他的手下陪他一起踏上新的航行。
aUlysses (the Roman form of Odysseus): The hero of Homer’s epic The Odyssey, which tells the story of Odysseus’s adventures on his voyage back to Ithaca, the small island of which he was king, after he and the other Greek heroes defeated Troy. It took Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca, where his wife (Penelope) and son (Telemachus) were waiting for him. Upon his return, he defeated the suitors who had been trying to marry the faithful Penelope, and he resumed the kingship and his old ways of life. Here Homer’s story ends, but in Canto 26 of the Inferno, Dante extended the story: Odysseus eventually became restless and dissatisfied with his settled life and decided to return to the sea and sail west, into the unknown sea, and seek whatever adventures he might find there. Tennyson’s poem amplifies the speech delivered in Dante’s poem as Ulysses challenges his men to accompany him on this new voyage.
b 3–4. mete … 种族:对仍然有些无法无天的种族实施不充分(不符合需要)的法律。
b3–4. mete … race: Administer inadequate (unequal to what is needed) laws to a still somewhat lawless race.
c 6–7. 喝……酒糟:酒糟指的是啤酒或葡萄酒底部的渣滓或沉淀物,因此尤利西斯发誓要尽情享受生活,喝到最后一滴。
c6–7. drink … lees: Lees refers to the dregs or sediment at the bottom of beer or wine, so Ulysses is vowing to live his life to the fullest, to drink to the last drop.
d 10. 急流漂移:风吹产生的浪花;
d10. scudding drifts: Wind-driven spray;
e毕宿星团:金牛座中的五颗星,据说它们升起后会带来雨水。
eHyades: Five stars in the constellation Taurus whose rising was assumed to be followed by rain.
f 60. 浴场:希腊宇宙观中,平坦地球周围的外部河流或海洋,星星落下时便降落到其中。
f60. baths: The outer river or ocean surrounding the flat earth, in Greek cosmology, into which the stars descended upon setting.
g 63. 幸福岛:希腊神话中的幸福群岛或极乐世界,位于直布罗陀海峡以外的西部海域,是英雄死后的居所。
g63. Happy Isles: The Islands of the Blessed, or Elysian Fields, in Greek myth, which lay in the western seas beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and were the abode of heroes after death.
h 64.阿喀琉斯:希腊英雄,荷马史诗《伊利亚特》中奥德修斯的同志。
h64. Achilles: The hero of the Greeks, and Odysseus’s comrade, in Homer’s Iliad.
[1]年
[1]years
[2]适当的
[2]proper
(1812–1889)
[1812–1889]
费拉拉
Ferraraa
这是我的最后一位公爵夫人,画在墙上,
That’s my last Duchessb painted on the wall,
她看上去就像活着一样。我叫道
Looking as if she were alive. I call
这件作品现在是一个奇迹:Frà Pandolf 的c手
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’sc hands
忙碌了一天,她就站在那里。
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
5你能坐下来看看她吗?我说
5Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” 的设计,从未读过
“Frà Pandolf ” by design, for never read
像你一样的陌生人,那张如画的面容,
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
它那深邃而热情的真诚目光,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
但他们转向我(因为没有人
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
10我为你拉上了帷幕,但我)
10The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
仿佛他们要问我,如果他们敢的话,
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
这样的目光是如何出现的?所以,不是第一次
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
你是不是要转过身来问这个问题?先生,
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
只有她丈夫的存在,才叫那个地方
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
15公爵夫人脸上的喜悦:也许
15Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
潘多夫神父偶然说:“她的斗篷
Frà Pandolf chanced to say “Her mantle laps
在我女士的手腕上画太多了”,或者“画
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
决不能指望重现那种微弱
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
半红晕沿着她的喉咙消失”:这样的东西
Half-flush that dies along her throat”: such stuff
20她想,这是礼貌,而且足够了
20Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
唤起那片欢乐。她有
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
一颗心——我该怎么说呢?——太快高兴了,
A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad,
太容易被打动了;她喜欢什么就什么
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
她注视着四周,目光四处扫视。
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
二十五先生,这都是一样!我对她怀有恩情,
25Sir, ’twas all one! My favor at her breast,
西方白昼渐渐消逝,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
樱桃树枝上有些爱管闲事的傻瓜
The bough of cherries some officious fool
为她驯服的果园里的白骡子
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
她骑着马绕着露台转了一圈——
She rode with round the terrace — all and each
三十会得到她同样的赞许,
30Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
或者至少脸红。她感谢男人,——好!但感谢
Or blush, at least. She thanked men, — good! but thanked
不知何故——我不知道为什么——好像她排名
Somehow — I know not how — as if she ranked
我送给你的九百年历史的名字
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
任何人的礼物。谁会屈尊责怪
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
三十五这种小事?你甚至有本事
35This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
在言语上 — — (我没有) — — 表达你的意愿
In speech — (which I have not) — to make your will
对这样的人很清楚,并说,“就是这样
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
或者你让我厌恶;你错过了,
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
或者超过标准”——如果她让
Or there exceed the mark” — and if she let
40她自己也受过这样的教训,也没有明确地
40Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
她确实聪明,并且找了借口,
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
——即使这样也需要弯腰;我选择
— E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
永远不要弯腰。噢,先生,她笑着说,毫无疑问,
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
当我经过她的时候;但她没有
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
四十五还是一样微笑?笑容渐渐扩大;我发出了命令;
45Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
然后所有的笑容都消失了。她站在那里
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
仿佛活着。你不高兴起来吗?我们会见面的
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
那么,下面的公司。我再说一遍,
The company below, then. I repeat,
伯爵知道你的主人的慷慨
The Count your master’s known munificence
50有足够的理由证明没有正当的借口
50Is ample warrant that no just pretence
我的嫁妆是不允许的;
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
尽管他美丽的女儿本人,正如我所承认的
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
我的目标是出发。不,我们走吧
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
一起下来,先生。不过,注意海王星,
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
55驯服海马,虽然很罕见,
55Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
哪位因斯布鲁克的克劳斯为我铸造了青铜雕像!
Which Claus of Innsbruckd cast in bronze for me!
[1842年]
[1842]
a费拉拉:这首诗基于十六世纪意大利费拉拉公爵阿方索二世生活中发生的事件。
aFerrara: The poem is based on events that occurred in the life of Alfonso II, duke of Ferrara in Italy, in the sixteenth century.
b 1. 最后一位公爵夫人:费拉拉的第一任妻子卢克雷齐娅在结婚三年后于 1561 年去世,享年 17 岁。
b1. last Duchess: Ferrara’s first wife, Lucrezia, died in 1561 at age seventeen after three years of marriage.
c 3. Frà Pandolf:潘多夫兄弟,一位虚构的画家。
c3. Frà Pandolf: Brother Pandolf, a fictional painter.
d 56. 因斯布鲁克的克劳斯:一位虚构的雕塑家。
d56. Claus of Innsbruck: A fictional sculptor.
(1819–1892)
[1819–1892]
我为自己庆祝,歌唱自己,
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
我所假设的你也应当假设,
And what I assume you shall assume,
因为属于我的每一个原子也同样属于你。
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
我闲逛并邀请我的灵魂,
I loafe and invite my soul,
5我倚靠着,悠闲地观察着一株夏草。
5I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
我的舌头,我的血液中的每一个原子,都来自这片土地,这片空气,
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
出生地:父母出生地相同,其父母也出生地相同,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
父母也一样,
parents the same,
我今年三十七岁,身体健康,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
希望至死不渝。
Hoping to cease not till death.
10信条和学派被搁置,
10Creeds and schools in abeyance,
退休一段时间就足以了解它们是什么,但永远不会忘记,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
不管好坏,我都愿意说,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
自然不受制约,本能充沛。
Nature without check with original energy.
房子和房间里充满了香水,架子上挤满了香水,
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
15我自己呼吸着这香气,了解它,喜欢它,
15I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,
蒸馏也会让我陶醉,但我不会让它发生。
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
空气不是香水,它没有蒸馏的味道,它是无味的,
The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless,
它永远属于我的嘴,我爱它,
It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
我要去树林边的银行,不加掩饰,赤身裸体,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
20我疯狂地想要它与我联系。
20I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
我呼吸的烟雾,
The smoke of my own breath,
回声、涟漪、嗡嗡的私语、爱根、丝线、树杈和藤蔓,
Echoes, ripples, buzz’d whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,
我的呼吸和吸气、我的心跳、我的肺部血液和空气的流动,
My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs,
绿叶和枯叶的气息,海岸和黑色的海岩的气息,以及谷仓里的干草的气息,
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark-color’d sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
二十五我吐出的话语的声音消失在风的旋涡中,
25The sound of the belch’d words of my voice loos’d to the eddies of the wind,
几次轻吻,几次拥抱,一次张开双臂,
A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
柔嫩的树枝摇曳,光影在树上变换,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
无论是独自一人,还是在熙熙攘攘的街道上,或是沿着田野和山坡,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hill-sides,
健康的感觉,正午的颤音,以及我从床上起床迎接太阳的歌声。
The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun.
三十您认为一千英亩很多吗?您认为地球很多吗?
30Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much? have you reckon’d the earth much?
你练习了这么长时间才学会阅读吗?
Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?
你是否因为领悟诗歌的意义而感到如此自豪?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?
和我一起停留这一日一夜,你将拥有所有诗歌的起源,
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
你将拥有地球和太阳的美好,(还剩下数百万个太阳,)
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,)
三十五你不再需要二手货或三手货,也不再需要
35You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look
透过死人的眼睛,也不靠书本里的幽灵为食,
through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
你也不可透过我的眼睛看东西,也不可从我这里拿走东西,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
你应该倾听各方的意见,并从自己身上过滤掉它们。
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.
我听到了谈话者们的谈话,关于开始和结束的谈话,
I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end,
但我并不谈论开始或者结束。
But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.
40从来没有像现在这样有更多的起源,
40There was never any more inception than there is now,
不再有比现在更多的年轻人和老年人,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
永远不会有比现在更完美的东西,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
天堂和地狱都不会比现在更多。
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.
催促、催促、催促,
Urge and urge and urge,
四十五永远存在着世界繁衍的冲动。
45Always the procreant urge of the world.
从昏暗中对立的平等者前进,永远是物质和增加,永远是性别,
Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always substance and increase, always sex,
永远是一种身份的纽带,永远是一种区别,永远是一种生命。
Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life.
详细阐述是无益的,有学问的和无学问的人都感觉到如此。
To elaborate is no avail, learn’d and unlearn’d feel that it is so.
像最确定的一样确定,垂直于立柱,很好地连接,支撑在横梁上,
Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well entretied,b braced in the beams,
50健壮如马,热情,傲慢,充满电,
50Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
我和这个谜团就在这里。
I and this mystery here we stand.
我的灵魂清澈而甜美,一切不属于我灵魂的东西也清澈而甜美。
Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.
缺少一个就缺少两个,看不见的东西可以通过看得见的东西来证明,
Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen,
直到它变得看不见,并反过来得到证明。
Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn.
55展示最好的,并将其与最坏的时代区分开来,这个时代令人烦恼,
55Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age,
知道事物的完美适合和平静,而它们
Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they
讨论我沉默了,自己去洗澡欣赏一下吧。
discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself.
欢迎我的每一个器官和属性,以及任何热心和干净的人,
Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,
没有一寸,也没有一寸的微粒是卑鄙的,也没有一寸比其余的更不熟悉。
Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.
我很满足——我看见、跳舞、大笑、歌唱;
I am satisfied — I see, dance, laugh, sing;
60当那拥抱着我的爱人彻夜安睡,在黎明悄悄地离开时,
60As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night, and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread,
留给我一筐筐盖着白毛巾的水果,装满了屋子,
Leaving me baskets cover’d with white towels swelling the house with their plenty,
我是否应该推迟接受和实现,然后对我的眼睛尖叫,
Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes,
他们不再注视着道路,
That they turn from gazing after and down the road,
立刻给我算出精确的数额,
And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,
65恰好是一的值,恰好是二的值,哪一个在前面?
65Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and which is ahead?
一个小孩问这是什么草?他双手捧着草递给我;
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
100我该怎么回答这个孩子呢?我和他一样不知道那是什么。
100How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
我想这一定是我性格的旗帜,用充满希望的绿色材料编织而成。
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
或者我猜这是主的手帕,
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
一份精心丢弃的芳香礼物和纪念品,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,
在角落处标明主人的名字,以便我们能够看到并注意到,然后说他是谁的?
Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?
105或者我猜想草本身就是一个孩子,是植物产生的婴儿。
105Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.
或者我猜这是一种统一的象形文字,
Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
它的意思是,在宽阔的区域和狭窄的区域都能发芽,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
在黑人和白人中都生长,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck,c Tuckahoe,d国会议员,Cuff,e我给予他们同样的回报。
Kanuck,c Tuckahoe,d Congressman, Cuff,e I give them the same, I receive them the same.
110现在在我看来,它就像坟墓里未剪的美丽的头发。
110And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
我将温柔地使用你卷曲的草,
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
也许你来自年轻人的胸怀,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
如果我认识他们,我可能会爱他们,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
也许你们是老人的后代,或者是刚从母亲怀抱里抱出来的后代,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,
115现在,你们就是母亲的怀抱。
115And here you are the mothers’ laps.
这草颜色很黑,不像是老母亲的白头,
This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
比老人无色的胡须还要黑,
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
口腔淡红色的上颚下方显得很黑暗。
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.
毕竟我看到了这么多说话的舌头,
O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,
120我发现它们不是无缘无故从口腔顶部发出的。
120And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.
我希望我能翻译关于死去的年轻男女的暗示,
I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
还有关于老人和母亲以及即将从他们怀抱中带走的后代的暗示。
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.
您认为这些年轻人和老年人现在怎么样了?
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
您认为妇女和儿童的状况怎么样了?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?
125它们在某个地方活得好好的,
125They are alive and well somewhere,
最小的嫩芽表明实际上没有死亡,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
如果它曾经引领生命向前,而不是等到生命结束时才停止,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
生命一出现,一切就终止了。
And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.
一切都向前向外,没有任何东西崩溃,
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
130死亡不同于任何人想象的,而且是更为幸运的。
130And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
有谁认为出生是一件幸运的事吗?
Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
我赶紧告诉他或她,死亡也是一种幸运,我知道这一点。
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
我和垂死的人一起经过死亡,和刚洗过澡的婴儿一起经过出生,但我并不被束缚在我的帽子和靴子之间,
I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash’d babe, and am not contain’d between my hat and boots,
观察各种各样的事物,没有两件是相同的,每件都是好的,
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good,
135地球是好的,星星是好的,它们的附属物也都是好的。
135The earth good and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.
我不是地球,也不是地球的附属物,
I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,
我是人们的伴侣和同伴,他们都和我一样不朽和深不可测,
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself,
(他们不知道如何永生,但我知道。)
(They do not know how immortal, but I know.)
一切物种都为自己而生,一切雌雄为我而生,
Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female,
140对我来说,那些曾经是男孩并爱上女人的人,
140For me those that have been boys and that love women,
对我来说,一个骄傲的人,感受到被轻视的痛苦,
For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
对我来说是爱人和老处女,对我来说是母亲和母亲的母亲,
For me the sweet-heart and the old maid, for me mothers and the mothers of mothers,
对我而言,曾微笑的嘴唇,曾流泪的眼睛,
For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,
对我来说是孩子和孩子的生育者。
For me children and the begetters of children.
145脱去衣服吧!你对我并不负罪,也不陈旧,也不被抛弃,
145Undrape! you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,
透过宽幅布和方格布,我看得出来,
I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no,
我在身边,顽强,贪婪,不知疲倦,无法被撼动。
And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless, and cannot be shaken away.
小家伙在摇篮里睡觉,
The little one sleeps in its cradle,
我掀开纱布看了许久,默默地用手拂去苍蝇。
I lift the gauze and look a long time, and silently brush away flies with my hand.
150年轻人和红脸姑娘转身走上灌木丛生的山坡,
150The youngster and the red-faced girl turn aside up the bushy hill,
我从顶部仔细地观察着它们。
I peeringly view them from the top.
自杀者趴在卧室血淋淋的地板上,
The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom,
我看见了头发稀疏的尸体,注意到手枪掉落的地方。
I witness the corpse with its dabbled hair, I note where the pistol has fallen.
人行道上的喧闹声、马车轮胎的声音、靴底的泥土声、散步者的谈话声,
The blab of the pave, tires of carts, sluff of boot-soles, talk of the promenaders,
155笨重的公共汽车,司机用大拇指询问,叮当响声
155The heavy omnibus, the driver with his interrogating thumb, the clank
花岗岩地面上的钉着马蹄的马,
of the shod horses on the granite floor,
雪橇叮当作响,人们高声说笑,扔着雪球,
The snow-sleighs, clinking, shouted jokes, pelts of snow-balls,
民众欢呼雀跃,民众愤怒不已,
The hurrahs for popular favorites, the fury of rous’d mobs,
担架帘子啪啪作响,里面抬着一个病人去医院,
The flap of the curtain’d litter, a sick man inside borne to the hospital,
敌人的相遇,突然的咒骂,打击和跌倒,
The meeting of enemies, the sudden oath, the blows and fall,
160激动的人群,戴着星章的警察迅速地走到人群中央,
160The excited crowd, the policeman with his star quickly working his passage to the centre of the crowd,
冷漠的石头接收并反射如此多的回声,
The impassive stones that receive and return so many echoes,
吃得过饱或饿得半死,中暑或发病时发出的呻吟声,
What groans of over-fed or half-starv’d who fall sunstruck or in fits,
那些突然惊慌失措的妇女匆忙回家生孩子时发出的惊呼声,
What exclamations of women taken suddenly who hurry home and give birth to babes,
什么活生生的和埋葬的语言总是在这里震动,什么被礼仪抑制的嚎叫,
What living and buried speech is always vibrating here, what howls restrain’d by decorum,
165罪犯的逮捕、怠慢、通奸的提议、接受、撅嘴拒绝,
165Arrests of criminals, slights, adulterous offers made, acceptances, rejections with convex lips,
我介意它们,或它们的表现或共鸣——我来了,又走了。
I mind them or the show or resonance of them — I come and I depart.
乡间谷仓的大门敞开着,
The big doors of the country barn stand open and ready,
收割时的干草装上缓慢拉动的马车,
The dried grass of the harvest-time loads the slow-drawn wagon,
清澈的光线照射在棕灰色和绿色交织的色调上,
The clear light plays on the brown gray and green intertinged,
170一抱抱的庄稼被堆在下垂的草堆上。
170The armfuls are pack’d to the sagging mow.
我在那里,我帮助,我爬到重担的顶上,
I am there, I help, I came stretch’d atop of the load,
我感觉到它轻轻的震动,一条腿靠在另一条腿上,
I felt its soft jolts, one leg reclined on the other,
我从横梁上跳下来,抓起三叶草和猫尾草,
I jump from the cross-beams and seize the clover and timothy,
然后翻滚着,让我的头发乱成一团。
And roll head over heels and tangle my hair full of wisps.
175我独自一人在荒野和深山中狩猎,
175Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt,
惊叹于自己的轻松和欢乐,
Wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee,
傍晚时分,选择一个安全的地方过夜,
In the late afternoon choosing a safe spot to pass the night,
点起火,烤着刚猎获的猎物,
Kindling a fire and broiling the fresh-kill’d game,
我在收集的树叶上睡着了,我的狗和枪就在我身边。
Falling asleep on the gather’d leaves with my dog and gun by my side.
180扬基号快船扬起天帆,划过闪闪发光的浪花,
180The Yankee clipper is under her sky-sails, she cuts the sparkle and scud,
我的目光注视着陆地,我向船头弯下腰,或者在甲板上欢呼雀跃。
My eyes settle the land, I bend at her prow or shout joyously from the deck.
船夫和挖蛤蜊的人早早起床,为我停留,
The boatmen and clam-diggers arose early and stopt for me,
我把裤脚塞进靴子里,出去玩了一会儿;
I tuck’d my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time;
那天你应该和我们一起围坐在杂烩锅旁。
You should have been with us that day round the chowder-kettle.
我在遥远的西部看见了猎人在露天举行的婚礼,新娘是一位红衣姑娘,
I saw the marriage of the trapper in the open air in the far west, the bride was a red girl,
185她的父亲和他的朋友们盘腿坐在她旁边,默默地抽着烟,他们脚上穿着鹿皮鞋,肩上披着厚厚的毯子,
185Her father and his friends sat near cross-legged and dumbly smoking, they had moccasins to their feet and large thick blankets hanging from their shoulders,
猎人懒洋洋地躺在河岸上,他大部分衣服都是兽皮,浓密的胡须和卷发遮住了脖子,他手牵着新娘,
On a bank lounged the trapper, he was drest mostly in skins, his luxuriant beard and curls protected his neck, he held his bride by the hand,
她的睫毛很长,光着头,粗直的头发披散在她丰满的四肢上,一直延伸到脚边。
She had long eyelashes, her head was bare, her coarse straight locks descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reach’d to her feet.
逃跑的奴隶来到我家,在外面停了下来,
The runaway slave came to my house and stopt outside,
190我听见他的动作使木桩上的树枝发出噼啪声,
190I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,
透过厨房半开的门,我看到他虚弱无力,
Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsy and weak,
然后,他走到他坐在木头上的地方,领他进去,向他保证,
And went where he sat on a log and led him in and assured him,
他取来一桶水,为他汗流浃背的身体和受伤的双脚洗澡,
And brought water and fill’d a tub for his sweated body and bruis’d feet,
我给他安排了一间从我家通向他的房间,给了他一些粗糙干净的衣服,
And gave him a room that enter’d from my own, and gave him some coarse clean clothes,
195记得他转动的眼睛和他的尴尬,
195And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness,
还记得给他脖子和脚踝的肿块贴上膏药;
And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;
他和我在一起呆了一个星期,然后康复并去了北方,
He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and pass’d north,
我让他坐在我旁边的桌子旁,我的枪靠在角落里。
I had him sit next me at table, my fire-lock lean’d in the corner.
245野公鹅带领羊群穿过凉爽的夜晚,
245The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,
他说“呀-嘎”,听起来像在邀请我,
Ya-honk he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation,
那些无礼的人可能认为这毫无意义,但我仔细听着,
The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listening close,
在冬日的天空中找到它的用途和位置。
Find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky.
北方的尖蹄驼鹿、窗台上的猫、山雀、草原犬鼠,
The sharp-hoof’d moose of the north, the cat on the house-sill, the chickadee, the prairie-dog,
250母猪的幼崽在咕噜咕噜地拉扯着母猪的乳头,
250The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,
母火鸡的幼崽和半张着翅膀的母火鸡,
The brood of the turkey-hen and she with her half-spread wings,
我从他们身上和从我自己身上看到了同样的古老规律。
I see in them and myself the same old law.
我的脚踩在地上,产生百种情感,
The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,
他们蔑视我所作的最好的叙述。
They scorn the best I can do to relate them.
255我热衷于户外生长,
255I am enamour’d of growing out-doors,
生活在牛群中或品尝海洋或森林味道的人,
Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods,
建造船只和掌舵的人、挥舞斧头和大锤的人、驾驭马匹的人,
Of the builders and steerers of ships and the wielders of axes and mauls, and the drivers of horses,
我可以周复一周地和他们一起吃饭睡觉。
I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.
最普通、最廉价、最近、最容易的就是我,
What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me,
260我冒险,为获得巨额回报而付出,
260Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
装扮自己,把自己赠予第一个接受我的人,
Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,
不求天空降下善意,
Not asking the sky to come down to my good will,
永远自由地散播它。
Scattering it freely forever.
我是身体的诗人,也是灵魂的诗人,
I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,
天堂的快乐与我同在,地狱的痛苦也与我同在,
The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me,
我将前者移植并增强到我自己身上,将后者翻译成一种新的语言。
The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into a new tongue.
425我既是男人的诗人,也是女人的诗人,
425I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
我说做女人和做男人一样伟大,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
我说没有什么比人类的母亲更伟大。
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.
我吟唱着扩张或骄傲的颂歌,
I chant the chant of dilation or pride,
我们已经受够了躲避和贬低,
We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,
430我表明,尺寸只是发展而已。
430I show that size is only development.
你已经超越其他人了吗?你是总统吗?
Have you outstript the rest? are you the President?
这没什么大不了的,他们每个人都会到达那里,然后继续前行。
It is a trifle, they will more than arrive there every one, and still pass on.
我是与温柔而渐浓的夜色一起行走的人,
I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,
我向被黑夜半笼罩的大地和海洋呼唤。
I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.
435贴近赤裸胸脯的夜——贴近磁性滋养的夜!
435Press close bare-bosom’d night — press close magnetic nourishing night!
南风之夜——大颗星星之夜!
Night of south winds — night of the large few stars!
静静地点头的夜晚——疯狂赤裸的夏夜。
Still nodding night — mad naked summer night.
微笑吧,美丽而清凉的大地!
Smile O voluptuous cool-breath’d earth!
沉睡的、液体树木的地球!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
440夕阳西下之大地——云雾缭绕的山顶之大地!
440Earth of departed sunset — earth of the mountains misty-topt!
满月的玻璃体倾泻而下的地球略带蓝色!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
大地光辉与黑暗交织,河水潮汐!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
大地的清澈灰色云朵因我而变得更加明亮和清澈!
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
广阔的土地,开满苹果花的富饶土地!
Far-swooping elbow’d earth — rich apple-blossom’d earth!
445微笑吧,因为你的爱人来了。
445Smile, for your lover comes.
浪子,你给了我爱——因此我也把爱给你!
Prodigal, you have given me love — therefore I to you give love!
啊,难以言表的热烈爱情。
O unspeakable passionate love.
沃尔特·惠特曼,曼哈顿之子,
Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son,
动荡、肉欲、感官、吃喝和繁殖,
Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding,
没有感情用事的人,没有高高在上或与他们隔绝的人,
No sentimentalist, no stander above men and women or apart from them,
500既不谦虚也不不不谦虚。
500No more modest than immodest.
把门上的锁拧开!
Unscrew the locks from the doors!
把门从门框上拧下来!
Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!
凡贬低他人的人,也贬低了我,
Whoever degrades another degrades me,
而一切所做所为或所说之事最终都会回到我身上。
And whatever is done or said returns at last to me.
505灵感通过我而涌动、通过我而涌现,潮流和指数通过我而涌现。
505Through me the afflatusf surging and surging, through me the current and index.
我说出原始的密码,我给出民主的标志,
I speak the pass-word primeval, I give the sign of democracy,
上帝作证!我不会接受任何不能以同样方式得到的东西。
By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms.
通过我许多长长的哑声,
Through me many long dumb voices,
无数代囚犯和奴隶的声音,
Voices of the interminable generations of prisoners and slaves,
510病人、绝望者、小偷和侏儒的声音,
510Voices of the diseas’d and despairing and of thieves and dwarfs,
准备和积累的循环之声,
Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion,
还有连接星星的线、子宫和父体的线,
And of the threads that connect the stars, and of wombs and of the father-stuff,
而其他人的权利却被剥夺,
And of the rights of them the others are down upon,
那些畸形的、无足轻重的、平庸的、愚昧的、受人鄙视的,
Of the deform’d, trivial, flat, foolish, despised,
515空气中弥漫着雾气,甲虫在滚粪球。
515Fog in the air, beetles rolling balls of dung.
通过我禁忌的声音,
Through me forbidden voices,
性和欲望的声音,声音被遮住了,我揭开了面纱,
Voices of sexes and lusts, voices veil’d and I remove the veil,
我所发出的不雅声音被澄清和美化了。
Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigur’d.
我不会用手指捂住嘴,
I do not press my fingers across my mouth,
520我对肠道和头部及心脏的呵护同样细腻,
520I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart,
对我来说,交配并不比死亡更卑鄙。
Copulation is no more rank to me than death is.
我相信肉体和欲望,
I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
看到、听到、感觉到的都是奇迹,我身上的每个部分和标签都是一个奇迹。
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
我由内而外都是神圣的,我使我所接触的或被接触的一切也都神圣,
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d from,
525这腋窝的香气比祈祷更芬芳,
525The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,
这比教堂、圣经和所有的信条更重要。
This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds.
如果我崇拜某样东西胜过崇拜另一样东西,那将是我自己身体的蔓延,或身体的任何部分,
If I worship one thing more than another it shall be the spread of my own body, or any part of it,
我的半透明模具就是你!
Translucent mould of me it shall be you!
阴凉的壁架和休息处就是你!
Shaded ledges and rests it shall be you!
530坚定的阳刚之气,就是你!
530Firm masculine colterg it shall be you!
无论我身在何处,那都是你!
Whatever goes to the tilthh of me it shall be you!
你是我丰富的血液!你那乳白色的溪流淡淡地剥去我的生命!
You my rich blood! your milky stream pale strippings of my life!
乳房紧贴着别人的乳房,那便是你!
Breast that presses against other breasts it shall be you!
我的大脑它将成为你的神秘回旋!
My brain it shall be your occult convolutions!
535洗过的菖蒲的根!胆怯的池鹬!守卫着的复生蛋的巢!那将是你们!
535Root of wash’d sweet-flag! timorous pond-snipe! nest of guarded duplicate eggs! it shall be you!
头、胡须、肌肉杂乱无章,那就是你!
Mix’d tussled hay of head, beard, brawn, it shall be you!
枫树的涓涓细流,小麦的纤维,这就是你!
Trickling sap of maple, fibre of manly wheat, it shall be you!
太阳啊,你真慷慨!
Sun so generous it shall be you!
蒸气照亮并遮蔽了我的脸庞那就是你!
Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you!
540你这汗流浃背的溪流和露珠,就是你!
540You sweaty brooks and dews it shall be you!
用柔软的生殖器摩擦着我的风,就是你!
Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you!
宽阔的田野,茂盛的橡树枝条,在我蜿蜒的小路上悠闲地躺着的,就是你!
Broad muscular fields, branches of live oak, loving lounger in my winding paths, it shall be you!
我曾握住的手、我曾亲吻的脸、我曾触摸过的凡人,都将成为你。
Hands I have taken, face I have kiss’d, mortal I have ever touch’d, it shall be you.
我知道我拥有最好的时间和空间,并且从未被衡量过,也永远不会被衡量。
I know I have the best of time and space, and was never measured and never will be measured.
我踏上永恒的旅程,(大家来听听!)
I tramp a perpetual journey, (come listen all!)
我的标志是一件防雨外套,一双好鞋,和一根从树林里砍下来的手杖,
My signs are a rain-proof coat, good shoes, and a staff cut from the woods,
我的朋友没有一个能在我的椅子上舒服地坐下,
No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,
1205我没有椅子,没有教堂,没有哲学,
1205I have no chair, no church, no philosophy,
我不会带任何人去餐桌、图书馆、交易所,
I lead no man to a dinner-table, library, exchange,
但我把你们每一个男人和每一个女人领到一座小山上,
But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,
我的左手勾住你的腰,
My left hand hooking you round the waist,
我的右手指向各大洲的风景和公路。
My right hand pointing to landscapes of continents and the public road.
1210不是我,不是别人,可以替你走那条路,
1210Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,
您必须亲自去旅行。
You must travel it for yourself.
它并不遥远,触手可及,
It is not far, it is within reach,
也许你从出生起就已踏上这条道路,却不知道,
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not know,
也许它在水上、陆地上随处可见。
Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land.
1215亲爱的儿子,你扛起你的担子吧,我也会扛起我的担子,让我们快点前进,
1215Shoulder your duds dear son, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth,
我们将一路追寻美丽的城市和自由的国家。
Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.
如果你累了,就把两个负担都交给我,把你的手放在我的臀部上,
If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuffi of your hand on my hip,
到了适当的时候,你也要以同样的服务回报我,
And in due time you shall repay the same service to me,
因为一旦出发,我们就不会再躺下。
For after we start we never lie by again.
1220这天黎明前我登上一座小山,望着人潮拥挤的天空,
1220This day before dawn I ascended a hill and look’d at the crowded heaven,
我对我的精神说,当我们成为这些天体的包裹者,并成为其中一切事物的快乐和知识时,我们会感到充实和满意吗?
And I said to my spirit When we become the enfolders of those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be fill’d and satisfied then?
而我的精神却说不,我们只能提升水平以通过并继续前行。
And my spirit said No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond.
你也在问我问题,我听到了,
You are also asking me questions and I hear you,
我的回答是,我无法回答,你必须自己去寻找答案。
I answer that I cannot answer, you must find out for yourself.
1225坐一会儿,亲爱的儿子,
1225Sit a while dear son,
这里有饼干吃,这里有牛奶喝,
Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,
但当你睡着并换上甜美的衣服后,我会给你一个告别之吻,并打开大门让你离开。
But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes, I kiss you with a good-by kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.
你做这些卑鄙的梦已经够久了,
Long enough have you dream’d contemptible dreams,
现在我洗掉你眼里的口香糖,
Now I wash the gum from your eyes,
1230你必须习惯光芒的闪耀以及生命中每一刻的光芒。
1230You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.
你曾长期胆怯地抓住一块木板在岸边涉水,
Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,
现在我要你成为一名勇敢的游泳者,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
跳入海中,再浮出水面,向我点头,大喊,笑着挥动你的头发。
To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout, and laughingly dash with your hair.
我说过灵魂不高于肉体,
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
1270我说过,肉体并不比灵魂更重要,
1270And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
没有什么,包括上帝,比一个人自己更伟大,
And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is,
谁若无同情地行走一英里,就等于是穿着寿衣走向自己的葬礼,
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud,
我或你口袋里一毛钱都没有,可以买到世上最好的东西,
And I or you pocketless of a dime may purchase the pick of the earth,
用眼睛看一眼或看一看豆荚里的豆子,会混淆所有时代的学问,
And to glance with an eye or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all times,
1275任何行业或职业,从事该职业的年轻人都可能成为英雄,
1275And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a hero,
没有任何物体如此柔软,但它却成为轮子宇宙的枢纽,
And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel’d universe,
我对任何男人或女人说,让你的灵魂在千万个宇宙面前保持冷静和镇定。
And I say to any man or woman, Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.
我对人类说,不要对上帝感到好奇,
And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God,
我对每个人都很好奇,但对上帝却不感兴趣,
For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,
1280(无论用怎样的词语都无法形容我对上帝和死亡的平静。)
1280(No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.)
我在万物中听到和看到上帝,却丝毫不理解上帝,
I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,
我也不明白还有谁能比我更出色。
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
我为何希望比今天更清楚地见到上帝?
Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
我每时每刻都能看到上帝的存在,
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
1285在男人和女人的脸上我看到了上帝,在镜子里我自己的脸上,
1285In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
我在街上发现上帝掉下来的信件,每一封都署有上帝的名字,
I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign’d by God’s name,
我把它们留在原处,因为我知道无论我去哪里,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe’er I go,
其他人将永远准时到来。
Others will punctually come for ever and ever.
过去和现在都枯萎了——我填满了它们,又掏空了它们,
The past and present wilt — I have fill’d them, emptied them,
1320并继续填补我未来的下一个空白。
1320And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
上面的听众朋友!你有什么事要告诉我呢?
Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuffj the sidlek of evening,
(说实话,没人听见,而且我只呆一分钟。)
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
我有自相矛盾吗?
Do I contradict myself?
1325那我自相矛盾了,
1325Very well then I contradict myself,
(我很庞大,我包含众多。)
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
我把注意力集中在近处的人们身上,我在门板上等待。
I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
谁已经做完了一天的工作?谁最快吃完晚饭?
Who has done his day’s work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
谁愿意和我一起走?
Who wishes to walk with me?
1330在我走之前你会说话吗?你会证明已经太晚了吗?
1330Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?
斑鹰飞过来指责我,它抱怨我的喋喋不休和游荡。
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering.
我也没有被驯服,我也无法被翻译,
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
我在世界屋脊上发出我野蛮的叫喊。
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
一天中最后的冲锋为我阻挡,
The last scud of day holds back for me,
1335它把我的形象投射到阴暗荒野中其他一切事物的后面,
1335It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow’d wilds,
它引诱我走向蒸汽和黄昏。
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
我像空气一样离开,我对着逃走的太阳摇晃着我的白发,
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
我在漩涡中流淌我的肉体,并使其在花边锯齿中漂流。
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
我把自己遗赠给泥土,让我从我所爱的小草中成长,
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
1340如果你再次需要我,请在你的靴底下寻找我。
1340If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
你几乎不知道我是谁,或我的意思,
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
但我无论如何都会保佑你健康,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
并过滤和纤维化你的血液。
And filter and fibre your blood.
一开始没能让我振作起来,
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
1345在一个地方想念我,在另一个地方寻找我,
1345Missing me one place search another,
我停在某处等你。
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
1855年;1891-1892年
[1855; 1891–1892]
一首我自己的歌:这首诗最初发表于 1855 年,是《草叶集》中无标题的部分。它是内战前美国文化政治和自由诗实验的一个粗糙、粗鲁和有力的例子。这里使用的版本来自第六版(1891-1892),更长、更精心制作,标点符号也更传统。第 1-3 节介绍了人物角色以及这首诗的范围和方法;第 6 节解释了草作为一种象征;第 7-10 节是惠特曼动态全景细密画的例子,对于印第安人和非洲裔美国人也具有历史意义;第 14 节延伸了第 7-10 节的范围;第 21 节发展了惠特曼关于性和自然的主题;第 24 节延伸了对诗中人物角色的处理;第 46 和 48 节重述了这首诗的主要主题;第 51 和 52 节讨论了诗人人物角色融入读者的过程。
aSong of Myself: The poem was first published in 1855 as an untitled section of Leaves of Grass. It was a rough, rude, and vigorous example of antebellum American cultural politics and free verse experimentation. The version used here, from the sixth edition (1891–1892), is much longer, more carefully crafted, and more conventionally punctuated. Sections 1–3 introduce the persona and the scope and method of the poem; section 6 explains grass as a symbol; sections 7–10, examples of Whitman’s dynamic panoramic miniatures, are also of historical significance regarding Native and African Americans; section 14 extends the outward sweep of 7–10; section 21 develops Whitman’s theme of sex and nature; section 24 extends the handling of the poem’s persona; sections 46 and 48 recapitulate the major themes of the poem; sections 51 and 52 deal with the absorption of the poet’s persona into the converted reader.
b 49. 交叉支撑:交叉支撑,如木工中两根托梁之间。
b49. entretied: Cross-braced, as between two joists in carpentry.
c 109. Kanuck:法裔加拿大人;
c109. Kanuck: A French Canadian;
d茯苓:居住在潮汐地区的弗吉尼亚人,以茯苓(一种真菌)为食;
dTuckahoe: A Virginian living in the tidewater region and eating tuckahoe, a fungus;
e袖口:黑人。
eCuff: A black person.
f 505. afflatus:灵感(源自拉丁语“吹拂”)。
f505. afflatus: Inspiration (from the Latin for “to blow on”).
g 530. 犁刀:犁上用于切开泥土的刀片或圆盘。
g530. colter: Blade or disk on a plow for cutting the earth.
h 531. 耕作:土地的耕种。
h531. tilth: Cultivation of land.
i 1217. chuff:重量。
i1217. chuff: Weight.
j 1322. 掐灭:熄灭;
j1322. snuff: Snuff out;
k sidle:侧向或隐秘移动。
ksidle: Sidewise or stealthy movement.
(1819–1892)
[1819–1892]
当我听到那位博学的天文学家
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
当那些证明和数字在我面前一一排列时,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
当我看到这些图表和图解,并要我添加、划分和测量它们时,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
当我坐在教室里听天文学家演讲,并赢得热烈掌声时,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
5我很快就不知不觉地感到疲倦和不适,
5How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
直到我站起身,独自走开,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
在神秘潮湿的夜空中,时不时地,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
静静地仰望星空。
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
[1865年]
[1865]
(1822-1888)
[1822–1888]
今晚海面很平静。
The sea is calm tonight.
潮水满溢,明月当空
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
在海峡上;在法国海岸上,
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
闪闪发光,消失了;英格兰的悬崖依然矗立,
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
5宁静的海湾,波光粼粼,辽阔无垠。
5Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
来到窗前,夜晚的空气很甜美!
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
只是,从长长的水花线
Only, from the long line of spray
在大海与月色映照的陆地相接的地方,
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
听!你听到刺耳的轰鸣声
Listen! you hear the grating roar
10被波浪卷回的鹅卵石,
10Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
他们回到高高的海滩上,
At their return, up the high strand,
开始,然后停止,然后再次开始,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
用颤抖的节奏缓慢地,带来
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
永恒的悲伤音符。
The eternal note of sadness in.
15索福克勒斯很久以前
15Sophocles long ago
在爱琴海上听到了它,它带来了
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
浑浊的潮起潮落进入他的脑海
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
人类的苦难;我们
Of human misery; we
在声音中也能找到一种思想,
Find also in the sound a thought,
20在遥远的北海边聆听这声音。
20Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
信仰之海
The Sea of Faith
也曾是地球海岸上最圆润的地方
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
像卷起的明亮腰带一样折叠起来。
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
但现在我只听到
But now I only hear
二十五它那忧郁的、悠长的、退却的咆哮,
25Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
退却,回到呼吸
Retreating, to the breath
夜风吹过阴冷的广阔边缘
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
以及世界上的裸露木瓦[1] 。
And naked shingles[1] of the world.
啊,爱,让我们真诚相待
Ah, love, let us be true
三十彼此!对于这个世界来说,这似乎
30To one another! for the world, which seems
像一片梦幻之地呈现在我们面前,
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
如此多样,如此美丽,如此新颖,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
确实没有欢乐、没有爱、没有光明,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
没有确定性,没有平静,也没有对痛苦的帮助;
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
三十五我们在这里就像在一片黑暗的平原上
35And we are here as on a darkling plain
挣扎与逃跑的惊恐交织在心中,
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
无知的军队在夜间发生冲突。
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
[约 1851 年;1867 年]
[c. 1851; 1867]
[1]鹅卵石覆盖的海滩
[1]pebble-covered beaches
(1830–1886)
[1830–1886]
狂野之夜 — 狂野之夜!
Wild Nights — Wild Nights!
如果我和你在一起
Were I with thee
狂野之夜应该是
Wild Nights should be
我们的奢侈品!
Our luxury!
5徒劳无功——风——
5Futile — the Winds —
致一颗静谧的心 —
To a Heart in port —
完成指南针 —
Done with the Compass —
图表完成!
Done with the Chart!
10在伊甸园划船 —
10Rowing in Eden —
啊,大海!
Ah, the Sea!
我今晚可以停泊吗?
Might I but moor — Tonight —
在你里面!
In Thee!
[约 1861 年;1891 年]
[c. 1861; 1891]
(1830–1886)
[1830–1886]
我死的时候,我听到苍蝇嗡嗡叫。
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —
房间里一片寂静
The Stillness in the Room
就像空气中的寂静——
Was like the Stillness in the Air —
暴风雨的巨浪之间 —
Between the Heaves of Storm —
5周围的眼睛——已经把它们拧干了——
5The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —
呼吸渐渐变得坚定
And Breaths were gathering firm
最后一次发作时——当国王
For that last Onset — when the King
在房间里见证
Be witnessed — in the Room —
我立下遗嘱,将我的纪念品赠予他人
I willed my Keepsakes — Signed away
10我的哪一部分
10What portion of me be
可分配——然后就是
Assignable — and then it was
有一只苍蝇飞进来——
There interposed a Fly —
和蓝色——犹豫不决的巴斯——
With Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —
在光与我之间
Between the light — and me —
15然后 Windows 失败了——然后
15And then the Windows failed — and then
我看不见——
I could not see to see —
[约 1862 年;1890 年]
[c. 1862; 1890]
(1830–1886)
[1830–1886]
疯狂是最神圣的感觉——
Much Madness is divinest Sense —
对于有眼光的人来说——
To a discerning Eye —
很多理智——最赤裸裸的疯狂——
Much Sense — the starkest Madness —
这是大多数
’Tis the Majority
在此,正如一切,盛行——
In this, as All, prevail —
5同意——你心智健全——
5Assent — and you are sane —
反对——你很危险——
Demur — you’re straightway dangerous —
并用链子处理——
And handled with a Chain —
[约 1862 年;1890 年]
[c. 1862; 1890]
(1830–1886)
[1830–1886]
因为我不能停下来等待死亡——
Because I could not stop for Death —
他好心地为我停下来——
He kindly stopped for me —
马车里只有我们俩——
The Carriage held but just Ourselves —
还有永生。
And Immortality.
5我们慢慢地开车——他不着急
5We slowly drove — He knew no haste
我已经放弃了
And I had put away
我的劳动和闲暇,
My labor and my leisure too,
因为他的礼貌——
For His Civility —
我们经过学校,那里的孩子们在努力
We passed the School, where Children strove
10休息时 — 在拳击场里 —
10At Recess — in the Ring —
我们经过了凝望麦田的田野——
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —
我们经过了落日——
We passed the Setting Sun —
或者更确切地说——他经过了我们——
Or rather — He passed Us —
露水使人颤抖和寒冷——
The Dews drew quivering and chill —
15只为薄纱,我的长袍——
15For only Gossamer, my Gown —
My Tippet[1] — only Tulle[2] —
我们在一栋房子前停了下来,
We paused before a House that seemed
地面隆起 —
A Swelling of the Ground —
屋顶几乎看不见了——
The Roof was scarcely visible —
20檐口 — 位于地面 —
20The Cornice — in the Ground —
从那时起——已经过去了几个世纪——然而
Since then — ’tis Centuries — and yet
感觉比白天还短
Feels shorter than the Day
我首先猜测的是马头
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
走向永恒——
Were toward Eternity —
[约 1863 年;1890 年]
[c. 1863; 1890]
[1]围巾
[1]scarf
[2]丝网
[2]silk net
(1830–1886)
[1830–1886]
有一种光的倾斜,
There’s a certain Slant of light,
冬日午后 —
Winter Afternoons —
压迫,就像沉重
That oppresses, like the Heft
大教堂的曲调 —
Of Cathedral Tunes —
5《天堂般的伤痛》带给我们——
5Heavenly Hurt, it gives us —
我们找不到伤疤,
We can find no scar,
但内在的差异——
But internal difference —
含义如下:
Where the Meanings, are —
没有人可以教它——任何——
None may teach it — Any —
10这是绝望的封印——
10’Tis the Seal Despair —
帝国的苦难
An imperial affliction
派我们去空中——
Sent us of the Air —
当它到来时,风景倾听着——
When it comes, the Landscape listens —
阴影——屏住呼吸——
Shadows — hold their breath —
15当它消失的时候,就像距离
15When it goes, ’tis like the Distance
面对死亡——
On the look of Death —
[约 1890 年]
[c. 1890]
(1832-1898)
[1832–1898]
真是太漂亮了,还有滑溜溜的
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
在波浪中旋转和摇晃;
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
所有的 mimsy 都是 borogoves,
All mimsy were the borogoves,
而 mome raths 则抢占了上风。
And the mome raths outgrabe.
5“小心那些 Jabberwock,我的孩子!
5“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
下颚可以咬,爪子可以抓!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
小心 Jubjub 鸟,避开
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
愤怒的班德斯奈基!”
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
他手持斩首剑;
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
10他长久以来寻找的敌人是——
10Long time the manxome foe he sought —
于是他在塔姆塔树旁休息,
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
他站了一会儿,陷入沉思。
And stood awhile in thought.
而他,就像乌菲什的思想一样,
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
贾巴沃克,有着火焰般的眼睛,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
15穿过图尔盖森林,
15Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
并且一边来一边发出咕噜声!
And burbled as it came!
一二!一二!彻底彻底
One, two! One, two! And through and through
斩首之刃发出了咯咯的笑声!
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
他让它死去,并把它的头
He left it dead, and with its head
20他大步走回去。
20He went galumphing back.
“你杀了贾巴沃克吗?
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
来到我的怀抱里吧,我闪亮的孩子!
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
哦,烦躁的一天!呼呼!卡莱!”
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
他高兴得咯咯笑起来。
He chortled in his joy.
二十五真是太漂亮了,还有滑溜溜的
25’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
在波浪中旋转和摇晃;
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
所有的 mimsy 都是 borogoves,
All mimsy were the borogoves,
而 mome raths 则抢占了上风。
And the mome raths outgrabe.
[ 1855年;1871年]
[1855; 1871]
《Jabberwocky:来自《爱丽丝镜中奇遇记》》(作者:刘易斯·卡罗尔)。
aJabberwocky: From Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll.
(1844–1889)
[1844–1889]
献给主基督
To Christ our Lord
我今天早上抓到了早晨的奴仆,白昼王国的王太子,斑驳的黎明猎鹰,骑着
I caught this morning morning’s minion, kingdom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
他脚下起伏的水平面平稳的空气,以及大步前进
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
高处,他如何拉响一只翅膀的缰绳,
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling[1] wing
5在他狂喜中!然后荡秋千,
5In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
就像鳐鱼的后跟在弓形弯曲处顺利滑行一样:投掷和滑行
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
拒绝了大风。我的心躲了起来
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
为鸟儿而动——成就,掌控事物!
Stirred for a bird, — the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
野性的美貌、勇气和行为,哦,空气、骄傲、羽毛,在这里
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
时代变得更美丽,也更危险,哦我的骑士[2]!
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier[2]!
闪耀着蓝色的凄凉余烬,啊,亲爱的,
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
[1918]
[1918]
10.扣:准备战斗。
a10. Buckle: To prepare for battle.
b 13. shéer plód:慢慢地。霍普金斯插入重音符号来表示他希望重音落在诗行的哪个位置。
b13. shéer plód: Slowly. Hopkins inserts accent marks to indicate where he wants the accent to fall in his poetic line.
c 13. sillion:地上的沟壑。
c13. sillion: A furrow of ground.
[1]涟漪
[1]rippling
[2]骑士
[2]knight
[3]擦伤
[3]chafe
(1859–1936)
[1859–1936]
你赢得城镇比赛的时候
The time you won your town the race
我们载着你穿过市场;
We chaired you through the market-place;
男人和男孩站在旁边欢呼,
Man and boy stood cheering by,
我们将您抬到肩高的地方回家。
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
5今天,所有跑步者都来到这里,
5To-day, the road all runners come,
我们高举双手迎接你回家,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
把你放在门槛上,
And set you at your threshold down,
一个较为平静的城镇的居民。
Townsman of a stiller town.
聪明的孩子,及时溜走
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
10在荣耀不再的战场
10From fields where glory does not stay
尽管月桂树长得早
And early though the laurel grows
它比玫瑰枯萎得更快。
It withers quicker than the rose.
夜色已暗,
Eyes the shady night has shut
看不到唱片剪辑,[1]
Cannot see the record cut,[1]
15沉默听起来并不比欢呼更糟糕
15And silence sounds no worse than cheers
当地球堵住耳朵后:
After earth has stopped the ears:
现在你不会扩大溃败
Now you will not swell the rout
那些失去荣誉的年轻人,
Of lads that wore their honours out,
跑得更快的选手
Runners whom renown outran
20而这个名字却在这个人的面前消失了。
20And the name died before the man.
所以,在它的回声消逝之前,
So set, before its echoes fade,
轻快的脚步踏在树荫的窗台上,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
并抓住低矮的门楣
And hold to the low lintel up
仍然防守的挑战杯。
The still-defended challenge-cup.
二十五在那早年戴上桂冠的头上
25And round that early-laurelled head
会蜂拥而至凝视无力的死者,
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
发现它的卷发上没有枯萎
And find unwithered on its curls
比女孩的花环更短暂。
The garland briefer than a girl’s.
[1896年]
[1896]
[1]破碎
[1]broken
(1865–1939)
[1865–1939]
我现在就起身,去伊尼斯弗里岛,
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
在那里用粘土和枝条建造了一间小屋,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
我要在那里种九排豆子,为蜜蜂建一个蜂巢,
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
独自生活在蜜蜂嗡嗡作响的林间空地里。
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
5我将在那里得到一些安宁,因为安宁会慢慢降临,
5And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
从清晨的面纱中落到蟋蟀歌唱的地方;
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
午夜时分,一片微光,正午时分,一片紫光,
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
夜幕下充满了红雀的翅膀。
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
我现在就起身出发,因为无论白天还是黑夜,
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
10我听见湖水在岸边低低地拍打着的声音;
10I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
当我站在马路上,或灰色的人行道上,
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
我从内心深处听到了它。
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
[1892年]
[1892]
(1865–1939)
[1865–1939]
在不断扩大的漩涡中不断旋转
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
猎鹰听不见猎鹰人的声音;
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
一切都分崩离析;中心无法维持;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
世界上一片混乱,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
5血色潮水涌来,到处
5The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
纯真的仪式被淹没了;
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
最好的人缺乏信念,而最坏的人
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
充满着热烈的热情。
Are full of passionate intensity.
肯定有一些启示即将到来;
Surely some revelation is at hand;
10第二次降临肯定已经临近了。
10Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
第二次降临!这句话一出
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
当一幅巨大的图像从Spiritus Mundi b
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundib
扰乱了我的视线:在沙漠的某个地方
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
狮身人头的形状,
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
15目光空洞无情,如太阳一般,
15A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
正在缓慢地移动大腿,而它周围的一切
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
愤怒的沙漠鸟儿的影子。
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
黑暗再次降临;但现在我知道
The darkness drops again; but now I know
二十个世纪的沉睡
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
20被摇篮摇得做噩梦,
20Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
多么凶猛的野兽,它的死期终于到了,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
懒洋洋地走向伯利恒去出生?
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
[1921年]
[1921]
a第二次降临:暗指马太福音 24:3–44,关于基督在当今时代末期的回归。叶芝将历史视为一系列 2000 年的周期(形象地看作是回旋,锥形运动)。基督在伯利恒的诞生结束了从巴比伦人到希腊人和罗马人的周期。因此,2000 年的到来预示着叶芝将迎来另一个时代(基督教时代)的终结。叶芝在 1917 年俄国革命后不久写下了这首诗(第 4-8 行),这可能证实了他即将发生的变化以及一个不可预测的新时代的开始的感觉(叶芝预计新时代将是暴力和专制的)。
aThe Second Coming: Alludes to Matthew 24:3–44, on the return of Christ at the end of the present age. Yeats viewed history as a series of 2,000-year cycles (imaged as gyres, cone-shaped motions). The birth of Christ in Bethlehem brought to an end the cycle that ran from the Babylonians through the Greeks and Romans. The approach of the year 2000, then, anticipated for Yeats the end of another era (the Christian age). Yeats wrote this poem shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1917 (lines 4–8), which may have confirmed his sense of imminent change and of a new beginning of an unpredictable nature (Yeats expected the new era to be violent and despotic).
b 12. Spiritus Mundi:宇宙之灵(拉丁语)。叶芝相信存在着一种伟大的记忆,一种来自过去的象征性图像的宇宙宝库。个人从中汲取图像,与宇宙的灵魂建立联系。
b12. Spiritus Mundi: The spirit of the universe (Latin). Yeats believed in a Great Memory, a universal storehouse of symbolic images from the past. Individuals, drawing on it for images, are put in touch with the soul of the universe.
(1865–1939)
[1865–1939]
突然的一击:巨大的翅膀仍在拍打
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
在蹒跚而行的女孩上方,她的大腿被抚摸着
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
她的后颈被黑色的网子夹住,
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
他将她无助的乳房紧紧抱在自己的胸前。
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
5那些惊恐的模糊的手指如何能推
5How can those terrified vague fingers push
她那松弛的大腿上羽毛般光彩夺目?
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
而躺在白色灯心草中的尸体又如何能
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
但是感觉到它所在位置有奇怪的心脏在跳动吗?
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
腰间一阵战栗
A shudder in the loins engenders there
10破损的墙壁、燃烧的屋顶和塔楼
10The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
阿伽门农死了。
And Agamemnon dead.
陷入如此困境,
Being so caught up,
被空气中野蛮的血液所控制,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
她是否把他的知识与他的力量结合起来
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
在那冷漠的喙能将她放下之前?
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
[1928]
[1928]
a丽达与天鹅:在希腊神话中,丽达被宙斯引诱(或强奸),宙斯化身为天鹅接近她。她生下了海伦,海伦被帕里斯绑架,引发了特洛伊战争(第 10 行)。希腊军队由阿伽门农率领,他返回希腊时被妻子克吕泰墨涅斯特拉杀死(第 11 行),克吕泰墨涅斯特拉是丽达和丈夫廷达瑞俄斯所生的女儿。叶芝认为宙斯的来访是希腊文明建立的“暴力宣告”,与 2000 年后向玛利亚宣告基督教时代的到来(路加福音 1:26-38)相似。有关叶芝对历史时代的看法,请参阅“第二次降临”的注释。
aLeda and the Swan: In Greek mythology, Leda was seduced (or raped) by Zeus, who approached her in the form of a swan. She gave birth to Helen, whose abduction by Paris gave rise to the Trojan War (referred to in line 10). The Greek forces were headed by Agamemnon, who was killed (line 11) upon his return to Greece by his wife, Clytemnestra, daughter of Leda by her husband, Tyndareus. Yeats regarded Zeus’s visit as a “violent annunciation” of the founding of Greek civilization, with parallels to the annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26–38), 2,000 years later, of the coming of the Christian age. See the note to “The Second Coming” for Yeats’s view of historical eras.
(1869–1935)
[1869–1935]
每当理查德·科里去市中心时,
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
我们这些在人行道上的人都看着他:
We people on the pavement looked at him:
他从头到脚都是绅士,
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
干净整洁,身材苗条。
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
5他总是安静地打扮,
5And he was always quietly arrayed,
当他讲话时他总是很有人情味;
And he was always human when he talked;
但他说这话的时候,脉搏还是跳动起来,
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“早上好。”他走路时全身闪闪发光。
“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.
他很富有——是的,比国王还富有——
And he was rich — yes, richer than a king —
10并精通各种优雅的举止:
10And admirably schooled in every grace:
总之,我们认为他是一切
In fine, we thought that he was everything
让我们希望自己能处于他的位置。
To make us wish that we were in his place.
于是我们继续工作,等待光明,
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
他不吃肉,还诅咒面包;
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
15理查德·科里,在一个平静的夏夜,
15And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
回到家后,一枪打穿了他的头。
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
[1897年]
[1897]
(1872–1906)
[1872–1906]
我们戴着笑容和谎言的面具,
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
它遮住了我们的脸颊,遮住了我们的眼睛——
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, —
这是我们因人类的诡计而欠下的债;
This debt we pay to human guile;
我们带着破碎而流血的心微笑,
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
5嘴里有无数微妙之处。
5And mouth with myriad subtleties.
为什么世界要过于聪明,
Why should the world be over-wise,
数一数我们所有的泪水和叹息?
In counting all our tears and sighs?
不,让他们只看到我们,而
Nay, let them only see us, while
我们戴着面具。
We wear the mask.
10我们微笑,但是,伟大的基督啊,我们的哭声
10We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
从受折磨的灵魂中复活吧。
To thee from tortured souls arise.
我们歌唱,但泥土太卑鄙
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
在我们脚下,绵延数英里;
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
但让世界做别的梦吧,
But let the world dream otherwise,
15我们戴上面具!
15We wear the mask!
[1896年]
[1896]
(1874–1963)
[1874–1963]
我的长梯子从树上伸出来
My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
向着天堂,
Toward heaven still,
还有一个桶我没装满
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
旁边可能有两三个
Beside it, and there may be two or three
5苹果我没有从树枝上摘下来。
5Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
但是现在我已经不再摘苹果了。
But I am done with apple-picking now.
冬眠的精髓在于夜晚,
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
苹果的香味:我正在打瞌睡。
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
我无法抹去眼前的陌生感
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
10我透过玻璃窗看见
10I got from looking through a pane of glass
我今早从饮水槽里捞了些
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
并与白草的世界相抗衡。
And held against the world of hoary grass.
它融化了,我让它掉下来并摔碎了。
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
但我很好
But I was well
15在它落下之前我正准备睡觉,
15Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
我可以告诉你
And I could tell
我的梦想即将以何种形式呈现。
What form my dreaming was about to take.
放大的苹果出现又消失,
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
茎端和花端,
Stem end and blossom end,
20每一片赤褐色斑点都清晰可见。
20And every fleck of russet showing clear.
我的足弓不仅疼痛,
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
它保持了梯子周围的压力。
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
我感觉到梯子随着树枝弯曲而摇晃。
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
我不断听到地下室里传来的声音
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
二十五隆隆的声音
25The rumbling sound
大量的苹果涌入。
Of load on load of apples coming in.
因为我受够了
For I have had too much
摘苹果:我太累了
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
我本人也渴望获得丰收。
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
三十有上万种水果可供触摸,
30There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
珍惜在手,放下,不让其掉落。
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
对于所有
For all
撞击地球,
That struck the earth,
无论是否伤痕累累或长满胡茬,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
三十五肯定去了苹果酒堆
35Went surely to the cider-apple heap
如同沒有價值。
As of no worth.
我们可以预见到什么会造成麻烦
One can see what will trouble
这是我的睡眠,无论它是什么样的睡眠。
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
如果他没走,
Were he not gone,
40土拨鼠可以说它是否像他的
40The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his
长眠,正如我所描述的那样,
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
或者只是人类的睡眠。
Or just some human sleep.
[1914年]
[1914]
(1874–1963)
[1874–1963]
黄色的树林里分出两条路,
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
很抱歉我不能同时旅行
And sorry I could not travel both
做个旅人,我久久站立
And be one traveler, long I stood
我尽可能地低头
And looked down one as far as I could
5到它在灌木丛中弯曲的地方;
5To where it bent in the undergrowth;
然后又拿了另一只,同样公平,
Then took the other, as just as fair,
也许更有道理,
And having perhaps the better claim,
因为它长满草,需要磨损;
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
不过,从那里经过
Though as for that, the passing there
10穿起来真的差不多,
10Had worn them really about the same,
那天早上,两人都同样躺着
And both that morning equally lay
落叶中没有留下黑色的足迹。
In leaves no step had trodden black.
哦,我把第一个留到另一天!
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
但知道路通向何方,
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
15我怀疑我是否还能回来。
15I doubted if I should ever come back.
我将叹息着讲述这一切
I shall be telling this with a sigh
很久很久以后的某个地方:
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
树林里分出两条路,而我——
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
我选择了人迹罕至的那条路,
I took the one less traveled by,
20这带来了很大的不同。
20And that has made all the difference.
[1916年]
[1916]
(1874–1963)
[1874–1963]
我想我知道这是谁的树林。
Whose woods these are I think I know.
不过,他的房子在村子里;
His house is in the village, though;
他不会看到我在这里停留
He will not see me stopping here
看着树林里积满白雪。
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
5我的小马一定觉得很奇怪
5My little horse must think it queer
在没有农舍附近停下来
To stop without a farmhouse near
在树林和冰冻的湖泊之间
Between the woods and frozen lake
一年中最黑暗的夜晚。
The darkest evening of the year.
他摇晃着马具铃铛
He gives his harness bells a shake
10询问是否有错误。
10To ask if there is some mistake.
唯一的其他声音是扫荡
The only other sound’s the sweep
随风飘舞,雪花纷纷扬扬。
Of easy wind and downy flake.
树林美丽、幽暗、深邃,
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
但我有诺言要遵守,
But I have promises to keep,
15我还要走好几英里才能入睡,
15And miles to go before I sleep,
我还要走好几英里才能入睡。
And miles to go before I sleep.
[1923年]
[1923]
(1874–1963)
[1874–1963]
我已经是一个熟悉夜晚的人了。
I have been one acquainted with the night.
我曾在雨中走出去——又在雨中回来。
I have walked out in rain — and back in rain.
我已经走出了城市最远的灯光。
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
我曾看过最悲伤的城市小巷。
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
5我经过巡逻的守望者
5I have passed by the watchman on his beat
我垂下眼睛,不愿解释。
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
我站住了,止住了脚步声
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
当远处传来一声打断的哭声
When far away an interrupted cry
从另一条街经过房屋,
Came over houses from another street,
10但不会回电给我或者说再见;
10But not to call me back or say good-bye;
而在一个超凡脱俗的高度,
And further still at an unearthly height,
天空中一座发光的时钟
One luminary clock against the sky
宣称时间既不错误,也不正确。
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
我已经是一个熟悉夜晚的人了。
I have been one acquainted with the night.
[1928]
[1928]
(1875–1926)
[1875–1926]
译者:斯蒂芬·米切尔
TRANSLATED BY STEPHEN MITCHELL
我们无法知道他的传奇头脑
We cannot know his legendary head
眼睛像成熟的水果。但他的躯干
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
依然散发着内在的光彩,
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
像一盏灯,他的目光此时转向低处,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
5闪耀着它全部的力量。否则
5gleams in all its power. Otherwise
曲线的乳房不能让你如此眼花缭乱,也不能
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
平静的臀部和大腿上露出一丝微笑
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
到达那个生殖活动爆发的黑暗中心。
to that dark center where procreation flared.
否则这块石头看起来就会被玷污
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
10在透明的瀑布般的肩膀下
10beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
不会像野兽的毛皮那样闪闪发光:
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
不会从它自身的所有边界,
would not, from all the borders of itself,
像星星一样爆裂:因为这里没有地方
burst like a star: for here there is no place
看不见你的人。你必须改变你的生活。
that does not see you. You must change your life.
[1918]
[1918]
(1879-1955)
[1879–1955]
二十座雪山之中,
Among twenty snowy mountains,
唯一能动的东西
The only moving thing
是黑鸟的眼睛。
Was the eye of the blackbird.
我有三个想法,
I was of three minds,
5就像一棵树
5Like a tree
其中有三只黑鸟。
In which there are three blackbirds.
黑鸟在秋风中盘旋。
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
这只是哑剧的一小部分。
It was a small part of the pantomime.
一个男人和一个女人
A man and a woman
10是一個。
10Are one.
一个男人、一个女人和一只黑鸟
A man and a woman and a blackbird
是一個。
Are one.
我不知道该选哪一个,
I do not know which to prefer,
语调之美
The beauty of inflections
15或是寓意之美,
15Or the beauty of innuendoes,
黑鸟在吹口哨
The blackbird whistling
或者刚刚之后。
Or just after.
冰柱挂满了长窗
Icicles filled the long window
带着野蛮的玻璃。
With barbaric glass.
20黑鸟的影子
20The shadow of the blackbird
来回穿越。
Crossed it, to and fro.
心情
The mood
阴影中的踪迹
Traced in the shadow
一个难以解释的原因。
An indecipherable cause.
二十五哈达姆的瘦弱之人啊,
25O thin men of Haddam,a
为什么你会想象金鸟呢?
Why do you imagine golden birds?
你没看到黑鸟
Do you not see how the blackbird
绕着脚走
Walks around the feet
你周围有哪些女性?
Of the women about you?
25.哈达姆:康涅狄格州的一个城镇。
a25. Haddam: A town in Connecticut.
三十我知道贵族的口音
30I know noble accents
以及清晰的、不可避免的节奏;
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
但我也知道,
But I know, too,
黑鸟参与其中
That the blackbird is involved
据我所知。
In what I know.
三十五当黑鸟飞出我们的视线时,
35When the blackbird flew out of sight,
它标志着边缘
It marked the edge
众多圆圈中的一个。
Of one of many circles.
看到黑鸟
At the sight of blackbirds
在绿光中飞翔,
Flying in a green light,
40即使是和声的杂音
40Even the bawds of euphony
会尖声叫喊。
Would cry out sharply.
他骑马穿越康涅狄格州
He rode over Connecticut
在一辆玻璃车厢里。
In a glass coach.
有一次,他感到恐惧,
Once, a fear pierced him,
四十五他误以为
45In that he mistook
他的马车的影子
The shadow of his equipage
对于黑鸟来说。
For blackbirds.
河水在流动。
The river is moving.
黑鸟一定正在飞。
The blackbird must be flying.
50整个下午都像晚上一样。
50It was evening all afternoon.
当时下着雪
It was snowing
天快要下雪了。
And it was going to snow.
黑鸟坐着
The blackbird sat
在雪松枝干上。
In the cedar-limbs.
[1917年]
[1917]
(1879-1955)
[1879–1955]
打电话给大雪茄卷烟工,
Call the roller of big cigars,
肌肉发达的人,命令他鞭打
The muscular one, and bid him whip
厨房的杯子里盛着令人垂涎欲滴的凝乳。
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
让姑娘们穿着这样的衣服闲逛
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
5就像他们习惯穿的那样,让男孩们
5As they are used to wear, and let the boys
在上个月的报纸上带来鲜花。
Bring flowers in last month’s newspapers.
让 看起来 是 最终 的 结局。
Let be be finale of seem.
唯一的皇帝是冰淇淋皇帝。
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
从梳妆台上拿出一张
Take from the dresser of deal,a
10由于缺少三个玻璃旋钮,那张床单
10Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
她曾经在上面绣过扇尾
On which she embroidered fantails once
并将其铺开,遮盖住她的脸。
And spread it so as to cover her face.
如果她的脚上有角质层突出,它们就会
If her horny feet protrude, they come
以此来表明她是多么冷漠、多么愚蠢。
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
15让灯发出它的光束。
15Let the lamp affix its beam.
唯一的皇帝是冰淇淋皇帝。
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
[1923年]
[1923]
9.木材:杉木或松木。
a9. deal: Fir or pine wood.
[1880–1918]
[1880–1918]
罗杰·沙塔克译
TRANSLATED BY ROGER SHATTUCK
“这首诗的字排列得好像雨从上面斜斜地落下来一样。每个字母代表一个水滴,这样就形成了五串雨滴,构成了一首诗。第一串:Il pluet des voix de femmescomme si elles etaient mortes第二串表情包:C'est vous aussi quil pleut merveilleuses rencontres de ma vie o第三弦:et ces nuages cabres se prennent a hennir tout un univers de villes auriculaires。 第四弦:ecoute s'il pleut tandis que le后悔和dedain pleurent une ancienne musique。第五弦:ecoute tomber les liens qui te retiennent。 en haut et en bas 右下角显示了名字“”Guillaume。阿波利奈尔。”名字也是逐字母垂直对齐的。
"The words of the poem are arranged as if it rains from above in a slanting manner. Each letter denotes a droplet; thus forming five strings of rain droplets, constituting a poem. First string: Il pluet des voix de femmescomme si elles etaient mortes meme dans le souvenir. Second string: C'est vous aussi quil pleut merveilleuses rencontres de ma vie o gouttelettes. Third string: et ces nuages cabres se prennent a hennir tout un univers de villes auriculaires. Fourth string: ecoute s'il pleut tandis que le regret et le dedain pleurent une ancienne musique. Fifth string: ecoute tomber les liens qui te retiennent en haut et en bas. The bottom right corner shows the name, ""Guillaume Apollinaire."" The name is also aligned vertically, letter-by-letter."
女人的声音如雨点般落下,仿佛她们在记忆中已经死去
It’s raining women’s voices as if they had died even in memory
雨也下在你身上,我生命中奇妙的邂逅,小水滴
And it’s raining you as well marvellous encounters of my life O little drops
那些高耸的云朵开始嘶鸣,整个宇宙都是耳鸣般的城市
Those rearing clouds begin to neigh a whole universe of auricular cities
5听听下雨的时候,遗憾和鄙视随着古老的音乐哭泣
5Listen if it rains while regret and disdain weep to an ancient music
聆听将你束缚在上方和下方的纽带脱落的声音
Listen to the bonds fall off which hold you above and below
[1916年]
[1916]
(1882–1966)
[1882–1966]
天空的面容
Face of the skies
主持
preside
我们对此感到惊奇。
over our wonder.
荧光
Fluorescent
5逃出天堂
5truant of heaven
吸引我们。
draw us under.
银色圆形尸体
Silver, circular corpse
你的死亡
your decease
以难以忍受的轻松感染我们,
infects us with unendurable ease,
10触及神经末梢
10touching nerve-terminals
热冰柱
to thermal icicles
昏迷般强制,绽放般脆弱
Coercive as coma, frail as bloom
你的逆黎明的暗示
innuendoes of your inverse dawn
充满自我;
suffuse the self;
15我们的每一个粒子都变成了精灵。
15our every corpuscle become an elf.
[约 1942/1989]
[c. 1942/1989]
(1883-1963)
[1883–1963]
这很大程度上取决于
so much depends
之上
upon
红色的轮子
a red wheel
巴罗
barrow
5雨水淋漓
5glazed with rain
水
water
在白色旁边
beside the white
鸡。
chickens.
[1923年]
[1923]
(1883-1963)
[1883–1963]
我吃过
I have eaten
李子
the plums
在
that were in
冰箱
the icebox
5并且哪个
5and which
你可能
you were probably
保存
saving
吃早餐
for breakfast
对不起
Forgive me
15它们很美味
15they were delicious
如此甜蜜
so sweet
而且很冷
and so cold
[1934年]
[1934]
(1885–1972)
[1885–1972]
当我的头发还剪得很直的时候
While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
我在前门附近玩耍,摘花。
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
你踩着竹子高跷过来,玩马戏,
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
你在我的座位周围走来走去,玩弄着蓝色的李子。
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
5我们继续住在Chokan村:
5And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
两个小人儿,没有嫌隙,没有猜疑。
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
十四岁时我嫁给了主你。
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
我从来没有笑过,因为我很害羞。
I never laughed, being bashful.
我低下头,看着墙壁。
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
10被呼唤一千次,我从未回头。
10Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
十五岁时我不再愁眉苦脸,
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
我希望我的尘埃与你的尘埃混合
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
永远永远永远。
Forever and forever and forever.
我为何要爬上去瞭望?
Why should I climb the look out?
15十六岁那年你离开了,
15At sixteen you departed,
你走进遥远的库托岩,沿着漩涡翻腾的河流,
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
你已经离开五个月了。
And you have been gone five months.
猴子在头顶上发出悲伤的声音。
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.
你出门的时候很拖沓。
You dragged your feet when you went out.
20现在,门边长满了青苔,各种各样的青苔,
20By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
太深了,清除不掉!
Too deep to clear them away!
今年秋天,树叶在风中飘落得早。
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
成对的蝴蝶已经带着八月的黄色
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
在西花园的草地上;
Over the grass in the West garden;
二十五他们伤害了我。我长大了。
25They hurt me. I grow older.
如果你穿过狭窄的江河,
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
请提前通知我,
Please let me know beforehand,
我会出来迎接你
And I will come out to meet you
[1915年]
[1915]
[1] 《李白》:改编自中国著名诗人李白(公元 701-762 年)的一首诗,他的日文名字是《李白》。
[1]By Rihaku: An adaptation of a Chinese poem by the famous poet Li Po (701–762 c.e.), whose Japanese name is Rihaku.
[1886–1961]
[1886–1961]
希腊人都恨
All Greece hates
苍白的脸上,一双平静的眼睛,
the still eyes in the white face,
橄榄般的光泽
the lustre as of olives
她站在那里,
where she stands,
5和白皙的手。
5and the white hands.
整个希腊都在谴责
All Greece reviles
她微笑时苍白的脸,
the wan face when she smiles,
更加恨它
hating it deeper still
当它变得苍白时,
when it grows wan and white,
10回忆过去的魔法
10remembering past enchantments
和过去的弊病。
and past ills.
希腊无动于衷,
Greece sees, unmoved,
上帝的女儿,因爱而生,
God’s daughter, born of love,
凉爽双脚之美
the beauty of cool feet
15和最纤细的膝盖,
15and slenderest knees,
确实可以爱这个女仆,
could love indeed the maid,
只有当她被释放时,
only if she were laid,
丧葬柏树丛中的白蜡树。
white ash amid funereal cypresses.
[1923年]
[1923]
海伦:在希腊神话中,特洛伊的海伦被描述为世界上最美丽的女人。根据许多故事,包括荷马的《伊利亚特》,她是宙斯和勒达的女儿,也是伟大战士墨涅拉俄斯的妻子。海伦被特洛伊王子帕里斯绑架,特洛伊战争就是为了把她带回斯巴达。
aHelen: In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy is described as the most beautiful woman in the world. According to many narratives, including Homer’s Illiad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Leda and wife to the great warrior Menelaus. Helen was abducted by Paris, the Prince of Troy, and the Trojan War was fought in order to bring her back to Sparta.
(1887-1972)
[1887–1972]
我也不喜欢它:除了这些小提琴之外,还有更重要的事情。然而,带着对它的完全蔑视去读它,你会发现
I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle. Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers that there
位于
is in
毕竟,这里是真诚之所。
it after all, a place for the genuine.
能抓握的手、眼睛
Hands that can grasp, eyes
5 可以扩张,头发可以竖起来
5 that can dilate, hair that can rise
如果必须的话,这些事情之所以重要,并不是因为
if it must, these things are important not because a
可以对它们进行夸张的解释,但因为它们是
high sounding interpretation can be put upon them but because they are
有用;当它们变得如此衍生以至于无法理解时,
useful; when they become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the
10对我们所有人来说,同样的事情也可能发生——我们
10same thing may be said for all of us — that we
不钦佩什么
do not admire what
我们无法理解。蝙蝠,
we cannot understand. The bat,
倒挂着或寻找某物
holding on upside down or in quest of something to
吃,大象推挤,一匹野马在打滚,一匹不知疲倦的狼在树下,坚定不移的批评家像感觉到跳蚤的马一样抽搐着皮肤,基地-
eat, elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under a tree, the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horse that feels a flea, the base-
15球迷、统计学家——可以举出一个又一个的案例
15ball fan, the statistician — case after case could be cited did
没有人希望如此;而且也不有效
one wish it; nor is it valid
歧视“商业文件和
to discriminate against “business documents and
教科书”;所有这些现象都很重要。必须区分
school-books”; all these phenomena are important. One must make a distinction
然而:当被半个诗人拖入突出地位时,结果不是诗歌,
however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry,
20直到我们当中的诗人能够
20nor till the poets among us can be
“字面主义者
“literalists of
“想象力” — 以上
the imagination” — above
傲慢和琐碎,并可能呈现
insolence and triviality and can present
我们可以想象花园里有真正的蟾蜍,以供检查。与此同时,如果你一方面无视他们的意见,要求——
for inspection, imaginary gardens with real toads in them, shall we have it. In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand, in defiance of their opinion —
诗歌的原始素材,以及
the raw material of poetry in all its rawness and
另一方面,如果你的诗歌是真实的,那么你就对诗歌感兴趣。
that which is, on the other hand, genuine then you are interested in poetry.
[1919年]
[1919]
(1888–1965)
[1888–1965]
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
一个 che mai Tornasse al mondo 的人物,
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse。
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fonto
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non Torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza 主题 d'infamia ti rispondo。一个
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.a
那么你和我,我们走吧,
Let us go then, you and I,
当夜幕降临在天空
When the evening is spread out against the sky
就像躺在桌子上注射麻醉剂的病人;
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
让我们穿过几条半荒废的街道,
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
5窃窃私语声渐渐消退
5The muttering retreats
在廉价酒店度过的一夜不眠之夜
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
还有用牡蛎壳做成的锯末餐馆:
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
街道就像一场乏味的争论
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
险恶用心
Of insidious intent
10让你思考一个难以回答的问题……
10To lead you to an overwhelming question …
哦,不要问“那是什么?”
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
让我们去参观一下吧。
Let us go and make our visit.
房间里的女人们来来往往
In the room the women come and go
谈论米开朗基罗。
Talking of Michelangelo.
15黄色的雾气在窗玻璃上摩擦,
15The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
黄色的烟雾在窗玻璃上摩擦着
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
用舌头舔舐着夜色的角落,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
徘徊在排水沟里的水池上,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
让烟囱里落下的煤灰落在它的背上,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
20从露台上溜过去,突然一跃,
20Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
那是一个温和的十月夜晚,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
在屋子里卷曲了一会儿,然后睡着了。
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
确实会有时间
And indeed there will be time
对于沿街飘来的黄色烟雾,
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
二十五用背摩擦着窗玻璃;
25Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
会有时间的,会有时间的
There will be time, there will be time
准备好一张脸去迎接你所遇见的面孔;
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
会有时间去杀戮和创造,
There will be time to murder and create,
以及所有工作和日子的时间
And time for all the works and daysb of hands
三十那将问题抛到你的盘子上;
30That lift and drop a question on your plate;
你的时间和我的时间,
Time for you and time for me,
还有时间去犹豫一百次,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
经过上百次的设想和修改,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
在吃烤面包和喝茶之前。
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
三十五房间里的女人们来来往往
35In the room the women come and go
谈论米开朗基罗。
Talking of Michelangelo.
确实会有时间
And indeed there will be time
思考“我敢吗?”以及“我敢吗?”
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
是时候转身走下楼梯了,
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
40我的头发中间有一块秃斑——
40With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(他们会说:“他的头发越来越稀疏了!”)
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
我的晨礼服,衣领紧贴着下巴,
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
我的领带华丽而朴素,但用一根简单的别针固定——
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(他们会说:“但是他的胳膊和腿多么细啊!”)
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
四十五我敢吗
45Do I dare
扰乱宇宙?
Disturb the universe?
一分钟后就有时间
In a minute there is time
对于一分钟就能推翻的决定和修改。
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
因为我已经知道了他们所有人,知道了他们所有人:——
For I have known them all already, known them all: —
50经历过傍晚、早晨、下午,
50Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
我用咖啡勺来衡量我的生活;
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
我知道那些声音随着垂死的秋天而消逝
I know the voices dying with a dying fallc
远处房间里传来音乐声。
Beneath the music from a farther room.
那么我该如何推测呢?
So how should I presume?
55我已经认识了这些眼睛,认识了它们一切——
55And I have known the eyes already, known them all —
那双用固定的语气注视着你的眼睛,
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
当我被制定出来,四肢伸展地躺在针上,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
当我被钉在墙上扭动时,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
那我该如何开始
Then how should I begin
60把我的日子和人生的所有残局都吐出来?
60To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
我又该如何推测呢?
And how should I presume?
我已经了解了这些武器,了解了它们的一切——
And I have known the arms already, known them all —
戴着手镯的白皙而裸露的手臂
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(但在灯光下,垂下浅棕色的头发!)
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
65这是衣服上的香水吗
65Is it perfume from a dress
这是否让我离题太远了?
That makes me so digress?
扶手放在桌子上,或者围在披肩上。
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
那么我应该假设吗?
And should I then presume?
我该如何开始呢?
And how should I begin?
• • •
• • •
70我该说,我曾在黄昏时穿过狭窄的街道
70Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
看着烟从烟斗里升起
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
那些身着衬衫、探出窗外的孤独男人?……
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? …
我本应是一双粗糙的爪子
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
在寂静的海面上疾驰而过。
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
• • •
• • •
75下午、晚上,睡得如此安详!
75And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
用修长的手指抚平,
Smoothed by long fingers,
睡着了……累了……或者装病了,
Asleep … tired … or it malingers,
躺在地板上,就在你和我身边。
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
喝完茶、吃完蛋糕、吃完冰淇淋,
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
80有实力将这一时刻推向危机吗?
80Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
尽管我曾哭泣、禁食、哭泣、祈祷,
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
虽然我看到我的头(已经有点秃了)被放在盘子里端进来,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,d
我不是先知——这也没什么大不了的;
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;
我曾目睹我伟大时刻的闪烁,
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
85我看见永恒的仆人拿着我的外套,窃笑,
85And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
简而言之,我很害怕。
And in short, I was afraid.
毕竟,这值得吗?
And would it have been worth it, after all,
喝完杯子、果酱、茶之后,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
在瓷器中,在关于你和我的谈话中,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
90值得吗?
90Would it have been worth while,
带着微笑咬牙坚持,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
把宇宙挤成一个球
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
为了解决这个问题,
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
说:“我是拉撒路,从死里复活,
To say: “I am Lazarus,e come from the dead,
95回来告诉你一切,我会告诉你一切”——
95Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all” —
如果一个人在头边放一个枕头,
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
应该说:“我根本不是这个意思。”
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.
根本不是那样。”
That is not it, at all.”
毕竟,这值得吗?
And would it have been worth it, after all,
100值得吗?
100Would it have been worth while,
日落、庭院和洒满雨水的街道之后,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
读完小说,看完茶杯,看完拖地的裙子——
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor —
还有这些吗?——
And this, and so much more? —
我根本无法准确表达我的意思!
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
105但就像一盏魔灯把神经投射到屏幕上的图案一样:
105But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
是否值得
Would it have been worth while
如果一个人放下枕头或扔掉披肩,
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
然后转向窗户说:
And turning toward the window, should say:
“根本不是那样,
“That is not it at all,
110我根本不是这个意思。”
110That is not what I meant, at all.”
• • •
• • •
不!我不是哈姆雷特王子,也不该是哈姆雷特王子;
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
我是一位侍从领主,一位会做
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
为了推动进程,开始一两个场景,
To swell a progress,f start a scene or two,
给王子出谋划策,毫无疑问,这是一个容易的工具,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
115恭敬,乐于助人,
115Deferential, glad to be of use,
精明、谨慎、细心;
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
充满了高深的句子[1],但有点愚钝;
Full of high sentence,[1] but a bit obtuse;
有时,确实,几乎荒谬——
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous —
有时,几乎就是愚人。
Almost, at times, the Fool.
120我老了……我老了……
120I grow old … I grow old …
我要把裤脚卷起来穿。[2]
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.[2]
我要把头发往后梳吗?我敢吃桃子吗?
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
我将穿着白色法兰绒裤子,在海滩上漫步。
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
我听过美人鱼们互相唱歌。
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
125我不认为他们会为我唱歌。
125I do not think that they will sing to me.
我看见他们乘着海浪向大海前进
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
梳理波浪吹回来的白发
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
当风吹来,水就变成白色和黑色。
When the wind blows the water white and black.
我们在海的深处徘徊
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
130被戴着红色和棕色海藻花环的海女
130By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
直到人类的声音唤醒我们,我们便被淹死。
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
[1915年]
[1915]
题词: “如果我认为我的回答是针对一个会重返人间的人,那么这团火焰将不会再移动;但是,既然没有人能从这个深渊活着回来,如果我听到的是真的,我会毫不畏惧地回答你”(但丁,《地狱篇》 27.61-66)。但丁在地狱的第八层遇到了圭多·德·蒙特费尔特罗,在那里,灵魂被困在火焰(火舌)中,作为提供邪恶建议的惩罚。圭多向但丁讲述了他邪恶生活的细节,只是因为他认为但丁正在走向地狱的更深一层,永远不会回到人间,无法重复他所听到的内容。
aEpigraph: “If I thought that my answer were being made to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would remain without further movement; but since no one has ever returned alive from this depth, if what I hear is true, I answer you without fear of infamy” (Dante, Inferno 27.61–66). Dante encounters Guido de Montefeltro in the eighth circle of hell, where souls are trapped within flames (tongues of fire) as punishment for giving evil counsel. Guido tells Dante details about his evil life only because he assumes that Dante is on his way to an even deeper circle in hell and will never return to earth and be able to repeat what he has heard.
b 29. 工作与日子:《工作与日子》是希腊诗人赫西奥德(公元前八世纪)创作的一首关于农业的说教诗的标题,其中包括在适当的时间完成每项任务的指导。
b29. works and days: Works and Days is the title of a didactic poem about farming by the Greek poet Hesiod (eighth century b.c.e.) that includes instruction about doing each task at the proper time.
c 52. 垂死的衰落:暗指莎士比亚的《第十二夜》(1.1.4):“又是那首曲子!它垂死的衰落”(一种逐渐消失的节奏)。
c52. a dying fall: An allusion to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (1.1.4): “That strain [of music] again! It had a dying fall” (a cadence that falls away).
d 82. 头……盘子:作为在希律王面前跳舞的奖励,他的继女莎乐美要求将施洗约翰的头放在盘子里献给她(马太福音 14 :1-12;马可福音 6 :17-28)。
d82. head … platter: As a reward for dancing before King Herod, Salome, his stepdaughter, asked for the head of John the Baptist to be presented to her on a platter (Matthew 14:1–12; Mark 6:17–28).
e 94. 拉撒路:要么是乞丐拉撒路(在路加福音 16:19-31 中他没有从死里复活),要么是耶稣的朋友拉撒路(在约翰福音 11:1-44 中他从死里复活)。
e94. Lazarus: Either the beggar Lazarus, who in Luke 16:19–31 did not return from the dead, or Jesus’ friend Lazarus, who did (John 11:1–44).
f 113. 进展:皇家宫廷进行的礼仪旅行。
f113. progress: Ceremonial journey made by a royal court.
[1]格言
[1]sententiousness
[2]卷起,有袖口
[2]turned up, with cuffs
[1890–1948]
[1890–1948]
尽管她用苦涩的面包喂我,
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
把她的虎牙刺进我的喉咙,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
偷走了我的生命之气,我承认
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
我爱这个考验我青春的文化地狱!
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
5她的活力如潮水般涌入我的血液,
5Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
给予我力量来对抗她的仇恨。
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
她的伟大犹如洪水般席卷了我的心。
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
然而,当叛军面对君王时,
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
我站在她的墙内,一丝不挂
I stand within her walls with not a shred
10没有恐怖,没有恶意,没有一句嘲笑。
10Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
我阴郁地凝视着未来的日子,
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
看看那里的威力和花岗岩奇迹,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
在时间无误的手的触摸下,
Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
就像无价的珍宝沉入沙中。
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
[1922年]
[1922]
[1892–1950]
[1892–1950]
我的双唇曾吻过谁的双唇,在哪里,为何,
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
我已忘记,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
在我的头顶直到早晨;但是雨
Under my head till morning; but the rain
今晚到处都是鬼魂,敲击和叹息
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
5看着玻璃,听着回答,
5Upon the glass and listen for reply,
我心里涌起一种悄无声息的痛苦
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
对于那些不再记得的男孩们
For unremembered lads that not again
会在半夜哭着向我转过身。
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
因此冬天里有一棵孤独的树,
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
10也不知道什么鸟已一只一只地消失了,
10Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
但它的树枝却比以前更沉默:
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
我说不出爱情来来去去,
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
我只知道夏天在我心中歌唱
I only know that summer sang in me
一会儿,我心中不再歌唱。
A little while, that in me sings no more.
[1923年]
[1923]
(1893-1918)
[1893–1918]
弯着腰,像背着麻袋的老乞丐,
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
我们膝盖弯曲,咳嗽得像个老太婆,我们在泥浆中咒骂,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
直到我们转身面对那令人难忘的火光
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
我们开始向着遥远的休息地跋涉。
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
5士兵们行军时睡着了。许多人丢了靴子
5Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
但一瘸一拐地走着,脚上沾满鲜血。全都跛了,全都瞎了;
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
疲惫不堪,甚至听不到鸟叫声
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
疲惫不堪的 Five-Nines 被超越,落后了。
Of tired, outstripped Five-Ninesa that dropped behind.
加油!加油!快点,孩子们!——一阵狂喜,
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling,
10及时安装笨重的头盔;
10Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
但有人仍在大喊大叫,跌跌撞撞
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
像在火中或石灰中挣扎的人一样……
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime …
朦胧中,透过雾蒙蒙的玻璃窗[1]和浓浓的绿光,
Dim, through the misty panes[1] and thick green light,
仿佛在一片绿色的海洋之下,我看到他溺水了。
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
15在我所有的梦里,在我无助的眼前,
15In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
他向我扑来,跌倒了,窒息了,溺水了。
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
如果你也能在一些令人窒息的梦境中踱步
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
我们把他扔进马车里,
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
看着他脸上翻腾的白眼珠,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
20他那张垂头丧气的脸,就像一个饱受罪孽折磨的魔鬼;
20His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
如果你能听到,每次震动,血液
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
从泡沫腐烂的肺里漱口而出,
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
像癌症一样淫秽,像反刍一样苦涩
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
无辜的舌头上长满了恶毒的、无法治愈的疮——
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, —
二十五我的朋友,你不会如此热情地讲述
25My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
对于那些渴望获得某种绝望荣耀的孩子们来说,
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
古老的谎言:Dulce et Decorum est
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
维护祖国的末日。b
Pro patria mori.b
[1920]
[1920]
a8.Five -Nines: 5.9 英寸口径炮弹。
a8. Five-Nines: 5.9-inch caliber shells.
b 27–28. Dulce … mori:为国捐躯是甜蜜而恰当的(贺拉斯,颂歌3.12.13)。
b27–28. Dulce … mori: It is sweet and fitting / to die for one’s country (Horace, Odes 3.12.13).
[1]防毒面具
[1]of a gas mask
[1894–1962]
[1894–1962]
在 Just-
in Just-
春天,当世界一片泥泞时
spring when the world is mud-
甜美的小
luscious the little
跛脚气球人
lame balloonman
5口哨声遥远而微弱
5whistles far and wee
和 eddieandbill 来了
and eddieandbill come
逃离弹珠和
running from marbles and
海盗行为
piracies and it’s
春天
spring
10当世界充满美好
10when the world is puddle-wonderful
酷儿
the queer
老气球人吹口哨
old balloonman whistles
遥远而渺小
far and wee
和 bettyandisbel 一起跳舞
and bettyandisbel come dancing
15跳房子、跳绳和
15from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
它是
it’s
春天
spring
和
and
这
the
20 羊足
20 goat-footed
气球人吹口哨
balloonMan whistles
远的
far
和
and
小
wee
[1923年]
[1923]
[1894–1962]
[1894–1962]
“当然,除了上帝美国,我
“next to of course god america i
爱你朝圣者的土地等等哦
love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh
说你能看到黎明的早晨我的
say can you see by the dawn’s early my
国家是几个世纪来来去去
country ’tis of centuries come and go
5我们不再需要担心
5and are no more what of it we should worry
在所有语言中,即使是聋哑人
in every language even deafanddumb
你的儿子们高呼你光荣的名字
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
作者:jingo 作者:gee 作者:gosh 作者:gum
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
为什么谈论美丽 还有什么比这更美丽
why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful
10比这些英雄的快乐死者
10than these heroic happy dead
他们像狮子一样冲向咆哮的屠杀
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
他们没有停下来思考,而是死了
they did not stop to think they died instead
那么自由的声音难道还会沉寂吗?”
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?”
他说话了。然后迅速喝了一杯水
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
[1926年]
[1926]
[1898–1936]
[1898–1936]
译者:GREG SIMON 和 STEVEN F. WHITE
TRANSLATED BY GREG SIMON AND STEVEN F. WHITE
纽约的黎明
Dawn in New York has
四柱泥潭
four columns of mire
和一群黑鸽的飓风
and a hurricane of black pigeons
在腐臭的水中嬉戏。
splashing in the putrid waters.
5纽约的黎明在呻吟
5Dawn in New York groans
在巨大的火灾逃生通道上
on enormous fire escapes
在角度之间搜索
searching between the angles
用于起草痛苦的甘松[1]。
for spikenards[1] of drafted anguish.
黎明到来,无人用嘴迎接
Dawn arrives and no one receives it in his mouth
10因为那里不可能有早晨和希望:
10because morning and hope are impossible there:
有时,愤怒的硬币蜂拥而至
sometimes the furious swarming coins
像钻头一样穿透并吞噬被遗弃的儿童。
penetrate like drills and devour abandoned children.
那些早出门的人骨子里知道
Those who go out early know in their bones
不会有天堂,也不会有花开又凋零的爱情:
there will be no paradise or loves that bloom and die:
15他们知道他们将陷入数字和法律的泥潭,
15they know they will be mired in numbers and laws,
在无脑的游戏、无结果的劳动中。
in mindless games, in fruitless labors.
光被锁链和噪音掩埋
The light is buried under chains and noises
向无根科学发起了无耻的挑战。
in an impudent challenge to rootless science.
人群在各个街区里摇摇晃晃,睡眼惺忪
And crowds stagger sleeplessly through the boroughs
20仿佛他们刚从一场血腥的沉船事故中逃脱。
20as if they had just escaped a shipwreck of blood.
[1942年]
[1942]
[1]芳香植物
[1]aromatic plants
(1902–1967)
[1902–1967]
我认识河流:
I’ve known rivers:
我知道河流和世界一样古老,也比人类血管中流淌的血液还要古老。
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
我的灵魂变得像河流一样深邃。
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
5黎明时分,我在幼发拉底河中沐浴。
5I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
我在刚果附近建造了我的小屋,它让我安然入睡。
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
我望向尼罗河,并在其上方建造了金字塔。
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
我听到了密西西比河的歌声,当时亚伯拉罕·林肯
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
去了新奥尔良,我见过那里泥泞的
went down to New Orleans,a and I’ve seen its muddy
10胸膛在夕阳下变成金色
10bosom turn all golden in the sunset
我认识河流:
I’ve known rivers:
古老而昏暗的河流。
Ancient, dusky rivers.
我的灵魂变得像河流一样深邃。
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
[ 1921年;1926年]
[1921; 1926]
a 8–9。亚伯拉罕·林肯……新奥尔良:亚伯拉罕·林肯在 1828 年和 1831 年乘船游览密西西比河期间亲眼目睹了奴隶贸易。
a8–9. Abe Lincoln … New Orleans: Abraham Lincoln observed the slave trade firsthand during boat trips on the Mississippi River in 1828 and 1831.
(1902–1967)
[1902–1967]
嗡嗡地唱着令人昏昏欲睡的切分音曲调,
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
随着柔和的低吟声前后摇摆,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
我听到一个黑人在演奏。
I heard a Negro play.
那天晚上在莱诺克斯大街
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
5在一盏老旧的煤气灯的苍白暗淡的灯光下
5By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
他懒洋洋地摇摆着……
He did a lazy sway….
他懒洋洋地摇摆着……
He did a lazy sway….
随着那些疲倦蓝调的曲调。
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
他的乌木手放在每一个象牙琴键上。
With his ebony hands on each ivory key.
10他让那架可怜的钢琴发出悦耳的呻吟声。
10He made that poor piano moan with melody.
噢,蓝调!
O Blues!
坐在摇摇晃晃的凳子上摇来摇去
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
他像一个音乐傻瓜一样演奏着那首悲伤的曲子。
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
甜蜜的蓝调!
Sweet Blues!
15源自黑人的灵魂。
15Coming from a black man’s soul.
噢,蓝调!
O Blues!
用忧郁的深沉歌声
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
我听见黑人唱歌,听见老钢琴呻吟——
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan —
“在这世上没有一个人,
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
20除了我自己,我什么也没有。
20Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
我要不再皱眉头
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
把我的烦恼搁置一边。”
And put ma troubles on de shelf.”
咚、咚、咚,他的脚踩在地板上。
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
他弹奏了几个和弦,然后又唱了一些——
He played a few chords then he sang some more —
二十五“我感到忧郁
25“I got de Weary Blues
我却无法满足。
And I can’t be satisfied.
疲惫的忧郁
Got de Weary Blues
并且无法满足——
And can’t be satisfied —
我不再快乐
I ain’t happy no mo’
三十我希望我已经死了。”
30And I wish that I had died.”
直到深夜,他仍低声吟唱这首曲子。
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
星星消失了,月亮也消失了。
The stars went out and so did the moon.
歌手停止演唱并去睡觉了。
The singer stopped playing and went to bed.
当疲倦的蓝调在他脑海里回荡时
While the Weary Blues echoes through his head
三十五他睡得像一块石头,或者一个死人一样。
35He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
[1932年]
[1932]
(1902–1967)
[1902–1967]
教练说,
The instructor said,
回家写作
Go home and write
今晚的一页。
a page tonight.
5 让那一页从你身上流露出来——
5 And let that page come out of you —
那么,这便是事实了。
Then, it will be true.
我想知道是不是就这么简单?
I wonder if it’s that simple?
我今年二十二岁,有色人种,出生在温斯顿塞勒姆。
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
我在那里上学,后来去达勒姆,然后来这里
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
这所位于哈莱姆山上的大学
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
10我是我们班唯一的有色人种学生。
10I am the only colored student in my class.
山上的台阶通向哈莱姆区,
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
穿过一个公园,然后我穿过圣尼古拉斯教堂,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
第八大道,第七大道,然后我来到 Y 站,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
哈莱姆分校 Y,我在那里乘电梯
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
15回到我的房间,坐下来,写下这一页:
15up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
很难知道对你或我来说什么是真实的
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
22 岁,和我同龄。但我想我
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
我感受到、看到、听到,哈莱姆,我听到了你:
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
听着你,听着我——我们两个——你,我,在这个页面上交谈。
hear you, hear me — we two — you, me, talk on this page.
20(我也听说是纽约。)我——谁?
20(I hear New York, too.) Me — who?
嗯。我喜欢吃饭、睡觉、喝酒、谈恋爱。
Well. I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
我喜欢工作、阅读、学习和了解生活。
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
我喜欢圣诞节礼物烟斗,
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
或唱片——Bessie、bop、或Bach。
or records — Bessie, bop, or Bach.
二十五我想有色人种并不代表我不喜欢
25I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
和其他种族的人一样喜欢同样的东西。
the same things other folks like who are other races.
那么我写的页面会有颜色吗?
So will my page be colored that I write?
作为我,它不会是白色的。
Being me, it will not be white.
但这将是
But it will be
三十您的一部分,教练。
30a part of you, instructor.
你是白人——
You are white —
但它是我的一部分,正如我是你的一部分一样。
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
那是美国的。
That’s American.
有时也许你不想成为我的一部分。
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
三十五我也不常常想成为你的一部分。
35Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
但我们确实是这样的!
But we are, that’s true!
据我从你那里得知,
As I learn from you,
我想你会向我学习——
I guess you learn from me —
尽管你年纪大了——而且是白人——
although you’re older — and white —
40并且更加自由。
40and somewhat more free.
这是我的英语 B 页面。
This is my page for English B.
[1949年]
[1949]
(1902–1967)
[1902–1967]
梦想被推迟了会怎么样?
What happens to a dream deferred?
它会干涸吗
Does it dry up
像阳光下的葡萄干?
like a raisin in the sun?
或者像伤口一样溃烂——
Or fester like a sore —
5然后跑?
5And then run?
它是不是像腐烂的肉一样臭?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
或者在上面撒点糖和脆皮——
Or crust and sugar over —
像糖浆一样甜?
like a syrupy sweet?
也许它只是下垂
Maybe it just sags
10就像一个沉重的负担。
10like a heavy load.
或者它会爆炸吗?
Or does it explode?
[1951年]
[1951]
[1903–1946]
[1903–1946]
为 Eric Walrond 撰写
for Eric Walrond
有一次在老巴尔的摩骑马,
Once riding in old Baltimore,
心中充满喜悦,头脑充满欢乐,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
我看到了一个巴尔的摩人
I saw a Baltimorean
继续直视我。
Keep looking straight at me.
5现在我八岁了,还很小,
5Now I was eight and very small,
他一点也没有长大,
And he was no whit bigger,
于是我笑了,但他却探出头来
And so I smiled, but he poked out
他的舌头,叫我“黑鬼”。
His tongue, and called me, “Nigger.”
我看到了整个巴尔的摩
I saw the whole of Baltimore
10从五月到十二月;
10From May until December;
在那里发生的所有事情
Of all the things that happened there
我只记得这些。
That’s all that I remember.
[1925年]
[1925]
(1904–1973)
[1904–1973]
翻译:WS MERWIN
TRANSLATED BY W. S. MERWIN
女人的身体,白色的山丘,白色的大腿,
Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs,
你看上去就像一个世界,躺着投降。
you look like a world, lying in surrender.
我粗犷的农民身体深入你的内心
My rough peasant’s body digs in you
并让儿子从地底深处跳起来。
and makes the son leap from the depth of the earth.
5我孤身一人,像一条隧道。鸟儿从我身边飞走,
5I was alone like a tunnel. The birds fled from me,
夜色以猛烈的侵袭将我淹没。
and night swamped me with its crushing invasion.
为了生存,我把你锻造成一件武器,
To survive myself I forged you like a weapon,
如同我弓上的箭,我弹弓上的石头。
like an arrow in my bow, a stone in my sling.
但复仇的时刻到了,我爱你。
But the hour of vengeance falls, and I love you.
10皮肤、苔藓和渴望而坚挺的乳汁的身体。
10Body of skin, of moss, of eager and firm milk.
哦,胸膛的酒杯!哦,心不在焉的眼睛!
Oh the goblets of the breast! Oh the eyes of absence!
啊,耻骨上的玫瑰!啊,你的声音,缓慢而悲伤!
Oh the roses of the pubis! Oh your voice, slow and sad!
我的女人的身体,我会坚持你的恩典。
Body of my woman, I will persist in your grace.
我的渴望,我无限的欲望,我不断变化的道路!
My thirst, my boundless desire, my shifting road!
15黑暗的河床流淌着永恒的干渴
15Dark river-beds where the eternal thirst flows
随之而来的是疲倦和无尽的痛苦。
and weariness follows, and the infinite ache.
[1924年]
[1924]
(1907–1973)
[1907–1973]
(停止所有时钟)
(Stop all the clocks)
停止所有时钟,切断电话,
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
用多汁的骨头防止狗吠叫,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
钢琴安静下来,鼓声低沉
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
把棺材抬出来,让送葬者前来。
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
5让飞机在头顶盘旋
5Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
在天空上潦草地写着“他死了”,
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
把黑纱蝴蝶结系在公鸽的白颈上,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
让交警戴上黑色棉手套。
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
他是我的北,我的南,我的东,我的西,
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
10我的工作周和周日的休息,
10My working week and my Sunday rest,
我的正午,我的午夜,我的谈话,我的歌声;
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
我以为爱情会永恒:我错了。
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.
现在不需要星星了;把每颗星星都熄灭吧:
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one:
收拾月球,拆解太阳;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
15倾倒海洋并扫除森林:
15Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods:
因为现在什么也不会有任何好处了。
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
[1936年]
[1936]
(1908–1963)
[1908–1963]
你呼吸中弥漫着威士忌的气息
The whiskey on your breath
可能会使小男孩头晕;
Could make a small boy dizzy;
但我拼命坚持:
But I hung on like death:
这样的华尔兹并不容易。
Such waltzing was not easy.
5我们嬉戏直到锅
5We romped until the pans
从厨房架子上滑下来;
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
我母亲的面容
My mother’s countenance
无法不皱起眉头。
Could not unfrown itself.
握住我手腕的手
The hand that held my wrist
10一个关节被击伤;
10Was battered on one knuckle;
你错过的每一步
At every step you missed
我的右耳刮到了扣环。
My right ear scraped a buckle.
你在我头上打拍子
You beat time on my head
手掌上沾满了泥土,
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
15然后送我去睡觉
15Then waltzed me off to bed
仍然紧贴着你的衬衫。
Still clinging to your shirt.
[1948]
[1948]
(1911–1979)
[1911–1979]
我抓到了一条大鱼
I caught a tremendous fish
把他抱在船边
and held him beside the boat
一半在水面上,用我的钩子
half out of water, with my hook
他的嘴角快速地闪过。
fast in a corner of his mouth.
5他沒有打架。
5He didn’t fight.
他根本就没打过架。
He hadn’t fought at all.
他挂着一个沉重的重量,
He hung a grunting weight,
饱经风霜
battered and venerable
和家常。到处都是
and homely. Here and there
10他的棕色皮肤呈条状
10his brown skin hung in strips
就像古老的墙纸,
like ancient wallpaper,
以及深棕色的图案
and its pattern of darker brown
就像墙纸:
was like wallpaper:
形状像盛开的玫瑰
shapes like full-blown roses
15随着岁月的流逝而褪色和消失。
15stained and lost through age.
他身上布满了藤壶,
He was speckled with barnacles,
精美的石灰玫瑰花图案,
fine rosettes of lime,
并感染
and infested
有微小的白色海虱,
with tiny white sea-lice,
20下面有两三个
20and underneath two or three
一片片绿色的杂草垂下来。
rags of green weed hung down.
当他的鳃在呼吸的时候
While his gills were breathing in
可怕的氧气
the terrible oxygen
— 令人恐惧的鳃,
— the frightening gills,
二十五鲜嫩爽口,血迹斑斑,
25fresh and crisp with blood,
伤势会很严重——
that can cut so badly —
我想到粗糙的白色肉体
I thought of the coarse white flesh
像羽毛一样挤在一起,
packed in like feathers,
大骨头和小骨头,
the big bones and the little bones,
三十戏剧性的红色和黑色
30the dramatic reds and blacks
他闪亮的内脏,
of his shiny entrails,
和粉色的鱼鳔
and the pink swim-bladder
像一朵大牡丹。
like a big peony.
我看着他的眼睛
I looked into his eyes
三十五比我的大得多
35which were far larger than mine
但更浅,更黄,
but shallower, and yellowed,
鸢尾花退缩并挤满
the irises backed and packed
用失去光泽的锡箔
with tarnished tinfoil
透过镜头看
seen through the lenses
40有划痕的旧鱼胶。[1]
40of old scratched isinglass.[1]
它们稍微移动了一点,但没有
They shifted a little, but not
回头看我。
to return my stare.
— 这更像是小费
— It was more like the tipping
物体朝向光的方向。
of an object toward the light.
四十五我欣赏他阴沉的脸,
45I admired his sullen face,
他的下巴结构,
the mechanism of his jaw,
然后我看到了
and then I saw
从他的下唇
that from his lower lip
— 如果你可以称它为嘴唇 —
— if you could call it a lip —
50阴森、潮湿、像武器一样,
50grim, wet, and weaponlike,
挂着五根旧鱼线,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
或四根和一个导线
or four and a wire leader
转环仍连接着,
with the swivel still attached,
五大钩子
with all their five big hooks
55在他的嘴里牢牢地生长。
55grown firmly in his mouth.
一条绿线,末端磨损
A green line, frayed at the end
在他断线的地方,有两行较粗的线条,
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
和一根细黑线
and a fine black thread
仍然因拉伤和折断而卷曲
still crimped from the strain and snap
60当它坏了的时候,他就逃走了。
60when it broke and he got away.
就像挂着绶带的勋章
Like medals with their ribbons
磨损和摇摆不定,
frayed and wavering,
五根智慧胡须
a five-haired beard of wisdom
从他疼痛的下巴上传来。
trailing from his aching jaw.
65我凝视着
65I stared and stared
胜利充满了
and victory filled up
租来的小船,
the little rented boat,
从舱底水池
from the pool of bilge
石油曾在那里形成彩虹
where oil had spread a rainbow
70生锈的发动机周围
70around the rusted engine
到生锈的橙色捞水器,
to the bailer rusted orange,
被太阳晒得龟裂的座板,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
桨架在弦上,
the oarlocks on their strings,
船舷——直到一切
the gunnels — until everything
75是彩虹,彩虹,彩虹!
75was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
然后我就把鱼放走了。
And I let the fish go.
[1946年]
[1946]
[1]透明云母片
[1]transparent sheet of mica
(1911–1979)
[1911–1979]
失败的艺术并不难掌握;
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
很多事情似乎都充满了意图
so many things seem filled with the intent
迷失了,他们的损失并不是什么灾难。
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
每天都会失去一些东西。接受这种慌乱
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
5丢失门钥匙,浪费了一个小时。
5of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
失败的艺术并不难掌握。
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
然后练习输得更远,输得更快:
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
地点、名字,以及你想要去的地方
places, and names, and where it was you meant
旅行。这些都不会带来灾难。
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
10我丢了妈妈的手表。瞧!我的最后一块,或者说
10I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
倒数第二栋,三栋最受喜爱的房子都被拆掉了。
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
失败的艺术并不难掌握。
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
我失去了两座可爱的城市。而且,更广阔的
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
我拥有一些王国、两条河流、一块大陆。
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
15我很想念他们,但这并不是一场灾难。
15I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
— 甚至失去你(开玩笑的声音,一个手势
— Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
我爱)我不会撒谎。很明显
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
失败的艺术并不难掌握
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
尽管它看上去可能像(写下来!)一场灾难。
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
[1976年]
[1976]
我无法拯救的你
You whom I could not save
听我说。
Listen to me.
尝试去理解这句简单的演讲吧,否则我会为别人感到羞耻。
Try to understand this simple speech as I would be ashamed of another.
我发誓,我并没有任何语言魔法。
I swear, there is in me no wizardry of words.
5我用沉默与你对话,如同一朵云或一棵树。
5I speak to you with silence like a cloud or a tree.
那些使我变得更加强大的东西,对你而言却是致命的。
What strengthened me, for you was lethal.
你把一个时代的告别和一个新时代的开始混为一谈,
You mixed up farewell to an epoch with the beginning of a new one,
以抒情的美感激发仇恨;
Inspiration of hatred with lyrical beauty;
盲目的力量,成就完美的形状。
Blind force with accomplished shape.
10这里是波兰河流较浅的山谷。还有一座巨大的桥梁
10Here is a valley of shallow Polish rivers. And an immense bridge
走进白雾。这里是一座残破的城市;
Going into white fog. Here is a broken city;
风把海鸥的尖叫声吹向你的坟墓
And the wind throws the screams of gulls on your grave
当我和你说话的时候。
When I am talking with you.
无法拯救的诗歌是什么
What is poetry which does not save
15国家还是人民?
15Nations or people?
纵容官方谎言,
A connivance with official lies,
那是醉汉的歌声,他们的喉咙马上就会被割断,
A song of drunkards whose throats will be cut in a moment,
适合高二女生阅读。
Reading for sophomore girls.
我不知不觉地想要得到好的诗歌,
That I wanted good poetry without knowing it,
20后来我发现了它的有益目的,
20That I discovered, late, its salutary aim,
唯有如此,我才能找到救赎。
In this and only this I find salvation.
他们过去常常在坟墓上撒小米或罂粟籽
They used to pour millet on graves or poppy seeds
去喂养那些伪装成鸟儿而来的死者。
To feed the dead who would come disguised as birds.
我把这本书放在这里,献给曾经活过的你
I put this book here for you, who once lived
二十五这样你就不用再来拜访我们了。
25So that you should visit us no more.
[1945年]
[1945]
(1913–1980)
[1913–1980]
我
I
耶稣、埃斯特雷拉、埃斯佩兰萨、慈悲:a
Jesús, Estrella, Esperanza, Mercy:a
船帆像武器一样在风中闪烁,
Sails flashing to the wind like weapons,
鲨鱼追随着呻吟、发烧和死亡;
sharks following the moans the fever and the dying;
恐怖的尸体b和罗盘上升了。
horror the corposantb and compass rose.
中段:
Middle Passage:
死亡之旅
voyage through death
在这些海岸上生存。
to life upon these shores.
“1800年4月10日——
“10 April 1800 —
5黑人叛逆。船员们很不安。我们的语言学家说
5Blacks rebellious. Crew uneasy. Our linguist says
他们的呻吟是死亡的祈祷,
their moaning is a prayer for death,
我们的和他们自己的。有些人试图让自己挨饿。
ours and their own. Some try to starve themselves.
今早失去的三人疯狂大笑
Lost three this morning leaped with crazy laughter
对着等待的鲨鱼唱歌,让它们沉入水中。”
to the waiting sharks, sang as they went under.”
欲望、冒险、塔塔尔、安:
Desire, Adventure, Tartar, Ann:
10坚守美国,带回家
10Standing to America, bringing home
黑金、黑象牙、黑种子。
black gold, black ivory, black seed.
15耶稣救主引领我
15Jesus Saviour Pilot Me
渡过人生的惊涛骇浪
Over Life’s Tempestuous Sea
主啊,我们祈求祢应允,
We pray that Thou wilt grant, O Lord,
确保我方船只安全通行
safe passage to our vessels bringing
异教徒的灵魂接受你的惩罚。
heathen souls unto Thy chastening.
20耶稣救主
20Jesus Saviour
“8 钟。我睡不着,因为我病了
“8 bells. I cannot sleep, for I am sick
带着恐惧,但写作可以缓解一点恐惧
with fear, but writing eases fear a little
因为我的眼睛仍然能看到这些文字成形
since still my eyes can see these words take shape
所以我写,作为一个
upon the page & so I write, as one
二十五会转向驱魔。4天的疾驰,
25would turn to exorcism. 4 days scudding,
但现在大海又平静了。不幸
but now the sea is calm again. Misfortune
像鲨鱼一样跟在我们身后(我们的笑容
follows in our wake like sharks (our grinning
守护神。我们当中哪一个人
tutelary gods). Which one of us
杀死了一只信天翁?d一场瘟疫
has killed an albatross?d A plague among
三十我们的黑人——眼炎:失明——我们
30our blacks — Ophthalmia: blindness — & we
已经抛弃了盲人,但毫无作用。
have jettisoned the blind to no avail.
它蔓延了,可怕的疾病蔓延了。
It spreads, the terrifying sickness spreads.
它的爪子划伤了船长的视线
Its claws have scratched sight from the Capt.’s eyes
船头处一片漆黑
& there is blindness in the fo’c’slee
三十五而且我们必须在抵达港口前三周启航。”
35& we must sail 3 weeks before we come to port.”
哪个港口在等待我们呢,戴维·琼斯
What port awaits us, Davy Jones’
还是家?我听说过奴隶贩子四处漂泊,
or home? I’ve heard of slavers drifting, drifting,
风和风暴以及机遇的玩物,以及它们的船员
playthings of wind and storm and chance, their crews
40 盲目的丛林仇恨
40 gone blind, the jungle hatred
爬上甲板。
crawling up on deck.
你行走在加利利
Thou Who Walked On Galilee
“证人f进一步表示,贝拉 J
“Deponentf further sayeth The Bella J
离开几内亚海岸
left the Guinea Coast
四十五载着五百多名黑人和
45with cargo of five hundred blacks and odd
佛罗里达州的营地:
for the barracoonsg of Florida:
“甲板间几乎没有空间容纳一半
“That there was hardly room ’tween-decks for half
闷热的牛群像勺子一样堆放在那里;
the sweltering cattle stowed spoon-fashion there;
有些人因口渴而发疯,撕裂自己的肉体
that some went mad of thirst and tore their flesh
50并吸血:
50and sucked the blood:
“船员和船长都渴望最漂亮的
“That Crew and Captain lusted with the comeliest
那些被赤身裸体关押在船舱里的野蛮女孩;
of the savage girls kept naked in the cabins;
有一种玫瑰被称为“几内亚玫瑰”
that there was one they called The Guinea Rose
他们就抽签,争着要与她同寝。
and they cast lots and fought to lie with her:
55“That when the Bo’s’nh piped all hands,i the flames
从右舷蔓延已经超出
spreading from starboard already were beyond
控制,黑人的嚎叫和他们的锁链
control, the negroes howling and their chains
与火焰纠缠:
entangled with the flames:
“燃烧的黑色无法到达,
“That the burning blacks could not be reached,
60船员弃船,
60that the Crew abandoned ship,
把尖叫的黑人妇女抛在身后,
leaving their shrieking negresses behind,
船长和姑娘们喝得酩酊大醉后死去了:
that the Captain perished drunken with the wenches:
“另外,证人并未表示。”
“Further Deponent sayeth not.”
飞行员哦飞行员我
Pilot Oh Pilot Me
a 1. Jesús、Estrella、Esperanza、Mercy:奴隶船的名称。
a1. Jesús, Estrella, Esperanza, Mercy: Names of slave ships.
b 4. 名词复数:圣埃尔莫之火:一种气象现象,表现为尖锐物体上发出的蓝色等离子光芒。
b4. corposant: St. Elmo’s Fire: a meteorological phenomenon that appears as a blue glow of plasma on a sharp object.
c 14.深邃……的眼睛:改编自莎士比亚《暴风雨》(1.2.397–402)中爱丽儿演唱的一首歌曲
c14. Deep … eyes: An adaptation of a song sung by Ariel in Shakespeare’s Tempest (1.2.397–402).
d 29.信天翁:水手们认为杀死一只信天翁会带来厄运。
d29. albatross: Sailors believed that killing one of these sea birds was bad luck.
e 34. 船头楼:船头楼,或船员的居住区。
e34. fo’c’sle: The forecastle, or the crew’s living quarters.
f 43. 宣誓人:宣誓作证的人。
f43. Deponent: One who gives evidence under oath.
g 46. 囚室:关押奴隶或囚犯的围栏。
g46. barracoons: An enclosure in which slaves or convicts are detained.
h 55. 水手长:负责船舶设备和船员维护的水手长或士官。
h55. Bo’s’n: A boatswain, or petty officer responsible for the maintenance of the equipment and crew on a ship.
i 55. 吹响全体人员的号角:当水手长喊“全体人员上甲板!”以表示紧急情况时。
i55. piped all hands: When the boatswain shouted “All hands on deck!” to indicate an emergency.
二
II
65是的,孩子,我见过那些工厂,
65Aye, lad, and I have seen those factories,
冈比亚、里奥庞戈、卡拉巴尔;
Gambia, Rio Pongo, Calabar;a
看过巧妙的蒙哥马利诱捕陷阱
have watched the artful mongosb baiting traps
战争中胜利者和失败者
of war wherein the victor and the vanquished
被捕获作为我们士兵的战利品。
Were caught as prizes for our barracoons.
70见过那些虚荣的黑人国王
70Have seen the nigger kings whose vanity
贪婪使费拉塔的黑色兽皮变得野蛮,
and greed turned wild black hides of Fellatah,
曼丁哥人、伊博人、克鲁人都为我们赢得了金牌。
Mandingo, Ibo, Kruc to gold for us.
其中有一只——我们给他取名为“无烟煤之王”——
And there was one — King Anthracite we named him —
法国阳伞下的恋物癖面孔
fetish face beneath French parasols
75黄铜和橙色天鹅绒,厚颜无耻的嘴
75of brass and orange velvet, impudent mouth
杯子里雕刻着敌人的头骨:
whose cups were carven skulls of enemies:
他会用鼓声、盛宴和歌舞来款待我们
He’d honor us with drum and feast and conjo
和棕榈油般闪闪发光的爱情灵巧少女,
and palm-oil-glistening wenches deft in love,
还有用锡膏擦亮的锡冠,
and for tin crowns that shone with paste,
80红印花布和德国银饰品
80red calico and German-silver trinkets
让鼓声宣告战争,并发送
Would have the drums talk war and send
他的战士们烧毁了沉睡的村庄
his warriors to burn the sleeping villages
杀死病人和老人,引导年轻人
and kill the sick and old and lead the young
送到我们工厂的箱子里。
in coffles to our factories.
85二十年的交易员生涯,二十年,
85Twenty years a trader, twenty years,
因为有大量的财富可以收获
for there was wealth aplenty to be harvested
从那些黑色的田野,我仍会交易
from those black fields, and I’d be trading still
但高烧却使我的骨头融化。
but for the fevers melting down my bones.
a 66. 冈比亚、庞戈河、卡拉巴尔:冈比亚是西非国家;庞戈河是西非几内亚的一条河流;卡拉巴尔是尼日利亚南部的一个港口城市。
a66. Gambia, Rio Pongo, Calabar: Gambia is a country in West Africa; the Rio Pongo is a river in Guinea, West Africa; and Calabar is a port city in Southern Nigeria.
b 67. mongos:刚果民主共和国人。
b67. mongos: People of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
c 72. Fellatah、Mandingo、Ibo、Kru:非洲部落。
c72. Fellatah, Mandingo, Ibo, Kru: African tribes.
三一
IIIa
穿梭在历史的织机间,
Shuttles in the rocking loom of history,
90黑暗的船只移动,黑暗的船只移动,
90the dark ships move, the dark ships move,
他们鲜明讽刺的名字
their bright ironical names
就像凶手嘴里的善意玩笑;
like jests of kindness on a murderer’s mouth;
犁过捶打的闪光
plough through thrashing glister toward
海市蜃楼的明亮融化海岸,
fata morgana’sb lucent melting shore,
95编织到新大陆沿海地区c
95weave toward New World littoralsc that are
海市蜃楼、神话与现实的海岸。
mirage and myth and actual shore.
穿越死亡之旅,
Voyage through death,
航程的图表都是无人问津的。
voyage whose chartings are unlove.
阴森的恶臭,生死相依的恶臭
A charnel stench, effluvium of living death
100从货舱向外扩散,
100spreads outward from the hold,
生者与死者,可怕的垂死之人,
where the living and the dead, the horribly dying,
互相交织,沾满鲜血和排泄物。
lie interlocked, lie foul with blood and excrement.
你的父亲躺在那溃烂的牢笼深处,
Deep in the festering hold thy father lies,
怜悯的尸体也随他一起腐烂,
the corpse of mercy rots with him,
105 老鼠吃掉爱情那腐烂冰冷的眼睛。
105 rats eat love’s rotten gelid eyes.
但是,哦,活着的看着你
But, oh, the living look at you
用人类的眼睛,用痛苦的眼光控告你,
with human eyes whose suffering accuses you,
他们的仇恨穿透黑暗的污泥
whose hatred reaches through the swill of dark
110 像麻风病人的爪子一样攻击你。
110 to strike you like a leper’s claw.
你无法直视仇恨
You cannot stare that hatred down
或锁住潜伏在手表上的恐惧
or chain the fear that stalks the watches
并向你吹出恶臭灼热的气息;
and breathes on you its fetid scorching breath;
无法消灭人类深切不朽的愿望,
cannot kill the deep immortal human wish,
115 永恒的意志。
115 the timeless will.
120 已经为即将发生的事情做好了准备。
120 have been prepared for what befell.
它像美洲狮跳跃一样迅速。
Swift as the puma’s leap it came. There was
那段没有月亮的宁静时光只充满了
that interval of moonless calm filled only
伴随着水声和索具的常有声音,
with the water’s and the rigging’s usual sounds,
然后突然的动作、打击和咆哮声
then sudden movement, blows and snarling cries
125 他们用砍刀袭击我们
125 and they had fallen on us with machete
和马林斯派克。就好像
and marlinspike. It was as though the very
空气、夜色本身都在袭击着我们。
air, the night itself were striking us.
被暴风雨的严酷折磨得精疲力尽,
Exhausted by the rigors of the storm,
我们不是他们的对手。我们的人倒下了
we were no match for them. Our men went down
130 在凶残的非洲人面前。我们忠诚的
130 before the murderous Africans. Our loyal
135 指导、督促这项可怕的工作。
135 directing, urging on the ghastly work.
他把这个可怜的混血儿砍倒,然后
He hacked the poor mulatto down, and then
他转身攻击我。甲板很滑
he turned on me. The decks were slippery
当白天终于到来时。这让我恶心
when daylight finally came. It sickens me
想想我所看到的,这些猿猴
to think of what I saw, of how these apes
140 把屠杀的尸体扔到海里
140 threw overboard the butchered bodies of
我们的男人,都是真正的基督徒,却像沉落的残骸一样。
our men, true Christians all, like so much jetsam.
够了,够了。剩下的很快就说完了:
Enough, enough. The rest is quickly told:
Cinquez 被迫放过我们两个
Cinquez was forced to spare the two of us
你要把船开往非洲,
you see to steer the ship to Africa,
145 我们就像幽灵一样注定在海上游荡
145 and we like phantoms doomed to rove the sea
白天向东航行,晚上向西航行,
voyaged east by day and west by night,
欺骗他们,希望得到拯救,
deceiving them, hoping for rescue,
在我们自己的船上的囚犯,直到
prisoners on our own vessel, till
最后我们漂流到了这片
at length we drifted to the shores of this
150 你的土地,美国,我们在这里获得自由
150 your land, America, where we were freed
摆脱我们无法言喻的痛苦。现在我们
from our unspeakable misery. Now we
要求引渡
demand, good sirs, the extradition of
Cinquez 和他的同伙前往 La
Cinquez and his accomplices to La
哈瓦那。我们很痛心地得知
Havana. And it distresses us to know
155 这里有很多人似乎倾向于
155 there are so many here who seem inclined
为这些黑人的叛乱辩护。
to justify the mutiny of these blacks.
我们确实发现这很矛盾
We find it paradoxical indeed
你们的财富,你们的自由之树
that you whose wealth, whose tree of liberty
根植于奴隶的劳动
are rooted in the labor of your slaves
160 应该遭受约翰·昆西·亚当斯的
160 should suffer the august John Quincy Adamsg
如此热情地谈论右翼
to speak with so much passion of the right
奴隶杀死他们的合法主人
of chattel slaves to kill their lawful masters
用罗马的修辞手法编织出英雄的
and with his Roman rhetoric weave a hero’s
花环给 Cinquez。我告诉你
garland for Cinquez. I tell you that
165 我们决心重返古巴
165 we are determined to return to Cuba
和我们的奴隶一起,在那里看到正义得到伸张。辛克斯——
with our slaves and there see justice done. Cinquez —
或者让我们说‘王子’——Cinquez将会死去。”
or let us say ‘the Prince’ — Cinquez shall die.”
人类永恒而深刻的愿望,
The deep immortal human wish,
永恒的意志:
the timeless will:
170 Cinquez 其永恒的原始形象,
170 Cinquez its deathless primaveralh image,
改变了许多人的生命。
life that transfigures many lives.
死亡之旅
Voyage through death
在这些海岸上生存。
to life upon these shores.
[1945年]
[1945]
《阿米斯塔德号》第三部分讲述了阿米斯塔德号兵变的故事。1839 年,阿米斯塔德号上的奴隶们发动了叛乱,反抗西班牙俘虏。他们控制了这艘船,最终这艘船在纽约长岛海岸被俘。美国最高法院做出了一项具有里程碑意义的裁决,决定释放这些奴隶并将其送回非洲。
aIII: Part 3 follows an account of the Amistad mutiny. In 1839, slaves aboard La Amistad staged a mutiny against their Spanish captors. They took control of the ship, which was eventually captured off the coast of Long Island in New York. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the slaves should be released and returned to Africa.
b 94. 海市蜃楼:海市蜃楼。
b94. fata morgana: A mirage.
c 95. 沿海地区:属于或与海岸有关。
c95. littorals: Of or relating to the shore.
d 118. 普林西比港:海地太子港。
d118. Port of Príncipe: Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
e 131. 塞莱斯蒂诺(Celestino):阿米斯塔德号上的一名非洲奴隶厨师。
e131. Celestino: An African slave who was a cook on the Amistad.
f 133. Cinquez:又名 Sengbe Pieh,是领导阿米斯塔德号起义的非洲奴隶。
f133. Cinquez: Also known as Sengbe Pieh, was an African slave who led the revolt on the Amistad.
g 160. 约翰·昆西·亚当斯:美国前总统,在法庭上代表俘虏。
g160. John Quincy Adams: A former U.S. president who represented the captives in court.
h 170. primaveral:与春天有关。
h170. primaveral: Having to do with spring.
(1913–1980)
[1913–1980]
他说他会回来,我们会一起喝酒
He said he would be back and we’d drink wine together
他说一切都会比以前更好
He said that everything would be better than before
他说我们正处于一种新的关系的边缘
He said we were on the edge of a new relation
他说他再也不会在父亲面前退缩了
He said he would never again cringe before his father
5他说他要全职从事发明
5He said that he was going to invent full-time
他说他爱我,以至于进入我的身体
He said he loved me that going into me
他说要进入世界和天空
He said was going into the world and the sky
他说所有的扣子都很牢固
He said all the buckles were very firm
他说这个蜡是最好的蜡
He said the wax was the best wax
10他说在沙滩上等我
10He said Wait for me here on the beach
他说别哭
He said Just don’t cry
我记得海鸥和海浪
I remember the gulls and the waves
我记得岛屿在海上变暗
I remember the islands going dark on the sea
我记得女孩们笑了
I remember the girls laughing
15我记得他们说他只是想远离我
15I remember they said he only wanted to get away from me
我记得妈妈说过:发明家就像诗人,
I remember mother saying : Inventors are like poets,
一群垃圾
a trashy lot
我记得她告诉我那些尝试发明的人更糟糕
I remember she told me those who try out inventions are worse
我记得她还说:爱这样的女人是最糟糕的
I remember she added : Women who love such are the worst of all
20我已经等了一整天,甚至可能更久。
20I have been waiting all day, or perhaps longer.
我本人也想尝试一下这些鸡翅。
I would have liked to try those wings myself.
这肯定会比这更好。
It would have been better than this.
[1973年]
[1973]
a伊卡洛斯:希腊神话中,代达罗斯和他的儿子伊卡洛斯被克里特岛国王米诺斯囚禁。为了逃脱,代达罗斯为自己和儿子打造了一对巨大的翅膀。他建议伊卡洛斯不要飞得太靠近太阳,因为固定翅膀的蜡会融化。伊卡洛斯忘记了父亲的忠告,当蜡融化时,他掉进海里淹死了。
aIcarus: In Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned by King Minos of Crete. In order to escape, Daedalus created a pair of enormous wings for himself and for his son. He advised Icarus to not fly too close to the sun, as the wax that held the wings together would melt. Icarus forgot his father’s advice, and when the wax melted, he fell into the ocean and drowned.
(1914–2000)
[1914–2000]
1963 年阿拉巴马州伯明翰教堂爆炸案
On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963
“妈妈,我可以去市中心吗
“Mother dear, may I go downtown
不是出去玩,
Instead of out to play,
走上伯明翰街头
And march the streets of Birmingham
今天参加自由游行吗?”
In a Freedom March today?”
5“不,宝贝,不,你不能走,
5“No, baby, no, you may not go,
因为狗又凶猛又野蛮,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
还有棍棒、水管、枪支和监狱
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
对小孩子来说不太好。”
Aren’t good for a little child.”
“但是,妈妈,我不会孤单。
“But, mother, I won’t be alone.
10其他孩子会和我一起去,
10Other children will go with me,
走上伯明翰街头
And march the streets of Birmingham
让我们的国家获得自由。”
To make our country free.”
“不,宝贝,不,你不能走,
“No, baby, no, you may not go,
因为我担心那些枪会开火。
For I fear those guns will fire.
但你可以去教堂
But you may go to church instead
15并在儿童合唱团唱歌。”
15And sing in the children’s choir.”
她梳理了漆黑的头发,
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
沐浴着芬芳的玫瑰花瓣,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
她那棕色的小手上戴着白手套,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
20脚上穿着白色的鞋子。
20And white shoes on her feet.
母亲微笑着认识她的孩子
The mother smiled to know her child
在这神圣的地方,
Was in the sacred place,
但那微笑是最后的微笑
But that smile was the last smile
来到她面前。
To come upon her face.
二十五当她听到爆炸声时,
25For when she heard the explosion,
她的眼睛变得湿润而狂野。
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
她在伯明翰的街道上奔跑
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
呼唤她的孩子。
Calling for her child.
她从玻璃碎片和砖块中摸索出来,
She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
三十然后拿出一只鞋子。
30Then lifted out a shoe.
“哦,这是我宝宝穿的鞋,
“Oh, here’s the shoe my baby wore,
可是,宝贝,你在哪里?”
But, baby, where are you?”
[1969年]
[1969]
(1914–1993)
[1914–1993]
在黑暗中旅行我发现了一只鹿
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
死在威尔逊河路边。
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
通常最好的方法是将它们滚入峡谷:
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
那条路很窄;转向可能会导致更多人死亡。
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
5借着车尾灯的亮光,我跌跌撞撞地回到车里
5By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
站在那堆鹿旁边,是一只刚刚被猎杀的母鹿;
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
她已经僵住了,几乎是冰冷的。
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
我把她拖了起来;她的肚子很大。
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.
我的手指触碰到了她的身体侧面,让我找到了原因——
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason —
10她的身边很温暖;她的小鹿躺在那里等待,
10her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
活着,静止,从未出生。
alive, still, never to be born.
在那条山路旁我犹豫了。
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
这辆车打开了停车灯,瞄准前方;
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
引擎盖下,发动机发出平稳的轰隆声。
under the hood purred the steady engine.
15我站在温暖的红色排气管的照射下;
15I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
我可以听到我们周围荒野的声音。
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
我为我们大家认真思考——我唯一的转变——,
I thought hard for us all — my only swerving — ,
然后将她推下边缘,掉进河里。
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
[1962年]
[1962]
(1914–1965)
[1914–1965]
我从母亲的睡梦中进入了这样的状态,
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
我弓着身子趴在它的肚子里,直到我湿漉漉的毛都冻住了。
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
距地球六英里,脱离了生命之梦,
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
我被黑色高射炮和噩梦战士惊醒。
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
5我死后,他们用水管把我从炮塔里冲出来。
5When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
[1945年]
[1945]
球形炮塔机枪手: “球形炮塔是安装在 B-17 或 B-24 机腹中的有机玻璃球体,里面装有两挺 .50 口径机枪,还有一名身材矮小的男子。当这名机枪手用机枪跟踪从下方攻击其轰炸机的战斗机时,他会随着炮塔旋转;他弯腰驼背地躺在小球中,看上去就像子宫里的胎儿。攻击他的战斗机装备有炮弹。软管是蒸汽软管” [贾雷尔注]。
aBall Turret Gunner: “A ball turret was a plexiglass sphere set into the belly of a B-17 or B-24, and inhabited by two .50 caliber machine-guns and one man, a short small man. When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below, he revolved with the turret; hunched upside-down in his little sphere, he looked like the foetus in the womb. The fighters that attacked him were armed with cannon-firing explosive shells. The hose was a steam hose” [Jarrell’s note].
(1914–1953)
[1914–1953]
不要温和地走进那个良夜,
Do not go gentle into that good night,
老年应该在日暮时分燃烧、咆哮;
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
愤怒吧,愤怒吧,反抗光明的消逝。
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
尽管智者终究明白黑暗才是正确之道,
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
5因为他们的话语没有发出闪电,所以他们
5Because their words had forked no lightning they
别温和地走进那个良夜。
Do not go gentle into that good night.
好人,最后一波浪潮过去,哭喊着多么明亮
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
他们的脆弱行为也许会在绿色的海湾中翩翩起舞,
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
愤怒吧,愤怒吧,反抗光明的消逝。
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
10野人抓住飞翔的太阳并歌唱,
10Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
后来他们才知道,它上路后,人们为它悲伤不已,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
别温和地走进那个良夜。
Do not go gentle into that good night.
严肃的人,濒临死亡,却能用耀眼的视力看东西
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
盲人的眼睛可以像流星一样闪耀,而且快乐,
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
15愤怒吧,愤怒吧,反抗光明的消逝。
15Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
而你,我的父亲,在那悲伤的高处,
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
我祈求您,现在用您那凶猛的泪水诅咒我、祝福我。
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
别温和地走进那个良夜。
Do not go gentle into that good night.
愤怒吧,愤怒吧,反抗光明的消逝。
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[1952年]
[1952]
(1917–2000)
[1917–2000]
堕胎不会让你忘记。
Abortions will not let you forget.
你记得你得到过但你没有得到过的孩子,
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
潮湿的小果肉,带有少量毛发或没有毛发,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
从不处理空气的歌手和工人。
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
5你永远不会忽视或打败
5You will never neglect or beat
他们,或者沉默,或者用糖果买单。
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
你永远不会成为吮吸拇指的人
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
或者赶走前来的鬼魂。
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
你永远不会离开他们,控制着你甜美的叹息,
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,
10回来吃点零食,用母亲的眼神狼吞虎咽。
10Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.
我在风声中听到了我那些昏厥死去的孩子们的声音。
I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.
我已经感染了。我已经缓解了
I have contracted. I have eased
我的亲爱的宝贝们永远无法吮吸他们的乳房。
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
我说过,亲爱的,如果我犯了罪,如果我抓住了
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
15你的运气
15Your luck
你们的生命还未完成,
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
如果我偷走了你们的出生和你们的名字,
If I stole your births and your names,
你那单纯的婴儿般的眼泪和你的游戏,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
你的不自然或可爱的爱情,你的骚乱,你的婚姻,你的痛苦,你的死亡,
Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches, and your deaths,
20如果我毒害了你的呼吸,
20If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
相信即使我是故意的,我也并非故意的。
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.
我又何必抱怨,
Though why should I whine,
抱怨说这不是我的罪行?——
Whine that the crime was other than mine? —
因为无论如何你都已经死了。
Since anyhow you are dead.
二十五或者更确切地说,
25Or rather, or instead,
你从来就没有被制造过。
You were never made.
但我也担心,
But that too, I am afraid,
是有缺陷的:哦,我该说什么呢,真相该如何说呢?
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
你出生,你有肉体,你死亡。
You were born, you had body, you died.
三十只是你从未咯咯笑过、计划过、或者哭泣过。
30It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.
相信我,我爱你们所有人。
Believe me, I loved you all.
相信我,我认识你,尽管只是模糊的认识,我爱过你,我爱你
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
全部。
All.
[1945年]
[1945]
(1917–2000)
[1917–2000]
台球运动员。
金铲子餐厅 (Golden Shovel) 有七人。
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
我们真的很酷。我们
We real cool. We
离开了学校。我们
Left school. We
潜伏到很晚。我们
Lurk late. We
直击要害。我们
Strike straight. We
5唱出罪恶。我们
5Sing sin. We
稀薄的杜松子酒。我们
Thin gin. We
爵士六月。我们
Jazz June. We
很快就死了。
Die soon.
[1960年]
[1960]
(1917–1978)
[1917–1978]
“放弃 Omnia Servare Rem Publicam。”乙
“Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam.”b
旧南波士顿水族馆
The old South Boston Aquarium stands
现在正处于撒哈拉大雪之中。它破碎的窗户都用木板封住了。
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded.
青铜风向标鳕鱼已失去一半的鳞片。
The bronze weathervane cod has lost half its scales.
通风罐是干的。
The airy tanks are dry.
5有一次我的鼻子像蜗牛一样在玻璃上爬行;
5Once my nose crawled like a snail on the glass;
我的手发麻
my hand tingled
戳破泡沫
to burst the bubbles
从那些胆怯而顺从的鱼的鼻子里飘出来。
drifting from the noses of the cowed, compliant fish.
我的手缩了回去。我常常叹息,
My hand draws back. I often sigh still
10为黑暗的向下和植物王国
10for the dark downward and vegetating kingdom
鱼类和爬行动物。去年三月的一个早晨,
of the fish and reptile. One morning last March,
我压在新的带刺镀锌
I pressed against the new barbed and galvanized
波士顿公园的栅栏。c在他们的笼子后面,
fence on the Boston Common.c Behind their cage,
黄色恐龙蒸汽铲正在咕噜咕噜地叫
yellow dinosaur steamshovels were grunting
15因为它们长出了大量的烂泥和草
15as they cropped up tons of mush and grass
挖开他们的地下车库。
to gouge their underworld garage.
停车位像市民一样奢华
Parking spaces luxuriate like civic
波士顿市中心的沙堆。
sandpiles in the heart of Boston.
一束橙色、清教徒南瓜色的梁
A girdle of orange, Puritan-pumpkin colored girders
20支撑着颤抖的州议会大厦,
20braces the tingling Statehouse,
挖掘现场摇晃不已,因为它正对着肖上校
shaking over the excavations, as it faces Colonel Shaw
和他的黑人步兵
and his bell-cheeked Negro infantry
关于圣高登斯震撼人心的内战救济,
on St. Gaudens’ shaking Civil War relief,
用木板夹板支撑以抵御车库的地震。
propped by a plank splint against the garage’s earthquake.
二十五在波士顿游行两个月后,
25Two months after marching through Boston,
该团有一半士兵阵亡;
half the regiment was dead;
在奉献仪式上,
at the dedication,
威廉·詹姆斯几乎可以听到青铜色的黑人的呼吸声。
William Jamesd could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.
他们的纪念碑像鱼骨一样突出
Their monument sticks like a fishbone
三十位于城市的咽喉处。
30in the city’s throat.
它的上校同样精干
Its Colonel is as lean
如同罗盘针一样。
as a compass-needle.
他有着愤怒的鹪鹩般的警惕,
He has an angry wrenlike vigilance,
灵缇犬的温柔紧绷;
a greyhound’s gentle tautness;
三十五他似乎对快乐感到畏缩,
35he seems to wince at pleasure,
并因隐私而感到窒息。
and suffocate for privacy.
他现在已超出界限。他因人类的可爱而欣喜,
He is out of bounds now. He rejoices in man’s lovely,
选择生与死的特殊力量——
peculiar power to choose life and die —
当他带领黑人士兵走向死亡时,
when he leads his black soldiers to death,
40他无法弯腰。
40he cannot bend his back.
在新英格兰一千个小镇的草地上,
On a thousand small town New England greens,
古老的白色教堂散发着气息
the old white churches hold their air
稀疏而真诚的反叛;磨损的旗帜
of sparse, sincere rebellion; frayed flags
拼凑共和国大军的墓地。
quilt the graveyards of the Grand Army of the Republic.e
四十五抽象的联邦士兵石像
45The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier
每年都变得越来越苗条和年轻——
grow slimmer and younger each year —
他们的腰细如蜂,在火枪前打瞌睡
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
并从鬓角间沉思……
and muse through their sideburns …
肖的父亲不想立纪念碑
Shaw’s father wanted no monument
50除了沟渠,
50except the ditch,
他儿子的尸体被扔在那里
where his son’s body was thrown
并和他的“黑鬼”一起失败了。
and lost with his “niggers.”f
壕沟越来越近了。
The ditch is nearer.
这里没有上次战争的雕像;
There are no statues for the last war here;
55在博伊尔斯顿街,一张商业照片
55on Boylston Street, a commercial photograph
展现广岛沸腾
shows Hiroshima boiling
莫斯勒保险箱,即“万古磐石”
over a Mosler Safe, the “Rock of Ages”
在爆炸中幸存下来。g太空更近了。
that survived the blast.g Space is nearer.
当我蹲在电视机前时,
When I crouch to my television set,
60黑人学童的面容憔悴,犹如气球般浮现。
60the drained faces of Negro school-children rise like balloons.h
肖上校
Colonel Shaw
正骑着他的泡泡,
is riding on his bubble,
他等待
he waits
祝你有个愉快的假期。
for the blessèd break.
65水族馆已经不存在了。到处都是,
65The Aquarium is gone. Everywhere,
巨大的带尾鳍的汽车像鱼一样向前行驶;
giant finned cars nose forward like fish;
野蛮的奴性
a savage servility
在油脂上滑过。
slides by on grease.
[1960年]
[1960]
a为联邦阵亡者:洛厄尔的诗灵感来自纪念罗伯特·古尔德·肖上校和参加内战的马萨诸塞州第 54 志愿步兵团非洲裔美国成员的青铜浮雕。这座雕塑于 1897 年安装在波士顿公园。
aFor the Union Dead: Lowell’s poem was inspired by the bronze relief memorial sculpture to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the African American members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry who fought in the Civil War. The sculpture was installed on Boston Common in 1897.
b “Relinquunt…Publicam”: “他们放弃一切来服务共和国”(拉丁语)。洛厄尔从纪念碑上摘录了这段铭文。
b“Relinquunt…Publicam”: “They give up everything to serve the Republic” (Latin). Lowell adapted this inscription from the memorial.
c 13. 波士顿公园:位于波士顿市中心的一片绿地,多年来,动物们在这里吃草,活动人士在这里举行公开抗议,独立战争前夕英国民兵也在这里扎营。
c13. Boston Common: A green space in the center of Boston where, over the years, animals have grazed, activists have staged public protests, and the British militia camped in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War.
d 28.威廉·詹姆斯(1842-1910):美国哲学家和心理学家。
d28. William James (1842–1910): An American philosopher and psychologist.
e 44. 大共和国军:由在内战期间为联邦而战的老兵组成的组织。
e44. Grand Army of the Republic: An organization of veterans who had fought for the Union during the Civil War.
f 52. 肖的父亲……“黑鬼”:洛厄尔引用了未经证实的流传故事,这些故事声称在瓦格纳堡战役之后,南方邦联指挥官命令他的士兵将肖埋葬在一个万人坑中,而肖在那场战役中率领他的士兵进行了一次英勇但没有成功的进攻,最终牺牲。
f52. Shaw’s father … “niggers.”: Lowell references unconfirmed stories that circulated alleging the Confederate commander ordered his men to bury Shaw in a mass grave with his men following the Battle of Fort Wagner, in which Shaw died leading his troops in a heroic but unsuccessful assault.
g 57. 莫斯勒保险箱……在爆炸中幸存:莫斯勒保险箱公司在广告中声称,该公司生产的一款保险箱在 1945 年 8 月 6 日美国在日本广岛投下原子弹时幸存了下来。
g57. Mosler Safe … survived the blast: In advertisements, the Mosler Safe Company claimed that one of its safes survived the United State’s dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.
h 60. 那些疲惫的脸……像气球一样: 1954 年,美国最高法院裁定公立学校的种族隔离违反宪法,阿肯色州州长命令阿肯色州国民警卫队阻止九名非裔美国学生进入小石城中央高中。作为回应,艾森豪威尔总统派遣联邦军队来强制推行种族融合政策,保护“小石城九人”的安全。
h60. the drained faces … like balloons: Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 1954 that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, the Governor of Arkansas ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. In response, President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to enforce integration and protect the safety of the “Little Rock Nine.”
(1923–1997)
[1923–1997]
婚姻的痛苦:
The ache of marriage:
大腿和舌头,亲爱的,
thigh and tongue, beloved,
负担很重,
are heavy with it,
它在牙齿里跳动
it throbs in the teeth
5我们寻求交流
5We look for communion
亲爱的,
and are turned away, beloved,
每一个
each and each
它是利维坦,我们
It is leviathan and we
在它的肚子里
in its belly
10寻找快乐,一些快乐
10looking for joy, some joy
不被外界所知
not to be known outside it
两个两个地在方舟里
two by two in the ark of
它的痛苦。
the ache of it.
[1966年]
[1966]
(1925–2012)
[1925–2012]
大家都忘记了伊卡洛斯也飞过。
Everyone forgets that Icarusa also flew.
当爱情走到尽头时也是一样,
It’s the same when love comes to an end,
或者婚姻失败,人们说
or the marriage fails and people say
他们知道这是一个错误,每个人都知道
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
5说这永远不会奏效。她
5said it would never work. That she was
已经足够成熟,懂得更多。但任何事情
old enough to know better. But anything
值得做的事就值得做不好。
worth doing is worth doing badly.
就像身处夏日海边
Like being there by that summer ocean
在岛的另一边
on the other side of the island while
10爱情渐渐从她身上消逝,星星
10love was fading out of her, the stars
那些夜晚燃烧得如此奢侈
burning so extravagantly those nights that
任何人都可以告诉你,它们不会长久。
anyone could tell you they would never last.
每天早上她都在我的床上睡觉
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
就像一场探访,她身上的温柔
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
15就像站立在黎明薄雾中的羚羊。
15like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
每天下午我都看着她回来
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
游完泳后穿过炎热的石地,
through the hot stony field after swimming,
她身后的海光和广阔的天空
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
在那另一边。听她说
on the other side of that. Listened to her
20我们吃午饭的时候。他们怎么能说
20while we ate lunch. How can they say
婚姻失败了?就像那些
the marriage failed? Like the people who
从普罗旺斯回来(当时是普罗旺斯)
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
并说它很漂亮但是食物很油腻。
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
我相信伊卡洛斯坠落时并没有失败,
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
二十五但他的胜利才刚刚结束。
25but just coming to the end of his triumph.
[2005]
[2005]
a 1. 伊卡洛斯:在希腊神话中,代达罗斯和他的儿子伊卡洛斯被克里特岛国王米诺斯囚禁。为了逃脱,代达罗斯为自己和儿子打造了一对巨大的翅膀。他建议伊卡洛斯不要飞得太靠近太阳,因为固定翅膀的蜡会融化。伊卡洛斯忘记了父亲的忠告,当蜡融化时,他掉进海里淹死了。
a1. Icarus: In Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned by King Minos of Crete. In order to escape, Daedalus created a pair of enormous wings for himself and for his son. He advised Icarus to not fly too close to the sun, as the wax that held the wings together would melt. Icarus forgot his father’s advice, and when the wax melted, he fell into the ocean and drowned.
(1925–2014)
[1925–2014]
在我空虚的脑袋里
Into my empty head there come
一片棉花海滩,以及由此形成的码头
a cotton beach, a dock wherefrom
我出发了,油腻又赤裸
I set out, oily and nude
穿过薄雾,在寒冷的孤独中。
through mist, in chilly solitude.
5没有排队,没有屋顶或地板
5There was no line, no roof or floor
区分水和空气。
to tell the water from the air.
夜雾浓如毛巾布
Night fog thick as terry cloth
将我封闭在它模糊的生长之中。
closed me in its fuzzy growth.
我把浴袍挂在两个挂钩上。
I hung my bathrobe on two pegs.
10我把湖放在我的两腿之间。
10I took the lake between my legs.
被入侵者,入侵者,我
Invaded and invader, I
坠落在那片平坦的天空上。
went overhand on that flat sky.
鱼在我身下抽搐,既敏捷又温顺。
Fish twitched beneath me, quick and tame.
他们在绿区唱着我的名字
In their green zone they sang my name
15和游泳的节奏
15and in the rhythm of the swim
我哼着一首两四拍子的慢节奏的赞美诗。
I hummed a two-four-time slow hymn.
我哼唱着“Abide With Me”。节拍
I hummed “Abide With Me.”a The beat
在我的双脚轻轻踢动中升起,
rose in the fine thrash of my feet,
我吹出的泡泡里有玫瑰
rose in the bubbles I put out
20斜斜地从我的嘴里流过。
20slantwise, trailing through my mouth.
我的骨头喝了水;水落下
My bones drank water; water fell
穿过我所有的门。我是井
through all my doors. I was the well
它滋润着与我的大海汇合的湖泊
that fed the lake that met my sea
我演唱了《与我同在》。
in which I sang “Abide With Me.”
[1965年]
[1965]
a 17.“与我同在”:一首流行的基督教赞美诗。
a17. “Abide With Me”: A popular Christian hymn.
(1926–1966)
[1926–1966]
纽约时间是星期五 12:20
It is 12:20 in New York a Friday
巴士底日三天后,[1]是的
three days after Bastille day,[1] yes
1959 年,我去擦鞋
it is 1959 and I go get a shoeshine
因为我会在 4:19 的东汉普顿下车
because I will get off the 4:19 in Easthampton
57:15,然后直接去吃晚饭
5at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner
我不知道谁会养活我
and I don’t know the people who will feed me
我走在闷热的街道上,太阳开始升起
I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun
吃一个汉堡包和一杯麦芽啤酒,然后买
and have a hamburger and a malted and buy
一个丑陋的新世界写作看看诗人
an ugly new world writing to see what the poets
10加纳最近在做什么
10in Ghana are doing these days
我去银行
I go on to the bank
和 Stillwagon 小姐(我曾经听说过她的名字叫 Linda)
and Miss Stillwagon (first name Linda I once heard)
她一辈子都没查过我的余额
doesn’t even look up my balance for once in her life
金色狮鹫让我想起了魏尔伦。[2]
and in the golden griffin I get a little Verlaine[2]
15为 Patsy 绘制的 Bonnard b的图画,尽管我
15for Patsy with drawings by Bonnardb although I do
想想赫西奥德,[3] Richmond Lattimore 译,或
think of Hesiod,[3] trans. Richmond Lattimore or
Brendan Behan 的[4]新剧或Le Balcon或Les Nègres
Brendan Behan’s[4] new play or Le Balcon or Les Nègres
热内,c但我不,我坚持魏尔伦
of Genet,c but I don’t, I stick with Verlaine
在几乎带着困惑入睡之后
after practically going to sleep with quandariness
20对于 Mike 来说,我只是漫步到公园小路
20and for Mike I just stroll into the park lane
酒类商店,要一瓶 Strega 和
Liquor Store and ask for a bottle of Strega and
然后我回到第六大道
then I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue
齐格菲剧院的烟草店和
and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatre and
随便要一盒高卢啤酒[5]和一盒
casually ask for a carton of Gauloises[5] and a carton
二十五皮卡尤恩斯的[6]和一张印有她照片的纽约邮报
25of Picayunes,[6] and a new york post with her face on it
我已经出了很多汗了,想到
and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of
靠在 5号门上
leaning on the john door in the 5 spot
她一边在键盘上低声吟唱,
while she whispered a song along the keyboard
致马尔·沃尔德伦,我和所有人都停止了呼吸
to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing
[1964年]
[1964]
一位女士:爵士歌手比莉·霍利戴 (1915-1959)。
aLady: Jazz singer Billie Holiday (1915–1959).
b 15. 博纳尔:皮埃尔·博纳尔,法国现代主义画家(1867-1947)。
b15. Bonnard: Pierre Bonnard, French modernist painter (1867–1947).
c 18.热内:让·热内,法国剧作家、小说家(1910–1986)。
c18. Genet: Jean Genet, French playwright and novelist (1910–1986).
[1] (7月14日)
[1](July 14)
[2]法国诗人
[2]French poet
[3]希腊诗人
[3]Greek poet
[4]爱尔兰剧作家
[4]Irish playwright
[5]法国香烟
[5]French cigarettes
[6]南方香烟
[6]Southern cigarettes
(1926–1997)
[1926–1997]
今晚我对你有怎样的想念,沃尔特·惠特曼,因为我走在树下的街道上,看着满月,头痛欲裂,不自在。
What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.
在饥饿、疲惫、寻觅图像中,我走进霓虹水果超市,梦想着你的列举!
In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
多么多的桃子和多么多的半影!全家人晚上购物!过道里挤满了丈夫!妻子在鳄梨里,婴儿在西红柿里!——还有你,加西亚·洛尔卡,你在西瓜旁边干什么?
What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes! — and you, García Lorca,a what were you doing down by the watermelons?
我看到你,沃尔特·惠特曼,没有孩子,孤独的老乞丐,在冰箱里翻找肉类,注视着杂货店的小伙子。
I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
5我听到你们互相问问题:是谁杀了猪排?香蕉值多少钱?你是我的天使吗?
5I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
我跟着你在那堆色彩鲜艳的罐头中进进出出,在我的想象中也跟着商店侦探走来走去。
I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
我们一起独自漫步在开放的走廊里,品尝着朝鲜蓟,品尝着每一种冷冻美食,却从不经过收银员。
We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.
我们要去哪里,沃尔特·惠特曼?门在一小时内关闭。今晚你的胡子指向哪个方向?
Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
(我触摸你的书,梦想着我们在超市的冒险经历,感觉很荒谬。)
(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
10我们会在寂寞的街道上走一整夜吗?树木遮荫,屋内灯火熄灭,我们都会感到孤独。
10Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.
我们是否会漫步在车道上驶过蓝色汽车,梦想着失去的美国爱情,回到我们寂静的小屋?
Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
啊,亲爱的父亲,白发苍苍、孤独的老勇气老师,当卡戎b不再撑船,而你站在冒烟的河岸上,站在那里,望着小船消失在勒忒河的黑色水面上时,你拥有什么样的美国?c
Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charonb quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?c
伯克利,1955 年
Berkeley, 1955
[1956年]
[1956]
a3 .加西亚·洛尔卡:费德里科·加西亚·洛尔卡,西班牙超现实主义诗人、剧作家(1898-1936)。
a3. García Lorca: Federico García Lorca, Spanish surrealist poet and playwright (1898–1936).
b 12.卡戎:希腊神话中的船夫,负责将死者渡过冥河到达冥界。
b12. Charon: The boatman in Greek mythology who carried the dead across the river Styx to Hades.
c忘川(Lethe):冥界的忘川之河。
cLethe: River of Forgetfulness in Hades.
(1927–2014)
[1927–2014]
因为我的鼾声像扩音器一样
For I can snore like a bullhorn
或播放大声的音乐
or play loud music
或者坐下来和任何一个清醒的爱尔兰人聊天
or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman
而 Fergus 只会陷得更深
and Fergus will only sink deeper
5进入无梦的睡眠,一瞬间,
5into his dreamless sleep, which goes by all in one flash,
但愿有沉重的呼吸
but let there be that heavy breathing
或房子里任何地方传来的压抑的哭声
or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house
他会挣扎着醒来
and he will wrench himself awake
然后逃跑——就像现在,我们躺在一起,
and make for it on the run — as now, we lie together,
10做爱后,安静地,抚摸着我们的身体,
10after making love, quiet, touching along the length of our bodies,
婚姻已久的熟悉触感,
familiar touch of the long-married,
然后他出现了——穿着棒球睡衣,
and he appears — in his baseball pajamas, it happens,
颈部开口太小,他必须用螺丝钉固定——
the neck opening so small he has to screw them on —
然后倒在我们中间,拥抱我们,依偎着入睡,
and flops down between us and hugs us and snuggles himself to sleep,
15他脸上洋溢着满意的光芒,因为他就是这个孩子。
15his face gleaming with satisfaction at being this very child.
在半明半暗中我们互相注视
In the half darkness we look at each other
并微笑
and smile
并抚摸这小小、肌肉发达的身体的手臂——
and touch arms across this little, startlingly muscled body —
这个人被记忆的习惯驱使着来到他所创造的地方,
this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making,
20沉睡者只有凡人的声音才能唤醒,
20sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake,
这份祝福爱再次投入我们的怀抱。
this blessing love gives again into our arms.
[1980]
[1980]
(1927–2014)
[1927–2014]
当一个人独自生活了很长时间,
When one has lived a long time alone,
过去所留下的巨大遗憾
among regrets so immense the past occupies
几乎所有的空间都是意识空间,
nearly all the room there is in consciousness,
蛇的眼睛会回望
one notices in the snake’s eyes, which look back
5不减少对未来的关注,
5without giving any less attention to the future,
第一层不透明的乳蓝色
the first coating of the opaque, milky-blue
蛇在蜕皮时会得白斑
leucoma snakes get when about to throw their skins
并成为新的——同时继续,
and become new — meanwhile continuing,
当然,变老——同样的bleu passé
of course, to grow old — the same bleu passéa
15漂白蓝眼睛的人的角膜
15that bleaches the corneas of the blue-eyed
当他们在尽头躺下寻找天堂时,
when they lie back at the end and look for heaven,
一个人的消逝意味着他永远找不到它
a fading one knows means they will never find it
当一个人独自生活了很长时间。
when one has lived a long time alone.
[1990]
[1990]
9. bleu passé:褪色的蓝色(法语)。
a9. bleu passé: Faded blue (French).
[生于 1927 年]
[b. 1927]
他们都亲吻了新娘。
They all kissed the bride.
他们都笑了。
They all laughed.
他们来自太空之外。
They came from beyond space.
他们是晚上来的。
They came by night.
5他们来到了一座城市。
5They came to a city.
他们来是为了炸毁美国。
They came to blow up America.
他们来抢劫拉斯维加斯。
They came to rob Las Vegas.
他们不敢爱。
They dare not love.
他们死时还穿着靴子。
They died with their boots on.
10他们会射杀马,不是吗?
10They shoot horses, don’t they?
它们轰然响起。
They go boom.
他们为我提供了保障。
They got me covered.
他们单独飞行。
They flew alone.
他们给了他一把枪。
They gave him a gun.
15他们必须结婚。
15They just had to get married.
他们活着。他们热爱生活。
They live. They loved life.
他们夜以继日地生活。
They live by night.
他们夜间开车。
They drive by night.
他们认识奈特先生。
They knew Mr. Knight.
20它们是可消耗的。
20They were expendable.
他们在阿根廷相遇。
They met in Argentina.
他们在孟买会面。
They met in Bombay.
他们在黑暗中相遇。
They met in the dark.
二十五他们可能是巨人。
25They might be giants.
他们让我成了逃犯。
They made me a fugitive.
他们让我成为了罪犯。
They made me a criminal.
它们只会杀死自己的主人。
They only kill their masters.
他们应当有音乐。
They shall have music.
她们是姐妹。
They were sisters.
三十他们仍然叫我布鲁斯。
30They still call me Bruce.
他们不会相信我的。
They won’t believe me.
他们不会忘记。
They won’t forget.
[2009]
[2009]
[生于 1927 年]
[b. 1927]
快乐的烦恼在于时机
The trouble with pleasure is the timing
它会毫无预兆地超越我
it can overtake me without warning
在我知道它到来之前它就消失了
and be gone before I know it is here
它可以不被我认出来
it can stand facing me unrecognized
5当我在别处回忆时
5while I am remembering somewhere else
在另一个时代或某个未见过的人
in another age or someone not seen
多年来从未再见过
for years and never to be seen again
在这个世界上,我似乎很珍惜
in this world and it seems that I cherish
现在我才意识到一种快乐
only now a joy I was not aware of
10当它在这里时,尽管它仍然存在
10when it was here although it remains
无法触及,不会被捕获或命名
out of reach and will not be caught or named
或者回电话,看看我是否可以让它留下来
or called back and if I could make it stay
正如我所愿,它会变成痛苦
as I want to it would turn into pain
[2009]
[2009]
(1927–1980)
[1927–1980]
在我的头顶上,我看到了青铜色的蝴蝶,
Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
睡在黑色的树干上,
Asleep on the black trunk,
像绿影中的一片树叶一样被吹拂。
Blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
沿着空房子后面的峡谷,
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
5牛铃声接连不断
5The cowbells follow one another
走向下午的远方。
Into the distances of the afternoon.
在我的右边,
To my right,
在两棵松树之间的阳光田野里,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
去年马的粪便
The droppings of last year’s horses
10闪耀出金色的宝石。
10Blaze up into golden stones.
我往后靠,夜幕渐渐降临。
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
一只鹰飞过,寻找家园。
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
我浪费了我的生命。
I have wasted my life.
[1972年]
[1972]
(1928–2015)
[1928–2015]
我们在雨中排成长队
We stand in the rain in a long line
在福特高地公园等候工作。
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
你知道工作是什么——如果你
You know what work is — if you’re
你已经够大可以读这本书了,你知道吗
old enough to read this you know what
5工作是,尽管你可能不会去做。
5work is, although you may not do it.
忘掉你。这是关于等待,
Forget you. This is about waiting,
从一只脚换到另一只脚。
shifting from one foot to another.
感受小雨如雾般落下
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
进入你的头发,模糊你的视线
into your hair, blurring your vision
10直到你认为你看到了自己的兄弟
10until you think you see your own brother
比你领先大概十个名次。
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
你用手指摩擦眼镜,
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
当然是别人的兄弟,
and of course it’s someone else’s brother,
肩膀比
narrower across the shoulders than
15你的,但同样悲伤的懒散,笑容
15yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
毫不掩饰的固执,
that does not hide the stubbornness,
悲伤地拒绝屈服
the sad refusal to give in to
雨水,浪费的等待时间,
rain, to the hours wasted waiting,
知道在前方某处
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
20一个男人在等待,他会说:“不,
20a man is waiting who will say, “No,
我们今天不招聘,”对于任何
we’re not hiring today,” for any
他想要的理由。你爱你的兄弟,
reason he wants. You love your brother,
现在你突然几乎站不起来
now suddenly you can hardly stand
你对你兄弟的爱如潮水般涌来,
the love flooding you for your brother,
二十五谁不在你身边或身后或
25who’s not beside you or behind or
因为他正在家里尝试
ahead because he’s home trying to
睡一觉来摆脱糟糕的夜班
sleep off a miserable night shift
在凯迪拉克,这样他就可以起床
at Cadillac so he can get up
中午之前学习德语。
before noon to study his German.
三十每天工作八小时,只为唱歌
30Works eight hours a night so he can sing
瓦格纳,你最讨厌的歌剧,
Wagner, the opera you hate most,
史上最糟糕的音乐。
the worst music ever invented.
你告诉他这件事已经多久了
How long has it been since you told him
你爱他,拥抱他宽阔的肩膀,
you loved him, held his wide shoulders,
三十五睁大眼睛说出这些话,
35opened your eyes wide and said those words,
甚至亲吻他的脸颊?你从来没有
and maybe kissed his cheek? You’ve never
做了一些如此简单、如此明显的事,
done something so simple, so obvious,
不是因为你太年轻或太笨,
not because you’re too young or too dumb,
不是因为你嫉妒或刻薄
not because you’re jealous or even mean
40或无法哭泣
40or incapable of crying in
另一个男人的存在,不,
the presence of another man, no,
只是因为你不知道什么是工作。
just because you don’t know what work is.
[1991年]
[1991]
(1928–1974)
[1928–1974]
你总会读到这样的文章:
You always read about it:
有十二个孩子的水管工
the plumber with twelve children
谁赢得了爱尔兰抽奖活动。
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
从厕所到财富。
From toilets to riches.
5那个故事。
5That story.
或者是保姆,
Or the nursemaid,
来自丹麦的美味甜点
some luscious sweet from Denmark
他俘获了大儿子的心。
who captures the oldest son’s heart.
从尿布到迪奥。
From diapers to Dior.a
10那个故事。
10That story.
或者为富人服务的送奶工,
Or a milkman who serves the wealthy,
鸡蛋、奶油、黄油、酸奶、牛奶、
eggs, cream, butter, yogurt, milk,
像救护车一样的白色卡车
the white truck like an ambulance
谁进入房地产行业
who goes into real estate
15并堆成一堆。
15and makes a pile.
从均质饮料到午餐时的马提尼酒。
From homogenized to martinis at lunch.
或女佣
Or the charwoman
公交车开裂时谁在车上
who is on the bus when it cracks up
并从保险公司收取足够的钱。
and collects enough from the insurance.
一次
Once
一位富人的妻子奄奄一息
the wife of a rich man was on her deathbed
她对女儿灰姑娘说:
and she said to her daughter Cinderella:
二十五要虔诚。要善良。然后我会微笑
25Be devout. Be good. Then I will smile
从天而降,在云缝之中。
down from heaven in the seam of a cloud.
那个男人又娶了一个妻子
The man took another wife who had
两个女儿,够漂亮
two daughters, pretty enough
但红心却像黑杰克。
but with hearts like blackjacks.
三十灰姑娘是他们的女仆。
30Cinderella was their maid.
她每晚都睡在烟熏火燎的壁炉上
She slept on the sooty hearth each night
走来走去,看上去就像艾尔·乔逊。c
and walked around looking like Al Jolson.c
她的父亲从城里带回了礼物,
Her father brought presents home from town,
为其他女人准备珠宝和礼服
jewels and gowns for the other women
三十五但对于灰姑娘来说,这只是一根树枝。
35but the twig of a tree for Cinderella.
她把那根树枝种在了母亲的坟上
She planted that twig on her mother’s grave
它长成了一棵树,树上有一只白鸽栖息。
and it grew to a tree where a white dove sat.
每当她想要什么的时候,鸽子
Whenever she wished for anything the dove
会像把鸡蛋掉到地上一样把它掉下来。
would drop it like an egg upon the ground.
40亲爱的,这只鸟很重要,所以要注意他。
40The bird is important, my dears, so heed him.
接下来是球,大家都知道。
Next came the ball, as you all know.
那是一个结婚集市。
It was a marriage market.
王子正在寻找一位妻子。
The prince was looking for a wife.
除了灰姑娘,其他人都在准备
All but Cinderella were preparing
四十五并为这场盛事精心打扮。
45and gussying up for the big event.
灰姑娘也恳求她也去。
Cinderella begged to go too.
她的继母扔了一盘扁豆
Her stepmother threw a dish of lentils
扔进煤渣里说:把它们捡起来
into the cinders and said: Pick them
一小时后你就可以走了。
up in an hour and you shall go.
50白鸽子带来了他所有的朋友;
50The white dove brought all his friends;
祖国的温暖翅膀都来了,
all the warm wings of the fatherland came,
然后很快就把小扁豆捡了起来。
and picked up the lentils in a jiffy.
不,灰姑娘,继母说,
No, Cinderella, said the stepmother,
你没有衣服,不能跳舞。
you have no clothes and cannot dance.
55继母就是这样的。
55That’s the way with stepmothers.
灰姑娘来到坟墓旁的树下
Cinderella went to the tree at the grave
并像福音歌手一样高声喊道:
and cried forth like a gospel singer:
妈妈!妈妈!我的斑鸠,
Mama! Mama! My turtledove,
送我去参加王子的舞会!
send me to the prince’s ball!
60这只鸟落下了一件金色的裙子
60The bird dropped down a golden dress
和精致的小金拖鞋。
and delicate little gold slippers.
对于一只普通的鸟来说,这是一个相当大的包裹。
Rather a large package for a simple bird.
所以她就去了。这并不奇怪。
So she went. Which is no surprise.
她的继母和姐妹们没有
Her stepmother and sisters didn’t
65没了她那张煤灰脸,也能认出她
65recognize her without her cinder face
王子当场握住了她的手
and the prince took her hand on the spot
并且整天只和别人一起跳舞。
and danced with no other the whole day.
夜幕降临,她想她最好
As nightfall came she thought she’d better
回家。王子送她回家
get home. The prince walked her home
70然后她消失在鸽舍里
70and she disappeared into the pigeon house
尽管王子拿起斧头砍断了
and although the prince took an axe and broke
门打开后她就走了。她又回到了她的灰烬中。
it open she was gone. Back to her cinders.
这些事件连续重复了三天。
These events repeated themselves for three days.
然而第三天,王子
However on the third day the prince
75用鞋蜡覆盖宫殿的台阶
75covered the palace steps with cobbler’s wax
灰姑娘的金鞋也插在上面。
and Cinderella’s gold shoe stuck upon it.
现在他要找到适合自己的人
Now he would find whom the shoe fit
并永远找到他那奇怪的舞女。
and find his strange dancing girl for keeps.
他去了她们家,两姐妹
He went to their house and the two sisters
80很高兴,因为他们有一双可爱的脚。
80were delighted because they had lovely feet.
老大走进房间试穿拖鞋
The eldest went into a room to try the slipper on
但她的大脚趾碍事,所以她干脆
but her big toe got in the way so she simply
把它切下来并穿上拖鞋。
sliced it off and put on the slipper.
王子带着她骑马走了,直到白鸽
The prince rode away with her until the white dove
85让他看看涌出的鲜血。
85told him to look at the blood pouring forth.
截肢就是这样的。
That is the way with amputations.
它们不会像愿望那样自动痊愈。
They don’t just heal up like a wish.
另一个姐妹切断了她的脚跟
The other sister cut off her heel
但鲜血却诉说着鲜血的意志。
but the blood told as blood will.
90王子越来越累了。
90The prince was getting tired.
他开始感觉自己像是一个鞋子推销员。
He began to feel like a shoe salesman.
但他还是做了最后一次尝试。
But he gave it one last try.
这次灰姑娘穿上了鞋子
This time Cinderella fit into the shoe
就像一封情书放进信封里。
like a love letter into its envelope.
95在婚礼上
95At the wedding ceremony
两姐妹来讨好
the two sisters came to curry favor
白鸽啄瞎了他们的眼睛。
and the white dove pecked their eyes out.
留下两个空洞
Two hollow spots were left
像汤匙一样。
like soup spoons.
100灰姑娘和王子
100Cinderella and the prince
他们说,从此以后过上了幸福的生活,
lived, they say, happily ever after,
就像博物馆展柜里的两个娃娃
like two dolls in a museum case
不用担心尿布和灰尘,
never bothered by diapers or dust,
永远不会为鸡蛋的出炉时间而争吵,
never arguing over the timing of an egg,
105永远不会重复讲述同一个故事,
105never telling the same story twice,
永远不会长出中年发福,
never getting a middle-aged spread,
他们可爱的笑容将永远留存在心里。
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
常规鲍勃西双胞胎。d
Regular Bobbsey Twins.d
那个故事。
That story.
[1971年]
[1971]
a 9. Dior:由克里斯汀·迪奥 (1905-1957) 创立的法国迪奥时装公司设计的时装。
a9. Dior: Fashions designed by the French house of Dior, established by Christian Dior (1905–1957).
b 20. Bonwit Teller:时尚而昂贵的百货商店。
b20. Bonwit Teller: A fashionable and expensive department store.
c 32. 艾尔·乔逊:美国艺人(1888-1950),因涂黑脸唱歌而闻名。
c32. Al Jolson: American entertainer (1888–1950), known particularly for singing in blackface.
d 108. 鲍勃西双胞胎: 1904 年至 1979 年间出版的一系列流行儿童读物中的主要角色。在插图中,他们被描绘成衣着考究、总是面带微笑、生活在田园诗般的环境中。
d108. Bobbsey Twins: Principal characters in a popular series of children’s books, published between 1904 and 1979. In illustrations they are depicted as carefully dressed, always smiling, and in idyllic circumstances.
(1929–2012)
[1929–2012]
珍妮佛姨妈的老虎在屏风上腾跃,
Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
明亮的黄玉是绿色世界的居民。
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
它们并不惧怕树下的人;
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
他们以优雅的骑士精神坚定地前行。
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
5珍妮弗姨妈的手指在羊毛衣服间飘动
5Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
甚至象牙针也难以拔出。
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
叔叔的结婚戒指很重
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
重重地坐在珍妮弗姨妈的手上。
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.
当姑姑去世时,她惊恐的手会放下
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
10她仍然饱受磨难。
10Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
她制作的面板上的老虎
The tigers in the panel that she made
将继续骄傲而无所畏惧地腾跃。
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
[1951年]
[1951]
(1929–2012)
[1929–2012]
首先读过神话书,
First having read the book of myths,
并装上相机,
and loaded the camera,
并检查了刀刃的边缘,
and checked the edge of the knife-blade,
我穿上
I put on
5黑色橡胶防弹衣
5the body-armor of black rubber
荒谬的翻转者
the absurd flippers
严肃而笨拙的面具。
the grave and awkward mask.
我必须这么做
I am having to do this
不像库斯托那样
not like Cousteaua with his
10勤奋的团队
10assiduous team
在阳光普照的帆船上
aboard the sun-flooded schooner
但这里只有我一个人。
but here alone.
有一個梯子。
There is a ladder.
梯子永远都在
The ladder is always there
15无辜地悬挂
15hanging innocently
靠近帆船的侧面。
close to the side of the schooner.
我们知道它的用途,
We know what it is for,
我们曾经使用过它。
we who have used it.
否则
Otherwise
20这是一片海牙线
20it’s a piece of maritime floss
一些杂项设备。
some sundry equipment.
我下去了。
I go down.
一层又一层,仍然
Rung after rung and still
氧气浸透了我
the oxygen immerses me
二十五蓝光
25the blue light
清晰的原子
the clear atoms
我们人类的空气。
of our human air.
我下去了。
I go down.
我的鳍使我残废,
My flippers cripple me,
三十我像昆虫一样爬下梯子
30I crawl like an insect down the ladder
没有人
and there is no one
告诉我什么时候海洋
to tell me when the ocean
将开始。
will begin.
一开始空气是蓝色的,然后
First the air is blue and then
三十五然后它变得更蓝,然后变得更绿
35it is bluer and then green and then
我昏过去了,然而
black I am blacking out and yet
我的面具很强大
my mask is powerful
它让我血液沸腾
it pumps my blood with power
大海是另一个故事
the sea is another story
40海洋不是权力的问题
40the sea is not a question of power
我必须独自学习
I have to learn alone
不用力量就能转动我的身体
to turn my body without force
在深层元素中。
in the deep element.
而现在:很容易忘记
And now: it is easy to forget
四十五我来干什么
45what I came for
在众多一直
among so many who have always
住在这里
lived here
摇动他们的城垛b风扇
swaying their crenellatedb fans
在珊瑚礁之间
between the reefs
50此外
50and besides
你们在这里的呼吸方式有所不同。
you breathe differently down here.
我来探索沉船。
I came to explore the wreck.
这些词语就是目的。
The words are purposes.
这些词语就是地图。
The words are maps.
55我来看看造成的损失
55I came to see the damage that was done
以及盛行的宝藏。
and the treasures that prevail.
我抚摸着灯光
I stroke the beam of my lamp
慢慢地沿着侧翼
slowly along the flank
更持久的东西
of something more permanent
60比鱼或杂草
60than fish or weed
我来这里的目的:
the thing I came for:
沉船,而不是沉船的故事
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
事物本身而非神话
the thing itself and not the myth
淹没的脸总是盯着
the drowned facec always staring
65向着太阳
65toward the sun
损害的证据
the evidence of damage
被盐侵蚀,摇曳成这破旧的美
worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty
灾难的肋骨
the ribs of the disaster
弯曲他们的断言
curving their assertion
70在那些犹豫不决的出没者之中。
70among the tentative haunters.
就是这里。
This is the place.
而我在这里,黑发美人鱼
And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
黑色的溪流,身穿铠甲的人鱼
streams black, the merman in his armored body
我们默默地绕圈
We circle silently
75关于沉船
75about the wreck
我们潜入船舱。
we dive into the hold.
我是她:我是他
I am she: I am he
他的脸沉入水中,睁着眼睛睡觉
whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
乳房仍然承受着压力
whose breasts still bear the stress
80那里有银、铜、朱红色的货物
80whose silver, copper, vermeild cargo lies
隐约可见桶内
obscurely inside barrels
半楔形并任其腐烂
half-wedged and left to rot
我们是半毁的工具
we are the half-destroyed instruments
曾经坚持过
that once held to a course
85被水侵蚀的木头
85the water-eaten log
被污染的指南针
the fouled compass
我们是,我是,你是
We are, I am, you are
胆怯或勇敢
by cowardice or courage
为我们找到方向的人
the one who find our way
90回到这个场景
90back to this scene
携带刀具、相机
carrying a knife, a camera
一本神话书
a book of myths
其中
in which
我们的名字没有出现。
our names do not appear.
[1973年]
[1973]
9.库斯托:雅克·伊夫·库斯托(1910-1997),法国水下探险家、摄影师和作家。
a9. Cousteau: Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997), French underwater explorer, photographer, and author.
b 48. 垛口状的:有缺口的;垛口是城垛实体部分之间的开放空间。
b48. crenellated: Notched; crenels are the open spaces between the solid portions of a battlement.
c 64. 溺水面:古老帆船船头上的装饰性女性雕像。
c64. drowned face: The ornamental female figurehead on the prow of an old sailing ship.
d 80. 镀金:镀金的银、青铜或铜。
d80. vermeil: Gilded silver, bronze, or copper.
(1931–1991)
[1931–1991]
硬石 / 以“不接受废话”而闻名
Hard Rock / was / “known not to take no shit
他身上的伤疤可以证明这一点:
From nobody,” and he had the scars to prove it:
嘴唇裂开,发紫,耳朵肿胀,上面有伤痕
Split purple lips, lumbed ears, welts above
他的黄色眼睛,还有一道长长的伤疤
His yellow eyes, and one long scar that cut
5穿过他的太阳穴,穿过厚厚的
5Across his temple and plowed through a thick
卷曲的头发。
Canopy of kinky hair.
有一句话是说,Hard Rock 不是一个卑鄙的黑鬼
The WORD / was / that Hard Rock wasn’t a mean nigger
医生在他的头上钻了一个洞,
Anymore, that the doctors had bored a hole in his head,
切掉他部分大脑,然后射出电流
Cut out part of his brain, and shot electricity
10其余时间。当他们把硬摇滚带回来时,
10Through the rest. When they brought Hard Rock back,
他被戴上手铐和铁链,被释放了,
Handcuffed and chained, he was turned loose,
就像一匹刚刚被阉割的种马,要尝试一下自己的新地位。
Like a freshly gelded stallion, to try his new status.
我们像一群羊一样等待着,观察着,
And we all waited and watched, like a herd of sheep,
看看这句话是否真实。
To see if the WORD was true.
15我们一边等待,一边裹着斗篷
15As we waited we wrapped ourselves in the cloak
谈到他的功绩:“伙计,上次花了八
Of his exploits: “Man, the last time, it took eight
Screwsa to put him in the Hole.”b “Yeah, remember when he
用餐盘打了船长?”“他设置
Smacked the captain with his dinner tray?” “He set
在洞中停留时间的记录是——连续 67 天!”
The record for time in the Hole — 67 straight days!”
20“老硬石!哥们,这真是个疯狂的黑鬼。”
20“Ol Hard Rock! man, that’s one crazy nigger.”
然后是 Hard Rock 曾经咬过的神话宝石
And then the jewel of a myth that Hard Rock had once bit
拇指上被一颗螺丝钉固定住,并用梅毒性唾液毒害了他。
A screw on the thumb and poisoned him with syphilitic spit.
测试开始了,看看 Hard Rock 是否真的很温和。
The testing came, to see if Hard Rock was really tame.
一个乡下人骂他是黑鬼子
A hillbilly called him a black son of a bitch
二十五并且没有失去他的牙齿,一个了解硬摇滚的看门人
25And didn’t lose his teeth, a screw who knew Hard Rock
从之前就把他摇倒并对他的脸咆哮。
From before shook him down and barked in his face.
而 Hard Rock什么也没做。只是傻傻地笑着,
And Hard Rock did nothing. Just grinned and looked silly,
他的眼神空洞得像篱笆上的洞。
His eyes empty like knot holes in a fence.
即使我们发现 Hard Rock
And even after we discovered that it took Hard Rock
三十恰好三分钟告诉你他的名字,
30Exactly 3 minutes to tell you his first name,
我们告诉自己,他只是变得聪明了,
We told ourselves that he had just wised up,
很酷;但我们不能欺骗自己太久,
Was being cool; but we could not fool ourselves for long,
我们转过身去,目光低垂在地面上。我们感到心碎。
And we turned away, our eyes on the ground. Crushed.
他是我们的毁灭者,是做事的人
He had been our Destroyer, the doer of things
三十五我们梦想做却无法做到,
35We dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do,
多年的恐惧,像一条刺人的鞭子,
The fears of years, like a biting whip,
留下深深的血痕
Had cut deep bloody grooves
穿过我们的背。
Across our backs.
[1968]
[1968]
a 17. 螺丝:防护装置;
a17. Screws: Guards;
b洞:单独监禁。
bHole: Solitary confinement.
[生于 1932 年]
[b. 1932]
我想写信给你
I want to write you
一首一气呵成的爱情诗
a love poem as headlong
就像我们的小溪
as our creek
解冻后
after thaw
5当我们站立时
5when we stand
危险
on its dangerous
银行,并观察其发展
banks and watch it carry
每一根树枝
with it every twig
每一片枯叶和枯枝
every dry leaf and branch
10在它的路径上
10in its path
每一个顾虑
every scruple
当我们看到它时
when we see it
肿得厉害
so swollen
有径流
with runoff
15即使我们看到
15that even as we watch
我们必须抓住
we must grab
彼此
each other
然后退后一步
and step back
我们必须抓住每一个
we must grab each
20其他或
20other or
拿到我们的鞋子
get our shoes
我们必须湿透
soaked we must
互相抓
grab each other
[1988]
[1988]
(1932–1963)
[1932–1963]
爱情就像一块厚重的金表,让你前行。
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
助产士拍打你的脚底,你的哭声
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
在元素之中占据一席之地。
Took its place among the elements.
我们的声音回响,放大你的到来。新雕像
Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue
5在通风的博物馆里,你的裸体
5In a drafty museum, your nakedness
阴影笼罩着我们的安全。我们茫然地站在四周,如同墙壁。
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.
我不再是你的母亲
I’m no more your mother
比云朵蒸馏镜子以反映自己的缓慢
Than the cloud that distils a mirror to reflect its own slow
随风而逝。
Effacement at the wind’s hand.
10整夜你的蛾子气息
10All night your moth-breath
在平淡的粉红玫瑰间闪烁。我醒来聆听:
Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:
远处的大海在我耳边摇曳。
A far sea moves in my ear.
一声哭喊,我从床上跌落下来,身负牛重和花香
One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
穿着我的维多利亚式睡衣。
In my Victorian nightgown.
15你的嘴巴张得像猫一样干净。窗户是方形的
15Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s. The window square
使暗淡的星光变白并吞噬。现在你尝试
Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try
你的几张笔记;
Your handful of notes;
清晰的元音像气球一样升起。
The clear vowels rise like balloons.
[ 1961年;1965年]
[1961; 1965]
(1932–1963)
[1932–1963]
你不做,你不做
You do not do, you do not do
还有,黑色鞋子
Any more, black shoe
我像脚一样生活
In which I have lived like a foot
三十年来,贫穷又白皙,
For thirty years, poor and white,
5几乎不敢呼吸,也不敢打阿嚏。
5Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.
爸爸,我不得不杀了你。
Daddy, I have had to kill you.
我还没来得及,你就死了——
You died before I had time —
大理石般沉重,袋子里装满了上帝,
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
有一只灰色脚趾的可怕雕像
Ghastly statue with one grey toe
10像旧金山海豹一样大
10Big as a Frisco seal
一颗头颅出现在怪异的大西洋
And a head in the freakish Atlantic
豆绿色倾泻在蓝色之上
Where it pours bean green over blue
在美丽的瑙塞特岛海域。
In the waters off beautiful Nauset.
我曾经祈祷能够让你康复。
I used to pray to recover you.
15啊,你。[1]
15Ach, du.[1]
在德国人的语言里,在波兰的小镇里
In the German tongue, in the Polish town
被滚筒刮平
Scraped flat by the roller
战争,战争,战争。
Of wars, wars, wars.
但该镇的名字却很常见。
But the name of the town is common.
20我的波兰朋友
20My Polack friend
据说有十几个或二十个。
Says there are a dozen or two.
所以我永远不知道你在哪里
So I never could tell where you
把你的脚,你的根,
Put your foot, your root,
我从来没能和你说话。
I never could talk to you.
二十五舌头卡在了我的下巴里。
25The tongue stuck in my jaw.
它被卡在了铁丝网陷阱里。
It stuck in a barb wire snare.
我,我,我,我,[2]
Ich, ich, ich, ich,[2]
我几乎说不出话来。
I could hardly speak.
我以为每个德国人都是你。
I thought every German was you.
三十并且语言粗俗
30And the language obscene
发动机,发动机
An engine, an engine
像对待犹太人一样嘲笑我。
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
一名前往达豪、奥斯维辛、贝尔森的犹太人。
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.a
我开始像犹太人一样讲话。
I began to talk like a Jew.
三十五我想我很可能是一个犹太人。
35I think I may well be a Jew.
蒂罗尔的雪,维也纳的清啤酒
The snows of the Tyrol,b the clear beer of Vienna
不太纯粹或真实。
Are not very pure or true.
我有吉普赛祖先和我的奇怪运气
With my gypsy ancestress and my weird luck
还有我的 Taroc 背包和我的 Taroc 背包
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
40我可能有点像犹太人。
40I may be a bit of a Jew.
我一直很怕你,
I have always been scared of you,
有了德国空军,c你的胡言乱语。
With your Luftwaffe,c your gobbledygoo.
还有你那整齐的胡子
And your neat moustache
你的雅利安眼睛是明亮的蓝色。
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
四十五装甲师,装甲师,哦你——
45Panzerd-man, panzer-man, O You —
不是上帝,而是纳粹标志
Not God but a swastika
漆黑一片,天空无法穿透。
So black no sky could squeak through.
每个女人都崇拜法西斯分子,
Every woman adores a Fascist,
一脚踢在脸上,残暴无比
The boot in the face, the brute
50像你这样的畜生,心地多么残暴啊。
50Brute heart of a brute like you.
爸爸,你站在黑板前,
You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
在我的照片里,
In the picture I have of you,
下巴上有裂痕,脚上没有
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
但这并不代表它就不是魔鬼,
But no less a devil for that, no not
55黑人男子
55Any less the black man who
把我美丽的红色心脏咬成两半。
Bit my pretty red heart in two.
当他们埋葬你时,我十岁。
I was ten when they buried you.
二十岁时我尝试去死
At twenty I tried to die
回到你身边。
And get back, back, back to you.
60我认为骨头就够了。
60I thought even the bones would do.
但他们把我从床上拉了出来,
But they pulled me out of the sack,
他们用胶水把我粘在一起。
And they stuck me together with glue.
然后我知道该做什么了。
And then I knew what to do.
我把你当做模型,
I made a model of you,
65一位长相酷似Meinkampf e的黑衣男子
65A man in black with a Meinkampfe look
还有对机架和螺丝的喜爱。
And a love of the rack and the screw.
我说我愿意,我愿意。
And I said I do, I do.
爸爸,我终于完成了。
So daddy, I’m finally through.
黑色电话的根部已关闭,
The black telephone’s off at the root,
70声音根本无法传过来。
70The voices just can’t worm through.
如果我杀了一个人,那我也杀了两个人——
If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two —
说自己是你的吸血鬼
The vampire who said he was you
喝了我的血一年,
And drank my blood for a year,
如果你想知道的话,七年。
Seven years, if you want to know.
75爸爸,你现在可以躺下了。
75Daddy, you can lie back now.
你的黑心里有一根木桩
There’s a stake in your fat black heart
村民们从来都不喜欢你。
And the villagers never liked you.
它们在你身上跳舞并踩踏。
They are dancing and stamping on you.
他们一直都知道是你。
They always knew it was you.
80爸爸,爸爸,你这个混蛋,我受够了。
80Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.
[1962年]
[1962]
a 33. 达豪、奥斯维辛、贝尔森:纳粹集中营。
a33. Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen: Nazi concentration camps.
b 36. 蒂罗尔:位于奥地利西部和意大利北部的阿尔卑斯山地区。
b36. the Tyrol: An alpine region in western Austria and northern Italy.
c 42. 德国空军:第二次世界大战中的纳粹空军。
c42. Luftwaffe: The Nazi air force in World War II.
d 45.装甲师:第二次世界大战中德国军队的一个装甲部队。
d45. Panzer: An armored unit in the German army in World War II.
e 65. Meinkampf:我的奋斗(或我的奋斗),阿道夫·希特勒自传的标题。
e65. Meinkampf: Mein Kampf (or My Struggle), the title of Adolf Hitler’s autobiography.
[1]噢,你(德语)
[1]Oh, you (German)
[2]我(德语)
[2]I (German)
(1934–1992)
[1934–1992]
我是全黑
I is the total black
正在被讲述
being spoken
来自地球内部。
from the earth’s inside.
开放有很多种
There are many kinds of open
5钻石是如何形成的
5how a diamond comes
变成一团火焰
into a knot of flame
单词是如何发音的
how sound comes into a word
有色
colored
谁为演讲支付多少费用。
by who pays what for speaking.
10有些话是开放的
10Some words are open
玻璃窗上的钻石
diamonds on a glass window
在碰撞中高歌
singing out within the crash
太阳经过
of passing sun
换句话说就是固定赌注
other words are stapled wagers
15在一本打孔的书中
15in a perforated book
购买、签名并撕毁
buy and sign and tear apart
无论发生什么,机会
and come whatever wills all chances
存根仍然存在
the stub remains
拔牙不当
an ill-pulled tooth
20边缘粗糙。
20with a ragged edge.
有些话在我的喉咙里
Some words live in my throat
像蝰蛇一样繁殖
breeding like adders
其他的
others
知道太阳
know sun
二十五像吉普赛人一样寻找
25seeking like gypsies
在我的舌头上
over my tongue
从我的嘴唇爆发出来
to explode through my lips
像小麻雀
like young sparrows
从壳里爆裂出来。
bursting from shell.
三十一些话
30Some words
困扰我。
bedevil me.
爱是一个字,另一种开放。
Love is a word, another kind of open.
随着钻石的到来
As the diamond comes
变成一团火焰
into a knot of flame
三十五我是黑人
35I am Black
因为我来自地球内部
because I come from the earth’s inside
相信我的话
take my word for jewel
在开放的灯光下。
in the open light.
[ 1962 年;1992 年修订]
[1962; rev. 1992]
(1935–2019)
[1935–2019]
谁创造了世界?
Who made the world?
谁创造了天鹅和黑熊?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
谁创造了蚱蜢?
Who made the grasshopper?
这只蚱蜢,我是说——
This grasshopper, I mean—
5从草丛中跳出来的人,
5the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
从我手里吃糖的人,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
她的下巴不是上下移动,而是前后移动——
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
她正用巨大而复杂的眼睛注视着四周。
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
10现在,她抬起苍白的手臂,彻底洗脸。
10Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
现在她猛地张开翅膀,飞走了。
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
我不太清楚祈祷到底是什么。
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
我知道如何关注,如何跌倒
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
进入草丛,如何跪在草丛里,
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
如何闲适而幸福,如何漫步田野,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
15这正是我一整天都在做的事情。
15which is what I have been doing all day.
告诉我,我还应该做些什么?
Tell me, what else should I have done?
一切最终都会消亡,而且太快了?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
告诉我,你打算做什么
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
用你那狂野而珍贵的一生?
with your one wild and precious life?
[1992年]
[1992]
(1936–2010)
[1936–2010]
在岩石之间
among the rocks
在核桃林
at walnut grove
你的沉默击鼓
your silence drumming
在我的骨头里,
in my bones,
5告诉我你们的名字。
5tell me your names.
没有人提到奴隶
nobody mentioned slaves
还有那些奇怪的工具
and yet the curious tools
用你的指纹闪耀。
shine with your fingerprints.
没有人提到奴隶
nobody mentioned slaves
10但有人做了这项工作
10but somebody did this work
没有向导,没有石头,
who had no guide, no stone,
在岩石下腐烂。
who moulders under rock.
告诉我你的名字,
tell me your names,
告诉我你的害羞名字
tell me your bashful names
15我将作证。
15and i will testify.
清单列出了十名奴隶
the inventory lists ten slaves
但只有男性能被认出来。
but only men were recognized.
在岩石之间
among the rocks
在核桃林
at walnut grove
20其中一些光荣的死者
20some of these honored dead
很暗
were dark
其中一些暗色
some of these dark
是奴隶
were slaves
其中一些奴隶
some of these slaves
二十五是女性
25were women
其中一些人这样做了
some of them did this
光荣的工作。
honored work.
告诉我你的名字
tell me your names
祖母、兄弟、
foremothers, brothers,
三十告诉我你的不光彩的名字。
30tell me your dishonored names.
这儿
here lies
这儿
here lies
这儿
here lies
这儿
here lies
三十五听到
35hear
[1991年]
[1991]
(1936–2010)
[1936–2010]
这些臀部是大臀部。
these hips are big hips.
他们需要空间
they need space to
走动。
move around in.
它们不适合小
they don’t fit into little
5琐碎的地方。这些臀部
5petty places. these hips
是自由的臀部。
are free hips.
他们不喜欢被束缚。
they don’t like to be held back.
这些臀部从未被奴役过,
these hips have never been enslaved,
他们去他们想去的地方
they go where they want to go
10他们做他们想做的事。
10they do what they want to do.
这些臀部是强大的臀部。
these hips are mighty hips.
这些臀部是神奇的臀部。
these hips are magic hips.
我认识他们
i have known them
对一个人施咒
to put a spell on a man and
15让他像陀螺一样旋转!
15spin him like a top!
[1980]
[1980]
[1936–2015]
[1936–2015]
在地铁上,我不得不请一位年轻女士把她旁边的包裹移开,给我腾出空间;
On the métro, I have to ask a young woman to move the packages beside her to make room for me;
她一边看书,一边把脚搁在前面的座位上,当书被拉到身边时,她几乎没有抬头。
She’s reading, her foot propped on the seat in front of her, and barely looks up as she pulls them to her.
我坐下来,拿出自己的书——齐奥朗的《存在的诱惑》——注意到她从她的书上抬起头来
I sit, take out my own book — Cioran, The Temptation to Exist — and notice her glancing up from hers
接受我的头衔,然后,正如贡布罗维奇所说,她“身体上肯定了自己”,也就是说,
to take in the title of mine, and then, as Gombrowicz puts it, she “affirms herself physically,” that is,
5她以一种前所未有的方式出现;虽然她一动不动,但她允许自己
5she’s present in a way she hadn’t been before; though she hasn’t moved an inch, she’s allowed herself
更加清晰地聚焦,更加贴近我的感官知觉,所以我不禁要说
to come more sharply into focus, be more accessible to my sensual perception, so I can’t help but remark
她身材健美,皮肤黝黑(夏末时节,年轻女性的皮肤真是金灿灿的)。
her strong figure and very tan skin — (how literally golden young women can look at the end of summer).
她现在向后靠,当火车摇晃时,她的手臂擦过我的手臂,但她没有将手臂拿开;
She leans back now, and as the train rocks and her arm brushes mine she doesn’t pull it away;
她似乎让我们的表面结合在一起:我们前臂上的细毛,敏感,有活力,
she seems to be allowing our surfaces to unite: the fine hairs on both our forearms, sensitive, alive,
10痛苦地活着,带来某人被触动、某人被感知、从而被承认、被了解的消息。
10achingly alive, bring news of someone touched, someone sensed, and thus acknowledged, known.
我知道她不会给我更多,事实上我也不想得到更多。
I understand that in no way is she offering more than this, and in truth I have no desire for more,
但它仍然足以让我感受到一股浪潮,首先是温暖,然后是某种相反的东西:
but it’s still enough for me to be taken by a surge, first of warmth then of something like its opposite:
一段记忆——一个我曾远远地爱过的女孩,在学校图书馆里坐在我对面,
a memory — a lovely girl I’d mooned for from afar, across the table from me in the library in school,
我想我们的脚会接触,再次接触,然后,我渴望那次接触意味着,
our feet I thought touching, touching even again, and then, with all I craved that touch to mean,
15我意识到那闪闪发光的时刻压住的不是她的肉,而是桌腿。
15my having to realize it wasn’t her flesh my flesh for that gleaming time had pressed, but a table leg.
如今,这位年轻女子已放下手臂,站着,迎着缓慢行驶的火车摇晃着,
The young woman today removes her arm now, stands, swaying against the lurch of the slowing train,
然后从我面前走过,擦过我的膝盖,再次做那件事,再次确立她的身体存在,
and crossing before me brushes my knee and does that thing again, asserts her bodily being again,
(又是贡布罗维奇),然后迅速走到车门前,头也不回地走了下去,
(Gombrowicz again), then quickly moves to the door of the car and descends, not once looking back,
(让我松了一口气的是,我没有回头),我允许自己这样想,尽管我必须再次和她在一起
(to my relief not looking back), and I allow myself the thought that though I must be to her again
20就像我年轻时那张桌子一样毫无意义,一样呆板,一样冷酷,也许有一刻我不是那样的。
20as senseless as that table of my youth, as wooden, as unfeeling, perhaps there was a moment I was not.
[2006]
[2006]
[生于 1938 年]
[b. 1938]
死亡有多大作用,
How much death works,
没有人知道
No one knows what a long
他投入的一天。小
Day he puts in. The little
妻子总是独自一人
Wife always alone
5熨烫死亡的衣物。
5Ironing death’s laundry.
美丽的女儿们
The beautiful daughters
摆设死亡的晚餐桌。
Setting death’s supper table.
邻居们在玩耍
The neighbors playing
在后院玩皮诺克牌
Pinochle in the backyard
10或者只是坐在台阶上
10Or just sitting on the steps
喝啤酒。死亡,
Drinking beer. Death,
与此同时,在一个奇怪的
Meanwhile, in a strange
部分城镇正在寻找
Part of town looking for
咳嗽得很厉害的人,
Someone with a bad cough,
15但地址有点错误,
15But the address somehow wrong,
甚至死亡也无法解答
Even death can’t figure it out
在所有上锁的门中……
Among all the locked doors …
雨开始落了。
And the rain beginning to fall.
漫漫长夜即将来临。
Long windy night ahead.
20死亡时甚至没有一张报纸
20Death with not even a newspaper
遮住他的头,甚至
To cover his head, not even
一角钱给一个憔悴的人打电话,
A dime to call the one pining away,
睡眼惺忪地慢慢脱去衣服,
Undressing slowly, sleepily,
赤身裸体
And stretching naked
二十五在死亡之床的那边。
25On death’s side of the bed.
[1977年]
[1977]
(1939–2013)
[1939–2013]
在我的手指和拇指之间
Between my finger and my thumb
矮矮的笔架;像枪一样舒适。
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
在我的窗下,传来一阵刺耳的声音
Under my window, a clean rasping sound
当铁锹陷入砾石地面时:
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
5我的父亲正在挖地。我低头看着
5My father, digging. I look down
直到他在花坛里扭动着臀部
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
弯下腰,二十年后
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
有节奏地弯腰钻进土豆钻
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
他正在那里挖掘。
Where he was digging.
10粗靴子嵌在鞋耳上,鞋轴
10The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
膝盖紧紧地靠在内侧。
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
他拔除高高的树冠,把明亮的边缘深埋起来
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
把我们采摘的新土豆撒在
To scatter new potatoes that we picked
喜欢它们在我们手中冰冷的坚硬。
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
15老天爷啊,这老人居然能用铁锹。
15By God, the old man could handle a spade.
就像他父亲一样。
Just like his old man.
我祖父一天割的草皮比
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
比 Toner 沼泽中的任何其他人都多。
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
有一次我给他拿了瓶牛奶
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
20用纸随意塞住。他直起身来
20Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
喝了它,然后马上就倒下了
To drink it, then fell to right away
整齐地切割,抬起草皮
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
越过他的肩膀,不断向下
Over his shoulder, going down and down
为了获得好的草皮,挖掘。
For the good turf. Digging.
二十五土豆霉味的冰冷气味,以及吱吱声和拍打声
25The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
湿漉漉的泥炭,边缘的短切痕迹
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
通过活生生的根在我的头脑中苏醒。
Through living roots awaken in my head.
但我没有铁锹去追随像他们这样的人。
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
在我的手指和拇指之间
Between my finger and my thumb
三十蹲笔休息。
30The squat pen rests.
我会用它来挖掘。
I’ll dig with it.
[1966年]
[1966]
(1939–2013)
[1939–2013]
我整个上午都坐在大学医务室里
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
数着钟声,宣告课程结束。
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
两点钟的时候,邻居开车送我回家。
At two o’clock our neighbours drove me home.
我在门廊里遇见了正在哭泣的父亲——
In the porch I met my father crying —
5他总是能从容地应对葬礼——
5He had always taken funerals in his stride —
大吉姆·埃文斯说这是一次沉重的打击。
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
婴儿咕咕叫着,笑着,摇晃着婴儿车[1]
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram[1]
当我进来的时候,我感到很尴尬
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
老人们站起来与我握手
By old men standing up to shake my hand
10告诉我他们“为我的麻烦感到抱歉”,
10And tell me they were “sorry for my trouble,”
耳语告诉陌生人我是老大,
Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
在学校,妈妈牵着我的手
Away at school, as my mother held my hand
她咳嗽着,发出愤怒的、无泪的叹息。
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
十点的时候救护车到了
At ten o’clock the ambulance arrived
15尸体被护士止血并包扎好。
15With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
第二天早上,我走进房间。雪花莲
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
蜡烛照亮了床边;我看见了他
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
六周以来第一次。现在更苍白了,
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
他的左太阳穴上有一处罂粟花疤痕,
Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
20他躺在四英尺高的箱子里,就像躺在他的小床上一样。
20He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.
没有明显的伤痕,保险杠将他撞了出去。
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
一个四英尺的盒子,每年一英尺。
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
[1966年]
[1966]
[1]婴儿车
[1]baby carriage
[生于 1940 年]
[b. 1940]
背部、肩部、码数。搭接缝,
The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
衣领上几乎看不见的缝线
The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
被韩国人或马来西亚人变成血汗工厂
Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
休息时一边喝茶吃面一边闲聊
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break
5或者一边谈论金钱或政治一边
5Or talking money or politics while one fitted
这款臂饰与带子接缝
This armpiece with its overseam to the band
袖口的扣子扣在手腕上。压线机、裁纸机,
Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,
绞干机,轧布机。针,联盟,
The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,
踏板、线轴。密码。臭名昭著的火焰
The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze
101911年,在三角工厂[1] 。
10At the Triangle Factory[1] in nineteen-eleven.
一百四十六人死于火灾
One hundred and forty-six died in the flames
九楼没有消防栓,没有消防通道——
On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes —
街对面大楼里的目击者
The witness in a building across the street
谁看过年轻男子如何帮助女孩站起来
Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step
15走到窗台前,然后把她抱了出来
15Up to the windowsill, then held her out
远离砖墙并让她掉落。
Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
然后又一个。好像他在帮助他们起来
And then another. As if he were helping them up
进入有轨电车,而不是永恒。
To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.
在他放下她之前的三分之一
A third before he dropped her put her arms
20搂住他的脖子,吻了他。然后他抱住了他
20Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held
她坠入太空,然后把她扔了下去。几乎立刻
Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once
他自己走到窗台前,夹克衫张开
He stepped to the sill himself, his jacket flared
当他落下时,衬衫上飘扬着
And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down,
空气充满了他灰色裤腿——
Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers —
二十五就像 Hart Crane 的《Bedlamite》一样, “衬衫尖锐地鼓起来”。
25Like Hart Crane’s Bedlamite,a “shrill shirt ballooning.”
图案完美匹配,太棒了
Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly
穿过门襟和双条缝线
Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked
两个口袋的角,像一首严谨的韵律
Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme
或是一个大调和弦。印花、格子、格子,
Or a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,
三十千鸟格,塔特索尔,马德拉斯。氏族格子呢
30Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans
受奥西安骗局启发的工厂主发明了
Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,b
为了控制他们驯服的野蛮苏格兰工人
To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed
用伪造的纹章:麦格雷戈,
By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,
贝利·麦克马丁。苏格兰短裙,专为工人设计
Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers
三十五在布满灰尘、咔哒作响的织布机间穿着。
35To wear among the dusty clattering looms.
织工、梳棉工、纺纱工。装卸工,
Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,
码头工人、挖土工人。c播种工、采摘工、分拣工
The docker, the navvy.c The planter, the picker, the sorter
在一团棉花中,她汗流浃背地坐在机器前
Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton
就像披着印花布头巾在田里挥汗如雨的奴隶:
As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:
40乔治·赫伯特,你的后代是黑人
40George Herbert,d your descendant is a Black
南卡罗来纳州的一位女士,她的名字叫伊尔玛
Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma
她检查了我的衬衫。它的颜色和合身度
And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit
并且其触感和干净的气味都令人满意
And feel and its clean smell have satisfied
她和我都一样。我们已经精简了它的成本和质量
Both her and me. We have culled its cost and quality
四十五甚至连模拟骨头制成的纽扣,
45Down to the buttons of simulated bone,
纽扣孔、尺寸、面料、字符
The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters
颈带和尾巴上印有黑色。形状,
Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,
标签、人工、颜色、色调。衬衫。
The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt.
[1990]
[1990]
a 25. Bedlamite:引用自 Hart Crane 著名的长诗《桥》中的形象(“布鲁克林大桥”部分的第 17-20 行)
a25. Bedlamite: Reference to image in Hart Crane’s famous book-length poem The Bridge (lines 17–20 of the section titled, “The Brooklyn Bridge.”)
b 31. 奥西恩:传奇的盖尔语诗人,传统故事和诗歌系列中的英雄,这些故事和诗歌将他置于公元三世纪。这场骗局涉及苏格兰作家詹姆斯·麦克弗森(1736-1796),他出版了两首史诗,他说这些诗是奥西恩作品的翻译,但实际上大部分都是麦克弗森自己创作的。
b31. Ossian: Legendary Gaelic poet, hero of a cycle of traditional tales and poems that place him in the third century ce. The hoax involved Scottish author James Macpherson (1736–1796), who published two epic poems that he said were translations of works written by Ossian but were in fact mostly composed by Macpherson himself.
c 37. navvy:非熟练工人。
c37. navvy: An unskilled laborer.
d 40.乔治·赫伯特:英国玄学诗人(1593-1633)。
d40. George Herbert: English metaphysical poet (1593–1633).
[1] (纽约市)
[1](in New York City)
(1941–2008)
[1941–2008]
译者:丹尼斯·约翰逊-戴维斯
TRANSLATED BY DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
记录下来。
Put it on record.
我是阿拉伯人
I am an Arab
我的卡号是五万
And the number of my card is fifty thousand
我有八个孩子
I have eight children
5第九个预计在夏天后公布。
5And the ninth is due after summer.
有什么可生气的?
What’s there to be angry about?
记录下来。
Put it on record.
我是阿拉伯人
I am an Arab
与采石场的辛勤同事们一起工作。
Working with comrades of toil in a quarry.
10我有八个孩子
10I have eight children
我为他们夺取了面包,
For them I wrest the loaf of bread,
衣服和练习本
The clothes and exercise books
来自岩石
From the rocks
不要在门口乞讨施舍,
And beg for no alms at your door,
15不要把我放在你家门口。
15Lower not myself at your doorstep.
有什么可生气的?
What’s there to be angry about?
记录下来。
Put it on record.
我是阿拉伯人。
I am an Arab.
我是一个没有头衔的名字,
I am a name without a title,
20在一个一切都
20Patient in a country where everything
生活在愤怒的漩涡中。
Lives in a whirlpool of anger.
我的根源
My roots
在时间诞生之前就已存在
Took hold before the birth of time
在时代蓬勃发展之前,
Before the burgeoning of the ages,
二十五在柏树和橄榄树前,
25Before cypress and olive trees,
在野草繁茂之前。
Before the proliferation of weeds.
我的父亲来自一个耕种的家庭
My father is from the family of the plough
并非出身高贵的贵族。
Not from highborn nobles.
我的祖父是一名农民
And my grandfather was a peasant
三十无世系,无家谱。
30Without line or genealogy.
我的房子是守望者的小屋
My house is a watchman’s hut
由木棍和芦苇制成。
Made of sticks and reeds.
我的状态你满意吗?
Does my status satisfy you?
我是一个没有姓氏的名字。
I am a name without a surname.
三十五记录下来。
35Put it on record.
我是阿拉伯人。
I am an Arab.
头发颜色:乌黑。
Colour of hair: jet black.
眼睛颜色:棕色。
Colour of eyes: brown.
我的特色:
My distinguishing features:
40我头上的“iqal绳子”盖着头巾,
40On my head the ’iqal cords over a keffiyeha
谁碰它,谁就会被抓伤。
Scratching him who touches it.
我的地址:
My address:
我来自一个偏远、被遗忘的村庄,
I’m from a village, remote, forgotten,
没有名字的街道
Its streets without name
四十五以及在田野和采石场工作的所有人。
45And all its men in the fields and quarry.
有什么可生气的?
What’s there to be angry about?
记录下来。
Put it on record.
我是阿拉伯人。
I am an Arab.
你偷走了我祖先的葡萄园
You stole my forefathers’ vineyards
50我曾经耕种过的土地,
50And land I used to till,
我和我所有的孩子,
I and all my children,
你离开了我们和我所有的孙子
And you left us and all my grandchildren
除了这些石头,什么也没有。
Nothing but these rocks.
你的政府也会接受他们吗
Will your government be taking them too
55正如所说的?
55As is being said?
所以!
So!
将其记录在第一页的顶部:
Put it on record at the top of page one:
我并不恨人,
I don’t hate people,
我没有侵犯任何人的财产。
I trespass on no one’s property.
60然而,如果我饿了
60And yet, if I were to become hungry
我将吃掉篡位者的肉。
I shall eat the flesh of my usurper.
小心,小心我的饥饿
Beware, beware of my hunger
还有我的愤怒!
And of my anger!
[1964年]
[1964]
a 40. 'iqal … 基菲耶:'iqal是将基菲耶固定住的黑色绳子。基菲耶是阿拉伯传统头饰,主要由巴勒斯坦人佩戴。
a40. ’iqal … keffiyeh: ’iqal is the black cord that keeps the keffiyeh in place. Keffiyeh is a traditional Arab headdress, worn primarily by Palestinians.
[生于 1941 年]
[b. 1941]
作者的名字排在第一位
The name of the author is the first to go
顺从地跟着标题、情节,
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
令人心碎的结局,整部小说
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
它突然变成了你从未读过、甚至从未听说过的东西,
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
5仿佛你曾经拥有的记忆一一涌现
5as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
决定退居到大脑的南半球,
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
到一个没有电话的小渔村。
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
很久以前,你吻别了九位缪斯的名字
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses good-bye
看着二次方程收拾行囊,
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
10甚至现在你记住了行星的顺序,
10and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
有些东西正在消失,也许是州花,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
一位叔叔的地址,巴拉圭首都。
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
无论你努力去回忆什么
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember
它不在你的舌尖上,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
15甚至没有潜伏在脾脏的某个不起眼的角落里。
15not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
它顺着一条黑暗的神话河流漂流而去
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
你所记得的名字都是以L开头的,
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
在你自己的遗忘之路上,你将加入那些
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
甚至忘记了如何游泳和如何骑自行车。
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
20难怪你半夜醒来
20No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
在战争书中查找一次著名战役的日期。
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
难怪窗外的月亮似乎飘了过来
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
出自一首你曾熟记于心的爱情诗。
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
[1991年]
[1991]
[生于 1941 年]
[b. 1941]
今夜我惊呆了
Tonight, I look, thunderstruck
看着我孙子的金发头。
at the gold head of my grandchild.
他几乎睡着了,把脚埋了起来
Almost asleep, he buries his feet
在我的大腿之间;
between my thighs;
5他那双小小的稻草色的眼睛
5his little straw eyes
在近乎黑暗中靠近。
close in the near dark.
我闻到他生硬的
I smell the warmth of his raw
轻微的口臭,新的死亡
slightly foul breath, the new death
等待着在他体内腐烂。
waiting to rot inside him.
10我们的呼吸使我们的心跳均衡;
10Our breaths equalize our heartbeats;
胸部的每一块肌肉都舒展起来,
every muscle of the chest uncoils,
手臂的骨头在巢里松动
the arm bones loosen in the nest
神经。我想到了和平
of nerves. I think of the peace
穿过房子,
of walking through the house,
15指向这个名字,那个名字,
15pointing to the name of this, the name of that,
新人的教育者。
an educator of a new man.
母亲。祖母。睿智
Mother. Grandmother. Wise
蛇女将会指引方向;
Snake-woman who will show the way;
蜘蛛女的黑色触手
Spider-woman whose black tentacles
20把他当作珍宝。否则就会砍下他的头,
20hold him precious. Or will tear off his head,
她咬着小丈夫,
her teeth over the little husband,
她胸前的小拳头因信任而凝聚在一起。
the small fist clotted in trust at her breast.
今天早上,看着父亲的脸,
This morning, looking at the face of his father,
我记得,当他还是个婴儿时,他的脸色太黑,
I remembered how, an infant, his face was too dark,
二十五鼻子太宽,嘴巴太宽。
25nose too broad, mouth too wide.
我没有照镜子
I did not look in that mirror
看到那张可以拯救我的脸
and see the face that could save me
摆脱我自己的黑暗。
from my own darkness.
他是否从我的眼睛里看到了
Did he, looking in my eye, see
三十我从什么地方转过来:
30what I turned from:
我自己的黑暗祖母
my own dark grandmother
在田野里弯腰照顾剑兰,
bending over gladioli in the field,
她颤抖的黑手毫无防备
her shaking black hand defenseless
看着那朵闪闪发光的花?
at the shining cock of flower?
三十五我希望那张脸消失,
35I wanted that face to die,
在一个白人孩子的脸上重生。
to be reborn in the face of a white child.
我希望灵魂保持不变,
I wanted the soul to stay the same,
因为我爱得要死,
for I loved to death,
遭受诅咒和死亡,
to damnation and God-death,
40从我体内迸发出的灵魂。
40the soul that broke out of me.
我欢呼道:“我的儿子!我的美人!”
I crowed: My Son! My Beautiful!
但当我偷看篮子时,
But when I peeked in the basket,
我看到了一个黑人的脸。
I saw the face of a black man.
我有没有俯身靠近他的鼻子
Did I bend over his nose
四十五用手指把它拉直
45and straighten it with my fingers
就像一棵向错误方向生长的藤蔓?
like a vine growing the wrong way?
他是不是感觉到我的手是恶意的?
Did he feel my hand in malice?
我们祈祷和操弄的几代人
Generations we prayed and fucked
对于这个光明的孩子,
for this light child,
50第二次降临的光辉之神;
50the shining god of the second coming;
我们羞愧地屈服
we bow down in shame
并带着过去的孩子
and carry the children of the past
在我们的钱包里,乞求原谅。
in our wallets, begging forgiveness.
书中的一张图片,
A picture in a book,
55私刑。
55a lynching.
观看的人脸上露出了冷漠的表情
The bland faces of men who watch
基督在火焰中升起,微笑着,
a Christ go up in flames, smiling,
仿佛他是一个上瘾
as if he were a hooked
鱼,一只倒下的羚羊,一些
fish, a felled antelope, some
60把野生动物绑在木板上烧掉。
60wild thing tied to boards and burned.
他烧焦的尸体
His charring body
发出光晕
gives off light — a halo
他精疲力尽。
burns out of him.
他的脸被烧焦了,毫无表情;
His face scorched featureless;
65头发缠结在头皮上
65the hair matted to the scalp
像羽毛一样。
like feathers.
一名男子双手叉腰站着,
One man stands with his hand on his hip,
另一个用手臂
another with his arm
挎在朋友的肩上,
slung over the shoulder of a friend,
70仿佛这一刻足够重要
70as if this moment were large enough
去怀抱感情。
to hold affection.
我们怎样才能醒来
How can we wake
来自梦
from a dream
我们生来就
we are born into,
75在我们周围闪耀,
75that shines around us,
可怕的明亮空气?
the terrible bright air?
醒来后,
Having awakened,
看到我们自己沾满鲜血的双手,
having seen our own bloody hands,
我们怎样才能请求宽恕,
how can we ask forgiveness,
80把真正的
80bring before our children the real
他们噩梦中的怪物?
monster of their nightmares?
最坏的情况是真的。
The worst is true.
所有你不想知道的事情。
Everything you did not want to know.
[1989年]
[1989]
[生于 1941 年]
[b. 1941]
也许是
Maybe it was
因为唯一一次
because the only time
我打了一个棒球
I hit a baseball
它打碎了霓虹灯十字架
it smashed the neon cross
5在教堂对面
5on the church across
街道。甚至
the street. Even
二十五年后
twenty-five years later
当我看到哈里斯神父时
when I saw Father Harris
我会想知道
I would wonder
10如果他知道是我的话。
10if he knew it was me.
也许是恶魔煽动
Maybe it was the demon-stoked
炼狱烤肉店
rotisseries of purgatory
我们会在那里烤
where we would roast
几百年
hundreds of years
15即使是最小的罪过。
15for the smallest of sins.
或者是那一天
Or was it the day
我戴上了太空头盔
I wore my space helmet
教义问答?透明塑料
to catechism? Clear plastic
红白相间的
with a red-and-white
20充气边缘。
20inflatable rim.
玛丽·伯纳黛特修女
Sister Mary Bernadette
指向门
pointed toward the door
并说:“出去!回来吧!
and said, “Out! Come back
当你准备好的时候。”
when you’re ready.”
二十五我从椅子上站起来
25I rose from my chair
并持续上涨
and kept rising
朝向天花板
toward the ceiling
而孩子们
while the children
尖叫和姐姐
screamed and Sister
三十不断地在胸前画十字。
30kept crossing herself.
她最后一次见到我
The last she saw of me
我的鞋子不见了
was my shoes disappearing
穿过破裂的石膏。
through cracked plaster.
我升入天空,甚至更远。
I rose into the sky and beyond.
三十五这是一件好事
35It is a good thing
我戴着头盔,
I am wearing my helmet,
我一边飘浮一边想
I thought as I floated
在黑暗中转身
and turned in the blackness
以及外太空的亮度,
and brightness of outer space,
40我的身体一边冷一边热
40my body cold on one side and hot
另一方面。它将
on the other. It would
一直很安静
have been very quiet
如果我的血没有
if my blood had not been
我耳边轰隆隆地响个不停。
rumbling in my ears so loud.
四十五我记得当时我曾想过,
45I remember thinking,
也许我会回来
Maybe I will come back
当我准备好的时候。
when I’m ready.
但我不会说
But I won’t tell
其他孩子
the other children
50那是什么样的感觉。
50what it was like.
我得做点什么。
I’ll have to make something up.
[1993年]
[1993]
[生于 1942 年]
[b. 1942]
我看到他们站在学校的大门前,
I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges,
我看到父亲走出去
I see my father strolling out
在赭石砂岩拱门下,
under the ochre sandstone arch, the
红瓦闪闪发光,像弯曲的
red tiles glinting like bent
5他的头后面有血块,我
5plates of blood behind his head, I
看到我妈妈腰上放着几本轻便的书
see my mother with a few light books at her hip
站在用小砖块砌成的柱子旁,
standing at the pillar made of tiny bricks with the
身后的铁门仍然开着,
wrought-iron gate still open behind her, its
五月的天空中剑尖漆黑,
sword-tips black in the May air,
10他们即将毕业,即将结婚,
10they are about to graduate, they are about to get married,
他们只是孩子,他们很笨,他们只知道他们
they are kids, they are dumb, all they know is they are
他们无辜,绝不会伤害任何人。
innocent, they would never hurt anybody.
我想走上前去对他们说停下来,
I want to go up to them and say Stop,
别这么做——她不是合适的人,
don’t do it — she’s the wrong woman,
15他是个错误的人,你得做一些事情
15he’s the wrong man, you are going to do things
你无法想象你会这么做,
you cannot imagine you would ever do,
你会对孩子做坏事,
you are going to do bad things to children,
你将会遭受从未听说过的痛苦,
you are going to suffer in ways you never heard of,
你会想死的。我想去
you are going to want to die. I want to go
20在五月下旬的阳光下对他们说,
20up to them there in the late May sunlight and say it,
她那张饥饿而美丽的、空白的脸转向我,
her hungry pretty blank face turning to me,
她那可怜又美丽、未经触碰的身体,
her pitiful beautiful untouched body,
他那张傲慢英俊的盲人脸转向我,
his arrogant handsome blind face turning to me,
他那可怜又美丽、未受伤害的身体,
his pitiful beautiful untouched body,
二十五但我没有这么做。我想活下去。我
25but I don’t do it. I want to live. I
像男性和女性一样接受它们
take them up like the male and female
纸娃娃,然后把它们撞在一起
paper dolls and bang them together
臀部像燧石碎片一样,仿佛
at the hips like chips of flint as if to
我说,从他们身上迸发出火花
strike sparks from them, I say
三十做你想做的事,我会告诉你的。
30Do what you are going to do, and I will tell about it.
[1987年]
[1987]
[生于 1943 年]
[b. 1943]
我告诉你,那不是月亮。
It is not the moon, I tell you.
这些花
It is these flowers
照亮了院子。
lighting the yard.
我讨厌他们。
I hate them.
5我恨他们就像恨性一样,
5I hate them as I hate sex,
男人的嘴
the man’s mouth
封住我的嘴,男人的
sealing my mouth, the man’s
瘫痪的身体 —
paralyzing body —
以及那永远发出的呼喊,
and the cry that always escapes,
10卑鄙、屈辱的
10the low, humiliating
联盟前提 —
premise of union —
今晚在我心中
In my mind tonight
我听到了问题和寻求答案
I hear the question and pursuing answer
融合成一个声音
fused in one sound
15然后不断安装
15that mounts and mounts and then
分裂成旧我,
is split into the old selves,
令人厌倦的对抗。你看到了吗?
the tired antagonisms. Do you see?
我们被愚弄了。
We were made fools of.
还有山梅花的香味
And the scent of mock orange
20飘进窗户。
20drifts through the window.
我怎能休息?
How can I rest?
我怎能知足
How can I be content
当还有
when there is still
世界上还有这种气味吗?
that odor in the world?
[1985年]
[1985]
[生于 1943 年]
[b. 1943]
献给埃尔文“魔术师”约翰逊、唐纳尔·里德和理查德·富兰克林
for Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Donnell Reid & Richard Franklin
把球带到篮筐前,“魔术师”约翰逊,
take it to the hoop, “magic” johnson,
将球带向开阔的球道
take the ball dazzling down the open lane
赫克和杰尔克,抬起你六英尺九英寸的身躯
herk & jerk & raise your six-feet, nine-inch frame
在空中挥洒汗水,高声呼喊你的霓虹名字
into air sweating screams of your neon name
5“魔术师”约翰逊,绰号“windex”
5“magic” johnson, nicknamed “windex” way back
在高中
in high school
因为你擦了玻璃篮板
cause you wiped glass backboards
如此干净,你第一次摇晃的地方
so clean, where you first juked & shook
用你的方式走向荣耀
wiled your way to glory
10 一种新型的摇晃烘焙融合
10 a new-style fusion of shake-&-bake
能量,利用一切可能,你创造了你自己的
energy, using everything possible, you created your own
随时都可以飞越太空
space to fly through — any moment now
我们期待你的翅膀展开羽毛,迎接那次惊险的起飞
we expect your wings to spread feathers for that spooky takeoff
你的——然后,摇晃、滑行、在太空中升起
of yours — then, shake & glide & ride up in space
15直到你用玻璃敲出一个晾衣绳
15till you hammer home a clothes-lining deuce off glass
现在,带着一颗反向巫术宝石回来
now, come back down with a reverse hoodoo gem
旋转并坚持甜蜜,弹出干净的网
off the spin & stick in sweet, popping nets clean
从右侧二十英尺处
from twenty feet, right side
再次将球放到地板上,“魔术”
put the ball on the floor again, “magic”
20将球滑到身后,巧妙地运球
20slide the dribble behind your back, ease it deftly
在你瘦骨嶙峋的鹳腿之间,头四处摆动
between your bony stork legs, head bobbing everwhichaway
上上下下,你能看到球场上的一切
up & down, you see everything on the court
摆脱高高的溜溜球拍
off the high yoyo patter
走走停停运球
stop & go dribble
二十五你穿针引线穿过甜蜜的家
25you thread a needle-rope pass sweet home
卡里姆切入禁区
to kareem cutting through the lane
他的天勾球让绳子弹了起来
his skyhook pops the cords
现在,带领快攻,在飞行中击球
now, lead the fastbreak, hit worthy on the fly
现在,在背后精准传球的掩护下,再接住两个
now, blindside a pinpoint behind-the-back pass for two more
三十假动作后,看向另一边,你失去了平衡
30off the fake, looking the other way, you raise off-balance
进入电空间
into electric space
挥汗如雨地呼喊你的名字
sweating chants of your name
转身,180 度移动,双腿交叉
turn, 180 degrees off the move, your legs scissoring space
就像游泳者在深水中的溜溜球动作
like a swimmer’s yoyoing motion in deep water
三十五向自由飞翔的方向伸展
35stretching out now toward free flight
你通过人树进行双重抽吸
you double-pump through human trees
悬挂到位
hang in place
把球滑到你的左手中
slip the ball into your left hand
然后像拉斯维加斯发牌人一样从方形玻璃上发牌
then deal it like a las vegas card dealer off squared glass
40进入篮筐,不辜负你独特的绰号
40into nets, living up to your singular nickname
太“糟糕”了,你让观众陷入疯狂
so “bad” you cartwheel the crowd toward frenzy
现在带着你电动般的微笑,霓虹灯就是你的名字
wearing now your electric smile, neon as your name
在胜利中,我们突然感受到你光荣的提升
in victory, we suddenly sense your glorious uplift
你迫切需要成为冠军
your urgent need to be champion
四十五所以我们和你一起欢呼,和你一起欢乐
45& so we cheer with you, rejoice with you
因为这水银,水银,
for this quicksilver, quicksilver,
成名时刻
quicksilver moment of fame
所以把球再次放到地板上,“魔术”
so put the ball on the floor again, “magic”
在车道上摇晃和炫耀
juke & dazzle, shake & bake down the lane
50把球带到篮筐前,“魔术师”约翰逊,
50take the sucker to the hoop, “magic” johnson,
重现旋转的逆向巫术宝石
recreate reverse hoodoo gems off the spin
处理 空中接力 扣篮大赛 魔术师 传球
deal alley-oop dunkathon magician passes
现在,双泵,剪刀,鞋面穿过空间
now, double-pump, scissor, vamp through space
悬挂到位
hang in place
55 并把这一切都摆在“魔术师”约翰逊的脸上,
55 & put it all up in the sucker’s face, “magic” johnson,
像巫师一样掷圆球
& deal the roundball like the juju man that you am
就像你这个萨满一样,“魔法”,
like the sho-nuff shaman that you am, “magic,”
就像你这个太空人一样
like the sho-nuff spaceman you am
[ 1991 年;1996 年修订]
[1991; rev. 1996]
a “魔术师”:埃尔文·“魔术师”·约翰逊二世(生于 1959 年),兰辛(密歇根州)埃弗雷特高中(1973-1977 年)、密歇根州立大学(1977-1979 年)和洛杉矶湖人队(1979-1991 年和 1996 年)的明星篮球运动员。1996 年,他被评为美国国家篮球协会历史上 50 位最伟大的球员之一。
a“Magic”: Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr. (b. 1959), star basketball player at Lansing (Michigan) Everett High School (1973–1977) and Michigan State University (1977–1979) and for the Los Angeles Lakers (1979–1991 and 1996). He was honored in 1996 as one of the Fifty Greatest Players in National Basketball Association History.
[生于 1945 年]
[b. 1945]
(你这个混蛋居然没给我打电话)
(You jerk you didn’t call me up)
你这个混蛋,你没给我打电话
You jerk you didn’t call me up
我好久没见到你了
I haven’t seen you in so long
你可能晒黑了
You probably have a fucking tan
除此之外,今晚不做爱
& besides that instead of making love tonight
5你和父母喝酒去机场
5You’re drinking your parents to the airport
我受够了你们这些资产阶级男孩
I’m through with you bourgeois boys
你所做的就是回到祖先的舒适生活
All you ever do is go back to ancestral comforts
只有钱才能得到——即使卡图卢斯很富有,但
Only money can get — even Catullus was rich but
如今你们都安于沙发
Nowadays you guys settle for a couch
10催眠般的彩色有线电视机旁
10By a soporific color cable t.v. set
没有任何爱的弧线,难怪
Instead of any arc of love, no wonder
特种部队小队每次都会搞砸
The G.I. Joe team blows it every other time
醒醒!现在是半夜
Wake up! It’s the middle of the night
15你可以选择做爱,或者死在眼镜蛇指挥官的手中
15You can either make love or die at the hands of the Cobra Commander
要想做爱,请翻到第121页。
To make love, turn to page 121.
要死,请翻到第172页。
To die, turn to page 172.
[1992年]
[1992]
[生于 1946 年]
[b. 1946]
就像口吃者嘴里被阻拦的音节。
like syllables waylaid in a stutterer’s mouth.
南方的一位十四岁口吃者
A fourteen-year-old stutterer, in the South
探亲访友
to visit relatives and to be taught
家庭的习惯。他的母亲终于买了
the family’s ways. His mother had finally bought
5那顶白袜队的帽子;她让他发誓
5that White Sox cap; she’d made him swear an oath
在白人面前要小心。她告诉了他实话
to be careful around white folks. She’d told him the truth
许多密西西比轶事:
of many a Mississippi anecdote:
有些白人的灵魂是盲目的。在他的手提箱里
Some white folks have blind souls. In his suitcase
她带了工作服、T恤、内衣,
she’d packed dungarees, T-shirts, underwear,
10和漫画书。她给了他一张纸条
10and comic books. She’d given him a note
向列车员挥了挥手,
for the conductor, waved to his chubby face,
不知道他是否会记得梳头。
wondered if he’d remember to brush his hair.
她唯一的孩子。身体被遗弃,任其膨胀。
Her only child. A body left to bloat.
[2005]
[2005]
摘录自玛丽莲·纳尔逊 (Marilyn Nelson) 所著的《献给埃米特·蒂尔的花圈》。
aExcerpt from A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson.
[生于 1947 年]
[b. 1947]
我的黑脸渐渐褪去,
My black face fades,
隐藏在黑色花岗岩里面。
hiding inside the black granite.
我说过我不会,
I said I wouldn’t,
该死:没有眼泪。
dammit: No tears.
5我是石头。我是肉体。
5I’m stone. I’m flesh.
我那模糊的倒影注视着我
My clouded reflection eyes me
像猛禽一样,夜的轮廓
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
斜对着早晨。我转过身
slanted against morning. I turn
这样——石头就放我走了。
this way — the stone lets me go.
10我转过身来——我在里面
10I turn that way — I’m inside
越南退伍军人纪念碑
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
再次,取决于光线
again, depending on the light
从而有所作为。
to make a difference.
我记下了58022个名字,
I go down the 58,022 names,
15半期望地发现
15half-expecting to find
我的信如烟雾。
my own in letters like smoke.
我触摸了安德鲁·约翰逊这个名字;
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
我看到了诡雷的白光。
I see the booby trap’s white flash.
女人衬衫上的名字闪闪发光
Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse
20但当她走开时
20but when she walks away
名字仍留在墙上。
the names stay on the wall.
笔触一闪,一只红鸟的
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s
翅膀划过我的视线。
wings cutting across my stare.
天空。天空中有一架飞机。
The sky. A plane in the sky.
二十五一位白人兽医的形象飘浮
25A white vet’s image floats
离我更近,然后他苍白的眼睛
closer to me, then his pale eyes
透过我的窗户看过去。我是一扇窗户。
look through mine. I’m a window.
他失去了右臂
He’s lost his right arm
在石头里面。在黑镜子里
inside the stone. In the black mirror
三十一名妇女试图抹去名字:
30a woman’s trying to erase names:
不,她正在给一个男孩梳头发。
No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.
[1988]
[1988]
(1947-1995)
[1947–1995]
幸福是无法解释的,
There’s just no accounting for happiness,
或者像浪子一样出现
or the way it turns up like a prodigal
谁会回到你脚下的尘土中
who comes back to the dust at your feet
在远方挥霍了一大笔财富。
having squandered a fortune far away.
5你怎么能不原谅呢?
5And how can you not forgive?
你为纪念什么而设宴
You make a feast in honor of what
丢失了,取而代之的是
was lost, and take from its place the finest
为某个场合而保存的服装
garment, which you saved for an occasion
你无法想象,你日夜哭泣
you could not imagine, and you weep night and day
10知道自己没有被抛弃,
10to know that you were not abandoned,
幸福以最极端的形式存在
that happiness saved its most extreme form
只为你一人。
for you alone.
不,幸福是你永远无法找到的
No, happiness is the uncle you never
知道谁开单引擎飞机
knew about, who flies a single-engine plane
15搭便车,到达草地跑道
15onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes
进城,挨家挨户询问
into town, and inquires at every door
直到他发现你下午睡着了
until he finds you asleep midafternoon
就像你们经常在无情的
as you so often are during the unmerciful
绝望的时刻。
hours of your despair.
20它来到僧侣的牢房里。
20It comes to the monk in his cell.
说到扫街的女人
It comes to the woman sweeping the street
用桦树扫帚,给孩子
with a birch broom, to the child
他的母亲已因饮酒过度昏迷。
whose mother has passed out from drink.
它来到了情人,来到了狗的咀嚼
It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing
二十五一只袜子,一个推销员,一个篮子编织者,
25a sock, to the pusher, to the basketmaker,
以及堆放胡萝卜罐头的店员
and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots
在夜晚。
in the night.
甚至到了巨石
It even comes to the boulder
在松林的永久树荫下,
in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,
三十雨水落在公海上,
30to rain falling on the open sea,
走向酒杯,厌倦了拿着酒。
to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.
[1995年]
[1995]
[生于 1947 年]
[b. 1947]
乌鸦崇拜的寺庙
The temple where crow worships
在又高又黑的草丛中向前走。
walks forward in tall, black grass.
背叛是乌鸦的报恩方式
Betrayal is crow’s way of saying grace
对狼
to the wolf
5所以它可以吃
5so it can eat
剩下的是什么
what is left
当血洒在地上时,
when blood is on the ground,
直到剩下的驼鹿
until what remains of moose
是乌鸦
is crow
10走出去
10walking out
肋骨圣殿
the sacred temple of ribs
在离别之舞中
in a dance of leaving
稀缺而私人的神灵的红色轨迹。
the red tracks of scarce and private gods.
这是最古老的战争
It is the oldest war
15驼鹿变成了狼和乌鸦,
15where moose becomes wolf and crow,
道路的尽头
where the road ceases
成为古老的森林
to become the old forest
乌鸦在鸣叫,
where crow is calling,
我们仍旧感到害怕。
where we are still afraid.
[1993年]
[1993]
[b。 1949]
[b. 1949]
农民看着空气
A campesinoa looked at the air
并告诉我:
And told me:
飓风不是风
With hurricanes it’s not the wind
或者噪音或者水。
or the noise or the water.
5我告诉你他说:
5I’ll tell you he said:
是芒果、鳄梨
it’s the mangoes, avocados
绿色芭蕉和香蕉
Green plantains and bananas
像射弹一样飞进城镇。
flying into town like projectiles.
你的家人会怎样
How would your family
10感觉如果他们必须告诉
10feel if they had to tell
你们这一代
The generations that you
被飞来的飞机撞死
got killed by a flying
香蕉。
Banana.
溺水而死是一种荣誉
Death by drowning has honor
15如果风把你带走
15If the wind picked you up
并抨击你
and slammed you
靠着山体巨石
Against a mountain boulder
这不会带来耻辱
This would not carry shame
但
But
20遭受芒果粉碎
20to suffer a mango smashing
你的头骨
Your skull
或者芭蕉碰到你的
or a plantain hitting your
时速 70 英里的寺庙
Temple at 70 miles per hour
是最大的耻辱。
is the ultimate disgrace.
二十五农民脱下帽子——
25The campesino takes off his hat —
表示尊重
As a sign of respect
迎着狂风
towards the fury of the wind
并说:
And says:
不用担心噪音
Don’t worry about the noise
三十不用担心水
30Don’t worry about the water
不用担心风——
Don’t worry about the wind —
如果你要外出
If you are going out
小心芒果
beware of mangoes
一切都如此美丽
And all such beautiful
三十五甜食。
35sweet things.
[1991年]
[1991]
a 1. campesino:居住在拉丁美洲农村地区的人(特别是农民或农场工人)。
a1. campesino: Someone (particularly a farmer or farm laborer) who lives in a rural area in Latin America.
[生于 1950 年]
[b. 1950]
他说,我们一共有三十一个人,在灰色的海上
We were thirty-one souls all, he said, on the gray-sick of sea
在一艘冰冷的橡皮艇里,在我们的污秽中起起伏伏。
in a cold rubber boat, rising and falling in our filth.
到了早上,这一切都不重要了,已经看不到陆地了,
By morning this didn’t matter, no land was in sight,
不管活着的还是死去的,所有人都浑身湿透了。
all were soaked to the bone, living and dead.
5我们说,我们仍然可以从一场战争飘荡到另一场战争。
5We could still float, we said, from war to war.
我们身后的除了一堆堆石头废墟之外还有什么呢?
What lay behind us but ruins of stone piled on ruins of stone?
被田野包围的城市被称为“穷人之母”
City called “mother of the poor” surrounded by fields
棉花和小米之都、珠宝商和斗篷制造商之城,
of cotton and millet, city of jewelers and cloak-makers,
这里有基督教世界最古老的教堂和安拉之剑。
with the oldest church in Christendom and the Sword of Allah.a
10他保证说,如果现在还有人留在那里,那他们将会十分孤独。
10If anyone remains there now, he assures, they would be utterly alone.
距离罗马两百米处有一家酒店以其命名
There is a hotel named for it in Rome two hundred meters
从西班牙广场出发,您可以在
from the Piazza di Spagna, where you can have breakfast under
电影明星的肖像。那里的工作人员竭尽全力为您提供服务。
the portraits of film stars. There the staff cannot do enough for you.
但我又开始胡言乱语了,就像那天晚上以来一样
But I am talking nonsense again, as I have since that night
15我们从海里救出了一个孩子,不是我们的,他漂浮在海面上——
15we fetched a child, not ours, from the sea, drifting face-
它穿着救生衣,眼睛盯着我们上方的鱼和鸟。
down in a life vest, its eyes taken by fish or the birds above us.
之后,阿勒颇烟雾弥漫,拉卡则遭遇暴雨袭击。
After that, Aleppo went up in smoke, and Raqqab came under a rain
传单警告所有人离开。离开,是的,但是去哪里呢?
of leaflets warning everyone to go. Leave, yes, but go where?
我们经历过美国人和俄罗斯人,经历过美国人
We lived through the Americans and Russians, through Americans
20再次,许多夜晚的死亡来自云层,早晨的惊喜
20again, many nights of death from the clouds, mornings surprised
从死亡的沉睡中醒来,仍然未被埋葬,还活着
to be waking from the sleep of death, still unburied and alive
但没有安全的地方。离开,是的,我们听从传单,但去哪里呢?
but with no safe place. Leave, yes, we obey the leaflets, but go where?
到海里去吃饭,到欧洲海岸去被关在笼子里?
To the sea to be eaten, to the shores of Europe to be caged?
营地的痛苦和营地仍留在这里。那么我问你,在哪里?
To camp misery and camp remain here. I ask you then, where?
二十五你告诉我你是个诗人。如果是这样,我们的目的地是一样的。
25You tell me you are a poet. If so, our destination is the same.
我现在发现自己是一名船夫,在世界的尽头开着出租车。
I find myself now the boatman, driving a taxi at the end of the world.
我会确保你安全到达,我的朋友,我会带你去那里。
I will see that you arrive safely, my friend, I will get you there.
[2016]
[2016]
a 9. 安拉之剑:哈立德·伊本·瓦利德,穆罕默德的同伴和军事领袖,帮助建立了第一个哈里发国。
a9. Sword of Allah: Khalid ibn al-Walīd, companion to Muhammad and military leader who helped to create the first Caliphate.
b 17. 阿勒颇 … 拉卡:阿勒颇和拉卡是叙利亚的城市。
b17. Aleppo … Raqqa: Aleppo and Raqqa are cities in Syria.
[生于 1950 年]
[b. 1950]
在码头的栏杆上,我看着成千上万的小鱼在水中游动
Over a dock railing, I watch the minnows, thousands, swirl
每一个都是微小的肌肉,而且,没有
themselves, each a minuscule muscle, but also, without the
创造潮流的方式,使它们的一致(转动,重新折叠,
way to create current, making of their unison (turning, reinfolding,
以一致的节奏进入和退出自己的节奏)使自己成为一个
entering and exiting their own unison in unison) making of themselves a
5视觉潮流,一种不能被载重或动摇的
5visual current, one that cannot freight or sway by
最小的部分是水的下沉气流和上升漩涡,
minutest fractions the water’s downdrafts and upswirls, the
码头边终于到达的船尾波循环,在那里
dockside cycles of finally-arriving boat-wakes, there where
它们遇到了更深的阻力,水似乎突然爆发
they hit deeper resistance, water that seems to burst into
它本身(它有那些层),一个真正的电流,虽然大多
itself (it has those layers), a real current though mostly
10看不见的向看得见的(小鱼)射箭
10invisible sending into the visible (minnows) arrowing
迫使改变的运动——
motion that forces change —
这就是自由。这就是信仰的力量。没有人能
this is freedom. This is the force of faith. Nobody gets
他们想要什么。你再也不是原来的你了。渴望
what they want. Never again are you the same. The longing
是纯粹。你得到的是改变。越来越多地
is to be pure. What you get is to be changed. More and more by
15每一个闪闪发光的瞬间,无限穿过其中,
15each glistening minute, through which infinity threads itself,
当然还有遗忘,一些事情的余震
also oblivion, of course, the aftershocks of something
在海上。在这里,双手沾满沙子,让沙子筛过
at sea. Here, hands full of sand, letting it sift through
在风中,我看着说,拿着这个,这是
in the wind, I look in and say take this, this is
我所保存的,快拿去吧。如果我听
what I have saved, take this, hurry. And if I listen
20现在?听着,我什么也没说。只是
20now? Listen, I was not saying anything. It was only
我做了一些事情。我无法选择词语。我可以自由地离开。
something I did. I could not choose words. I am free to go.
我当然不能再回来了。不能回到这里。永远不能。
I cannot of course come back. Not to this. Never.
那是摆在我嘴唇上的幽灵。这里:永远。
It is a ghost posed on my lips. Here: never.
[2002]
[2002]
[生于 1950 年]
[b. 1950]
铜和姜,丰富的
Copper and ginger, the plentiful
大部分被束缚着,一半松动,
mass of it bound, half loosed, and
再次被奢华束缚
bound again in lavish
忽视,仿佛这样的堆积
disregard as though such heaping up
5是一件无关紧要的事情,过剩°
5were a thing indifferent, surfeit° from
众神的餐桌,
the table of the gods, who do
不考虑公平,不,
not give a thought to fairness, no,
他们把赏金扔进一个
who throw their bounty in a single
膝盖上。指甲上的珐琅质已经剥落,呈蓝色。
lap. The chipped enamel — blue — on her nails.
10睫毛被阳光弄得黏糊糊的。你会
10The lashes sticky with sunlight. You would
我发誓她什么都没想过
swear she hadn’t a thought in her head
除了她的酪乳华夫饼和
except for her buttermilk waffle and
这只是果酱的比例。但是虽然
its just proportion of jam. But while
她一边笑一边嚼东西,半唱半唱
she laughs and chews, half singing
15 收音机里播放着歌词,一半
15 with the lyrics on the radio, half
耸耸肩,脱下她的浴袍
shrugging out of her bathrobe in the
厨房的温暖,她不太
kitchen warmth, she doesn’t quite
完成最后一部分,其中之一
complete the last part, one of the
袖子——就像你发誓,她
sleeves — as though, you’d swear, she
20懒得理会——仍然涵盖
20couldn’t be bothered — still covers
她的手臂。这意味着你不
her arm. Which means you do not
看看这些伤口。一个年龄的女孩——
see the cuts. Girls of an age —
例如十五——仍然承受
fifteen for example — still bearing
那时的痕迹——
the traces of when-they-were-
二十五 新的,当乳房没有
25 new, of when-the-breasts-had-not-
被想到,当麻烦的时候-
been-thought-of, when-the-troublesome-
裂缝很光滑,固定住了
cleft-was-smooth, are anchored
在断层线上,真是奇迹
on a faultline, it’s a wonder they
生存下去。这个红头发的
survive at all. This ginger-haired
三十 亲爱的不是我自己的,如果
30 darling isn’t one of my own, if
永远都是这样说的,但是
own is ever the way to put it, but
我从她心脏还未跳动时就认识她了
I’ve known her since her heart could still
在下面工作
be seen at work beneath
囟门。°她的皮肤
the fontanelles.° Her skin
三十五几乎是超凡脱俗的,触摸
35was almost otherworldly, touch
如此柔滑,看起来像是另一种
so silken it seemed another kind
视觉,一种更微妙的
of sight, a subtler
边界比所有边界都
boundary than obtains for all
我们其余的人,虽然很普通
the rest of us, though ordinary
40凡人也留下一些残骸,
40mortals bear some remnant too,
考虑所爱之人的良好
consider the loved one’s fine-
内臂呈粒状。因此
grained inner arm. And so
它就在那里,从手腕到
it’s there, from wrist to
肘部,她砍了。她拿
elbow, that she cuts. She takes
四十五她的剪刀剪到了完美的纸张,她做得很好,
45her scissors to that perfect page, she’s good,
她不傻,她知道我们
she isn’t stupid, she can see that we
家境富裕的孩子没有
who are children of plenty have no
我们遭受苦难的借口
excuse for suffering we
应该感到羞耻,她确实如此
should be ashamed and so she is
50因此她创作了这么多——
50and so she has produced this many-
分层象形文字、通道
layered hieroglyphic, channels
生的,半愈合的,重新打开的
raw, half healed, reopened
在治疗取得进展之前,她
before the healing gains momentum, she
已经采取了她的副本文本
has taken for her copy-text the very
55时间的齿轮和车轮。至于
55cogs and wheels of time. And as for
她的另一个身体,平原之歌说
her other body, says the plainsong
早间新闻里说
on the morning news, the hole
臭氧层、海洋里的鱼,
in the ozone, the fish in the sea,
你到底在想什么?你
you were thinking what exactly? You
60 正在考虑一个舒适的
60 were thinking a comfortable
早餐会有帮助吗?我认为
breakfast would help? I think
我以为我们明天再处理这个问题。
I thought we’d deal with that tomorrow.
那你就得再考虑一下。
Then you’ll have to think again.
[2007]
[2007]
[生于 1950 年]
[b. 1950]
听到喉咙里发出低沉的咆哮声,你就会知道它已经开始了。
Hearing a low growl in your throat, you’ll know that it’s started.
它没有什么可问你的。它只是说了些什么,
It has nothing to ask you. It has only something to say, and
它会用你的语言说话。
it will speak in your own tongue.
它会用手臂环抱住你,只要你愿意,它就会紧紧抱住你。
Locking its arm around you, it will hold you as long as you ever wanted.
5只是这一次,它会坚持得足够久,不会放手。
5Only this time it will be long enough. It will not let go.
将脸埋在它黑色的肩部,你会闻到泥土、头发和水的味道。
Burying your face in its dark shoulder, you’ll smell mud and hair and water.
你会尝到你妈妈酸酸的乳头,你最喜欢的咸鸡巴
You’ll taste your mother’s sour nipple, your favorite salty cock
并吞下你以为会吐出的单词,然后就完事了。
and swallow a word you thought you’d spit out once and be done with.
半闭着眼睛你会看到它的影子和你的一样,
Through half-closed eyes you’ll see that its shadow looks like yours,
10完美契合。你可以感激得流泪。它将带你
10a perfect fit. You could weep with gratefulness. It will take you
随你便吧,像一记耳光一样狠狠地打在你脸上,
as you like it best, hard and fast as a slap across your face,
或者如此甜蜜和缓慢,你会尖叫着把它给我,把它给我,直到它做到。
or so sweet and slow you’ll scream give it to me give it to me until it does.
没有什么能够达到如此深远。没有什么能够握得如此之紧。
Nothing will ever reach this deep. Nothing will ever clench this hard.
最后(小女孩们鼓掌、喊叫)有人拉了
At last (the little girls are clapping, shouting) someone has pulled
15你的健身包的拉绳已经足够紧了。最后
15the drawstring of your gym bag closed enough and tight. At last
有人将你的鞋带打结,这样它就永远不会松开。
someone has knotted the lace of your shoe so it won’t ever come undone.
即使你转身,即使你开始感到自己停止,
Even as you turn into it, even as you begin to feel yourself stop,
你会惊讶地从残牙间吹出口哨,天啊
you’ll whistle with amazement between your residual teeth oh jesus
哦,亲爱的,哦,圣母,没有什么比这更好的感觉了。
oh sweetheart, oh holy mother, nothing nothing nothing ever felt this good.
[1988]
[1988]
[生于 1950 年]
[b. 1950]
现在你已经三岁了,
Now you’d be three,
我对自己说,
I said to myself,
见证孩子出生
seeing a child born
和你一样的夏天。
the same summer as you.
5现在你六岁了,
5Now you’d be six,
或者七个,或者十个。
or seven, or ten.
我看着你长大
I watched you grow
在异物中。
in foreign bodies.
跳进水池,欢笑不止,
Leaping into a pool, all laughter,
10或者皱着眉头敲打键盘,
10or frowning over a keyboard,
但大部分时间只是站着,
but mostly just standing,
每次都更高。
taller each time.
你最辉煌的
How splendid your most
平凡的行动似乎
mundane action seemed
15在这些快乐的代理中。
15in these joyful proxies.
我常常强忍泪水。
I often held back tears.
如今,你二十一岁了。
Now you are twenty-one.
最后,这很有意义
Finally, it makes sense
你已经搬走了
that you have moved away
20进入你自己的来世。
20into your own afterlife.
[2012]
[2012]
[生于 1951 年]
[b. 1951]
我释放了你,我美丽而可怕的
I release you, my beautiful and terrible
恐惧。我释放你。你曾是我挚爱
fear. I release you. You were my beloved
和讨厌的双胞胎,但现在,我不认识你
and hated twin, but now, I don’t know you
就像我自己一样。我释放你,
as myself. I release you with all the
5我会知道在死亡时的痛苦
5pain I would know at the death of
我的孩子们。
my children.
你不再是我的血脉了。
You are not my blood anymore.
我把你还给士兵们
I give you back to the soldiers
他烧毁了我的房子,斩首了我的孩子,
who burned down my house, beheaded my children,
10强奸并鸡奸我的兄弟姐妹。
10raped and sodomized my brothers and sisters.
我将你归还给那些偷走
I give you back to those who stole the
当我们饥饿的时候,我们盘子里的食物。
food from our plates when we were starving.
我释放你,恐惧,因为你抱有
I release you, fear, because you hold
这些场景在我面前,我诞生了
these scenes in front of me and I was born
15有着永远无法闭上的眼睛。
15with eyes that can never close.
我释放你
I release you
我释放你
I release you
我释放你
I release you
我释放你
I release you
20我不怕生气。
20I am not afraid to be angry.
我不怕高兴。
I am not afraid to rejoice.
我不怕自己是黑人。
I am not afraid to be black.
我并不害怕自己是白人。
I am not afraid to be white.
我不怕饿。
I am not afraid to be hungry.
二十五我不怕吃饱。
25I am not afraid to be full.
我不怕被人恨。
I am not afraid to be hated.
我不害怕被爱。
I am not afraid to be loved.
被爱,被爱,恐惧。
to be loved, to be loved, fear.
哦,你扼住了我的喉咙,但我却给了你皮带。
Oh, you have choked me, but I gave you the leash.
三十你把我伤得很深,但我却把刀给了你。
30You have gutted me but I gave you the knife.
你已经吞噬了我,而我却将自己置于火中。
You have devoured me, but I laid myself across the fire.
我收回自己,感到害怕。
I take myself back, fear.
你不再是我的影子。
You are not my shadow any longer.
我不会把你握在手里。
I won’t hold you in my hands.
三十五你不能活在我的眼睛,我的耳朵,我的声音里
35You can’t live in my eyes, my ears, my voice
我的肚子里,或者我的心里
my belly, or in my heart my heart
我的心 我的心
my heart my heart
但来到这里,恐惧
But come here, fear
40我还活着,你却如此害怕死亡。
40I am alive and you are so afraid of dying.
[1983年]
[1983]
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
山上烧烤。
Mountain barbecue.
他们来了,年轻的表兄弟们各自回来,
They arrive, young cousins singly,
三三两两的年长叔叔阿姨们,
older aunts and uncles in twos and threes,
就像树木一样。我和新一代人一起玩
like trees. I play with a new generation
5孩子们,我的手在河床淤泥中
5of children, my hands in streambed silt
他们的生活,潜水员的手,掸去灰尘
of their lives, a scuba diver’s hands, dusting
地表沙子用于埋藏宝藏。
surface sand for buried treasure.
刚刮过胡子、涂过粉的脸
Freshly shaved and powdered faces
叔叔阿姨们围着玉米卷
of uncles and aunts surround taco
10和玉米粉蒸肉桌。墙上挂着麋鹿头,
10and tamale tables. Mounted elk head on wall,
黄铜牛仔立马钟
brass rearing horse cowboy clock
在壁炉架上。儿子和女儿
on fireplace mantle. Sons and daughters
围绕啤酒和威士忌桌。
converse round beer and whiskey table.
土地赠与问题引发争议。
Tempers ignite on land grant issues.
15孩子们在我腿周围跑来跑去。
15Children scurry round my legs.
罗圈腿的老人在草坪上扔马蹄铁,
Old bow-legged men toss horseshoes on lawn,
其他来自墨西哥的农场工人坐在长凳上,
other farmhands from Mexico sit on a bench,
破碎的生活因此得到修复。
broken lives repaired for this occasion.
我在这里感觉不到爱或家庭纽带。我站起来
I feel no love or family tie here. I rise
20去徒步旅行,寻找废弃的岩石小屋
20to go hiking, to find abandoned rock cabins
在山里。我们来到一片草丛,
in the mountains. We come to a grass clearing,
我妻子把牛仔裤卷到脚踝处,
my wife rolls her jeans up past ankles,
我赤脚涉过冰冷的溪水,
wades ice cold stream, and I barefooted,
一手抱一子,随行。
carry a son in each arm and follow.
二十五我们负担不起这样的地方。
25We cannot afford a place like this.
再次参加聚会,我吃豆子和辣椒
At the party again, I eat bean and chile
墨西哥卷饼,喝完第三杯朗姆酒后,
burrito, and after my third glass of rum,
我们上了车,我的妻子开着车
we climb in the car and my wife drives
我们回家了。我的儿子们睡在后面,
us home. My sons sleep in the back,
三十梦见空旷的空地,
30dream of the open clearing,
它们用香蒲互相追逐
they are chasing each other with cattails
在阳光普照的牧场上咯咯笑着,
in the sunlit pasture, giggling,
当我凝视窗外时
as I stare out the window
在“禁止擅闯”标志处白色闪过。
at no trespassing signs white flashing past.
[1989年]
[1989]
(1952–2016)
[1952–2016]
坐在福米卡柜台前,
Presiding over a formica counter,
塑料母子磁化
plastic Mother and Child magnetized
在古老的记录簿的顶部,
to the top of an ancient register,
从敞开的垃圾箱里飘出的令人陶醉的气味
the heady mix of smells from the open bins
5干鳕鱼、青芭蕉
5of dried codfish, the green plantains
像供品一样悬挂在茎上,
hanging in stalks like votive offerings,
她是流亡者的守护神,
she is the Patroness of Exiles,
一个从未变老、从未漂亮过的女人,
a woman of no-age who was never pretty,
她整天都在卖罐装记忆
who spends her days selling canned memories
10听着波多黎各人抱怨
10while listening to the Puerto Ricans complain
飞往 圣胡安 会更便宜
that it would be cheaper to fly to San Juan
比在这里买一磅 Bustelo 咖啡更划算,
than to buy a pound of Bustelo coffee here,
以及古巴人完善他们的演讲
and to Cubans perfecting their speech
“光荣回归”哈瓦那——没有人
of a “glorious return” to Havana — where no one
15被允许死亡并且在此之前不会发生任何改变;
15has been allowed to die and nothing to change until then;
和路过的墨西哥人一起抒情地交谈
to Mexicans who pass through, talking lyrically
的dólares a将在 El Norte 制造 —
of dólaresa to be made in El Norte —
都想要舒适
all wanting the comfort
西班牙语,凝视家庭肖像
of spoken Spanish, to gaze upon the family portrait
20她那平凡的宽脸,丰满的胸部
20of her plain wide face, her ample bosom
靠在她丰满的手臂上,她那充满母爱的目光
resting on her plump arms, her look of maternal interest
当他们和她交谈并互相交谈时
as they speak to her and each other
他们的梦想和幻灭——
of their dreams and their disillusions —
她是如何理解地微笑,
how she smiles understanding,
二十五当他们走过她商店狭窄的过道时
25when they walk down the narrow aisles of her store
大声朗读包裹上的标签,就像
reading the labels of packages aloud, as if
它们是失散的恋人的名字:Suspiros,
they were the names of lost lovers: Suspiros,
Merengues,是每个人童年时代都吃过的不新鲜的糖果。
Merengues,b the stale candy of everyone’s childhood.
她每天都
She spends her days
三十将火腿和奶酪切片,并用蜡纸包裹
30slicing jamón y quesoc and wrapping it in wax paper
用绳子捆着:普通火腿和奶酪
tied with string: plain ham and cheese
在 A&P 上花费较少,但不能令人满意
that would cost less at the A&P, but it would not satisfy
迷失在羊圈里的脆弱老人的饥饿
the hunger of the fragile old man lost in the folds
他的冬衣,她给她带来了物品清单
of his winter coat, who brings her lists of items
三十五他像读诗歌或其他作品一样给她读,
35that he reads to her like poetry, or the others,
她必须预测谁的需求,变出产品
whose needs she must divine, conjuring up products
从现在只存在于他们心中的地方——
from places that now exist only in ·their hearts —
她必须与之进行贸易的港口已关闭。
closed ports she must trade with.
[ 1993年]
[1993]
17.美元:美元。
a17. dólares: Dollars.
b 27. Suspiros, Merengues:蛋白酥皮饼干。
b27. Suspiros, Merengues: Meringue cookies.
c 30. jamón y queso:火腿和奶酪。
c30. jamón y queso: Ham and cheese.
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
1在得知我的航班延误了四个小时后,我在阿尔伯克基机场航站楼徘徊,听到一个广播:“如果 A-4 登机口附近的任何人懂阿拉伯语,请立即到登机口。”
1Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.”
2嗯——这些天停顿了一下。A-4 号登机口是我自己的登机口。我去了那里。
2Well — one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.
3一位年长的妇女身穿巴勒斯坦传统刺绣服饰,就像我奶奶穿的一样,倒在地上,大声哭喊。“救命啊,”航班服务员说道。“跟她说话。她怎么了?我们告诉她航班要晚点了,她却这样。”
3An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. “Help,” said the flight service person. “Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”
4我弯下腰,搂住那位女士,断断续续地跟她说话。“Shu-dow-a,Shu-bid-uck Habibti?Stani schway,Min fadlick,Shu-bit-se-wee?”她一听到自己认识的单词,不管用得多么差,她就停止了哭泣。她以为航班已经完全取消了。她第二天需要去埃尔帕索接受重大医疗治疗。我说:“不,我们没事,你会到的,只是晚点而已,谁来接你?我们给他打电话吧。”
4I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke to her haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit-se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the next day. I said, “No, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let’s call him.”
5我们给她儿子打了电话,我用英语和他交谈。我告诉他,我会陪着他妈妈直到我们上飞机,然后坐在她旁边——西南航空。她和他交谈。然后我们给她其他儿子打电话,只是为了好玩。然后我们打电话给我爸爸,他和她用阿拉伯语交谈了一会儿,发现他们当然有十个共同的朋友。然后我想,为什么不打电话给我认识的一些巴勒斯坦诗人,让他们和她聊天呢?这一切花了大约两个小时。
5We called her son and I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and would ride next to her — Southwest. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up about two hours.
6那时她已经笑了很多。她讲述着自己的生活,拍拍我的膝盖,回答着我的问题。她从包里拿出一袋自制的玛莫尔饼干——撒上糖粉的松脆小块,里面塞满了枣子和坚果——然后把它们分发给登机口的所有女性。令我惊讶的是,没有一个女人拒绝吃。这就像圣礼一样。来自阿根廷的旅行者、来自加利福尼亚的妈妈、来自拉雷多的可爱女人——我们都沾满了同样的糖粉。面带微笑。没有比这更好的饼干了。
6She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies — little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts — out of her bag — and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo — we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.
7然后航空公司从巨大的冷藏箱里拿出了免费饮料,我们航班上的两个小女孩跑来跑去给我们所有人端来苹果汁,身上也沾满了糖粉。我注意到我的新好朋友——现在我们手牵着手——从她的包里探出一盆植物,是某种药用植物,长着绿色的毛茸茸的叶子。这是一个古老的乡村旅行传统。总是随身携带一盆植物。总是扎根在某个地方。
7And then the airline broke out free beverages from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving us all apple juice and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend — by now we were holding hands — had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
8我环顾着那扇门,门里满是疲惫不堪的人们,我想,这就是我想要生活的世界。共享的世界。困惑的哭声一停止,门里没有一个人对其他人感到不安。他们拿走了饼干。我也想拥抱所有其他女人。
8And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate — once the crying of confusion stopped — seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too.
9这种事在任何地方都有可能发生。但还不是一切都失去了。
9This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.
[2008]
[2008]
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
记住,我们正在搬走,兄弟
Remember that we are moving away brother
从那些年起
From those years
和白人继父住在同一栋房子里
In the same house with a white stepfather
困扰他的事情已经被遗忘
What troubled him has been forgotten
5但困扰我们的问题已经解决
5But what troubled us has settled
像泥土一样
Like dirt
在我们的指关节窝里
In the nests of our knuckles
并且不会被冲走
And cannot be washed away
那些你醒来时浑身发抖的时刻
All those times you woke shivering
10晚上
10In the night
从寒冷中我
From a coldness I
无法理解
Could not understand
在被子下面捧着十字架
And cupped a crucifix beneath the covers
那些夏天我们都锄地
All those summers we hoed our yard
15在午后的阳光下
15In the afternoon sun
热气扑面而来
The heat waving across our faces
我们挥手驱赶黄蜂
And we waved back wasps
虽然我们讨厌
While the one we hated
在树下看着我们,什么也没说
Watched us from under a tree and said nothing
20兄弟,我们会记住那些时刻
20We will remember those moments brother
现在我们已经很远了
And now that we are far
彼此
From one another
我想说的是
What I want to speak of
黎明前房间的宁静
Is the quiet of a room just before daybreak
二十五你就在我旁边睡觉
25And you next to me sleeping
[1977年]
[1977]
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
新娘和新郎坐在敞篷马车里
A bride and a groom sitting in an open buggy
在雨中,牵着手却不看
in the rain, holding hands but not looking
互相对视,等雨停,
at each other, waiting for the rain to stop,
等待婚礼开始,尴尬
waiting for the marriage to begin, embarrassed
5雨水对新娘的影响
5by the rain, the effect of the rain on the bridal
面纱,湿漉漉的马鬃毛遮住了眼睛,
veil, the wet horse with his mane in his eyes,
雨冷如海,海深如爱,
the rain cold as the sea, the sea deep as love,
大颗大颗的雨滴落在皮座椅上,
big drops of rain falling on the leather seat,
雨水在新郎的玫瑰上结成了水珠
the rain beaded on a rose pinned to the groom’s
10翻领上,新娘花束上的雨水,
10lapel, the rain on the bride’s bouquet,
那里的婴儿气息,雨声
on the baby’s breath there, the sound of the rain
打在司机的礼帽上,雨
hitting the driver’s top hat, the rain
漆黑的街道上闪闪发光,像缎子一样,
shining like satin on the black street,
在漆皮鞋尖上,北斋的
on the tips of patent leather shoes, Hokusai’s
15父亲以擦镜子为生,北斋的
15father who polished mirrors for a living, Hokusai’s
父亲注视着天空的云彩,北斋的父亲的儿子
father watching the sky for clouds, Hokusai’s father’s son
雨水从桥上流过,流过过往行人
drawing rain over a bridge and over the people crossing
桥,北斋的父亲的儿子画雨
the bridge, Hokusai’s father’s son drawing the rain
几个小时里,北斋的父亲摩擦着镜子,雨
for hours, Hokusai’s father rubbing a mirror, the rain
20冷若海,海冷若爱,海涨
20cold as the sea, the sea cold as love, the sea swelling
到海啸波涛,浪尖是白色的。
to a tidal wave, at the tip of the wave white.
[1996年]
[1996]
雨的效果:这首图画诗的灵感来自葛饰北斋 (1760-1849) 的画作。
aRain Effect: This ekphrastic poem was inspired by the paintings of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849).
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
这张照片上我四岁,正在钓鱼
I was four in this photograph fishing
和我的祖父母在密歇根州的一个湖边。
with my grandparents at a lake in Michigan.
我的弟弟蹲在毒藤里。
My brother squats in poison ivy.
他的戴维克罗克特帽子
His Davy Crockett cap
5坐在他的头上,所以浣熊尾巴
5sits squared on his head so the raccoon tail
他的水手服后背上有荷叶边。
flounces down the back of his sailor suit.
我的祖父坐在最右边
My grandfather sits to the far right
在折叠椅上,
in a folding chair,
我知道他的左手
and I know his left hand is on
10裤子口袋里的烟草
10the tobacco in his pants pocket
因为我曾经帮他包过
because I used to wrap it for him
每年圣诞节。祖母的臀部
every Christmas. Grandmother’s hips
从灌木丛中凸起,她倾斜着
bulge from the brush, she’s leaning
放进冰箱,阳光透过树丛
into the ice chest, sun through the trees
15用柔软的印花布印在裙子上
15printing her dress with soft
发光的爪子。
luminous paws.
我嫉妒地盯着我的弟弟;
I am staring jealously at my brother;
前一天,他独自一人骑了他的第一匹马。
the day before he rode his first horse, alone.
我被绑在篮子里
I was strapped in a basket
20在我祖父身后。
20behind my grandfather.
他身上有柠檬的味道。他死了——
He smelled of lemons. He’s died —
但我记得他的手。
but I remember his hands.
[1989年]
[1989]
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
她坐在餐桌旁,
Sitting at her table, she serves
对我来说sopa de arroz [1]
the sopa de arroz[1] to me
本能地,我看着她,
instinctively, and I watch her,
绝对的妈妈,吃掉话
the absolute mamá, and eat words
5我可能不得不说更多
5I might have had to say more
尴尬。说话,
out of embarrassment. To speak,
我过去常说的外国话,
now-foreign words I used to speak,
也顺着她的嘴流下来,当她服务
too, dribble down her mouth as she serves
me albondigas。[2]没有更多
me albondigas.[2] No more
10超过三分之一对我来说很容易。
10than a third are easy to me.
在炉边她用言语做了一些事情
By the stove she does something with words
只用她的目光看着我
and looks at me only with her
回来。我吃饱了。我告诉她
back. I am full. I tell her
我尝到薄荷的味道,看着她说话
I taste the mint, and watch her speak
15微笑着看着炉子。我所有的话语
15smiles at the stove. All my words
让她微笑。纳尼从不发球
make her smile. Nani never serves
她自己,她只看着我
herself, she only watches me
她的皮肤,她的头发。我还想要更多。
with her skin, her hair. I ask for more.
我看着妈妈越来越暖和
I watch the mamá warming more
20玉米饼。我看着她
20tortillas for me. I watch her
为我点燃手指。
fingers in the flame for me.
在她的嘴边,我看到一条皱纹在说话
Near her mouth, I see a wrinkle speak
一个身体服务的男人
of a man whose body serves
蚂蚁像她为我服务,然后更多的话语
the ants like she serves me, then more words
二十五关于孩子的更多皱纹,文字
25from more wrinkles about children, words
关于这个和那个,流动更多
about this and that, flowing more
很容易从其他嘴里出来。每个人都
easily from these other mouths. Each serves
像一条巨大的绳子缠绕着她,
as a tremendous string around her,
抱住她。他们说话
holding her together. They speak
三十纳尼对我来说就是这个和那个
30nani was this and that to me
我想知道我到底有多少
and I wonder just how much of me
会和她一起死去,那该说什么
will die with her, what were the words
我本可以,曾经是。她的内心在诉说
I could have been, was. Her insides speak
经过一百道皱纹,现在,更多
through a hundred wrinkles, now, more
三十五比她能承受的还要多,钢铁围绕着她,
35than she can bear, steel around her,
那么,她所卖的到底是什么呢?
shouting, then, What is this thing she serves?
她问我是否还要。
She asks me if I want more.
我没有话可阻止她。
I own no words to stop her.
我还没开口说话,她就发球了。
Even before I speak, she serves.
[1982年]
[1982]
a Nani: “祖母”的昵称。
aNani: Diminutive for “grandmother.”
[1]米汤
[1]rice soup
[2]肉丸
[2]meatballs
[生于 1952 年]
[b. 1952]
爱你就像活着
Loving you is like living
在战争年代。
in the war years.
我确实想到了鲍嘉和伯格曼
I do think of Bogart & Bergman
不清楚谁是谁
not clear who’s who
5但仍然唱着长长的烟雾
5but still singin a long smoky
心情走进钢琴酒吧
mood into the piano bar
直接饮用
drinks straight up
家里最后一瓶酒
the last bottle in the house
当炸弹分裂时
while bombs split
10外面,一个破损
10outside, a broken
世界。
world.
世界大战正在进行
A world war going on
但你和我仍然坚持
but you and I still insisting
在我们每个人的脑海中
in each our own heads
15仍然在思考如何
15still thinkin how
如果我能联系上
if I could only make some contact
和键盘那边的那个女人
with that woman across the keyboard
我们互相衡量
we size each other up
是的…
yes …
20爱你有这种拼命
20Loving you has this kind of desperation
就像做或死一样,我
to it, like do or die, I
从一开始就关注你
having eyed you from the first
你决定搬家的时间
time you made the decision to move
从你的凳子上
from your stool
二十五过着危险的生活。
25to live dangerously.
一切都凭直觉
All on the hunch
在我们交换照片时
that in our exchange of photos
前女友的名字
of old girlfriends, names
三十城市和记忆
30of cities and memories
回到美国
back in the states
我们驻守的战线
the fronts we’ve manned
在大陆上
out here on the continent
这一切都是凭直觉
all this on the hunch
这次将会有
that this time there’ll be
三十五无需抵抗。
35no need for resistance.
战争年代里的爱情
Loving in the war years
呼吁这种冒险
calls for this kind of risking
没有自己的家
without a home to call our own
我必须带你去
I’ve got to take you as you come
40对我来说,每次都像陌生人一样
40to me, each time like a stranger
又一次。不知道
all over again. Not knowing
你今天看到了哪些死亡
what deaths you saw today
我必须带你去
I’ve got to take you
当你来的时候,战斗伤痕累累
as you come, battle bruised
四十五拒绝我们的敌人——恐惧。
45refusing our enemy, fear.
我们就是我们所拥有的一切。你和我
We’re all we’ve got. You and I
维护
maintaining
战时道德
this war time morality
在哪里很奇怪
where being queer
50而女性同样粗鲁
50and female is as rude
正如我们所能得到的。
as we can get.
[1983年]
[1983]
[生于 1953 年]
[b. 1953]
他们似乎就是做不到……他们应该更加努力……他们应该更加……我们都希望他们不是这样……他们从不……他们总是……有时他们……偶尔他们……然而,很明显他们……他们的整体倾向是……其后果是……他们似乎不明白……如果他们能努力……但我们知道对他们来说这有多难……他们中的许多人仍然没有意识到……一些应该更了解的人只是拒绝……当然,他们的视角受到限制……另一方面,他们显然觉得自己有权……我们当然不能忘记他们……也不能否认他们……我们知道这对他们产生了巨大的影响……然而他们的行为给我们留下了深刻的印象……不幸的是,我们的互动……
They just can’t seem to … They should try harder to … They ought to be more … We all wish they weren’t so … They never … They always … Sometimes they … Once in a while they … However it is obvious that they … Their overall ten-dency has been … The consequences of which have been … They don’t appear to understand that … If only they would make an effort to … But we know how difficult it is for them to … Many of them remain unaware of … Some who should know better simply refuse to … Of course, their perspective has been limited by … On the other hand, they obviously feel entitled to … Certainly we can’t forget that they … Nor can it be denied that they … We know that this has had an enormous impact on their … Nevertheless their behavior strikes us as … Our interactions unfortunately have been …
[2002]
[2002]
[生于 1953 年]
[b. 1953]
它们平行排列,
They lie in parallel rows,
在冰上,从头到尾,
on ice, head to tail,
每英尺的光度
each a foot of luminosity
用黑色条纹隔开,
barred with black bands,
5划分尺度
5which divide the scales’
辐射截面
radiant sections
像铅缝一样
like seams of lead
在蒂芙尼 (Tiffany) 橱窗里。
in a Tiffany window.
彩虹般水润
Iridescent, watery
10棱镜:想想鲍鱼,
10prismatics: think abalone,
狂野的彩虹
the wildly rainbowed
肥皂泡球体的镜子,
mirror of a soapbubble sphere,
想象一下汽油上的阳光。
think sun on gasoline.
辉煌,辉煌,
Splendor, and splendor,
15并且绝不是一个
15and not a one in any way
与其他区别开来
distinguished from the other
— 没有关于他们的任何信息
— nothing about them
个性。相反
of individuality. Instead
它们都是准确的表达
they’re all exact expressions
20同一个灵魂,
20of the one soul,
每一个都是完美的实现
each a perfect fulfilment
天堂的模板,
of heaven’s template,
鲭鱼精华。就好像,
mackerel essence. As if,
一生之后
after a lifetime arriving
二十五在上釉过程中,珠宝商的
25at this enameling, the jeweler’s
举了无数的例子,
made uncountable examples,
每一个都错综复杂
each as intricate
在油腻的寓言中
in its oily fabulation
就像之前一样
as the one before
三十假设我们可以变彩虹色,
30Suppose we could iridesce,
像这样,迷失自我
like these, and lose ourselves
完全在宇宙中
entirely in the universe
闪光——你想要
of shimmer — would you want
只做你自己,
to be yourself only,
三十五无法复制,注定失败
35unduplicatable, doomed
迷失?他们宁愿
to be lost? They’d prefer,
显然,作为闪烁的参与者,
plainly, to be flashing participants,
众多。即使现在
multitudinous. Even now
它们似乎正在逃跑
they seem to be bolting
40向前,不顾停滞。
40forward, heedless of stasis.
他们不在乎他们已经死了
They don’t care they’re dead
几乎冻僵了,
and nearly frozen,
就像,据推测,
just as, presumably,
他们不在乎自己是否还活着:
they didn’t care that they were living:
四十五人人为人人,
45all, all for all,
彩虹学校
the rainbowed school
以及占地数英亩的明亮教室,
and its acres of brilliant classrooms,
其中没有动词是单数,
in which no verb is singular,
或者每个人都是。他们看起来多么幸福,
or every one is. How happy they seem,
50即使在冰上,也要在一起,无私,
50even on ice, to be together, selfless,
这就是闪闪发光的代价。
which is the price of gleaming.
[1995年]
[1995]
[生于 1953 年]
[b. 1953]
当你十七岁,喝醉了
When you’re seventeen, and drunk
沙哑的深夜味道
on the husky, late-night flavor
你第一个女朋友的声音
of your first girlfriend’s voice
沿着电话线
along the wires of the telephone
5除了偷还能做什么
5what else to do but steal
你父亲的黄金国,
your father’s El Dorado from the drive,
然后乘船前往德里斯科尔山的公园?
and cruise out to the park on Driscoll Hill?
然后爬上县水塔
Then climb the county water tower
并用橙色喷雾罐喷洒她的名字
and aerosol her name in spraycan orange
10距离城镇一百英尺?
10a hundred feet above the town?
因为只有那个单词的字母,
Because only the letters of that word,
多丽丝,你隔壁的,
doris, next door to yours,
一码高的彩虹色字体,
in yard-high, iridescent script,
被放大到足以告诉全世界
are amplified enough to tell the world
15谁在弹主音吉他
15who’s playing lead guitar
在你的血液摇滚乐队中。
in the rock band of your blood.
你一刻也不考虑
You don’t consider for a moment
10广告为您带来的震撼,
the shock in store for you in 10 a.d.,
多丽丝去世十年后,
a decade after Doris, when,
20回家途中开车出去,
20out for a drive on your visit home,
当你走在 Smallville 路上时,抬头
you take the Smallville Road, look up
看到罗恩爱多丽丝
and see ron loves doris
仍然烧焦在水库上。
still scorched upon the reservoir.
历史就是这样追赶的——
This is how history catches up —
二十五保持静止直到
25by holding still until you
撞到自己。
bump into yourself.
什么让你脸红,然后推开
What makes you blush, and shove
野马的踏板
the pedal of the Mustang
几乎穿过地板
almost through the floor
三十就像你想喷洒砾石一样
30as if you wanted to spray gravel
回顾过去的特征,
across the features of the past,
还是加速走向毁灭?
or accelerate into oblivion?
你是否已经失去了对爱情的向往
Are you so out of love that you
无法快速离开?
can’t move fast enough away?
三十五但如果欲望是加速,
35But if desire is acceleration,
经验是循环的
experience is circular as any
印第安纳波利斯。我们不断回来
Indianapolis. We keep coming back
我们会随着年龄的增长而
to what we are — each time older,
更加惊慌,或者不那么害怕。
more freaked out, or less afraid.
40现在你长大了。
40And you are older now.
你今天就应该停下来。
You should stop today.
以多丽丝的名义,停下来。
In the name of Doris, stop.
[1992年]
[1992]
[生于 1954 年]
[b. 1954]
家是我们睡觉时前往的地方。
Home’s the place we head for in our sleep.
梦想中的车厢蹒跚向北
Boxcars stumbling north in dreams
别等我们,我们会在他们逃跑时抓住他们。
don’t wait for us. We catch them on the run.
我们喜爱的铁轨和旧裂痕,
The rails, old lacerations that we love,
5平行射击并击破
5shoot parallel across the face and break
就在龟山下。骑马的伤痕
just under Turtle Mountains.a Riding scars
你不会迷路的。家是他们交叉的地方。
you can’t get lost. Home is the place they cross.
跛脚的守卫划了一根火柴,照亮了黑暗
The lame guard strikes a match and makes the dark
更不宽容。我们透过木板缝隙观察
less tolerant. We watch through cracks in boards
10大地开始滚动,滚动到疼痛
10as the land starts rolling, rolling till it hurts
来到这里,穿着常规衣服很冷。
to be here, cold in regulation clothes.
我们知道警长正在半路上等着
We know the sheriff’s waiting at midrun
送我们回去。他的车很笨重,很温暖。
to take us back. His car is dumb and warm.
高速公路不摇晃,只有嗡嗡声
The highway doesn’t rock, it only hums
15像一双长长的侮辱之翼。磨损的伤痕
15like a wing of long insults. The worn-down welts
古代的刑罚是来来回回的。
of ancient punishments lead back and forth.
所有的逃亡者都穿着长裙,绿色的长裙,
All runaways wear dresses, long green ones,
你会认为羞耻的颜色。我们擦洗
the color you would think shame was. We scrub
拆除人行道,因为这是可耻的工作。
the sidewalks down because it’s shameful work.
20我们的刷子将石头切割成弧形
20Our brushes cut the stone in watered arcs
在浸泡中脆弱的轮廓清晰地颤抖
and in the soak frail outlines shiver clear
一会儿,我们这些孩子在黑暗中按下的东西
a moment, things us kids pressed on the dark
脸色变得苍白,然后又变得僵硬,
face before it hardened, pale, remembering
脆弱的旧伤,名字和树叶的书脊。
delicate old injuries, the spines of names and leaves.
[1984年]
[1984]
a 6. 龟山:北达科他州和加拿大边界的山脉。
a6. Turtle Mountains: A range of hills on the border between North Dakota and Canada.
[生于 1954 年]
[b. 1954]
之后你看起来就像喝醉了一样
Afterwards you had that drunk, drugged look
我女儿曾经放手的时候
my daughter used to get, when she had let go
我的乳头,她的嘴巴松弛了,她的眼睛
of my nipple, her mouth gone slack and her eyes
变得模糊而朦胧,仿佛在他们身后
turned vague and filmy, as though behind them
5牛奶不断涌出,填满了她
5the milk was rising up to fill her
整个头,会懒洋洋地躺在小
whole head, that would loll on the small
她脖子上的白色茎,所以我必须抱着她
white stalk of her neck so I would have to hold her
靠近一点,惊叹于其强大的力量
closer, amazed at the sheer power
饱腹感,这与需要
of satiety, which was nothing like the needing
10被喂食,狂野地挥动和哭泣,直到她固定住
10to be fed, the wild flailing and crying until she fastened
她对我,并密封
herself to me and made the seal tight
我们之间,吮吸,把液体吸下来,
between us, and sucked, drawing the liquid down and
离开我的身体;不,这是加冕
out of my body; no, this was the crowning
那一刻,她自己付出,知道
moment, this giving of herself, knowing
15她可以让我明白她是多么的无助
15she could show me how helpless
她——那是我那天晚上看到的,当你
she was — that’s what I saw, that night when you
把你的嘴从我的嘴上移开,
pulled your mouth from mine and
靠在铁丝网围栏上,
leaned back against a chain-link fence,
在一座被烧毁的教堂前:一名男子
in front of a burned-out church: a man
20谁会变得如此脆弱,
20who was going to be that vulnerable,
如此简单且不可能受到伤害。
that easy and impossible to hurt.
[2004年]
[2004]
[生于 1955 年]
[b. 1955]
他们叫我光头党,但我有自己的美丽。
They call me skinhead, and I got my own beauty.
它像刀子一样在我背上刻下伤痛、参差不齐的字迹,
It is knife-scrawled across my back in sore, jagged letters,
这是我的眼睛如何避开显而易见的事物的方式。
it’s in the way my eyes snap away from the obvious.
我坐在昏暗的火柴盒里,
I sit in my dim matchbox,
5在床边,沾满了我难闻的气味,
5on the edge of a bed tousled with my ragged smell,
用剃刀刮我的头发,
slide razors across my hair,
计算有多少种方法
count how many ways
我可以让血液更接近皮肤表面。
I can bring blood closer to the surface of my skin.
这是义人的职责,
These are the duties of the righteous,
10受膏者的道路。
10the ways of the anointed.
镜子里移动的脸又大又布满麻点,
The face that moves in my mirror is huge and pockmarked,
粉红色和明亮的,苹果般的脸颊,
scraped pink and brilliant, apple-cheeked,
我满嘴都是自己的唾液。
I am filled with my own spit.
两年前,一台切割皮革的机器
Two years ago, a machine that slices leather
15吮吸着我的手并握住它,
15sucked in my hand and held it,
从根部砍断三根手指。
whacking off three fingers at the root.
直到我往下看,我才感觉到什么
I didn’t feel nothing till I looked down
看到其中一个倒在地上
and saw one of them on the floor
在我的靴子后跟旁边,
next to my boot heel,
20从此我就没再工作过。
20and I ain’t worked since then.
我坐在这里看着黑鬼占领我的电视机,
I sit here and watch niggers take over my TV set,
在我的脑海里像国王一样在人行道上走来走去,
walking like kings up and down the sidewalks in my head,
像他们的肥胖的黑人妈妈一样走路给他们起名为自由。
walking like their fat black mamas named them freedom.
我的肩膀告诉我那不对。
My shoulders tell me that ain’t right.
二十五所以我搬到了阳光下
25So I move out into the sun
我的美貌让他们低下头,
where my beauty makes them lower their heads,
或进入深夜
or into the night
袖子里藏着一根铅管,
with a lead pipe up my sleeve,
我的靴子里藏着一把剃须刀。
a razor tucked in my boot.
三十我生来就是为了把事情做好。
30I was born to make things right.
现在我可以很容易地把我的大身体移到阴影里,
It’s easy now to move my big body into shadows,
从一个什么都没有的地方搬走
to move from a place where there was nothing
进入路灯的光圈,
into the stark circle of a streetlight,
管子高高地举过我的头顶。
the pipe raised up high over my head.
三十五看着他们的眼睛睁得大大的,真让人兴奋,
35It’s a kick to watch their eyes get big,
圆圆的,闪闪发光,像卡通丛林男孩,
round and gleaming like cartoon jungle boys,
就在那一刻他们知道
right in that second when they know
管子要掉下来了,我拿到了这个东西
the pipe’s gonna come down, and I got this thing
我喜欢说,听听这个,我喜欢说
I like to say, listen to this, I like to say
40“嘿,黑鬼,亚伯拉罕·林肯已经死了很久了。”
40“Hey, nigger, Abe Lincoln’s been dead a long time.”
听到他们的皮肤爆裂的声音,我就很难受。
I get hard listening to their skin burst.
我生来就是为了把事情做好。
I was born to make things right.
然后这位报纸记者出现了,
Then this newspaper guy comes around,
看来我踢了某个同性恋的屁股有点马虎
seems I was a little sloppy kicking some fag’s ass
四十五他张开了自己的洞并大声尖叫。
45and he opened his hole and screamed about it.
记者发现我蜷缩在床上,
This reporter finds me curled up in my bed,
电视的闪光舔舐着我的脸。
those TV flashes licking my face clean.
还是那句话。
Same ol’ shit.
没什么工作,全都是有色人种和西班牙裔人干的。
Ain’t got no job, the coloreds and spics got ’em all.
50我为什么不工作?看看我的手,混蛋。
50Why ain’t I working? Look at my hand, asshole.
不,我不属于任何有组织的团体,
No, I ain’t part of no organized group,
我只是一个热爱自己种族的白人男孩,
I’m just a white boy who loves his race,
为建立一个纯洁的国家而奋斗。
fighting for a pure country.
有时只有我一个人。有时是 3 个人。有时是 30 个人。
Sometimes it’s just me. Sometimes three. Sometimes 30.
55艾滋病会照顾同性恋者,
55AIDS will take care of the faggots,
那么街道上就会是黑底白字。
then it’s gon’ be white on black in the streets.
那就有三百万了。
Then there’ll be three million.
我告诉他了。
I tell him that.
所以他写了下来
So he writes it up
60我看上去像个怪物,
60and I come off looking like some kind of freak,
就像我是希特勒本人一样。我没那么幸运,
like I’m Hitler himself. I ain’t that lucky,
但我有我自己的美貌。
but I got my own beauty.
它在我的钢头靴里,
It is in my steel-toed boots,
在我剃光的头的硬角里。
in the hard corners of my shaved head.
65我看着镜子,举起我受伤的手,
65I look in the mirror and hold up my mangled hand,
只剩下小手指,直直地伸出来,
only the baby finger left, sticking straight up,
我知道这手指拿错了,
I know it’s the wrong goddamned finger,
但无论如何,操你们所有人。
but fuck you all anyway.
我正处于完美比赛的最高境界,
I’m riding the top rung of the perfect race,
70我的脸变得粉红而有光泽。
70my face scraped pink and brilliant.
我是你的宝贝,美国,你的男孩,
I’m your baby, America, your boy,
喝醉了自己的唾液,我真是太漂亮了。
drunk on my own spit, I am goddamned fuckin’ beautiful.
我出生了
And I was born
并提出
and raised
75就在这里。
75right here.
[1992年]
[1992]
[生于 1955 年]
[b. 1955]
同化论文
an essay on assimilation
我是 Marilyn Mei Ling Chin。
I am Marilyn Mei Ling Chin.
哦,我多么喜欢这种坚定
Oh, how I love the resoluteness
第一人称单数
of that first person singular
随后是坚定的指示性
followed by that stalwart indicative
5是,没有不确定的
5of “be,” without the uncertain i-n-g
“成为”。当然,
of “becoming.” Of course,
名字已经更改
the name had been changed
在天使岛和大海之间的某个地方,
somewhere between Angel Islanda and the sea,
当我的父亲报纸
when my father the papersonb
1020 世纪 50 年代末
10in the late 1950s
迷恋金发美女[1]
obsessed with a bombshell blonde[1]
将“梅玲”音译为“玛丽莲”。
transliterated “Mei Ling” to “Marilyn.”
没有人敢质疑
And nobody dared question
他的最初冲动——因为我们都知道
his initial impulse — for we all know
15欲望驱使人们走向伟大,
15lust drove men to greatness,
不是善良,不是正派。
not goodness, not decency.
我就是这样一个任性的粉红婴儿,
And there I was, a wayward pink baby,
以某个悲惨的白人女性命名
named after some tragic white woman
因杜松子酒和戊巴比妥而肿胀。c
swollen with gin and Nembutal.c
20我的母亲无法发出“r”这个音。
20My mother couldn’t pronounce the “r.”
她给我起了个绰号叫“Numba one female branch”
She dubbed me “Numba one female offshoot”
简而言之:从今以后,她将生死相依
for brevity: henceforth, she will live and die
在崇高的无知中,
in sublime ignorance, flanked
热爱孩子和“厨房神”。
by loving children and the “kitchen deity.”
二十五当我父亲犹豫不决时,
25While my father dithers,
香港垃圾桶里的一只公猫——
a tomcat in Hong Kong trash —
一个赌徒,一个小流氓,
a gambler, a petty thug,
谁买了一家杂碎连锁店
who bought a chain of chopsuey joints
在俄勒冈州的皮斯河,
in Piss River, Oregon,
三十用盗版的Gucci现金。
30with bootlegged Gucci cash.
没有人敢质疑他的正直,因为
Nobody dared question his integrity given
他善良虔诚的女儿们
his nice, devout daughters
以及他聪明勤奋的儿子们
and his bright, industrious sons
好像孝道就是标准
as if filial piety were the standard
三十五世上所有的人都是以此为衡量标准的。
35by which all earthly men were measured.
*
*
哦,我们的女儿多么值得信赖,
Oh, how trustworthy our daughters,
我们的儿子多么节俭啊!
how thrifty our sons!
我们是如何愚弄专家的
How we’ve managed to fool the experts
在教育、统计和人口统计学领域——
in education, statistics and demography —
40我们不太有创造力,但也不反对死记硬背。
40We’re not very creative but not adverse to rote-learning.
确实,他们可以利用我们。
Indeed, they can use us.
但“模范少数族裔”这个名称其实只是个玩笑。
But the “Model Minority” is a tease.
我们知道你正在观看,
We know you are watching now,
所以我们拒绝给你任何东西!
so we refuse to give you any!
四十五噢,竹笋,竹笋!
45Oh, bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots!
我们越往西走,就会到达东方;
The further west we go, we’ll hit east;
我们挖得越深,就会发现中国。
the deeper down we dig, we’ll find China.
历史已经让人厌恶
History has turned its stomach
在一片黑色污染的海滩上——
on a black polluted beach —
50生活不再依赖
50where life doesn’t hinge
在那辆红色的手推车上,
on that red, red wheelbarrow,d
但不管我们的新恋人
but whether or not our new lover
在圣巴巴拉的最后一集中
in the final episode of Santa Barbarae
会靠在香薰蜡烛上
will lean over a scented candle
55并骂我们“婊子”。
55and call us a “bitch.”
天啊,我们到底哪里做错了?
Oh God, where have we gone wrong?
我们没有内在资源!
We have no inner resources!
*
*
然后,一个芬芳的春日早晨
Then, one redolent spring morning
金大祖
the Great Patriarch Chin
60从天堂的亭子里往下看
60peered down from his kiosk in heaven
见他的子孙丑陋。
and saw that his descendants were ugly.
其中一个人的头呈方形,鼻子没有鼻梁。
One had a squarish head and a nose without a bridge.
另一个人的侧面像葫芦一样又长又鼓。
Another’s profile — long and knobbed as a gourd.
第三个人,悲伤又残忍
A third, the sad, brutish one
65可能永远、永远都不会结婚。
65may never, never marry.
而我,他最不喜欢的人——
And I, his least favorite —
“没煮熟,没煮透。”
“not quite boiled, not quite cooked,”
一条肥美的鲳鱼在我的汁液中沸腾——
a plump pomfret simmering in my juices —
我太无精打采了,无法为我的人民的命运而奋斗。
too listless to fight for my people’s destiny.
70“不抵抗就杀人,这不是屠杀”
70“To kill without resistance is not slaughter”
谚语说得好。因此,我等待着死亡的临近。
says the proverb. So, I wait for imminent death.
事实上,这种死亡也是隐喻性的
The fact that this death is also metaphorical
证明了我的嗜睡。
is testament to my lethargy.
*
*
这里安葬着玛丽莲·美玲·秦,
So here lies Marilyn Mei Ling Chin,
75结过一次婚,两次嫁给某某,一个姓李,一个姓黄,
75married once, twice to so-and-so, a Lee and a Wong,
杰克“族长”的孙女
granddaughter of Jack “the patriarch”
和沉思的方淑琳,
and the brooding Suilin Fong,
贤惠的黄月娟之女
daughter of the virtuous Yuet Kuen Wong
还有臭名昭著的GG Chin,
and G. G. Chin the infamous,
80十几个人的姐妹,百万人的堂兄,
80sister of a dozen, cousin of a million,
被所有人幸存,也被所有人遗忘。
survived by everybody and forgotten by all.
她既不是黑人也不是白人,
She was neither black nor white,
既不被珍惜,也不被征服,
neither cherished nor vanquished,
只是她自己竹林里的又一个非法居住者
just another squatter in her own bamboo grove
85关注她的诗歌——
85minding her poetry —
有一天上天无情了,
when one day heaven was unmerciful,
她站立的地方出现了一道深渊。
and a chasm opened where she stood.
就像一头巨大的白鲸的下颚,
Like the jowls of a mighty white whale,f
或形而上学的哥斯拉的下巴,g
or the jaws of a metaphysical Godzilla,g
90它把她整个吞没了。
90it swallowed her whole.
她没有退缩,也没有扭动,
She did not flinch nor writhe,
也不担心来世,
nor fret about the afterlife,
但留下来了!像木头一样坚固,很高兴
but stayed! Solid as wood, happily
有点破烂,有点迷惑
a little gnawed, tattered, mesmerized
95她身上所蕴含的一切
95by all that was lavished upon her
一切都被夺走了!
and all that was taken away!
[1994年]
[1994]
a 8. 天使岛:旧金山湾的一个岛屿,天使岛移民站所在地,在 1910 年至 1940 年间处理了大约一百万亚洲移民。
a8. Angel Island: An island in San Francisco Bay, site of the Angel Island Immigration Station that processed approximately one million Asian immigrants between 1910 and 1940.
b 9. paperson: “纸儿子”是指进入美国的中国年轻男性,他们自称是美国公民的儿子,但实际上只是纸面上的儿子。
b9. paperson: A “paper son” is a term used for young Chinese males entering the United States who claimed to be sons of U.S. citizens but were, in fact, sons on paper only.
c 19. 戊巴比妥:一种短效巴比妥类药物(戊巴比妥),用作镇静剂,但也用作麻醉剂。
c19. Nembutal: A short-acting barbituate (Pentobarbital) prescribed as a sedative but also used as an intoxicant.
d 51. 红色手推车:请参阅本书其他部分威廉·卡洛斯·威廉斯的诗歌《红色手推车》。
d51. red wheelbarrow: See the poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams elsewhere in this book.
e 53.圣巴巴拉:美国电视肥皂剧,1984-1993 年,主要讲述加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉富裕的卡普威尔 (Capwell) 家族的生活。
e53. Santa Barbara: American television soap opera, 1984–1993, that focused on the lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California.
f 88. 巨大的白鲸:赫尔曼·麦尔维尔 1851 年的小说《白鲸记》中的鲸鱼。
f88. mighty white whale: The whale in Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby Dick.
g 89. 哥斯拉:首次出现在本多猪四郎 1954 年的电影《哥斯拉》中的怪兽,后来在其他 28 部电影中成为流行文化偶像。
g89. Godzilla: A monster which appeared first in Ishiro Honda’s 1954 film Godzilla and became a pop culture icon in twenty-eight additional films.
[1] (玛丽莲·梦露)
[1](Marilyn Monroe)
[生于 1955 年]
[b. 1955]
他认为我们死后会去中国。
He thinks when we die we’ll go to China.
想想看——一个中国天堂
Think of it — a Chinese heaven
除了他的金发,
where, except for his blond hair,
属于他父亲的部分,
the part that belongs to his father,
5每个人都会像他一样。
5everyone will look like him.
中国,地图上那朵蓝色的花,
China, that blue flower on the map,
比海更蓝
bluer than the sea
他的手必须像桥梁一样跨越
his hand must span like a bridge
才能达到目的。
to reach it.
10相隔一个八度。
10An octave away.
我从来没有见过。
I’ve never seen it.
好像我唱不了那么远。
It’s as if I can’t sing that far.
但看看——
But look —
在地图上,这个黑点。
on the map, this black dot.
15这是我们居住的地方,
15Here is where we live,
在平坦的平原上
on the pancake plains
位于落基山脉以东,
just east of the Rockies,
在云层的另一边。
on the other side of the clouds.
距海平面一英里,
A mile above the sea,
20空气如此稀薄,你可能会饿死。
20the air is so thin, you can starve on it.
没有竹子
No bamboo trees
但高山上的同类,
but the alpine equivalent,
长满芦苇的白杨树,树叶轻盈地飘动。
reedy aspen with light, fluttering leaves.
广州的一个小伙子是否曾梦见过这样的场景?
Did a boy in Guangzhoua dream of this
二十五作为他的最后一站?
25as his last stop?
我晚上听到过火车的声音
I’ve heard the trains at night
在我们院子里呼啸而过,
whistling past our yards,
我们所拥有的,
what we’ve come to own,
破损的栅栏、哀嚎的狗、破旧的汽车。
the broken fences, the whiny dog, the rattletrap cars.
三十这仍是狂野的西部,
30It’s still the wild west,
卑鄙龌龊,
mean and grubby,
后巷里的枪战和拳击
the shootouts and fistfights in the back alley.
和我的儿子一起做梦
With my son the dreamer
还有我女儿,她还太小,不会走路,
and my daughter, who is too young to walk,
三十五我坐在这个地方
35I’ve sat in this spot
并想知道为什么在这里?
and wondered why here?
为什么在这短暂的一生中,
Why in this short life,
这个小镇,这条小溪他们称之为河流吗?
this town, this creek they call a river?
他从未计划留下来,
He had never planned to stay,
40帮助建造的男孩
40the boy who helped to build
铁路每天收费一美元。
the railroadsb for a dollar a day.
他一直想回去。
He had always meant to go back.
他什么时候才知道
When did he finally know
每走一英里,他就会离得更远,
that each mile of track led him further away,
四十五他会在睡梦中死去,
45that he would die in his sleep,
被剥夺,
dispossessed,
看过金山后,
having seen Gold Mountain,c
冰冷的风穿过它,
the icy wind tunneling through it,
这些内陆的临时鬼城?
these landlocked, makeshift ghost towns?
50它一定存在于血液中,
50It must be in the blood,
这种回归的想法。
this notion of returning.
它跳过了两代,休耕,
It skipped two generations, lay fallow,
花园里有一座没有标记的坟墓。
the garden an unmarked grave.
春天穿毛衣的日子
On a spring sweater day
55就好像我们记得他一样。
55it’s as if we remember him.
我呼唤孩子们。
I call to the children.
我们可以看到山脉
We can see the mountains
空中闪烁着蓝光。
shimmering blue above the air.
如果你仔细寻找
If you look really hard
60我的儿子,一个做梦的人说,
60says my son the dreamer,
从洗衣房的索具上探出身子,
leaning out from the laundry’s rigging,
工作衬衫像风帆一样飘扬,
the work shirts fluttering like sails,
你可以看见整个天堂。
you can see all the way to heaven.
[1988]
[1988]
a 24. 广州:中国东南部的一个大型海港城市(也称为广州)。
a24. Guangzhou: A large seaport city in southeastern China (also known as Canton).
b 40–41. 修建铁路:中央太平洋铁路主要使用中国移民劳工来铺设第一条横贯大陆铁路的西段轨道。
b40–41. build the railroads: The Central Pacific Railroad used mostly Chinese immigrant laborers to lay the western section of tracks for the first transcontinental railroad.
c 47. 金山:十九世纪淘金热期间中国人为加利福尼亚州和不列颠哥伦比亚省起的名字。
c47. Gold Mountain: The name the Chinese gave to California and British Columbia during the gold rush of the nineteenth century.
[生于 1957 年]
[b. 1957]
纪念在世贸中心袭击事件中丧生的 43 名在世界之窗餐厅工作的酒店员工和餐馆员工当地 100 人
for the 43 members of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 100, working at the Windows on the World restaurant, who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center
Alabanza。赞美剃光头的厨师
Alabanza. Praise the cook with a shaven head
肩膀上还有“Oye”的纹身,
and a tattoo on his shoulder that said Oye,
一个蓝眼睛的波多黎各人,和来自法哈多的人,
a blue-eyed Puerto Rican with people from Fajardo,
几个世纪前海盗的港口。
the harbor of pirates centuries ago.
5赞美法哈多的灯塔,蜡烛
5Praise the lighthouse in Fajardo, candle
闪烁着白光,崇拜着黑暗的海洋圣人。
glimmering white to worship the dark saint of the sea.
Alabanza。赞扬厨师的黄色海盗帽
Alabanza. Praise the cook’s yellow Pirates cap
以罗伯特·克莱门特的名义佩戴,他的飞机
worn in the name of Roberto Clemente, his plane
船上装载着运往尼加拉瓜的罐头,
that flamed into the ocean loaded with cans for Nicaragua,
10因为所有的嘴都在咀嚼地震的灰烬。
10for all the mouths chewing the ash of earthquakes.
Alabanza . 赞美厨房收音机,拨号点击
Alabanza. Praise the kitchen radio, dial clicked
甚至在烤箱的表盘上,这样音乐和西班牙语
even before the dial on the oven, so that music and Spanish
玫瑰先于面包。赞美面包。阿拉班扎。
rose before bread. Praise the bread. Alabanza.
从一百零七层高空赞美曼哈顿,
Praise Manhattan from a hundred and seven flights up,
15就像透过古老水族馆的窗户瞥见亚特兰蒂斯一样。
15like Atlantis glimpsed through the windows of an ancient aquarium.
赞美厨房里的移民们的大窗户
Praise the great windows where immigrants from the kitchen
眯起眼睛几乎可以看到他们的世界,听到民族的颂歌:
could squint and almost see their world, hear the chant of nations:
厄瓜多尔、墨西哥、多米尼加共和国、
Ecuador, México, Republica Dominicana,
海地、也门、加纳、孟加拉国。
Haiti, Yemen, Ghana, Bangladesh.
20Alabanza。早上赞美厨房,
20Alabanza. Praise the kitchen in the morning,
每个炉子上的煤气都是蓝色的
where the gas burned blue on every stove
排气扇启动了它们的小螺旋桨,
and exhaust fans fired their diminutive propellers,
用灵巧的拇指敲碎鸡蛋
hands cracked eggs with quick thumbs
或者切开纸箱来建造一个罐头祭坛。
or sliced open cartons to build an altar of cans.
二十五阿拉班萨。赞美男服务员的音乐,钟声
25Alabanza. Praise the busboy’s music, the chime-chime
他的盘子和银器都放在浴缸里。
of his dishes and silverware in the tub.
Alabanza . 赞美洗碗狗,洗碗机
Alabanza. Praise the dish-dog, the dishwasher
那天早上他工作,因为另一个洗碗工
who worked that morning because another dishwasher
不停咳嗽,或者因为需要加班
could not stop coughing, or because he needed overtime
三十为一家人堆放一袋袋大米和豆子
30to pile the sacks of rice and beans for a family
漂浮在某个受到青蛙困扰的加勒比岛屿上。
floating away on some Caribbean island plagued by frogs.
Alabanza。表扬厨房里听到收音机的女服务员
Alabanza. Praise the waitress who heard the radio in the kitchen
并对自己唱起有关一个男人离去的歌。阿拉班萨。
and sang to herself about a man gone. Alabanza.
比雷声还要狂暴的雷声之后,
After the thunder wilder than thunder,
三十五在大窗户的玻璃深处颤抖之后,
35after the shudder deep in the glass of the great windows,
当收音机不再像树上满是惊恐的青蛙那样歌唱时,
after the radio stopped singing like a tree full of terrified frogs,
当黑夜冲破了白天的堤坝,淹没了厨房,
after night burst the dam of day and flooded the kitchen,
有一段时间,炉子在黑暗中闪闪发光,就像法哈多的灯塔一样,
for a time the stoves glowed in darkness like the lighthouse in Fajardo,
就像厨师的灵魂。我说的是灵魂,即使死者不能告诉我们
like a cook’s soul. Soul I say, even if the dead cannot tell us
40关于上帝胡须的鬃毛,因为上帝没有脸,
40about the bristles of God’s beard because God has no face,
我说灵魂,命名星座中飘荡的烟雾生物
soul I say, to name the smoke-beings flung in constellations
穿过这座城市以及未来城市的夜空。
across the night sky of this city and cities to come.
阿拉班萨我说,即使上帝没有面孔。
Alabanza I say, even if God has no face.
阿拉班扎。战争爆发时,来自曼哈顿和喀布尔
Alabanza. When the war began, from Manhattan and Kabul
四十五两团烟雾升起,相互飘荡,
45two constellations of smoke rose and drifted to each other,
混合在冰冷的空气中,一个人用阿富汗语说道:
mingling in icy air, and one said with an Afghan tongue:
教我跳舞。我们这里没有音乐。
Teach me to dance. We have no music here.
另一个人用西班牙语说道:
And the other said with a Spanish tongue:
我会教你。音乐就是我们的一切。
I will teach you. Music is all we have.
[2003 年]
[2003]
[生于 1957 年]
[b. 1957]
我拔掉了今年最后一批嫩洋葱。
I’ve pulled the last of the year’s young onions.
花园里现在光秃秃的。地面很冷,
The garden is bare now. The ground is cold,
棕色和陈旧。白天的火焰留下的
brown and old. What is left of the day flames
在我家角落的枫树下
in the maples at the corner of my
5眼睛。我转过身,一只红雀消失了。
5eye. I turn, a cardinal vanishes.
在地窖门口,我洗洋葱,
By the cellar door, I wash the onions,
然后从冰冷的金属龙头喝水。
then drink from the icy metal spigot.
很多年前,我曾与父亲并肩而行
Once, years back, I walked beside my father
在落下来的梨子中。我不记得
among the windfall pears. I can’t recall
10我们的话。我们可能在沉默中漫步。但是
10our words. We may have strolled in silence. But
我仍然看到他那样弯腰——左手支撑
I still see him bend that way — left hand braced
膝盖上,吱吱作响——举起并抱住我的
on knee, creaky — to lift and hold to my
一只烂梨。里面有一只黄蜂
eye a rotten pear. In it, a hornet
疯狂地旋转,在缓慢闪闪发光的汁液中上釉。
spun crazily, glazed in slow, glistening juice.
15我今天早上见到的是我的父亲
15It was my father I saw this morning
树上向我挥手。我几乎
waving to me from the trees. I almost
呼唤他,直到我走得足够近
called to him, until I came close enough
看到铲子,靠在我刚才
to see the shovel, leaning where I had
离开了它,在闪烁的深绿色阴影中。
left it, in the flickering, deep green shade.
20白米饭蒸好了,快好了。甜豌豆
20White rice steaming, almost done. Sweet green peas
洋葱炒。芝麻炖虾
fried in onions. Shrimp braised in sesame
油和大蒜。还有我自己的孤独。
oil and garlic. And my own loneliness.
作为一名年轻人,我还能想要什么呢?
What more could I, a young man, want.
[1986年]
[1986]
[生于 1960 年]
[b. 1960]
一群祖母是一幅挂毯。一群幼儿是一片欢乐(另见:一片哀嚎)。一群图书管理员是一场启蒙。一群视觉艺术家是一场生物发光。一群短篇小说作家是弗兰纳里。一群音乐家是——一支乐队。
A group of grandmothers is a tapestry. A group of toddlers, a jubilance (see also: a bewailing). A group of librarians is an enlightenment. A group of visual artists is a bioluminescence. A group of short story writers is a Flannery. A group of musicians is — a band.
5诗人的辉煌。
5A resplendence of poets.
科学家的灯塔。
A beacon of scientists.
一大批社会工作者。
A raft of social workers.
10一群急救人员是一种英勇。一群和平抗议者是一种梦想。一群特殊教育教师是一种超越。一群新生儿重症监护室护士是一种神灵。一群临终关怀工作者是一种恩典。
10A group of first responders is a valiance. A group of peaceful protesters is a dream. A group of special-education teachers is a transcendence. A group of neonatal ICU nurses is a divinity. A group of hospice workers, a grace.
野外的人类,聚集在一起,感觉很好,以前是一种兴奋,现在却成了目标。
Humans in the wild, gathered and feeling good, previously an exhilaration, now: a target.
15音乐会观众的目标。
15A target of concert-goers.
电影观众的目标。
A target of movie-goers.
舞者的目标。
A target of dancers.
一群学童是目标。
A group of schoolchildren is a target.
[2018]
[2018]
[生于 1963 年]
[b. 1963]
• • •
• • •
你在黑暗中,在车里,看着黑色柏油街道被速度吞噬;他告诉你,虽然外面有那么多优秀的作家,但他的院长却让他雇佣一个有色人种。
You are in the dark, in the car, watching the black-tarred street being swallowed by speed; he tells you his dean is making him hire a person of color when there are so many great writers out there.
你认为这可能是一个实验,你正在接受考验或事后侮辱,或者你已经做了5能够传达这种感觉的东西才是可以进行的对话。
You think maybe this is an experiment and you are being tested or retroactively insulted or you have done 5something that communicates this is an okay conversation to be having.
为什么你觉得跟我说这些没问题?你希望灯变红或者警笛响起,这样你就可以猛踩刹车,撞上前面的车,被迅速向前推,你们俩的脸都会突然10暴露在风中。
Why do you feel okay saying this to me? You wish the light would turn red or a police siren would go off so you could slam on the brakes, slam into the car ahead of you, be propelled forward so quickly both your faces would suddenly 10be exposed to the wind.
像往常一样,你会直接面对当下,放弃之前说过的话。这不仅是因为对抗会让人头疼;而且你有一个目的地,不包括假装这一刻不适合居住,以前没有发生过,以前不是现在的一部分15随着夜色渐深,我们所在位置和我们要去位置之间的时间越来越短。
As usual you drive straight through the moment with the expected backing off of what was previously said. It is not only that confrontation is headache producing; it is also that you have a destination that doesn’t include acting like this moment isn’t inhabitable, hasn’t happened before, and the before isn’t part of the now 15as the night darkens and the time shortens between where we are and where we are going.
• • •
• • •
当你到达车道并关掉汽车时,你又在方向盘后面待了十分钟。你担心夜晚被锁在细胞层面上并被编码,希望时间能起到强力清洗的作用。坐在那里盯着关上的20车库门让你想起一位朋友曾经告诉你,有一个医学术语——约翰·亨利主义——指的是那些受到种族主义压力的人。他们拼命地试图逃避抹杀。提出这个术语的研究员谢尔曼·詹姆斯声称,这样做的生理成本很高。你希望通过沉默来二十五正在逆势而行。
When you arrive in your driveway and turn off the car, you remain behind the wheel another ten minutes. You fear the night is being locked in and coded on a cellular level and want time to function as a power wash. Sitting there staring at the closed 20garage door you are reminded that a friend once told you there exists a medical term — John Henryism — for people exposed to stresses stemming from racism. They achieve themselves to death trying to dodge the build up of erasure. Sherman James, the researcher who came up with the term, claimed the physiological costs were high. You hope by sitting in silence you 25are bucking the trend.
• • •
• • •
当陌生人问你为什么在乎时,你就站在那里盯着他。他刚刚把星巴克那些吵闹的青少年称为黑鬼。嘿,我就站在这里,你回答道,不一定指望他会转向你。
When the stranger asks, Why do you care? you just stand there staring at him. He has just referred to the boisterous teenagers in Starbucks as niggers. Hey, I am standing right here, you responded, not necessarily expecting him to turn to you.
他拿着带盖的纸杯三十一只手拿着一个小纸袋,另一只手拿着一个小纸袋。他们只是孩子。拜托,没必要对他们大发雷霆,你说。
He is holding the lidded paper cup in 30one hand and a small paper bag in the other. They are just being kids. Come on, no need to get all KKK on them, you say.
“现在就这样了,”他回答道。
Now there you go, he responds.
你周围的人都不再看屏幕了。青少年们也暂停了。你问,我怎么了?三十五恼怒的感觉开始涌上心头。是的,听到自己用通常只对伴侣说的语气重复陌生人的指控,你会不禁微笑起来。
The people around you have turned away from their screens. The teenagers are on pause. There I go? you ask, 35feeling irritation begin to rain down. Yes, and something about hearing yourself repeating this stranger’s accusation in a voice usually reserved for your partner makes you smile.
• • •
• • •
一名男子在地铁里撞倒了她的儿子。你感觉自己的身体在抽搐。他没事,但那个混蛋继续往前走。她说她抓住了陌生人的胳膊,让他道歉:40我告诉他看着那个男孩并道歉。是的,你希望这一切停止,你希望那个被推倒在地的黑人孩子被人看见,被人扶起来并被人拂袖而去,而不是被一个没见过他、从未见过他、或许从未见过任何与他本人不符的人拂袖而去。
A man knocked over her son in the subway. You feel your own body wince. He’s okay, but the son of a bitch kept walking. She says she grabbed the stranger’s arm and told him to apologize: 40I told him to look at the boy and apologize. And yes, you want it to stop, you want the black child pushed to the ground to be seen, to be helped to his feet and be brushed off, not brushed off by the person that did not see him, has never seen him, has perhaps never seen anyone who is not a reflection of himself.
美妙的事情是,一群男人开始四十五她说,他们就像一队保镖一样站在我身后,就像新认识的叔叔和兄弟一样。
The beautiful thing is that a group of men began to 45stand behind me like a fleet of bodyguards, she says, like newly found uncles and brothers.
• • •
• • •
这位新治疗师专攻创伤咨询。你们只通过电话交谈过。她的房子有一扇侧门,通向她为病人使用的后门。你沿着一条两边长满鹿草和迷迭香的小路走到大门,那里50结果被锁上了。
The new therapist specializes in trauma counseling. You have only ever spoken on the phone. Her house has a side gate that leads to a back entrance she uses for patients. You walk down a path bordered on both sides with deer grass and rosemary to the gate, which 50turns out to be locked.
前门的门铃是一个圆形小圆盘,用力按一下即可。当门终于打开时,站在那里的女人大声喊道:“离开我的房子。你在我的院子里干什么?”
At the front door the bell is a small round disc that you press firmly. When the door finally opens, the woman standing there yells, at the top of her lungs, Get away from my house. What are you doing in my yard?
这就像一只受伤的杜宾犬或德国牧羊犬获得了说话的能力。尽管你55后退几步,你设法告诉她你有预约。你有预约?她反驳道。然后她停了下来。一切都停了下来。哦,她说,接着是,哦,是的,没错。对不起。
It’s as if a wounded Doberman pinscher or a German shepherd has gained the power of speech. And though you 55back up a few steps, you manage to tell her you have an appointment. You have an appointment? she spits back. Then she pauses. Everything pauses. Oh, she says, followed by, oh, yes, that’s right. I am sorry.
我非常抱歉,非常非常抱歉。
I am so sorry, so, so sorry.
• • •
• • •
[2014]
[2014]
摘自克劳迪娅·兰金 (Claudia Rankine) 的《公民》 (2014)。
aFrom Citizen (2014) by Claudia Rankine.
[生于 1963 年]
[b. 1963]
我三十三岁,在一家高档服装店工作,
I am thirty-three and working in an expensive clothier,
向我称作“先生”的男士出售西装。
selling suits to men I call “Sir.”
这些男人肌肉发达、衣着讲究、头发稀疏——
These men are muscled, groomed and cropped —
妻子和家庭不断壮大。
with wives and families that grow exponentially.
5我主要谈论的是领带和领结,
5Mostly I talk of rep ties and bow ties,
全温莎结和半温莎结,
of full-Windsor knots and half-Windsor knots,
塔特萨尔呢、法式袖口和英式宽领,
of tattersall, French cuff, and English spread collars,
披肩、尼特斯和国际人,
of foulards, neats, and internationals,
由细绳、千鸟格、钉头和鲨鱼皮制成。
of pincord, houndstooth, nailhead, and sharkskin.
10我经常穿蓝色细条纹西装。
10I often wear a blue pin-striped suit.
我的头发逐渐稀疏,太阳穴处开始变白。
My hair recedes and is going gray at the temples.
我的脸颊上长了几颗粉刺。
On my cheeks there are a few pimples.
由于我的视力很差,所以我戴了一副角质框眼镜。
For my terrible eyesight, horn-rimmed spectacles.
我的一个同事是个老同性恋
One of my fellow-workers is an old homosexual
15努力工作并佩戴珠宝手镯的人。
15who works hard and wears bracelets with jewels.
没有人能与他的佣金支票相媲美。
No one can rival his commission checks.
休息时,他抽着 Benson & Hedges 香烟,
On his break he smokes a Benson & Hedges cigarette,
像一位好莱坞明星一样满怀期待地喘着粗气。
puffing expectantly as a Hollywood starlet.
他仔细地涂了一层倩碧古铜色粉
He has carefully applied a layer of Clinique bronzer
20以增强他脸部和颈部的棕褐色。
20to enhance the tan on his face and neck.
他的头发已经掉光,只剩下几根
His hair is gone except for a few strands
梳理在他的头皮上。
which are combed across his scalp.
他检查了自己修剪整齐的涂了漆的指甲。
He examines his manicured lacquered nails.
我很欣赏他对细节的关注:
I admire his studied attention to details:
二十五他的领带用胶带粘在衬衫上,
25his tie stuck to his shirt with masking tape,
他的牙齿已经戴好假牙,嘴里还含着薄荷糖。
his teeth capped, his breath mint in place.
我和老同性恋在后面笑
The old homosexual and I laugh in the back
一个与章鱼有关的粗俗笑话。
over a coarse joke involving an octopus.
我们的玩笑断断续续,精心安排,亲密无间
Our banter is staccato, staged and close
三十就像格拉纳多斯的《西班牙舞曲》。
30like those “Spanish Dances” by Granados.a
我有时感觉我们正在演一场音乐剧——
I sometimes feel we are in a musical —
我们在后台闲聊。
gossiping backstage between our numbers.
他深深地吸了一口烟。
He drags deeply on his cigarette.
他的一生大部分已经结束了。
Most of his life is over.
三十五他常常称自己为“老基佬”。
35Often he refers to himself as “an old faggot.’’
他困惑而又胆怯地这样做。
He does this bemusedly, yet timidly.
我知道他为什么这么做。
I know why he does this.
他这样做是因为他终于完全接受了——
He does this because his acceptance is finally complete —
并且完全接受总是
and complete acceptance is always
40苦乐参半。我们的工作时间很长。我们的背都弯了。
40bittersweet. Our hours are long. Our backs bent.
我们比英国皇室还要仁慈。
We are more gracious than English royalty.
我们在高如树篱的过道间飞奔。
We dart amongst the aisles tall as hedgerows.
看着我们面对商品。
Watch us face into the merchandise.
如何设置和拆卸人体模型
How we set up and take apart mannequins
四十五就像我们在进行尸体解剖一样。
45as if we were performing autopsies.
赤裸的身体,没有虚伪,是毫无用处的。
A naked body, without pretense, is of no use.
天色已晚。
It grows late.
我听见前面的金属门关闭了。
I hear the front metal gate close down.
我们开始按照颜色正确地折叠领带。
We begin folding the ties correctly according to color.
50衬衫——牛津布、宽幅呢子衬衫、细呢衬衫——
50The shirts — Oxfords, broadcloths, pinpoints —
必须调整大小、堆叠或重新排列。
must be sized, stacked, or rehashed.
老同性恋者脱下右鞋,
The old homosexual removes his right shoe,
让他巨大的拇趾外翻肿起来。
allowing his gigantic bunion to swell.
传来清点现金的声音——
There is the sound of cash being counted —
55硬币叮当作响,钞票沙沙作响,数字低声说着——
55coins clinking, bills swishing, numbers whispered —
一、二、三、四、五、六、七……
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven …
当交易完成时,我们就改变了——
We are changed when the transactions are done —
更古老,更脏,更矮小。
older, dirtier, dwarfed.
一些迟到的顾客呆呆地看着我们。
A few late customers gawk in at us.
60我们什么也不说。我们的沉默不会被打破。
60We say nothing. Our silence will not be breached.
灯一盏一盏地熄灭——
The lights go off, one by one —
更衣室的灯、镜子的灯。
the dressing room lights, the mirror lights.
那么已经很晚了。多晚?十一点?
Then it is very late. How late? Eleven?
我们走向大门。大门向上。
We move to the gate. It goes up.
65栅栏门的格子花纹刺痛了我们的脸颊。
65The gate’s grating checkers our cheeks.
这就是美国购物中心。b
This is the Mall of America.b
灯光明亮而又人造,
The light is bright and artificial,
但与哥特式大教堂的并无不同。
yet not dissimilar to that found in a Gothic cathedral.
你必须穿过长长的走廊才能到达出口
You must travel down the long hallways to the exits
70在接触自然光之前。
70before you encounter natural light.
最后一步:经理检查我们的行李。
One final formality: the manager checks our bags.
老同性恋把手伸进单肩皮包里——
The old homosexual reaches into his over-the-shoulder leather bag —
他在欧洲旅行时买的
the one he bought on his European travels
和他多年的同伴。
with his companion of many years.
75他找到一支润唇膏,涂在嘴唇上
75He finds a stick of lip balm and applies it to his lips
自由地,就像在对他们进行炮击一样。
liberally, as if shellacking them.
然后他放入最后一颗薄荷糖
Then he inserts one last breath mint
并递给我一杯。这是兄弟般的姿态
and offers one to me. The gesture is fraternal
并且我们之间发生过很多次。
and occurs between us many times.
80最后,我们互相道了晚安。
80At last, we bid each other good night.
我看着他消失在多层停车场里,
I watch him fade into the many-tiered parking lot,
成千上万的汽车来了
where the thousands of cars have come
现在已经走了。我们的一天就这样结束了。
and are now gone. This is how our day ends.
我们的一天总是这样结束的。
This is how our day always ends.
85有时雪花像米粒般落下。
85Sometimes snow falls like rice.
看着我们走向灯光昏暗的出口,
See us take to our dimly lit exits,
消失在明尼阿波利斯和圣保罗这两个城市;
disappearing into the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul;
明尼阿波利斯时尚,圣保罗,
Minneapolis is sleek and St. Paul,
以必须展示的人的名字命名,
named after the man who had to be shown,
90规模较小,年纪较大,而且有些孤僻。
90is smaller, older, and somewhat withdrawn.
在我们身后,月亮停留在购物中心巨大的蛋形穹顶上。
Behind us, the moon pauses over the vast egg-like dome of the mall.
看看我们和你们之间放松下的联系。
See us loosening our ties among you.
我们孤身一人。
We are alone.
我们不再需要表达自己。
There is no longer any need to express ourselves.
[2004年]
[2004]
a 30. 格拉纳多斯的“西班牙舞曲”:西班牙作曲家恩里克·格拉纳多斯 (1867-1916) 创作的关于西班牙生活的歌曲系列。
a30. “Spanish Dances” by Granados: A song cycle about life in Spain by Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867–1916).
b 66. 美国购物中心:世界上最大的购物中心之一,位于明尼苏达州布卢明顿。
b66. Mall of America: One of the largest malls in the world, located in Bloomington, Minnesota.
[生于 1965 年]
[b. 1965]
从(→)prep.1 .从(特定地点或
from (→) prep. 1. Starting at (a particular place or
时间):例如,约翰来自芝加哥,但他
time): As in, John was from Chicago, but he played
吉他直接来自Delta;他穿着蓝色西装
guitar straight from the Delta; he wore a blue suit
来自罗伯特霍尔;他的头发闻起来有椰子的味道;
from Robert Hall’s; his hair smelled like coconut;
5他的呼吸,像薄荷和波旁威士忌;他的手感觉到
5his breath, like mint and bourbon; his hands felt
就像他触摸时奴隶时代的
like they were from slave times when he touched
我——饥饿、鬼鬼祟祟、颤抖。2 .出自:他
me — hungry, stealthy, trembling. 2. Out of: He
从口袋里掏出一沓钞票,付了
pulled a knot of bills from his pocket, paid the
男人,我们上楼。3 .不在附近或里面
man and we went upstairs. 3. Not near to or in
10接触:他吸了大麻,但是,
10contact with: He smoked the weed, but,
令人惊讶的是,他隐瞒了我。他说这会
surprisingly, he kept it from me. He ~aid it would
让我太害羞,他想要那些
make me too self-conscious, and he wanted those
感觉离我们越远越好;他说
feelings as far away from us as possible; he said a
我美丽的部分原因是我没有意识到
good part of my beauty was that I wasn’t conscious
15我的美貌。这不是很有趣吗?所以我们喝了血腥
15of my beauty. Isn’t that funny? So we drank Bloody
Mothers(轩尼诗和番茄汁),
Mothers (Hennessey and tomato juice), which was
很难阻止他——他总是喜欢
hard to keep from him — he always did like to
喝。4.失去控制或权威:我
drink. 4. Out of the control or authority of: I was
我从妈妈的家里解脱出来,从梦中解脱出来
released from my mama’s house, from dreams of
20双手按住我,避免双手的威胁
20hands holding me down, from the threat of hands
没有把我拉起来,来自那个认识我的人,
not pulling me up, from the man that knew me,
但我并不认识他;
but of whom I did not know; released from the
黄昏的昏暗,从明亮的
dimming of twilight, from the brightness of
早晨;从我以为的爱情应该是什么样子
morning; from the love I thought had to look like
二十五爱情;我以为爱情的味道应该像爱情,
25love; from the love I thought had to taste like love,
从我以为我必须去爱的爱情到像爱一样的爱情。5 .
from the love I thought I had to love like love. 5.
总的来说:我来自一个充满
Out of the totality of: I came from a family full of
女人;我来自一个充满信徒的家庭;我
women; I came from a family full of believers; I
来自一群女巫——我只是在等待
came from a pack of witches — I’m just waiting to
三十召唤我的力量;我来自一个情人的传承
30conjure my powers; I came from a legacy of lovers
——我只是在等待诱惑我的诱惑者;我来了
— I’m just waiting to seduce my seducer; I came
摆脱了骄傲的女人的骄傲,我们
from a pride of proud women, and we take good
照顾我们的年轻人。6 .作为其他或另一个
care of our young. 6. As being other or another
他无法告诉我他母亲的情况;他
than: He couldn’t tell me from his mother; he
三十五不能告诉我他和他姐姐的关系;他也不能告诉我
35couldn’t tell me from his sister; he couldn’t tell me
在我之前他最后一个女人的情况,以及为什么
from the last woman he had before me, and why
他应该吗——我们都是同一个女人。7 .
should he — we’re all the same woman. 7. With
(某个人、某个地方或某样事物)作为工具,
(some person, place, or thing) as the instrument,
制作者或来源:这是我妈妈的一张便条,
maker, or source: Here’s a note from my mother,
40你可以把它当作我的建议:一个弱者
40and you can take it as advice from me: A weak
爱人比强大的敌人更危险;如果
lover is more dangerous than a strong enemy; if
你会爱上一个人,确保你知道
you’re going to love someone, make sure you know
他们来自哪里。8 .因为:
where they’re coming from. 8. Because of:
成为一个酒鬼,学会远离,
Becoming an alcoholic, learning to walk away,
四十五成为一名优秀的拼写者、在床上表现出色、
45being a good speller, being good in bed, falling in
爱——它们都来自实践。9 .外面或
love — they all come from practice. 9. Outside or
不可能:在房间里,他把我关起来
beyond the possibility of: In the room, he kept me
通过让我保持好奇心,他阻止我离开;他让我
from leaving by keeping me curious; he kept me
把我的呼吸憋在他嘴里以免溺水;
from drowning by holding my breath in his mouth;
50是的,他让我第二天再离开
50yes, he kept me from leaving till the next day when
他说离开。然后,他无法阻止我
he said Leave. Then, he couldn’t keep me from
回来。
coming back.
[2004年]
[2004]
[生于 1965 年]
[b. 1965]
他说教师的问题是
He says the problem with teachers is
孩子要学什么
What’s a kid going to learn
来自一个做出了人生最佳选择的人
from someone who decided his best option in life
是成为一名教师?
was to become a teacher?
5他提醒其他晚宴客人,这是真的
5He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true
他们对教师的评价:
what they say about teachers:
能者,则做;不能者,则教。
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
我决定咬我的舌头而不是他的舌头
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
抵制提醒晚宴客人的诱惑
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
10他们对律师的评价也是正确的。
10that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.
因为我们毕竟在吃饭,而且这是礼貌的谈话。
Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.
我的意思是,你是一名老师,泰勒。
I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor.
说实话。你做什么的?
Be honest. What do you make?
我希望他没有这么做——让我说实话——
And I wish he hadn’t done that — asked me to be honest —
15因为,你知道,我有这个关于诚实和踢屁股的政策:
15because, you see, I have this policy about honesty and ass-kicking:
如果你要求的话,我就必须给你。
if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.
你想知道我做什么吗?
You want to know what I make?
我让孩子们付出比他们想象中更多的努力。
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
我可以让 C+ 感觉像国会荣誉勋章
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor
20而 A- 则感觉像是被打了一巴掌。
20and an A– feel like a slap in the face.
你怎么敢浪费我的时间
How dare you waste my time
采取任何不如意的行动。
with anything less than your very best.
我让孩子们坐在教室里上 40 分钟的自习课
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
绝对安静。不可以集体工作。
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
二十五不,你不能提问。
25No, you may not ask a question.
我为什么不让你去厕所?
Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom?
因为你很无聊。
Because you’re bored.
你其实也不必去洗手间,对吧?
And you don’t really have to go to the bathroom, do you?
我打电话回家,让父母心惊胆战:
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
三十你好。我是马里先生。希望我打电话的时间不巧,
30Hi. This is Mr. Mali. I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
我只是想和你谈谈你儿子今天说的一些话。
I just wanted to talk to you about something your son said today.
他对年级里最欺负人的学生说:
To the biggest bully in the grade, he said,
“别管那孩子了。我有时还是会哭,你呢?
“Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?
没什么大不了的。”
It’s no big deal.”
三十五这是我所见过的最崇高的勇敢行为。
35And that was noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
我让父母看清孩子的真面目
I make parents see their children for who they are
以及它们可以是什么。
and what they can be.
你想知道我做了什么吗?我让孩子们好奇,
You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder,
我让他们质疑。
I make them question.
40我让他们批评。
40I make them criticize.
我让他们道歉,而且是真心的。
I make them apologize and mean it.
我让他们写。
I make them write.
我让他们读、读、读。
I make them read, read, read.
我让它们拼出绝对美丽、绝对美丽、绝对美丽
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
四十五一遍又一遍,直到他们不再拼写错误
45over and over and over again until they will never misspell
再次输入其中一个词。
either one of those words again.
我让他们展示他们所有的数学作业
I make them show all their work in math
并将其隐藏在英文的最终草稿中。
and hide it on their final drafts in English.
我让他们明白如果你有这个,
I make them understand that if you’ve got this,
50然后你按照这个,
50then you follow this,
如果有人试图评判你
and if someone ever tries to judge you
通过你所做的事情,你给予他们这个。
by what you make, you give them this.
在这里,让我为您分解一下,以便您知道我说的是真的:
Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
老师的作用至关重要!那你呢?
Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now what about you?
[2002]
[2002]
[生于 1965 年]
[b. 1965]
Ishkwaa biboon bii'omigag Ishkwaa biboon bii’omigag gaawiin geyabi aabita- gaawiin geyabi aabita- 尼布瓦卡阿马什卡瓦吉西伊瓦德 nibwaakaamashkawajisiiwaad biibaagiyaang ani biibaagiyang。 biibaagiyaang ani biibaagiyang. |
经过冬天的等待 After the winter waiting 不再是半 no longer half- 设计冻结 frozen by design 我们的呼唤成为所有人的呼唤。 our calling becomes all calling. |
纳阿米·扎西吉·瓦纳格克 Naami-zaasiji-wanagek 愛上你們 agoozimakakiig gii ningizyang 米伊·扎吉杜德扬·马什基贡 mii zaagidoodeyang mashkiigong 亲爱的,亲爱的。 biibaagiyaan ani biibaagiyan. |
在波纹状的树皮下 Under the rippling bark 窥视者已经解冻 peepers have thawed 爬进沼泽 to crawl into the swamp where 我的呼唤将成为你的呼唤。 my calling becomes your calling. |
迪比什库·迪迪巴什卡 Dibishkoo didibaashkaa 扎布维比萨·祖吉波格 zhaabwibiisaa zoogipog 齐格旺齐比斯卡杰米达什 ziigwang ziibiskaaj miidash 亲爱的,亲爱的。 biibaagiyan ani biibaagiyaan. |
地震震荡 a seismic seichea 突触暴风雪 a synaptic snowstorm 春天的重复和 of springtime repetition and 你的呼唤就是我的呼唤。 your calling becomes my calling. |
Epichii maadaa'ogoyang basweweyang Epichii maadaa’ogoyang basweweyang 亲爱的 beshoganawaabmigag aawiyang 瓦萨加纳瓦阿布米加格阿维扬 waasaganawaabmigag aawiyang biibaagiyang ani biibaagidiyaang。 biibaagiyang ani biibaagidiyaang. |
当我们在回声中渐行渐远 As we drift away on our echoes 我们就是细节 we are the details 我们是距离, we are the distance and 所有的呼唤都会成为我们的呼唤。 all calling becomes our calling. |
[2018]
[2018]
a 9. 湖震:水面的一种振动,类似潮汐。
a9. seiche: An oscillation on the surface of the water, resembling a tide.
[生于 1966 年]
[b. 1966]
照片里我四岁,站着
I am four in this photograph, standing
在密西西比海滩的一片宽阔地带,
on a wide strip of Mississippi beach,
我的手放在花臀上
my hands on the flowered hips
穿着鲜艳的比基尼。我的脚趾深陷进去,
of a bright bikini. My toes dig in,
5缠绕在湿沙上。太阳切开
5curl around wet sand. The sun cuts
海湾波光粼粼,
the rippling Gulf in flashes with each
潮水般涌来。小鱼在我脚边游来游去
tidal rush. Minnows dart at my feet
像弹簧刀一样闪闪发光。我孤身一人
glinting like switchblades. I am alone
除了我奶奶,另一边
except for my grandmother, other side
10告诉我如何摆姿势。
10of the camera, telling me how to pose.
这是 1970 年,开业两年后
It is 1970, two years after they opened
这片海滩的其余部分归我们所有,
the rest of this beach to us,
照片拍摄四十周年
forty years since the photograph
她站在一片狭小的土地上
where she stood on a narrow plot
15沙子的颜色,微笑,
15of sand marked colored, smiling,
她的手放在花臀上
her hands on the flowered hips
棉布饭袋连衣裙。
of a cotton meal-sack dress.
[2000]
[2000]
[生于 1966 年]
[b. 1966]
从白宫前门开始向西行驶
Beginning at the front door of the White House, travel west
500年来,穿过小镇和房屋火灾,忽略
for 500 years, pass through small towns and house fires, ignore
搭便车的人和被困的司机,直到你发现自己
hitchhikers and stranded motorists, until you find yourself
回到这段旅程、这段历史和这个国家的起点
back at the beginning of this journey, this history and country
5像莫比乌斯带一样折叠起来。克里斯托弗·哥伦布
5folded over itself like a Mobius strip. Christopher Columbus
你去哪儿了?迷失在拉勒米和旧金山之间
where have you been? Lost between Laramie and San Francisco
或者在保留地的 HUD 房屋里建造一个更好的捕鼠器?
or in the reservation HUD house, building a better mousetrap?
西摩看到你在部落学校后面投篮
Seymour saw you shooting free throws behind the Tribal School
在雷雨中。你不知道闪电击中地球吗
in a thunderstorm. Didn’t you know lightning strikes the earth
10每秒 800 次?但是,哥伦布,你怎么能想象
10800 times a second? But, Columbus, how could you ever imagine
我们的生活有多频繁地发生变化?电是闪电假装
how often our lives change? Electricity is lightning pretending
成为永恒,当印度小孩把回形针推
to be permanent and when the Indian child pushes the paper clip
插入电源插座,这是应用科学,疯狂的经济学
into the electrical outlet, it’s applied science, insane economics
供给与需求,20 世纪循环的完成。
of supply and demand, the completion of a 20th century circuit.
15克里斯托弗·哥伦布,你是最成功的房地产经纪人
15Christopher Columbus, you are the most successful real estate agent
曾经生活过的人,卖掉了一英亩又一英亩的神话,一栋建在高跷上的房子
who ever lived, sold acres and acres of myth, a house built on stilts
河流上方的鲑鱼依靠基因记忆迁徙。在负担之下
above the river salmon travel by genetic memory. Beneath the burden
15000 年来,我的部落庆祝了这个国家 200 岁生日
of 15,000 years my tribe celebrated this country’s 200th birthday
拒绝说英语,我们将纪念 500 周年
by refusing to speak English and we’ll honor the 500th anniversary
20哥伦布,你蒙着眼睛开车穿越全国
20of your invasion, Columbus, by driving blindfolded cross-country
命名第一棵树我们摧毁美国。我们将制造第一道护栏
naming the first tree we destroy America. We’ll make the first guardrail
我们打破了我们的国家象征。我们的国旗将是一张白纸
we crash through our national symbol. Our flag will be a white sheet
沾满鲜血和尿液。哥伦布,你能听到我的声音吗
stained with blood and piss. Columbus, can you hear me over white
电视机噪音大吗?你能听到鼓声的幽灵靠近吗?
noise of your television set? Can you hear ghosts of drums approaching?
[1993年]
[1993]
[b. 1967]
[b. 1967]
(塔拉迪加学院,约 1885 年)
(Talladega College, circa 1885)
你可能也听过类似这样的故事
You might have heard a story like this one well
但我现在就告诉你这个。
but I’m telling this one to you now.
士兵来的时候我才五岁。
I was five when the soldiers came.
师父又让我工作了二十年。
Master worked me twenty years longer.
5我怎么会知道?有一天他离开了我
5How could I know? One day he left me alone
一锅无人看管的水开始沸腾。到那时
and an unwatched pot started to boil. By the time
他回家后,我把他清理干净,然后唱歌,
he came back home I was cleaned of him and singing,
有个男人正在四处走动记录姓名。
There’s a man going round taking names.
准备就绪,我走了。我能看见
Ready, set, and I was gone, walking. Could I see
10在他的院子外面?我有没有想过要读或写
10beyond his yard? Did I have a thought to read or write
还是超越上帝的创造?赤脚
or count past God’s creation? A barefooted
女孩!——你要记住,你这个女人会接受
girl! — and you remember, you woman who will take
你的笔来书写我的生活。事实是这样的:
your pen to write my life. This is what the truth was like:
师父的云彩跟随我来到这所学校的台阶上。
Master’s clouds followed me to the steps of this school.
15亲爱的读者,当你在我去世多年后想到这些的时候
15Dear reader, when you think on this years after I have died
而我却是尘土,想想一个伟大而可怕的早晨
and I am dust, think on a great and awful morning
当我学会自由的时候。想想我身上的皮肤
when I learned my freedom. Think that the skin on my
当我敢于踏入这个世界时,我感到害怕,
back was scared when I dared step out into the world,
当我的主人站在那里颤抖着哭泣时
when my Master stood trembling and weeping
20在他家前廊上,他毫无知觉地咒骂我。
20on his front porch and he cursed me beyond knowing.
[2003 年]
[2003]
[生于 1967 年]
[b. 1967]
强调“h”,你这个无知的家伙,
Emphasize the “h,” you hignorant ass,
是我母亲被告知的
was what my mother was told
当具有殖民主义思想的教师
when colonial-minded teachers
用尺子拍打她的手掌
slapped her open palm with a ruler
5在那个牙买加教室里。
5in that Jamaican schoolroom.
他们在英国接受训练,尝试
Trained in England, they tried
强迫学生说话
to force their pupils to speak
就像伊莉莎·杜利特尔之后
like Eliza Doolittle after
她的转变,自以为
her transformation, fancying themselves
10British as Henry Higgins,a
尽管皮肤黝黑,被太阳晒熟了。
despite dark, sun-ripened skin.
妈妈从未失去她的口音,
Mother never lost her accent,
不过,她声音的音乐
though, the music of her voice
迷人的每个人,富有感染力的韵律
charming everyone, an infectious lilt
15我可以模仿,但不能复制。
15I can imitate, not duplicate.
美国没有人告诉她
No one in the States told her
为了消除口音,
to eliminate the accent,
我的高中朋友崇拜
my high school friends adoring
她的声音会升高
the way her voice would lift
20当她叫我接电话时,
20when she called me to the phone,
艾-莉-森,我是朋友凯茜 (Cathy)。
A-ll-i-son, it’s friend Cathy.
你为什么听起来不像她?,
Why don’t you sound like her?,
他们会问。我听起来不像
they’d ask. I didn’t sound
就像任何人或任何事一样,
like anyone or anything,
二十五没有刺耳的纽约口音,
25no grating New Yorker nasality,
没有挑剔的英国举止
no fastidious British mannerisms
就像我父亲影响的那些
like the ones my father affected
当他想卖掉某人时
when he wanted to sell someone
什么。我听起来
something. And I didn’t sound
三十就像美国黑人一样,
30like a Black American,
大学同学观察到,
college acquaintances observed,
他们当然知道黑人
sure they knew what a black person
听起来应该像。
was supposed to sound like.
我是不是应该听起来很懒惰,
Was I supposed to sound lazy,
三十五这儿丢掉音节,那儿丢掉音节,
35dropping syllables here, there,
没有结束语,但是
not finishing words but
含糊不清地读出最后一个字母,以便
slurring the final letter so that
每句话都与下一句相连,
each sentence joined the next,
从听众身边溜走?
sliding past the listener?
40某些词语是否禁忌,
40Were certain words off limits,
太博学,太学术
too erudite, too scholarly
适合皮肤自然晒黑的人吗?
for someone with a natural tan?
我问他们是什么意思,
I asked what they meant,
他们结结巴巴,脸红了,
and they stuttered, blushed,
四十五你知道,黑人英语,
45said you know, Black English,
学以致用
applying what they’d learned
来自那个学期的课本。
from that semester’s text.
你家里的每个人都
Does everyone in your family
说话一样吗?我会问,
speak alike?, I’d question,
50他们会说不要把这个
50and they’d say don’t take this the
错误的方式,与个人无关。
wrong way, nothing personal.
现在我意识到什么也没有
Now I realize there’s nothing
比言语更个人化,
more personal than speech,
我不需要捍卫
that I don’t have to defend
55我如何说话,任何人如何,
55how I speak, how any person,
黑色、白色,都选择说话。
black, white, chooses to speak.
让我们说话。让我们说话
Let us speak. Let us talk
随着母亲的声音
with the sounds of our mothers
父亲们依然在回响
and fathers still reverberating
60在我们的心中,无论我们的母亲在哪里
60in our minds, wherever our mothers
或父亲来自:
or fathers come from:
阿肯色州、伯利兹、阿拉巴马州、
Arkansas, Belize, Alabama,
巴西、阿鲁巴、亚利桑那州。
Brazil, Aruba, Arizona.
让我们简单说一下
Let us simply speak
65彼此,
65to one another,
聆听并珍视语调,
listen and prize the inflections,
差异,从不假设
differences, never assuming
任何人听起来
how any person will sound
直到她张开嘴,
until her mouth opens,
70直到他张开嘴,
70until his mouth opens,
问候熟悉
greetings familiar
使用任何语言。
in any language.
[1995年]
[1995]
8–10。伊莉莎·杜利特尔……亨利·希金斯:萧伯纳的戏剧《卖花女》和根据该剧改编的音乐剧《窈窕淑女》中操着浓重伦敦腔(工人阶级)的卖花女。亨利·希金斯是一名语言学教授,他接受了挑战,教她如何像一位真正的英国淑女一样说话(以及行为和着装)。
a8–10. Eliza Doolittle … Henry Higgins: Flower-girl with a strong Cockney (working-class) accent in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion and the musical based on it, My Fair Lady. Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor, takes on the challenge of teaching her how to speak (and act and dress) like a proper British lady.
[生于 1967 年]
[b. 1967]
香醋,为镇江醋。
Balsamic, for Zhenjiang vinegar.
书信,为家人的团聚。
Letters, for the family gathered.
一台 Cuisinart,适合多人使用。
A Cuisinart, for many hands.
小偷小摸,为交战团伙效力。
Petty burglars, for warring bands.
5婴儿房,适合狭小的空间。
5A baby’s room, for tight quarters.
过往车辆,为了邻居。
Passing cars, for neighbors.
割草机嗡嗡作响,用作自行车铃。
Lawn-mower buzzing, for bicycle bells.
鳕鱼片,从头到尾都是鲤鱼。
Cod fillets, for carp head-to-tail.
无意中听到这些语言的孩子,
Children who overhear the language,
10对于讲这种语言的儿童来说
10for children who speak the language.
弗吉尼亚火腿、金华火腿、
Virginia ham, for Jinhua ham,
而对于面条店老板来说,
and nothing, for the noodle man,
他一边举着竿子一边喊
calling as he bears his pole
沿着小巷和街道,篮子里装满了
down alley and street, its baskets full
15腌芥末、葱、香料,
15of pickled mustard, scallions, spice,
碎猪肉,还有他点燃的炉子
minced pork, and a stove he lights
顾客所在的地方,
where the customer happens to be,
辣、酸、咸、甜的平衡,
the balance of hot, sour, salty, sweet,
几十年后你仍然渴望,
which decades later you still crave,
20他会将这一法则带进坟墓。
20a formula he’ll take to the grave.
[2017]
[2017]
[生于 1967 年]
[b. 1967]
屈服于武力是必要的行为,而非意愿的行为;它充其量是一种审慎的行为。
— 让·雅克·卢梭
To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will; it is at best an act of prudence.
— jean-jacques rousseau
如果你在周四下午听到枪声,
If you hear gunfire on a Thursday afternoon,
它可能是为了一场婚礼,也可能是为了你自己。
it could be for a wedding, or it could be for you.
永远用右脚进入家门;
Always enter a home with your right foot;
左边是墓地和不洁净的地方。
the left is for cemeteries and unclean places.
5噢天呐!Tera armeek很少有用。
5O-guf! Tera armeek is rarely useful.
意思是“停!不然我就开枪了。”
It means Stop! Or I’ll shoot.
Sabah el khair是有效的。
Sabah el khair is effective.
意思是“早上好”。
It means Good Morning.
Inshallah 的意思是“真主愿意”。
Inshallah means Allah be willing.
10别人说话时,要认真倾听。
10Listen well when it is spoken.
您将听到 RPG 向您袭来的声音。
You will hear the RPG coming for you.
但路边炸弹则并非如此。
Not so the roadside bomb.
立交桥下有炸弹,
There are bombs under the overpasses,
在垃圾堆里、在砖块里、在汽车里。
in trashpiles, in bricks, in cars.
15购物车里的衣服都湿透了
15There are shopping carts with clothes soaked
在 foogas 中,有一种自制凝固汽油弹的粘性凝胶。
in foogas, a sticky gel of homemade napalm.
降落伞炸弹和炮弹
Parachute bombs and artillery shells
缝进死去的农场动物的尸体里。
sewn into the carcasses of dead farm animals.
喷在天桥上的涂鸦:
A graffiti sprayed onto the overpasses:
20我会杀死你,美国人。
20I will kell you, American.
身穿装有炸药的背心的男子
Men wearing vests rigged with explosives
走上前去,举起手臂,说道“Inshallah”。
walk up, raise their arms and say Inshallah.
有些男人挣八十美元
There are men who earn eighty dollars
来攻打你,五千人就杀你。
to attack you, five thousand to kill.
二十五和你一起玩耍的小孩,
25Small children who will play with you,
老人们在聊天,妇女们端来茶——
old men with their talk, women who offer chai —
以及其中任何一个
and any one of them
明天可能会在你的身上跳舞。
may dance over your body tomorrow.
[2005]
[2005]
[生于 1969 年]
[b. 1969]
士兵们
The soldiers
努力工作
are hard at work
建房子。
building a house.
他们锤击
They hammer
5尸体入土
5bodies into the earth
比如指甲,
like nails,
他们粉刷墙壁
they paint the walls
带着血。
with blood.
门内
Inside the doors
10保持关闭,锁定
10stay shut, locked
如同石头的眼睛。
as eyes of stone.
楼梯内
Inside the stairs
感觉滑溜,
feel slippery,
所有航班坠毁。
all flights go down.
15没有地板:
15There is no floor:
只有一个屋顶,
only a roof,
火山灰落下的地方——
where ash is falling —
黑雪,
dark snow,
人雪,
human snow,
20厚厚地,默默地
20thickly, mutely
掉落。
falling.
来吧,他们说。
Come, they say.
这所房子将
This house will
永远持续下去。
last forever.
二十五你必须占领它。
25You must occupy it.
还有你,还有你——
And you, and you —
还有你,还有你——
And you, and you —
来吧,他们说。
Come, they say.
有空间
There is room
三十适合所有人。
30for everyone.
[2003 年]
[2003]
[生于 1971 年]
[b. 1971]
就像黑鬼一样,我的白人朋友 M 说
like a nigger now, my white friend, M, said
在我模仿马丁·路德·金和罗纳德·里根之后,
after my M.L.K. and Ronald Reagan impersonations,
我们俩单独在更衣室里,赤裸上身,
the two of us alone and shirtless in the locker room,
如果你认为我的指关节敲击
and if you’re thinking my knuckles knocked
5几次在他的下巴或我的手指打结
5a few times against his jaw or my fingers knotted
在他的喉咙,你错了,因为我假装
at his throat, you’re wrong because I pretended
我没听见他说什么,当他没有再问的时候,
I didn’t hear him, and when he didn’t ask it again,
我们穿上了初中校服
we slipped into our middle school uniforms
因为是十一月,所以
since it was November, the beginning
10篮球赛季结束后,慢跑出去
10of basketball season, and jogged out
一起上场打球
onto the court to play together
在这个愿景中,所有美国人都希望
in that vision all Americans wish for
他们的孩子,关键是我们滑倒了
their children, and the point is we slipped
融入我们统一的和谐,然后吐出“Go Team!”,
into our uniform harmony, and spit out Go Team!,
15我们的手叠在手上和手下
15our hands stacked on and beneath the hands
我们的队友,这是最接近的
of our teammates and that was as close
正如我所料
as I have come to passing for one
梦想乐队的成员之一,我的白人朋友
of the members of The Dream, my white friend
我觉得我离那个词还很远
thinking I was so far from that word
20他能对我说这些,我猜
20that he could say it to me, which I guess
他可以,因为我没有让他尝到盐
he could since I didn’t let him taste the salt
和血液中的铁,我没有教他
and iron in the blood, I didn’t teach him
眯着眼睛看黑眼圈是什么感觉,
what it’s like to squint through a black eye,
如果我这么做了,我想知道他是否会长大
and if I had I wonder if he would have grown
二十五成为相信
25up to be the kind of white man who believes
所有黑人都是暴徒,或者如果他已经学会了
all blacks are thugs or if he would have learned
咬他的舌头或让他的肚子填饱
to bite his tongue or let his belly be filled
我会不会感到羞耻,但更重要的是,
by shame, but more importantly, would I be
那种相信沉默的黑人
the kind of black man who believes silence
三十不仅仅是谈论,或者它可以
30is worth more than talk or that it can be
一种恩典,尽管我不确定
a kind of grace, though I’m not sure
我已经成为这样的黑人了,
that’s the kind of black man I’ve become,
无论如何,M,无论你在哪里,
and in any case, M, wherever you are,
我只想说我听到了,但别再说了
I’d just like to say I heard it, but let it go
三十五因为我害怕失去我们的友谊
35because I was afraid to lose our friendship
或者害怕我们会输掉比赛——但事实上我们还是输了。
or afraid we’d lose the game — which we did anyway.
[2006]
[2006]
[生于 1971 年]
[b. 1971]
| 仿佛 | 你曾经天真地相信过城市传说 |
| 仿佛 | 这些情节元素并不是陈词滥调:秘密实验室、厌氧室、戴手套的机械手、充满化学物质的雾 |
| 仿佛 | 每一个起源故事并不是都围绕着同一个关于失去完整性的甜蜜神话 |
| 仿佛 | 如果将这种渴望包装成纯粹的怀旧之情,似乎更容易让人接受 |
| 仿佛 | 曾经有过一个团结的时刻,平稳、神圣、清澈 |
| 仿佛 | 内在和外在只是同一物质的不同阶段 |
| 仿佛 | 这白色是你原本的状态 |
| 仿佛 | 它不是通过管道输入到你体内的东西,不是渗入到每个空细胞、每个气孔、每个毛孔的东西 |
| 仿佛 | 你一开始就毫无皮肤,毫无羞耻,毫无责备, |
| 仿佛 | 鞭打,被动 |
| 仿佛 | 在金属模具中挤压、颤动 |
| 仿佛 | 催化蒸汽引发潜在反应 |
| 仿佛 | 你的肉体起泡,一种主要由滞留空气组成的氢化乳液 |
| 仿佛 | 虽然像海绵一样,但你可以保持几十年的保质期,部分防腐液,部分火箭燃料,部分胶水 |
| 仿佛 | 相反,你被命名为 twin,意思是“相似”;或者 wink,意思是“笑话”;或者 ink,意思是“污点”;或者 key,意思是“答案” |
| 仿佛 | 你的皮肤被氧化成现在的光泽的金色 |
| 仿佛 | 自制 |
[2016]
[2016]
a 3. ex machina:拉丁语,意思为“来自机器”。
a3. ex machina: Latin for “from the machine.”
[生于 1972 年]
[b. 1972]
这首诗的内容如下。
The poem reads, as follows.
当我看到(“我看见”,粗体字)被时间的残暴之手毁坏
When I have seen ("I have seen," is in boldface) by time's fell hand defaced
丰厚而自豪的陈旧埋葬时代的代价,
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age,
有时我看到高耸的塔楼被夷为平地,(塔楼和被夷为平地以粗体显示)
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed, (towers, and down-razed, are in boldface)
和黄铜永恒的奴隶,为凡人的愤怒;4
and brass eternal slave to mortal rage; 4
当我看到饥饿的海洋
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
在海岸王国的优势,
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
坚实的土壤赢得了水源,
And the firm soil win of the wat'ry main,
存储增加同时伴随损失,损失增加同时伴随存储;8(“损失”一词在此重复了两次,并以粗体显示。)
increasing store with loss and loss with store; 8 (The word, loss; repeated twice here, is in boldface.)
当我看到这样的状态交流时,
When I have seen such interchange of state,
或者国家本身陷入衰败,
Or state itself confounded to decay,
毁灭教会了我如何毁灭(破折号)
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruinate (em dash)
那个时刻会到来,带走我的爱。12
That time will come and take my love away. 12
这想法就像死亡,无法选择,
This thought is as a death, which cannot choose
却因拥有而哭泣,却害怕失去。
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.
[2004年]
[2004]
64:威廉·莎士比亚的《十四行诗 64 的抹去》。摘自Jen Bervin 的《Nets》(2004 年)。
a64: Erasure of Sonnet 64 by William Shakespeare. From Nets (2004) by Jen Bervin.
[生于 1972 年]
[b. 1972]
1.您的孩子是否丧失了后天语言能力?
1. did your child lose acquired speech?
喷泉,然后是寂静。一片虚无。一个椭圆
A fount and then silence. A none. An ellipse
之间——他的呼吸
between — his breath through
我们窗户的缝隙。吹口哨
the seams of our windows. Whistle
5日子。不可能的嘴巴——
5of days. Impossible bowl of a mouth —
打开的橱柜,元音
the open cupboard, vowels
被围捕并扫到地毯下。
rounded up and swept under the rug.
2.您的孩子是否发出异常声音或婴儿尖叫声?
2. does your child produce unusual noises or infantile squeals?
他会咕咕叫,我们也会咕咕叫。声音
He’d coo and we’d coo back. The sound
10像一个球一样在我们之间来回传递。
10passed back and forth between us like a ball.
或者后来,一个星体的声音。一些颤音
Or later, an astral voice. Some vibrato
在我们表面之下。突然出现——
under the surface of us. The burst upon —
琴弦摩擦产生的灼伤
burn of strings rubbed
一脸疲惫。
in a flourish. His exhausted face.
153.您的孩子的声音是否比要求的要大?
153. is your child’s voice louder than required?
在封闭空间或洞穴中,很难判断
In an enclosure or a cave it is difficult to gauge
一个人的音量。世界的舞台。
one’s volume. The proscenium of the world.
我们所说的所有房间都是黑暗的地方。因为
All the rooms we speak of are dark places. Because
他看不到自己的嘴,无法想象
he cannot see his mouth, he cannot imagine
20发出的声音。
20the sound that comes out.
4.您的孩子是否经常说胡言乱语或行话?
4. does your child speak frequent gibberish or jargon?
在我看来,这是一种语言。每一个声音
To my ears it is a language. Every sound
一个系统:狗或男孩的声音。呻吟声
a system: the sound for dog or boy. The moan
喉咙里有水——这是一个口渴的人的情况。
in his throat for water — that of a man with thirst.
二十五破旧的梯子造句
25The dilapidated ladder that makes a sentence
一个句子。这个爆破音a是动词。这个液体
a sentence. This plosivea is a verb. This liquid
一种欲望。我们把他的声音变成了一种象征。
a want. We make symbols of his noise.
5.您的孩子是否难以理解基本的事情(“就是无法理解”)?
5. does your child have difficulty understanding basic things (“just can’t get it”)?
在树的映衬下,他显得那么渺小。
Against the backdrop of the tree he looks so small.
三十6.当你的孩子想要什么东西的时候会拉着你吗?
306. does your child pull you around when he wants something?
通过袖子。通过衬衫下摆。他轻轻的触摸
By the sleeve. By the shirttail. His light touch
像麻雀一样在我的皮肤上跳来跳去。
hopscotching against my skin like sparrows.
坚持不懈,不断增强。
An insistence muscled and muscled again.
7.您的孩子是否难以用手势表达他的需求或愿望?
7. does your child have difficulty expressing his needs or desires using gestures?
三十五在厨房和卧室里脸红
35Red-faced in the kitchen and in the bedroom
黄色的灯光照射到他的眼睛
and the yellow light touches his eyes
眼睛睁开,但看不见。他的眼睛
which are open but not there. His eyes
在他们的狭船梦和运河中休息
rest in their narrow boat dream and the canals
将此边与此边分隔开来。
are wide dividing this side from this side.
408.您的孩子是否没有自发地说话或交流?
408. is there no spontaneous initiation of speech or communication from your child?
当被召唤时,他轻松地离开了他的身体。
When called he eases out of his body.
他的上帝不是我们的话语,也不是
His god is not our words nor is it
从他嘴唇里说出的话。这完全是身体的。
the words from his lips. It is entirely body.
所以当他来到我们面前并看着我们时我们就知道
So when he comes to us and looks we know
四十五有我们无法想象的圆柱体
45there are beyond us impossible cylinders
意义就存在于此。
where meaning lives.
9.您的孩子会重复听到的单词、单词的一部分或电视广告吗?
9. does your child repeat heard words, parts of words, or tv commercials?
思想在竞技场中绕着思想转,在很远的地方——在很远的地方
The mind circles the mind in the arena, far in — far in
辅音和圆音的交接处
where the consonants touch and where the round
50合唱队以有节奏的快步舞炫耀其抑扬格。哼唱
50chorus flaunts its iambs in a metronomic trot. Humming
用温暖而动听的歌声对自己说。
to himself in warm and jugular songs.
10.您的孩子是否使用重复性语言(一遍又一遍地说相同的单词或短语)?
10. does your child use repetitive language (same word or phrase over and over)?
他脑袋里的一小袋东西正在担心着它的一团棉绒。
A pocket in his brain worries its ball of lint.
一个词进入它的凹槽并结结巴巴
A word clicks into its groove and stammers
55沿着它的轨道,多普勒b就像一辆带有窗户的汽车
55along its track, Doppleringb like a car with its windows
夏季最热门的热门歌曲
rolled down and the one top hit of the summer
以某种方式进入他的大脑。
angles its way into his brain.
11.您的孩子是否难以维持对话?
11. does your child have difficulty sustaining a conversation?
我们可能在任何地方,然后是红月的中心
We could be anywhere, then the navel of the red moon
60落下果实。他的世界。这个污秽的世界滴下蜂蜜
60drops its fruit. His world. This stained world drips its honey
到我们的嘴里。我们的话语从他装病的下午偷来。
into our mouths. Our words stolen from his malingering afternoon.
12.您的孩子说话是否单调或者停顿不合理?
12. does your child use monotonous speech or wrong pausing?
当空气真实而简单的时候,我们可以看到他颤抖
When the air is true and simple, we can watch him tremble
一个小时,从几句话中找出他的意思
for an hour, plucking his meaning from a handful of utterances
65然后进入可怕的言语隔阂。
65and then ascend into the terrible partition of speech.
13.您的孩子对小孩,大人,还是物体(无法区分)说话都一样吗?
13. does your child speak the same to kids, adults, or objects (can’t differentiate)?
因为参照需要一个框架:我们是母亲和父亲
Because a reference needs a frame: we are mother and father
和孩子一起去理解时间的世界。汽车收音机
and child with a world of time to be understood. The car radio
唱一首歌。因此,这首歌很重要。
plays its one song. The song, therefore, is important.
70必须在严谨的时间吟诵。因为严谨
70It must be intoned at a rigorous time. Because rigor
很重要,因为自我坚持不断警惕。
is important and because the self insists on constant vigils.
14.您的孩子是否使用语言不当(错误的单词或短语)?
14. does your child use language inappropriately (wrong words or phrases)?
他总是坚持使用不正确的形式。
Always, and he insists on the incorrect forms.
错误的词语以各种形式表达爱情——
The wrong word takes every form for love —
75好树倚在水塘里,
75the good tree leans into the pond,
灰色的狗肋骨露出,记忆
the gray dog’s ribs show, the memory
绑在窗户上,还有收音机的承诺
bound to the window, and the promise of the radio
每时每刻都在演奏着它的歌曲。每一个错误的形式
playing its song on the hour. Every wrong form
是一种代表我们损失的形式,
is a form which represents us in our losses,
80如果我们需要到另一个世界才能理解。
80if it takes us another world to understand.
[2017]
[2017]
a 26. 爆破音:像 p、t、k、b、d 或 g 这样的辅音,使用时会使声音停止发音。
a26. plosive: A consonant like p, t, k, b, d, or g that, when used, stops the voice from making a sound.
b 55. 多普勒效应:德拉帕兹将多普勒效应(一种相对于观察者的波频率发生变化的自然现象)转化为动词。
b55. Dopplering: de la Paz transforms the Doppler effect, a natural phenomenon involving the change in wave frequency relative to the observer, into a verb.
[生于 1972 年]
[b. 1972]
他有
He has
派出大批官员来骚扰我们的人民
sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people
他掠夺了我们的——
He has plundered our —
蹂躏我们的——
ravaged our —
5 毁掉了我们的生活——
5 destroyed the lives of our —
夺走我们的——
taking away our —
废除我们最宝贵的——
abolishing our most valuable —
并从根本上改变我们的形式——
and altering fundamentally the Forms of our —
在这些压迫的每一个阶段,我们都曾请求
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for
10用最谦卑的言辞进行纠正:
10Redress in the most humble terms:
我们重复
Our repeated
请愿得到的答复只是一次又一次的伤害。
Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
我们已经提醒他们我们移民的情况
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration
并在此定居。
and settlement here.
— 被俘
— taken Captive
15 在公海上
15 on the high Seas
承受 —
to bear —
[2018]
[2018]
“宣言”是一首取自《独立宣言》文本的擦除诗。
a“Declaration” is an erasure poem drawn from the text of the Declaration of Independence.
[生于 1973 年]
[b. 1973]
在一家墨西哥餐馆里。他的同事们
in a Tex-Mex restaurant. His co-workers,
无法说出他的名字,将他改名为 Jalapeño。
unable to utter his name, renamed him Jalapeño.
如果我要一条金鱼,他会吐出一团痰
If I ask for a goldfish, he spits a glob of phlegm
放进一罐水中。银色字母
into a jar of water. The silver letters
5在他的黑带上咒语是Sangrón。有一次,borracho,
5on his black belt spell Sangrón. Once, borracho,
晚餐时他说:耶稣不是雪人。
at dinner, he said: Jesus wasn’t a snowman.
阿里巴杜兰戈。阿里巴·奥里萨巴。包装好的
Arriba Durango. Arriba Orizaba. Packed
塞进汽车后备箱,他被偷运到美国。
into a car trunk, he was smuggled into the States.
Frijolero。Greaser。在图森,他打上了
Frijolero. Greaser. In Tucson he branded
10牛。他睡在马厩里。马毯
10cattle. He slept in a stable. The horse blankets
气味奇特:木烟味、丁香味。他是个非法移民。
oddly fragrant: wood smoke, lilac. He’s an illegal.
我是一名非法美国人。有一次,在一片树林里
I’m an Illegal-American. Once, in a grove
黄昏时分,我睡在他旁边。我醒来
of saguaro, at dusk, I slept next to him. I woke
用他的拇指放在我的嘴里。¿No qué no
with his thumb in my mouth. ¿No qué no
15tronabas pistolita?他学英语
15tronabas pistolita? He learned English
通过收听广播。前四个词
by listening to the radio. The first four words
他背诵道:“我们信仰上帝。”第五句:
he memorized: In God We Trust. The fifth:
渗透。我一次又一次地借他的衣服。
Percolate. Again and again I borrow his clothes.
他叫我稻草人。他在俄勒冈州摘苹果。
He calls me Scarecrow. In Oregon he picked apples.
20布雷本。乔纳金。卡梅奥。每晚,
20Braeburn. Jonagold. Cameo. Nightly,
围着篝火招待他的小伙伴们,
to entertain his cuates, around a campfire,
他弹吉他,唱corridos。阿里巴
he strummed a guitarra, sang corridos. Arriba
杜兰戈。阿里巴·奥里萨巴。装进
Durango. Arriba Orizaba. Packed into
一个汽车后备箱,他被偷运到美国。
a car trunk, he was smuggled into the States.
二十五油脂。豆子。有一次,早餐时,
25Greaser. Beaner. Once, borracho, at breakfast,
他说:心只能被破碎
he said: The heart can only be broken
一次,像一扇窗户,¡No mames!他最喜欢的
once, like a window, ¡No mames! His favorite
皮带扣:一朵栖息在仙人掌上的阿吉拉。
belt buckle: an águila perched on a nopal.
如果他大笑出来,他的手就会颤抖。
If he laughs out loud, his hands tremble.
三十兔八哥想驱逐他。塞萨尔·查韦斯
30Bugs Bunny wants to deport him. César Chávez
想驱逐他。当我走过
wants to deport him. When I walk through
沙漠,我穿着他的衬衫。月亮的凝视
the desert, I wear his shirt. The gaze of the moon
把他衬衫的纽扣缝到我的皮肤上。
stitches the buttons of his shirt to my skin.
蛇发出嘶嘶声。蛇被撕裂了。
The snake hisses. The snake is torn.
[2012]
[2012]
[生于 1974 年]
[b. 1974]
埃里克·加纳 (Eric Garner) 工作过吗
Is that Eric Garner worked
公园和娱乐部会在一段时间内
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
园艺系,也就是说,
Horticultural Department, which means,
也许,他那双大手,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
5也许,很有可能,
5perhaps, in all likelihood,
他轻轻地放入土中
he put gently into the earth
有些植物很可能
some plants which, most likely,
其中有些人很可能
some of them, in all likelihood,
继续成长,继续
continue to grow, continue
10做这些植物该做的事,比如家
10to do what such plants do, like house
喂养小而必需的生物,
and feed small and necessary creatures,
比如触感和气味都令人愉悦,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
就像转换阳光
like converting sunlight
食物,比如让它更容易
into food, like making it easier
15以便我们呼吸。
15for us to breathe.
[2015]
[2015]
[b。 1974]
[b. 1974]
这首诗的内容如下。
The poem reads, as follows.
让我看看你的影子
Let me see your shadow
我的一百双蓝眼睛如羽毛般划过(空间)。
Feather across (space) my hundred blue eyes.
我可能甚至不会注意到
I probably won't even notice
围绕着我的海星(太空)
the sea stars (space) circling around me
准备啃咬并留存数天。5
ready to nibble and foam (space) for days. 5
用你的喙吞咽我(空间)。
Carry me (space) in the gobble of your beak.
我宁愿像一颗宝石镶嵌在你的巢穴里
I'd rather be set (space) like a jewel (space) in your nest
太阳消散后的甜蜜惊喜(太空)
a sweet surprise (space) after the sun dissolves
像幽灵一样进入太平洋(太空)
into the Pacific (space) like a ghost
给我的咖啡加糖。(空格)到那时我将有 10
sugaring my coffee. (space) By then I will have 10
向你敞开了(空间)。没有一个关于鳗草的故事
opened up (space) to you. None of the eelgrass stories
我年轻时坚持的(空间)比
I clung to (space) in my youth (space) are better than
这:我不再沉默了。没有人告诉我
This: I'm no longer (space) silent. None of the, told me
如果你足够饿(破折号)小铰链
if you were hungry enough (em dash) the small hinge
我的脐带会吱吱作响,叹息。15
of my umbo would creak and sigh. 15
[2018]
[2018]
脚注写道,15. 扇贝壳:扇贝壳铰链上方的点。
A footnote reads, 15. umbo: The point above the hinge of a scallop shell.
[生于 1974 年]
[b. 1974]
— 乔治·布拉森斯公园,巴黎
— Parc Georges Brassens, Paris
大多数下午,我都会在 Brac Brassens 公园跑几圈
Most afternoons, I’d run laps through Parc Brassens
第二小的葡萄园在哪里
where grows the second smallest vineyard
我从未见过如此多的银子,
I have ever seen, and where those silver,
修剪过的茎秆看起来很钝,
pruned-back stalks looked blunt,
5被电线缠住,而且大多已经死亡
5strung-out on wires, and mostly dead
整个冬天。这就是我所看到的。
all winter. That was how I saw them.
这正是我所期望的。即使在寒冷中,
That’s all I expected. Even in the cold,
我每周都会在那里见到一个和我同龄的人,
I’d see a guy my age there, once a week,
弹吉他。他会坐在长凳旁边
playing his guitar. He’d sit next to the bench
10我会在那里伸展身体。他很少说话——
10where I’d be stretching. He rarely spoke —
只是问我是否想听一首歌——
just to ask if I’d like a song —
直到我彻底离开前一周。
until the week before I left for good.
我坐在山顶上
I was sitting at the top of a hill
距离约一百英尺的地方
about a hundred feet away from where
15如果你踮起脚尖,你就能看到埃菲尔铁塔。
15if you stand tiptoe you can see the Eiffel Tower.
他坐得离我太近了。我们谈论了很多事情。
He sat too close to me. We spoke of many things.
然后他建议我们就这么做,
Then he suggested we go at it right there,
在地面上,在阳光下。这就是
on the ground, under the sun. This is how
一个活着的人知道自己将会死去:
one lives who knows that she will die:
20在任何她能拥抱的人的怀抱里打滚——
20rolling in the arms of anyone she can —
在音乐家的怀里打滚——意识到
rolling in the arms of a musician — aware
没有人关心我们做什么
that no one cares much what we do
在芦苇丛生的连翘后面的小丘陵上,
in little knolls behind reedy forsythia,
在星期二的中间,在中间
in the middle of a Tuesday, in the middle
二十五生活。我现在就知道了
25of living. And I would know now
他的感受,以及地面贴着我的感受,
how he felt, and the ground against me,
以及他是粗鲁还是温柔。
and whether he was rough or sweet.
并且,可能性每小时都在扩大。
And what is possible would widen every hour.
噢,但是我,我以为我是不朽的。
Oh, but me, I thought I was immortal.
[2013]
[2013]
a “拥抱他们所有人”:这是法国歌手兼作曲家乔治·布拉森斯 (1921-1981) 的一首流行歌曲“Embrasse-les tous”的英文翻译,巴黎的一个公园以他的名字命名。
a“Embrace Them All”: The English translation of “Embrasse-les tous,” a popular song by French sing and songwriter George Brassens (1921–1981), for whom a public park in Paris is named.
[生于 1976 年]
[b. 1976]
我不会开枪自杀
I will not shoot myself
我不会开枪自杀
In the head, and I will not shoot myself
在后面,我不会自杀
In the back, and I will not hang myself
带着垃圾袋,如果我这么做,
With a trashbag, and if I do,
5我向你保证,我不会这么做
5I promise you, I will not do it
戴着手铐在警车里
In a police car while handcuffed
或者在城镇的监狱里
Or in the jail cell of a town
我只知道
I only know the name of
因为我必须开车经过那里
Because I have to drive through it
10回家。是的,我可能处于危险之中,
10To get home. Yes, I may be at risk,
但我向你保证,我相信蛆虫
But I promise you, I trust the maggots
还有蚂蚁和蟑螂
And the ants and the roaches
谁住在地板下面
Who live beneath the floorboards
我家要做他们必须做的事
Of my house to do what they must
15对任何我所不信任的尸体
15To any carcass more than I trust
一名执法人员
An officer of the law of the land
像男人一样闭上眼睛
To shut my eyes like a man
上帝的力量,或者用床单盖住我,
Of God might, or to cover me with a sheet
非常干净,我妈妈都可以用它了
So clean my mother could have used it
20把我塞进被窝。当我杀了我,我就杀了我
20To tuck me in. When I kill me, I will kill me
和大多数美国人一样,
The same way most Americans do,
我向你保证:香烟烟雾
I promise you: cigarette smoke
或者一块让我噎住的肉
Or a piece of meat on which I choke
或者说我太崩溃以至于冻结
Or so broke I freeze
我二十五在这些冬天里,我们
I25n one of these winters we keep
最糟糕的情况。我保证如果你听到
Calling worst. I promise that if you hear
我已死去
Of me dead anywhere near
一个警察,然后那个警察杀了我。他带走了
A cop, then that cop killed me. He took
我离开了我们,离开了我的身体,也就是,
Me from us and left my body, which is,
三十无论我们被教导什么,
30No matter what we’ve been taught,
比城市所能容纳的定居点更大
Greater than the settlement a city can
付钱给母亲让她停止哭泣,还有更多
Pay to a mother to stop crying, and more
比崭新闪亮的子弹更美丽
Beautiful than the brand new shiny bullet
从我的脑海里捞出来。
Fished from the folds of my brain.
[2016]
[2016]
[生于 1976 年]
[b. 1976]
他们说你不应该出现在这里
They say you ain’t posed to be here
你不适合涂红色唇膏
You ain’t posed to wear red lipstick
你不适合穿高跟鞋
You ain’t posed to wear high heels
你不应该在公共场合微笑
You ain’t posed to smile in public
5你根本就没法微笑,姑娘
5You ain’t posed to smile nowhere, girl
你不配做女朋友
You ain’t posed to be more than a girlfriend
你不适合结婚
You ain’t posed to get married
你没必要拥有这么大的梦想
You ain’t posed to want no dream that big
你根本就没资格做梦
You ain’t posed to dream at all
10你不应该只做怀孩子
10You ain’t posed to to do nothing but carry babies
带着编织物
And carry weaves
并运载重犯
And carry felons
并带着家人
And carry families
并带来混乱
And carry confusion
15并保持沉默
15And carry silence
承载着一个国家,却不代表一个观点
And carry a nation — but never an opinion
你不应该无话可说,除非是开玩笑
You ain’t posed to have nothing to say unless it’s a joke
原因
Cause
20你没资格爱自己,黑人女孩
20You ain’t posed to love yourself Black Girl
你不会觉得那一堆棕色的东西没什么值得说的
You ain’t posed to find nothing worth saying in all that brown
你没必要知道 Nina Beyonce Tina Cecily Shonda Rhimes 闪耀闪耀闪耀
You ain’t posed to know that Nina Beyonce Tina Cecily Shonda Rhimes shine shine shine
黑人女孩,
Black Girl,
你没资格爱你的头脑
You ain’t posed to love your mind
你不适合去爱
You ain’t posed to love
二十五你不适合被爱
25You ain’t posed to be loved up on
你只能摆出巫毒智利狐狸精的姿势
You only posed to pose voodoo chile’ vixen style
你摆出各种姿势来生孩子,隐藏妊娠纹
You posed to pop out babies and hide the stretch marks
你摆出一副静止的姿势
You posed to be still
所以他们仍然认为你的雕像
So still they think you statue
三十所以他们仍然认为你只是用粉笔勾勒出来的轮廓
30So still they think you a chalked outline
所以他们仍然认为你是石头
So still they keep thinking you stone
直到你看起来比维奥拉·戴维斯更像美杜莎
Until you look more medusaa than Viola Davis
直到你听起来比凯里华盛顿更像 Shenaynay
Until you sound more Shenaynay than Kerry Washington
直到你周二的侧目比米歇尔·奥巴马还要多
Until you more side eye than Michelle Obama on a Tuesday
三十五但是你告诉他们你不仅仅是一把热梳子和一次洗漱和定型
35But You tell them you are more than a hot comb and a wash and set
你是 Kunta Kinte的亲戚
You are Kunta Kinte’sb kin
你是一个值得铭记的黑人女孩
You are a Black Girl worth remembering
你是一个威胁,了解自己
And you are a threat knowing yourself
你爱自己,你就是个威胁
You are a threat loving yourself
你爱你的亲人,你是一个威胁
You are a threat loving your kin
40你爱你的孩子,你就是一个威胁
40You are a threat loving your children
你这个黑妞真有魔力
You black girl magic
你这个黑妞真嚣张
You black girl flyy
你这个黑人女孩真聪明
You black girl brilliance
四十五你这个黑人女孩真奇怪
45You black girl wonder
你这个黑人女孩闪闪发亮
You black girl shine
你这个黑人女孩绽放
You black girl bloom
你这个黑人女孩黑人女孩
You black girl black girl
你就在我们眼前变成了一个美丽的黑人女人。
And you turning into a beautiful black woman right before OUR eyes.
[2016]
[2016]
32.美杜莎:希腊女巫。
a32. medusa: A Greek witch.
b 36. 昆塔金特(Kunta Kinte):亚历克斯哈利(Alex Haley)的《根》(1976 年)中的角色
b36. Kunta Kinte: A character in Alex Haley’s Roots (1976).
[生于 1976 年]
[b. 1976]
我最喜欢母马,
I like the lady horses best,
他们让一切看起来都很简单,
how they make it all look easy,
就像每小时跑40英里
like running 40 miles per hour
就像打盹儿,或者草地一样有趣。
is as fun as taking a nap, or grass.
5我喜欢她们那优雅的马姿,
5I like their lady horse swagger,
获胜后。竖起耳朵,姑娘们,竖起耳朵!
after winning. Ears up, girls, ears up!
但说实话,我主要喜欢
But mainly, let’s be honest, I like
她们是女士。好像这么大
that they’re ladies. As if this big
危险的动物也是我的一部分,
dangerous animal is also a part of me,
10在某个微妙的地方
10that somewhere inside the delicate
我身体的皮肤,有泵
skin of my body, there pumps
一颗8磅重的母马心脏,
an 8-pound female horse heart,
力量强大,血脉贲张。
giant with power, heavy with blood.
15你不想相信吗?
15Don’t you want to believe it?
你不想掀起我的衣服看看吗
Don’t you want to lift my shirt and see
巨大的天才机器
the huge beating genius machine
它认为,不,它知道,
that thinks, no, it knows,
它会首先进入。
it’s going to come in first.
[2015]
[2015]
[生于 1976 年]
[b. 1976]
我无法拯救的你,
You whom I could not save,
听我说。
Listen to me.
我们可以同意 Kevlar 吗
Can we agree Kevlar
背包不应该被需要
backpacks shouldn’t be needed
5适合步行上学的儿童吗?
5for children walking to school?
那些孩子
Those same children
也不应该要求穿西装
also shouldn’t require a suit
站立时的护甲
of armor when standing
在他们的前院,或者狙击手
on their front lawns, or snipers
10照顾他们的安全
10to watch their backs
就像他们在麦当劳吃饭一样。
as they eat at McDonalds.
他们不应该停止
They shouldn’t have to stop
考虑速度
to consider the speed
子弹或它可能如何
of a bullet or how it might
15重塑身体。但是
15reshape their bodies. But
一个冬天,在底特律,
one winter, back in Detroit,
我有一个学生
I had one student
他打开了一扇门然后就死了。
who opened a door and died.
这是前面
It was the front
20他家的门,但是
20door to his house, but
它可能是任何一扇门,
it could have been any door,
子弹可以写
and the bullet could have written
任何名字。射手
any name. The shooter
十三岁
was thirteen years old
二十五并瞄准
25and was aiming
别人。但是
at someone else. But
子弹无所谓
a bullet doesn’t care
关于“目标”,它没有
about “aim,” it doesn’t
区分
distinguish between
三十无辜者与无辜者,
30the innocent and the innocent,
子弹怎么样
and how was the bullet
应该知道这个
supposed to know this
孩子会打开门
child would open the door
在错误的时刻
at the exact wrong moment
三十五因为他的朋友
35because his friend
在外面尖叫
was outside and screaming
寻求帮助。我说过吗?
for help. Did I say
我有“一个”学生
I had “one” student who
打开门就死了?
opened a door and died?
40那是错误的。
40That’s wrong.
有很多。
There were many.
悲伤的教室
The classroom of grief
拥有更多席位
had far more seats
比课堂上学习数学
than the classroom for math
四十五尽管每个学生
45though every student
在数学课堂上
in the classroom for math
可以数出名字
could count the names
死者。
of the dead.
一个孩子打开了一扇门。子弹
A kid opens a door. The bullet
不可能知道,
couldn’t possibly know,
50枪也不能,因为
50nor could the gun, because
“枪不杀人”,枪不杀人
“guns don’t kill people,” they don’t
有头脑做决定
have minds to decide
这样的事情,他们不会选择
such things, they don’t choose
55或有良心,
55or have a conscience,
当一个男人不
and when a man doesn’t
有良心,我们称他为
have a conscience, we call him
精神病患者。这就是
a psychopath. This is how
我们知道什么类型的突击步枪
we know what type of assault rifle
60一个人可以,
60a man can be,
以及我们如何发现
and how we discover
内心深处的地狱
the hell that thrums inside
每一个。今天,
each of them. Today,
还有另一个
there’s another
65用尸体射击
65shooting with dead
到处都是孩子。这是一所学校,
kids everywhere. It was a school,
一个电影院、一个停车场。
a movie theater, a parking lot.
世界
The world
到处都是门。
is full of doors.
70而我无法拯救的你,
70And you, whom I cannot save,
你可以打开一扇门
you may open a door
并进入一片草地,或一篇悼词。
and enter a meadow, or a eulogy.
如果是后者,那么你将
And if the latter, you will be
哀悼,然后埋葬
mourned, then buried
75在修辞上。
75in rhetoric.
将有
There will be
立法纪念碑,
monuments of legislation,
制作的小花
little flowers made
摆脱繁琐手续。
from red tape.
80我们应该做什么?我们会问
80What should we do? we’ll ask
地球将再次关闭
again. The earth will close
就像你头顶上的一扇门。
like a door above you.
我们该怎么办?
What should we do?
您听到了“咔”的一声吗?
And that click you hear?
85那只是我们的声音,
85That’s just our voices,
话语的死锁
the deadbolt of discourse
滑入到位。
sliding into place.
[2016]
[2016]
切斯瓦夫·米沃什 (Czesław Miłosz) 的《一封只有两行的信》:这首诗的前两行来自米沃什的诗歌《献词》,该诗出现在这本选集的其他部分。
aLetter with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz: The first two lines of the poem are from Miłosz’s poem “Dedication,” which appears elsewhere in this anthology.
[生于 1977 年]
[b. 1977]
现在是六月。
It is June.
在 17号附近的 El TaContento ,
At El TaContento near 17th,
厨师切干净
the cook slices clean
穿过西瓜肚子,
through the belly of a watermelon,
5桑迪亚,圣日!
5Sandía, día santo!
& 蜜蜂
& honey bees
生长在闪闪发光的寺庙里
grown in glistening temples
从含糖的蜂巢中翩翩起舞,
dance away from their sugary hives,
蚂蚁排成一排,
ants, in lines,
10甲虫,朝着你的红色,
10beetles, toward your red,
(如果你在东边,他们就往东走)
(if you are east, they are going east)
一遍又一遍,
over & over,
走向你世俗的甜美,
toward your worldly luscious,
布满种子的红色水果。
blushed fruit freckled with seeds.
15路边,我愚昧的快乐,
15Roadside, my obtuse pleasure,
在一串串灯光下,
under strings of lights,
印花裙,在食品桶里,
a printed skirt, in grocery barrels,
周日下午在公园的草地上
above park grasses on Sunday afternoon
呻吟和痛苦的呻吟
to the moan & dolorous moan
20的秋千。
20of swings.
水与太阳的成熟结合体,
Ripe conjugationer of water & sun,
你的开场白
your opening calls
甚至鸟儿也能降落。
even the birds to land.
在巴勒斯坦,
& in Palestine,
二十五挥手是犯罪行为
25where it is a crime to wave
巴勒斯坦的国旗,
the flag of Palestine in Palestine,
西瓜两半凸起
watermelon halves are raised
针对以色列军队
against Israeli troops
红色、黑色、白色、绿色
for the red, black, white, green
三十巴勒斯坦。永远,
30of Palestine. Forever,
我爱你你的颜色边缘
I love you your color hemmed
由 rind 制作。喧闹的 juke 和湿润的。
by rind. The blaring juke & wet of it.
黑色种子星红色巨大
Black seeds star red immense
比如罂粟田,
as poppy fields,
三十五白色胜过茉莉花。
35white to outsing jasmine.
再次,全是绿色。
Again, all that green.
圣桑迪亚日,
Sandía, día santo,
夏季神圣的尘世,
summer’s holy earthly,
地面旗帜,
bandera of the ground,
40领域语言,
40language of fields,
即使在挥舞的刀刃下
even under a blade you swing
你安静的气味
your quiet scent
在任何大风的钟摆下。
in the pendulum of any gale.
男人们低下头,张大嘴巴,
Men bow their heads, open-mouthed,
四十五哄糖
45to coax the sugar
从你的工作服下面。
from beneath your workdress.
女人能给你力量
Women lift you
到他们的牙齿。
to their teeth.
圣桑迪亚日,
Sandía, día santo,
50你的甜蜜
50yours is a sweetness
经历屠杀:
to outlast slaughter:
舌头会迷失在你的内心,
Tongues will lose themselves inside you,
散播种子。
scattering seeds. All over,
土地将嗡嗡作响
the land will hum
55带着你的狂野,
55with your wild,
喧闹的开花。
raucous blooming.
[2007]
[2007]
[生于 1977 年]
[b. 1977]
当他们轰炸别人的房屋时,我们
And when they bombed other people’s houses, we
抗议
protested
但还不够,我们反对他们,但没有
but not enough, we opposed them but not
够了。我
enough. I was
5在我的床上,在我的床周围,美国
5in my bed, around my bed America
正在倒塌:一栋栋看不见的房子,一栋栋看不见的房子——
was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house —
我坐在外面的椅子上,看着太阳。
I took a chair outside and watched the sun.
第六个月
In the sixth month
金钱之家的灾难性统治
of a disastrous reign in the house of money
10在金钱街上,在金钱城里,在金钱国度里,
10in the street of money in the city of money in the country of money,
我们伟大的金钱国家,我们(原谅我们)
our great country of money, we (forgive us)
战争期间生活得很幸福。
lived happily during the war.
[2013]
[2013]
[生于 1977 年]
[b. 1977]
生命是短暂的,尽管我没有让我的孩子知道这一点。
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
生命短暂,我缩短了我的生命
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
以一千种美味而又不明智的方式,
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
一千种美味又不明智的方法
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
5我不会让我的孩子知道。这个世界至少
5I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
百分之五十很糟糕,这是保守派
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
估计,尽管我没有让我的孩子知道这个。
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
每只鸟都会被扔一块石头。
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
对于每一个心爱的孩子,一个受伤的孩子,一个被装袋的孩子,
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
10沉入湖中。生命短暂,世界
10sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
至少有一半是可怕的,对于每种
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
陌生人,有一个人会打败你,
stranger, there is one who would break you,
虽然我隐瞒了我的孩子。我正在努力
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
向他们推销世界。任何一位称职的房地产经纪人,
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
15带你穿过一个真正的粪坑,叽叽喳喳地叫着
15walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
关于好骨头:这个地方可能很美,
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
对吧?你可以让这个地方变得美丽。
right? You could make this place beautiful.
[2017]
[2017]
[生于 1978 年]
[b. 1978]
他住在我们家地下室,牺牲了我的父母
he lived in our basement and sacrificed my parents
每天早上。这太可怕了。不可原谅。但他们还是来了
every morning. It was awful. Unforgivable. But they kept coming
回来看更多。他们爱他,这是他们唯一能说的。
back for more. They loved him, was all they could say.
从他跌跌撞撞地沿着亡灵大道开始,
It started with him stumbling along la Avenida de los Muertos,
5我的父母像游行队伍中的雕像一样走在后面
5my parents walking behind like effigies in a procession
他随时都可能被烧毁。他们不知道
he might burn to the ground at any moment. They didn’t know
除了在他去世时去接他之外,还能做什么呢?
what else to do except be there to pick him up when he died.
他们忘记了谁快要死了,谁已经死了。我的兄弟
They forgot who was dying, who was already dead. My brother
当一群胸部肮脏的女人狂欢时,不要再穿衬衫了
quit wearing shirts when a carnival of dirty-breasted women
10让他成为他们的领袖,跟着他上下楼梯——
10made him their leader, following him up and down the stairs —
他们就像杂技演员,像蛇一样移动、抽搐——他们喂他
They were acrobats, moving, twitching like snakes — They fed him
粉碎钻石和火焰。他狼吞虎咽地吃着礼物。我的父母
crushed diamonds and fire. He gobbled the gifts. My parents
乞求他把他们的眼睛挖出来。他以为他是
begged him to pluck their eyes out. He thought he was
Huitzilopochtli,一位神,半人半蜂鸟。我的父母
Huitzilopochtli, a god, half-man half-hummingbird. My parents
15 在他的脚下,被毁坏的金银花,他低下他那如剑般的嘴,
15 at his feet, wrecked honeysuckles, he lowered his swordlike mouth,
狼吞虎咽地吃着它们,吸干了颜色,直到他们的眉毛变白。
gorged on them, draining color until their eyebrows whitened.
我哥哥在地下室举行节日之前把它们打碎了,分成四份——
My brother shattered and quartered them before his basement festivals —
用拳头挥动着他们颤抖的心脏,
waved their shaking hearts in his fists,
身上长满跳蚤的狗在台阶上跑来跑去,舔着他们的屁股,
while flea-ridden dogs ran up and down the steps, licking their asses,
20邻居们都很惊讶我的父母的心一直
20turning tricks. Neighbors were amazed my parents’ hearts kept
重新成长——这充分表明了我父母的心意。
growing back — It said a lot about my parents, or parents’ hearts.
我的兄弟把它们扔进天然井,从悬崖上扔下来,
My brother flung them into cenotes, dropped them from cliffs,
在他们的头骨上打孔,就像无用的罐子或花瓶一样,
punched holes into their skulls like useless jars or vases,
把它们打碎,喂给神统治
broke them to pieces and fed them to gods ruling
二十五满脸麻子的街头妓女的破烂裤裆
25the ratty crotches of street fair whores with pocked faces
在没有电的廉价旅馆里张开大腿。他睡着了
spreading their thighs in flophouses with no electricity. He slept
穿着脏兮兮的衣服,散发着烂桃子和火柴的味道,坠入爱河
in filthy clothes smelling of rotten peaches and matches, fell in love
嘉年华的狗妇们用闪亮的勺子喂他。我的父母
with sparkling spoonfuls the carnival dog-women fed him. My parents
失去了对食物、对儿子的兴趣。像所有坏国王一样,我的兄弟
lost their appetites for food, for sons. Like all bad kings, my brother
三十 戴着王冠,绿色棒球帽反着戴
30 wore a crown, a green baseball cap turned backwards
上面绣着墨西哥国旗。当他戴上它时
with a Mexican flag embroidered on it. When he wore it
在前院,他把它当作自己的私人“佐卡洛”
in the front yard, which he treated like his personal zócalo,
他的整个王国都知道他拥有权力,拥有所有的珠宝
all his realm knew he had the power that day, had all the jewels
国王可以吃饭、抽烟或射击。奴隶女孩来了
a king could eat or smoke or shoot. The slave girls came
三十五走到栅栏边,从他手里吃东西。他喂他们玉米
35to the fence and ate out of his hands. He fed them maíz
穿过铁链。我的父母从窗户看着,
through the chain links. My parents watched from the window,
为他们的房子变成动物园而哭泣,他们的儿子
crying over their house turned zoo, their son who was
现在是一个生锈的笼子。阿兹特克人在盐杉林里举行朝廷
now a rusted cage. The Aztec held court in a salt cedar grove
街对面有孔雀。我的父母祈祷
across the street where peacocks lived. My parents crossed fingers
40所以他永远不会回来,点燃九日蜡烛
40so he’d never come back, lit novena candles
他会的。他总是带着绿松石和玉回家
so he would. He always came home with turquoise and jade
羽毛和孔雀屎的臭味。我的父母聚集在一起
feathers and stinking of peacock shit. My parents gathered
他用他们剩下的身体,试图在没有腿的情况下站立,
what he’d left of their bodies, trying to stand without legs,
试图用失去的手臂防御他的攻击,寻找他们的手指
trying to defend his blows with missing arms, searching for their fingers
四十五 去祈祷,去从我哥哥,阿兹特克人,他们的儿子,把他们喂进的黑暗的肚子里爬出来。
45 to pray, to climb out of whatever dark belly my brother, the Aztec, their son, had fed them to.
[2012]
[2012]
[生于 1979 年]
[b. 1979]
我想像着当我走下楼梯时它那可耻的长度在我身后延伸开来。
I picture the shameful length of it poking along behind me as I walk down
第五大道,奇异的光泽在商店橱窗里闪闪发光,
Fifth Avenue, the odd sheen of it, shimmering in shop windows,
喝了太多啤酒后,我又会回到床上,这很奇怪
How after too many beers, I’d lumber back into bed, its strangeness
在我的两腿之间。
between my legs.
5但随着太阳升起——干净的伸展,美观的脊椎——我可能会
5But as the sun rises — the clean stretch, aesthetic vertebrae — how I might
展现其优雅、谨慎的重量。
flex its elegant, careful weight.
想想我新获得的平衡,我如何优雅地爬上楼梯,
Consider my newfound balance, how gracefully I ascend a flight of stairs,
单腿摇摇晃晃地站着,我的臀部就保持平衡!
teetering on one leg, my rump poised just so!
或者我如何向我的爱人发出信号,在空中深情地向她挥手,
Or how I might signal to my lover, wave fondly to her through the air,
10抬起我的毛发,挠挠她的嘴,从她的嘴唇上掸掉一小块碎屑。
10lift my fur to tickle her mouth, dash a small crumb off her lips.
在午夜的小巷里,我雪白的下体像一把弹簧刀一样闪闪发光,我们
In a midnight alley, flashing my snowy underside like a switchblade, we’d
冲刺穿过灌木丛。
sprint through underbrush.
假如我有尾巴,我就会像彗星一样闪闪发光,徘徊不去,追寻
Had I a tail, I would be luminous and lingering as a comet, who traces the
星夜,省略号破碎……
starry night with a broken ellipsis …
***
***
15我记得小时候,木工水平仪里面有一个绿色的小气泡,
15As a kid, I remember the small green bubble inside the carpenter’s level,
它如何从一个角落飞到另一个角落,
How it would dart from corner to corner,
跨坐在棚子后面的锯木架上,半个身子,感觉真好。
And how good it felt to straddle the sawhorse, out behind the shed, half
假小子,半人马,
tomboy, half centaur,
我如何用大腿骨夹住一块二乘四的木头,它是我身体的一部分。
How I clenched a two-by-four between my thighbones and it was part of me.
20一窝黄蜂从碎片下面冒出来,忘记了
20 A nest of yellow jackets rose from beneath the splinters and, forgetting
如何移动,如何哭泣,如何奔跑,
how to move, how to cry, how to run,
我让它们蜇了又蜇,蜇了十一次,在我的身上留下了肿块
I let them sting and sting and sting, eleven times, leaving swells on my
手臂、颈部、腿部、脚部和肩膀。
arms, neck, legs, feet, and shoulders.
***
***
啊,零件之王,啊,神圣的工具棚!
O Lord of Parts, O Holy Tool Shed!
二十五当我从疼痛的骨头中站起来时,
25When I rise from these sore bones,
看看你带走了什么,又给我留下了什么——
Look what you’ve taken, what you’ve left me —
[2017]
[2017]
[生于 1979 年]
[b. 1979]
没有令人困惑的医生和士兵
There’s no confusing docs and soldiers in
沃尔特里德医院的健身中心。
The fitness center here at Walter Reed.
黑色的袜子和运动鞋,白皙的外衣,凸起的膝盖,
Black socks and sneakers, whitecoat-pale, knob-kneed,
我观看他们的比赛,然后点头并移动球柱
I watch their sets, then nod and move the pin
5六个位置重新回到人类范围。
5Six slots back up into the human range.
这个叫军事新闻社。
This one is called the military press.
它锻炼三角肌,所以这些 Atlases
It works the deltoids so these Atlases
能够肩负世界重任,并将其转变为变革。
Can shoulder worlds and raise them into change.
我揉了揉肩膀的刺痛感,我的第一组练习结束了。
I rub a shoulder’s twinge, my first set done.
10附近跑步机发出呜呜声。
10A treadmill dials to a whine nearby.
一名身高六尺七寸的士兵踏着欢快的步伐奔跑。
A soldier, six feet seven, thumps his run.
我不知道我为什么盯着看。一瞬间,
I don’t know why I stare. A moment’s lag,
然后我看到了皱巴巴的袖子
And then I see the shriveled sleeve that lies
他降半旗,如同一面悲伤的旗帜。
At half-mast by him, like a grieving flag.
[2010]
[2010]
[生于 1980 年]
[b. 1980]
— 在迪拜国际机场,以 César Vallejo 的一句话结束
— at Dubai International Airport and ending with a line by César Vallejo
因为我必须走路
Because I must walk
通过眼形
through the eye-shaped
这些投射的阴影
shadows cast by these
弯曲的金叶厚
curved gold leaves thick
5在每个建造的
5atop each constructed
棕榈树,过去的展示
palm tree, past displays
丝巾,点亮
of silk scarves, lit
蓝瓶的轮廓
silhouettes of blue-bottled
香水 — 因为
perfume — because
10我紧紧握住,仿佛第一次
10I grip, as though for the first
时间,一个纸袋
time, a paper bag
麦当劳的炸薯条,
of french fries from McDonald’s,
舔舐每一根指尖,
and lick, from each fingertip,
我独自站立时的脂肪和盐
the fat and salt as I stand alone
15在这个移动的
15to the side of this moving
走道带我滑过黑暗——
walkway gliding me past dark-
不看眼睛的男人
eyed men who do not look
当我直视时
away when I stare squarely
回来——因为站着
back — because standing
20排队去洗手间
20in line to the restroom I want
只能从她身上汲取
only to pluck from her
黑色毛衣,这件闪闪发光
black sweater this one shimmering
金发紧紧贴着——
blond hair clinging fast —
因为我必须把可乐放凉
because I must rest the Coke, cold
二十五在我手中,除此之外
25in my hand, beside this
马桶座圈被她的大腿加热,
toilet seat warmed by her thighs,
她的大腿和她的。
her thighs, and hers.
这里,在狭窄的河口
Here, at the narrow mouth
这种漫长而潮湿的
of this long, humid
三十通往飞机的走廊,
30corridor leading to the plane,
我占据了
I take my place among
这群阴暗潮湿的人
this damp, dark horde of men
和我一样的女人——
and women who look like me —
因为我长得像他们——
because I look like them —
三十五因为我感到羞愧
35because I am ashamed
他们的身体散发着恶臭
of their bodies that reek so
毫不掩饰地身体——
unabashedly of body —
因为我可以 — 因为我是
because I can — because I am
一个美国人,一个明星
an American, a star
40肌肉表面的血液。
40of blood on the surface of muscle.
[2014]
[2014]
[生于 1982 年]
[b. 1982]
强奸笑话是说你当时 19 岁。
The rape joke is that you were 19 years old.
这个强奸笑话就是说他是你的男朋友。
The rape joke is that he was your boyfriend.
那个强奸笑话讲的是留着山羊胡。山羊胡。
The rape joke it wore a goatee. A goatee.
想象一下,强奸笑话照镜子,完美地反射出自己,并将自己打扮得更像强奸笑话。“啊啊啊,”它想。“是的。山羊胡子。”
Imagine the rape joke looking in the mirror, perfectly reflecting back itself, and grooming itself to look more like a rape joke. “Ahhhh,” it thinks. “Yes. A goatee.”
5无意冒犯。
5No offense.
强奸笑话是说他比你大七岁。强奸笑话是说你认识他很多年了,因为你太小了,他无法对你产生兴趣。你喜欢用“有趣”这个词,就好像你是一条知识,有人会拼命地想要获得、吸收,然后从他那长着山羊胡子的嘴里以不同的形式吐出来。
The rape joke is that he was seven years older. The rape joke is that you had known him for years, since you were too young to be interesting to him. You liked that use of the word interesting, as if you were a piece of knowledge that someone could be desperate to acquire, to assimilate, and to spit back out in different form through his goateed mouth.
然后你突然就老了,但是一点也不老。
Then suddenly you were older, but not very old at all.
强奸笑话是说你喝了葡萄酒。葡萄酒!谁喝葡萄酒?根据强奸笑话,那些被强奸的人。
The rape joke is that you had been drinking wine coolers. Wine coolers! Who drinks wine coolers? People who get raped, according to the rape joke.
关于强奸的笑话是,他是一名保镖,以阻止别人进入为生。
The rape joke is he was a bouncer, and kept people out for a living.
10不是你!
10Not you!
关于强奸的笑话是,他随身携带一把刀,并会向你展示它,并会像一本书一样在手中反复翻转它。
The rape joke is that he carried a knife, and would show it to you, and would turn it over and over in his hands as if it were a book.
他并没有威胁你,你明白的。他只是真的很喜欢他的刀。
He wasn’t threatening you, you understood. He just really liked his knife.
关于强奸的笑话是,他曾经差点把一个男人扔出玻璃窗,害死他。第二天他告诉你的时候浑身发抖,你认为这是他敏感的证据。
The rape joke is he once almost murdered a dude by throwing him through a plate-glass window. The next day he told you and he was trembling, which you took as evidence of his sensitivity.
知识怎么会愚蠢呢?但你当然很愚蠢。
How can a piece of knowledge be stupid? But of course you were so stupid.
15关于强奸的笑话是,有时他会告诉你要去约会,然后带你去他最好的朋友 Peewee 家,让你看摔跤,而他们都兴奋不已。
15The rape joke is that sometimes he would tell you you were going on a date and then take you over to his best friend Peewee’s house and make you watch wrestling while they all got high.
这个强奸笑话是说他最好的朋友名叫 Peewee。
The rape joke is that his best friend was named Peewee.
好吧,这个强奸笑话就是说他崇拜巨石强森。
OK, the rape joke is that he worshiped The Rock.
就好像这个家伙完全爱上了 The Rock。他认为他能用眉毛做出来的东西真是太棒了。
Like the dude was completely in love with The Rock. He thought it was so great what he could do with his eyebrow.
关于强奸的笑话是,他称摔跤为“男人的肥皂剧”。他向你保证,男人也喜欢戏剧。
The rape joke is he called wrestling “a soap opera for men.” Men love drama too, he assured you.
20强奸笑话是,他的书架上只有一排关于连环杀手的平装书。你误以为这是对历史的兴趣,出于这种误解,你曾送给他一本君特·格拉斯的《我的世纪》,但他从未尝试阅读。
20The rape joke is that his bookshelf was just a row of paperbacks about serial killers. You mistook this for an interest in history, and laboring under this misapprehension you once gave him a copy of Günter Grass’s My Century, which he never even tried to read.
它变得更加有趣。
It gets funnier.
关于强奸的笑话是他写了一本日记。我不知道他是否在日记里写了强奸的事情。
The rape joke is that he kept a diary. I wonder if he wrote about the rape in it.
强奸笑话是,你读过一次,他谈到了另一个女孩。他称她为地理小姐,并说“他再也不会在看着她时产生那些冲动了”,自从他遇见你之后就没有了。地理小姐,太危险了!
The rape joke is that you read it once, and he talked about another girl. He called her Miss Geography, and said “he didn’t have those urges when he looked at her anymore,” not since he met you. Close call, Miss Geography!
强奸笑话说他是你父亲的高中学生——你父亲教世界宗教。你帮他在年底清理教室,他让你把最破旧的教科书带回家。
The rape joke is that he was your father’s high-school student — your father taught World Religion. You helped him clean out his classroom at the end of the year, and he let you take home the most beat-up textbooks.
二十五强奸笑话是,他认识你的时候你才 12 岁。他曾经帮助你的家人搬到了两个州之外,你们俩单独从辛辛那提开车到圣路易斯,他对你很好,一路上你们都在聊天。他嘴里一直含着口香糖,你告诉他他很恶心,他笑了,把口香糖从山羊胡子里吐到了 Mountain Dew 瓶子里。
25The rape joke is that he knew you when you were 12 years old. He once helped your family move two states over, and you drove from Cincinnati to St. Louis with him, all by yourselves, and he was kind to you, and you talked the whole way. He had chaw in his mouth the entire time, and you told him he was disgusting and he laughed, and spat the juice through his goatee into a Mountain Dew bottle.
强奸笑话就是这样,你应该早就料到。这个强奸笑话几乎是自成一派的。
The rape joke is that come on, you should have seen it coming. This rape joke is practically writing itself.
强奸笑话是你脸朝下。强奸笑话是你戴着你姐姐为你做的漂亮的绿色项链。后来你把那条项链剪断了。床垫有一种特殊的感觉,你的嘴巴也有一种特殊的张开的感觉,就像你在说话,但你知道你没有。就好像你的嘴在十年后张开,背诵一首名为“强奸笑话”的诗。
The rape joke is that you were facedown. The rape joke is you were wearing a pretty green necklace that your sister had made for you. Later you cut that necklace up. The mattress felt a specific way, and your mouth felt a specific way open against it, as if you were speaking, but you know you were not. As if your mouth were open ten years into the future, reciting a poem called Rape Joke.
强奸笑话是,时间变得不同了,变得更加可怕,也更加适合居住,并且满足你更深入地了解它的需要。
The rape joke is that time is different, becomes more horrible and more habitable, and accommodates your need to go deeper into it.
就像身体一样,它不只是一种具体的形式,更是一种能力。
Just like the body, which more than a concrete form is a capacity.
三十你知道时间的身体是有弹性的,几乎可以承受你给予的任何东西,并且可以快速治愈。
30You know the body of time is elastic, can take almost anything you give it, and heals quickly.
这个强奸笑话当然是有血的,因为人类的血离皮肤表面很近。
The rape joke is that of course there was blood, which in human beings is so close to the surface.
关于强奸的笑话就是你回家像什么事都没发生过一样,第二天和第三天都笑这件事,当你告诉别人你也笑了,这就是关于强奸的笑话。
The rape joke is you went home like nothing happened, and laughed about it the next day and the day after that, and when you told people you laughed, and that was the rape joke.
一年后你才告诉你的父母,因为他对他们来说就像儿子一样。强奸笑话是这样的,当你告诉你父亲时,他在你身上画了个十字,说:“我以圣父、圣子、圣灵的名义赦免你的罪过”,即使这句话完全是错误的,却非常甜蜜。
It was a year before you told your parents, because he was like a son to them. The rape joke is that when you told your father, he made the sign of the cross over you and said, “I absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” which even in its total wrongheadedness, was so completely sweet.
强奸笑话是说你在接下来的五年里都疯了,不得不搬去别的城市,不得不搬去别的州,整天都沉浸在思考为什么会发生这种事的深渊中。就像你去看你的后院,突然它就不见了,你低头看着地球的中心,那里永远播放着同样的红色事件。
The rape joke is that you were crazy for the next five years, and had to move cities, and had to move states, and whole days went down into the sinkhole of thinking about why it happened. Like you went to look at your backyard and suddenly it wasn’t there, and you were looking down into the center of the earth, which played the same red event perpetually.
三十五强奸笑话是,过了一段时间后你就不再疯狂了,但还是很危险,地理小姐。
35The rape joke is that after a while you weren’t crazy anymore, but close call, Miss Geography.
这个强奸笑话是说,在接下来的五年里,你所做的就是写作,从不写关于你自己或任何其他的东西,关于树上的苹果、关于岛屿、死去的诗人和给它们充气的虫子,你写的东西里没有温暖的身体,它在别处。
The rape joke is that for the next five years all you did was write, and never about yourself, about anything else, about apples on the tree, about islands, dead poets and the worms that aerated them, and there was no warm body in what you wrote, it was elsewhere.
强奸笑话是,这终于是毫无艺术感了。强奸笑话是,你写得一点也不毫无艺术感。
The rape joke is that this is finally artless. The rape joke is that you do not write artlessly.
强奸笑话就是,如果你写了一首名为“强奸笑话”的诗,你就希望它成为人们对你唯一记住的东西。
The rape joke is if you write a poem called Rape Joke, you’re asking for it to become the only thing people remember about you.
强奸笑话是你问他为什么这么做。强奸笑话是他说他不知道,强奸笑话还能说什么呢?强奸笑话说你才是喝醉的人,强奸笑话说你记错了,这让你笑出声来,一秒钟都没停。酒柜不是 Bartles & Jaymes,但如果是的话,强奸笑话会更有趣。那是某种阴部口味,比如激情芒果或毁坏草莓,你在俄亥俄州辛辛那提市中心毫不犹豫地、满怀信任地喝了下去。
The rape joke is that you asked why he did it. The rape joke is he said he didn’t know, like what else would a rape joke say? The rape joke said YOU were the one who was drunk, and the rape joke said you remembered it wrong, which made you laugh out loud for one long split-open second. The wine coolers weren’t Bartles & Jaymes, but it would be funnier for the rape joke if they were. It was some pussy flavor, like Passionate Mango or Destroyed Strawberry, which you drank down without question and trustingly in the heart of Cincinnati Ohio.
40问题在于强奸笑话到底好笑吗。
40Can rape jokes be funny at all, is the question.
强奸笑话中有什么部分是好笑的吗?结尾的部分——哈哈,开玩笑的!虽然你多年来一直梦想着消灭强奸笑话,让它血流成河,然后以这种方式讲述它。
Can any part of the rape joke be funny. The part where it ends — haha, just kidding! Though you did dream of killing the rape joke for years, spilling all of its blood out, and telling it that way.
强奸笑话呼唤着被告知的权利。
The rape joke cries out for the right to be told.
这个强奸笑话就是说事情就是这样发生的。
The rape joke is that this is just how it happened.
强奸笑话是第二天他给了你《宠物之声》。不,真的。是《宠物之声》。他说他很抱歉,然后给了你《宠物之声》。拜托,这有点搞笑。
The rape joke is that the next day he gave you Pet Sounds. No really. Pet Sounds. He said he was sorry and then he gave you Pet Sounds. Come on, that’s a little bit funny.
四十五承認吧。
45Admit it.
[2013]
[2013]
[生于 1982 年]
[b. 1982]
他只是个吸毒者,
He was just some coked-out,
牙齿歪斜的疯狂国王
crazed King w/crooked teeth
一滴永远落下的泪水,
& a tear drop forever falling,
从他的左眼里消失,兜售
fading from his left eye, peddling
5向乘客或吸毒者提供毒品
5crack to passengers or crackheads
乘火车过客
passing as passengers on a train
从芝加哥开往西塞罗,
chugging from Chicago to Cicero,
从环线穿过 K-Town:
from the Loop through K-Town:
Kedzie,Kostner,基尔代尔。
Kedzie, Kostner, Kildare.
10我只是一个身穿棕色衬衫的棕色男孩,
10I was just a brown boy in a brown shirt,
剃光头,下巴上留着绒毛,
head shaven w/fuzz on my chin,
凝视树梢和屋顶
staring at treetops & rooftops
穿着一条米色短裤:
seated in a pair of beige shorts:
可能性的徽章——兔子
a badge of possibility — a Bunny
15从26街放开,
15let loose from 26th street,
一路蹦蹦跳跳地回家,希望
hopping my way home, hoping
为了不被击中,一站又一站。
not to get shot, stop after stop.
但我不是一个好人,他也不是
But a ’banger I wasn’t & he wasn’t
买了它,坐在我对面的过道上:
buying it, sat across the aisle from me:
20你吸食快克毒品吗?
20Do you smoke crack?
嘿,你和谁一起骑车?
Hey, who you ride wit’?
你是 D' 吗?
Are you a D’?
让我看看——那就把它扔下来。
Let me see — throw it down then.
我犹豫了一下然后把三根手指叉下来
I hesitate then fork three fingers down
二十五然后吹嘘我的街区,
25then boast about my block,
国王成长树上的一个新枝;
a recent branch in the Kings growing tree;
我说的是15和51街的男孩们,
the boys of 15th and 51st, I say,
他们是我的孩子,我的朋友。
they’re my boys, my friends.
我是为了生存而钓鱼——
I was fishing for a life-
三十救星和他拿走了,把他钩住了
30saver & he took, hooked him in
让他像我们两个孩子一样说再见
& had him say goodbye like we was boys
而实际上我应该
& shit when really I should’ve
用小费毁了那个他妈的
gutted that fuck w/the tip
我的蓝色圆珠笔。
of my blue ballpoint.
[2018]
[2018]
[生于 1988 年]
[b. 1988]
南越,1975 年 4 月 29 日:武装部队电台播放欧文·柏林的“白色圣诞节”,作为启动“常风行动”的密码,该行动是西贡沦陷期间使用直升机彻底撤离美国平民和越南难民的行动。
South Vietnam, April 29, 1975: Armed Forces Radio played Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” as a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind, the ultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon.
街道上的乳花花瓣
Milkflower petals on the street
就像女孩的衣服碎片。
like pieces of a girl’s dress.
祝你的日子快乐又明亮……
May your days be merry and bright…
他倒满香槟酒的茶杯,送到她的唇边。
He fills a teacup with champagne, brings it to her lips.
5 “开放,”他说。
5 Open, he says.
她打开了。
She opens.
外面,一名士兵吐出
Outside, a soldier spits out
他的香烟就像脚步声
his cigarette as footsteps
像从天上掉下来的石头一样填满广场。愿所有
fill the square like stones fallen from the sky. May all
10 你的圣诞节将是白色的,就像交通警卫一样
10 your Christmases be white as the traffic guard
解开他的枪套。
unstraps his holster.
他的手拉着衣摆
His hand running the hem
她的白色连衣裙。
of her white dress.
他的黑眼睛。
His black eyes.
15她的黑头发。
15Her black hair.
一支蜡烛。
A single candle.
它们的影子:两根灯芯。
Their shadows: two wicks.
一辆军用卡车飞驰过十字路口,孩子们的叫声
A military truck speeds through the intersection, the sound of children
里面传来尖叫声。一辆自行车被撞飞
shrieking inside. A bicycle hurled
20透过商店的窗户。当尘土飞扬时,一只黑狗
20through a store window. When the dust rises, a black dog
躺在路上,喘着气。它的后腿
lies in the road, panting. Its hind legs
粉碎成光芒
crushed into the shine
白色圣诞节。
of a white Christmas.
床头柜上,一枝木兰枝像听到的秘密一样展开
On the nightstand, a sprig of magnolia expands like a secret heard
二十五 首次。
25 for the first time.
树梢闪闪发光,孩子们倾听,警察局长
The treetops glisten and children listen, the chief of police
脸朝下浸在一滩可口可乐里。
facedown in a pool of Coca-Cola.
一张手掌大小的照片,照片上的父亲正在浸泡
A palm-sized photo of his father soaking
在他的左耳旁边。
beside his left ear.
三十这首歌像寡妇一样在城市里流传。
30The song moving through the city like a widow.
白色……白色……我梦见一片雪幕
A white … A white … I’m dreaming of a curtain of snow
从她的肩上落下来。
falling from her shoulders.
雪花拍打在窗户上,发出噼啪声。雪花被撕碎
Snow crackling against the window. Snow shredded
枪声响起。红色天空。
with gunfire. Red sky.
三十五 雪落在城墙上滚过的坦克上。
35 Snow on the tanks rolling over the city walls.
一架直升机将生命体吊离触及不到的地方。
A helicopter lifting the living just out of reach.
这座城市如此洁白,仿佛可以用墨水来描绘。
The city so white it is ready for ink.
收音机里传来跑跑跑的声音。
The radio saying run run run.
黑狗身上的乳花花瓣
Milkflower petals on a black dog
40 就像女孩的衣服碎片。
40 like pieces of a girl’s dress.
祝你的日子快乐又明亮。她说
May your days be merry and bright. She is saying
他们俩都听不到。酒店很棒
something neither of them can hear. The hotel rocks
在他们的下面。床是一片冰原
beneath them. The bed a field of ice
破裂。
cracking.
四十五他说,不用担心,因为第一颗炸弹变亮了
45Don’t worry, he says, as the first bomb brightens
他们的脸上,我的兄弟们赢得了战争
their faces, my brothers have won the war
明天……
and tomorrow…
灯灭了。
The lights go out.
我在做梦。我在做梦……
I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming …
50 听到雪地里的雪橇铃声……
50 to hear sleigh bells in the snow …
下面的广场上:一名修女,着火了,
In the square below: a nun, on fire,
默默地奔向她的神——
runs silently toward her god —
“开放,”他说。
Open, he says.
她打开了。
She opens.
[2014]
[2014]
[生于 1989 年]
[b. 1989]
你在车里哭泣并感到惊讶
You’re in a car and crying and amazed
做坏事的感觉有多糟糕。然后
at how bad it feels to do bad things. Then
你在酒店浴室里,满身是血
you’re in a hotel bathroom with blood
你的内衣上还有一股太-
on your undershirt and the smell of a too-
5外面有氯化池。你知道
5chlorinated pool outside. You know
向神祈祷的一百种方式
one hundred ways to pray to the gods
在那水底下荡漾。坦白,纠缠,
rippling beneath that water. Confess, tangle,
穿过。一旦你的房间变暗
pass through. Once your room is dark
他们进来的时候浑身湿透。当你展示
they come inside, dripping wet. When you show
10手臂上的烧伤处,
10them the burnt place on your arm,
他们向你展示被切开的肉条
they show you the bands of flesh cut
从他们的大腿上。你吮吸他们的舌头,
from their thighs. You suck their tongues,
追踪它们翅膀下的水泡。它们很幸运,
trace the blisters under their wings. It’s so lucky,
这永生的瞬间。当你转身
this living forever all at once. When you turn
15在灯光下,你伤心欲绝
15on the lights, you’re inconsolably
很高兴。你可以随时停止,但是为什么呢?
glad. You could stop this whenever, but why?
[2017]
[2017]
[生于 1989 年]
[b. 1989]
1979 年 2 月 7 日,冥王星越过海王星轨道,成为二十年来距太阳第八远的行星。1988 年的一项研究表明,冥王星的轨道永远无法准确预测。冥王星被贴上“混乱”的标签,后来于 2006 年被取消行星地位。
On February 7, 1979, Pluto crossed over Neptune’s orbit and became the eighth planet from the sun for twenty years. A study in 1988 determined that Pluto’s path of orbit could never be accurately predicted. Labeled as “chaotic,” Pluto was later discredited from planet status in 2006.
今天,我破坏了你的太阳系。哎呀。
Today, I broke your solar system. Oops.
我的错。你的图表说我应该
My bad. Your graph said I was supposed
围绕太阳形成一个漂亮的小圆圈。
to make a nice little loop around the sun.
不。
Naw.
5我像个混蛋一样混乱。没有人能
5I chaos like a motherfucker. Ain’t no one can
绘制我的图表。他们认为所有其他行星
chart me. All the other planets, they think
我很烦人。他们认为我是逃犯
I’m annoying. They think I’m an escaped
月亮,自由奔跑。
moon, running free.
去你的月亮。去你的太阳系。
Fuck your moon. Fuck your solar system.
10操你的时间。你的年份?你的年份不是
10Fuck your time. Your year? Your year ain’t
对我来说不过是一天。我可以花你的
shit but a day to me. I could spend your
整年都在床上转动风。思考
whole year turning the winds in my bed. Thinking
关于光环以及木星应该如何退缩
about rings and how Jupiter should just pussy
现在就来嫁给我吧。你今天过得好吗?
on up and marry me by now. Your day?
15那真是太愚蠢了。抽泣。你的一整天
15That’s an asswipe. A sniffle. Your whole day
我的日落才刚刚开始。
is barely the start of my sunset.
我的名字意味着地狱,婊子。我就是地狱,婊子。所有的寒冷
My name means hell, bitch. I am hell, bitch. All the cold
你还没有感受到。混乱得像个混蛋。
you have yet to feel. Chaos like a motherfucker.
你还试图命令我。把我称为第九个。
And you tried to order me. Called me ninth.
20在一堆乱糟糟的图表、数学和指南针中
20Somewhere in the mess of graphs and math and compass
你试图让我遵守规则。规则?去你的
you tried to make me follow rules. Rules? Fuck your
规则。海王星,那个慢吞吞的婊子。而我值得拥有所有的阳光
rules. Neptune, that bitch slow. And I deserve all the sun
我可以得到,我想要的所有蓝金色的天空都在我身边。
I can get, and all the blue-gold sky I want around me.
这是 1979 年 2 月 7 日,我的皮肤更加
It is February 7th, 1979 and my skin is more
二十五铜的含量比任何天空都多。金属含量更高。
25copper than any sky will ever be. More metal.
海王星在我的后视镜里哭泣,
Neptune is bitch-sobbing in my rearview,
我穿上跑鞋,整片天空都属于我。
and I got my running shoes on and all this sky that’s all mine.
操你的秩序。操你的时间。我重新调整了宇宙。
Fuck your order. Fuck your time. I realigned the cosmos.
我把你们还没有感受到的地狱都弄得一团糟。现在你们所有的孩子
I chaosed all the hell you have yet to feel. Now all your kids
三十在教室里,他们感到困惑。他们所有的时钟:
30in the classrooms, they confused. All their clocks:
错了。他们根本就不知道该做什么。
wrong. They don’t even know what the fuck to do.
他们必须记住新歌和其他东西。其他的
They gotta memorize new songs and shit. And the other
行星,我破坏了它们的轨道。我摇晃天空。混乱就像
planets, I fucked their orbits. I shook the sky. Chaos like
一个混蛋。
a motherfucker.
三十五这是 1979 年 2 月 7 日。天空是蓝金色的:
35It is February 7th, 1979. The sky is blue-gold:
可能性的自由。
the freedom of possibility.
今天,我破坏了你的太阳系。哎呀。我的错。
Today, I broke your solar system. Oops. My bad.
[2015]
[2015]
[生于 1989 年]
[b. 1989]
[2014]
[2014]
[生于 1990 年]
[b. 1990]
萨尔瓦多,如果我在夏天回来,我的拇指会很潮湿
Salvador, if I return on a summer day, so humid my thumb
会洗去你胡子上的盐分,如果我触摸你火山般的脸,
will clean your beard of salt, and if I touch your volcanic face,
亲吻你那浮石般的呼吸,请不要让警察说:他是黑帮。
kiss your pumice breath, please don’t let cops say: he’s gangster.
不要让歹徒说:他错了。你的贫民窟
Don’t let gangsters say: he’s wrong barrio. Your barrios
5用花粉玷污你。每天警察和歹徒都会找你的麻烦
5stain you with pollen. Every day cops and gangsters pick at you
有着金属喙的总统,有罪。
with their metallic beaks, and presidents, guilty.
爸爸发誓他永远不会回来,妈妈想见她的妈妈,
Dad swears he’ll never return, Mom wants to see her mom,
新闻里说:黑色袋子,越来越多的人离开了。
and in the news: black bags, more and more of us leave.
家长说:别去,你有纹身。这是法律,你不知道
Parents say: don’t go; you have tattoos. It’s the law; you don’t know
10法律在那里意味着什么。但他们知道什么?我们不知道
10what law means there. ¿But what do they know? We don’t
有绿卡。祖父母说:这里什么事都没有发生。
have greencards. Grandparents say: nothing happens here.
表哥说:“这里更糟糕。别来,你可能会……
Cousin says: here, it’s worse. Don’t come, you could be…
愚蠢的萨尔瓦多,你看我们的黑色袋子,我们空荡荡的家,
Stupid Salvador, you see our black bags, our empty homes,
我们害怕说:战争从未停止,而你仍然在撒谎
our fear to say: the war has never stopped, and still you lie
15然后说:我很好,我很好,但如果我不给阿布埃利塔梳头发,
15and say: I’m fine, I’m fine, but if I don’t brush Abuelita’s hair,
洗她的锅碗瓢盆,我哭了。今晚,我多么希望
wash her pots and pans, I cry. Tonight, how I wish
你让我更容易爱你,萨尔瓦多。让我更容易
you made it easier to love you, Salvador. Make it easier
永远不需要冒着生命危险。
to never have to risk our lives.
[2017]
[2017]
[生于 1993 年]
[b. 1993]
哈佛自然历史博物馆布拉施卡玻璃植物模型收藏
The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, Harvard Museum of Natural History
卵巢张开时类似于
The ovaries, when splayed, resemble
切片西红柿。或者玫瑰窗,
sliced tomatoes. Or rose windows,
每个几何形状都足够精确
each geometry precise enough
赞美。我想用舌头
to praise. I want to press my tongue
5对抗血根花瓣,奔跑
5against the bloodroot petal, to run
它的雄蕊沿着我光滑的架子
its stamen along my slick shelf of
牙齿就像人用小麦秸秆一样。
teeth like a man might with a wheat stalk.
到目前为止有四次其他游客
Four times so far other tourists
把我带到了画廊
have taken me for a gallery
10 服务员。玻璃杯中,缓慢地
10 attendant. In the glass, a slow-
悄悄蔓延的深红色覆盖在我的身上
sidling crimson spreads over my own
扭曲的反思:犹豫不决
skewed reflection: a hesitant
穿着哈佛连帽衫的青少年,第五个,
teen in a Harvard hoodie, the fifth,
倾身问道,“先生,请问有什么事吗?”
leans in to ask, Excuse me, sir?
15它们真的是玻璃吗? ——一份遗言
15Are they really glass? — a testament
我的活页夹如何包裹
to how my binder encases
我的胸怀,我对紫杉果实的信仰——
my breasts, my faith in the plum yew’s fruit-
疯狂的剪发。密集的簇拥
shorn frenzy. Dense clusters teeming
各有各的花,任何
with their separate blossoms, any
20 不知情的人可能会认为它们是
20 unknowing eye might think they were
活着。但我知道紫丁香花在诉说:
living. But I know the lilac’s tell:
两个瑕疵,有些是球状的
two blemishes, bulbous where some
热玻璃滴落,然后永远被捕获
hot glass mis-dripped, then caught forever
在灯丝中。有时,我认为
in the filament. Sometimes, I think
二十五我醒来发现他们终于
25I’ll wake to find they’ve finally
夜里,我身上滴落下来,汇聚成
trickled off me in the night, pooled
熔化在床上并聚集
molten down the bed and gathered
回来。我可能会打掉两个乳房
back again. I might thrash off both breasts
失眠发作,或者可能展开
in a sleepless fit, or could unfurl
三十 我的阴蒂就像一个花粉篮一样过去了
30 my clit like a pollen basket passed
来自蜜蜂的后腿
from a honeybee’s hind legs
到蜂巢。它把秘密
to the hive. It makes its secret
见过。我只能回答是的。是的,
seen. I can only answer yes. Yes,
它们是真的。我是说,它们真的是玻璃。
They’re real. I mean, they’re really glass.
三十五你可以用手指折断茎
35You could snap a stem between fingers
只需轻轻一眨眼——
with such a slight force, one stark blink —
画廊里飞来飞去的苍蝇都会害怕
the flies flitting the gallery would fear
自身落地的重量,
the weight of their own landing,
厚厚的翅膀仍然全神贯注。当公众,
thick wings rapt still. When the public,
40 在他们惊恐万分之中,
40 in their distressed astonishment,
要求知道 Blaschkas 一家
demanded to know how the Blaschkas
运输模型时无需
transported the models without
即使一枚雌蕊断裂,
a fracture in even one pistil,
Leopold Blaschka 透露了自己的
Leopold Blaschka revealed his own
四十五精细工序:包装每一个
45elaborate process: pack each
花朵紧紧地包裹在纸板里
flower tightly in its cardboard
支架,然后用坚固的电线绑住
cradle, then strap them down with strong wire
限制运动,最后设置每一个,
to restrict movement, and set each, at last,
在一个用粗麻布包裹的木箱里。
in a wooden box wrapped with burlap.
50 他们直接从曼哈顿开车送他们
50 They drove them straight from Manhattan
两辆灵车。当然,司机
in two hearses. The drivers, of course,
穿着黑色西装。围观者分开
wore black suits. Onlookers parted
让他们的小游行队伍过去。
to allow their small procession past.
我喜欢这里,和大家在一起
I like it here, with everyone
55专注于花朵。弯腰、跪下,
55focused on the flowers. Hunched, kneeling,
仿佛还在怀疑,
as if suspicious, still doubting,
青少年注视着两朵小小的百日草,
the teen eyes two tiny zinnias,
然后转向另一个案件。
then moves on to another case.
我见过许多人不满意地离开。
I’ve seen many leave unsatisfied.
60 他们无法忍受被分割——
60 They can’t bear to be partitioned —
我怎么能责怪他们呢?有人做了这些
how can I blame them? Someone made these
用他们的身体。他们让他们的呼吸
with their body. They let their breath
解开形成每一个不可能
unspool to form each impossible
花蕾,精心雕琢每一朵花的褶皱,
bud, crafted every flower’s fold,
65然后等待热度消退
65then waited on the heat to break to
戴上特制的手套,只拿一个。
hold just one, wearing special gloves.
难道没有人希望只撒一个谎吗
Wouldn’t anyone wish for just one lie
在如此精确的花园中?
among a garden this precise?
一朵雏菊被秘密换掉,
One daisy swapped out in secret, switched
70 用一种常见的庭院花,
70 with a common courtyard flower,
现在等待有人注意到
now waiting for someone to notice
它的枯萎,而它的同类则保持
its wilt while its counterparts keep
所有的闪闪发光。在我看来
all their glisten. It does seem to me
真正的惩罚:永远不会改变。
true punishment: never to change.
75永远不退缩。有时,近
75Unflinching forever. Sometimes, near
结束时,大厅安静下来,
closing, when the hall becomes quiet,
我确实相信它们是真实的。
I really do believe they’re real.
[2018]
[2018]
[生于不详]
[b. unknown]
在此,这句话将得到尊重。
Here, the sentence will be respected.
我会小心地撰写每个句子,并遵守写作规则。
I will compose each sentence with care, by minding what the rules of writing dictate.
例如,所有句子都以大写字母开头。
For example, all sentences will begin with capital letters.
5同样,通过在每个句子的末尾添加适当的标点符号(例如句号或问号),可以使想法(暂时)完成,从而尊重句子的历史。
5Likewise, the history of the sentence will be honored by ending each one with appropriate punctuation such as a period or question mark, thus bringing the idea to (momentary) completion.
你可能想知道,我并不认为这是一个“创意作品”。
You may like to know, I do not consider this a “creative piece.”
我并不认为这是一首充满想象力的诗,或是一部虚构的作品。
I do not regard this as a poem of great imagination or a work of fiction.
10此外,历史事件不会为了读起来“有趣”而被戏剧化。
10Also, historical events will not be dramatized for an “interesting” read.
因此,我感到自己对这个有序的句子、思想的传达者负有最大的责任。
Therefore, I feel most responsible to the orderly sentence; conveyor of thought.
话虽如此,我还是要开始了。
That said, I will begin.
您可能听说过或没听说过 Dakota 38。
You may or may not have heard about the Dakota 38.
15如果这是您第一次听说它,您可能会想,“Dakota 38 是什么?”
15If this is the first time you’ve heard of it, you might wonder, “What is the Dakota 38?”
达科他 38 人指的是根据亚伯拉罕·林肯总统的命令被绞死的 38 名达科他州男子。
The Dakota 38 refers to thirty-eight Dakota men who were executed by hanging, under orders from President Abraham Lincoln.
迄今为止,这是美国历史上最大规模的“合法”处决。
To date, this is the largest “legal” mass execution in US history.
20绞刑发生在 1862 年 12 月 26 日——圣诞节的第二天。
20The hanging took place on December 26, 1862 — the day after Christmas.
就在同一周,林肯总统签署了《解放黑奴宣言》。
This was the same week that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
在前面的句子中,我将“同一周”用斜体表示以强调。
In the preceding sentence, I italicize “same week” for emphasis.
有一部名为《林肯》的电影讲述了亚伯拉罕·林肯的总统任期。二十五
There was a movie titled Lincoln about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.25
电影《林肯》包含了签署《解放奴隶宣言》的场面,但没有包含绞死达科他 38 人的场面。
The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was included in the film Lincoln; the hanging of the Dakota 38 was not.
无论如何,你可能会问,“为什么要绞死三十八名达科他州男子?”
In any case, you might be asking, “Why were thirty-eight Dakota men hung?”
三十顺便提一下,hang 的过去式是hung,但是当指绞刑时,正确的过去式是hanged。
30As a side note, the past tense of hang is hung, but when referring to the capital punishment of hanging, the correct past tense is hanged.
所以你可能会问:“为什么要绞死三十八名达科他州男子?”
So it’s possible that you’re asking, “Why were thirty-eight Dakota men hanged?”
他们因苏族起义而被绞死。
They were hanged for the Sioux Uprising.
三十五我想告诉你有关苏族起义的事,但我不知道从哪里开始。
35I want to tell you about the Sioux Uprising, but I don’t know where to begin.
我可能会跳跃式地讲述,细节不会按照时间顺序展开。
I may jump around and details will not unfold in chronological order.
请记住,我不是历史学家。
Keep in mind, I am not a historian.
因此,在有限的资源和理解范围内,我将尽力叙述事实。40
So I will recount facts as best as I can, given limited resources and understanding.40
在明尼苏达州成为一个州之前,明尼苏达州地区一般来说是达科他人、阿尼希那贝格人和霍-丘克人的传统家园。
Before Minnesota was a state, the Minnesota region, generally speaking, was the traditional homeland for Dakota, Anishinaabeg, and Ho-Chunk people.
19 世纪,当美国扩张领土时,他们从达科他人和其他部落“购买”了土地。四十五
During the 1800s, when the US expanded territory, they “purchased” land from the Dakota people as well as the other tribes.45
但理解这种“购买”的另一种方式是:达科他州领导人将土地割让给美国政府以换取金钱或物品,但最重要的是,其人民的安全。
But another way to understand that sort of “purchase” is: Dakota leaders ceded land to the US government in exchange for money or goods, but most importantly, the safety of their people.
有人说,达科他州的领导人不了解他们所签订的条款,否则他们永远不会同意。50
Some say that Dakota leaders did not understand the terms they were entering, or they never would have agreed.50
甚至其他人都称整个谈判是“诡计”。
Even others call the entire negotiation “trickery.”
但为了使其具有官方性和约束力,美国政府起草了一份初步条约。
But to make whatever-it-was official and binding, the US government drew up an initial treaty.
该条约后来被另一项(更方便的)条约取代,然后又被另一项条约取代。55
This treaty was later replaced by another (more convenient) treaty, and then another.55
鉴于法律术语和国会语言,我很难解读这些条约的条款。
I’ve had difficulty unraveling the terms of these treaties, given the legal speak and congressional language.
随着条约相继被废除(破坏),新条约又相继起草,新条约往往引用已失效的旧条约,之路变得泥泞而曲折。60
As treaties were abrogated (broken) and new treaties were drafted, one after another, the new treaties often referenced old defunct treaties, and it is a muddy, switchback trail to follow.60
尽管我在这条路上常常感到迷失,但我知道我并不孤单。
Although I often feel lost on this trail, I know I am not alone.
然而,据我所知,1851 年,达科他领土被限制在明尼苏达河沿岸一块长 12 英里、宽 150 英里的狭长地带内。
However, as best as I can put the facts together, in 1851, Dakota territory was contained to a twelve-mile by one-hundred-fifty-mile long strip along the Minnesota River.
65但仅仅七年之后,即 1858 年,北部地区被割让(占领),南部地区被(方便地)分配,这使得达科他州的土地缩小为十英里见方的荒凉土地。
65But just seven years later, in 1858, the northern portion was ceded (taken) and the southern portion was (conveniently) allotted, which reduced Dakota land to a stark ten-mile tract.
这些被修订和废除的条约通常被称为《明尼苏达条约》。
These amended and broken treaties are often referred to as the Minnesota Treaties.
70明尼苏达州(Minnesota)一词源于mni,意为水;以及sota,意为浑浊。
70The word Minnesota comes from mni, which means water; and sota, which means turbid.
浑浊的同义词包括泥泞、不清澈、多云、混乱和烟雾缭绕。
Synonyms for turbid include muddy, unclear, cloudy, confused, and smoky.
一切都以我们使用的语言来表达。
Everything is in the language we use.
例如,条约本质上是两个主权国家之间的合同。75
For example, a treaty is, essentially, a contract between two sovereign nations.75
美国与达科他民族签订的条约是承诺金钱的合法合同。
The US treaties with the Dakota Nation were legal contracts that promised money.
可以说,这笔钱是达科他州割让土地的报酬;是居住在指定边界(保留地)的报酬;是放弃其广阔狩猎领地的权利的报酬,这反过来又使达科他州80人们依靠其他手段生存:金钱。
It could be said, this money was payment for the land the Dakota ceded; for living within assigned boundaries (a reservation); and for relinquishing rights to their vast hunting territory which, in turn, made Dakota80 people dependent on other means to survive: money.
前面这句话是循环的,与历史的很多方面类似。
The previous sentence is circular, akin to so many aspects of history.
您现在可能已经猜到了,这些混乱的条约中承诺的资金并没有落到达科他人的手中。
As you may have guessed by now, the money promised in the turbid treaties did not make it into the hands of Dakota people.
85此外,地方政府商人不会向“印第安人”提供信贷来购买食物或商品。
85In addition, local government traders would not offer credit to “Indians” to purchase food or goods.
由于没有钱、没有商店信用、也没有在十英里土地以外狩猎的权利,达科他州人民开始挨饿。
Without money, store credit, or rights to hunt beyond their ten-mile tract of land, Dakota people began to starve.
达科他人民正在挨饿。
The Dakota people were starving.
90达科他人遭受饥饿。
90The Dakota people starved.
在上面的句子中,“starved”这个词不需要用斜体来强调。
In the preceding sentence, the word “starved” does not need italics for emphasis.
我们应当将“达科他人挨饿”看作一个直截了当、直白的事实。
One should read “The Dakota people starved” as a straightforward and plainly stated fact.
95结果,达科他州人民除了继续挨饿别无选择,于是进行了报复。
95As a result — and without other options but to continue to starve — Dakota people retaliated.
达科他战士组织起来,击退并杀害了定居者和商人。
Dakota warriors organized, struck out, and killed settlers and traders.
这场起义被称为苏族起义。
This revolt is called the Sioux Uprising.
最终,美国骑兵来到明尼苏达州对抗起义。
Eventually, the US Cavalry came to Mnisota to confront the Uprising.
100超过一千名达科他人被送进监狱。
100More than one thousand Dakota people were sent to prison.
正如前面提到的,随后有 38 名达科他州男子被绞死。
As already mentioned, thirty-eight Dakota men were subsequently hanged.
绞刑之后,那一千名达科他囚犯被释放。
After the hanging, those one thousand Dakota prisoners were released.
然而,进一步的后果是,达科他领土在明尼苏达州的剩余部分105実散(失窃)。
However, as further consequence, what remained of Dakota territory in Mnisota was 105dissolved (stolen).
达科他人已无土地可归。
The Dakota people had no land to return to.
这意味着他们被流放了。
This means they were exiled.
无家可归的米尼苏达州达科他人被迁移(被迫)到南达科他州和内布拉斯加州的保留地。
Homeless, the Dakota people of Mnisota were relocated (forced) onto reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska.
110现在,每年都有一个名为“达科他 38 + 2 骑士”的团体从南达科他州的下布鲁尔到明尼苏达州的曼卡托进行纪念骑马活动。
110Now, every year, a group called the Dakota 38 + 2 Riders conduct a memorial horse ride from Lower Brule, South Dakota, to Mankato, Mnisota.
纪念骑士们骑马行进 325 英里,历时 18 天,有时还要经历零下的暴风雪。
The Memorial Riders travel 325 miles on horseback for eighteen days, sometimes through sub-zero blizzards.
他们于 12 月 26 日,也就是绞刑当天结束了旅程。
They conclude their journey on December 26, the day of the hanging.
115纪念馆可以帮助我们将记忆集中在特定的人或事件上。
115Memorials help focus our memory on particular people or events.
纪念碑通常以牌匾、雕像或墓碑的形式出现。
Often, memorials come in the forms of plaques, statues, or gravestones.
达科他 38 号的纪念碑不是一个刻有文字的物体,而是一种行为。
The memorial for the Dakota 38 is not an object inscribed with words, but an act.
然而,我开始写这篇文章是因为我对写草很感兴趣。
Yet, I started this piece because I was interested in writing about grasses.
120因此,还有另一个事件需要包括在内,尽管它不是按时间顺序排列的,而且我们必须稍微回顾一下。
120So, there is one other event to include, although it’s not in chronological order and we must backtrack a little.
您可能还记得,当达科他人民挨饿时,政府商人不会向“印第安人”提供商店信贷。
When the Dakota people were starving, as you may remember, government traders would not extend store credit to “Indians.”
一位名叫安德鲁·迈里克的商人因拒绝向达科他州人民提供信贷而闻名,他说:“如果他们饿了,就让他们吃125草。”
One trader named Andrew Myrick is famous for his refusal to provide credit to Dakota people by saying, “If they are hungry, let them eat 125grass.”
迈里克的话有多种版本,但大意都是这样的。
There are variations of Myrick’s words, but they are all something to that effect.
苏族起义期间,定居者和商人被杀害,最先被达科他州处决的人之一就是安德鲁·迈里克。130
When settlers and traders were killed during the Sioux Uprising, one of the first to be executed by the Dakota was Andrew Myrick.130
当麦里克的尸体被发现时,
When Myrick’s body was found,
他的嘴里塞满了草。
his mouth was stuffed with grass.
我倾向于将达科他勇士的这一行为称为一首诗。
I am inclined to call this act by the Dakota warriors a poem.
他们的诗中充满讽刺。
There’s irony in their poem.
135没有文字。
135There was no text.
“真正的”诗歌并不“真正”需要文字。
“Real” poems do not “really” require words.
我将上面的句子用斜体表示出来,以表明内心对话,这是一个揭示的时刻。
I have italicized the previous sentence to indicate inner dialogue, a revealing moment.
但再仔细想想,“让它们吃草”这句话就让这首诗的意义得以充分发挥。140
But, on second thought, the words “Let them eat grass” click the gears of the poem into place.140
因此,我们也可以说,语言和词汇的选择对于这首诗来说至关重要。
So, we could also say, language and word choice are crucial to the poem’s work.
事情又回到原点。
Things are circling back again.
有时候,当我身处一个圈子时,如果我想退出,我必须跳下去。
Sometimes, when in a circle, if I wish to exit, I must leap.
145并让身体摆动。
145And let the body swing.
来自平台。
From the platform.
出去
Out
到草地上。
to the grasses.
[2017]
[2017]
译者:DAVID GRENE
TRANSLATED BY DAVID GRENE
场景:底比斯的俄狄浦斯宫殿前。舞台右侧祭坛附近站着一位祭司和一群孩子。俄狄浦斯从中间的门走出来。
Scene: In front of the palace of Oedipus at Thebes. To the right of the stage near the altar stands the Priest with a crowd of children. Oedipus emerges from the central door.
俄狄浦斯:老卡德摩斯的孩子们,年幼的儿子和女儿,
Oedipus: Children, young sons and daughters of old Cadmus,a
你们为什么戴着祈求的王冠坐在这里?
why do you sit here with your suppliant crowns?
这个城镇负担沉重
The town is heavy with a mingled burden
声音和气味、呻吟、赞美诗和香火;
of sounds and smells, of groans and hymns and incense;
5我觉得不宜从信使口中得知此事,所以我亲自前来——
5I did not think it fit that I should hear of this from messengers but came myself, —
我是俄狄浦斯,所有人都称他为伟大的人。
I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.
(他转向神父。)
(He turns to the Priest.)
你老了,他们还年轻;来吧,为他们说话。
You’re old and they are young; come, speak for them.
你坐在这里,到底是害怕什么,还是想要什么?
What do you fear or want, that you sit here
10恳求者?事实上我愿意付出一切
10suppliant? Indeed I’m willing to give all
你可能需要;我会非常努力
that you may need; I would be very hard
我难道不应该同情这些恳求者吗?
should I not pity suppliants like these.
神父:噢,我的国家统治者,俄狄浦斯,
Priest: O ruler of my country, Oedipus,
你看我们一群人围在祭坛周围;
you see our company around the altar;
15你看我们的年龄,我们中的一些人,像这些,
15you see our ages; some of us, like these,
还不能飞得很远,我们中的一些人
who cannot yet fly far, and some of us
年龄大了,这些孩子是被选中的
heavy with age; these children are the chosen
在年轻人中,我是宙斯的祭司。
among the young, and I the priest of Zeus.
在市场上坐着其他人加冕
Within the market place sit others crowned
20带着祈求的花环,在双神殿里
20with suppliant garlands, at the double shrine
帕拉斯b和伊斯梅努斯神庙
of Pallasb and the temple where Ismenus
用火赐下神谕。国王,你自己
gives oracles by fire. King, you yourself
看到我们的城市一片废墟
have seen our city reeling like a wreck
已经几乎抬不起船头了
already; it can scarcely lift its prow
二十五脱离深渊,脱离血腥的浪潮。
25out of the depths, out of the bloody surf.
地上的果树遭遇灾祸,
A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth,
田间的牲畜遭受灾祸,
A blight is on the cattle in the fields,
我们妇女的不幸就是没有孩子
a blight is on our women that no children
为他们而生;一个带着火的神,
are born to them; a God that carries fire,
三十一场致命的瘟疫袭击了我们的城镇,
30a deadly pestilence, is on our town,
毫不留情地攻击我们,卡德摩斯的家
strikes us and spares not, and the house of Cadmus
人民被赶走,而黑死病
is emptied of its people while black Death
在呻吟和悲叹中变得丰富。
grows rich in groaning and in lamentation.
我们不是来这个祭坛祈求的
We have not come as suppliants to this altar
三十五因为我们认为你如同神,
35because we thought of you as of a God,
而是审判你为人之首
but rather judging you the first of men
在人生的所有机遇中,当
in all the chances of this life and when
我们凡人所要做的事情不只限于人类。
we mortals have to do with more than man.
你来了,拯救了我们的城市,
You came and by your coming saved our city,
40使我们免于自古以来缴纳的贡税
40freed us from tribute which we paid of old
斯芬克斯,一个残忍的歌手。你这样做了
to the Sphinx,c cruel singer. This you did
由于我们无法向您提供任何知识,
in virtue of no knowledge we could give you,
没有任何教导;这是上帝
in virtue of no teaching; it was God
帮助了你,人们说,你被
that aided you, men say, and you are held
四十五感谢上帝拯救了我们的生命。
45with God’s assistance to have saved our lives.
俄狄浦斯是所有人眼中最伟大的人,
Now Oedipus, Greatest in all men’s eyes,
我们全都跪倒在您的脚下恳求您,
here falling at your feet we all entreat you,
找到一些力量来拯救我们。
find us some strength for rescue.
也许你会听到某位神的一句明智之言,
Perhaps you’ll hear a wise word from some God,
50也许你可以从一个男人身上学到一些东西
50perhaps you will learn something from a man
(因为我已经看到,对于熟练的实践
(for I have seen that for the skilled of practice
他们的忠告的结果最为显著。
the outcome of their counsels live the most).
最崇高的人啊,去吧,重建我们的城市,
Noblest of men, go, and raise up our city,
去吧,——注意了。现在我们的这片土地
go, — and give heed. For now this land of ours
55因为你救过它一次,所以它称你为它的救世主。
55calls you its savior since you saved it once.
所以,我们永远不要谈论你的统治
So, let us never speak about your reign
就像我们第一次踏上
as of a time when first our feet were set
在高处安稳,但后来却落得毁灭的下场。
secure on high, but later fell to ruin.
建设我们的城市,拯救它并建设它。
Raise up our city, save it and raise it up.
60曾经你给我们带来好运和好兆头;
60Once you have brought us luck with happy omen;
现在的运气也丝毫不减。
be no less now in fortune.
如果你要统治这片土地,就像现在一样,
If you will rule this land, as now you rule it,
统治者最好是人满为患,而不是空无一人。
better to rule it full of men than empty.
因为塔和船都不算什么
For neither tower nor ship is anything
65空的时候,无人居住。
65when empty, and none live in it together.
哦,埃迪普斯:我可怜你们,孩子们。你们满怀渴望而来,
Oedipus: I pity you, children. You have come full of longing,
但我在你讲述之前就已经知道了这个故事
but I have known the story before you told it
太清楚了。我知道你们都病了,
only too well. I know you are all sick,
你们中间却没有一个人病了,
yet there is not one of you, sick though you are,
70那和我一样恶心。
70that is as sick as I myself.
你的几场悲伤各自只有一个范围
Your several sorrows each have single scope
触摸你们中的一个人。我的灵魂呻吟
and touch but one of you. My spirit groans
为了城市,为了我自己,也为了你。
for city and myself and you at once.
你并没有像唤醒睡梦中的人那样唤醒我;
You have not roused me like a man from sleep;
75知道我为此流过许多泪水,
75know that I have given many tears to this,
走了很多路,徘徊在思想中,
gone many ways wandering in thought,
但正如我所想,我发现只有一种补救办法
but as I thought I found only one remedy
我把那东西拿走了。我派了墨诺西斯的儿子
and that I took. I sent Menoeceus’ son
克瑞翁,伊俄卡斯忒的兄弟,阿波罗
Creon, Jocasta’s brother, to Apollo,d
80到他的皮提亚神庙,
80to his Pythian temple,
他可以从那里学到什么行为或言语
that he might learn there by what act or word
我可以拯救这座城市。当我数着日子,
I could save this city. As I count the days,
他的病痛让我很烦恼;他已经走了
it vexes me what ails him; he is gone
比他旅途所需时间要长得多。
far longer than he needed for the journey.
85但当他来的时候,我可能证明自己是个恶棍,
85But when he comes, then, may I prove a villain,
如果我没有遵守上帝的一切命令。
if I shall not do all the God commands.
神父:谢谢你的美言。你的仆人们
Priest: Thanks for your gracious words. Your servants here
预示着克瑞翁这一刻即将到来。
signal that Creon is this moment coming.
哦,埃迪普斯:他的脸是光亮的。哦,神圣的主阿波罗,
Oedipus: His face is bright. O holy Lord Apollo,
90他的新闻对我们来说也可能是好消息
90grant that his news too may be bright for us
并给我们带来安全。
and bring us safety.
神父:这是个好消息,
Priest: It is happy news,
我想,否则他的头就不会被加冕
I think, for else his head would not be crowned
长满硕果累累的月桂树枝。
with sprigs of fruitful laurel.
哦,埃迪普斯:我们很快就会知道,
Oedipus: We will know soon,
95他已经到了。克瑞翁大人,我的好兄弟,
95he’s within hail. Lord Creon, my good brother,
你从上帝那里给我们带来了什么话语?
what is the word you bring us from the God?
(克瑞翁上场。)
(Creon enters.)
C reon:一句好话,用来形容难以忍受的事情
Creon: A good word, — for things hard to bear themselves
如果最后一期一切顺利
if in the final issue all is well
我认为这是完全的好运。
I count complete good fortune.
哦埃迪普斯:你是什么意思?
Oedipus: What do you mean?
100你目前所说的
100What you have said so far
让我不确定是否应该相信或害怕。
leaves me uncertain whether to trust or fear.
克瑞翁:如果你愿意在其他人之前听到我的消息
Creon: If you will hear my news before these others
我准备好说话了,或者直接进去。
I am ready to speak, or else to go within.
哦,埃迪普斯:告诉所有人;
Oedipus: Speak it to all;
105我承受的悲伤,我更承受这些
105the grief I bear, I bear it more for these
比我自己的心还重要。
than for my own heart.
克瑞翁:那我就告诉你,
Creon: I will tell you, then,
我从上帝那里听到了什么。
what I heard from the God.
太阳神用简单的话语命令我们
King Phoebuse in plain words commanded us
把污染从我们的土地上驱除出去,
to drive out a pollution from our land,
110土地中根深蒂固的污染;
110pollution grown ingrained within the land;
上帝说,把它赶走,不要珍惜它,
drive it out, said the God, not cherish it,
直到无法治愈。
till it’s past cure.
俄狄浦斯:仪式是什么
Oedipus: What is the rite
净化?该如何净化?
of purification? How shall it be done?
克瑞翁:通过放逐一个人,或者赎罪
Creon: By banishing a man, or expiation
115血债血偿,因为这是谋杀罪
115of blood by blood, since it is murder guilt
使我们的城市在这场毁灭性的风暴中得以幸存。
which holds our city in this destroying storm.
俄狄浦斯:这个被上帝预言命运的人是谁?
Oedipus: Who is this man whose fate the God pronounces?
克瑞翁:大人,在您掌管国家之前
Creon: My Lord, before you piloted the state
120噢,艾迪普斯:我是听人说起他的。但我没见过他。
120Oedipus: I know of him by hearsay. I have not seen him.
克瑞翁:上帝明确命令:让某人用武力惩罚杀害这个死者的凶手。
Creon: The God commanded clearly: let some one punish with force this dead man’s murderers.
奥艾迪普斯:他们在世界的哪个角落?哪里能找到这桩旧罪的踪迹?很难猜到在哪里。
Oedipus: Where are they in the world? Where would a trace of this old crime be found? It would be hard to guess where.
125克瑞翁:线索就在这片土地上;
125Creon: The clue is in this land;
所寻找的已经找到;
that which is sought is found;
被忽视的事情逃脱了:
the unheeded thing escapes:
上帝如此说道。
so said the God.
俄狄浦斯:是在家里吗?
Oedipus: Was it at home,
或是在死亡降临到他身上的国家,
or in the country that death came upon him,
130或者在另一个国家旅行?
130or in another country travelling?
克瑞翁:他自己说,他去了一个使团,
Creon: He went, he said himself, upon an embassy,
但他离开家之后就再也没有回来。
but never returned when he set out from home.
俄狄浦斯:难道没有信使,没有旅伴
Oedipus: Was there no messenger, no fellow traveller
谁知道发生了什么事?这样的人可能会说
who knew what happened? Such a one might tell
135有用的东西。
135something of use.
克瑞翁:他们全都被杀了,只剩下一个人。他惊慌地逃走了
Creon: They were all killed save one. He fled in terror
他没能清楚地告诉我们什么
and he could tell us nothing in clear terms
他什么也不知道,只知道一件事。
of what he knew, nothing, but one thing only.
奥艾迪普斯:那是什么?
Oedipus: What was it?
140如果我们能找到一个微小的开始
140If we could even find a slim beginning
我们希望,我们能够发现很多东西。
in which to hope, we might discover much.
克雷翁:这名男子说,他们遇到的强盗
Creon: This man said that the robbers they encountered
有很多人,而且谋杀者
were many and the hands that did the murder
有很多;这不是一个人单独就能做到的。
were many; it was no man’s single power.
145埃迪普斯:强盗怎么敢做这样的事
145Oedipus: How could a robber dare a deed like this
如果不是城里的钱帮助他,
were he not helped with money from the city,
金钱和背叛?
money and treachery?
克瑞翁:我的确是这么想的。
Creon: That indeed was thought.
但拉伊俄斯已死,我们陷入困境
But Laius was dead and in our trouble
沒有人幫忙。
there was none to help.
150俄狄浦斯:你遇到了什么困难,
150Oedipus: What trouble was so great to hinder you
调查你们国王的谋杀案?
inquiring out the murder of your king?
克瑞翁:谜语般的斯芬克斯让我们忽视了
Creon: The riddling Sphinx induced us to neglect
神秘的犯罪,而是寻求解决方案
mysterious crimes and rather seek solution
我们面临的困难。
of troubles at our feet.
155哦,埃迪普斯:我会把这件事再次公之于众的。福玻斯王
155Oedipus: I will bring this to light again. King Phoebus
恰当地照顾死者,
fittingly took this care about the dead,
你也同样如此。
and you too fittingly.
你们也必将我视为盟友,
And justly you will see in me an ally,
我是祖国的冠军,也是上帝的冠军。
a champion of my country and the God.
160当我把污染从土地上驱走时
160For when I drive pollution from the land
我不会为远方的朋友谋取利益,
I will not serve a distant friend’s advantage,
而是为我自己的利益行事。无论谁
but act in my own interest. Whoever
他是杀死国王可能很容易
he was that killed the king may readily
想用他那凶残的手杀死我;
wish to dispatch me with his murderous hand;
165所以帮助死去的国王就是帮助了我自己。
165so helping the dead king I help myself.
来吧,孩子们,拿着你们恳求的树枝走吧;
Come, children, take your suppliant boughs and go;
现在从祭坛上起来。召集大会
up from the altars now. Call the assembly
让它满足于理解
and let it meet upon the understanding
我会做一切。上帝会决定
that I’ll do everything. God will decide
170无论我们是繁荣昌盛还是依然悲伤。
170whether we prosper or remain in sorrow.
神父:起来,孩子们——我们来寻找的就是这个,
Priest: Rise, children — it was this we came to seek,
这正是国王现在向我们献上的礼物。
which of himself the king now offers us.
愿福玻斯给我们神谕
May Phoebus who gave us the oracle
来拯救我们并阻止瘟疫。
come to our rescue and stay the plague.
(除合唱团外,其余人员均下场。)
(Exeuntg all but the Chorus.)
175合唱(第h节):来自富含黄金的皮托神殿的上帝甜美的话语是什么
175Chorus (Stropheh): What is the sweet spoken word of God from the shrine of Pythoi rich in gold
已经来到了辉煌的底比斯?
that has come to glorious Thebes?
我被怀疑的折磨着,恐惧和颤抖紧紧地抓住
I am stretched on the rack of doubt, and terror and trembling hold
我的心,哦,迪洛斯的治疗师,我充满恐惧地崇拜
my heart, O Delian Healer,j and I worship full of fears
你将会带来什么样的厄运呢?无论是新的厄运,还是在未来的岁月中重新来临的厄运。
for what doom you will bring to pass, new or renewed in the revolving years.
180对我说话吧,不朽的声音,
180Speak to me, immortal voice,
金色希望之子。
child of golden Hope.
(对句k)首先,我呼唤你,宙斯不朽的女儿雅典娜,以及大地守护者阿尔忒弥斯,
(Antistrophek) First I call on you, Athene, deathless daughter of Zeus, and Artemis, Earth Upholder,
他坐在市场中央那被人们称为名望的宝座上,
who sits in the midst of the market place in the throne which men call Fame,
185以及远射神福玻斯,三位命运之神,
185and Phoebus, the Far Shooter, three averters of Fate,
现在才来到我们身边,如果以前没有,当毁灭袭击这个国家时,
come to us now, if ever before, when ruin rushed upon the state,
你驱散了毁灭之火
you drove destruction’s flame away
离开我们的土地。
out of our land.
(诗节) 我们的悲伤数不胜数;
(Strophe) Our sorrows defy number;
190船上的木材全部腐烂了;
190all the ship’s timbers are rotten;
思想并不能成为驱除瘟疫的长矛。
taking of thought is no spear for the driving away of the plague.
在这片著名的土地上,没有成长的孩子;
There are no growing children in this famous land;
没有妇女承受分娩的痛苦。
there are no women bearing the pangs of childbirth.
你也许会看到他们彼此相伴,像展翅翱翔的鸟儿,
You may see them one with another, like birds swift on the wing,
195比未受控制的火更快,
195quicker than fire unmastered,
飞驰而去,向西方神国海岸而去。
speeding away to the coast of the Western God.
(对句)在无数的死亡中
(Antistrophe) In the unnumbered deaths
这座城市的人民消亡了;
of its people the city dies;
那些出生的孩子死在裸露的土地上
those children that are born lie dead on the naked earth
200无人怜悯,传播死亡的传染病;还有白发苍苍的母亲和妻子
200unpitied, spreading contagion of death; and grey haired mothers and wives
到处都站在祭坛的边缘,恳求着,呻吟着;
everywhere stand at the altar’s edge, suppliant, moaning;
赞美上帝治愈的圣歌响起,但其中也夹杂着哀号的声音。
the hymn to the healing God rings out but with it the wailing voices are blended.
宙斯的黄金女儿啊,我们从这些苦难中得到了欢欣鼓舞的解脱。
From these our sufferings grant us, O golden Daughter of Zeus, glad-faced deliverance.
205(诗节)没有铜盾的碰撞,但我们的战斗是与战神进行的,
205(Strophe) There is no clash of brazen shields but our fight is with the War God,
一个响彻人类的呐喊的战神,一个焚烧我们的野蛮之神;
a War God ringed with the cries of men, a savage God who burns us;
允许他掉头驶出我国边界
grant that he turn in racing course backwards out of our country’s bounds
到安菲特里特的大宫殿,或者色雷斯海的波涛
to the great palace of Amphitritel or where the waves of the Thracian sea
拒绝给陌生人提供安全停泊处。
deny the stranger safe anchorage.
210任何逃离黑夜的东西
210Whatsoever escapes the night
终于,曙光重现;
at last the light of day revisits;
打败战神宙斯,
so smite the War God, Father Zeus,
在你的雷霆之下,
beneath your thunderbolt,
因为你是闪电之王,闪电带着火焰。
for you are the Lord of the lightning, the lightning that carries fire.
215(对句)还有你那不可战胜的箭杆,在金弓的羽翼下,
215(Antistrophe) And your unconquered arrow shafts, winged by the golden corded bow,
莱西亚国王,我请求您为我们提供帮助;
Lycean King,m I beg to be at our side for help;
以及她用来照亮吕西亚山丘的阿尔忒弥斯的火炬,
and the gleaming torches of Artemis with which she scours the Lycean hills,
我向头戴金头巾的上帝祈祷,他以他的名字命名了我们的这个国家,
and I call on the God with the turban of gold, who gave his name to this country of ours,
酒神n的脸被风吹得通红,
the Bacchic Godn with the wind flushed face,
220Evian One,旅行
220Evian One, who travel
与Maenad公司合作,
with the Maenad company,o
与烧伤我们的上帝作斗争
combat the God that burns us
用你的松木火炬;
with your torch of pine;
因为我们的敌人之神是诸神中不受尊敬的神。
for the God that is our enemy is a God unhonoured among the Gods.
(俄狄浦斯归来。)
(Oedipus returns.)
225哦,埃迪普斯:你问我的问题——如果你愿意听我的话,
225Oedipus: For what you ask me — if you will hear my words,
听到欢迎他们并抗击瘟疫,
and hearing welcome them and fight the plague,
你将发现自己的力量,负担也减轻了。
you will find strength and lightening of your load.
听我说,我对你说的话,
Hark to me; what I say to you, I say
作为一个对故事不熟悉的人
as one that is a stranger to the story
230我对这件事并不陌生。因为我不会
230as stranger to the deed. For I would not
如果我一个人的话,
be far upon the track if I alone
我们正在毫无线索地追踪它。但现在,
were tracing it without a clue. But now,
因为一切都结束了,我成了
since after all was finished, I became
你们中间的一个公民,公民们——
a citizen among you, citizens —
235现在我向全体底比斯人民宣告:
235now I proclaim to all the men of Thebes:
你们当中谁知道凶手
who so among you knows the murderer
拉布达库斯之子拉伊俄斯亲手,
by whose hand Laius, son of Labdacus,
死了——我命令他说出一切
died — I command him to tell everything
对我来说,是的,尽管他害怕自己承担责任
to me, — yes, though he fears himself to take the blame
240在他自己的头上;作为严厉的惩罚
240on his own head; for bitter punishment
他将一无所有,但会让这片土地不受伤害。
he shall have none, but leave this land unharmed.
或者如果他认识凶手,另一个人,
Or if he knows the murderer, another,
一个外国人,还是让他说实话吧。
a foreigner, still let him speak the truth.
我会付钱给他,并且也会感激他。
For I will pay him and be grateful, too.
245但如果你保持沉默,如果也许
245But if you shall keep silence, if perhaps
你们当中的某个人,为了保护一个犯错的朋友,
some one of you, to shield a guilty friend,
或者为了他自己的缘故而拒绝我的话——
or for his own sake shall reject my words —
听听我该做什么:
hear what I shall do then:
我禁止那个人,无论他是谁,
I forbid that man, whoever he be, my land,
250我的土地,我拥有主权和王位;
250my land where I hold sovereignty and throne;
我禁止任何人欢迎他
and I forbid any to welcome him
或者向他打招呼或者让他成为一个分享者
or cry him greeting or make him a sharer
向神灵献祭或奉献,
in sacrifice or offering to the Gods,
或者给他水洗手。
or give him water for his hands to wash.
255我命令所有人把他赶出家园,
255I command all to drive him from their homes,
因为他是我们的污染,作为神谕
since he is our pollution, as the oracle
皮托的上帝现在向我宣告了他。
of Pytho’s God proclaimed him now to me.
所以我站出来成为上帝的捍卫者
So I stand forth a champion of the God
以及那位死去的人。
and of the man who died.
260我对凶手施以诅咒——
260Upon the murderer I invoke this curse —
他是否只是一个人,一个完全不为人知的人,
whether he is one man and all unknown,
或众多之一——愿他耗尽一生
or one of many — may he wear out his life
悲惨地走向悲惨的厄运!
in misery to miserable doom!
如果我知道他住在我家
If with my knowledge he lives at my hearth
265我祈祷我自己也能感受到我的诅咒。
265I pray that I myself may feel my curse.
我委托你来完成这一切
On you I lay my charge to fulfill all this
为了我,为了上帝,为了我们的这片土地
for me, for the God, and for this land of ours
被上帝所遗弃,遭到破坏和摧残。
destroyed and blighted, by the God forsaken.
即使这不是上帝的旨意
Even were this no matter of God’s ordinance
270你不宜把它留在原处,
270it would not fit you so to leave it lie,
不纯洁,因为一个好人死了
unpurified, since a good man is dead
并且有一个是君王。去查考一下。
and one that was a king. Search it out.
既然我现在已经担任他的职务,
Since I am now the holder of his office,
并拥有曾经属于他的床和妻子,
and have his bed and wife that once was his,
275如果他家境不好
275and had his line not been unfortunate
我们会有共同的孩子——(命运飞跃
we would have common children — (fortune leaped
在他的头上)——因为这一切事,
upon his head) — because of all these things,
我为他而战,如同为我父亲而战,
I fight in his defence as for my father,
我会尽一切办法抓捕凶手
and I shall try all means to take the murderer
280拉布达库斯之子拉伊乌斯
280of Laius the son of Labdacus
波吕多洛斯的儿子,在他之前
the son of Polydorus and before him
卡德摩斯和他之前的阿革诺尔。p
of Cadmus and before him of Agenor.p
那些不服从我的人,愿神
Those who do not obey me, may the Gods
他们耕种的土地上不会长出庄稼
grant no crops springing from the ground they plough
285也不会有孩子给他们的女人。
285nor children to their women! May a fate
像这样,或者比这更糟糕的是消耗他们!
like this, or one still worse than this consume them!
你们这些底比斯人,听了这些话,
For you whom these words please, the other Thebans,
愿正义成为你的盟友,愿所有神灵
may Justice as your ally and all the Gods
和你一起生活,现在和永远祝福你!
live with you, blessing you now and for ever!
290合唱:正如你们要求我遵守的誓言,我说:
290Chorus: As you have held me to my oath, I speak:
我既没有杀死国王,也不能宣布
I neither killed the king nor can declare
凶手;但自从菲比斯设定了任务
the killer; but since Phoebus set the quest
他有责任告诉别人这个人是谁。
it is his part to tell who the man is.
俄狄浦斯:对,但要强迫神
Oedipus: Right; but to put compulsion on the Gods
295违背他们的意愿——没有人能做到这一点。
295against their will — no man can do that.
C horus:那么我可以说一下我认为第二好的吗?
Chorus: May I then say what I think second best?
哦,埃迪普斯:如果还有第三个最好的,那就不要说了。
Oedipus: If there’s a third best, too, spare not to tell it.
我知道泰瑞西阿斯大人
Chorus: I know that what the Lord Teiresias
看到的,往往是阿波罗神
sees, is most often what the Lord Apollo
300明白。如果你向他询问这件事
300sees. If you should inquire of this from him
你可能会发现最清楚。
you might find out most clearly.
哦埃迪普斯:即使在这种情况下,我的行为也不算懒惰。
Oedipus: Even in this my actions have not been sluggard.
遵照克瑞翁的吩咐,我已派了两个使者,
On Creon’s word I have sent two messengers
为什么先知还没有来
and why the prophet is not here already
我一直很想知道。
I have been wondering.
305合唱: 他的技能
305Chorus: His skill apart
除此之外,只剩下一个古老而模糊的故事。
there is besides only an old faint story.
哦埃迪普斯:这是什么?
Oedipus: What is it?
我看了每一个故事。
I look at every story.
合唱:据说
Chorus: It was said
他被一些过路人杀死了。
that he was killed by certain wayfarers.
310奥艾迪普斯:我也听说了,但是没有人看到凶手。
310Oedipus: I heard that, too, but no one saw the killer.
合唱:然而如果他有一点恐惧,
Chorus: Yet if he has a share of fear at all,
听到你的咒骂,他的勇气将不再坚定。
his courage will not stand firm, hearing your curse.
俄狄浦斯:做事不退缩的人
Oedipus: The man who in the doing did not shrink
不会惧怕任何言语。
will fear no word.
合唱:他的检察官来了:
Chorus: Here comes his prosecutor:
315在你的人的带领下,虔诚的先知来了
315led by your men the godly prophet comes
人类中唯有他才是真理的源泉。
in whom alone of mankind truth is native.
(忒瑞西阿斯上,由一个小男孩带领。)
(Enter Teiresias, led by a little boy.)
哦,埃迪普斯:忒瑞西阿斯,你精通一切,
Oedipus: Teiresias, you are versed in everything,
可教之事和不可说之事,
things teachable and things not to be spoken,
天地万物。
things of the heaven and earth-creeping things.
320你没有眼睛,但你心里知道
320You have no eyes but in your mind you know
我们的城市遭受了多么严重的灾难啊!
with what a plague our city is afflicted.
陛下,您是我们唯一的勇士,
My lord, in you alone we find a champion,
唯有你能拯救我们。
in you alone one that can rescue us.
也许你没有听到使者的声音,
Perhaps you have not heard the messengers,
325但福玻斯却派遣人来回应我们的派遣
325but Phoebus sent in answer to our sending
一个神谕宣告我们的自由
an oracle declaring that our freedom
只有当我们
from this disease would only come when we
应该知道那些杀死拉伊俄斯国王的人的名字,
should learn the names of those who killed King Laius,
并将他们杀死或驱逐出境。
and kill them or expel from our country.
330不要嫉妒我们鸟类的神谕,q
330Do not begrudge us oracles from birds,q
或任何其他预言方式
or any other way of prophecy
在你的技能范围内;拯救你自己和城市,
within your skill; save yourself and the city,
拯救我;赎回我们污染的债务
save me; redeem the debt of our pollution
这一切都是因为这名男子的死而导致的。
that lies on us because of this dead man.
335我们在你们手中;我们付出最大的努力
335We are in your hands; pains are most nobly taken
当你有能力和财力时去帮助别人。
to help another when you have means and power.
泰瑞西阿斯:唉,智慧是多么可怕啊,
Teiresias: Alas, how terrible is wisdom when
这对聪明人来说毫无益处!
it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!
我很了解这一点,但已经忘记了,
This I knew well, but had forgotten it,
否则我就不会来这里了。
else I would not have come here.
340哦埃迪普斯:这是什么?
340Oedipus: What is this?
你现在来了,真是伤心啊!
How sad you are now you have come!
忒瑞西阿斯:让我
Teiresias: Let me
回家。这对我们俩来说都是最容易的
go home. It will be easiest for us both
承担我们各自的命运直到最后
to bear our several destinies to the end
如果你听从我的建议。
if you will follow my advice.
俄狄浦斯:你会抢劫我们
Oedipus: You’d rob us
345你的预言天赋是什么?你说
345of this your gift of prophecy? You talk
就像一个不关心法律也不关心爱的人
as one who had no care for law nor love
感谢养育你的底比斯。
for Thebes who reared you.
Teiresias :是的,但我看,就连你自己的话
Teiresias: Yes, but I see that even your own words
达不到目标;因此我必须担心自己的目标。
miss the mark; therefore I must fear for mine.
350哦,埃迪普斯:看在上帝的份上,如果你知道什么,
350Oedipus: For God’s sake if you know of anything,
不要转离我们;我们都向你跪拜,
do not turn from us; all of us kneel to you,
我们所有人,都是您的恳求者。
all of us here, your suppliants.
特瑞西阿斯:你们这些人什么都不知道。我不会
Teiresias: All of you here know nothing. I will not
让我的烦恼暴露在光天化日之下,我的——
bring to the light of day my troubles, mine —
而不是称它们为你的。
rather than call them yours.
355哦埃迪普斯:你是什么意思?
355Oedipus: What do you mean?
您知道一些事情但拒绝说出来。
You know of something but refuse to speak.
你会背叛我们并摧毁这座城市吗?
Would you betray us and destroy the city?
忒瑞西阿斯:我不会让我们俩都受这种痛苦,
Teiresias: I will not bring this pain upon us both,
既不在你身上,也不在我身上。为什么
neither on you nor on myself. Why is it
360你问我,浪费你的劳动?我
360you question me and waste your labour? I
什么也不会告诉你。
will tell you nothing.
哦,埃迪普斯:你会激怒一块石头!告诉我们,你这个恶棍,
Oedipus: You would provoke a stone! Tell us, you villain,
告诉我们,不要静静地站在那里
tell us, and do not stand there quietly
对这个问题无动于衷并犹豫不决。
unmoved and balking at the issue.
365特瑞西阿斯:你责怪我的脾气,但你没有看到
365Teiresias: You blame my temper but you do not see
属于你自己的,存在于你内心深处的;就是我
your own that lives within you; it is me
你责备道。
you chide.
俄狄浦斯:谁不会感到他的脾气上扬
Oedipus: Who would not feel his temper rise
你们用这些话羞辱我们的城市吗?
at words like these with which you shame our city?
370特瑞西阿斯:万物自有其发生,尽管我隐藏它们
370Teiresias: Of themselves things will come, although I hide them
对他们绝口不提。
and breathe no word of them.
俄狄浦斯:既然他们会来
Oedipus: Since they will come
告诉我。
tell them to me.
特瑞西阿斯:我不会再说什么了。
Teiresias: I will say nothing further.
针对这个答案,让你的脾气暴躁
Against this answer let your temper rage
尽你所能。
as wildly as you will.
俄狄浦斯:我确实
Oedipus: Indeed I am
375我非常生气,我不会忍住一点
375so angry I shall not hold back a jot
我的想法。因为我想让你知道
of what I think. For I would have you know
我认为你是这起事件的同谋
I think you were complotterr of the deed
和行为人保存到目前为止
and doer of the deed save in so far
至于实际的杀戮。如果你有眼睛
as for the actual killing. Had you had eyes
380我会说你谋杀了他。
380I would have said alone you murdered him.
特瑞西阿斯:是吗?那么我忠告你,要保持
Teiresias: Yes? Then I warn you faithfully to keep
你的宣言书和
the letter of your proclamation and
从今以后不再说问候语
from this day forth to speak no word of greeting
对这些也不是我;你们是这片土地的污秽。
to these nor me; you are the land’s pollution.
385哦,埃迪普斯:你竟如此无耻地开始嘲讽!
385Oedipus: How shamelessly you started up this taunt!
你认为你该如何逃脱?
How do you think you will escape?
特瑞西阿斯:是的。
Teiresias: I have.
我已经逃脱了,我珍惜的是事实
I have escaped; the truth is what I cherish
这就是我的力量。
and that’s my strength.
哦,埃迪普斯:谁教你真理?
Oedipus: And who has taught you truth?
肯定不是你的职业!
Not your profession surely!
特瑞西阿斯:你教我,
Teiresias: You have taught me,
390因为你强迫我说出违背我意愿的话。
390for you have made me speak against my will.
哦,埃迪普斯:说什么?再告诉我一遍,这样我才能更好地理解。
Oedipus: Speak what? Tell me again that I may learn it better.
特瑞西阿斯:你以前不明白吗?或者你
Teiresias: Did you not understand before or would you
激怒我说话?
provoke me into speaking?
哦,艾迪普斯:我没领会,
Oedipus: I did not grasp it,
还不能称之为众所周知。再说一遍。
not so to call it known. Say it again.
395特瑞西阿斯:我说你是谋杀国王的凶手
395Teiresias: I say you are the murderer of the king
你在寻找谁的凶手。
whose murderer you seek.
哦,埃迪普斯:你不会再两次
Oedipus: Not twice you shall
说出这样的诽谤之言,却不受惩罚。
say calumnies like this and stay unpunished.
特瑞西阿斯:我还要说更多的话来激起你的愤怒吗?
Teiresias: Shall I say more to tempt your anger more?
哦,埃迪普斯:你想多少就多少;
Oedipus: As much as you desire; it will be said
徒然。
in vain.
400T eiresias:我说的是那些你最爱的人
400Teiresias: I say that with those you love best
你不知不觉地生活在最卑鄙的耻辱中
you live in foulest shame unconsciously
却看不到自己身处何方灾难之中。
and do not see where you are in calamity.
奥·埃迪普斯:你以为你总是能说话吗
Oedipus: Do you imagine you can always talk
就这样活着,并从此一笑置之?
like this, and live to laugh at it hereafter?
405忒瑞西阿斯:是的,如果真理具有力量的话。
405Teiresias: Yes, if the truth has anything of strength.
哦,埃迪普斯:它有,但对你来说不是;它没有力量
Oedipus: It has, but not for you; it has no strength
因为你心智和耳朵都盲了
for you because you are blind in mind and ears
也在你的眼中。
as well as in your eyes.
忒瑞西阿斯: 你真是个可怜的人
Teiresias: You are a poor wretch
用那些侮辱的话来嘲讽我
to taunt me with the very insults which
410每个人很快都会把自己堆积起来。
410every one soon will heap upon yourself.
俄狄浦斯:你的生命就像一夜漫漫,所以你不能
Oedipus: Your life is one long night so that you cannot
伤害我或任何看到光明的人。
hurt me or any other who sees the light.
忒瑞西阿斯:我不应该成为你的毁灭,
Teiresias: It is not fate that I should be your ruin,
阿波罗就足够了;这是他的关怀
Apollo is enough; it is his care
来解决这个问题。
to work this out.
415俄狄浦斯:这是你自己设计的吗
415Oedipus: Was this your own design
还是 Creon 的?
or Creon’s?
忒瑞西阿斯:克瑞翁不会伤害你,
Teiresias: Creon is no hurt to you,
但你对自己而言。
but you are to yourself.
俄狄浦斯:财富、主权和超越技能的技能
Oedipus: Wealth, sovereignty and skill outmatching skill
为了创造令人羡慕的生活!
for the contrivance of an envied life!
420你们的宝库里装满了嫉妒,
420Great store of jealousy fill your treasury chests,
如果我的朋友克瑞翁,从小就忠诚的朋友,
if my friend Creon, friend from the first and loyal,
从而偷偷攻击我,偷偷
thus secretly attacks me, secretly
想要把我赶出去,偷偷地
desires to drive me out and secretly
教唆这个玩杂耍、耍把戏的庸医,
suborns this juggling, trick devising quack,
425这个狡猾的乞丐只有眼睛
425this wily beggar who has only eyes
为了自己的利益,但他的技术却是盲目的。
for his own gains, but blindness in his skill.
告诉我,你在哪里看得清清楚楚,忒瑞西阿斯,
For, tell me, where have you seen clear, Teiresias,
用你的预言之眼?当黑暗歌者,
with your prophetic eyes? When the dark singer,
狮身人面像在你的国家,你说过吗
the sphinx, was in your country, did you speak
430对其公民的拯救之言?
430word of deliverance to its citizens?
但谜语的答案并不是省份
And yet the riddle’s answer was not the province
偶然来者。这是先知的任务
of a chance comer. It was a prophet’s task
显然你没有这样的预言天赋
and plainly you had no such gift of prophecy
来自鸟类或其他任何神
from birds nor otherwise from any God
435收集知识的话语。但我来了,
435to glean a word of knowledge. But I came,
什么都不懂的俄狄浦斯和我说阻止了她。
Oedipus, who knew nothing, and I stopped her.
我凭自己的智慧解开了这个谜语。
I solved the riddle by my wit alone.
我的知识不是从鸟类那里学来的。现在
Mine was no knowledge got from birds. And now
你会开除我,
you would expel me,
440因为你认为你会找到一个地方
440because you think that you will find a place
克瑞翁的宝座旁。我想你会后悔的,
by Creon’s throne. I think you will be sorry,
你和你的同伙,为你们的阴谋
both you and your accomplice, for your plot
把我赶出去。难道我没有顾念你吗?
to drive me out. And did I not regard you
作为一个老人,一些痛苦会教会你
as an old man, some suffering would have taught you
445你心里想的就是叛国。
445that what was in your heart was treason.
合唱:我们看看这个人的话和你的话,我的国王,
Chorus: We look at this man’s words and yours, my king,
我们发现两人都是在愤怒中说出这些话的。
and we find both have spoken them in anger.
我们不需要愤怒的言语,只需要思考
We need no angry words but only thought
我们如何才能最好地理解上帝对我们的意义。
how we may best hit the God’s meaning for us.
450特瑞西阿斯:如果你是国王,至少我有权利
450Teiresias: If you are king, at least I have the right
我还可以为你辩护。
no less to speak in my defence against you.
在这方面我是主人。我不是奴隶。
Of that much I am master. I am no slave
你的,而是洛西亚斯的,所以我不会
of yours, but Loxias’, and so I shall not
我将自己登记为 Creon 的赞助人。
enroll myself with Creon for my patron.
455既然你嘲笑我瞎了眼,
455Since you have taunted me with being blind,
这是我对你说的话。
here is my word for you.
你有眼睛,却看不见自己身在何处
You have your eyes but see not where you are
不论你住在哪里,也不论你和谁住在一起。
in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with.
你知道你的父母是谁吗?不知情
Do you know who your parents are? Unknowing
460你是亲朋好友的敌人
460you are an enemy to kith and kin
在死亡中,在地下,在今生。
in death, beneath the earth, and in this life.
致命的双重打击,
A deadly footed, double striking curse,
父母双亡,
from father and mother both, shall drive you forth
离开这片土地,黑暗笼罩着你的眼睛,
out of this land, with darkness on your eyes,
465现在有如此直视的视野。
465that now have such straight vision. Shall there be
没有一个地方可以容纳你的哭声,
a place will not be harbour to your cries,
Cithaeron的一个角落不会响
a corner of Cithaerons will not ring
回应你的呼喊,很快,很快——
in echo to your cries, soon, soon, —
当你得知婚姻的秘密时,
when you shall learn the secret of your marriage,
470引导你到这所房子里避难,——
470which steered you to a haven in this house, —
避风港没有避风港,顺利航行之后?
haven no haven, after lucky voyage?
以及其他众多的邪恶
And of the multitude of other evils
建立严酷的平等
establishing a grim equality
在你们和你们的孩子之间,你们一无所知。
between you and your children, you know nothing.
475所以,我的言语和克瑞翁的言语都充满着轻蔑!
475So, muddy with contempt my words and Creon’s!
苦难不会像折磨你一样折磨任何人。
Misery shall grind no man as it will you.
俄狄浦斯:我能忍受听到
Oedipus: Is it endurable that I should hear
听他这样说?去吧,咒诅随你去!
such words from him? Go and a curse go with you!
快回家!马上离开我的房子!
Quick, home with you! Out of my house at once!
480特瑞西阿斯:如果您不叫我,我也不会来。
480Teiresias: I would not have come either had you not called me.
哦,埃迪普斯:我当时不知道你会像个傻子一样说话——
Oedipus: I did not know then you would talk like a fool —
否则我就要等很久才能给你打电话了。
or it would have been long before I called you.
特瑞西阿斯:那么,在你看来,我就是个傻瓜——
Teiresias: I am a fool then, as it seems to you —
但对于养育你的父母来说,你是明智的。
but to the parents who have bred you, wise.
485哦,埃迪普斯:什么父母?住手!他们到底是谁?
485Oedipus: What parents? Stop! Who are they of all the world?
忒瑞西阿斯:这一天将会见证你的诞生,也将毁灭你。
Teiresias: This day will show your birth and will destroy you.
哦,埃迪普斯:你的谜语多么不必要地使一切变得黑暗。
Oedipus: How needlessly your riddles darken everything.
特瑞西阿斯:但是,在谜语中,你是最强的。
Teiresias: But it’s in riddle answering you are strongest.
噢,埃迪普斯:是的。嘲笑我吧,你会发现我很棒。
Oedipus: Yes. Taunt me where you will find me great.
490特瑞西阿斯:正是这种运气毁了你。
490Teiresias: It is this very luck that has destroyed you.
哦,埃迪普斯:我不在乎,只要它能拯救这座城市。
Oedipus: I do not care, if it has saved this city.
特瑞西阿斯:好吧,我走了。来吧,孩子,带我走吧。
Teiresias: Well, I will go. Come, boy, lead me away.
噢,埃迪普斯:是的,把他带走。只要你在这里,
Oedipus: Yes, lead him off. So long as you are here,
你会成为别人的绊脚石和烦恼;
you’ll be a stumbling block and a vexation;
一旦走了,你就不会再来烦我了。
once gone, you will not trouble me again.
495特瑞西阿斯:我说过
495Teiresias: I have said
我来这里是为了说,不怕你的
what I came here to say not fearing your
面容:你不可能伤害我。
countenance: there is no way you can hurt me.
我告诉你,国王,这个人,这个凶手
I tell you, king, this man, this murderer
(你早就宣称你在寻找他,
(whom you have long declared you are in search of,
500以威胁性声明起诉他
500indicting him in threatening proclamation
他是拉伊俄斯的凶手,他就在这里。
as murderer of Laius) — he is here.
从名义上来说,他是一个市民中的陌生人
In name he is a stranger among citizens
但很快他就会被证明是一名公民
but soon he will be shown to be a citizen
真正的底比斯人,他不会感到快乐
true native Theban, and he’ll have no joy
505发现:视力失明
505of the discovery: blindness for sight
用乞讨换取财富,
and beggary for riches his exchange,
他将要去国外旅行
he shall go journeying to a foreign country
用一根棍子敲打着前面的路。
tapping his way before him with a stick.
应证明他既是父亲又是兄弟
He shall be proved father and brother both
510对他家里的自己的孩子;对她
510to his own children in his house; to her
为他生下了一个儿子和丈夫;
that gave him birth, a son and husband both;
和父亲同床共枕的
a fellow sower in his father’s bed
和他谋杀的那个父亲在一起。
with that same father that he murdered.
进去算一下,如果你发现我
Go within, reckon that out, and if you find me
515误以为我没有预言的技能。
515mistaken, say I have no skill in prophecy.
(泰瑞西阿斯和俄狄浦斯分别下场。)
(Exeunt separately Teiresias and Oedipus.)
合唱(诗节):谁是那个宣布的人
Chorus (Strophe): Who is the man proclaimed
德尔斐的预言石
by Delphi’s prophetic rock
扮演双手沾满鲜血的凶手,
as the bloody handed murderer,
做出无人敢说出名字的事迹的人?
the doer of deeds that none dare name?
520现在是他逃跑的时候了
520Now is the time for him to run
脚部力量更强
with a stronger foot
比 Pegasus
than Pegasus
宙斯之子扑向了他
for the child of Zeus leaps in arms upon him
用火和闪电,
with fire and the lightning bolt,
525并紧随其后
525and terribly close on his heels
是永远不会错过的命运。
are the Fates that never miss.
(对句)最近从白雪皑皑的帕纳索斯山
(Antistrophe) Lately from snowy Parnassust
声音清晰地闪现出来,
clearly the voice flashed forth,
命令底比斯人都去追捕他,
bidding each Theban track him down,
530未知的凶手。
530the unknown murderer.
他潜伏在荒野的森林里,
In the savage forests he lurks and in
洞穴就像
the caverns like
山牛。
the mountain bull.
他悲伤又孤独,他的脚也孤独
He is sad and lonely, and lonely his feet
535使他远离地球的中心;
535that carry him far from the navel of earth;
但它的预言永远存在,
but its prophecies, ever living,
在他的头周围扑腾。
flutter around his head.
(诗节)占卜者散布混乱,
(Strophe) The augur has spread confusion,
极其混乱;
terrible confusion;
540我不同意所说的话
540I do not approve what was said
我也无法否认这一点。
nor can I deny it.
我不知道该说什么;
I do not know what to say;
我心里充满了不祥的预感;
I am in a flutter of foreboding;
我从来没有听说过
I never heard in the present
545也没有发生过争吵
545nor past of a quarrel between
拉布达库斯和波吕玻斯的儿子,
the sons of Labdacus and Polybus,
我可以拿出证据
that I might bring as proof
攻击大众的名声
in attacking the popular fame
俄狄浦斯寻求
of Oedipus, seeking
550为未被发现的进行报复
550to take vengeance for undiscovered
拉布达库斯 (Labdacus) 一脉相承,
death in the line of Labdacus.
(对句)宙斯和阿波罗确实很聪明
(Antistrophe) Truly Zeus and Apollo are wise
并且对人类的万事万物了如指掌;
and in human things all knowing;
但在男人中没有
but amongst men there is no
555先知之间的独特审判
555distinct judgment, between the prophet
和我——我们俩谁是对的。
and me — which of us is right.
一个人可能比另一个人更聪明
One man may pass another in wisdom
但我永远不会同意
but I would never agree
那些指责国王的人
with those that find fault with the king
560直到我看到这个词
560till I should see the word
毫无疑问地被证明是正确的。这一次
proved right beyond doubt. For once
狮身人面像
in visible form the Sphinx
降临到他和我们所有人身上
came on him and all of us
看到了他的智慧,在那次考验中
saw his wisdom and in that test
565他拯救了这座城市。所以他不会被我的心灵所谴责。
565he saved the city. So he will not be condemned by my mind.
(克瑞翁上场。)
(Enter Creon.)
克雷翁:公民们,我来是因为我听说
Creon: Citizens, I have come because I heard
致命的谣言在我周围传播开来,国王
deadly words spread about me, that the king
指责我。我不能接受这一点。
accuses me. I cannot take that from him.
如果他相信在目前的困境中
If he believes that in these present troubles
570他被我的言语或行为伤害了
570he has been wronged by me in word or deed
我不想继续背负这种负担
I do not want to live on with the burden
这样的丑闻对我而言是不可容忍的。
of such a scandal on me. The report
对我造成双重伤害,也是最严重的伤害——
injures me doubly and most vitally —
因为我将会被称为城市的叛徒
for I’ll be called a traitor to my city
575也是我和朋友的叛徒。
575and traitor also to my friends and you.
合唱:也许是一阵突然的愤怒
Chorus: Perhaps it was a sudden gust of anger
迫使他接受侮辱,并且不做任何评判。
that forced that insult from him, and no judgment.
克瑞翁:但他有没有说过这是符合
Creon: But did he say that it was in compliance
先知对他撒谎了吗?
with schemes of mine that the seer told him lies?
580合唱团:是的,他这么说,但是为什么,我不知道。
580Chorus: Yes, he said that, but why, I do not know.
克里昂:他的眼睛是直的吗?他的脑子是正常的吗?
Creon: Were his eyes straight in his head? Was his mind right
当他用这种方式指责我时?
when he accused me in this fashion?
合唱:我不知道;我没有眼睛去看
Chorus: I do not know; I have no eyes to see
王子们做什么。国王亲自来了。
what princes do. Here comes the king himself.
(俄狄浦斯上场。)
(Enter Oedipus.)
585哦,埃迪普斯:先生,你怎么会来这里?你这么
585Oedipus: You, sir, how is it you come here? Have you so much
你大胆地冒险
brazen-faced daring that you venture in
我的房子,虽然你明显证明
my house although you are proved manifestly
那个人的凶手,尽管你努力尝试,
the murderer of that man, and though you tried,
公然抢劫我的王冠?
openly, highway robbery of my crown?
590看在上帝的份上,告诉我你在我身上看到了什么,
590For God’s sake, tell me what you saw in me,
这是多么懦弱或愚蠢啊,
what cowardice or what stupidity,
为什么你要对我施展这样的阴谋?
that made you lay a plot like this against me?
你以为我不应该观察吗
Did you imagine I should not observe
狡猾的阴谋偷走了我或
the crafty scheme that stole upon me or
595看见了,不采取任何手段去反击吗?
595seeing it, take no means to counter it?
你这样做不是很愚蠢吗?
Was it not stupid of you to make the attempt,
试图在没有
to try to hunt down royal power without
在你背后支持的人或朋友?
the people at your back or friends? For only
有人支持你,或者有钱
with the people at your back or money can
600狩猎结束时,夺得了王冠。
600the hunt end in the capture of a crown.
克雷翁:你知道自己在做什么吗?你会听吗
Creon: Do you know what you’re doing? Will you listen
用言语来回答你的问题,然后作出判断?
to words to answer yours, and then pass judgment?
哦,埃迪普斯:你说话很快,但我却很难理解你,
Oedipus: You’re quick to speak, but I am slow to grasp you,
因为我发现你很危险——而且是我的敌人。
for I have found you dangerous, — and my foe.
605克瑞翁:首先,请听我说说。
605Creon: First of all hear what I shall say to that.
奥艾迪普斯:至少不要告诉我你无罪。
Oedipus: At least don’t tell me that you are not guilty.
克瑞翁:如果你认为固执而无智慧
Creon: If you think obstinacy without wisdom
一份宝贵的财产,你错了。
a valuable possession, you are wrong.
哦,埃迪普斯:如果你相信这一点,你就错了,
Oedipus: And you are wrong if you believe that one,
610罪犯不会受到惩罚
610a criminal, will not be punished only
因为他是我的亲戚。
because he is my kinsman.
克瑞翁:这只是——
Creon: This is but just —
那么请告诉我,我犯了什么罪呢?
but tell me, then, of what offense I’m guilty?
奥·埃迪普斯:你有没有催我送
Oedipus: Did you or did you not urge me to send
对这个预言家喃喃自语?
to this prophetic mumbler?
克瑞翁:我确实这么做了,
Creon: I did indeed,
615我会遵守我告诉你的话。
615and I shall stand by what I told you.
噢,埃迪普斯:自从拉伊俄斯……到现在已经有多久了?
Oedipus: How long ago is it since Laius …
克瑞翁:那拉伊俄斯呢?我不明白。
Creon: What about Laius? I don’t understand.
哦埃迪普斯:消失了 — — 死了 — — 被谋杀了?
Oedipus: Vanished — died — was murdered?
克瑞翁:很长,
Creon: It is long,
需要很长很长的时间去计算。
a long, long time to reckon.
俄狄浦斯:这位先知
Oedipus: Was this prophet
那么从事这个职业吗?
in the profession then?
620克瑞翁:他是,并且很荣幸
620Creon: He was, and honoured
就像他今天一样。
as highly as he is today.
奥艾迪普斯:那时他有说过我什么吗?
Oedipus: At that time did he say a word about me?
克瑞翁:从来没有,至少当我在他身边的时候。
Creon: Never, at least when I was near him.
奥埃迪普斯:你从来没搜寻过那个死者吗?
Oedipus: You never made a search for the dead man?
625克瑞翁:我们确实搜寻过了,但却没有找到任何东西。
625Creon: We searched, indeed, but never learned of anything.
哦,埃迪普斯:那么,为什么我们这位聪明的老朋友不这么说呢?
Oedipus: Why did our wise old friend not say this then?
克瑞翁:我不知道;当我什么都不知道的时候,我
Creon: I don’t know; and when I know nothing, I
我通常会保持沉默。
usually hold my tongue.
哦,埃迪普斯:你知道这么多,
Oedipus: You know this much,
如果你忠诚的话,就可以声明这么多。
and can declare this much if you are loyal.
630克瑞翁:怎么回事?如果我知道,我就不会否认。
630Creon: What is it? If I know, I’ll not deny it.
埃迪普斯:他不会说是我杀了拉伊俄斯
Oedipus: That he would not have said that I killed Laius
如果他没有先遇见你。
had he not met you first.
克瑞翁:你了解你自己
Creon: You know yourself
他是否说过这些,但我要求我
whether he said this, but I demand that I
我应该听到你从我这里听到的同样多的声音。
should hear as much from you as you from me.
635哦,埃迪普斯:那么,你听我说,我不会被证明是个杀人犯。
635Oedipus: Then hear, — I’ll not be proved a murderer.
克瑞翁:那么,你就和我姐姐结婚了。
Creon: Well, then. You’re married to my sister.
俄狄浦斯:是的,
Oedipus: Yes,
对此我不愿否认。
that I am not disposed to deny.
克瑞翁:你统治
Creon: You rule
这个国家给予她平等的份额
this country giving her an equal share
在政府中?
in the government?
奥伊迪普斯:是的,她想要的一切
Oedipus: Yes, everything she wants
她从我这里得到了。
she has from me.
640克瑞翁:而我,作为你的第三者,
640Creon: And I, as thirdsman to you,
我和你们两个一样吗?
am rated as the equal of you two?
哦埃迪普斯:是的,你已经证明自己是个假朋友。
Oedipus: Yes, and it’s there you’ve proved yourself false friend.
克雷翁:如果你像我一样仔细思考的话就不会。
Creon: Not if you will reflect on it as I do.
首先考虑一下,如果你认为任何一个
Consider, first, if you think any one
645宁愿选择统治和恐惧,也不愿统治
645would choose to rule and fear rather than rule
不再被权力的恐惧所困扰
and sleep untroubled by a fear if power
在两种情况下都是平等的。至少我
were equal in both cases. I, at least,
我并非生来就有如此疯狂的渴望
I was not born with such a frantic yearning
成为一名国王——但要做国王该做的事。
to be a king — but to do what kings do.
650每一个学会了的人都是如此
650And so it is with every one who has learned
智慧和自我控制。就目前而言,
wisdom and self-control. As it stands now,
奖品全都是我的——而且毫无畏惧。
the prizes are all mine — and without fear.
但如果我自己是国王,我必须
But if I were the king myself, I must
做很多违背常理的事。
do much that went against the grain.
655专制统治怎能让我感觉更甜蜜
655How should despotic rule seem sweeter to me
而不是无痛苦的权力和有保证的权威?
than painless power and an assured authority?
我还没有那么痴迷
I am not so besotted yet that I
想要获得除了利润之外的其他荣誉。
want other honours than those that come with profit.
现在每个人都让我高兴;每个人都向我问好;
Now every man’s my pleasure; every man greets me;
660现在你的追求者们都向我献媚,——
660now those who are your suitors fawn on me, —
他们的成功取决于我的帮助。
success for them depends upon my favour.
我为什么要放弃这一切来赢得那个?
Why should I let all this go to win that?
我的心若明智,就不会叛徒;
My mind would not be traitor if it’s wise;
我本性上不是叛国爱好者,
I am no treason lover, of my nature,
665我也绝不敢参与阴谋。
665nor would I ever dare to join a plot.
证明我说的话。去神谕那里
Prove what I say. Go to the oracle
在 Pytho 询问答案,
at Pytho and inquire about the answers,
如果它们像我告诉你的那样。其余的,
if they are as I told you. For the rest,
如果你发现我有什么阴谋
if you discover I laid any plot
670和先知一起杀了我,我说,
670together with the seer, kill me, I say,
不仅通过您的投票,也通过我自己的投票。
not only by your vote but by my own.
但不要指责我的观点模糊
But do not charge me on obscure opinion
没有任何证据支持。这不仅仅是
without some proof to back it. It’s not just
轻视你的恶棍为诚实人,
lightly to count your knaves as honest men,
675正直的人也好,无赖也好。
675nor honest men as knaves. To throw away
一个诚实的朋友,就像扔掉
an honest friend is, as it were, to throw
你的一生,这是男人最爱的。
your life away, which a man loves the best.
随着时间的流逝,你将会确切地知道一切;
In time you will know all with certainty;
时间是检验诚实人的唯一标准,
time is the only test of honest men,
680一天的时间足以认识一个流氓。
680one day is space enough to know a rogue.
合唱:国王,如果有人不怕失败,那么他的话就是明智的。
Chorus: His words are wise, king, if one fears to fall.
脾气暴躁的人是不安全的。
Those who are quick of temper are not safe.
俄狄浦斯:当他暗中策划反对我时
Oedipus: When he that plots against me secretly
动作快,我也要赶紧反击。
moves quickly, I must quickly counterplot.
685如果我等待,不采取果断措施
685If I wait taking no decisive measure
他的事已成定局,而我的事却被毁了。
his business will be done, and mine be spoiled.
克瑞翁:那你想做什么?放逐我?
Creon: What do you want to do then? Banish me?
哦,埃迪普斯:不,当然;杀了你,而不是放逐你。
Oedipus: No, certainly; kill you, not banish you.
克瑞翁:我不认为你已经头脑清醒了。
Creon: I do not think that you’ve your wits about you.
690奥艾迪普斯:为了我自己的利益,是的。
690Oedipus: For my own interests, yes.
克瑞翁:但我也一样,
Creon: But for mine, too,
你应该平等地思考。
you should think equally.
奥艾迪普斯:你是一个流氓。
Oedipus: You are a rogue.
克雷翁:你以为你不明白吗?
Creon: Suppose you do not understand?
俄狄浦斯:但是
Oedipus: But yet
我必须成为统治者。
I must be ruler.
克瑞翁:如果你统治得不好,那就不是。
Creon: Not if you rule badly.
哦,埃迪普斯:哦,城市,城市!
Oedipus: O, city, city!
克里昂:我也有份
Creon: I too have some share
695在这个城市里,它不只属于你一个人。
695in the city; it is not yours alone.
合唱:停下来,大人!就在这儿——而且正是时候
Chorus: Stop, my lords! Here — and in the nick of time
我看见伊俄卡斯忒从屋里走出来;
I see Jocasta coming from the house;
在她的帮助下,解决了现在令你激动的争吵。
with her help lay the quarrel that now stirs you.
(伊俄卡斯忒上场。)
(Enter Jocasta.)
乔卡斯塔:真丢脸!你为什么要挑起这种愚蠢的争吵
Jocasta: For shame! Why have you raised this foolish squabbling
700争吵?你不羞于公开你的隐私吗?
700brawl? Are you not ashamed to air your private
国家病了,你又怎么会悲伤呢?俄狄浦斯,你进去吧,
griefs when the country’s sick? Go in, you, Oedipus,
克瑞翁,你也进屋去吧。不要夸大
and you, too, Creon, into the house. Don’t magnify
你没什么烦恼。
your nothing troubles.
克瑞翁:俄狄浦斯的妹妹,
Creon: Sister, Oedipus,
你的丈夫认为他有权这样做
your husband, thinks he has the right to do
705可怕的错误——他只能选择
705terrible wrongs — he has but to choose between
两种恐惧:放逐我或者杀死我。
two terrors: banishing or killing me.
伊狄普斯:他说得对,伊俄卡斯忒,我发现他在密谋
Oedipus: He’s right, Jocasta; for I find him plotting
用不正当的手段对付我的人身攻击。
with knavish tricks against my person.
克瑞翁:愿上帝永远不保佑我!愿我死去
Creon: That God may never bless me! May I die
710如果我犯了罪,那该有多好啊
710accursed, if I have been guilty of
你们对我提出的任何指控都没有任何意义!
one tittle of the charge you bring against me!
乔卡斯塔:俄狄浦斯,我求求你,相信他,
Jocasta: I beg you, Oedipus, trust him in this,
看在他向上帝发誓的份上,饶恕他吧,
spare him for the sake of this his oath to God,
为了我,也为了站在这里的人。
for my sake, and the sake of those who stand here.
715合唱:要仁慈,要仁慈,
715Chorus: Be gracious, be merciful,
我们恳求你。
we beg of you.
哦,埃迪普斯:你想让我做出什么让步?
Oedipus: In what would you have me yield?
合唱:他过去不是一个傻孩子。
Chorus: He has been no silly child in the past.
他现在非常坚定地信守自己的誓言。
He is strong in his oath now.
720饶了他吧。
720Spare him.
O edipus:你知道你问的是什么吗?
Oedipus: Do you know what you ask?
合唱:是的。
Chorus: Yes.
奥艾迪普斯:那你告诉我吧。
Oedipus: Tell me then.
725合唱:在众人眼前,他是你的朋友;不要因为一个不为人知的猜测而抛弃他。
725Chorus: He has been your friend before all men’s eyes; do not cast him away dishonoured on an obscure conjecture.
哦,埃迪普斯:我想让你知道,你的这个请求
Oedipus: I would have you know that this request of yours
真的要求我死亡或者被放逐。
really requests my death or banishment.
合唱:愿太阳神、众神之王阻止我!如果我有这样的想法,我可能会在没有上帝祝福、没有朋友帮助的情况下死去。但我对衰败的国家感到不快,这让我精神崩溃;这只会给我们自己带来更多麻烦。
Chorus: May the Sun God, king of Gods, forbid! May I die without God’s blessing, without friends’ help, if I had any such thought. But my spirit is broken by my unhappiness for my wasting country; and this would but add troubles amongst ourselves to the other troubles.
730哦,埃迪普斯:好吧,那就让他走吧——即使我必须为此死十次,
730Oedipus: Well, let him go then — if I must die ten times for it,
或被流放,受辱。
or be sent out dishonoured into exile.
我可怜你的嘴唇,为他祈祷,
It is your lips that prayed for him I pitied,
735不是他的;无论他在哪里,我都会恨他。
735not his; wherever he is, I shall hate him.
克瑞翁:我看到你闷闷不乐地屈服了,你很危险
Creon: I see you sulk in yielding and you’re dangerous
当你发脾气的时候;像你这样的性格
when you are out of temper; natures like yours
是他们自己所能承受的最沉重的负担。
are justly heaviest for themselves to bear.
噢,艾迪普斯:别管我!我告诉你,你走吧。
Oedipus: Leave me alone! Take yourself off, I tell you.
740克瑞翁:我去吧,你们不认识我,但他们认识我,
740Creon: I’ll go, you have not known me, but they have,
他们也知道我的清白。
and they have known my innocence.
(出口。)
(Exit.)
合唱:女士,您不带他进去吗?
Chorus: Won’t you take him inside, lady?
乔卡斯塔:是的,当我弄清楚发生了什么事之后。
Jocasta: Yes, when I’ve found out what was the matter.
745合唱:对故事有一些误解的怀疑,另一方面又有不公正的刺痛。
745Chorus: There was some misconceived suspicion of a story, and on the other side the sting of injustice.
J ocasta:那么,双方都是这样吗?
Jocasta: So, on both sides?
合唱:是的。
Chorus: Yes.
乔卡斯塔:故事讲得是什么?
Jocasta: What was the story?
750合唱:我认为,为了国家的利益,最好的办法是让它保持原样。
750Chorus: I think it best, in the interests of the country, to leave it where it ended.
哦,埃迪普斯:你看,你的结局如何,直接审判
Oedipus: You see where you have ended, straight of judgment
尽管你确实如此,但你还是软化了我的愤怒。
although you are, by softening my anger.
755合唱:先生,我以前说过,现在再说一遍——如果我把你赶走,请相信我,我将被证明是个疯子,在理智的劝告下破产了,而正是你,在我深爱的国家陷入困境时,安全地领导着她。但愿上帝保佑,现在,你也能成为我们的幸运向导。
755Chorus: Sir, I have said before and I say again — be sure that I would have been proved a madman, bankrupt in sane council, if I should put you away, you who steered the country I love safely when she was crazed with troubles. God grant that now, too, you may prove a fortunate guide for us.
乔卡斯塔:请告诉我,大人,我求求你,那是什么
Jocasta: Tell me, my lord, I beg of you, what was it
怎么就这么激起你的愤怒了?
that roused your anger so?
噢,埃迪普斯:是的,我会告诉你的。
Oedipus: Yes, I will tell you.
760我尊敬你远胜于尊敬他们。
760I honour you more than I honour them.
这是克瑞翁对我策划的阴谋。
It was Creon and the plots he laid against me.
乔卡斯塔:告诉我——如果你能清楚地说出争吵——
Jocasta: Tell me — if you can clearly tell the quarrel —
俄狄浦斯:克瑞翁说
Oedipus: Creon says
我就是拉伊俄斯的凶手。
that I’m the murderer of Laius.
J ocasta:他自己知道还是根据信息?
Jocasta: Of his own knowledge or on information?
765俄狄浦斯:他派这个流氓先知来找我,因为
765Oedipus: He sent this rascal prophet to me, since
他保持嘴巴清洁,不说任何愧疚的话。
he keeps his own mouth clean of any guilt.
J ocasta:不要担心这件事;
Jocasta: Do not concern yourself about this matter;
听我说,了解人类
listen to me and learn that human beings
不参与预言的制作。
have no part in the craft of prophecy.
770我将向你展示一个简短的证明。
770Of that I’ll show you a short proof.
拉伊俄斯曾得到一个神谕,
There was an oracle once that came to Laius, —
我不会说那是福玻斯自己的,
I will not say that it was Phoebus’ own,
但这是他的仆人发来的——它告诉他
but it was from his servants — and it told him
他注定要以牺牲者的身份死去
that it was fate that he should die a victim
775在他自己的儿子手中,一个即将出生的儿子
775at the hands of his own son, a son to be born
拉伊俄斯和我。但是,现在你看,他
of Laius and me. But, see now, he,
国王被外国劫匪杀害
the king, was killed by foreign highway robbers
在三条路的交汇处——故事就是这样的;
at a place where three roads meet — so goes the story;
至于儿子,三天之内
and for the son — before three days were out
780在他出生后,国王拉伊俄斯刺穿了他的脚踝
780after his birth King Laius pierced his ankles
并被别人扔出去
and by the hands of others cast him forth
在没有道路的山坡上。所以阿波罗
upon a pathless hillside. So Apollo
未能履行对儿子的预言,
failed to fulfill his oracle to the son,
杀死他的父亲,然后交给拉伊俄斯,
that he should kill his father, and to Laius
785事实证明他所担心的事情是错误的,
785also proved false in that the thing he feared,
死于儿子之手,这一事实从未发生过。
death at his son’s hands, never came to pass.
在这种情况下,神谕是如此清晰,
So clear in this case were the oracles,
如此清晰而虚假。我说,别理会他们;
so clear and false. Give them no heed, I say;
上帝发现需要什么,很容易
what God discovers need of, easily
他向我们展示了他自己。
he shows to us himself.
790噢,亲爱的伊俄卡斯忒,
790Oedipus: O dear Jocasta,
当我听到你这么说的时候,我心里
as I hear this from you, there comes upon me
灵魂的徘徊——我可能会发疯。
a wandering of the soul — I could run mad.
乔卡斯塔:你为什么又转过身来
Jocasta: What trouble is it, that you turn again
还这样讲话?
and speak like this?
哦,艾迪普斯:我以为我听到你说
Oedipus: I thought I heard you say
795拉伊俄斯在十字路口被杀。
795that Laius was killed at a crossroads.
J ocasta:是的,故事就是这样的,而且
Jocasta: Yes, that was how the story went and still
这句话流传开来。
that word goes round.
俄狄浦斯:伊俄卡斯忒,这地方在哪儿?
Oedipus: Where is this place, Jocasta,
他在哪里被谋杀的?
where he was murdered?
霍卡斯塔:福西斯是国家
Jocasta: Phocis is the country
道路在那里分叉,这是从德尔斐出发的两条道路之一,
and the road splits there, one of two roads from Delphi,
另一个来自达乌利亚(Daulia)。
another comes from Daulia.
800O edipus:这是多久以前的事了?
800Oedipus: How long ago is this?
J ocasta:这个消息传到这座城市之前
Jocasta: The news came to the city just before
你成为了国王,所有人的目光都注视着你。
you became king and all men’s eyes looked to you.
俄狄浦斯,你的心里在想什么?
What is it, Oedipus, that’s in your mind?
哦,埃迪普斯:哦,宙斯,你打算对我做什么?
Oedipus: What have you designed, O Zeus, to do with me?
805乔卡斯塔:什么想法让你心烦意乱?
805Jocasta: What is the thought that troubles your heart?
俄狄浦斯:先别问我,告诉我拉伊俄斯的事吧。
Oedipus: Don’t ask me yet — tell me of Laius —
他看上去怎么样?他多大或多小?
How did he look? How old or young was he?
J ocasta:他身材高大,头发花白
Jocasta: He was a tall man and his hair was grizzled
已经——几乎是白色——并且处于他的状态
already — nearly white — and in his form
和你不一样。
not unlike you.
810哦,上帝,我想我已经
810Oedipus: O God, I think I have
我无知地咒骂自己。
called curses on myself in ignorance.
乔卡斯塔:你什么意思?我很害怕
Jocasta: What do you mean? I am terrified
当我看着你。
when I look at you.
噢,埃迪普斯:我有一种致命的恐惧
Oedipus: I have a deadly fear
古代先知有眼睛。你会告诉我更多
that the old seer had eyes. You’ll show me more
如果你能再告诉我一件事。
if you can tell me one more thing.
815乔卡斯塔:我会的。
815Jocasta: I will.
我很害怕,但如果我能理解,
I’m frightened, — but if I can understand,
我会告诉你所有你问的问题。
I’ll tell you all you ask.
O edipus:他的公司怎么样?
Oedipus: How was his company?
当他踏上这段旅程时,如果身边没有其他人,
Had he few with him when he went this journey,
或者说,像王子那样拥有许多仆人吗?
or many servants, as would suit a prince?
820乔卡斯塔:总共只有五个,其中
820Jocasta: In all there were but five, and among them
一名传令官;以及一辆供国王使用的马车。
a herald; and one carriage for the king.
奥艾迪普斯:这很明显——这很明显——是谁告诉你这些的?
Oedipus: It’s plain — it’s plain — who was it told you this?
乔卡斯塔:唯一安全逃回家的仆人。
Jocasta: The only servant that escaped safe home.
O edipus:他现在在家吗?
Oedipus: Is he at home now?
J ocasta:不,当他再次回家时
Jocasta: No, when he came home again
825看见你是国王,拉伊俄斯已死,
825and saw you king and Laius was dead,
他走到我身边,触摸我的手并乞求
he came to me and touched my hand and begged
我应该送他去田里
that I should send him to the fields to be
我的牧羊人,这样他就能看到这座城市
my shepherd and so he might see the city
尽可能地远离他。所以我
as far off as he might. So I
830打发他走了。他是个诚实的人,
830sent him away. He was an honest man,
作为奴隶,他值得得到更多
as slaves go, and was worthy of far more
比他对我的要求还要多。
than what he asked of me.
噢,埃迪普斯:噢,我多么希望他能快点回来!
Oedipus: O, how I wish that he could come back quickly!
乔卡斯塔:他可以。你为什么这么执着于此?
Jocasta: He can. Why is your heart so set on this?
835哦,伊狄普斯:哦,亲爱的伊俄卡斯忒,我满心恐惧
835Oedipus: O dear Jocasta, I am full of fears
我说得太多了;因此
that I have spoken far too much; and therefore
我希望见见这个牧羊人。
I wish to see this shepherd.
乔卡斯塔:他会来的;
Jocasta: He will come;
但俄狄浦斯,我觉得我也值得
but, Oedipus, I think I’m worthy too
了解是什么令你不安。
to know what it is that disquiets you.
840哦,埃迪普斯:你不会忘记,因为我的心灵
840Oedipus: It shall not be kept from you, since my mind
它的预感已经到了如此地步。
has gone so far with its forebodings. Whom
除了你,我还能向谁倾诉呢?
should I confide in rather than you, who is there
对我来说更重要
of more importance to me who have passed
通过这样的运气?
through such a fortune?
845我的父亲波吕玻斯是科林斯国王,
845Polybus was my father, king of Corinth,
还有我的母亲,多利斯人梅洛普。
and Merope,u the Dorian, my mother.
我被誉为最伟大的公民
I was held greatest of the citizens
在科林斯,直到一个奇怪的机会降临到我身上
in Corinth till a curious chance befell me
正如我将要告诉你的——确实令人好奇,
as I shall tell you — curious, indeed,
850但几乎不值得我为它付出任何代价。
850but hardly worth the store I set upon it.
有一次晚餐,一位男士,
There was a dinner and at it a man,
一个醉汉,在喝酒的时候指责我
a drunken man, accused me in his drink
我很生气
of being bastard. I was furious
但那一天我控制住了自己的脾气。
but held my temper under for that day.
855第二天,我去向我的父母告状;
855Next day I went and taxed my parents with it;
他们对他这种侮辱感到非常难过,
they took the insult very ill from him,
说这话的那个醉汉。
the drunken fellow who had uttered it.
所以我为他们感到安慰,但是
So I was comforted for their part, but
但这件事总是让人恼火,因为这个故事
still this thing rankled always, for the story
860四处爬行。最后我
860crept about widely. And I went at last
我对 Pytho 很了解,但我的父母并不知道。
to Pytho, though my parents did not know.
但菲比斯又不客气地送我回家
But Phoebus sent me home again unhonoured
我了解到的情况,但他预言
in what I came to learn, but he foretold
其它令人绝望的恐怖降临到我头上,
other and desperate horrors to befall me,
865我命中注定要和我的母亲同寝,
865that I was fated to lie with my mother,
并揭露一个被诅咒的品种
and show to daylight an accursed breed
这是人类无法忍受的,我注定要失败
which men would not endure, and I was doomed
成为杀害生我的父亲的凶手。
to be murderer of the father that begot me.
我一听见这话就逃跑了,
When I heard this I fled, and in the days
870接下来我会从星星来衡量
870that followed I would measure from the stars
科林斯的下落——是的,我逃走了
the whereabouts of Corinth — yes, I fled
去某个我不应该看到实现的地方
to somewhere where I should not see fulfilled
那个可怕的神谕里所说的恶事。
the infamies told in that dreadful oracle.
当我旅行时我来到了
And as I journeyed I came to the place
875正如你所说,这位国王就是在那里去世的。
875where, as you say, this king met with his death.
伊俄卡斯忒,我会告诉你全部真相。
Jocasta, I will tell you the whole truth.
当我快到十字路口的时候,
When I was near the branching of the crossroads,
步行时,我遇到了
going on foot, I was encountered by
一名传令官和一辆载着一名男子的马车,
a herald and a carriage with a man in it,
880正如你告诉我的那样。他引领了道路
880just as you tell me. He that led the way
老人自己也想把我推开
and the old man himself wanted to thrust me
被强行赶出道路。我很生气
out of the road by force. I became angry
并打了推我的车夫。
and struck the coachman who was pushing me.
当老人看到这一幕时,他观察了一下,
When the old man saw this he watched his moment,
885当我经过时,他把我从马车上撞了下来,
885and as I passed he struck me from his carriage,
用两根尖刺猛戳其头。
full on the head with his two pointed goad.
但他很快就得到了全额报酬
But he was paid in full and presently
我的棍子把他从车上打了下来
my stick had struck him backwards from the car
然后他就滚了出来。然后我就杀了他们
and he rolled out of it. And then I killed them
890全部。如果发生这种情况,有任何联系
890all. If it happened there was any tie
这个人和拉伊俄斯之间有血缘关系,
of kinship twixt this man and Laius,
现在他比我更悲惨,
who is then now more miserable than I,
世上有什么人如此被诸神所憎恶,
what man on earth so hated by the Gods,
因为无论是公民还是外国人
since neither citizen nor foreigner
895可以欢迎我到家里来,甚至向我问好,
895may welcome me at home or even greet me,
却把我赶出门去?而我,
but drive me out of doors? And it is I,
除我之外没有人如此咒骂过自己。
I and no other have so cursed myself.
我玷污了我杀死的人的床
And I pollute the bed of him I killed
杀死他的那双手。难道我不是生来就邪恶的吗?
by the hands that killed him. Was I not born evil?
900我不是完全不干净吗?我不得不飞走
900Am I not utterly unclean? I had to fly
在我被放逐期间甚至看不到
and in my banishment not even see
我的亲人,也没有踏上我的祖国,
my kindred nor set foot in my own country,
否则我的命运就被束缚住了
or otherwise my fate was to be yoked
和我母亲结婚并杀死我父亲,
in marriage with my mother and kill my father,
905波吕玻斯生了我并养育了我。
905Polybus who begot me and had reared me.
难道没有人会正确地评判我,说我
Would not one rightly judge and say that on me
这些东西是某个恶毒的上帝送来的吗?
these things were sent by some malignant God?
哦不,不,不——哦神圣的陛下
O no, no, no — O holy majesty
上帝啊,愿我看不到那一天!
of God on high, may I not see that day!
910我能否在离开人们视线之前
910May I be gone out of men’s sight before
我看到了这场灾难的致命污点
I see the deadly taint of this disaster
来到我身边。
come upon me.
合唱:先生,我们也害怕这些事情。但是,直到你亲眼见到这个人并听到他的故事之前,请抱有希望。
Chorus: Sir, we too fear these things. But until you see this man face to face and hear his story, hope.
915噢,埃迪普斯:是的,我就是这么希望——等到牧羊人的到来。
915Oedipus: Yes, I have just this much of hope — to wait until the herdsman comes.
乔卡斯塔:他来的时候你想让他做什么?
Jocasta: And when he comes, what do you want with him?
哦,埃迪普斯:我会告诉你的;如果我发现他的故事和你的故事一样,至少我就可以免除这项罪责。
Oedipus: I’ll tell you; if I find that his story is the same as yours, I at least will be clear of this guilt.
乔卡斯塔:为什么你能从我的故事中了解到如此特别的东西?
Jocasta: Why what so particularly did you learn from my story?
920哦,埃迪普斯:你说他谈论的是杀死拉伊俄斯的强盗。现在如果他使用相同的数字,那么杀死他的就不是我。一个人不可能等同于许多人。但如果他说的是一个独自旅行的人,那么显然罪责就落在我身上了。
920Oedipus: You said that he spoke of highway robbers who killed Laius. Now if he uses the same number, it was not I who killed him. One man cannot be the same as many. But if he speaks of a man travelling alone, then clearly the burden of the guilt inclines towards me.
925乔卡斯塔:至少,请相信他讲的故事是这样的。他现在无法收回他的话,因为城里的每个人都听到了——不仅仅是我一个人。但是,俄狄浦斯,即使他偏离了当时所说的话,他也永远无法证明拉伊俄斯的谋杀与预言相符——因为洛西亚斯宣称国王应该被自己的儿子杀死。而那个可怜的人肯定没有杀死他——因为他自己先死了。所以就预言而言,从今以后我不会再看左手边或右手边了。
925Jocasta: Be sure, at least, that this was how he told the story. He cannot unsay it now, for everyone in the city heard it — not I alone. But, Oedipus, even if he diverges from what he said then, he shall never prove that the murder of Laius squares rightly with the prophecy — for Loxias declared that the king should be killed by his own son. And that poor creature did not kill him surely, — for he died himself first. So as far as prophecy goes, henceforward I shall not look to the right hand or the left.
930奥·埃迪普斯:对。不过,还是派人去把那个农民带过来吧;别忽视了。
930Oedipus: Right. But yet, send some one for the peasant to bring him here; do not neglect it.
乔卡斯塔:我很快就派人去。现在让我进屋。除了让你高兴的事,我什么也不做。
Jocasta: I will send quickly. Now let me go indoors. I will do nothing except what pleases you.
(下)
(Exeunt.)
935合唱(诗节):愿命运永远找到我
935Chorus (Strophe): May destiny ever find me
言行虔诚
pious in word and deed
由高高在上的法则所规定:
prescribed by the laws that live on high:
在天堂清澈的空气中诞生的法律,
laws begotten in the clear air of heaven,
其唯一的父亲是奥林匹斯山;
whose only father is Olympus;
940没有凡人的自然赋予他们生命,
940no mortal nature brought them to birth,
没有任何遗忘能使他们安然入睡;
no forgetfulness shall lull them to sleep;
因为上帝在他们心中是伟大的,而且不会衰老。
for God is great in them and grows not old.
(对句)傲慢滋生暴君,傲慢
(Antistrophe) Insolence breeds the tyrant, insolence
如果它充斥着过剩、不合时宜、无利可图,
if it is glutted with a surfeit, unseasonable, unprofitable,
945爬上屋顶然后跳下去
945climbs to the roof-top and plunges
直坠至必定的废墟,
sheer down to the ruin that must be,
那里没有可用的服务。
and there its feet are no service.
但我祈祷上帝永远不要
But I pray that the God may never
废除使国家获利的急切野心。
abolish the eager ambition that profits the state.
950因为我永远不会停止将上帝视为我们的保护者。
950For I shall never cease to hold the God as our protector.
(诗节)如果一个人傲慢地行走
(Strophe) If a man walks with haughtiness
手或言语,不予理睬
of hand or word and gives no heed
正义和众神的圣殿
to Justice and the shrines of Gods
鄙视——愿厄运降临
despises — may an evil doom
955惩罚他那颗不幸的骄傲的心!——
955smite him for his ill-starred pride of heart!—
他不择手段
he reaps gains without justice
不会因为不虔诚而停止
and will not hold from impiety
他的手指渴望触碰不到的东西。
and his fingers itch for untouchable things.
当这样的事发生时,人类还能想出什么办法呢?
When such things are done, what man shall contrive
960保护他的灵魂免受上帝之箭的伤害?
960to shield his soul from the shafts of the God?
当这样的事迹受到尊敬时,
When such deeds are held in honour,
我为什么要通过舞蹈来敬拜神灵?
why should I honour the Gods in the dance?
(对句)不再去圣地,
(Antistrophe) No longer to the holy place,
我要去到地球的中心
to the navel of earth I’ll go
965崇拜,也不崇拜 Abae v
965to worship, nor to Abaev
也不是奥林匹亚,
nor to Olympia,
除非预言被证明是合适的,
unless the oracles are proved to fit,
让所有人指向。
for all men’s hands to point at.
宙斯啊,如果你被正确地称为
O Zeus, if you are rightly called
970至高无上的君王,主宰一切,
970the sovereign lord, all-mastering,
不要让这逃避你和你的永恒力量!
let this not escape you nor your ever-living power!
有关拉伊俄斯的神谕
The oracles concerning Laius
他们年老而愚钝,人们不重视他们。
are old and dim and men regard them not.
阿波罗的荣誉已不复存在;对上帝的崇拜也已消亡。
Apollo is nowhere clear in honour; God’s service perishes.
(伊俄卡斯忒上,手捧花环。)
(Enter Jocasta, carrying garlands.)
975乔卡斯塔:各位王子,我曾想过要去
975Jocasta: Princes of the land, I have had the thought to go
到诸神的庙宇,带着我的手
to the Gods’ temples, bringing in my hand
如您所见,花环和香礼。
garlands and gifts of incense, as you see.
因为俄狄浦斯太兴奋了
For Oedipus excites himself too much
面对各种困难,不去猜测,
at every sort of trouble, not conjecturing,
980像一个有理智的人,知道将来会发生什么,
980like a man of sense, what will be from what was,
但他总是受说话者的摆布,
but he is always at the speaker’s mercy,
当他讲恐怖话语时。我无能为力
when he speaks terrors. I can do no good
听从我的建议,所以我来恳求
by my advice, and so I came as suppliant
对你来说,吕卡亚阿波罗,你是最近的。
to you, Lycaean Apollo, who are nearest.
985这些都是我的祈祷的象征,
985These are the symbols of my prayer and this
我的祈祷:让我们摆脱诅咒。
my prayer: grant us escape free of the curse.
现在我们一看见他,就都很害怕;
Now when we look to him we are all afraid;
他是我们的船的领航员,他很害怕。
he’s pilot of our ship and he is frightened.
(进入 Messenger。)
(Enter Messenger.)
990信使:先生们,我能问一下俄狄浦斯的家在哪儿吗?或者,如果您知道的话,国王本人在哪儿?
990Messenger: Might I learn from you, sirs, where is the house of Oedipus? Or best of all, if you know, where is the king himself?
合唱:这是他的房子,他就在屋内。这位女士是他的妻子和孩子的母亲。
Chorus: This is his house and he is within doors. This lady is his wife and mother of his children.
信使:上帝保佑您,女士,上帝保佑您的家人!上帝保佑俄狄浦斯高贵的妻子!
Messenger: God bless you, lady, and God bless your household! God bless Oedipus’ noble wife!
995乔卡斯塔:上帝保佑您,先生,感谢您的热情问候!您来这里是为了什么?您有什么要告诉我们的?
995Jocasta: God bless you, sir, for your kind greeting! What do you want of us that you have come here? What have you to tell us?
信使:好消息,女士。这对您的房子和您的丈夫都有好处。
Messenger: Good news, lady. Good for your house and for your husband.
J ocasta:你有什么消息?谁派你来找我们的?
Jocasta: What is your news? Who sent you to us?
1000信使:我来自科林斯,我带来的消息会让您高兴。或许也会让您痛苦。
1000Messenger: I come from Corinth and the news I bring will give you pleasure. Perhaps a little pain too.
J ocasta:这则双重含义的消息是什么?
Jocasta: What is this news of double meaning?
信使:地峡人民将选择俄狄浦斯作为他们的国王。这是那里的传言。
Messenger: The people of the Isthmus will choose Oedipus to be their king. That is the rumour there.
乔卡丝塔:但是他们的国王不是还是老波吕玻斯吗?
Jocasta: But isn’t their king still old Polybus?
1005信使:不。他已经进了坟墓。他已被死亡夺去了生命。
1005Messenger: No. He is in his grave. Death has got him.
乔卡斯塔:这是真的吗?俄狄浦斯的父亲死了吗?
Jocasta: Is that the truth? Is Oedipus’ father dead?
信使:若非如此,我宁愿自己去死!
Messenger: May I die myself if it be otherwise!
乔卡斯忒(对仆人说):快跑去把这个消息告诉国王!哦,诸神的神谕,你们现在在哪里?俄狄浦斯就是为了躲避这个人而逃走的,生怕他成为自己的凶手!现在他死了,这是自然的,不是被俄狄浦斯杀死的。
Jocasta (to a servant): Be quick and run to the King with the news! O oracles of the Gods, where are you now? It was from this man Oedipus fled, lest he should be his murderer! And now he is dead, in the course of nature, and not killed by Oedipus.
(俄狄浦斯上场。)
(Enter Oedipus.)
哦,埃迪普斯:最亲爱的伊俄卡斯忒,你为什么派人来找我?
Oedipus: Dearest Jocasta, why have you sent for me?
乔卡丝塔:听听这个人说的话,当你听到后,想想神的神圣神谕的结果是什么。
Jocasta: Listen to this man and when you hear reflect what is the outcome of the holy oracles of the Gods.
1015奥·埃迪普斯:他是谁?他有什么话要对我说?
1015Oedipus: Who is he? What is his message for me?
乔卡斯塔:他来自科林斯,他告诉我们你的父亲波吕玻斯已经死了。
Jocasta: He is from Corinth and he tells us that your father Polybus is dead and gone.
奥·埃迪普斯:先生,您说什么?您自己告诉我吧。
Oedipus: What’s this you say, sir? Tell me yourself.
1020信使:既然这是您要明确告知的第一件事:波吕玻斯已死。您尽可放心。
1020Messenger: Since this is the first matter you want clearly told: Polybus has gone down to death. You may be sure of it.
哦,埃迪普斯:是由于背叛还是疾病?
Oedipus: By treachery or sickness?
信使:一件小事就能让老者安然入睡。
Messenger: A small thing will put old bodies asleep.
哦,埃迪普斯:看来他是因病而死的——可怜的老人!
Oedipus: So he died of sickness, it seems, — poor old man!
信使:是的,而且年龄也很大——他已经活了很长的岁月。
Messenger: Yes, and of age — the long years he had measured.
1025哦,艾迪普斯:哈!哈!哦,亲爱的伊俄卡斯忒,为什么
1025Oedipus: Ha! Ha! O dear Jocasta, why should one
看看皮提亚的壁炉?w为什么要看
look to the Pythian hearth?w Why should one look
听到头顶上鸟儿的尖叫声?他们预言
to the birds screaming overhead? They prophesied
我应该杀了我的父亲!但他已经死了,
that I should kill my father! But he’s dead,
深藏在地下,我站在这里
and hidden deep in earth, and I stand here
1030他从未拿矛攻击过他,——
1030who never laid a hand on spear against him, —
除非他因为思念我而死去,
unless perhaps he died of longing for me,
所以我就是他的凶手。但是他们,
and thus I am his murderer. But they,
神谕,就其现状而言——他已经把它们拿走了
the oracles, as they stand — he’s taken them
把他带走,他们已经死了,就像他自己一样,
away with him, they’re dead as he himself is,
并且毫无价值。
and worthless.
1035乔卡斯塔:我之前就告诉过你了。
1035Jocasta: That I told you before now.
哦,埃迪普斯:你确实这么做了,但是我被恐惧误导了。
Oedipus: You did, but I was misled by my fear.
乔卡丝塔:那就别再把这些放在心上了,一个也别。
Jocasta: Then lay no more of them to heart, not one.
哦,埃迪普斯:但是我肯定要害怕我母亲的床吗?
Oedipus: But surely I must fear my mother’s bed?
乔卡斯塔:既然机会就是一切,人类又何必害怕呢?
Jocasta: Why should man fear since chance is all in all
1040对他来说,他显然什么也预知不到吗?
1040for him, and he can clearly foreknow nothing?
最好是轻松地生活,尽可能不假思索地生活。
Best to live lightly, as one can, unthinkingly.
至于你母亲的婚床,——不要害怕。
As to your mother’s marriage bed, — don’t fear it.
在此之前,在梦中,在神谕中,
Before this, in dreams too, as well as oracles,
许多人都和自己的母亲同寝。
many a man has lain with his own mother.
1045但对那些人来说,这些都不算什么
1045But he to whom such things are nothing bears
他的生活最轻松。
his life most easily.
哦,艾迪普斯:你说的一切都说得很完美
Oedipus: All that you say would be said perfectly
如果她死了,但因为她还活着,我必须
if she were dead; but since she lives I must
仍然感到害怕,尽管你说得很好,伊俄卡斯忒。
still fear, although you talk so well, Jocasta.
1050乔卡斯塔:你父亲去世后还有一丝安慰吗?
1050Jocasta: Still in your father’s death there’s light of comfort?
哦,埃迪普斯:巨大的安慰之光;但我害怕活着的人。
Oedipus: Great light of comfort; but I fear the living.
信使:令你害怕的女人是谁?
Messenger: Who is the woman that makes you afraid?
俄狄浦斯( O edipus):墨洛珀,老者,波吕玻斯的妻子。
Oedipus: Merope, old man, Polybus’ wife.
信使:她有什么地方令女王和您感到害怕?
Messenger: What about her frightens the queen and you?
1055奥伊狄普斯:来自诸神的可怕神谕,陌生人。
1055Oedipus: A terrible oracle, stranger, from the Gods.
信使:这能说出来吗?或者神圣的法律
Messenger: Can it be told? Or does the sacred law
禁止他人了解它?
forbid another to have knowledge of it?
哦,艾迪普斯:哦,不!洛西亚斯曾经说过
Oedipus: O no! Once on a time Loxias said
我应该和我的母亲同寝,
that I should lie with my own mother and
1060我的手上沾满了我父亲的鲜血。
1060take on my hands the blood of my own father.
所以这么多年来我一直远离
And so for these long years I’ve lived away
来自科林斯;这是我非常高兴的事;
from Corinth; it has been to my great happiness;
但看到父母的面容还是很甜蜜。
but yet it’s sweet to see the face of parents.
信使:这就是把你们赶出科林斯的恐惧吗?
Messenger: This was the fear which drove you out of Corinth?
1065奥伊迪普斯:老头子,我不想杀死我的父亲。
1065Oedipus: Old man, I did not wish to kill my father.
信使:先生,我为什么不让你摆脱这种恐惧呢?
Messenger: Why should I not free you from this fear, sir,
因为我是怀着善意来找你的?
since I have come to you in all goodwill?
哦,埃迪普斯:如果你这么做了,你就不会认为我忘恩负义了。
Oedipus: You would not find me thankless if you did.
信使:我就是为此才带来这个消息的——
Messenger: Why, it was just for this I brought the news, —
1070以便在您安全回家后赢得您的感谢。
1070to earn your thanks when you had come safe home.
奥狄浦斯:不,我永远不会靠近我的父母。
Oedipus: No, I will never come near my parents.
信使:儿子,
Messenger: Son,
很明显你不知道自己在做什么。
it’s very plain you don’t know what you’re doing.
噢,艾迪普斯:你这是什么意思,老头子?看在上帝的份上,告诉我吧。
Oedipus: What do you mean, old man? For God’s sake, tell me.
信使:如果你因这些恐惧而无法回家。
Messenger: If your homecoming is checked by fears like these.
1075奥伊迪普斯:是的,我担心福玻斯的说法可能是正确的。
1075Oedipus: Yes, I’m afraid that Phoebus may prove right.
信使:谋杀和乱伦?
Messenger: The murder and the incest?
俄狄浦斯:是的,老兄;
Oedipus: Yes, old man;
这是我一直以来的恐惧。
that is my constant terror.
信使:你知道吗
Messenger: Do you know
你所有的恐惧都是空的?
that all your fears are empty?
哦,埃迪普斯:怎么会这样,
Oedipus: How is that,
如果他们是父亲和母亲而我是他们的儿子呢?
if they are father and mother and I their son?
1080信使:因为波吕玻斯与你没有血缘关系。
1080Messenger: Because Polybus was no kin to you in blood.
噢,埃迪普斯:怎么,波吕玻斯不是我的父亲吗?
Oedipus: What, was not Polybus my father?
信使:我没有多说什么,只是这么多而已。
Messenger: No more than I but just so much.
俄狄浦斯:怎么能
Oedipus: How can
我的父亲和我的父亲一样
my father be my father as much as one
这对我没什么?
that’s nothing to me?
信使:他和我都不是
Messenger: Neither he nor I
生下了你。
begat you.
1085哦埃迪普斯:那他为什么叫我儿子呢?
1085Oedipus: Why then did he call me son?
信使:他从我手中给你拿走了一份礼物。
Messenger: A gift he took you from these hands of mine.
哦,埃迪普斯:他真的那么爱他从别人手里夺走的东西吗?
Oedipus: Did he love so much what he took from another’s hand?
信使:他以前没有孩子,这说服了他。
Messenger: His childlessness before persuaded him.
俄狄浦斯:我是你买来的孩子吗?还是你发现的?
Oedipus: Was I a child you bought or found when I
是给他的吗?
was given to him?
1090信使:在 Cithaeron 的山坡上
1090Messenger: On Cithaeron’s slopes
在蜿蜒的灌木丛中你被发现了。
in the twisting thickets you were found.
俄狄浦斯:为什么
Oedipus: And why
您曾经去过那些地方吗?
were you a traveller in those parts?
信使:我
Messenger: I was
掌管山上的羊群。
in charge of mountain flocks.
奥艾迪普斯:你是一位牧羊人吗?
Oedipus: You were a shepherd?
雇佣的流浪汉?
A hireling vagrant?
信使:是的,但至少在那个时候
Messenger: Yes, but at least at that time
1095儿子,这个人救了你的命。
1095the man that saved your life, son.
哦,埃迪普斯:当你将我拥入怀中时,我有何感受?
Oedipus: What ailed me when you took me in your arms?
信使:你们的脚踝就可以作为见证。
Messenger: In that your ankles should be witnesses.
哦,埃迪普斯:你为何提起那段旧日的痛苦?
Oedipus: Why do you speak of that old pain?
信使:我放开了你;
Messenger: I loosed you;
你的脚筋被刺穿,被束缚,——
the tendons of your feet were pierced and fettered, —
1100哦,埃迪普斯:我的襁褓给我带来了罕见的耻辱。
1100Oedipus: My swaddling clothes brought me a rare disgrace.
信使:从此你就有了现在的名字。x
Messenger: So that from this you’re called your present name.x
奥伊狄普斯:这是我父亲做的,还是我母亲做的?
Oedipus: Was this my father’s doing or my mother’s?
看在上帝的份上,告诉我吧。
For God’s sake, tell me.
信使:我不知道,但他
Messenger: I don’t know, but he
把你赐给我的人比我更有知识。
who gave you to me has more knowledge than I.
1105哦,埃迪普斯:你没有找到我吗?你把我带走了
1105Oedipus: You yourself did not find me then? You took me
来自别人?
from someone else?
信使:是的,另一个牧羊人送的。
Messenger: Yes, from another shepherd.
奥·埃迪普斯:他是谁?你认识他吗?
Oedipus: Who was he? Do you know him well enough
告訴?
to tell?
信使:他被称为拉伊俄斯的人。
Messenger: He was called Laius’ man.
奥埃迪普斯:你指的是过去统治这里的国王吗?
Oedipus: You mean the king who reigned here in the old days?
信使:是的,他就是那个人的牧羊人。
Messenger: Yes, he was that man’s shepherd.
1110俄狄浦斯:他还活着吗
1110Oedipus: Is he alive
还能看见他吗?
still, so that I could see him?
信使:住在这里的人
Messenger: You who live here
最清楚这一点。
would know that best.
埃迪普斯:你们当中有人
Oedipus: Do any of you here
知道他所说的这个牧羊人
know of this shepherd whom he speaks about
在城里还是在田野里?告诉我。是时候了
in town or in the fields? Tell me. It’s time
1115这件事被彻底发现了。
1115that this was found out once for all.
合唱:我想他就是农民
Chorus: I think he is none other than the peasant
你已经想见他了;但是
whom you have sought to see already; but
乔卡斯塔 (Jocasta) 可以向我们讲述最好的故事。
Jocasta here can tell us best of that.
伊狄普斯:伊俄卡斯忒,你知道这个人吗
Oedipus: Jocasta, do you know about this man
1120我们派人去请谁呢?他是他提到的那个人吗?
1120whom we have sent for? Is he the man he mentions?
乔卡丝塔:干嘛问他说的是谁?别在意;
Jocasta: Why ask of whom he spoke? Don’t give it heed;
也不会试图记住已经说过的话。
nor try to keep in mind what has been said.
这将是浪费劳动力。
It will be wasted labour.
俄狄浦斯:有了这样的线索
Oedipus: With such clues
我不能不让世人知道我的出生。
I could not fail to bring my birth to light.
1125乔卡斯塔:我求求你——别再追究这件事了——我求求你,
1125Jocasta: I beg you — do not hunt this out — I beg you,
如果你关心自己的生命的话。
if you have any care for your own life.
我所受的苦已经够多了。
What I am suffering is enough.
俄狄浦斯:坚持下去
Oedipus: Keep up
你的心,伊俄卡斯忒。虽然我已证明自己是个奴隶,
your heart, Jocasta. Though I’m proved a slave,
三倍的奴隶,尽管我的母亲是三倍的奴隶,
thrice slave, and though my mother is thrice slave,
1130你不会被认为出身低微。
1130you’ll not be shown to be of lowly lineage.
乔卡斯塔:哦,我恳求你,相信我吧;
Jocasta: O be persuaded by me, I entreat you;
不要这样做。
do not do this.
哦,艾迪普斯:我不会被说服让
Oedipus: I will not be persuaded to let be
弄清整个事情真相的机会。
the chance of finding out the whole thing clearly.
1135J ocasta:因为我希望你过得好,所以我
1135Jocasta: It is because I wish you well that I
给你这个建议——这是最好的建议。
give you this counsel — and it’s the best counsel.
哦,埃迪普斯:那么最好的忠告却让我烦恼,
Oedipus: Then the best counsel vexes me, and has
从那时起已经有一段时间了。
for some while since.
乔卡丝塔:俄狄浦斯啊,上帝帮助你!
Jocasta: O Oedipus, God help you!
上帝不会让你知道你是谁!
God keep you from the knowledge of who you are!
1140哦,埃迪普斯:来人啊,快去帮我把牧羊人找来。
1140Oedipus: Here, some one, go and fetch the shepherd for me;
让她在富裕的家庭中找到快乐!
and let her find her joy in her rich family!
乔卡斯塔:哦,俄狄浦斯,不幸的俄狄浦斯!
Jocasta: O Oedipus, unhappy Oedipus!
这就是我所能称呼你的全部,也是最后一件事
that is all I can call you, and the last thing
我将永远呼唤你。
that I shall ever call you.
(出口。)
(Exit.)
1145合唱:俄狄浦斯,王后为何去野外
1145Chorus: Why has the queen gone, Oedipus, in wild
悲伤从我们身边涌过?我担心麻烦
grief rushing from us? I am afraid that trouble
将会打破这份沉默。
will break out of this silence.
哦,埃迪普斯:不管怎样,我都会冲出去!至少我会
Oedipus: Break out what will! I at least shall be
愿意见到我的祖先,尽管卑微。
willing to see my ancestry, though humble.
1150也许她羞于我的出身低微,
1150Perhaps she is ashamed of my low birth,
因为她具有女人所有的高傲自尊。
for she has all a woman’s high-flown pride.
但我认为自己是命运之子,
But I account myself a child of Fortune,
仁慈的命运,我不会
beneficent Fortune, and I shall not be
羞辱。她是我的母亲;
dishonoured. She’s the mother from whom I spring;
1155月份,我的兄弟,标记着我,现在我很小,
1155the months, my brothers, marked me, now as small,
现在又变得强大起来。这就是我的教养,
and now again as mighty. Such is my breeding,
我永远不会如此虚伪,
and I shall never prove so false to it,
以免发现我出生的秘密。
as not to find the secret of my birth.
合唱(诗节):如果我是先知,并且心地聪慧
Chorus (Strophe): If I am a prophet and wise of heart
1160你不会失败的,西泰隆,
1160you shall not fail, Cithaeron,
我以无边无际的天空起誓,你绝不能这样做!——
by the limitless sky, you shall not! —
明天满月时才知道
to know at tomorrow’s full moon
俄狄浦斯尊敬你,
that Oedipus honours you,
对他来说,他既是本地人,又是母亲和保姆;
as native to him and mother and nurse at once;
并且我们很荣幸您能跳舞,因为您得到了我们国王的恩宠。
and that you are honoured in dancing by us, as finding favour in sight of our king.
阿波罗,我们向他呼喊,愿这些事物令人愉悦!
Apollo, to whom we cry, find these things pleasing!
(对句)孩子,是谁生下了你?
(Antistrophe) Who was it bore you, child? One of
与潘神同寝的长寿仙女——
the long-lived nymphs who lay with Pan —
1170踏过山丘的父亲?
1170the father who treads the hills?
或者她是你的母亲洛西亚斯的新娘?草坡
Or was she a bride of Loxias, your mother? The grassy slopes
都是他所珍爱的。或许西莱尼的国王
are all of them dear to him. Or perhaps Cyllene’s kingy
或住在山顶的酒神
or the Bacchants’ God that lives on the tops
山丘收到了一些礼物
of the hills received you a gift from some
1175他最常和其中一位 Helicon Nymphs 一起玩耍吗?
1175one of the Helicon Nymphs, with whom he mostly plays?
(一位老人在俄狄浦斯仆人的带领下上场。)
(Enter an old man, led by Oedipus’ servants.)
哦,艾迪普斯:如果像我这样从未见过他的人
Oedipus: If some one like myself who never met him
可以猜测一下,我认为这是牧羊人,
may make a guess, — I think this is the herdsman,
我们正在寻找的人。他的老年是
whom we were seeking. His old age is consonant
和其他人。此外,那些带他来的人
with the other. And besides, the men who bring him
1180我承认你是我自己的仆人。你
1180I recognize as my own servants. You
也许可以提高我的知识,因为
perhaps may better me in knowledge since
你以前见过这个人。
you’ve seen the man before.
合唱:你可以肯定
Chorus: You can be sure
我认出了他。因为如果拉伊俄斯
I recognize him. For if Laius
曾经有一个诚实的牧羊人,就是他。
had ever an honest shepherd, this was he.
1185哦,埃迪普斯:先生,你来自科林斯,我必须先问你,
1185Oedipus: You, sir, from Corinth, I must ask you first,
这就是你提到的那个男人吗?
is this the man you spoke of?
信使:这就是他
Messenger: This is he
就在你眼前。
before your eyes.
奥·埃迪普斯:老头子,看看我
Oedipus: Old man, look here at me
告诉我我问你什么。你有没有
and tell me what I ask you. Were you ever
拉伊俄斯国王的仆人?
a servant of King Laius?
牧人:我当时——
Herdsman: I was, —
1190他没有买奴隶,而是在自己的家里饲养。
1190no slave he bought but reared in his own house.
O edipus:你的工作是什么?你过着怎样的生活?
Oedipus: What did you do as work? How did you live?
牧人:我一生的大部分时间都是在羊群中度过的。
Herdsman: Most of my life was spent among the flocks.
O edipus:你住在该国的哪个地方?
Oedipus: In what part of the country did you live?
牧人: Cithaeron 及其附近的地方。
Herdsman: Cithaeron and the places near to it.
1195哦,埃迪普斯:也许你在某个地方认识这个人?
1195Oedipus: And somewhere there perhaps you knew this man?
牧民:他的职业是什么?他是谁?
Herdsman: What was his occupation? Who?
俄狄浦斯:这个人,
Oedipus: This man here,
你和他有过交往吗?
have you had any dealings with him?
牧民:没有——
Herdsman: No —
我还不能很快想起来。
not such that I can quickly call to mind.
1200信使:这不足为奇,主人。但我会让他记住他不知道的事情。因为我知道,他很了解西塞隆的土地,他带着两群羊群,我带着一群羊群,我们一起生活了三年——每年半年——从春天到秋天,然后冬天来临时,我把羊群赶回我们的羊圈,他赶回拉伊俄斯的庄园。好吧——我说的我们做了什么,对吗?
1200Messenger: That is no wonder, master. But I’ll make him remember what he does not know. For I know, that he well knows the country of Cithaeron, how he with two flocks, I with one kept company for three years — each year half a year — from spring till autumn time and then when winter came I drove my flocks to our fold home again and he to Laius’ steadings. Well — am I right or not in what I said we did?
1205牧人:你说得对——尽管这已是很久以前的事了。
1205Herdsman: You’re right — although it’s a long time ago.
信使:你还记得给我生过一个孩子吗
Messenger: Do you remember giving me a child
作为我的养子来抚养?
to bring up as my foster child?
牧民:这是什么?
Herdsman: What’s this?
你为什么问这个问题?
Why do you ask this question?
信使:老头子,你看,
Messenger: Look old man,
1210他就是这个——这个男人就是那个孩子!
1210here he is — here’s the man who was that child!
牧人:死神会带走你的!你还不闭嘴吗?
Herdsman: Death take you! Won’t you hold your tongue?
俄狄浦斯:不,不,
Oedipus: No, no,
不要找他的错,老头子。你的话
do not find fault with him, old man. Your words
比他的更有过错。
are more at fault than his.
牧人:哦,最优秀的主人,
Herdsman: O best of masters,
我怎么冒犯了你?
how do I give offense?
俄狄浦斯:当你拒绝
Oedipus: When you refuse
1215谈论他向你询问的孩子。
1215to speak about the child of whom he asks you.
牧羊人:他说话无知,毫无意义。
Herdsman: He speaks out of his ignorance, without meaning.
哦,埃迪普斯:如果你不说话来满足我,你
Oedipus: If you’ll not talk to gratify me, you
会用痛苦的言语来催促你。
will talk with pain to urge you.
牧人:先生,请你
Herdsman: O please, sir,
先生,不要伤害老人。
don’t hurt an old man, sir.
艾迪普斯(对仆人们说):你们当中,有一个人,
Oedipus (to the servants): Here, one of you,
把他的双手扭到身后。
twist his hands behind him.
1220牧羊人:为什么,上帝啊,为什么?
1220Herdsman: Why, God help me, why?
你想知道什么?
What do you want to know?
俄狄浦斯:你给了一个孩子
Oedipus: You gave a child
对他来说——他向你问起的孩子是?
to him, — the child he asked you of?
牧人:是的。
Herdsman: I did.
我希望我那天就死去。
I wish I’d died the day I did.
俄狄浦斯:你会
Oedipus: You will
除非你告诉我实话。
unless you tell me truly.
牧人:我就会死
Herdsman: And I’ll die
如果我告诉你的话会更糟糕。
far worse if I should tell you.
俄狄浦斯:这家伙
Oedipus: This fellow
1225看起来,这是执意要进一步拖延。
1225is bent on more delays, as it would seem.
牧人:不不不!我告诉过你,是我给的。
Herdsman: O no, no! I have told you that I gave it.
奥·埃迪普斯:你从哪里得到这个孩子?是你自己的孩子,还是别人给你的?
Oedipus: Where did you get this child from? Was it your own or did you get it from another?
牧民:没有
Herdsman: Not
1230这根本不是我自己的东西,是我从别人那儿得到的。
1230my own at all; I had it from some one.
哦,埃迪普斯:你是这些公民中的一个吗?或者你来自哪一所房子?
Oedipus: One of these citizens? or from what house?
牧人:主人啊,求求你——主人啊,求求你
Herdsman: O master, please — I beg you, master, please
别再问我了。
don’t ask me more.
奥伊迪普斯:如果我
Oedipus: You’re a dead man if I
再问你一下。
ask you again.
牧民:是其中一个孩子
Herdsman: It was one of the children
拉伊乌斯。
of Laius.
1235噢,艾迪普斯:奴隶?还是婚生子?
1235Oedipus: A slave? Or born in wedlock?
牧羊人:上帝啊,我差点就要说出可怕的话了。
Herdsman: O God, I am on the brink of frightful speech.
哦,艾迪普斯:我的听力很差。但我必须听。
Oedipus: And I of frightful hearing. But I must hear.
牧人:孩子被称为他的孩子;但她在里面,
Herdsman: The child was called his child; but she within,
你的妻子最能告诉你这一切的经过。
your wife would tell you best how all this was.
奥艾迪普斯:她给了你吗?
Oedipus: She gave it to you?
1240牧人:是的,大人。
1240Herdsman: Yes, she did, my lord.
O edipus:用它做什么?
Oedipus: To do what with it?
牧人:把它带走吧。
Herdsman: Make away with it.
奥艾迪普斯:她太坚强了——她的妈妈?
Oedipus: She was so hard — its mother?
牧民:是的,因为恐惧
Herdsman: Aye, through fear
邪恶的神谕。
of evil oracles.
O edipus:哪一个?
Oedipus: Which?
牧民:他们说他
Herdsman: They said that he
应该杀死他的父母。
should kill his parents.
俄狄浦斯:你怎么会
Oedipus: How was it that you
送给这个老人家?
gave it away to this old man?
1245牧人:主人啊,
1245Herdsman: O master,
我很同情它,所以想把它寄出去
I pitied it, and thought that I could send it
去另一个国家,这个男人
off to another country and this man
来自另一个国家。但他保存了它
was from another country. But he saved it
最可怕的麻烦。如果你
for the most terrible troubles. If you are
1250他说你是一个天生痛苦的人。
1250the man he says you are, you’re bred to misery.
哦,艾迪普斯:哦,哦,哦,他们都会来,
Oedipus: O, O, O, they will all come,
一切都清楚了!太阳的光,让我
all come out clearly! Light of the sun, let me
从今天起就不要再看你了!
look upon you no more after today!
我第一次看到火柴发出的光
I who first saw the light bred of a match
1255在我的生活中被诅咒
1255accursed, and accursed in my living
我和他们一起生活,一边杀戮一边咒骂。
with them I lived with, cursed in my killing.
(除合唱团外,全体退场。)
(Exeunt all but the Chorus.)
合唱(诗节):世世代代的人啊,我
Chorus (Strophe): O generations of men, how I
把你视为与那些活着的人平等
count you as equal with those who live
一点也不!
not at all!
1260世界上还有谁比我赢得多
1260What man, what man on earth wins more
幸福比表面上的
of happiness than a seeming
然后就转身离开了?
and after that turning away?
俄狄浦斯,你就是我的榜样,
Oedipus, you are my pattern of this,
俄狄浦斯,你和你的命运!
Oedipus, you and your fate!
1265不幸的俄狄浦斯,在所有男人中,
1265Luckless Oedipus, whom of all men
我一点也不羡慕。
I envy not at all.
(对句)他射出箭矢
(Antistrophe) In as much as he shot his bolt
超越其他人并赢得奖项
beyond the others and won the prize
幸福圆满——
of happiness complete —
1270宙斯——他被杀,化为乌有
1270O Zeus — and killed and reduced to nought
谜语演说中的钩爪少女,
the hooked taloned maid of the riddling speech,
为我的土地建立一座抵抗死亡的塔:
standing a tower against death for my land:
因此他被称为我的国王,
hence he was called my king and hence
被授予最高荣誉
was honoured the highest of all
1275荣誉;因此他统治
1275honours; and hence he ruled
在伟大的底比斯城里。
in the great city of Thebes.
(诗节) 但现在谁的故事更悲惨呢?
(Strophe) But now whose tale is more miserable?
谁的命运比这更悲惨?
Who is there lives with a savager fate?
谁的人生会像他一样遭遇如此大的困境?
Whose troubles so reverse his life as his?
1280哦,俄狄浦斯,著名的王子
1280O Oedipus, the famous prince
为谁提供一个美好的避风港
for whom a great haven
父子同堂
the same both as father and son
足以繁衍后代,
sufficed for generation,
犁沟怎样犁好
how, O how, have the furrows ploughed
1285你的父亲忍受着生下你,可怜的人,
1285by your father endured to bear you, poor wretch,
并且保持沉默这么久?
and hold their peace so long?
(对句)看透一切的时间已经发现了你
(Antistrophe) Time who sees all has found you out
违背你的意愿;判定你的婚姻是可诅咒的,
against your will; judges your marriage accursed,
生育者和被生育者合而为一。
begetter and begot at one in it.
1290拉伊俄斯之子啊,
1290O child of Laius,
我可能从未见过你。
would I had never seen you.
我为你哭泣
I weep for you and cry
悲恸的挽歌
a dirge of lamentation.
为了直接说话,我屏住了呼吸
To speak directly, I drew my breath
1295一开始我从你那里得到安慰,现在我平静下来
1295from you at the first and so now I lull
我的嘴里含着你的名字入睡。
my mouth to sleep with your name.
(输入第二个信使。)
(Enter a second messenger.)
第二使者:啊,永远受到我们国家尊敬的王子们,
Second Messenger: O Princes always honoured by our country,
你会听到什么事迹,看到什么恐怖的事情,
what deeds you’ll hear of and what horrors see,
如果你是真正的底比斯人,你会感到多么悲伤
what grief you’ll feel, if you as true born Thebans
1300照顾 Labdacus 儿子的房子。
1300care for the house of Labdacus’s sons.
法西斯和伊斯特都无法净化这座房子,
Phasis nor Ister cannot purge this house,
我认为,在所有的溪流中,这样的事情
I think, with all their streams, such things
它隐藏着,这样的邪恶很快就会显现出来
it hides, such evils shortly will bring forth
走进光明,不管他们愿意与否;
into the light, whether they will or not;
1305而烦恼最伤人
1305and troubles hurt the most
当事实证明这些损失是他们自己造成的时。
when they prove self-inflicted.
合唱:我们之前所知道的并没有不足
Chorus: What we had known before did not fall short
痛苦呻吟的价值;还有什么可说的呢?
of bitter groaning’s worth; what’s more to tell?
第二使者:最简短的聆听和讲述——我们光荣的女王
Second Messenger: Shortest to hear and tell — our glorious queen
乔卡斯塔死了。
Jocasta’s dead.
1310合唱团:不幸的女人!怎么了?
1310Chorus: Unhappy woman! How?
第二使者:是她亲手造成的。最糟糕的事情
Second Messenger: By her own hand. The worst of what was done
你无法知道。你没有亲眼看见。
you cannot know. You did not see the sight.
但据我所记得
Yet in so far as I remember it
你将会听到我们这位不幸的女王的结局。
you’ll hear the end of our unlucky queen.
1315当她怒气冲冲地走进屋子时
1315When she came raging into the house she went
直接上她的婚床,扯着她的头发
straight to her marriage bed, tearing her hair
双手紧握,向拉伊俄斯哭泣,
with both her hands, and crying upon Laius
早已死去——你还记得吗,拉伊俄斯,
long dead — Do you remember, Laius,
那个早已过去的夜晚为我们孕育了一个孩子
that night long past which bred a child for us
1320送你去死,然后离开
1320to send you to your death and leave
一位母亲和她的儿子一起生孩子?
a mother making children with her son?
然后她呻吟着咒骂那张床
And then she groaned and cursed the bed in which
她通过丈夫生下了丈夫和孩子
she brought forth husband by her husband, children
和她自己的孩子,一个臭名昭著的双重关系。
by her own child, an infamous double bond.
1325我不知道她后来是怎么死的——
1325How after that she died I do not know, —
因为俄狄浦斯的注意力分散了我们的视线。
for Oedipus distracted us from seeing.
他突然冲我们大喊,我们看着
He burst upon us shouting and we looked
当他疯狂地走来走去时,
to him as he paced frantically around,
总是乞求我们:给我一把剑,我说,
begging us always: Give me a sword, I say,
1330发现这个妻子不是妻子,这个母亲的子宫,
1330to find this wife no wife, this mother’s womb,
这片我出生的双播田地
this field of double sowing whence I sprang
在那里我播种了我的孩子!他狂吠着
and where I sowed my children! As he raved
是某个神为他指明了道路——而我们却不在场。
some god showed him the way — none of us there.
咆哮得可怕,并由一些
Bellowing terribly and led by some
1335看不见的指引,他冲向两扇门,——
1335invisible guide he rushed on the two doors, —
将空心螺栓从插座中拧出,
wrenching the hollow bolts out of their sockets,
他冲了进去。在那里,在那里,我们看到了他的妻子
he charged inside. There, there, we saw his wife
绞绳缠绕着她的脖子。
hanging, the twisted rope around her neck.
当他看到她时,他惊恐地大叫起来
When he saw her, he cried out fearfully
1340并剪断悬垂的绳索。然后,当她躺下时,
1340and cut the dangling noose. Then, as she lay,
可怜的女人,倒在地上,后来发生了什么,
poor woman, on the ground, what happened after,
太可怕了。他撕破了胸针——
was terrible to see. He tore the brooches —
金色雕花胸针固定着她的长袍——
the gold chased brooches fastening her robe —
远离她,并高高举起
away from her and lifting them up high
1345把它们砸在自己的眼球上,尖叫着
1345dashed them on his own eyeballs, shrieking out
他们永远不会看到犯罪
such things as: they will never see the crime
我已经犯下或已经对我做过了!
I have committed or had done upon me!
黑眼睛,现在在未来的日子里看着
Dark eyes, now in the days to come look on
禁忌面孔,不认识
forbidden faces, do not recognize
1350那些你渴望的人——带着这样的诅咒
1350those whom you long for — with such imprecations
他一次又一次地打他的眼睛
he struck his eyes again and yet again
带着胸针。流血的眼球喷涌而出
with the brooches. And the bleeding eyeballs gushed
弄脏了他的胡子——没有缓慢渗出的水滴
and stained his beard — no sluggish oozing drops
但一场黑雨和血冰雹倾盆而下。
but a black rain and bloody hail poured down.
1355所以它已经破裂——而且不在一个头上
1355So it has broken — and not on one head
但丈夫和妻子的麻烦也都纷纭。
but troubles mixed for husband and for wife.
过去的运气是真的
The fortune of the days gone by was true
好运——但今天却是呻吟和毁灭
good fortune — but today groans and destruction
死亡和耻辱——所有不幸中,
and death and shame — of all ills can be named
1360一个也没有缺少。
1360not one is missing.
合唱:他现在感觉疼痛减轻了吗?
Chorus: Is he now in any ease from pain?
第二使者:他喊道
Second Messenger: He shouts
找个人来打开门,让他看看
for some one to unbar the doors and show him
向所有底比斯人,他父亲的凶手,
to all the men of Thebes, his father’s killer,
他的母亲——不,我不能说这个词,
his mother’s — no I cannot say the word,
1365这是不圣洁的——因为他会把自己投入其中,
1365it is unholy — for he’ll cast himself,
离开这片土地,他说,不要留下来
out of the land, he says, and not remain
给他的家带来诅咒,诅咒
to bring a curse upon his house, the curse
他在宣言中呼吁这一点。但是
he called upon it in his proclamation. But
他需要力量,是的,还需要有人来指导他;
he wants for strength, aye, and some one to guide him;
1370他的病太重了,难以忍受。你也一样,
1370his sickness is too great to bear. You, too,
将显示。门闩正在打开。
will be shown that. The bolts are opening.
很快你就会看到令人同情的景象
Soon you will see a sight to waken pity
即使它很恐怖。
even in the horror of it.
(盲目的俄狄浦斯登场。)
(Enter the blinded Oedipus.)
合唱:这对于人类来说是一个可怕的景象!
Chorus: This is a terrible sight for men to see!
1375我从来没有发现过更糟糕的!
1375I never found a worse!
可怜的人,你怎么会变得如此疯狂!
Poor wretch, what madness came upon you!
什么恶魔袭击了你的生活
What evil spirit leaped upon your life
你的运气真不好——这是超出人类力量的一次飞跃!
to your ill luck — a leap beyond man’s strength!
我确实可怜你,但我不能
Indeed I pity you, but I cannot
1380看看你,虽然我有很多想问
1380look at you, though there’s much I want to ask
还有很多东西需要学习,还有很多东西需要看。
and much to learn and much to see.
我一看见你就发抖。
I shudder at the sight of you.
噢,噢,
Oedipus: O, O,
我要去哪里?我的声音在哪里
where am I going? Where is my voice
1385随风飘来飘去?
1385borne on the wind to and fro?
精神,你弹跳了多远?
Spirit, how far have you sprung?
合唱:在一个可怕的地方,人们的耳朵
Chorus: To a terrible place whereof men’s ears
可能听不见,眼睛也看不见。
may not hear, nor their eyes behold it.
哦,埃迪普斯:黑暗!
Oedipus: Darkness!
黑暗的恐怖笼罩着我们,无法抗拒,无法形容的来访者在一阵恶风的吹拂下匆匆而来!
Horror of darkness enfolding, resistless, unspeakable visitant sped by an ill wind in haste!
疯狂、刺痛和记忆
madness and stabbing pain and memory
我所造的恶事!
of evil deeds I have done!
合唱:在这样的不幸中,难怪
Chorus: In such misfortunes it’s no wonder
如果你的悲伤负担加倍。
if double weighs the burden of your grief.
1395俄狄浦斯:我的朋友,
1395Oedipus: My friend,
你是唯一坚定的人,唯一陪伴我的人;
you are the only one steadfast, the only one that attends on me;
你仍留下来照顾那位盲人。
you still stay nursing the blind man.
你的关心没有被忽视。我知道
Your care is not unnoticed. I can know
你的声音,尽管这黑暗就是我的世界。
your voice, although this darkness is my world.
1400合唱:做这种可怕事情的人,你怎么敢
1400Chorus: Doer of dreadful deeds, how did you dare
尽管亲眼所见,到目前为止还能做什么?
so far to do despite to your own eyes?
什么精神促使你这么做?
what spirit urged you to it?
俄狄浦斯:是阿波罗,朋友们,阿波罗,
Oedipus: It was Apollo, friends, Apollo,
这让我的痛苦和悲伤达到了顶点。
that brought this bitter bitterness, my sorrows to completion.
1405但那只击打我的手
1405But the hand that struck me
都是我自己的。
was none but my own.
我为什么要看到
Why should I see
他的眼光让我看不到任何美好的东西?
whose vision showed me nothing sweet to see?
合唱:这些事情正如你所说。
Chorus: These things are as you say.
1410哦,埃迪普斯:我看见什么就爱什么?
1410Oedipus: What can I see to love?
什么样的问候能让我耳边充满喜悦?
What greeting can touch my ears with joy?
带我走吧,快点——去一个偏僻的地方!
Take me away, and haste — to a place out of the way!
带我走吧,我的朋友们,极其悲惨的人,
Take me away, my friends, the greatly miserable,
最可恶的人,上帝也憎恨他们
the most accursed, whom God too hates
1415超越世上所有的人!
1415above all men on earth!
合唱:你的心境不愉快,你的遭遇不幸,
Chorus: Unhappy in your mind and your misfortune,
我真不认识你!
would I had never known you!
俄狄浦斯:诅咒夺走
Oedipus: Curse on the man who took
当我躺在田野里时,残酷的枷锁从我腿上解下来。
the cruel bonds from off my legs, as I lay in the field.
1420他把我从死亡中拯救出来,
1420He stole me from death and saved me,
没有友善的服务。
no kindly service.
如果我当时死了
Had I died then
我不会给朋友带来这么大的负担。
I would not be so burdensome to friends.
合唱:我也希望事情是如此。
Chorus: I, too, could have wished it had been so.
1425哦,埃迪普斯:那我就不会来了
1425Oedipus: Then I would not have come
弑父娶母,这可是件丢脸的事。
to kill my father and marry my mother infamously.
如今我已是无神论者,不洁之子,
Now I am godless and child of impurity,
和创造我这个可怜虫的我一样,都是用同一颗种子生下的。
begetter in the same seed that created my wretched self.
如果有比疾病更糟糕的疾病,
If there is any ill worse than ill,
1430这就是俄狄浦斯的命运。
1430that is the lot of Oedipus.
合唱团:我不能说你的治疗方法是好的;
Chorus: I cannot say your remedy was good;
你死了比瞎子活着还好。
you would be better dead than blind and living.
哦,艾迪普斯:我在这里做的是最好的——别告诉我
Oedipus: What I have done here was best done — don’t tell me
否则,就不要再给我任何建议了。
otherwise, do not give me further counsel.
1435我不知道该用什么眼光来看
1435I do not know with what eyes I could look
当我死去并离开时,
upon my father when I die and go
地下,还有我可怜的母亲——
under the earth, nor yet my wretched mother —
我对那两个人做了值得的事
those two to whom I have done things deserving
比绞刑更严厉的惩罚。
worse punishment than hanging. Would the sight
1440像我所养育的孩子,能让我高兴吗?
1440of children, bred as mine are, gladden me?
不,绝不是这双眼睛。我的城市,
No, not these eyes, never. And my city,
它的塔楼和众神的圣地,
its towers and sacred places of the Gods,
我剥夺了我悲惨的自我
of these I robbed my miserable self
当我命令大家把他赶出去时,
when I commanded all to drive him out,
1445罪犯已被上帝证明不纯洁
1445the criminal since proved by God impure
以及拉伊俄斯 (Laius) 的族裔。
and of the race of Laius.
我亲眼见证了自己犯下的罪行——
To this guilt I bore witness against myself —
我该用什么样的眼光看待我的人民?
with what eyes shall I look upon my people?
不。如果有办法堵住喷泉
No. If there were a means to choke the fountain
1450我不会停下脚步
1450of hearing I would not have stayed my hand
把我那可怜的躯体锁起来,
from locking up my miserable carcase,
什么都看不见、听不见;很甜蜜
seeing and hearing nothing; it is sweet
让我们的思想远离伤害的范围。
to keep our thoughts out of the range of hurt.
1455Cithaeron,你为什么接待我?为什么
1455Cithaeron, why did you receive me? why
你收了我之后还不直接杀了我吗?
having received me did you not kill me straight?
所以我没有向人们展示我的出生。
And so I had not shown to men my birth.
哦波吕玻斯、科林斯和这座房子,
O Polybus and Corinth and the house,
我曾经称之为父亲的老房子——
the old house that I used to call my father’s —
你护理的是什么样的美丽,以及什么样的肮脏
what fairness you were nurse to, and what foulness
1460溃烂之下!现在我发现
1460festered beneath! Now I am found to be
一个罪人,一个罪人之子。十字路口,
a sinner and a son of sinners. Crossroads,
和隐秘的林间空地、橡树和狭窄的道路
and hidden glade, oak and the narrow way
在十字路口,喝了我父亲的血
at the crossroads, that drank my father’s blood
亲手为你献上的,你还记得吗
offered you by my hands, do you remember
1465我仍然在你面前做了什么,
1465still what I did as you looked on, and what
我来这里的时候做过什么?哦,结婚,结婚!
I did when I came here? O marriage, marriage!
你养育了我,当你养育了我之后
you bred me and again when you had bred
养育你的孩子并向男人展示
bred children of your child and showed to men
新娘、妻子、母亲和最恶劣的行为
brides, wives and mothers and the foulest deeds
1470这也可能发生在我们的这个世界上。
1470that can be in this world of ours.
来吧——说不合适的话是不合适的
Come — it’s unfit to say what is unfit
要做。——我求求你,看在上帝的份上,把我藏起来
to do. — I beg of you in God’s name hide me
是的,在你们国家之外的某个地方,或者杀了我,
somewhere outside your country, yes, or kill me,
或者把我扔进海里,永远
or throw me into the sea, to be forever
1475离开你的视线。靠近我并屈尊抚摸我
1475out of your sight. Approach and deign to touch me
为我一切的悲惨,不要害怕。
for all my wretchedness, and do not fear.
除了我之外没有人能承受我厄运的降临。
No man but I can bear my evil doom.
合唱:克瑞翁来得正是时候,
Chorus: Here Creon comes in fit time to perform
或者就您向我们提出的问题提供建议。
or give advice in what you ask of us.
1480克瑞翁将代替你成为唯一的统治者。
1480Creon is left sole ruler in your stead.
噢,埃迪普斯:克瑞翁!克瑞翁!我该对他说什么呢?
Oedipus: Creon! Creon! What shall I say to him?
我怎样才能合理地希望他会信任我?
How can I justly hope that he will trust me?
过去的事情已经证明我对他
In what is past I have been proved towards him
十足的骗子
an utter liar.
(克瑞翁上场。)
(Enter Creon.)
克瑞翁:俄狄浦斯,我来了
Creon: Oedipus, I’ve come
1485不是要我嘲笑你,也不是要我嘲弄你
1485not so that I might laugh at you nor taunt you
过去的邪恶。但如果你仍然
with evil of the past. But if you still
在人前毫无羞耻
are without shame before the face of men
至少敬畏赋予一切生命的火焰,
reverence at least the flame that gives all life,
我们的主太阳,不要露出被遮住的
our Lord the Sun, and do not show unveiled
1490对他来说,土地污染
1490to him pollution such that neither land
圣雨和阳光都无法温暖人心。
nor holy rain nor light of day can welcome.
(对仆人说)
(To a servant)
快点把他带进来。这是最体面的
Be quick and take him in. It is most decent
只有亲人才能看到和听到这些烦恼
that only kin should see and hear the troubles
的亲属。
of kin.
1495哦,埃迪普斯:我求求你,既然你把我从
1495Oedipus: I beg you, since you’ve torn me from
我可怕的期望已经到来
my dreadful expectations and have come
以最崇高的精神
in a most noble spirit to a man
对我卑鄙地利用了你——为我做一件事。
that has used you vilely — do a thing for me.
我说话是为了你们好,而不是为了我自己。
I shall speak for your own good, not for my own.
1500克瑞翁:你需要我给你什么帮助呢?
1500Creon: What do you need that you would ask of me?
哦,埃迪普斯:用你最快的速度把我从这里赶走
Oedipus: Drive me from here with all the speed you can
在那里我可能听不到人的声音。
to where I may not hear a human voice.
克瑞翁:我肯定会这么做,如果我没有
Creon: Be sure, I would have done this had not I
首先希望向上帝学习课程
wished first of all to learn from the God the course
我应该采取的行动。
of action I should follow.
1505俄狄浦斯:但他的话
1505Oedipus: But his word
克瑞翁:是的,确实这么说过。
Creon: Yes, that indeed was said.
但在目前需要的时候我们最好发现
But in the present need we had best discover
我们应该做什么。
what we should do.
哦,埃迪普斯:你会问
Oedipus: And will you ask about
这么可怜的男人?
a man so wretched?
1510克瑞翁:现在就连你都会相信
1510Creon: Now even you will trust
上帝。
the God.
哦,艾迪普斯:是的。我命令你——并恳求你——
Oedipus: So. I command you — and will beseech you —
为那所房子里的人埋葬
to her that lies inside that house give burial
正如你所愿;她是你的,理所当然
as you would have it; she is yours and rightly
你将为她举行仪式。对我来说——
you will perform the rites for her. For me —
1515永远不要让我父亲的城市占有我
1515never let this my father’s city have me
居住于其中。让我活下去
living a dweller in it. Leave me live
在 Cithaeron 所在的山上,那里被称为
in the mountains where Cithaeron is, that’s called
我的山,我的母亲和我的父亲
my mountain, which my mother and my father
他们在世的时候就会成为我的坟墓。
while they were living would have made my tomb.
1520所以我可能会按照他们的法令死去,他们寻求
1520So I may die by their decree who sought
确实要杀我。但我知道这么多:
indeed to kill me. Yet I know this much:
没有任何疾病或其他东西能够杀死我。
no sickness and no other thing will kill me.
如果不是
I would not have been saved from death if not
一些奇怪的邪恶命运。好吧,让我的命运
for some strange evil fate. Well, let my fate
随心所欲地去吧。
go where it will.
1525克瑞翁,你不必担心
1525Creon, you need not care
关于我的儿子;他们都是男人,所以无论
about my sons; they’re men and so wherever
他们会不会缺少生计。
they are, they will not lack a livelihood.
但我的两个女儿——如此悲伤和可怜——
But my two girls — so sad and pitiful —
他的桌子和我的桌子从来就不分开,
whose table never stood apart from mine,
1530我接触到的一切他们总是分享——
1530and everything I touched they always shared —
哦,克瑞翁,请你为他们想想吧!
O Creon, have a thought for them! And most
我希望你能让我触摸它们
I wish that you might suffer me to touch them
并与他们同悲痛。
and sorrow with them.
(俄狄浦斯的两个女儿安提戈涅和伊斯墨涅上场。)
(Enter Antigone and Ismene, Oedipus’ two daughters.)
哦,我的主!哦,真正的高贵的克瑞翁!我能
O my lord! O true noble Creon! Can I
1535真的可以触摸它们吗,就像我看到的那样?
1535really be touching them, as when I saw?
我该说什么呢?
What shall I say?
是的,我能听到他们的抽泣声——我的两个宝贝!
Yes, I can hear them sobbing — my two darlings!
克瑞翁怜悯我,派我
and Creon has had pity and has sent me
我最喜欢什么?
what I loved most?
1540我说得对吗?
1540Am I right?
克雷翁:你说得对,这是我给你的
Creon: You’re right: it was I gave you this
因为我从前就知道你有多爱它们
because I knew from old days how you loved them
正如我现在所看到的。
as I see now.
俄狄浦斯:愿上帝保佑你,克瑞翁,
Oedipus: God bless you for it, Creon,
愿上帝保佑你一路平安
and may God guard you better on your road
比他对我的还差!
than he did me!
1545哦孩子们,
1545O children,
你在哪里?过来,到我手里来,
where are you? Come here, come to my hands,
哥哥的手让你父亲的眼睛转过来,
a brother’s hands which turned your father’s eyes,
你曾经熟悉的那双明亮的眼睛,看着你所看到的一切,
those bright eyes you knew once, to what you see,
父亲什么都看不见,什么都不知道,
a father seeing nothing, knowing nothing,
1550从他自己的生命源泉中生出你。
1550begetting you from his own source of life.
我为你们哭泣——我看不见你们的脸——
I weep for you — I cannot see your faces —
一想到这些痛苦,我就流泪
I weep when I think of the bitterness
在你的生活中,你必须如何生活
there will be in your lives, how you must live
在世界面前。在什么集会上
before the world. At what assemblages
1555你会为哪些公民制定一个?
1555of citizens will you make one? to what
同性恋公司你会去而不回家
gay company will you go and not come home
流泪而不是共享节日?
in tears instead of sharing in the holiday?
当你到了结婚的年龄,他会是谁?
And when you’re ripe for marriage, who will he be,
敢于承受如此恶名的人
the man who’ll risk to take such infamy
1560就像会粘在我的孩子身上,带来伤害
1560as shall cling to my children, to bring hurt
对他们和那些与他们结婚的人有什么影响?
on them and those that marry with them? What
咒语不是在那里吗?“你父亲杀了他的父亲
curse is not there? “Your father killed his father
并把种子种在他生长的地方
and sowed the seed where he had sprung himself
并从怀抱他的子宫里生下了你。”
and begot you out of the womb that held him.”
1565你会听到这些侮辱的话。那谁会娶你呢?
1565These insults you will hear. Then who will marry you?
没有人,我的孩子们;显然你们注定要失败。
No one, my children; clearly you are doomed
未婚而荒废生命。
to waste away in barrenness unmarried.
墨诺西斯之子,因为你是所有人的父亲
Son of Menoeceus,aa since you are all the father
留下了这两个女孩,还有我们,她们的父母,
left these two girls, and we, their parents, both
1570对他们来说已经死了——不要让他们游荡
1570are dead to them — do not allow them wander
像乞丐一样,贫穷又没有丈夫。
like beggars, poor and husbandless.
它们是你的骨血。
They are of your own blood.
不要让他们和我平等
And do not make them equal with myself
悲惨地;因为现在你可以看到它们
in wretchedness; for you can see them now
1575如此年轻,如此孤独,除了你之外,别无他求。
1575so young, so utterly alone, save for you only.
触摸我的手,高贵的克瑞翁,说“是”吧。
Touch my hand, noble Creon, and say yes.
孩子们,如果你们年纪大一点,更聪明一点,
If you were older, children, and were wiser,
我可以给你很多建议。但事实上,
there’s much advice I’d give you. But as it is,
让这成为你的祈祷:给我生命
let this be what you pray: give me a life
1580有机会的地方
1580wherever there is opportunity
活下去,并且过上比我父亲更好的生活。
to live, and better life than was my father’s.
克瑞翁:你的眼泪已经流够了;现在进屋去吧。
Creon: Your tears have had enough of scope; now go within the house.
哦,埃迪普斯:我必须服从,尽管心里很痛苦。
Oedipus: I must obey, though bitter of heart.
克瑞翁:时机成熟时,一切都好。
Creon: In season, all is good.
哦,埃迪普斯:你知道我服从什么条件吗?
Oedipus: Do you know on what conditions I obey?
1585克瑞翁:你告诉我,
1585Creon: You tell me them,
当我听到时我就会知道。
and I shall know them when I hear.
哦,埃迪普斯:你要送我出去
Oedipus: That you shall send me out
远离底比斯而居。
to live away from Thebes.
克瑞翁:这个礼物你必须向上帝祈求。
Creon: That gift you must ask of the God.
奥狄浦斯:但是我现在却被众神所憎恨。
Oedipus: But I’m now hated by the Gods.
克瑞翁:很快你的祈祷就会实现。
Creon: So quickly you’ll obtain your prayer.
哦,埃迪普斯:那么你同意了吗?
Oedipus: You consent then?
克瑞翁:我不想说的话,我从来不说。
Creon: What I do not mean, I do not use to say.
哦,埃迪普斯:现在带我离开这里。
Oedipus: Now lead me away from here.
1590克瑞翁:那么,放开孩子们,你过来吧。
1590Creon: Let go the children, then, and come.
哦,埃迪普斯:不要把它们从我这里夺走。
Oedipus: Do not take them from me.
克雷翁:不要妄想成为万事之主,
Creon: Do not seek to be master in everything,
因为你掌握的东西并不会跟随你一生。
for the things you mastered did not follow you throughout your life.
(克瑞翁与俄狄浦斯出门)
(As Creon and Oedipus go out)
合唱:你们这些住在我祖先底比斯的人,看看这个俄狄浦斯,——
Chorus: You that live in my ancestral Thebes, behold this Oedipus, —
他是知道著名谜语的人,也是最有大师风范的人;
him who knew the famous riddles and was a man most masterful;
1595没有一个公民不羡慕他的命运——
1595not a citizen who did not look with envy on his lot —
现在看看他,看看不幸的破坏者将他吞噬!
see him now and see the breakers of misfortune swallow him!
永远注视那末日。凡人直到
Look upon that last day always. Count no mortal happy till
他已经摆脱了痛苦,度过了生命的最后阶段。
he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain.
[约公元前430 年]
[c. 430 bce]
a 1. 卡德摩斯:底比斯的创始人和第一任国王。
a1. Cadmus: Founder and first king of Thebes.
b 21.帕拉斯:帕拉斯·雅典娜,智慧女神,宙斯的女儿。
b21. Pallas: Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom and daughter of Zeus.
c 41. 斯芬克斯:一种神话中的生物,身形像狮子,翅膀像鸟,脸像女人。斯芬克斯用谜语难倒了底比斯人,并杀死了那些答不出来的人。俄狄浦斯解开了谜语,斯芬克斯自杀,俄狄浦斯成为底比斯国王。
c41. Sphinx: A mythical creature with the body of a lion, wings of a bird, and the face of a woman. The Sphinx stumped Thebans with her riddle and killed those that could not answer it. Oedipus solved the riddle, the Sphinx killed herself, and Oedipus became king of Thebes.
d 79. 阿波罗:神谕太阳、光明和真理之神,宙斯之子。
d79. Apollo: Oracular god of the sun, light, and truth, and son of Zeus.
e 108. 福玻斯王:阿波罗。
e108. King Phoebus: Apollo.
f 119. 拉伊俄斯:底比斯前国王。
f119. Laius: Former king of Thebes.
g退场:表示角色已离开舞台的舞台指示。
gExeunt: Stage direction indicating that the characters have left the stage.
h诗节:合唱团演唱的歌曲,从舞台右侧舞到舞台左侧。
hStrophe: The song sung by the Chorus, dancing from stage right to stage left.
i 175. 皮托神殿:德尔斐,神谕和供奉阿波罗的神殿所在地。
i175. shrine of Pytho: Delphi, site of the oracle and shrine dedicated to Apollo.
j 178.提洛治疗师:阿波罗。
j178. Delian Healer: Apollo.
k对句:合唱团在诗节之后唱出的歌曲,从舞台左侧跳回到舞台右侧。
kAntistrophe: The song sung after the strophe by the Chorus, dancing back from stage left to stage right.
l 208. 安菲特里忒:海女神,波塞冬的妻子。
l208. Amphitrite: Sea goddess and wife of Poseidon.
m 216.莱西亚国王:阿波罗。
m216. Lycean King: Apollo.
n 219. 酒神:巴克斯,又称狄俄尼索斯,酒神和狂野庆典之神。
n219. Bacchic God: Bacchus, also known as Dionysus, god of wine and wild celebration.
o 221. 酒神玛纳德斯团:酒神巴克斯的女性追随者。
o221. Maenad company: Female followers of Bacchus.
p 282. 拉布达科斯(Labdacus)、波吕多洛斯(Polydorus)、卡德摩斯(Cadmus)和阿革诺耳(Agenor):指拉伊俄斯的父亲、祖父、曾祖父和高祖父。
p282. Labdacus, Polydorus, Cadmus, and Agenor: Referring to the father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather of Laius.
q 330. 鸟类预言:鸟类飞行,先知利用鸟类飞行来预测未来的方法。
q330. oracles from birds: Bird flight, a method by which prophets predicted the future using the flight of birds.
r 377. 同谋者:参与阴谋或阴谋的人。
r377. complotter: One who is part of a plot or conspiracy.
s 467. Cithaeron:位于希腊的一座山,俄狄浦斯婴儿时期被遗弃的地方。
s467. Cithaeron: Mountain in Greece and the location where Oedipus was abandoned as a baby.
t 527. 帕纳索斯山:希腊的一座山峰,供奉阿波罗。
t527. Parnassus: Mountain in Greece that was sacred to Apollo.
u 845–46. 波吕玻斯…墨洛珀:收养并抚养俄狄浦斯的国王和王后。
u845–46. Polybus…Merope: King and queen that adopted and raised Oedipus.
v 965. 阿巴埃:古希腊的一个城镇,以神谕而闻名。
v965. Abae: A town in ancient Greece that was renowned for its oracle.
w 1101.名称:俄狄浦斯字面意思是“肿的脚”。
w1101. name: Oedipus literally translates to “swollen foot.”
x 1026. 皮提亚壁炉:德尔斐。
x1026. Pythian hearth: Delphi.
y 1172. 库勒涅的国王:信使之神赫尔墨斯。
y1172. Cyllene’s king: Hermes, the messenger god.
z 1506. 弑父:杀害父母或其他近亲属的人。
z1506. parricide: One who kills his parent or another close relative.
aa 1568。墨诺宙斯之子:克瑞翁。
aa1568. Son of Menoeceus: Creon.
(1564–1616)
[1564–1616]
演员姓名
The Names of the Actors
摩尔人奥赛罗
Othello, the Moor
布拉班蒂奥 ( B rabantio),[威尼斯参议员]苔丝狄蒙娜的父亲
Brabantio, [a Venetian senator,] father to Desdemona
卡西奥,一位可敬的副官(对奥赛罗来说)
Cassio, an honorable lieutenant [to Othello]
我以前是个恶棍,
Iago, [Othello’s ancient,] a villain
罗德里戈,一位被骗的绅士
Roderigo, a gulled gentleman
威尼斯公爵
Duke of Venice
威尼斯参议员
Senators [of Venice]
塞浦路斯州长蒙塔诺
Montano, governor of Cyprus
洛多维科和格拉蒂亚诺,[布拉班修的亲戚],两位威尼斯贵族
Lodovico and Gratiano, [kinsmen to Brabantio,] two noble Venetians
水手
Sailors
小丑
Clowns
奥赛罗的妻子苔丝狄蒙娜
Desdemona, wife to Othello
埃米莉亚,伊阿古的妻子
Emilia, wife to Iago
碧安卡,一名妓女
Bianca, a courtesan
[信使、传令官、官员、威尼斯绅士、音乐家、服务员
[Messenger, Herald, Officers, Venetian Gentlemen, Musicians, Attendants
场景:威尼斯和塞浦路斯]
Scene: Venice and Cyprus]
1.流传至今的《奥赛罗》有两个版本,一个是 1622 年的四开本,另一个是 1623 年的对开本。两个版本都很好,尽管它们在细节上有些不同,而且它们之间的确切关系仍有争议。对开本版本更完整(约 160 行),并被用作本文本的基础;然而,四开本中的一些读法已被采纳,特别是在缩写、誓言和舞台指导方面,对开本中的对应词表明编辑干预。对开本中省略的几行和简短的对话段落已从四开本中添加到方括号中。[Gerald Eades Bentley]
1. Two versions of Othello have come down to us, one in a quarto of 1622 and another in the folio of 1623. Both are good, although they vary somewhat in details and their precise relationship is still subject to debate. The folio version is fuller (by about 160 lines) and has been used as the basis of the present text; however, a number of readings from the quarto have been admitted, especially in contractions, oaths, and stage directions, where the corresponding words in the folio suggest editorial intervention. A few lines and brief passages of dialogue omitted from the folio have been added from the quarto in square brackets. [Gerald Eades Bentley]
威尼斯的一条街道。
A street in Venice.
罗德里戈和伊阿古上场。
Enter Roderigo and Iago.
Roderigo :呸,别告诉我!我对此很不友好
Roderigo: Tush, never tell me! I take it much unkindly
伊阿古,你抢走了我的钱包,
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
仿佛琴弦是你的,应该知道这一点。
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.a
我说: “天哪,但是你听不到我的声音!”
Iago: ’Sblood,b but you’ll not hear me!
5如果我曾经梦想过这样的事情,
5If ever I did dream of such a matter,
憎恶我。
Abhor me.
罗德里格:你告诉过我你对他怀有仇恨。
Roderigo: Thou told’st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.
我说过:如果我不这样做,就鄙视我。城里的三个大人物,
Iago: Despise me if I do not. Three great ones of the city,
亲自请求任命我为他的副官,
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
10向他脱帽致敬;c并且,凭借人的信仰,
10Off-capped to him;c and, by the faith of man,
我知道自己的价值;我不值更差的地位。
I know my price; I am worth no worse a place.
但他爱自己的骄傲和目的,
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
用夸张的情节来回避他们。d
Evades them with a bombast circumstance.d
充斥着可怕的战争绰号;
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war;
15[最后,]
15[And, in conclusion,]
不起诉我的调解人;因为“Certes”,他说,
Nonsuitse my mediators; for, “Certes,” says he,
“我已经选择了我的军官。”
“I have already chose my officer.”
他到底是什么人?
And what was he?
确实,一位伟大的算术家,
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,f
20一位是佛罗伦萨人迈克尔·卡西奥
20One Michael Cassio, a Florentine
(一个几乎被美女诅咒的男人)
(A fellow almost damned in a fair wifeg)
从来没有在战场上部署过一支中队,
That never set a squadron in the field,
战斗的双方也不知道
Nor the division of a battle knows
不仅仅是一个老处女;除非书呆子的理论,
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
二十五其中托格德领事可以提出
25Wherein the togèd consuls can propose
和他一样精通。只是空谈,没有实践
As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice
是他所有的士兵。但是,先生,他已经当选了;
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th’ election;
而我(他亲眼见证了
And I (of whom his eyes had seen the proof
在罗得岛、塞浦路斯和其他地方
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
三十基督徒和异教徒)必须受到攻击并平静下来
30Christian and heathen) must be belee’d and calmedh
由债务人和债权人;这个反施法者,我
By debitor and creditor; this counter-caster,i
到时候,他的副官就得来了,
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
而我——上帝保佑这个标记!——他的摩尔人很古老。j
And I — God bless the mark! — his Moorship’s ancient.j
罗德里戈:老天在上,我宁愿当他的刽子手。
Roderigo: By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
三十五我说:为什么,没有办法解决;这是服务的诅咒。
35Iago: Why, there’s no remedy; ’tis the curse of service.
晋升靠的是信件和感情,k
Preferment goes by letter and affection,k
而不是按照旧的等级,每一秒
And not by old gradation, where each second
继承了第一任。现在,先生,你自己来判断吧,
Stood heir to th’ first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
我是否在任何公正的术语中都亲和
Whether I in any just term am affinedl
愛上摩尔人。
To love the Moor.
40罗德里戈:那我就不会跟着他。
40Roderigo: I would not follow him then.
我说:哦,先生,您满意了;
Iago: O, sir, content you;
我跟随他,为他服务。
I follow him to serve my turn upon him.
我们不能都是主人,也不能都是主人
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
无法真正遵循。你应标记
Cannot be truly followed. You shall mark
四十五许多忠心耿耿的流氓
45Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave
他沉溺于自己卑躬屈膝的奴役,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
像主人的屁股一样,消耗着自己的时间,
Wears out his time, much like his master’s ass,
只为提供食物;等他老了,就被解雇了。
For naught but provender; and when he’s old, cashiered.m
鞭打我这些诚实的流氓!其他人
Whip me such honest knaves! Others there are
50他,以职责的形象和面容修饰自己,
50Who, trimmedn in forms and visages of duty,
让他们的心专注于自己;
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
他们只是假装效忠他们的领主,
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
好好利用它们,等它们填满了衣裳,
Do well thrive by them, and when they have lined their coats,
向自己致敬。这些人有灵魂;
Do themselves homage. These fellows have some soul;
55我承认自己就是这样的人。因为,先生,
55And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,
就像你是罗德里戈一样,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
如果我是摩尔人,我就不会是伊阿古。
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.
跟随他,我只是跟随我自己;
In following him, I follow but myself;
上天是我的审判者,不是我,出于爱和责任,
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
60但看来,这是为了我的特殊目的;
60But seeming so, for my peculiar end;
因为当我的外在行为表明
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
我内心的本能行为和形象
The native act and figure of my hearto
在恭维外部, p'tis不久之后
In compliment extern,p ’tis not long after
但我会把我的心声表达出来
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
65让乌鸦啄食;我已不再是我。
65For daws to peck at; I am not what I am.
Roderigo: What a full fortune does the thick-lipsq ower
如果他能这样做!
If he can carry’t thus!
我以前:给她父亲打电话,
Iago: Call up her father,
激怒他。追赶他,毒害他的快乐,
Rouse him. Make after him, poison his delight,
在大街上宣扬他。给她的亲戚熏香,
Proclaim him in the streets. Incense her kinsmen,
70尽管他住在一个富饶的地区,
70And though he in a fertile climate dwell,
用苍蝇折磨他;尽管他的快乐是快乐的,
Plague him with flies; though that his joy be joy,
然而,把这些烦恼的变化抛在
Yet throw such changes of vexation on’t
因为它可能会失去一些颜色。
As it may lose some color.
罗德里戈:这里是她父亲的房子。我会大声喊出来的。
Roderigo: Here is her father’s house. I’ll call aloud.
75我以前:像胆怯的口音和可怕的叫喊一样
75Iago: Do, with like timorouss accent and dire yell
就像在夜晚和疏忽大意的情况下,火灾
As when, by night and negligence, the fire
在人口密集的城市受到监视。
Is spied in populous cities.
罗德里戈:什么,嗬,布拉班蒂奥!布拉班蒂奥先生,嗬!
Roderigo: What, ho, Brabantio! Signior Brabantio, ho!
我喊道:快醒醒!什么,嗬,布拉班修!小偷!小偷!
Iago: Awake! What, ho, Brabantio! Thieves! thieves!
80照顾好你的房子、你的女儿和你的包!
80Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags!
小偷!小偷!
Thieves! thieves!
布拉班修(Brabantio) 在窗口。
Brabantio at a window.t
布拉班蒂奥(上文):这次可怕的传唤是为了什么?
Brabantio (above): What is the reason of this terrible summons?
那儿发生什么事了?
What is the matter there?
罗德里戈:先生,您的家人都在里面吗?
Roderigo: Signior, is all your family within?
我问:你的门锁了吗?
Iago: Are your doors locked?
85布拉班蒂奥:你为什么问这个?
85Brabantio: Why, wherefore ask you this?
我回答说:天哪,先生,你被抢了!羞愧难当,穿上你的长袍吧!
Iago: Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown!
你的心碎了;你失去了一半的灵魂。
Your heart is burst; you have lost half your soul.
直到现在,现在,就在现在,一只老黑公羊
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
正在和你的白羊交配。起来,起来!
Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise!
90用钟声唤醒鼾声大作的市民们。
90Awake the snortingu citizens with the bell.
否则魔鬼会让你成为祖父。
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you.
我说,起来!
Arise, I say!
布拉班蒂奥:怎么,你失去理智了吗?
Brabantio: What, have you lost your wits?
罗德里戈:最受尊敬的先生,您知道我的声音吗?
Roderigo: Most reverend signior, do you know my voice?
95布拉班蒂奥:不是我。你是什么?
95Brabantio: Not I. What are you?
罗德里戈:我的名字是罗德里戈。
Roderigo: My name is Roderigo.
B rabantio:更糟糕的欢迎!
Brabantio: The worser welcome!
我已经告诫你不要在我门前徘徊。
I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors.
你听到我说得如此坦率
In honest plainness thou hast heard me say
我的女儿不适合你;现在,在疯狂中,
My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madness,
100吃饱了晚餐,喝了令人难受的饮料,
100Being full of supper and distemp’ring draughts,
你来是为了恶毒的欺骗
Upon malicious knavery dost thou come
开始我的安静。
To start my quiet.
Roderigo :先生,先生,先生——
Roderigo: Sir, sir, sir —
B rabantio:但你必须确定
Brabantio: But thou must needs be sure
105我的精神和我的地位拥有力量
105My spirit and my place have in them power
使你感到痛苦。
To make this bitter to thee.
罗德里戈:耐心点,先生。
Roderigo: Patience, good sir.
布拉班修:你跟我说抢劫干什么?这里是威尼斯。
Brabantio: What tell’st thou me of robbing? This is Venice;
罗德里戈:最严肃的布拉班蒂奥,
Roderigo: Most grave Brabantio,
我怀着单纯、纯洁的灵魂来到你身边。
In simple and pure soul I come to you.
110我说过:天哪,先生,你是那种如果魔鬼命令就不会侍奉上帝的人之一
110Iago: Zounds, sir, you are one of those that will not serve God if the devil bid
因为我们是来为你服务的,而你却认为我们是流氓,
you. Because we come to do you service, and you think we are ruffians,
你会让你的女儿披上一匹巴巴里马;你会让你的
you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you’ll have your
侄子们会和你一起嘶鸣;你会有猎马作为表兄弟,还有鬣狗作为
nephewsw neigh to you; you’ll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for
德国人。x
germans.x
115布拉班修:你这个亵渎神明的恶棍?
115Brabantio: What profane wretch art thou?
我以前说过:先生,我来告诉你,你的女儿和摩尔人
Iago: I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are
现在正在制作有两个背的野兽。
now making the beast with two backs.
B rabantio:你是个恶棍。
Brabantio: Thou are a villain.
我知道:您是——一名参议员。
Iago: You are — a senator.
布拉班修:这个你得回答。我了解你,罗德里戈。
Brabantio: This thou shalt answer. I know thee, Roderigo.
120罗德里戈:先生,我愿意回答任何问题。但我恳求你,
120Roderigo: Sir, I will answer anything. But I beseech you,
如果你不高兴并同意,
If ’t be your pleasure and most wise consent,
我发现,你美丽的女儿,
As partly I find it is, that your fair daughter,
在这单双号沉闷的夜里,
At this odd-eveny and dull watch o’ th’ night,
被运送,没有更好或更坏的警卫
Transported, with no worse nor better guard
125但和一个普通的船夫,
125But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,
被淫荡的摩尔人粗暴地紧紧抓住——
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor —
如果你知道这一点,并且你的允许,z
If this be known to you, and your allowance,z
我们对你们做了大胆而无礼的错误的事情;
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
但如果你不知道这一点,我的举止会告诉我
But if you know not this, my manners tell me
130我们收到了你错误的斥责。不要相信
130We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe
从文明礼貌的角度来说,
That, from the senseaa of all civility,
我这样就是在玩弄您的尊敬。
I thus would play and trifle with your reverence.
你的女儿,如果你没有给她许可,
Your daughter, if you have not given her leave,
我再说一遍,他已经进行了一次严重的叛乱,
I say again, hath made a gross revolt,
135把她的责任、美貌、智慧和财富联系在一起
135Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes
在一个奢侈和轮式bb陌生人
In an extravagant and wheelingbb stranger
这里和任何地方。直接满足你自己。
Of here and everywhere. Straight satisfy yourself.
如果她在自己的房间,或者你的家里,
If she be in her chamber, or your house,
让我受到国家正义的制裁
Let loose on me the justice of the state
因为我这样欺骗了你。
For thus deluding you.
140B rabantio:打火种,嗬!
140Brabantio: Strike on the tinder, ho!
给我一根细长的香烟!给我所有的人打电话!
Give me a taper! Call up all my people!
这次的事故cc和我的梦不一样。
This accidentcc is not unlike my dream.
对它的信仰已经让我感到压迫。
Belief of it oppresses me already.
光,我说!光!
Light, I say! light!
退出[上方]。
Exit [above].
我说:再见,我必须离开你了。
Iago: Farewell, for I must leave you.
145这似乎不合适,也不健康,
145It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place,
待制作 — 如果我留下来,我将 —
To be produced — as, if I stay, I shall —
反对摩尔人。因为我了解摩尔人的情况,
Against the Moor. For I do know the state,
然而这可能会让他有些恼火,dd
However this may gall him with some check,dd
不能安全地把他救出来;因为他已经上船了
Cannot with safety castee him; for he’s embarked
150塞浦路斯战争爆发的原因如此强烈,
150With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars,
至今仍在行动,因为他们的灵魂
Which even now stand in act,ff that for their souls
他的另一个理解gg他们没有
Another of his fathomgg they have none
领导他们的业务;在这方面,
To lead their business; in which regard,
尽管我恨他如恨地狱,
Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains,
155然而,为了现在生活的需要,
155Yet, for necessity of present life,
我必须展现一面旗帜和爱的标志,
I must show out a flag and sign of love,
这确实只是个迹象。你一定会找到他,
Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely find him,
引领至射手座hh提升的搜索;
Lead to the Sagittaryhh the raisèd search;
我会和他在一起。再见。
And there will I be with him. So farewell.
出口。
Exit.
身穿睡衣的布拉班修(Brabantio )和手持火把的仆人进入(下方)。
Enter [below] Brabantio in his nightgown,ii and Servants with torches.
160布拉班蒂奥:这真是太邪恶了。她走了;
160Brabantio: It is too true an evil. Gone she is;
我那可恶的时光又将如何度过
And what’s to come of my despisèd time
只是苦涩。现在,罗德里戈,
Is naught but bitterness. Now, Roderigo,
你在哪里见到她的?——哦不幸的女孩!——
Where didst thou see her? — O unhappy girl! —
你说,和摩尔人在一起?——谁会成为父亲?——
With the Moor, say’st thou? — Who would be a father? —
165你怎么知道是她?——哦,她欺骗了我
165How didst thou know ’twas she! — O, she deceives me
过去的想法! — 她对你说了什么? — 获得 moe jj锥度!
Past thought! — What said she to you? — Get moejj tapers!
抚养我所有的亲属!——你认为他们结婚了吗?
Raise all my kindred! — Are they married, think you?
Roderigo :我确实认为是的。
Roderigo: Truly I think they are.
布拉班蒂奥:天啊!她是怎么出来的?血腥的叛国罪啊!
Brabantio: O heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood!
170父亲们,从今以后不要相信你们女儿的心思
170Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters’ minds
看他们表现的样子。难道没有魅力吗
By what you see them act. Is there not charms
青年和处女的财产kk
By which the propertykk of youth and maidhood
会被滥用吗?罗德里戈,你没读过吗?
May be abused? Have you not read, Roderigo,
类似这样的事吗?
Of some such thing?
罗德里戈:是的,先生,我确实这么做了。
Roderigo: Yes, sir, I have indeed.
175布拉班蒂奥:给我哥哥打电话。——哦,你真希望她能来!——
175Brabantio: Call up my brother. — O, would you had had her! —
有的是这样,有的则是那样。——你知道吗
Some one way, some another. — Do you know
我们在哪里可以抓获她和摩尔人?
Where we may apprehend her and the Moor?
Roderigo :我想我可以找到他,如果你愿意的话
Roderigo: I think I can discover him, if you please
找来好警卫跟我一起去。
To get good guard and go along with me.
180B rabantio:请你带路。我会挨家挨户拜访;
180Brabantio: I pray you lead on. At every house I’ll call;
我最多可以指挥一下。——拿起武器,唷!
I may command at most. — Get weapons, ho!
并培养一些夜间特别警官。——
And raise some special officers of night. —
继续吧,善良的罗德里戈;我会值得你付出一切的。
On, good Roderigo; I’ll deservell your pains.
[下场]
[Exeunt.]
a 3.这件事:即苔丝狄蒙娜的私奔。
a3. this: i.e., Desdemona’s elopement.
b 4. “血”:用上帝的血。
b4. ’Sblood: By God’s blood.
c 10.他:即奥赛罗。
c10. him: i.e., Othello.
d 13. 夸张的情况:浮夸的迂回说法。
d13. a bombast circumstance: Pompous circumlocutions.
e 16. 不予起诉:驳回。
e16. Nonsuits: Rejects.
f 19. 算术家:理论家。
f19. arithmetician: Theoretician.
g 21. 几乎……妻子:(一个模糊的暗示;卡西奥未婚,但参见 IV.i.114)。
g21. almost … wife: (An obscure allusion; Cassio is unmarried, but see IV.i.114).
h 30. 遭到攻击并平静下来:陷入困境。
h30. belee’d and calmed: Left in the lurch.
i 31. 反施法者:簿记员。
i31. counter-caster: Bookkeeper.
j 33.古代:少尉。
j33. ancient: Ensign.
k 36. 喜爱:偏爱。
k36. affection: Favoritism.
l 39. affined:有义务。
l39. affined: Obliged.
m 48.cashiered:已关闭。
m48. cashiered: Turned off.
n 50. 修剪:打扮。
n50. trimmed: Dressed up.
o 62. …心:我真正相信和意图的。
o62. The … heart: What I really believe and intend.
p 63. 外部赞美:外表。
p63. compliment extern: Outward appearance.
q 66. 厚嘴唇:伊丽莎白时代对黑人(包括摩尔人)的绰号;
q66. thick-lips: An Elizabethan epithet for blacks, including Moors;
r owe:拥有。
rowe: Own.
s 75.胆怯的:可怕的。
s75. timorous: Terrifying.
t布拉班修 (Brabantio) 在窗边:(从四开本添加)。
tBrabantio at a window: (added from quarto).
u 90. snorting:打鼾。
u90. snorting: Snoring.
v 108. 农庄:孤立的农舍。
v108. grange: Isolated farmhouse.
w 113. 侄子:即孙子。
w113. nephews: i.e., grandsons.
x 114. gennets 表示德国人:西班牙的马表示近亲。
x114. gennets for germans: Spanish horses for near kinsmen.
y 123. 奇偶:夜晚与早晨之间。
y123. odd-even: Between night and morning.
z 127. 许可:批准。
z127. allowance: Approval.
aa 131. 从意义来说:违反。
aa131. from the sense: In violation.
bb 136. 奢侈而又轮流:流亡且流浪。
bb136. extravagant and wheeling: Expatriate and roving.
cc 142. 事故:发生。
cc142. accident: Occurrence.
dd 148. 检查:谴责。
dd148. check: Reprimand.
ee 149.演员:出院。
ee149. cast: Discharge.
ff 151. stand in act:正在进行。
ff151. stand in act: Are going on.
gg 152. 噚:容量。
gg152. fathom: Capacity.
hh 158.射手座:一家旅馆。
hh158. Sagittary: An inn.
ii. nightgown:晨衣。
iinightgown: Dressing gown.
jj 166. moe:更多。
jj166. moe: More.
kk 172. 性质:自然。
kk172. property: Nature.
ll 183. 值得:表示感激。
ll183. deserve: Show gratitude for.
在奥赛罗的住处前。
Before the lodgings of Othello.
奥赛罗、伊阿古及随从手持火把上。
Enter Othello, Iago, and Attendants with torches.
我说过:虽然我在战争中杀过人,
Iago: Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
但我却认为这是良心所致
Yet do I hold it very stuff o’ th’ conscience
不要蓄意谋杀。我没有罪孽
To do no contrived murder. I lack iniquity
有时是为了帮我。九到十次
Sometimes to do me service. Nine or ten times
5我原本以为应该把他从肋骨下面拽出来。
5I had thought t’ have yerkeda him here under the ribs.
噢:这样就更好了。
Othello: ’Tis better as it is.
我说:不,但他却说,
Iago: Nay, but he prated,
说出了如此卑鄙而又挑衅的话
And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms
违背你的荣誉
Against your honor
凭借我所拥有的一点点虔诚
That with the little godliness I have
10我确实尽力忍耐他。但我恳求你,先生,
10I did full hard forbear him. But I pray you, sir,
你快结婚了吗?请放心,
Are you fastb married? Be assured of this,
magnifico c深受人们喜爱,
That the magnificoc is much beloved,
并且在他的效果中具有声音潜力d
And hath in his effect a voice potentiald
和公爵一样。他会和你离婚,
As doublee as the Duke’s. He will divorce you,
15或对你施加什么束缚和不满
15Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
法律,用尽一切力量去执行,
The law, with all his might to enforce it on,
会给他电报。
Will give him cable.
噢,他要是能做到,那就让他尽情地发泄他的怨恨吧。
Othello: Let him do his spite.
我的服务,我已经做了 signory f
My services which I have done the signioryf
他的抱怨将用舌头吐露。现在还不知道——
Shall out-tongue his complaints. ’Tis yet to knowg —
20我知道吹嘘是一种荣誉,
20Which, when I know that boasting is an honor,
我要颁布——我要把我的生命和存在
I shall promulgate — I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege;h and my demeritsi
可以不戴帽子说话,就像骄傲的财富
May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune
正如我所达到的。j因为知道,伊阿古,
As this that I have reached.j For know, Iago,
二十五但我爱温柔的苔丝狄蒙娜,
25But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
我不会我的无家可归的k免费条件
I would not my unhousèdk free condition
限制和禁锢
Put into circumscription and confine
大海值得一看。但看看那边有什么灯光?
For the sea’s worth. But look what lights come yond?
我知道:那些是长大的父亲和他的朋友。
Iago: Those are the raisèd father and his friends.
你最好进去。
You were best go in.
三十奥瑟罗:不是我;一定有人找到我。
30Othello: Not I; I must be found.
我以前:根据 Janus 的说法,我认为不是。
Iago: By Janus, I think no.
凯西奥,军官们,手举火把上。
Enter Cassio, with torches, Officers.
哦,泰罗。我们是公爵的仆人,也是我的副官。
Othello: The servants of the Duke, and my lieutenant.
三十五愿美好的夜晚与你们同在,朋友们!
35The goodness of the night upon you, friends!
有什么新闻?
What is the news?
卡西奥:公爵向您致意,将军。
Cassio: The Duke does greet you, general;
他需要你赶紧出现
And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance
即使是瞬间。
Even on the instant.
噢,你认为发生了什么事吗?
Othello: What’s the matter, think you?
卡西奥:据我猜测,是来自塞浦路斯的东西。
Cassio: Something from Cyprus, as I may divine.
40这是一件需要付出一些努力的事情。厨房
40It is a business of some heat. The galleys
已连续派出十几名信使
Have sent a dozen sequentm messengers
今夜,他们彼此追逐,
This very night at one another’s heels,
许多执政官被召集起来,
And many of the consuls, raised and met,
已经到公爵家了。公爵先生很热情地召见你;
Are at the Duke’s already. You have been hotly called for;
四十五那时你已不在住处,
45When, being not at your lodging to be found,
参议院已经派出了三名任务
The Senate hath sent about three several quests
去寻找你。
To search you out.
哦,海罗:太好了,你找到了我。
Othello: ’Tis well I am found by you.
我只想在这屋子里说一句话,
I will but spend a word here in the house,
并和你一起去。
And go with you.
[出口]
[Exit]
卡西奥:古人,他为什么在这里?
Cassio: Ancient, what makes he here?
50我说过:今晚他登上了一艘陆船。
50Iago: Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land carack.n
如果这证明是合法的奖品,他就会永远获得它。
If it prove lawful prize, he’s made for ever.
卡西奥:我不明白。
Cassio: I do not understand.
我知道:他结婚了。
Iago: He’s married.
卡西奥:给谁?
Cassio: To who?
[奥赛罗上。]
[Enter Othello.]
我问:结婚吧——来吧,船长,你要去吗?
Iago: Marry, to — Come, captain, will you go?
Othello :随身带着。
Othello: Have with you.
卡西奥:又有一支部队来找你了。
Cassio: Here comes another troop to seek for you.
布拉班修、罗德里戈和其他带着灯光和武器的人进入。
Enter Brabantio, Roderigo, and others with lights and weapons.
55我回答道:是布拉班修。将军,请注意。
55Iago: It is Brabantio. General, be advised.
他心怀恶意。
He comes to bad intent.
噢,你好:喂!站那儿!
Othello: Holla! stand there!
罗德里戈:先生,这是摩尔人。
Roderigo: Signior, it is the Moor.
布拉班蒂奥:打倒他,小偷!
Brabantio: Down with him, thief!
[他们在两边画画。]
[They draw on both sides.]
我回答道:“你,罗德里戈!来吧,先生,我来帮你。”
Iago: You, Roderigo! Come, sir, I am for you.
哦,你好:保留你们明亮的剑,因为露水会使它们生锈。
Othello: Keep upo your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
60好先生,随着年龄的增长,你会变得更有权威
60Good signior, you shall more command with years
比你的武器还要好。
Than with your weapons.
布拉班修:哦,你这个卑鄙的小偷,你把我的女儿藏到哪儿了?
Brabantio: O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?
尽管你该死,你却迷住了她!
Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her!
我将参考一切有意义的事物,
For I’ll refer me to all things of sense,
65如果她没有被魔法锁链束缚,
65If she in chains of magic were not bound,
无论是如此温柔、美丽、快乐的少女,
Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy,
这与婚姻背道而驰,她回避
So opposite to marriage that she shunned
我们国家富有的卷发宝贝,
The wealthy curlèd darlings of our nation,
永远不会招致普遍的嘲笑,
Would ever have, t’ incur a general mock,
70逃离她的守护,奔向那乌黑的怀抱
70Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
对于像你这样的人——应该感到恐惧,而不是高兴。
Of such a thing as thou — to fear, not to delight.
评判我吧,这个世界如果不是粗俗的话
Judge me the world if ’tis not gross in sensep
你用邪恶的魔法迷惑她,
That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms,
用毒品和矿物质虐待她娇嫩的青春
Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals
75那会削弱动议。q我不会争论的;
75That weaken motion.q I’ll have’t disputed on;
这是有可能的,而且经过思考也是可以察觉的。
’Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
因此我理解并遵守你
I therefore apprehend and do attachr thee
对于一个滥用世界的人来说,一个修行者
For an abuser of the world, a practicer
艺术受到抑制并且不受授权。
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.
80抓住他。如果他反抗,
80Lay hold upon him. If he do resist,
制服他会让事情变得危险。
Subdue him at his peril.
奥赛罗:握住你的手,
Othello: Hold your hands,
你对我的倾向以及其余的人都如此。
Both you of my inclining and the rest.
如果这是我要战斗的信号,我应该知道
Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
没有提示。我要去哪里?
Without a prompter. Where will you that I go
负责回答这个问题吗?
To answer this your charge?
85B rabantio:去监狱,直到合适的时间
85Brabantio: To prison, till fit time
哦,蒂罗:如果我服从了呢?
Othello: What if I do obey?
公爵怎么会满意呢?
How may the Duke be therewith satisfied,
有谁的信使来到我身边
Whose messengers are here about my side
90关于国家当前的一些事务
90Upon some present business of the state
带我去见他吗?
To bring me to him?
官员:确实如此,先生。
Officer: ’Tis true, most worthy signior.
公爵在议事,而您本人
The Duke’s in council, and your noble self
我确信是派人来的。
I am sure is sent for.
B拉班蒂奥:怎么办?公爵在议会?
Brabantio: How? The Duke in council?
这么晚了?把他带走。
In this time of the night? Bring him away.
95我这样做不是无谓的。公爵本人,
95Mine’s not an idlet cause. The Duke himself,
或者我的任何一位同胞兄弟,
Or any of my brothers of the state,
不能不感到这是错误的,因为这是他们自己的错误;
Cannot but feel this wrong as ’twere their own;
如果这样的行动可以自由进行,
For if such actions may have passage free,
我们的政治家将是奴隶和异教徒。
Bondslaves and pagans shall our statesamen be.
下。
Exeunt.
5.刺伤:被刺伤。
a5. yerked: Stabbed.
b 11.快速:安全。
b11. fast: Securely.
c 12. magnifico: Grandee(布拉班蒂奥)。
c12. magnifico: Grandee (Brabantio).
d 13.潜力:强大。
d13. potential: Powerful.
e 14.双重:双重影响力。
e14. double: Doubly influential.
f 18. signiory:威尼斯政府。
f18. signiory: Venetian government.
g 19. 尚不清楚:仍不为人所知。
g19. yet to know: Still not generally known.
h 22. 攻城:等级;
h22. siege: Rank;
i缺点:沙漠。
idemerits: Deserts.
j 23–4 可能会说……达到:我谦虚地断言,与苔丝狄蒙娜家人的人是平等的。
j23–4 May speak … reached: Are equal, I modestly assert, to those of Desdemona’s family.
k 26. unhoused:不受约束。
k26. unhousèd: Unrestrained.
l 31.完美的灵魂:无瑕疵的良心。
l31. perfect soul: Stainless conscience.
m 41. 连续的:连续的。
m41. sequent: Consecutive.
n 50. carack:宝船。
n50. carack: Treasure ship.
o 59. 跟上:即鞘。
o59. Keep up: i.e., sheath.
p 72. 意义上的严重:显而易见。
p72. gross in sense: Obvious.
q 75. 运动:感知。
q75. motion: Perception.
r 77.附加:逮捕。
r77. attach: Arrest.
s 86. 直接会议:常规审判。
s86. direct session: Regular trial.
t 95. 闲着:无聊。
t95. idle: Trifling.
威尼斯参议院议事厅。
The Venetian Senate Chamber.
公爵和参议员们入场,坐在一张桌子旁,周围有灯光和随从。
Enter Duke and Senators, set at a table, with lights and Attendants.
1. 参议员:他们的观点确实不均衡。
1. Senator: Indeed they are disproportioned.
我的信上说有一百零七艘船。
My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.
公爵:我的是一百四十。
Duke: And mine a hundred forty.
2. 参议员:我的是二百。
2. Senator: And mine two hundred.
5但尽管他们不是出于正义的原因——
5But though they jumpb not on a just account —
在这些情况下,目标c报告
As in these cases where the aimc reports
'这常常有差异——但它们都证实了
’Tis oft with difference — yet do they all confirm
一支土耳其舰队正在驶往塞浦路斯。
A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.
公爵:不,这完全有可能。
Duke: Nay, it is possible enough to judgment.
10我不这么确保我的错误
10I do not so secure med in the error
But the main articlee I do approvef
带着一种恐惧的意味。
In fearful sense.
水手(在内):啥,嗬!啥,嗬!啥,嗬!
Sailor (within): What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!
官员:来自船上的信使。
Officer: A messenger from the galleys.
進入水手。
Enter Sailor.
公爵:现在有什么事吗?
Duke: Now, what’s the business?
水手:土耳其人为前往罗得岛做好了准备。
Sailor: The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes.
15所以我在这里向州政府报告
15So was I bid report here to the state
由 Signior Angelo 撰稿。
By Signior Angelo.
公爵:你觉得这个改变怎么样?
Duke: How say you by this change?
1. 参议员:这不可能
1. Senator: This cannot be
没有任何理由。这是一场盛会
By no assayg of reason. ’Tis a pageant
让我们处于虚假的目光中。h当我们考虑
To keep us in false gaze.h When we consider
20塞浦路斯对土耳其人的重要性,
20Th’ importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,
让我们再次明白
And let ourselves again but understand
因为这与土耳其人比与罗得岛更相关,
That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
因此他可以用更简单的问题来回答这个问题,
So may he with more facile question beari it,
因为它没有站在这样的好战支架上,j
For that it stands not in such warlike brace,j
二十五但完全缺乏能力
25But altogether lacks th’ abilities
罗兹所穿的衣服——如果我们考虑一下,
That Rhodes is dressed in — if we make thought of this,
我们不应该认为土耳其人如此不熟练
We must not think the Turk is so unskillful
先把与他有关的最新的事情留到最后,
To leave that latest which concerns him first,
忽视轻松和收获的尝试
Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain
三十醒来并发起无利可图的危险。
30To wake and wagek a danger profitless.
公爵:不,我可以肯定地说,他不支持罗兹。
Duke: Nay, in all confidence, he’s not for Rhodes.
官员:这里还有更多新闻。
Officer: Here is more news.
输入 Messenger。
Enter a Messenger.
信使:尊敬的奥斯曼人,
Messenger: The Ottomites, reverend and gracious,
船沿着正确的航向驶向罗得岛,
Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes,
三十五在那里与他们汇合一支后舰队。
35Have there injointed them with an after fleet.
1. 参议员:是的,我也这么想。你猜有多少?
1. Senator: Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess?
信使:三十艘船,现在他们已经恢复了
Messenger: Of thirty sail; and now they do resteml
他们的后退路线,带着坦率的外表
Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance
他们对塞浦路斯的目的,蒙塔诺先生,
Their purposes toward Cyprus, Signior Montano,
40您最值得信赖和最勇敢的仆人,
40Your trusty and most valiant servitor,
他免费为你推荐,
With his free duty recommends you thus,
并祈求你相信他。
And prays you to believe him.
公爵:那么对于塞浦路斯来说,这是肯定的。
Duke: ’Tis certain then for Cyprus.
四十五1. 参议员:他现在在佛罗伦萨。
451. Senator: He’s now in Florence.
公爵:请代我们写信给他;邮寄,速递。
Duke: Write from us to him; post, post-haste dispatch.
1. 参议员:布拉班修和英勇的摩尔人来了。
1. Senator: Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor.
布拉班修、奥赛罗、卡西奥、伊阿古、罗德里戈及军官们上场。
Enter Brabantio, Othello, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo, and Officers.
公爵:勇敢的奥赛罗,我们必须立即雇用你
Duke: Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you
对抗总敌人奥斯曼帝国。
Against the general enemy Ottoman.
[对布拉班修说。]
[To Brabantio.]
50我没看见你。欢迎,绅士。
50I did not see you. Welcome, gentle signior.
今晚我们缺少您的建议和帮助。
We lacked your counsel and your help to-night.
布拉班蒂奥:我也是您的。请您原谅我。
Brabantio: So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me.
无论是我的地方,还是我所听到的任何事,
Neither my place, nor aught I heard of business,
把我从床上唤醒,也没有普遍的关怀
Hath raised me from my bed; nor doth the general care
55抓住我,因为我特别悲伤
55Take hold on me; for my particular grief
是如此的洪流般汹涌和霸道
Is of so floodgaten and o’erbearing nature
它吞噬了其他的悲伤,
That it englutso and swallows other sorrows,
而它依然是它自己。
And it is still itself.
公爵:怎么了,发生什么事了?
Duke: Why, what’s the matter?
布拉班蒂奥:我的女儿!噢,我的女儿!
Brabantio: My daughter! O, my daughter!
全部:死了?
All: Dead?
B rabantio:是的,对我来说。
Brabantio: Ay, to me.
60她被虐待,被从我身边夺走,被腐蚀
60She is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted
通过从江湖郎中买来的咒语和药物;
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;
因为自然界总是会犯这样的错误,
For nature so prepost’rously to err,
不是缺陷,不是盲目,也不是跛足,
Being not deficient,p blind, or lame of sense,
没有巫术就不能。
Sans witchcraft could not.
65公爵:不管他是谁,在这起犯规事件中
65Duke: Whoe’er he be that in this foul proceeding
就这样欺骗了你的女儿,
Hath thus beguiled your daughter of herself,
而你,她的那本该死的法律之书
And you of her, the bloody book of law
你自己会读到这封苦涩的信
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter
按照你自己的意思;是的,虽然我们的本位q儿子
After your own sense; yea, though our properq son
坚持你的行动。r
Stood in your action.r
70B rabantio:我谦卑地感谢您的恩惠。
70Brabantio: Humbly I thank your grace.
这就是那个人——这个摩尔人,现在看来,
Here is the man — this Moor, whom now, it seems,
您对国家事务的特殊授权
Your special mandate for the state affairs
已带到此处。
Hath hither brought.
所有人:我们对此深感抱歉。
All: We are very sorry for’t.
公爵[对奥赛罗]:您自己对此有什么看法呢?
Duke [to Othello]: What, in your own part, can you say to this?
75布拉班蒂奥:没什么,但事实就是如此。
75Brabantio: Nothing, but this is so.
噢,最强大、最庄严、最受尊敬的君王们,
Othello: Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,
我非常尊贵和认可的好主人,
My very noble, and approveds good masters,
我带走了这老人的女儿,
That I have ta’en away this old man’s daughter,
这是千真万确的;我确实娶了她。
It is most true; true I have married her.
80我的罪行的首领和前线
80The very head and front of my offending
再也没有这种程度了。我的言语粗鲁无礼,
Hath this extent, no more. Rudet am I in my speech,
很少有人能用温柔的话语表达出和平的祝福;
And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace;
因为我的手臂有七年的髓心
For since these arms of mine had seven years’ pithu
到现在为止,他们已经浪费了九个月的时间
Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used
85他们在帐篷田野里最亲密的活动;
85Their dearest action in the tented field;
我对这个伟大的世界几乎无话可说
And little of this great world can I speak
不仅仅是与争斗和战斗的壮举有关;
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle;
因此我不会为我的事业增光添彩
And therefore little shall I grace my cause
我自己说话。然而,凭着你的耐心,
In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,
90我将讲述一个圆润、朴实的故事
90I will a roundv unvarnished tale deliver
我整个爱情历程——什么药,什么魔咒,
Of my whole course of love — what drugs, what charms,
什么咒语,什么强大的魔法
What conjuration, and what mighty magic
(我被指控犯有此类罪行)
(For such proceeding am I charged withal)
我贏得了他的女兒。
I won his daughter.
B rabantio:一个从不大胆的少女;
Brabantio: A maiden never bold;
95精神如此宁静,以至于她的动作
95Of spirit so still and quiet that her motion
她为自己感到羞愧;她——尽管天性如此,
Blushedw at herself; and she — in spite of nature,
岁月、国家、信誉、一切——
Of years, of country, credit, everything —
爱上她不敢看到的东西!
To fall in love with what she feared to look on!
这是一个残缺不全的审判
It is a judgment maimed and most imperfect
100承认完美,所以会犯错
100That will confess perfection so could err
违反一切自然法则,必须
Against all rules of nature, and must be driven
找出狡猾地狱的做法
To find out practicesx of cunning hell
为什么会这样。因此我再次保证
Why this should be. I therefore vouchy again
用一些对血液有强大作用的混合物,
That with some mixtures pow’rful o’er the blood,z
105或者喝点酒,
105Or with some dram, conjured to this effect,
他对她施加了影响。
He wrought upon her.
公爵:保证这一点并不能作为证据。
Duke: To vouch this is no proof.
没有更确定、更明显的测试
Without more certain and more overt test
比这些薄弱的习惯和不良的可能性
Than these thin habitsaa and poor likelihoods
现代的bb似乎更喜欢他。
Of modern seemingbb do prefer against him.
110参议员:但是, 奥赛罗, 说话吧.
1101. Senator: But, Othello, speak.
您是否通过间接和强制cc课程
Did you by indirect and forcèdcc courses
制服并毒害这位年轻姑娘的感情?
Subdue and poison this young maid’s affections?
或者是通过请求而来的,这样的公平问题
Or came it by request, and such fair questiondd
灵魂与灵魂之间如何相通?
As soul to soul affordeth?
哦,你看!我恳求你,
Othello: I do beseech you,
115派人去把那位女士叫到射手座
115Send for the lady to the Sagittary
让她在她父亲面前谈论我。
And let her speak of me before her father.
如果你在她的报告中发现我犯了错误,
If you do find me foul in her report,
信任,职责,我都拥有
The trust, the office, I do hold of you
不仅带走,还让你的句子
Not only take away, but let your sentence
甚至降临到我的生命上。
Even fall upon my life.
120公爵:把苔丝狄蒙娜带过来。
120Duke: Fetch Desdemona hither.
哦,瑟罗:古人,引导他们;你最了解这个地方。
Othello: Ancient, conduct them; you best know the place.
伊阿古带着两三名随从退场。
Exit [Iago, with] two or three [Attendants].
直到她真正来到天堂
And till she come, as truly as to heaven
我承认我血统中的罪恶,
I do confess the vices of my blood,
我将公正地向你们介绍
So justly to your grave ears I’ll present
125我如何在这位美丽女士的爱中茁壮成长,
125How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love,
她也在我的心里。
And she in mine.
公爵:说吧,奥赛罗。
Duke: Say it, Othello.
奥瑟罗:她的父亲很爱我,经常邀请我;
Othello: Her father loved me, oft invited me;
他仍然问我的人生故事
Stillee questioned me the story of my life
130年复一年——战争、围攻、命运
130From year to year — the battles, sieges, fortunes
我已经通过了。
That I have passed.
我从小就一直坚持
I ran it through, even from my boyish days
直到他吩咐我讲这件事的那一刻。
To th’ very moment that he bade me tell it.
我曾说过最悲惨的遭遇,
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
135洪水和田野造成的移动事故;
135Of moving accidents by flood and field;
致命的突破即将来临,危险就在眼前;
Of hairbreadth scapes i’ th’ imminent deadly breach;
被傲慢的敌人夺去
Of being taken by the insolent foe
并被卖为奴隶;从此我的救赎
And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence
并在我的旅行历史中占有重要地位;
And portanceff in my travels’ history;
140其中有巨大的蚂蚁和闲置的沙漠,
140Wherein of antersgg vast and deserts idle,
粗糙的采石场、岩石和高耸入云的山丘,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,
这是我的暗示……说话就是这样的;
It was my hinthh to speak — such was the process;
和食人族互相吃掉的,
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
食人族,ii和头颅
The Anthropophagi,ii and men whose heads
145确实在他们的肩膀下生长。听到这个
145Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear
苔丝狄蒙娜会认真地倾向于吗?
Would Desdemona seriously incline;
但家务事还是会把她拖出去;
But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
无论她如何迅速地行动,
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
她会再次来,用贪婪的耳朵
She’ld come again, and with a greedy ear
150吞噬我的演讲。我观察到,
150Devour up my discourse. Which I observing,
花了一次柔顺的jj小时,找到了好方法
Took once a pliantjj hour, and found good means
让她发出真诚的祈祷
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
愿我的朝圣之旅得以扩大,kk
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,kk
她听到了一些包裹,
Whereof by parcelsll she had something heard,
155但不是故意的。我确实同意了,
155But not intentively.mm I did consent,
常常使她流泪
And often did beguile her of her tears
当我谈到一些痛苦的中风时
When I did speak of some distressful stroke
我的青春受了伤。我的故事结束了,
That my youth suffered. My story being done,
她让我为我的痛苦叹息不已。
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs.
160她发誓,我确实觉得这很奇怪,非常奇怪;
160She swore, i’ faith, ’twas strange, ’twas passing strange;
真可怜,真是极其可怜。
’Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful.
她希望自己没有听到这句话,但她又希望
She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished
感谢上天让她成为这样的男人。她感谢我;
That heaven had made her such a man. She thanked me;
她告诉我,如果我有一个爱她的朋友,
And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
165我应该教他如何讲述我的故事,
165I should but teach him how to tell my story,
那样就能赢得她的欢心。听到这个暗示,我开口说道。
And that would woo her. Upon this hintnn I spake.
她爱我,因为我曾经历过危险,
She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
我爱她,因为她确实可怜他们。
And I loved her that she did pity them.
这只是我所用过的巫术。
This only is the witchcraft I have used.
170那位女士来了。让她见证这一切。
170Here comes the lady. Let her witness it.
苔丝狄蒙娜、伊阿古、随从上。
Enter Desdemona, Iago, Attendants.
公爵:我想这个故事也会赢得我女儿的喜爱。
Duke: I think this tale would win my daughter too.
好布拉班修,
Good Brabantio,
最好处理一下这件混乱的事情。
Take up this mangled matter at the best.
男人宁愿使用他们破损的武器
Men do their broken weapons rather use
比他们的赤手空拳还要厉害。
Than their bare hands.
175布拉班蒂奥:我希望你能听听她讲话。
175Brabantio: I pray you hear her speak.
如果她承认自己是追求者,
If she confess that she was half the wooer,
如果我的错误被责备,我的头就会被毁掉
Destruction on my head if my bad blame
点亮那人!过来吧,温柔的女主人。
Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress.
你是否察觉到在这么多高尚的人当中
Do you perceive in all this noble company
你最应该服从的地方在哪里?
Where most you owe obedience?
180德斯狄蒙娜:我尊贵的父亲,
180Desdemona: My noble father,
我确实认为这里有一种责任上的分歧。
I do perceive here a divided duty.
我将一生和学业都奉献给你;oo
To you I am bound for life and education;oo
我的生活和教育都让我学到
My life and education both do learn me
如何尊敬你:你是本分之主;
How to respect you: you are the lord of duty;
185到目前为止我还是你的女儿。但这是我的丈夫;
185I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband;
我母亲表现出了极大的责任感
And so much duty as my mother showed
她对你比她父亲更爱你,
To you, preferring you before her father,
我向pp提出如此多的挑战,以至于我可以宣称
So much I challengepp that I may profess
这是摩尔人的恩赐,大人。
Due to the Moor my lord.
B rabantio:上帝与你同在!我已经做到了。
Brabantio: God be with you! I have done.
190大人,请您去处理国事吧。
190Please it your grace, on to the state affairs.
我宁愿领养一个孩子,也不愿自己得到一个孩子。
I had rather to adopt a child than getqq it.
过来,摩尔。
Come hither, Moor.
我在此全心全意地向你献上
I here do give thee that with all my heart
但你已经拥有了,我全心全意
Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
195我会远离你。为了你,宝贝,
195I would keep from thee. For your sake,rr jewel,
我心里很高兴我没有其他孩子;
I am glad at soul I have no other child;
你的逃跑会让我学会暴政,
For thy escapess would teach me tyranny,
把木屐挂在上面。我已经挂好了,大人。
To hang clogs on them. I have done, my lord.
Duke: Let me speak like yourselftt and lay a sentenceuu
200作为一个 grise vv或步骤,可能会帮助这些恋人
200Which, as a grisevv or step, may help these lovers
[对你有利。]
[Into your favor.]
当补救措施过去后,悲伤就结束了
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
通过看到最坏的情况,后期的希望就得以实现。
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
悼念过去的恶作剧
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
205是引发新恶作剧的下一个方法。
205Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
当命运夺走时,什么无法保留,
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
忍耐使她的伤害成为笑柄。
Patience her injury a mock’ry makes.
微笑的被抢者从小偷那里偷了东西;
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief;
他浪费了自己的生命,承受了无谓的悲伤。
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
210布拉班蒂奥:那么就让塞浦路斯的土耳其人来欺骗我们吧:
210Brabantio: So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile:
只要我们还能微笑,我们就不会失去它。
We lose it not so long as we can smile.
他很好地承受了“没有什么能承受”这句话
He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
但他从那里听到了免费的安慰;
But the free comfort which from thence he hears;
但他承受着判决和悲伤
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow
215要偿还悲伤就必须借用可怜的耐心。
215That to pay grief must of poor patience borrow.
这些句子,无论是甜言蜜语,还是苦涩难懂,
These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,
双方都很强势,态度模棱两可。
Being strong on both sides, are equivocal.
但话语就是话语。我从未听到过
But words are words. I never yet did hear
那颗受伤的心被耳朵刺穿了。
That the bruised heart was piercèd through the ear.
220恳请您,现在来谈国事。
220Beseech you, now to the affairs of state.
公爵:土耳其人做好了最充分的准备前往塞浦路斯。
Duke: The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for Cyprus.
奥赛罗,你最了解这个地方的坚韧;尽管
Othello, the fortitudeww of the place is best known to you; and though
we have there a substitute of most allowedxx sufficiency, yet opinion,yy a
更具权威的效果主宰者,给你更安全的声音。
more sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer voice on you.
因此,你必须满足于对你的新 for- 的光泽感到厌倦。
You must therefore be content to slubberzz the gloss of your new for-
225与这次更加固执和喧闹的探险相协调。
225tunes with this more stubborn and boist’rous expedition.
哦,塞罗:暴君的习俗,最严肃的参议员们,
Othello: The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
制造了坚硬如铁的战争床
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
我的三轮驱动的羽绒床。我承认
My thrice-driven bed of down. I do agnize
230自然而迅速的敏捷
230A natural and prompt alacrity
我发现硬度;aaa并承担
I find in hardness;aaa and do undertake
这些是针对奥斯曼帝国的当前战争。
These present wars against the Ottomites.
因此,我非常谦卑地向你们屈服,
Most humbly, therefore, bending to your state,
我渴望妻子有健康的性格,
I crave fit disposition for my wife,
235由于地点和展览的参考,bbb
235Due reference of place, and exhibition,bbb
有这样的住宿和安排ccc
With such accommodation and besortccc
与她的繁殖水平一样ddd。
As levelsddd with her breeding.
公爵:请你
Duke: If you please,
去她父亲家。
Be’t at her father’s.
布拉班蒂奥:我不会这么做。
Brabantio: I will not have it so.
哦,瑟罗:我也没有。
Othello: Nor I.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我也不想住在那里,
Desdemona: Nor I. I would not there reside,
240让我父亲焦急地想念
240To put my father in impatient thoughts
在他的眼里。最仁慈的公爵,
By being in his eye. Most gracious Duke,
聆听我展开的繁荣,
To my unfolding lend your prosperouseee ear,
让我从你的声音中找到一份宪章,
And let me find a charter in your voice,
T' 帮助我变得简单。fff
T’ assist my simpleness.fff
245公爵:你会怎么做,苔丝狄蒙娜?
245Duke: What would you, Desdemona?
德斯狄蒙娜:我爱摩尔人,愿意和他一起生活,
Desdemona: That I did love the Moor to live with him,
我的赤裸裸的暴力和命运的风暴,
My downright violence, and storm of fortunes,
愿号角吹向世界。我的心被征服了
May trumpet to the world. My heart’s subdued
甚至达到我主的品质。
Even to the very quality of my lord.
250我在他脑海里看到了奥赛罗的面容,
250I saw Othello’s visage in his mind,
他的荣誉和英勇行为
And to his honors and his valiant parts
我是否已将我的灵魂和命运奉献。
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
所以,各位大人,如果我被留下,
So that, dear lords, if I be left behind,
和平的飞蛾,他却去打仗,
A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
255我爱他的仪式却使我失去意义,
255The rites for which I love him are bereft me,
我将暂时支持
And I a heavy interim shall support
因为他不在。让我跟他一起去吧。
By his dear absence. Let me go with him.
噢,让她听到你的声音。
Othello: Let her have your voice.
天堂啊,请你为我担保,因此我不乞求
Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not
260为了满足我的味蕾,
260To please the palate of my appetite,
Not to comply with heatggg — the young affectshhh
在我里面已不复存在——以及适当的满足;
In me defunct — and proper satisfaction;
但要让她的心灵自由而宽容;
But to be free and bounteous to her mind;
愿上天保佑你们善良的灵魂,因为你们认为
And heaven defend your good souls that you think
265我将你的认真和伟大的商业扫描
265I will your serious and great business scant
当她和我在一起的时候。不,当轻翼玩具
When she is with me. No, when light-winged toys
羽毛丘比特海豹三世与放荡的沉闷
Of feathered Cupid seeliii with wanton dullness
我的投机和办公工具,jjj
My speculative and officed instruments,jjj
我的体育活动败坏并玷污了我的生意,
Thatkkk my disports corrupt and taint my business,
270让家庭主妇把我的头盔做成煎锅,
270Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,
一切愤怒和卑鄙的逆境
And all indignlll and base adversities
违背我的估计!嗯
Make head against my estimation!mmm
公爵:那就由你私下决定吧,
Duke: Be it as you shall privately determine,
要么让她留下,要么让她离开。这件事急需处理,
Either for her stay or going. Th’ affair cries haste,
275而速度必须回答这个问题。
275And speed must answer it.
1. 参议员:你今晚必须离开。
1. Senator: You must away to-night.
噢,你好:我全心全意。
Othello: With all my heart.
苔丝狄蒙娜:今晚吗,大人?
Desdemona: Tonight, my lord?
公爵:今天晚上。
Duke: This night.
公爵:早上九点我们会再见面。
Duke: At nine i’ th’ morning here we’ll meet again.
奥赛罗,留下一个军官,
Othello, leave some officer behind,
280他将把我们的委托带给你,
280And he shall our commission bring to you,
有了这些其他具有品质和尊重的东西
With such things else of quality and respect
正如导入nnn 于你一样。
As doth importnnn you.
哦,泰罗:请您原谅,我的长老;
Othello: So please your grace, my ancient;
他是一个诚实守信的人
A man he is of honesty and trust
我委派我的妻子负责他的运输,
To his conveyance I assign my wife,
285您还想什么呢?
285With what else needful your good grace shall think
将被派来追随我。
To be sent after me.
公爵:就这样吧。
Duke: Let it be so.
大家晚安。
Good night to every one.
(对布拉班修说)尊贵的先生,
[To Brabantio.] And, noble signior,
如果美德没有令人愉悦,美貌没有缺乏,
If virtue no delightedooo beauty lack,
你的女婿比黑人要白得多。
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.
2901. 参议员:再见,勇敢的摩尔人。好好利用苔丝狄蒙娜吧。
2901. Senator: Adieu, brave Moor. Use Desdemona well.
布拉班修:摩尔人,如果你有眼睛,就看看她吧。
Brabantio: Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
她欺骗了她的父亲,也可能欺骗你。
She has deceived her father, and may thee.
下[公爵、参议员、官员等]。
Exeunt [Duke, Senators, Officers, &c.].
噢,我的生命就靠她来维持!——诚实的伊阿古,
Othello: My life upon her faith! — Honest Iago,
我必须把我的苔丝狄蒙娜留给你。
My Desdemona must I leave to thee.
295我恳请你让你的妻子侍奉她,
295I prithee let thy wife attend on her,
并以最佳优势带给他们。ppp
And bring them after in the best advantage.ppp
来吧,苔丝狄蒙娜。我只有一个小时
Come, Desdemona. I have but an hour
关于爱、关于世俗事务和方向,
Of love, of worldly matters and direction,
和你一起度过。我们必须遵守时间。
To spend with thee. We must obey the time.
摩尔和苔丝狄蒙娜下。
Exit Moor and Desdemona.
300罗德里格:伊阿古,——
300Roderigo: Iago, —
我问:你说什么呢,高尚的心?
Iago: What say’st thou, noble heart?
罗德里格:你认为我该怎么办呢?
Roderigo: What will I do, think’st thou?
我问:那你赶紧睡觉吧。
Iago: Why, go to bed and sleep.
罗德里戈:我会立即qqq淹死自己。
Roderigo: I will incontinentlyqqq drown myself.
305我说过:如果你这么做,我以后就再也不会爱你了。你这个傻瓜
305Iago: If thou dost, I shall never love thee after. Why, thou silly
绅士!
gentleman!
罗德里戈:当生活是一种折磨时,活着就是愚蠢的;然后我们有一个
Roderigo: It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and then have we a
当死亡是我们的医生时,我们却开出了死亡的处方。
prescription to die when death is our physician.
我说:恶人啊!我已四次七年地观察这个世界;
Iago: O villainous! I have looked upon the world for four times seven years;
因为我能够区分好处和坏处,所以我从不
and since I could distinguish betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never
找到一个懂得爱自己的人。在我说我会淹死之前
found man that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say I would drown
为了爱一只珍珠鸡,我愿意用一只
myself for the love of a guinea hen, I would change my humanity with a
310狒狒。
310baboon.
315罗德里戈:我该怎么办?我承认,我太爱他了,这真是可耻,但我没有能力改正。
315Roderigo: What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so fond, but it is not in my virtue to amend it.
伊阿古:美德?无花果!我们之所以如此或如此,是因为我们自己。我们的身体
Iago: Virtue? a fig! ’Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are
我们的花园,我们的意志就是园丁;因此,如果我们愿意栽种
our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners; so that if we will plant
荨麻或播种莴苣,种上牛膝草,除掉百里香,给它提供一个
nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one
草药的性别rrr或分散它的注意力——要么让它无菌
genderrrr of herbs or distract it with many — either to have it sterile with
懒惰或勤奋——为什么,权力和可纠正的
idleness or manured with industry — why, the power and corrigible
这一切的权威在于我们的意志。如果我们的生活没有一个平衡
authoritysss of this lies in our wills. If the balance of our lives had not one
scale of reason to poisettt another of sensuality, the blood and basenessuuu
我们的天性会引导我们得出最荒谬的结论。
of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions.
但我们有理由冷静下来,冷静我们的愤怒情绪,冷静我们的肉欲,冷静我们的
But we have reason to cool our raging motions,vvv our carnal strings, our
未经证实的www欲望;我认为你称爱为宗派或
unbittedwww lusts; whereof I take this that you call love to be a sect or
罗德里戈:不可能。
Roderigo: It cannot be.
我说过:这只是一种血腥的欲望和意志的许可。来吧,做个男人!淹死你自己?淹死猫和盲狗!我自称是你的朋友,我承认我330用坚韧的绳索与你应得的人编织在一起。我现在再也没有比这更好的办法了。把钱放进你的钱包。跟着战争吧;用篡夺的胡须打败你的恩惠。我说,把钱放进你的钱包。苔丝狄蒙娜不可能长期爱摩尔人——把钱放进你的钱包——他也不该爱她。这是一场暴力335开始在她身上,你会看到一个负责任的扣押zzz——只把钱放在你的钱包里。这些摩尔人的意志是善变的——用钱填满你的钱包。现在对他来说像蝗虫一样美味的食物很快就会像科洛昆蒂达一样苦涩。aaaa她必须换成年轻人:当她对他的身体感到满足时,她会发现340她选择的错误。[她必须有零钱,她必须有零钱。]所以把钱放进你的钱包。如果你要诅咒自己,那就用比淹死更温和的方式去做。赚你所能赚到的所有钱。如果一个犯错的野蛮人和超级狡猾的威尼斯人之间的伪善和脆弱的誓言对我的智慧和地狱的全体部落来说不是太难的话,你就应该345享受她。所以要赚钱。淹死你自己!这完全是一条出路。你宁愿被绞死在欢乐中,也不愿被淹死,没有她。
Iago: It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will. Come, be a man! Drown thyself? Drown cats and blind puppies! I have professed me thy friend, and I confess me 330knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness. I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse. Follow thou the wars; defeat thy favoryyy with an usurped beard. I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor — put money in thy purse — nor he his to her. It was a violent 335commencement in her, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestrationzzz — put but money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable in their wills — fill thy purse with money. The food that to him now is as lus- cious as locusts shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida.aaaa She must change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will find 340the error of her choice. [She must have change, she must.] Therefore put money in thy purse. If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Makebbbb all the money thou canst. If sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an erringcccc barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt 345enjoy her. Therefore make money. A pox of drowning thyself! ’Tis clean out of the way. Seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy than to be drowned and go without her.
罗德里格:如果我依赖结果,你会支持我的希望吗?
Roderigo: Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on the issue?
350我说过:你对我很有信心。去吧,赚钱。我经常告诉你,350我一遍又一遍地告诉你,我恨摩尔人。我的事业是出于真心;你的事业也同样有理有据。让我们一起对他进行报复吧。如果你能给他戴绿帽子,那你就是一种乐趣,对我来说是一种乐趣。时间的子宫里有许多事件,它们将会355已送达。特拉弗斯,快走吧,准备好你的钱!明天我们还会再来。再见。
350Iago: Thou art sure of me. Go, make money. I have told thee often, and 350I retell thee again and again, I hate the Moor. My cause is hearted;dddd thine hath no less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him. If thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. There are many events in the womb of time, which will be 355delivered. Traverse,eeee go, provide thy money! We will have more of this to-morrow. Adieu.
罗德里戈:我们早上在哪里见面?
Roderigo: Where shall we meet i’ th’ morning?
我以前:在我的住处。
Iago: At my lodging.
罗德里戈:我会及时来找你。
Roderigo: I’ll be with thee betimes.
360我说过:走吧,再见——你听到了吗,罗德里戈?
360Iago: Go to, farewell — Do you hear, Roderigo?
[罗德里戈:你说什么?
[Roderigo: What say you?
我问:不要再溺水了,你听到了吗?
Iago: No more of drowning, do you hear?
罗德里戈:我变了。
Roderigo: I am changed.
我前:去吧,再见。把足够的钱放在你的钱包里。
Iago: Go to, farewell. Put money enough in your purse.]
365罗德里戈:我要卖掉我所有的土地。
365Roderigo: I’ll sell all my land.
出口。
Exit.
我说过:因此我总是让我的傻瓜成为我的钱包;
Iago: Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;
因为我自己的知识应该被亵渎
For I mine own gained knowledge should profane
如果我愿意花时间和这样的狙击手在一起
If I would time expend with such a snipeffff
只是为了我的乐趣和利益。我恨摩尔人;
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor;
370在我的床单之间,
370And it is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets
他已经完成了我的工作。我不知道这是不是真的;
He’s done my office. I know not if’t be true;
但我,仅仅因为这种怀疑,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
一定会的。他抱得很好;gggg
Will do as if for surety. He holds me well;gggg
我的目的对他来说会更好地实现。
The better shall my purpose work on him.
375凯西奥是个正直的人。让我看看:
375Cassio’s a proper man. Let me see now:
得到他的位置,并提升我的意志
To get his place, and to plume uphhhh my will
双重骗局——怎么办?怎么办?——让我们看看:——
In double knavery — How, how? — Let’s see: —
过了一段时间,为了侮辱奥赛罗的耳朵
After some time, to abuse Othello’s ears
他跟他老婆太亲密了。
That he is too familiar with his wife.
380他有一个人和一个顺利的处置
380He hath a person and a smooth disposeiiii
被怀疑——陷害女人,使她们蒙骗。
To be suspected — framed to make women false.
摩尔人具有自由和开放的性格
The Moor is of a freejjjj and open nature
自以为诚实的人其实表面看来如此;
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so;
并温柔地被牵着鼻子走
And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose
385就像驴子一样。
385As asses are.
我没有!它已经产生了!地狱和黑夜
I have’t! It is engend’red! Hell and night
必须让这个怪物的诞生暴露在世人的面前。
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.
出口。
Exit.
a 1. 组成:一致性。
a1. composition: Consistency.
b 5.跳转:同意。
b5. jump: Agree.
c 6. 目标:猜想。
c6. aim: Conjecture.
d 10. 如此安全:给予我这样的安慰。
d10. so secure me: Take such comfort.
e 11. 物品:物质;
e11. article: Substance;
f批准:接受。
fapprove: Accept.
g 18.测定:试验。
g18. assay: Test.
h 19. 虚假的目光:看向错误的方向。
h19. in false gaze: Looking the wrong way.
i 23. 有了…熊:就更容易捕获。
i23. with … bear: More easily capture.
j 24. 支撑:防御姿势。
j24. brace: Posture of defense.
k 30. 唤醒和工资:唤醒和风险。
k30. wake and wage: Rouse and risk.
l 37. restem:再次转向。
l37. restem: Steer again.
m 44.马库斯·卢奇科斯: (大概是威尼斯使者)。
m44. Marcus Luccicos: (Presumably a Venetian envoy).
n 56. 闸门:洪流。
n56. floodgate: Torrential.
o 57. engluts:吞噬。
o57. engluts: Devours.
p 63. 缺陷:智力低下。
p63. deficient: Feeble-minded.
q 68. 我们的专有:我自己的。
q68. our proper: My own.
r 69. 站在你的行动一边:被你指责。
r69. Stood in your action: Were accused by you.
s 77. 已批准:经过经验检验。
s77. approved: Tested by experience.
t 81. 粗鲁:未经修饰。
t81. Rude: Unpolished.
u 83.髓:力量。
u83. pith: Strength.
v 90.圆形:平原。
v90. round: Plain.
w 95–6. 她的动作使她脸红:她自己的情绪使她脸红。
w95–6. her motion Blushed: Her own emotions caused her to blush.
x 102. 实践:情节。
x102. practices: Plots.
y 103. 证实:断言。
y103. vouch: Assert.
z 104. 血:激情。
z104. blood: Passions.
aa 108. 习气淡薄:外表微小。
aa108. thin habits: Slight appearances.
bb 109. 现代外观:日常假设。
bb109. modern seeming: Everyday supposition.
cc 111.强迫:暴力。
cc111. forcèd: Violent.
dd 113. 问题:对话。
dd113. question: Conversation.
ee 129.依然:持续不断地。
ee129. Still: Continually.
ff 139. portance:行为。
ff139. portance: Behavior.
gg 140. 蚁群:洞穴。
gg140. anters: Caves.
hh 142.提示:场合。
hh142. hint: Occasion.
ii 144. Anthropophagi:食人动物。
ii144. Anthropophagi: Man-eaters.
jj 151. 柔顺:吉祥。
jj151. pliant: Propitious.
kk 153.扩大:全面复述。
kk153. dilate: Recount in full.
ll 154. 包裹:部分。
ll154. parcels: Portions.
155.专心致志:全神贯注。
mm155. intentively: With full attention.
nn 166.提示:机会。
nn166. hint: Opportunity.
oo 182. 教育:成长。
oo182. education: Upbringing.
第 188页。挑战:主张权利。
pp188. challenge: Claim the right.
qq 191.得:生出。
qq191. get: Beget.
rr 195. 为了你:因为你。
rr195. For your sake: Because of you.
ss 197. 逃脱:逃亡。
ss197. escape: Escapade.
tt 199. 像你自己一样:正如你应有的那样;
tt199. like yourself: As you should;
uu句子:马克西姆。
uusentence: Maxim.
vv 200. 灰色:步骤。
vv200. grise: Step.
ww 222. 坚韧:防御。
ww222. fortitude: Fortification.
xx 223. 允许:已确认;
xx223. allowed: Acknowledged;
yy舆论:舆论。
yyopinion: Public opinion.
zz 225. slubber:沙利。
zz225. slubber: Sully.
aaa 229–31. agnize ... 艰难:认识到自己对困难的自然而轻松的反应。
aaa229–31. agnize … hardness: Recognize in myself a natural and easy response to hardship.
bbb 235. 展览:金钱津贴。
bbb235. exhibition: Allowance of money.
ccc 236. besort:合适的公司。
ccc236. besort: Suitable company.
ddd 237. 级别:对应。
ddd237. levels: Corresponds.
eee 242. 兴旺:有利。
eee242. prosperous: Favorable.
fff 244. 简单:缺乏技巧。
fff244. simpleness: Lack of skill.
ggg 261. 热:激情;
ggg261. heat: Passions;
hhh年轻的影响:年轻人的倾向。
hhhyoung affects: Tendencies of youth.
iii 267. seel:盲人。
iii267. seel: Blind.
jjj 268. 我的......工具:我的感知能力和负责任的能力。
jjj268. My … instruments: My perceptive and responsible faculties.
kkk 269.那:所以那。
kkk269. That: So that.
lll 271. 愤慨:不值得。
lll271. indign: Unworthy.
mmm 272. 估计:声誉。
mmm272. estimation: Reputation.
nnn 282. 进口:关注。
nnn282. import: Concern.
ooo 288. 高兴:令人愉快。
ooo288. delighted: Delightful.
ppp 296. 以最佳优势:利用最佳机会。
ppp296. in the best advantage: At the best opportunity.
qqq 304. 不禁地:立刻。
qqq304. incontinently: Forthwith.
rrr 319. 性别:物种。
rrr319. gender: Species.
sss 320–21. 可纠正的权力:纠正权力。
sss320–21. corrigible authority: Corrective power.
ttt 322. 平衡:平衡;
ttt322. poise: Counterbalance;
uuu 323.血腥与卑鄙:动物的本能。
uuu323. blood and baseness: Animal instincts.
vvv 324. 动作:食欲。
vvv324. motions: Appetites.
www 325. unbitted:不受控制。
www325. unbitted: Uncontrolled.
xxx 325–26. 节或接穗:分支,切割。
xxx325–26. sect or scion: Offshoot, cutting.
yyy 332. 打败你的恩惠:破坏你的外表。
yyy332. defeat thy favor: Spoil thy appearance.
zzz 336. 扣押:疏远。
zzz336. sequestration: Estrangement.
aaaa 339. coloquintida:一种药物。
aaaa339. coloquintida: A medicine.
bbbb 343. 使:提高。
bbbb343. Make: Raise.
cccc 344. 犯错:徘徊。
cccc344. erring: Wandering.
dddd 351. 我的事业全心全意:我的心在其中。
dddd351. My cause is hearted: My heart is in it.
eeee 355. 横移:向前行进。
eeee355. Traverse: Forward march.
ffff 368. snipe:傻瓜。
ffff368. snipe: Fool.
gggg 373. 好:高度尊重。
gggg373. well: In high regard.
hhhh 376. plume up:欣慰。
hhhh376. plume up: Gratify.
iiii 380. 处置:方式。
iiii380. dispose: Manner.
jjjj 382.免费:弗兰克。
jjjj382. free: Frank.
塞浦路斯一处空旷的地方,靠近港口。
An open place in Cyprus, near the harbor.
蒙塔诺和两位绅士请进。
Enter Montano and two Gentlemen.
蒙塔诺:从海角你能看见海上什么?
Montano: What from the cape can you discern at sea?
1. 绅士:没什么,只是一场猛烈的洪水。
1. Gentleman: Nothing at all: it is a high-wrought flood.
我不能在天堂和大海之间
I cannot ’twixt the heaven and the main
描述一张帆。
Descry a sail.
5蒙塔诺:我想风已经在陆地上高声说话了;
5Montano: Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land;
更猛烈的爆炸也未能撼动我们的城垛。
A fuller blast ne’er shook our battlements.
如果它在海上肆虐,
If it hath ruffianed so upon the sea,
当群山融化时,橡树的肋骨又会变成什么样子,
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
能容纳榫眼吗?我们会听到什么消息?
Can hold the mortise?a What shall we hear of this?
102. 先生:土耳其舰队的隔离区b 。
102. Gentleman: A segregationb of the Turkish fleet.
只要站在泡沫翻腾的海岸上,
For do but stand upon the foaming shore,
巨浪滚滚,仿佛要冲垮云层;
The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds;
风摇的巨浪,高耸而巨大,
The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane,
似乎在燃烧的熊身上泼水
Seems to cast water on the burning Bear
15And quench the Guardsc of th’ ever-fixèd pole.d
我从来都不喜欢骚扰e观点
I never did like molestatione view
在 echafèd 洪水上。
On the enchafèd flood.
蒙塔诺:如果土耳其舰队
Montano: If that the Turkish fleet
如果没有庇护和海湾,他们就会被淹死;
Be not ensheltered and embayed, they are drowned;
这是不可能实现的。
It is impossible to bear it out.
第三位绅士上。
Enter a third Gentleman.
203. 绅士:好消息,伙计们!我们的战争结束了。
203. Gentleman: News, lads! Our wars are done.
暴风雨袭击了土耳其人,
The desperate tempest hath so banged the Turks
他们的计划停止了。f威尼斯的一艘高贵的船
That their designment halts.f A noble ship of Venice
见过惨痛的惨剧和痛苦
Hath seen a grievous wrack and sufferanceg
在其大部分舰队上。
On most part of their fleet.
蒙塔诺:怎么会这样?这是真的吗?
Montano: How? Is this true?
二十五3. 先生:船已经靠岸了,
253. Gentleman: The ship is here put in,
A 维罗内萨;h迈克尔·卡西奥,
A Veronesa;h Michael Cassio,
好战的摩尔人奥赛罗的副官,
Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello,
已经上岸,而摩尔人自己却在海上,
Is come on shore; the Moor himself at sea,
并全权负责塞浦路斯事务。
And is in full commission here for Cyprus.
三十蒙塔诺:我很高兴。他是一位值得尊敬的州长。
30Montano: I am glad on’t. ’Tis a worthy governor.
3. 绅士:但是这位凯西奥,虽然他说的是安慰,
3. Gentleman: But this same Cassio, though he speak of comfort
触及土耳其队的失利,但他看起来悲伤
Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly
祈求摩尔人平安,因为他们已经分开了
And prays the Moor be safe, for they were parted
伴随着恶臭和猛烈的风暴。
With foul and violent tempest.
蒙塔诺:愿上天保佑他,
Montano: Pray heaven he be,
三十五因为我服事了他,而那人却命令我
35For I have served him, and the man commands
像个全副武装的士兵。我们去海边吧,哈!
Like a full soldier. Let’s to the seaside, ho!
以及看到进来的船只
As well to see the vessel that’s come in
就像为了勇敢的奥赛罗而弄瞎我们的眼睛,
As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello,
即使我们把主天线和天线都弄成蓝色
Even till we make the main and th’ aerial blue
40模糊的目光。i
40An indistinct regard.i
3. 绅士:来吧,我们就这么做吧;
3. Gentleman: Come, let’s do so;
每一分钟都是期待
For every minute is expectancy
更多到达。
Of more arrivance.
输入卡西奥。
Enter Cassio.
卡西奥:谢谢你,这座好战岛屿上的勇士,
Cassio: Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle,
摩尔人如此赞同!哦,愿上天
That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavens
四十五给他防御元素,
45Give him defense against the elements,
因为我在一片危险的海上失去了他!
For I have lost him on a dangerous sea!
蒙塔诺:他的装备齐全吗?
Montano: Is he well shipped?
C assio:他的树皮是坚固的木材,他的领航员
Cassio: His bark is stoutly timbered, and his pilot
非常专业并得到认可;
Of very expert and approved allowance;
50因此我的希望,没有过量到死亡,
50Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,j
勇敢地站起来治愈。k
Stand in bold cure.k
(在里面。)一张帆,一张帆,一张帆!
(Within.) A sail, a sail, a sail!
输入一个信使。
Enter a messenger.
C assio:什么声音?
Cassio: What noise?
信使:小镇空无一人;在海岬上
Messenger: The town is empty; on the brow o’ th’ sea
人们站成一排,喊着“扬帆!”
Stand ranks of people, and they cry “A sail!”
55卡西奥:我确实希望他能当上州长。
55Cassio: My hopes do shape him for the governor.
一枪。
A shot.
2. 绅士:他们确实礼貌地表示:
2. Gentleman: They do discharge their shot of courtesy:
至少是我们的朋友。
Our friends at least.
卡西奥:先生,请你走吧
Cassio: I pray you sir, go forth
告诉我们那位到来的究竟是谁。
And give us truth who ’tis that is arrived.
2. 绅士:我会的。
2. Gentleman: I shall.
出口。
Exit.
60蒙塔诺:可是,好中尉,你的将军结婚了吗?
60Montano: But, good lieutenant, is your general wived?
卡西奥:非常幸运。他已经找到了一个女仆
Cassio: Most fortunately. He hath achieved a maid
那是描述和狂野名声的典范;
That paragonsl description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirksm of blazoningn pens,
在创造的本质外衣中
And in th’ essential vesture of creation
发动机是否疲劳。o
Does tire the ingener.o
请第二绅士进入。
Enter Second Gentleman.
65现在怎么样了?谁投了?
65How now? Who has put in?
2. 先生:他是伊阿古,比将军年长。
2. Gentleman: ’Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.
C assio:他的一生非常幸福快乐。
Cassio: H’as had most favorable and happy speed:
暴风雨、大海和咆哮的狂风,
Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
沟壑纵横的岩石和聚集的沙子,
The gutteredp rocks and congregated sands,
70叛徒们潜入q处堵塞无辜的龙骨,
70Traitors ensteepedq to clog the guiltless keel,
因为有美感,所以省略
As having sense of beauty, do omit
他们的凡人本性,安全地放手
Their mortalr natures, letting go safely by
神圣的苔丝狄蒙娜。
The divine Desdemona.
蒙塔诺:她是谁?
Montano: What is she?
卡西奥:我说过她,我们伟大的船长的船长,
Cassio: She that I spake of, our great captain’s captain,
75按照勇敢的伊阿古的指示,
75Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
它的立足点预示着我们的思想
Whose footings here anticipates our thoughts
七夜的速度。伟大的朱庇特,奥赛罗的守护者,
A se’nnight’st speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
用你强大的气息使他的船帆鼓起,
And swell his sail with thine own pow’rful breath,
他会用他的大船祝福这个海湾,
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
80让爱在苔丝狄蒙娜怀里迅速爆发,
80Make love’s quick pants in Desdemona’s arms,
给我们已消亡的灵魂注入新的火焰,
Give renewed fire to our extincted spirits,
[给整个塞浦路斯带来安慰!]
[And bring all Cyprus comfort!]
苔丝狄蒙娜、伊阿古、罗德里戈及爱米莉亚(及其随从)上。
Enter Desdemona, Iago, Roderigo, and Emilia [with Attendants].
哦,看哪!
O, behold!
船上的财富已经抵达岸上!
The riches of the ship is come on shore!
塞浦路斯的人们,你们要向她屈服。u
You men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.u
85向你致敬,夫人!愿上天赐予你恩典,
85Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
在你前,在你后,在你四面八方,
Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
旋转吧!
Enwheel thee round!
黛斯狄蒙娜:谢谢你,勇敢的卡西奥。
Desdemona: I thank you, valiant Cassio.
您能告诉我有关我主的什么消息?
What tidings can you tell me of my lord?
卡西奥:他还没有到,我也不知道
Cassio: He is not yet arrived; nor know I aught
90但他很好,很快就会回来。
90But that he’s well and will be shortly here.
德斯狄蒙娜:哦,我害怕!你怎么失去了同伴?
Desdemona: O but I fear! How lost you company?
卡西奥:海洋与天空的大争夺
Cassio: The great contention of the sea and skies
分开了我们的团契。
Parted our fellowship.
(在里面。)帆,帆![一声枪响。]
(Within.) A sail, a sail! [A shot.]
听,有帆!
But hark. A sail!
2. 绅士:他们向城堡致以问候;
2. Gentleman: They give their greeting to the citadel;
这同样是一个朋友。
This likewise is a friend.
95C assio:请参阅新闻。
95Cassio: See for the news.
[先生下。]
[Exit Gentleman.]
好古,不用客气。
Good ancient, you are welcome.
[对艾米莉亚说]欢迎,女主人。——
[To Emilia.] Welcome, mistress. —
别让它磨灭你的耐心,好伊阿古,
Let it not gall your patience, good Iago,
我扩展了我的礼貌。这是我的教养
That I extend my manners. ’Tis my breeding
这让我显得更有礼貌。
That gives me this bold show of courtesy.
[亲吻艾米莉亚。v ]
[Kisses Emilia.v]
100我问:先生,她会给你这么多的嘴唇吗?
100Iago: Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
她常常用舌头向我传授,
As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
你就有足够的了。
You would have enough.
苔丝狄蒙娜:唉,她不会说话!
Desdemona: Alas, she has no speech!
我以前:信仰,太多了。
Iago: In faith, too much.
当我有睡觉清单时,我发现它仍然存在。
I find it still when I have list to sleep.
105在您面前,我同意您结婚,
105Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,
她把舌头伸进心里
She puts her tongue a little in her heart
并以思考来责备。
And chides with thinking.
E milia:你没有理由这么说。
Emilia: You have little cause to say so.
我问:来吧,来吧!你们在户外拍照,
Iago: Come on, come on! You are pictures out of doors,
110客厅里的铃铛、厨房里的野猫,
110Bells in your parlors, wildcats in your kitchens,
圣人受伤,魔鬼受冒犯,
Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,
苔丝狄蒙娜:哦,你这个诽谤者!
Desdemona: O, fie upon thee, slanderer!
我说:不,这是真的,否则我就是一个土耳其人。
Iago: Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk:
115起床玩耍,睡觉工作。
115You rise to play, and go to bed to work.
艾米莉亚:你不可以写赞美我的文字。
Emilia: You shall not write my praise.
我道:不,我不要。
Iago: No, let me not.
苔丝狄蒙娜:如果你赞扬我,你会怎样写我呢?
Desdemona: What wouldst thou write of me, if thou shouldst praise me?
我说:哦,温柔的女士,不要让我这样做,
Iago: O gentle lady, do not put me to’t,
因为我如果不批判的话就什么都不是。
For I am nothing if not critical.
120苔丝狄蒙娜:来吧,分析员。y——有一个去港口了?
120Desdemona: Come on, assay.y — There’s one gone to the harbor?
我说:是的,夫人。
Iago: Ay, madam.
德斯狄蒙娜:我并不快乐,但我却很迷人
Desdemona: I am not merry; but I do beguile
我是通过外表来体现我本来面目的。——
The thing I am by seeming otherwise. —
来吧,你会怎样赞美我?
Come, how wouldst thou praise me?
125我以前:我就是这样的;但事实上我的发明
125Iago: I am about it; but indeed my invention
Comes from my pate as birdlimez does from friezeaa —
它拔出脑子和所有东西。但我的缪斯在劳作,
It plucks out brains and all. But my Muse labors,
她就这样被拯救了:
And thus she is delivered:
如果她美丽而聪明,公正而机智——
If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit —
130一个是用来使用的,另一个是用来利用的。
130The one’s for use, the other useth it.
德斯德蒙娜:夸得好!要是她是个黑人,而且很机智呢?
Desdemona: Well praised! How if she be blackbb and witty?
我说过:如果她是黑人,而且有智慧,
Iago: If she be black, and thereto have a wit,
她会找到一种与她的黑色相配的白色。
She’ll find a white that shall her blackness fit.
德斯狄蒙娜:越来越糟糕了!
Desdemona: Worse and worse!
135E milia:如果公平又愚蠢呢?
135Emilia: How if fair and foolish?
我说过:她从来就不傻,她很美,
Iago: She never yet was foolish that was fair,
德斯德蒙娜:这些都是古老的、有趣的悖论,用来逗傻子笑。
Desdemona: These are old fonddd paradoxes to make fools laugh i’ th’
酒馆。你对她有什么可怜的赞美,那是肮脏的,
alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for her that’s foulee and
140愚蠢?
140foolish?
我说:没有人比他更卑鄙、更愚蠢,
Iago: There’s none so foul, and foolish thereunto,
但公正而明智的人却会做出恶作剧。
But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do.
德斯德蒙娜:啊,无知的深渊!你把最坏的东西赞美得最好。但你能给一个真正值得赞美的女人什么呢——一个145在她的功绩权威中,是否公正地获得了恶意本身的担保?
Desdemona: O heavy ignorance! Thou praisest the worst best. But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed — one that 145in the authority of her merit did justly put on the vouchff of very malice itself?
我知道:她永远美丽,从不骄傲;
Iago: She that was ever fair, and never proud;
能随心所欲地说话,却从不大声叫喊;
Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud;
从不缺少黄金,却从不快乐;
Never lacked gold, and yet went never gay;
150逃避她的愿望,却说“现在我可以了”;
150Fled from her wish, and yet said “Now I may”;
她怒不可遏,她的复仇已经临近,
She that, being ang’red, her revenge being nigh,
错误地逗留,使她不悦;
Bade her wrong stay, and her displeasure fly;
她的智慧从未如此脆弱
She that in wisdom never was so frail
把鳕鱼头换成鲑鱼尾;gg
To change the cod’s head for the salmon’s tail;gg
155她能思考,却从不透露自己的想法;
155She that could think, and ne’er disclose her mind;
看到追求者跟在后面,不要回头:
See suitors following, and not look behind:
她是一个尸鬼(如果真的有这样的尸鬼的话)——
She was a wight (if ever such wight were) —
苔丝狄蒙娜:做什么?
Desdemona: To do what?
我以前:吮吸愚人并记录小啤酒。hh
Iago: To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.hh
160德斯狄蒙娜:啊,最无力、最无能的结论!埃米莉亚,别跟他学,即使他是你的丈夫。你怎么说,凯西奥?他难道不是最亵渎、最自由的顾问吗?
160Desdemona: O most lame and impotent conclusion! Do not learn of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband. How say you, Cassio? Is he not a most profane and liberalii counsellor?
卡西奥:他说话很得体,夫人。您可能更喜欢他当兵而不是当学者。
Cassio: He speaks home,jj madam. You may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar.
165伊阿古(旁白):他抓住她的手掌。哎,说得好,悄悄话!用这么小的网,我就能把像凯西奥一样大的苍蝇诱捕到。哎,对她微笑吧!我会给你自己的求爱。kk——你说得对;确实如此!——如果这些花招让你失去了副官的职位,你最好不要经常亲吻你的三根手指——现在你又最容易玩弄这个把戏了。很好!吻得很好!非常有礼貌!确实如此。再一次
165Iago [aside]: He takes her by the palm. Ay, well said, whisper! With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do! I will gyve thee in thine own courtship.kk — You say true; ’tis so, indeed! — If such tricks as these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had been better you had not kissed your three fingers so oft — which now again you are most apt to play the sirll in. Very good! well kissed! an excellent courtesy! ’Tis so, indeed. Yet again
170你的手指放在嘴唇上?它们会成为灌肠管吗?——为了你!
170your fingers to your lips? Would they were clyster pipesmm for your sake!
(内部有喇叭声。)
(Trumpet within.)
摩尔人!我熟悉他的号角。
The Moor! I know his trumpet.
175卡西奥:确实如此。
175Cassio: ’Tis truly so.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我们去见他并且接待他吧。
Desdemona: Let’s meet him and receive him.
卡西奥:瞧,他来了。
Cassio: Lo, where he comes.
奥赛罗与随从上。
Enter Othello and Attendants.
哦,你好:哦,我美丽的战士!
Othello: O my fair warrior!
苔丝狄蒙娜:我亲爱的奥赛罗!
Desdemona: My dear Othello!
哦,你好:它让我感到惊奇,就像我的内容一样
Othello: It gives me wonder great as my content
180见到你出现在我面前。我的灵魂多么快乐!
180To see you here before me. O my soul’s joy!
如果每次暴风雨过后都会如此平静,
If after every tempest come such calms,
愿风一直吹拂,直至唤醒死亡!
May the winds blow till they have wakened death!
让辛勤的树干爬上海洋的山丘
And let the laboring bark climb hills of seas
奥林匹斯山高,然后再次低头
Olympus-high, and duck again as low
185地狱与天堂的区别!如果现在要死,
185As hell’s from heaven! If it were now to die,
现在是最幸福的,因为我担心
’Twere now to be most happy;nn for I fear
我的灵魂有如此绝对的满足
My soul hath her content so absolute
没有另一种安慰能像这样
That not another comfort like to this
成功于未知的命运。
Succeeds in unknown fate.
苔丝狄蒙娜:天晓得
Desdemona: The heavens forbid
190但愿我们的爱和安慰能增加
190But that our loves and comforts should increase
即使我们的日子在不断延长。
Even as our days do grow.
哦,你好:阿门,甜蜜的力量!
Othello: Amen to that, sweet powers!
我对这个内容说不够;
I cannot speak enough of this content;
它让我停在这里;这实在是太快乐了。
It stops me here; it is too much of joy.
这,这,最大的分歧是
And this, and this, the greatest discords be
他们接吻。
They kiss.
我们的心将永远如此!
That e’er our hearts shall make!
195我以前[旁白]:哦,你现在很调适!
195Iago [aside]: O, you are well tuned now!
奥赛罗:来吧,我们去城堡吧。
Othello: Come, let us to the castle.
好消息,朋友们!我们的战争结束了;土耳其人被淹没了。
News, friends! Our wars are done; the Turks are drowned.
我这个岛上的老相识怎样了?——
How does my old acquaintance of this isle? —
200亲爱的,塞浦路斯一定会很欢迎你的;
200Honey, you shall be well desiredpp in Cyprus;
我在他们中间找到了伟大的爱。哦,我的爱人,
I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
我喋喋不休,我溺爱
I prattle out of fashion, and I dote
在我自己的舒适中。我恳求你,善良的伊阿古,
In mine own comforts. I prithee, good Iago,
去海湾,卸下我的金库。
Go to the bay and disembark my coffers.
205把主人qq带到城堡;
205Bring thou the masterqq to the citadel;
他是个好人,他的价值
He is a good one, and his worthiness
挑战rr很尊重。——来吧,苔丝狄蒙娜,
Does challengerr much respect. — Come, Desdemona,
在塞浦路斯再次见到了面。
Once more well met at Cyprus.
奥赛罗退场 [除伊阿古和罗德里戈外,其他人均退场]。
Exit Othello [with all but Iago and Roderigo].
210我前去[对一位外出的随从]:请你现在在港口等我。[ 对罗德里戈说。]过来。如果你很勇敢(正如人们所说,下流的人陷入爱情后,天性中就会比他们天生的高贵得多),请让我加入。今晚,中尉在卫兵院里值班。首先,我必须告诉你:苔丝狄蒙娜爱上了他。
210Iago [to an Attendant, who goes out]: Do thou meet me presently at the harbor. [To Roderigo.] Come hither. If thou be’st valiant (as they say base men being in love have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them), list me. The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard.ss First, I must tell thee this: Desdemona is directly in love with him.
215罗德里格:和他?怎么,不可能。
215Roderigo: With him? Why, ’tis not possible.
我说过:这样说吧,让你的灵魂受到教导。记住,她最初爱摩尔人时有多么狂热,除了吹牛和讲荒诞的谎言;她还会因为他的喋喋不休而爱他吗?你谨慎的心不要这么想。她的眼睛必须得到满足;她会得到什么样的快乐?220她必须面对魔鬼吗?当血液因运动而变得迟钝时,应该再次点燃它,并给饱足带来新的食欲,可爱的恩惠,年老的同情,礼貌和美貌;所有这些都是摩尔人所缺乏的。现在由于缺乏这些必需的便利,她细腻的温柔会发现自己225被虐待,开始呕吐,厌恶和憎恨摩尔人。自然会教她这一点,迫使她做出第二种选择。现在,先生,这是理所当然的——因为这是最有意义的、最不强迫的立场——谁能像卡西奥那样在这个命运中如此杰出?一个非常健谈的流氓;没有比在230仅仅表现出文明和人道的形式似乎是为了更好地包容他的盐zz和最隐蔽的放荡感情?为什么,没有!为什么,没有!一个狡猾的流氓;一个善于发现机会的人;他有一双眼睛,可以伪造和利用优势,尽管真正的优势永远不会出现;一个邪恶的流氓!此外,这个流氓是235英俊、年轻,具备愚蠢和幼稚的人所追求的一切条件。一个令人厌恶的十足的流氓!而那个女人已经发现了他。
Iago: Lay thy finger thus,tt and let thy soul be instructed. Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor, but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies; and will she love him still for prating? Let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed; and what delight shall 220she have to look on the devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should be, again to inflame it and to give satiety a fresh appetite, loveliness in favor, sympathy in years, manners, and beauties; all which the Moor is defective in. Now for want of these required conveniences,uu her delicate tenderness will find itself 225abused, begin to heave the gorge,vv disrelish and abhor the Moor. Very nature will instruct her in it and compel her to some second choice. Now, sir, this granted — as it is a most pregnantww and unforced position — who stands so eminent in the degree of this fortune as Cassio does? A knave very voluble; no further conscionablexx than in 230putting on the mere form of civil and humaneyy seeming for the better compassing of his saltzz and most hidden loose affection? Why, none! why, none! A slipperaaa and subtle knave; a finder-out of occasions; that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never present itself; a devilish knave! Besides, the knave is 235handsome, young, and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after. A pestilent complete knave! and the woman hath found him already.
Roderigo :我无法相信她有这样的品质;她拥有最幸福的条件。
Roderigo: I cannot believe that in her; she’s full of most blessed condition.bbb
240我以前说过:天哪,她喝的酒是葡萄酿的。如果她有福了,她就不会爱上摩尔人了。天哪,布丁!你没看到她用手掌划桨吗?你没注意到吗?
240Iago: Blessed fig’s-end! The wine she drinks is made of grapes. If she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? Didst not mark that?
罗德里戈:是的,我确实这么做了;但那只是礼貌而已。
Roderigo: Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
245我以前:淫荡,凭这只手!欲望和肮脏思想历史的索引和晦涩的序言。他们的嘴唇如此接近,以至于他们的呼吸都拥抱在一起。邪恶的想法,罗德里戈!当这些相互关系如此引导时,主宰和主要练习就近在咫尺,即包含ddd 的结论。呸!但是,先生,你被统治了250在我身边:我把你从威尼斯带回来了。今晚小心点,我会给你下达命令。凯西奥不认识你。我不会离你太远的:你有没有机会激怒凯西奥,要么说话太大声,要么玷污他的纪律,要么按照你喜欢的其他方式,时间会更有利。
245Iago: Lechery, by this hand! an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met so near with their lips that their breaths embraced together. Villainous thoughts, Roderigo! When these mutualitiesccc so marshal the way, hard at hand comes the master and main exercise, th’ incorporateddd conclusion. Pish! But, sir, be you ruled 250by me: I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; for the command, I’ll lay’t upon you. Cassio knows you not. I’ll not be far from you: do you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or taintingeee his discipline, or from what other course you please which the time shall more favorably minister.
255罗德里戈:好吧。
255Roderigo: Well.
我说过:先生,他鲁莽且脾气暴躁,也许会用警棍打你。激怒他,他可能会这样做;因为即使这样,我也会让塞浦路斯人叛变;他的资格再也不会有真正的意义,除非通过植入260凯西奥 这样,你就能用我为你选择的方法,更快地实现你的愿望;而且,障碍也得到了最有效的消除,没有它,我们的幸福就无从谈起。
Iago: Sir, he’s rash and very sudden in choler,fff and haply with his truncheon may strike at you. Provoke him that he may; for even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny; whose qualificationggg shall come into no true tastehhh again but by the displanting of 260Cassio. So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by the means I shall then have to preferiii them; and the impediment most profitably removed without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity.
Roderigo :只要你能够给我带来任何机会,我就会这么做。
Roderigo: I will do this if you can bring it to any opportunity.
我保证。一会儿在城堡见我;我必须去取他的遗物
Iago: I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel; I must fetch his neces
265上岸吧。再见。
265saries ashore. Farewell.
罗德里戈:再见。
Roderigo: Adieu.
出口。
Exit.
我知道,卡西奥爱她,这一点我深信不疑。
Iago: That Cassio loves her, I do well believe’t;
她爱他,这是恰当的,而且值得称赞。
That she loves him, ’tis aptjjj and of great credit.
270摩尔人,尽管我不能容忍他,
270The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
具有恒久、仁爱、高尚的天性,
Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
我敢说他会向苔丝狄蒙娜证明
And I dare think he’ll prove to Desdemona
最亲爱的丈夫。现在我也爱她;
A most dear husband. Now I do love her too;
并非出于绝对的欲望,尽管
Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure
275我承认自己犯了大罪,
275I stand accountantkkk for as great a sin,
但部分导致了我的复仇,
But partly led to dietlll my revenge,
我确实怀疑这个精力充沛的摩尔人
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
跳进我的座位,想到
Hath leaped into my seat; the thought whereof
就像有毒的矿物,侵蚀着我的内心;
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards;
280没有什么能够或将满足我的灵魂
280And nothing can or shall content my soul
直到我和他以妻换妻,算账;
Till I am evened with him, wife for wife;
或者如果做不到这一点,我却把摩尔人
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
至少嫉妒得如此强烈
At least into a jealousy so strong
那种判断无法治愈。该怎么办呢?
That judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do,
285如果这个可怜的威尼斯垃圾,我把它当作垃圾,嗯
285If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trashmmm
Fornnn his quick hunting, stand the putting on,ooo
我会让我们的迈克尔·卡西奥跟上,ppp
I’ll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,ppp
辱骂他,把他当成摩尔人,穿着贵族服装qqq
Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garbqqq
(因为我也害怕卡西奥戴上睡帽),
(For I fear Cassio with my nightcap too),
290让摩尔人感谢我、爱我、奖赏我
290Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me
因为他把他变成了一个十足的混蛋
For making him egregiously an ass
在他的平静和安宁中练习
And practicing uponrrr his peace and quiet
甚至疯狂。它在这里,却又困惑:
Even to madness. ’Tis here, but yet confused:
克纳弗里的朴素面孔只有在使用时才会被看到。
Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used.
出口。
Exit.
9.固定榫眼:将榫眼接头固定在一起。
a9. hold the mortise: Hold their joints together.
b 10.偏析:散射。
b10. segregation: Scattering.
c 15. 守卫:北极星附近的星星;
c15. Guards: Stars near the North Star;
d极: Polestar。
dpole: Polestar.
e 16. 骚扰:骚乱。
e16. molestation: Tumult.
f 22. 设计停止:计划失败。
f22. designment halts: Plan is crippled.
g 23. 忍受:灾难。
g23. sufferance: Disaster.
h 26.Veronesa:由维罗纳提供的船。
h26. Veronesa: Ship furnished by Verona.
i 40. 难以辨别的看法:难以区分。
i40. An indistinct regard: Indistinguishable.
j 50. 过量而死:过度放纵。
j50. surfeited to death: Overindulged.
k 51. 粗体治愈:实现梦想的好机会。
k51. in bold cure: A good chance of fulfillment.
l 62. paragons:超越。
l62. paragons: Surpasses.
m 63. 怪癖:独创性;
m63. quirks: Ingenuities;
n blazoning:描述。
nblazoning: Describing.
o 64–5. 而且… ingener:仅仅描述她是上帝所造,就已耗尽了她的赞美之词。
o64–5. And … ingener: Merely to describe her as God made her exhausts her praiser.
p 69. guttered:锯齿状。
p69. guttered: Jagged.
q 70. 浸泡:淹没。
q70. ensteeped: Submerged.
r 72. 凡人:致命的。
r72. mortal: Deadly.
s 76. 立足点:着陆。
s76. footing: Landing.
t 77. se'nnight's:一周的。
t77. se’nnight’s: Week’s.
u 84. knees:即跪下。
u84. knees: i.e., kneeling.
v亲吻艾米莉亚:(亲吻是伊丽莎白时代常见的社交礼节)。
vKisses Emilia: (Kissing was a common Elizabethan form of social courtesy).
w 112. 家务:家务;
w112. housewifery: Housekeeping;
x家庭主妇:荡妇。
xhousewives: Hussies.
y 120. 测定:尝试。
y120. assay: Try.
z 126. 鸟胶:一种粘稠的糊状物;
z126. birdlime: A sticky paste;
aa饰带:粗糙的布料。
aafrieze: Rough cloth.
bb 131.黑色:深褐色。
bb131. black: Brunette.
cc 137. 愚蠢:放荡。
cc137. folly: Wantonness.
dd 138. fond:愚蠢。
dd138. fond: Foolish.
ee 139. 犯规:丑陋。
ee139. foul: Ugly.
ff 145. 施加保证:强制批准。
ff145. put on the vouch: Compel the approval.
gg 154. 以…尾:即以好东西换取贫贱而昂贵的东西。
gg154. To … tail:i.e., to exchange the good for the poor but expensive.
hh 159.记小账:记家庭小账。
hh159. chronicle small beer: Keep petty household accounts.
ii 162. 亵渎而自由:世俗而放荡。
ii162. profane and liberal: Worldly and licentious.
jj 163.家:直白地说。
jj163. home: Bluntly.
kk 167. gyve … 求爱:用你的宫廷礼仪束缚你。
kk167. gyve … courtship: Manacle you by means of your courtly manners.
ll 170. 先生:彬彬有礼的绅士。
ll170. sir: Courtly gentleman.
mm 172.灌肠管:注射器。
mm172. clyster pipes: Syringes.
nn 186. happy:幸运。
nn186. happy: Fortunate.
oo 196. 放下:松开。
oo196. set down: Loosen.
第 200页。非常希望:热烈欢迎。
pp200. well desired: Warmly welcomed.
qq 205.船长:船长。
qq205. master: Ship captain.
rr 207.挑战:值得。
rr207. challenge: Deserve.
ss 212–13. 警卫院:总部。
ss212–13. court of guard: Headquarters.
tt 216. 因此:即在你的嘴唇上。
tt216. thus: i.e., on your lips.
uu 224. 便利性:兼容性。
uu224. conveniences: Compatibilities.
vv 225. 呕气:感到恶心。
vv225. heave the gorge: Be nauseated.
ww 227.怀孕:明显。
ww227. pregnant: Evident.
xx 229. 有责任心:有责任心。
xx229. conscionable: Conscientious.
yy 230. 人道:有礼貌。
yy230. humane: Polite.
zz 231.盐:好色。
zz231. salt: Lecherous.
aaa 232. 拖鞋:滑。
aaa232. slipper: Slippery.
bbb 239. 条件:字符。
bbb239. condition: Character.
ccc 248. 互惠:交换。
ccc248. mutualities: Exchanges.
ddd 249. 合并:肉体。
ddd249. incorporate: Carnal.
eee 253. 污染:抹黑。
eee253. tainting: Discrediting.
fff 256. 突然暴怒:愤怒时剧烈波动。
fff256. sudden in choler: Violent in anger.
ggg 258.资格:绥靖。
ggg258. qualification: Appeasement.
hhh 259.真实味道:满意的状态。
hhh259. true taste: Satisfactory state.
iii 261. 更喜欢:前进。
iii261. prefer: Advance.
jjj 269. apt:很可能。
jjj269. apt: Probable.
kkk 275. 会计师:负责。
kkk275. accountant: Accountable.
lll 276.饮食:饲料。
lll276. diet: Feed.
嗯285. 我扔掉:我减轻体重(以便保持控制)。
mmm285. I trash: I weight down (in order to keep under control).
nnn 286. 为了:为了发展;
nnn286. For: In order to develop;
ooo站起来:回应我的煽动。
ooostand the putting on: Responds to my inciting.
ppp 287. 在臀部:任我摆布。
ppp287. on the hip: At my mercy.
qqq 288. 粗鲁的举止:粗鲁的方式。
qqq288. rank garb: Gross manner.
292.密谋反对。
rrr292. practicing upon: Plotting against.
塞浦路斯的一条街道。
A street in Cyprus.
奥赛罗的使者带着宣告进入。
Enter Othello’s Herald, with a proclamation.
使者:我们高贵而勇敢的将军,奥赛罗很高兴,他听到一些消息,说土耳其舰队即将灭亡,每个人都欢呼雀跃;有人跳舞,有人点起篝火,每个人都随心所欲地玩各种游戏和狂欢。因为,除了这些好消息之外,还有他的婚礼庆典。5是他乐意宣布的。所有办公室都开放,从现在的五点到十一点钟声响起,可以自由地享用美食。愿上帝保佑塞浦路斯岛和我们高贵的将军奥赛罗!
Herald: It is Othello’s pleasure, our noble and valiant general, that, upon certain tidings now arrived, importing the mere perditiona of the Turkish fleet, every man put himself into triumph; some to dance, some to make bonfires, each man to what sport and revels his addiction leads him. For, besides these beneficial news, it is the celebration of his nuptial. So much 5was his pleasure should be proclaimed. All officesb are open, and there is full liberty of feasting from the present hour of five till the bell have told eleven. Heaven bless the isle of Cyprus and our noble general Othello!
出口。
Exit.
a 2. 纯粹的毁灭:彻底的毁灭。
a2. mere perdition: Complete destruction.
b 6. 办公室:厨房和储藏室。
b6. offices: Kitchens and storerooms.
塞浦路斯城堡。
The Cyprian Castle.
奥赛罗、苔丝狄蒙娜、凯西奥及随从上。
Enter Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, and Attendants.
哦,你好,迈克尔,今晚照顾你的安全。
Othello: Good Michael, look you to the guard to-night.
让我们学会光荣地停下来,
Let’s teach ourselves that honorable stop,
不要超越判断力。
Not to outsport discretion.
C assio:伊阿古知道该做什么;
Cassio: Iago hath direction what to do;
5但尽管如此,以我个人的眼光来看
5But not withstanding, with my personal eye
我会看看吗?
Will I look to’t.
哦瑟罗:伊阿古是最诚实的。
Othello: Iago is most honest.
迈克尔,晚安。明天你最早
Michael, good night. To-morrow with your earliest
让我和你演讲一下。
Let me have speech with you.
(对苔丝狄蒙娜说)来吧,我的爱人。
[To Desdemona.] Come, my dear love.
购买一旦完成,成果就会随之而来;
The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue;
10你我之间尚未实现这种利益。——
10That profit ’s yet to come ’tween me and you. —
晚安。
Good night.
退场(奥赛罗与苔丝狄蒙娜及其随从)。
Exit [Othello with Desdemona and Attendants].
输入伊阿古。
Enter Iago.
卡西奥:欢迎光临,伊阿古。我们要去值班了。
Cassio: Welcome, Iago. We must to the watch.
我回答说:现在还不到十点,中尉。我们的将军这么早就把我们交给了他,因为他爱他的苔丝狄蒙娜;因此,她不让我们15责备。他还没有和她共度一夜,而她只是朱庇特的玩物。
Iago: Not this hour, lieutenant; ’tis not yet ten o’ th’ clock. Our general casta us thus early for the love of his Desdemona; who let us not therefore 15blame. He hath not yet made wanton the night with her, and she is sport for Jove.
C assio:她是一位极其精致的女士。
Cassio: She’s a most exquisite lady.
我说过:而且,我向她保证,她充满了斗志。
Iago: And, I’ll warrant her, full of game.
卡西奥:确实,她是一个非常鲜活、娇嫩的生物。
Cassio: Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
20我听后想:她的眼睛真灵!我觉得这听起来像是在挑衅。
20Iago: What an eye she has! Methinks it sounds a parley to provocation.
卡西奥:一双迷人的眼睛;但我认为它还很谦虚。
Cassio: An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest.
我问:当她说话的时候,这难道不是爱情的警钟吗?
Iago: And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?
卡西奥:她的确很完美。
Cassio: She is indeed perfection.
我前:好吧,幸福到他们的床单!来吧,中尉,我有一个
Iago: Well, happiness to their sheets! Come, lieutenant, I have a stoupb of
二十五酒,而这里外面有一对塞浦路斯的勇士,他们很想
25wine, and here without are a brace of Cyprus gallants that would fain
对黑奥赛罗的健康状况进行测量。
have a measure to the health of black Othello.
卡西奥:今晚不行,好伊阿古。我的脑子不太好,不适合喝酒;我真希望礼貌能发明一些其他的娱乐方式。
Cassio: Not to-night, good Iago. I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking; I could well wish courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment.
三十我说道:哦,他们是我们的朋友。不过一杯吧!我替你喝。
30Iago: O, they are our friends. But one cup! I’ll drink for you.
凯西奥:今晚我只喝了一杯,而且还是经过精心调制的;瞧瞧它有什么新意。我身体虚弱,很不幸,不敢再让我的弱点承受任何压力了。
Cassio: I have drunk but one cup to-night, and that was craftily qualifiedc too; and behold what innovationd it makes here. I am unfortunate in the infirmity and dare not task my weakness with any more.
三十五我说:什么,老兄!这是个狂欢之夜,勇士们都渴望它。
35Iago: What, man! ’Tis a night of revels: the gallants desire it.
卡西奥:他们在哪儿?
Cassio: Where are they?
我问:在门口;我求你叫他们进来。
Iago: Here at the door; I pray you call them in.
卡西奥:我不会这么做,但是它不喜欢我。
Cassio: I’ll do’t, but it dislikes me.
出口。
Exit.
我说过:如果我能给他一杯酒
Iago: If I can fasten but one cup upon him
40加上他今晚已经喝过的酒,
40With that which he hath drunk to-night already,
他会充满争吵和冒犯
He’ll be as full of quarrel and offense
就像我年轻女主人的狗一样。现在我那病怏怏的傻瓜罗德里戈,
As my young mistress’ dog. Now my sick fool Roderigo,
爱情几乎把他推向了错误的方向,
Whom love hath turned almost the wrong side out,
今晚她和苔丝狄蒙娜一起狂欢
To Desdemona hath to-night caroused
四十五喝得酩酊大醉;他要观看。
45Potations pottle-deep;e and he’s to watch.
塞浦路斯的三个小伙子——高贵而又高傲的灵魂,
Three lads of Cyprus — noble swelling spirits,
他们小心翼翼地保持着荣誉,
That hold their honors in a wary distance,f
这座好战岛屿的本质特征——
The very elementsg of this warlike isle —
今夜我是否因杯中的酒而心烦意乱,
Have I to-night flustered with flowing cups,
50他们也看着。现在,在这群醉汉中
50And they watch too. Now, ’mongst this flock of drunkards
我要让我们的卡西欧去行动吗
Am I to put our Cassio in some action
这可能会冒犯该岛。
That may offend the isle.
凯西奥、蒙塔诺及先生们上。[仆人们端着酒跟在后面。]
Enter Cassio, Montano, and Gentlemen [; Servants following with wine].
但他们来了。
But here they come.
如果结果能证实我的梦想,
If consequence do but approve my dream,
我的船儿自由地航行,随风而动。
My boat sails freely, both with wind and stream.
55卡西奥: “上帝啊,他们已经给我敲响警钟了。”
55Cassio: ’Fore God, they have given me a rouseh already.
蒙塔诺:小子,诚心诚意;别喝太多,因为我是个士兵。
Montano: Good faith, a little one; not past a pint, as I am a soldier.
我走了:来点酒,嘿!
Iago: Some wine, ho!
[唱歌]让我的鱼儿叮当响,叮当响;
[Sings.] And let me the cannikin clink, clink;
让我的罐子叮当作响
And let me the cannikin clink
60士兵是男人;
60A soldier’s a man;
啊,人生不过一瞬,
O, man’s life’s but a span,
那么,为什么要让士兵喝酒呢?
Why then, let a soldier drink.
来点酒吧,孩子们!
Some wine, boys!
卡西奥: “上帝啊,这是一首美妙的歌!”
Cassio: ’Fore God, an excellent song!
65我以前:我是在英国学的,那里的人确实最擅长种植。你的丹麦人、你的德国人、你的大腹便便的荷兰人——喝吧!——对你的英国人来说根本不算什么。
65Iago: I learned it in England, where indeed they are most potent in potting. Your Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied Hollander — Drink, ho! — are nothing to your English.
C assio:你们那个英国人喝酒这么讲究吗?
Cassio: Is your Englishman so exquisite in his drinking?
我以前:为什么,他很容易就把你的丹麦人喝得烂醉如泥;他不出汗70推翻你的阿尔曼;在下一壶水还没灌满之前,他就让你的荷兰人呕吐了。
Iago: Why, he drinks you with facility your Dane dead drunk; he sweats not 70to overthrow your Almain; he gives your Hollander a vomit ere the next pottle can be filled.
卡西奥:为我们的将军的健康干杯!
Cassio: To the health of our general!
蒙塔诺:我赞成,中尉,而且我会公正地对待你。
Montano: I am for it, lieutenant, and I’ll do you justice.
我说道:哦,可爱的英格兰!
Iago: O sweet England!
75[唱歌]斯蒂芬国王是一位值得尊敬的贵族;
75[Sings.] King Stephen was and a worthy peer;
他的马裤只花了他一克朗;
His breeches cost him but a crown;
他太珍惜这六便士了,
He held ’em sixpence all too dear,
说完他就叫来了裁缝劳恩。
With that he called the tailor lown.i
他是一位声名显赫的妖怪,
He was a wight of high renown,
80而你的地位只是卑微的。
80And thou art but of low degree.
骄傲使国家衰落;
’Tis pride that pulls the country down;
然后穿上你的旧斗篷。
Then take thine auld cloak about thee.
来点酒吧!
Some wine, ho!
C assio: “在上帝面前,这首歌比其他歌曲更精致。”
Cassio: ’Fore God, this is a more exquisite song than the other.
85我说:你还会再听吗?
85Iago: Will you hear’t again?
卡西奥:不,因为我认为做这些事的人不配担任他的位置。j嗯,上帝高于一切;有些灵魂必须得救,有些灵魂不能得救。
Cassio: No, for I hold him to be unworthy of his place that does those things.j Well, God’s above all; and there be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved.
我说:确实如此,好中尉。
Iago: It’s true, good lieutenant.
卡西奥:就我而言——我无意冒犯将军,也无意冒犯任何90质量——我希望能够被拯救。
Cassio: For mine own part — no offense to the general, nor any man of 90quality — I hope to be saved.
我问:我也是,中尉。
Iago: And so do I too, lieutenant.
卡西奥:是的,不过请你别在我面前说。中尉必须在长老面前被救出来。我们别再这样了;我们去做我们的事情吧。——上帝95宽恕我们的罪过!——先生们,让我们做点事情吧。先生们,别以为我喝醉了。这是我的古物;这是我的右手,这是我的左手。我现在没喝醉。我站得还好,说话也还好。
Cassio: Ay, but, by your leave, not before me. The lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient. Let’s have no more of this; let’s to our affairs. — God 95forgive us our sins! — Gentlemen, let’s look to our business. Do not think, gentlemen, I am drunk. This is my ancient; this is my right hand, and this is my left. I am not drunk now. I can stand well enough, and I speak well enough.
A ll:非常好!
All: Excellent well!
100卡西奥:那好吧。你可别以为我喝醉了。
100Cassio: Why, very well then. You must not think then that I am drunk.
出口。
Exit.
蒙塔诺:上台吧,各位主人。来,我们去设置岗哨。
Montano: To th’ platform, masters. Come, let’s set the watch.
我前:你看到这个之前已经走了的家伙了。
Iago: You see this fellow that is gone before.
他是一名适合支持凯撒的士兵
He’s a soldier fit to stand by Caesar
105并给予指引;但看到他的恶习。
105And give direction; and do but see his vice.
这是他美德的正当春分,
’Tis to his virtue a just equinox,k
一个和另一个一样长。他真可怜。
The one as long as th’ other. ’Tis pity of him.
我担心奥赛罗对他的信任,
I fear the trust Othello puts him in,
在他身体虚弱的某个特殊时期,
On some odd time of his infirmity,
将震动这个岛屿。
Will shake this island.
110蒙塔诺:但是他经常这样吗?
110Montano: But is he often thus?
我说过:这永远是他睡眠的序幕:
Iago: ’Tis evermore his prologue to his sleep:
Montano :一切都很好
Montano: It were well
将军们都牢记这一点。
The general were put in mind of it.
115也许他没有意识到,或者他的善良本性
115Perhaps he sees it not, or his good nature
珍视卡西奥身上的美德
Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio
不看他的恶行。这不是真的吗?
And looks not on his evils. Is not this true?
输入罗德里戈。
Enter Roderigo.
我问他:现在怎么样了,罗德里戈?
Iago [aside to him]: How now, Roderigo?
我恳求你跟随中尉,走吧!
I pray you after the lieutenant, go!
罗德里戈退下。
Exit Roderigo.
120蒙塔诺:很遗憾,高贵的摩尔人
120Montano: And ’tis great pity that the noble Moor
竟然敢冒着失去第二把交椅的风险
Should hazard such a place as his own second
其中一个是植入物m虚弱。
With one of an ingraftm infirmity.
这是一种诚实的行为
It were an honest action to say
对摩尔人来说也是如此。
So to the Moor.
我说过:我不会,因为这个美丽的岛屿!
Iago: Not I, for this fair island!
125我确实很爱卡西欧,而且愿意做很多
125I do love Cassio well and would do much
治好他的这个恶疾。
To cure him of this evil.
(里面。)救命!救命!
(Within.) Help! help!
可是听!什么声音?
But hark! What noise?
卡西奥驾着罗德里戈上车。
Enter Cassio, driving in Roderigo.
C assio:天哪,你这个流氓!你这个恶棍!
Cassio: Zounds, you rogue! you rascal!
蒙塔诺:发生什么事了,中尉?
Montano: What’s the matter, lieutenant?
卡西奥:一个流氓来教我尽职?
Cassio: A knave to teach me my duty?
罗德里戈:打败我?
Roderigo: Beat me?
卡西奥:你胡说八道吗,流氓?(打他。)
Cassio: Dost thou prate, rogue? [Strikes him.]
蒙塔诺:不,好中尉!
Montano: Nay, good lieutenant!
[留住他。]
[Stays him.]
先生,我恳求您握住您的手。
I pray you, sir, hold your hand.
卡西奥:先生,让我走吧,
Cassio: Let me go, sir,
蒙塔诺:得了吧,得了吧,你喝醉了!
Montano: Come, come, you’re drunk!
卡西欧:喝醉了?
Cassio: Drunk?
他们打架。
They fight.
135我向罗德里戈说:走吧!出去,鼓起兵变!
135Iago [aside to Roderigo]: Away, I say! Go out and cry a mutiny!
罗德里戈退场。
Exit Roderigo.
不,好中尉。这是上帝的旨意,先生们!
Nay, good lieutenant. God’s will, gentlemen!
救命啊!——中尉——长官——蒙塔诺——长官——
Help, ho! — lieutenant — sir — Montano — sir —
救命啊,大师们!——这确实是一块好手表!
Help, masters! — Here’s a goodly watch indeed!
铃声响了。
A bell rung.
敲响铃铛的是谁? 魔鬼,嗚!
Who’s that which rings the bell? Diablo, ho!
140这座城镇将会崛起。p上帝的旨意,中尉,坚持住!
140The town will rise.p God’s will, lieutenant, hold!
你将永远蒙羞。
You’ll be shamed for ever.
奥赛罗及绅士们持武器上场。
Enter Othello and Gentlemen with weapons.
哦,蒂罗:发生了什么事?
Othello: What is the matter here?
蒙塔诺:天哪,我还在流血。我伤得要命。
Montano: Zounds, I bleed still. I am hurt to th’ death.
他死了!
He dies!
哦你好:保住性命!
Othello: Hold for your lives!
145我喊道:“等一下!中尉——先生——蒙塔诺——先生们!”
145Iago: Hold, ho! Lieutenant — sir — Montano — gentlemen!
你已经忘记了所有的立场和责任感吗?
Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?
等一下!将军在跟你说话。等一下,真丢脸!
Hold! The general speaks to you. Hold, for shame!
哦,你看:为什么,现在怎么样了?这从何而来?
Othello: Why, how now ho? From whence ariseth this?
我们是不是变成了土耳其人,并且对自己这样做?
Are we turned Turks, and to ourselves do that
150哪座天堂禁止过奥托姆人?
150Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?
这场野蛮的斗殴使基督徒蒙羞!
For Christian shame put by this barbarous brawl!
他接下来要雕刻自己的愤怒
He that stirs next to carve forq his own rage
保持他的灵魂轻松;他死于他的运动中。
Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.
让那可怕的钟声安静下来!它吓坏了整个岛屿
Silence that dreadful bell! It frights the isle
155从她的礼节来看。r有什么事吗,主人?
155From her propriety.r What is the matter, masters?
诚实的伊阿古,看上去悲痛欲绝,
Honest Iago, that looks dead with grieving,
说吧。这是谁先开始的?凭你的爱,我命令你。
Speak. Who began this? On thy love, I charge thee.
我以前:我不知道。朋友们,但现在,即使是现在,
Iago: I do not know. Friends all, but now, even now,
在季度、s和像新娘和新郎这样的术语
In quarter,s and in terms like bride and groom
160把它们脱下来睡觉;然后,但现在——
160Devesting them for bed; and then, but now —
仿佛某个星球上有不知情的人——
As if some planet had unwitted men —
剑拔弩张,互相刺穿对方的胸膛
Swords out, and tilting one at other’s breast
反对流血。我无法说话
In opposition bloody. I cannot speak
任何开始这个恼人的机会,
Any beginning to this peevish odds,t
165如果我失去了光荣的行动
165And would in action glorious I had lost
这些腿把我带入了其中!
Those legs that brought me to a part of it!
哦,蒂罗:迈克尔,你怎么就被忘了呢?
Othello: How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?
卡西奥:请您原谅,我无法说话。
Cassio: I pray you pardon me; I cannot speak.
哦,你好:值得尊敬的蒙塔诺,你本来就很有礼貌;
Othello: Worthy Montano, you were wont to be civil;
170青春的沉重与沉静
170The gravity and stillness of your youth
全世界都注意到了你,你的名字是伟大的
The world hath noted, and your name is great
在最明智的谴责中。u怎么了
In mouths of wisest censure.u What’s the matter
你因此而失去你的名誉
That you unlacev your reputation thus
并花费你丰富的意见w为名字
And spend your rich opinionw for the name
175是夜间斗殴者吗?请回答我。
175Of a night-brawler? Give me answer to it.
蒙塔诺:尊敬的奥赛罗,我受了危险。
Montano: Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger.
你的长官伊阿古可以告诉你,
Your officer, Iago, can inform you,
虽然我现在很少说话,因为有些话冒犯了我,
While I spare speech, which something now offendsx me,
我所知道的一切,我也不了解
Of all that I do know; nor know I aught
180今夜我说了或做了错的事,
180By me that’s said or done amiss this night,
除非自私有时是一种恶习,
Unless self-charity be sometimes a vice,
而为自己辩护是一种罪过
And to defend ourselves it be a sin
当暴力袭击我们时。
When violence assails us.
哦,以天起誓,
Othello: Now, by heaven,
我的血统开始引导我更安全统治,
My bloody begins my safer guides to rule,
185和激情,与我最好的判断相碰撞,z
185And passion, having my best judgment collied,z
尝试aa来引领道路。天哪,如果我动了,
Assaysaa to lead the way. Zounds, if I stir,
或者只要举起这只手臂,你们当中最好的人
Or do but lift this arm, the best of you
在我的责备中沉没。让我知道
Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know
这场邪恶的溃败是怎样开始的,是谁挑起的?
How this foul rout began, who set it on;
190凡在bb犯这种罪的人,
190And he that is approved inbb this offense,
尽管他和我生来就是双胞胎,
Though he had twinned with me, both at a birth,
会失去我。什么!在战争的城市里,
Shall lose me. What! in a town of war,
然而狂野,人们的内心充满恐惧,
Yet wild, the people’s hearts brimful of fear,
如何处理cc私人和家庭争吵?
To managecc private and domestic quarrel?
195夜晚,在球场上守护安全?
195In night, and on the court and guard of safety?
这太可怕了。伊阿古,是谁先开始的?
’Tis monstrous. Iago, who began’t?
M ontano:如果部分结盟,或在办公室联盟,dd
Montano: If partially affined, or leagued in office,dd
你传达的或多或少都是真理,
Thou dost deliver more or less than truth,
你不是一名士兵。
Thou art no soldier.
伊阿古:别靠近我。
Iago: Touch me not so near.
200我宁愿把舌头割掉
200I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth
这应该会冒犯迈克尔·卡西奥;
Than it should do offense to Michael Cassio;
但我说服自己说真话
Yet I persuade myself, to speak the truth
不会有什么事情伤害到他。就是这样,将军。
Shall nothing wrong him. This it is, general.
蒙塔诺和我正在演讲,
Montano and myself being in speech,
205有一个人呼救,
205There comes a fellow crying out for help,
凯西奥举着剑,紧随其后,
And Cassio following him with determined sword
处死他。先生,这位先生
To executeee upon him. Sir, this gentleman
走进卡西奥并恳求他暂停一下。
Steps in to Cassio and entreats his pause.
我这个哭泣的人追了上去,
Myself the crying fellow did pursue,
210以免他的叫喊——结果就是这样——
210Lest by his clamor — as it so fell out —
城镇可能会被惊恐地攻陷。他脚步敏捷,
The town might fall in fright. He, swift of foot,
超出了我的目的;然后我又回来了
Outran my purpose; and I returned then rather
为此我听见了刀剑的碰撞和落下,
For that I heard the clink and fall of swords,
凯西奥发誓,直到今晚
And Cassio high in oath;ff which till to-night
215我以前从来没说过。当我回来时——
215I ne’er might say before. When I came back —
因为这很短暂——我发现他们很亲近
For this was brief — I found them close together
受到打击和刺击,即使他们再次
At blow and thrust, even as again they were
当你亲自将它们分开时。
When you yourself did part them.
关于此事我无法报告更多情况;
More of this matter cannot I report;
220但男人毕竟是男人,即使是最优秀的人有时也会忘记。
220But men are men; the best sometimes forget.
虽然卡西奥对他做了一些小错事,
Though Cassio did some little wrong to him,
当愤怒的人攻击那些对他们最有利的人时,
As men in rage strike those that wish them best,
但我相信卡西奥肯定收到了
Yet surely Cassio I believe received
逃离那些奇怪的侮辱的人,
From him that fled some strange indignity,
225耐心无法传递。gg
225Which patience could not pass.gg
噢,我知道,伊阿古,
Othello: I know, Iago,
你的诚实和爱心把这件事粉碎了,
Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,
对凯西奥说,这很轻松。凯西奥,我爱你;
Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee;
但再也不会当我的军官了。
But never more be officer of mine.
苔丝狄蒙娜上,有人侍候。
Enter Desdemona, attended.
看看我的温柔之爱是否未被激发!
Look if my gentle love be not raised up!
我就以你为例吧。
I’ll make thee an example.
230苔丝狄蒙娜:发生什么事了?
230Desdemona: What’s the matter?
哦,你好:现在一切都好,亲爱的;快去睡觉吧。
Othello: All’s well now, sweeting; come away to bed.
[对蒙塔诺说。]
[To Montano.]
先生,对于您的伤势,我将亲自为您做主治医生。
Sir, for your hurts, myself will be your surgeon.
把他带走。
Lead him off.
[蒙塔诺被带走。]
[Montano is led off.]
伊阿古,仔细观察一下这个城镇
Iago, look with care about the town
235让那些被这场卑鄙的斗殴分散了注意力的人闭嘴。hh
235And silence those whom this vile brawl distracted.hh
来吧,苔丝狄蒙娜,这就是士兵的生活
Come, Desdemona; ’tis the soldiers’ life
让他们温馨的睡眠因争吵而醒来。
To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife.
退场 [除伊阿古和卡西奥外,其他人均退场]。
Exit [with all but Iago and Cassio].
我问:怎么,中尉,你受伤了吗?
Iago: What, are you hurt, lieutenant?
卡西奥:是的,一切都通过手术解决了。
Cassio: Ay, past all surgery.
240我曾说:结婚吧,但愿不会!
240Iago: Marry, God forbid!
卡西奥:名誉,名誉,名誉!哦,我失去了我的名誉!我失去了我身上不朽的部分,剩下的都是兽性的。我的名誉,伊阿古,我的名誉!
Cassio: Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!
我以前说过:我是个诚实的人,我以为你受了点伤。这比名誉更有道理。名誉是245一个无聊且最虚假的强加;常常毫无价值地得到,毫无价值地失去。除非你认为自己是个失败者,否则你根本没有失去名誉。什么,伙计!有办法再次恢复将军的形象。你现在只是被他情绪所左右——这是一种更多的策略惩罚,而不是恶意惩罚,就像一个人会打他无罪的狗一样250吓倒一头傲慢的狮子。再向他起诉,他就是你的了。
Iago: As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound. There is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is 245an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all unless you repute yourself such a loser. What, man! there are ways to recoverii the general again. You are but now cast in his moodjj — a punishment more in policy than in malice, even so as one would beat his offenseless dog to 250affright an imperious lion. Sue to him again, and he’s yours.
卡西欧:我宁愿被人鄙视,也不愿用如此轻率、如此醉酒、如此轻率的军官来欺骗如此优秀的指挥官。喝醉了!鹦鹉学舌!争吵!大摇大摆!咒骂!和自己的影子胡言乱语!哦,你看不见的酒神,如果你255没有名字可知,我们就叫你魔鬼吧!
Cassio: I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk! and speak parrot!kk and squabble! swagger! swear! and discourse fustianll with one’s own shadow! O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou 255hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
我问:你持剑追击的那个人是谁?他对你做了什么?
Iago: What was he that you followed with your sword? What had he done to you?
卡西奥:我不知道。
Cassio: I know not.
260我前:不可能吗?
260Iago: Is’t possible?
卡西奥:我记得很多事情,但没有什么是清楚的;记得争吵,但没有什么原因。哦上帝,人们应该把敌人放进嘴里,偷走他们的大脑!我们应该带着喜悦、愉悦、狂欢和掌声把自己变成野兽!
Cassio: I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should with joy, pleasance, revel, and applausemm transform ourselves into beasts!
265我问: “为什么,但你现在已经好了。你是怎么恢复的?”
265Iago: Why, but you are now well enough. How came you thus recovered?
卡西欧:魔鬼喜欢用醉酒来发泄愤怒。一个不完美向我展示了另一个不完美,让我坦率地鄙视自己。
Cassio: It hath pleased the devil drunkenness to give place to the devil wrath. One unperfectness shows me another, to make me frankly despise myself.
伊阿古:得了吧,你这个道德家太严厉了。鉴于这个国家的现状、地点和条件,我真心希望这件事不要那么严重。270降临;但既然事情已经如此,那就为你自己好,去修补它吧。
Iago: Come, you are too severe a moraler. As the time, the place, and the condition of this country stands, I could heartily wish this had not so 270befall’n; but since it is as it is, mend it for your own good.
卡西欧:我会再次向他请假:他会告诉我我是个酒鬼!如果我的嘴巴和九头蛇一样多,这样的回答会让他们都闭嘴。现在是个明智的人,不久就成了傻瓜,马上就成了野兽!哦,奇怪!每一杯过量的酒都是不幸福的,而且成分是275是魔鬼。
Cassio: I will ask him for my place again: he shall tell me I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra,nn such an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast! O strange! Every inordinate cup is unblest, and the ingredientoo 275is a devil.
我说道:来吧,来吧,好酒如果使用得当,是一种很好的宠物。
Iago: Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.
不要再反对了。好中尉,我想你认为我
Exclaim no more against it. And, good lieutenant, I think you think I
爱你。
love you.
280C assio:我完全同意,先生。我喝醉了!
280Cassio: I have well approvedpp it, sir. I drunk!
我说过:你或者任何活着的人都有可能在某个时候喝醉,老兄。我来告诉你该怎么做。我们的将军的妻子现在是将军。在这方面我可以这么说,因为他已经献身于沉思、标记和表现她的品格和风度。向她坦白自己;恳求她帮助你回到原来的位置285再次。她如此自由,如此善良,如此聪明,如此有福,以至于她认为不做超出要求的事情是一种恶习。你和她丈夫之间这个断裂的关节让她分裂;rr和我的命运对抗任何值得命名的世俗事物,你爱的这个裂缝将比以前更加坚固。290
Iago: You or any man living may be drunk at some time, man. I’ll tell you what you shall do. Our general’s wife is now the general. I may say so in this respect, for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces. Confess yourself freely to her; importune her help to put you in your place 285again. She is of so free,qq so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposition she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested. This broken joint between you and her husband entreat her to splinter;rr and my fortunes against any layss worth naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was before.290
C assio:你的建议很正确。
Cassio: You advise me well.
我前:我抗议,以真诚的爱和诚实的善意。
Iago: I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kindness.
卡西奥:我自由地思考;明天早上我会恳求处女——
Cassio: I think it freely; and betimes in the morning will I beseech the vir-
苔丝狄蒙娜替我承担。我绝望了,如果
tuous Desdemona to undertake for me. I am desperate of my fortunes if
295他们在这里检查我。
295they check me here.
我回答说:你说得对。晚安,中尉;我必须去值班了。
Iago: You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant; I must to the watch.
卡西奥:晚安,诚实的伊阿古。
Cassio: Good night, honest Iago.
卡西奥下。
Exit Cassio.
我问:那他说我扮演坏人,
Iago: And what’s he then that says I play the villain,
当我免费给出这些建议时,并且诚实地说,
When this advice is free I give and honest,
300可能思考,事实上课程
300Probaltt to thinking, and indeed the course
重新赢得摩尔人的欢心?因为这是最简单的
To win the Moor again? For ’tis most easy
苔丝狄蒙娜屈服于
Th’ inclining Desdemona to subdueuu
穿着诚实的衣服;她被认为是富有成果的
In an honest suit; she’s framed as fruitful
作为自由元素。然后对她来说
As the free elements. And then for her
305赢得摩尔人的欢心——如果他不放弃洗礼,
305To win the Moor — were’t to renounce his baptism,
所有赎罪的印记和象征——
All seals and symbols of redeemèd sin —
他的灵魂深深地被她的爱所束缚
His soul is so enfettered to her love
她可以随心所欲地做或不做,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
即使她的胃口扮演上帝
Even as her appetite shall play the god
310他的功能很弱。我怎么会成为恶棍呢
310With his weak function. How am I then a villain
为了劝告卡西奥走这条平行的路线,
To counsel Cassio to this parallelvv course,
直接对他好?地狱的神性ww !
Directly to his good? Divinityww of hell!
当魔鬼将最黑暗的罪恶带上时,xx
When devils will the blackest sins put on,xx
他们首先建议用天堂的表演,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
315就像我现在一样。有一段时间,这个诚实的傻瓜
315As I do now. For whiles this honest fool
帮助苔丝狄蒙娜挽回他的命运,
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes,
她向摩尔人恳求,
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
我要把瘟疫灌进他的耳朵里,
I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear,
她为了满足自己肉体的欲望而废黜了他;
That she repeals himyy for her body’s lust;
320她多么努力地为他做好事,
320And by how much she strives to do him good,
她将失去摩尔人的信任。
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
我要把她的贞洁变成沥青,
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
她用自己的善良织就了这张网
And out of her own goodness make the net
这将使他们全部陷入混乱。
That shall enmesh them all.
输入罗德里戈。
Enter Roderigo.
325现在怎么样了,罗德里戈?
325How, now, Roderigo?
Roderigo :我在这里追赶,不像猎犬那样追赶,而像
Roderigo: I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that hunts, but one
填补了哭声。zz我的钱几乎花光了;我今晚
that fills up the cry.zz My money is almost spent; I have been to-night
非常厉害;我想结果会是——我将
exceedingly well cudgelled; and I think the issue will be — I shall have
我付出了这么多的努力,却得到了这么多的经验;而且,我没有任何钱,
so much experience for my pains; and so, with no money at all, and a
330再稍微有点智慧,就再回到威尼斯。
330little more wit, return again to Venice.
我说过:没有耐心的人是多么可怜啊!
Iago: How poor are they that have not patience!
什么伤口能够不逐渐愈合呢?
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
你知道我们靠智慧工作,而不是靠巫术;
Thou know’st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft;
而智慧则取决于拖延的时间。
And wit depends on dilatory time.
335这不是好事吗?凯西奥打败了你,
335Does’t not go well? Cassio hath beaten thee,
而你却因为那点小伤害而剥夺了卡西奥的爵位。aaa
And thou by that small hurt hast cashiered Cassio.aaa
尽管其他事物在阳光下显得美丽,
Though other things grow fair against the sun,
然而,先开花的果实会先成熟。
Yet fruits that blossom first will first be ripe.
满足一下吧。凭弥撒的名义,现在是早上了!
Content thyself awhile. By the mass, ’tis morning!
340快乐和行动让时间显得短暂。
340Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.
退休吧;回到你的驻地去。
Retire thee; go where thou art billeted.
我说走吧!以后你就会知道更多了。
Away, I say! Thou shalt know more hereafter.
不,走吧!
Nay, get thee gone!
罗德里戈退场。
Exit Roderigo.
要做两件事:
Two things are to be done:
我的妻子必须把卡西奥搬到她的情妇那里;
My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
345我会让她继续;
345I’ll set her on;
我自己也把摩尔人拉开
Myself the while to draw the Moor apart
带他跳下去,当他可能找到卡西欧时
And bring him jumpbbb when he may Cassio find
招揽他的妻子。哎,就这样!
Soliciting his wife. Ay, that’s the way!
冷漠和拖延是不会使任何手段变得迟钝的。
Dull no device by coldness and delay.
出口。
Exit.
13.演员:解散。
a13. cast: Dismissed.
b 24. stoup:两夸脱的大啤酒杯。
b24. stoup: Two-quart tankard.
c 32.合格:稀释;
c32. qualified: Diluted;
d创新:扰乱。
dinnovation: Disturbance.
e 45. pottle-deep:一饮而尽。
e45. pottle-deep: Bottoms up.
f 47. 那...距离:对他们的荣誉非常敏感。
f47. That … distance: Very sensitive about their honor.
g 48.非常元素:真正的代表。
g48. very elements: True representatives.
h 55. rouse:保险杠。
h55. rouse: Bumper.
78.lown:流氓。
i78. lown: Rascal.
j 86. 做那些事:即以这种方式行事。
j86. does those things: i.e., behaves in this fashion.
k 106. 正午春分:完全等同。
k106. just equinox: Exact equivalent.
l 112. watch … set:全天候保持两次清醒。
l112. watch … set: Stay awake twice around the clock.
m 122. ingraft:即根深蒂固。
m122. ingraft: i.e., ingrained.
n 130. twiggen:柳条覆盖的。
n130. twiggen: Wicker-covered.
o 133. mazzard:头部。
o133. mazzard: Head.
p 140. 崛起:变得喧闹。
p140. rise: Grow riotous.
q 152. 纵容:放纵。
q152. carve for: Indulge.
r 155. 礼仪:适当的自我。
r155. propriety: Proper self.
s 159. 季:友好。
s159. quarter: Friendliness.
t 164. 脾气暴躁:幼稚的争吵。
t164. peevish odds: Childish quarrel.
u 172.谴责:判断。
u172. censure: Judgment.
v 173. unlace:撤消。
v173. unlace: Undo.
w 174.富见:声誉很高。
w174. rich opinion: High reputation.
x 178. 冒犯:痛苦。
x178. offends: Pains.
y 184. 鲜血:激情。
y184. blood: Passion.
z 185. 碰撞:变暗。
z185. collied: Darkened.
aa 186. 测定:尝试。
aa186. Assays: Tries.
bb 190. 批准:证明有罪。
bb190. approved in: Proved guilty of.
cc 194. 管理:继续。
cc194. manage: Carry on.
dd 197. 部分…办公室:因同志关系或官方关系而受到偏见。
dd197. partially … office: Prejudiced by comradeship or official relations.
ee 207. 执行:按照他的意愿行事。
ee207. execute: Work his will.
ff 214. 高声宣誓:咒骂。
ff214. high in oath: Cursing.
gg 225. pass:忽略,忽略。
gg225. pass: Pass over, ignore.
hh 235. 分心:兴奋。
hh235. distracted: Excited.
ii 248. 恢复:重新获得青睐。
ii248. recover: Regain favor with.
jj 249. 在他的心情中:由于他的愤怒而被解雇。
jj249. in his mood: Dismissed because of his anger.
kk 254.鹦鹉:毫无意义的短语。
kk254. parrot: Meaningless phrases.
ll 255. fustian:夸张的废话。
ll255. fustian: Bombastic nonsense.
mm 264. 掌声:希望取悦别人。
mm264. applause: Desire to please.
nn273 .九头蛇:多头怪物。
nn273. Hydra: Monster with many heads.
oo 275. 成分:内容。
oo275. ingredient: Contents.
第 280页。已批准:已证明。
pp280. approved: Proved.
qq 286.免费:丰盛。
qq286. free: Bounteous.
rr 288. 碎片:用夹板包扎;
rr288. splinter: Bind up with splints;
ss lay:打赌。
sslay: Wager.
tt 300.Probal:可能的。
tt300. Probal: Probable.
uu 303. 制服:劝说。
uu303. subdue: Persuade.
vv 311. 平行:对应。
vv311. parallel: Corresponding.
ww 312. 神性:神学。
ww312. Divinity: Theology.
xx 313. 穿上:煽动。
xx313. put on: Incite.
yy 319. 废除他:寻求召回他。
yy319. repeals him: Seeks his recall.
zz 327. cry:打包。
zz327. cry: Pack.
aaa 336. 解雇卡西奥:操纵卡西奥的放电。
aaa336. cashiered Cassio: Maneuvered Cassio’s discharge.
abb 347. 跳跃:在准确的时刻。
abb347. jump: At the exact moment.
在奥赛罗和苔丝狄蒙娜的房间前。
Before the chamber of Othello and Desdemona.
卡西奥、音乐家和小丑登场。
Enter Cassio, with Musicians and the Clown.
C assio:大师们,在这里玩吧,我会满足你的要求:
Cassio: Masters, play here, I will contenta your pains:
简短地说几句话;然后说“早上好,将军。”
Something that’s brief; and bid “Good morrow, general.”
[他们演奏。]
[They play.]
小丑:大师们,为什么你们的乐器去过那不勒斯,为什么它们用鼻子说话却是这样?
Clown: Why, masters, ha’ your instruments been in Naples,b that they speak i’ th’ nose thus?
5音乐家:怎么办,先生,怎么办?
5Musician: How, sir, how?
C小丑:请问这些是管乐器吗?
Clown: Are these, I pray you, wind instruments?
音乐家:是的,他们是夫妻吗,先生。
Musician: Ay, marry, are they, sir.
C小丑: O,从而挂上尾巴。
Clown: O, thereby hangs a tail.
音乐家:先生,这故事讲的是什么呢?
Musician: Whereby hangs a tale, sir?
10小丑:先生,我认识很多管乐器,您就用它们吧。不过,先生们,这是给你们的钱;将军非常喜欢你们的音乐,他希望你们看在爱的份上,不要再用你们的音乐制造噪音了。
10Clown: Marry, sir, by many a wind instrument that I know. But, masters, here’s money for you; and the general so likes your music that he desires you, for love’s sake, to make no more noise with it.
音乐家:嗯,先生,我们不会的。
Musician: Well, sir, we will not.
C小丑:如果你有任何音乐可能听不到,再来一次:但是,因为他们15也就是说,听音乐一般不会太在意。
Clown: If you have any music that may not be heard, to’t again: but, as they 15say, to hear music the general does not greatly care.
音乐家:先生,我们没有这样的人。
Musician: We have none such, sir.
小丑:那就把你的烟斗放进包里吧,我要走了。走吧,消失在空气中,走吧!
Clown: Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I’ll away. Go, vanish into air, away!
音乐家(与他的同伴们)退场。
Exit Musician [with his fellows].
卡西奥:你听见了吗,我诚实的朋友?
Cassio: Dost thou hear, my honest friend?
20C小丑:不,我没听到你诚实的朋友说的话。我听到了你的话。
20Clown: No, I hear not your honest friend. I hear you.
卡西奥:请你收拾好你的被子。c给你一枚可怜的金币。如果将军夫人身边的贵妇人动了心,就告诉她,有一个人卡西奥恳求她帮个小忙。你愿意这样做吗?
Cassio: Prithee keep up thy quillets.c There’s a poor piece of gold for thee. If the gentlewoman that attends the general’s wife be stirring, tell her there’s one Cassio entreats her a little favor of speech. Wilt thou do this?
小丑:她动了,先生。如果她动一下,我就会告诉她二十五她。
Clown: She is stirring sir. If she will stir hither, I shall seem to notify unto 25her.
C assio: [做得好,我的朋友。]小丑退场。
Cassio: [Do, good my friend.]Exit Clown.
小丑退场。
Exit Clown.
我说:那你还没睡觉吗?
Iago: You have not been abed then?
卡西奥:没有,天已经亮了。
Cassio: Why, no; the day had broke
三十在我们分手之前。我大胆地,伊阿古,
30Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
送给你妻子:我对她的求婚
To send in to your wife: my suit to her
她愿意对贞洁的苔丝狄蒙娜
Is that she will to virtuous Desdemona
为我提供一些访问权限。
Procure me some access.
我说过:我马上就把她送给你;
Iago: I’ll send her to you presently;
我要想办法把摩尔人引出来
And I’ll devise a mean to draw the Moor
三十五让开,你的谈话和生意
35Out of the way, that your converse and business
可能会更自由。
May be more free.
C assio:我谦卑地向您表示感谢。
Cassio: I humbly thank you for’t.
退出[伊阿古]。
Exit [Iago].
输入艾米莉亚。
Enter Emilia.
E milia:早上好,好中尉。我很抱歉
Emilia: Good morrow, good lieutenant. I am sorry
40对于您的不悦:但一切一定会好起来的。
40For your displeasure: but all will sure be well.
将军和他的妻子正在谈论这件事,
The general and his wife are talking of it,
她坚定地为你说话。摩尔人回答道
And she speaks for you stoutly. The Moor replies
你伤害的那个人在塞浦路斯是出了名的
That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus
和伟大的亲和力,f和健康的智慧
And great affinity,f and that in wholesome wisdom
四十五他也许会拒绝你,但他却声称他爱你,
45He might not but refuse you; but he protests he loves you,
他不需要其他追求者,只要他喜欢
And needs no other suitor but his likings
[To take the safest occasiong by the fronth]
再次带你进来。
To bring you in again.
卡西奥:但我恳求你,
Cassio: Yet I beseech you,
如果你认为合适,或者可以做到,
If you think fit, or that it may be done,
50给我一些简短的谈话
50Give me advantage of some brief discourse
和苔丝狄蒙娜单独在一起。
With Desdemona alone.
E milia:请你进来。
Emilia: Pray you come in.
卡西奥:我非常需要你。
Cassio: I am much bound to you.
下。
Exeunt.
1.内容:奖励。
a1. content: Reward.
b 3.那不勒斯:(因与性病有关而臭名昭著)。
b3. Naples: (Notorious for its association with venereal disease).
c 21. quillets:俏皮话。
c21. quillets: Quips.
d 27. 在幸福的时刻:很高兴见到你。
d27. In happy time: Well met.
e 38. 佛罗伦萨人:即甚至是佛罗伦萨人(如卡西奥;伊阿古是威尼斯人)。
e38. Florentine: i.e., even a Florentine (like Cassio; Iago was a Venetian).
f 44.亲和力:家庭关系。
f44. affinity: Family connections.
g 47. 场合:机会;
g47. occasion: Opportunity;
h前面:前额发绺。
hfront: Forelock.
i 53. 你的怀抱:你内心深处的想法。
i53. your bosom: Your inmost thoughts.
城堡。
The castle.
奥赛罗、伊阿古及先生们上。
Enter Othello, Iago, and Gentlemen.
哦,你看,这些信交给了舵手
Othello: These letters give, Iago, to the pilot
并通过他履行我对参议院的职责。
And by him do my duties to the Senate.
完成后,我将继续工作;
That done, I will be walking on the works;a
到那儿去修吧。
Repair there to me.
我说:好吧,大人,我会这么做的。
Iago: Well, my good lord, I’ll do’t.
5哦,你好:先生们,我们可以去看看这座防御工事吗?
5Othello: This fortification, gentlemen, shall we see’t?
先生们:我们将恭候您的光临。
Gentlemen: We’ll wait upon your lordship.
下。
Exeunt.
a 3.工程:防御工事。
a3. works: Fortifications.
城堡场地。
The castle grounds.
苔丝狄蒙娜、卡西奥、爱米莉亚上场。
Enter Desdemona, Cassio, and Emilia.
德斯狄蒙娜:你放心吧,好卡西奥,我会做到的
Desdemona: Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do
我用尽我的一切力量为你效力。
All my abilities in thy behalf.
E milia:好夫人,请你这么做。我保证这会让我丈夫伤心
Emilia: Good madam, do. I warrant it grieves my husband
仿佛这一切都是他的错。
As if the cause were his.
5德斯狄蒙娜:噢,他是个诚实的人。别怀疑,凯西奥,
5Desdemona: O, that’s an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio,
但我会再次拥有我的主人和你
But I will have my lord and you again
和你一样友好。
As friendly as you were.
C assio:慷慨的夫人,
Cassio: Bounteous madam,
不管迈克尔·卡西奥将来如何,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
他永远都是你忠实的仆人。
He’s never anything but your true servant.
10德斯狄蒙娜:我不知道,谢谢你。你确实爱我的主人;
10Desdemona: I know’t; I thank you. You do love my lord;
你认识他很久了,你一定很放心。
You have known him long; and be you well assured
他将陌生地站得不远
He shall in strangenessa stand no farther off
比政治距离更远。b
Than in a politic distance.b
C assio:是的,但是,女士,
Cassio: Ay, but, lady,
这项政策可能会持续很长时间,
That policy may either last so long,
15或者吃这种美味又水汪汪的食物,c
15Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,c
或因环境所迫而繁殖,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
因为我不在,我的位置已经被别人取代,
That, I being absent, and my place supplied,
我的将军会忘记我的爱与服务。
My general will forget my love and service.
德斯狄蒙娜:不要怀疑,在艾米莉亚面前
Desdemona: Do not doubtd that; before Emilia here
20我给你你的职位的保证。向你保证,
20I give thee warrant of thy place. Assure thee,
如果我发誓要建立友谊,我就会履行它
If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it
回到最后一条。我的主公永不休息;
To the last article. My lord shall never rest;
我会看着他驯服他并让他失去耐心;
I’ll watch him tamee and talk him out of patience;
他的床就像一所学校,他的餐桌就像一所便衣;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift;f
二十五我会混合他所做的一切
25I’ll intermingle everything he does
凯西奥向你求婚。所以,凯西奥,你要快乐,
With Cassio’s suit. Therefore be merry, Cassio,
因为你的律师宁愿死
For thy solicitor shall rather die
比放弃你的事业。
Than give thy cause away.
奥赛罗与伊阿古上场(远处)。
Enter Othello and Iago [at a distance].
艾米莉亚:夫人,大人来了。
Emilia: Madam, here comes my lord.
三十卡西奥:夫人,我告辞了。
30Cassio: Madam, I’ll take my leave.
苔丝狄蒙娜:等等,听我说。
Desdemona: Why, stay, and hear me speak.
卡西奥:夫人,现在不行,我心里很不安,
Cassio: Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease,
不适合我自己的用途。
Unfit for mine own purposes.
苔丝狄蒙娜:好吧,你酌情决定吧。
Desdemona: Well, do your discretion.
卡西奥下。
Exit Cassio.
我:哈!我不喜欢那样。
Iago: Ha! I like not that.
三十五哦,你说什么?
35Othello: What dost thou say?
我说:没什么,大人;或者——我不知道是什么。
Iago: Nothing, my lord; or if — I know not what.
哦,瑟罗:卡西奥不是和我的妻子分开了吗?
Othello: Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
我说: “凯西奥,大人?当然,我不敢相信,
Iago: Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it,
他竟如此心怀叵测地偷偷溜走,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
看到你的到来。
Seeing your coming.
40哦,你好:我相信是他。
40Othello: I do believe ’twas he.
苔丝狄蒙娜:现在怎么样了,大人?
Desdemona: How now, my lord?
我一直在跟这里的一个追求者谈话,
I have been talking with a suitor here,
一个因你的不快而萎靡不振的男人。
A man that languishes in your displeasure.
噢,你指的是谁?
Othello: Who is’t you mean?
四十五德斯狄蒙娜:是的,凯西奥,您的副官。大人,
45Desdemona: Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord,
如果我有恩惠或力量能感动你,
If I have any grace or power to move you,
他目前g和解采取;
His presentg reconciliation take;
如果他不是真心爱你,
For if he be not one that truly loves you,
犯错是因为无知,而不是因为狡猾,
That errs in ignorance, and not in cunning,
50我对诚实的面孔不做评判,
50I have no judgment in an honest face,
请您再叫他一下。
I prithee call him back.
哦,瑟罗:他现在要走了吗?
Othello: Went he hence now?
苔丝狄蒙娜:嗯,安抚吧;如此谦卑
Desdemona: Ay, sooth; so humbled
他把他的悲伤的一部分留给了我
That he hath left part of his grief with me
和他一起受苦吧。亲爱的,把他叫回来吧。
To suffer with him. Good love, call him back.
55哦,瑟罗:现在不行,亲爱的苔丝狄蒙;以后有时间再说吧。
55Othello: Not now, sweet Desdemon; some other time.
苔丝狄蒙娜:但不是很快就能实现吗?
Desdemona: But shall’t be shortly?
噢,亲爱的,对你来说越快越好。
Othello: The sooner, sweet, for you.
苔丝狄蒙娜:今晚不一起吃晚饭吗?
Desdemona: Shall’t be to-night at supper?
噢,今晚不行。
Othello: No, not to-night.
德斯狄蒙娜:那么明天吃饭吗?
Desdemona: To-morrow dinner then?
哦,你看!我不会在家吃饭;
Othello: I shall not dine at home;
我在城堡遇见了船长们。
I meet the captains at the citadel.
60德斯狄蒙娜:那么,明天晚上,也就是星期二早上,
60Desdemona: Why then, to-morrow night, on Tuesday morn,
周二中午或晚上,周三早上。
On Tuesday noon or night, on Wednesday morn.
我请说出时间,但不要
I prithee name the time, but let it not
超过三天。我相信他已经悔改了;
Exceed three days. I’ faith, he’s penitent;
然而,他的过犯,在我们的共同理性中
And yet his trespass, in our common reason
65(他们说,战争必须树立榜样
65(Save that, they say, the wars must make example
在她最好的状态下),几乎没有任何缺点
Out of her best), is not almosth a fault
需要私人支票。他什么时候来?
T’ incur a private check.i When shall he come?
告诉我吧,奥赛罗。我心里在想
Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my soul
你要问我什么我应该否认
What you would ask me that I should deny
70或者就这样站着。j什么?迈克尔·卡西奥,
70Or stand so mamm’ring on.j What? Michael Cassio,
那是你向我求爱的时候,
That came a-wooing with you, and so many a time,
当我用贬低的话谈论你的时候,
When I have spoke of you dispraisingly,
承担了你的责任——有那么多事要做
Hath ta’en your part — to have so much to do
把他带进来?拜托,我可以帮你——
To bring him in? By’r Lady, I could do much —
75噢,求你别再说了。让他来吧,他想来就来吧!
75Othello: Prithee no more. Let him come when he will!
我不会拒绝你任何东西。
I will deny thee nothing.
苔丝狄蒙娜:为什么,这并不是什么好事;
Desdemona: Why, this is not a boon;
我建议你戴上手套,
’Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,
或者吃营养菜肴,或者为你保暖,
Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm,
或者起诉你做一笔特殊的利润
Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit
80给你自己。不,当我有西装的时候
80To your own person. Nay, when I have a suit
我真想触动你的爱,
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
它将充满平衡和沉重,
It shall be full of poise and difficult weight,
并且害怕被授予。
And fearfulk to be granted.
哦你好:我不会拒绝你任何东西!
Othello: I will deny thee nothing!
我恳求你应允我,
Whereon I do beseech thee grant me this,
85让我稍事休息。
85To leave me but a little to myself.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我可以拒绝您吗?不。再见,大人。
Desdemona: Shall I deny you? No. Farewell, my lord.
哦,泰勒:再见,我的苔丝狄蒙娜,我马上回来找你。
Othello: Farewell, my Desdemona: I’ll come to thee straight.
苔丝狄蒙娜:埃米莉亚,来吧。——按照你的想象去做吧;
Desdemona: Emilia, come. — Be as your fancies teach you;
无论你是什么,我都听话。
Whate’er you be, I am obedient.
退出(与艾米莉亚一起)。
Exit [with Emilia].
90奥赛罗:你这个恶人!我的灵魂将被毁灭吧!
90Othello: Excellent wretch!l Perdition catch my soul
但我爱你!当我不爱你时,
But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,
混沌又降临。
Chaos is come again.
我以前:尊贵的阁下——
Iago: My noble lord —
哦,瑟罗:你说什么,伊阿古?
Othello: What dost thou say, Iago?
我问:迈克尔·卡西奥,当你向我的夫人求爱时,
Iago: Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my lady,
95知道你的愛嗎?
95Know of your love?
噢,他做到了,从始至终。你为什么问?
Othello: He did, from first to last. Why dost thou ask?
我以前:但为了满足我的想法;
Iago: But for a satisfaction of my thought;
没有进一步的伤害。
No further harm.
奥瑟罗:伊阿古,你为什么会有这样的想法?
Othello: Why of thy thought, Iago?
我以前想过:我不认为他认识她。
Iago: I did not think he had been acquainted with her.
100奥瑟罗:哦,是的,而且我经常在我们之间来回走动。
100Othello: O, yes, and went between usm very oft.
我问:是吗?
Iago: Indeed?
噢,是啊!是啊!你看出什么了吗?
Othello: Indeed? Ay, indeed! Discern’st thou aught in that?
他不诚实吗?
Is he not honest?
我说:诚实吗,大人?
Iago: Honest, my lord?
噢,你好:诚实。是的,诚实。
Othello: Honest. Ay, honest.
我说:大人,据我所知。
Iago: My lord, for aught I know.
哦,瑟罗:你怎么看?
Othello: What dost thou think?
我问:大人,您想想吧?
Iago: Think, my lord?
105奥瑟罗:想想吧,大人?
105Othello: Think, my lord?
凭着天国起誓,你也呼应了我,
By heaven, thou echo’st me,
仿佛你的思想里有某种怪物
As if there were some monster in thy thought
太丑陋了,不忍直视。你一定有某种意思:
Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something:
我现在就听见你说,你不喜欢那样,
I heard thee say even now, thou lik’st not that,
110当卡西奥离开我妻子的时候。你不喜欢什么?
110When Cassio left my wife. What didst not like?
当我告诉你他是我的顾问时
And when I told thee he was of my counsel
在我整个求爱过程中,你一直在喊“真的吗?”
In my whole course of wooing, thou cried’st “Indeed?”
你紧皱眉头,
And didst contract and purse thy brow together,
仿佛你当时已经闭嘴在你的脑子里
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
115这是一种可怕的自负。n如果你爱我,
115Some horrible conceit.n If thou dost love me,
告诉我你的想法
Show me thy thought
我说:大人,您知道我爱您。
Iago: My lord, you know I love you.
哦,你好:我想是的;
Othello: I think thou dost;
我知道你充满爱和诚实
And, for I know thou’rt full of love and honesty
在你说出你的话之前,要先斟酌一下,
And weigh’st thy words before thou giv’st them breath,
120因此你的这些停留让我更加害怕;
120Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more;
对于这样的事情在一个虚假的不忠诚的流氓
For such things in a false disloyal knave
是习俗的把戏;但对一个男人来说,
Are tricks of custom; but in a man that’s just
它们是紧密扩张的,从心脏开始
They’re close dilations, working from the heart
激情无法统治。o
That passion cannot rule.o
我以前:对于迈克尔·卡西奥来说,
Iago: For Michael Cassio,
125我敢发誓我认为他是诚实的。
125I dare be sworn I think that he is honest.
Othello :我也这么认为。
Othello: I think so too.
我说过:男人应该是他们外表所表现的样子;
Iago: Men should be what they seem;
奥瑟罗:当然,男人应该是他们外表所表现的样子。
Othello: Certain, men should be what they seem.
我问:那么,我认为卡西奥是一个诚实的人。
Iago: Why then, I think Cassio’s an honest man.
130哦,瑟罗:不,这里面还有更多的事情。
130Othello: Nay, yet there’s more in this.
请告诉我你的想法,
I prithee speak to me as to thy thinkings,
当你沉思,并给出你最坏的想法时
As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts
最遺憾的言辞。
The worst of words.
我回答说:大人,请您原谅我。
Iago: Good my lord, pardon me:
尽管我必须尽职尽责,
Though I am bound to every act of duty,
135我并不要求所有奴隶都是自由的。q
135I am not bound to that all slaves are free to.q
说出我的想法?为什么说它们是卑鄙和虚假的,
Utter my thoughts? Why, say they are vile and false,
那座充满肮脏东西的宫殿在哪里
As where’s that palace whereinto foul things
有时不要打扰?谁有如此纯洁的心
Sometimes intrude not? Who has a breast so pure
但有些不干净的忧虑
But some uncleanly apprehensions
140保持法律和法律的日子, r和在会议坐
140Keep leets and law days,r and in Sessions sit
冥想合法吗?
With meditations lawful?
哦,你密谋反对你的朋友伊阿古,
Othello: Thou dost conspire against thy friend, Iago,
如果你认为他受了委屈,并让他听
If thou but think’st him wronged, and mak’st his ear
对你的想法来说是个陌生人。
A stranger to thy thoughts.
我以前:我恳求你——
Iago: I do beseech you —
145尽管我的猜测可能有些恶意
145Though I perchance am vicious in my guess
(我承认这是我的天性
(As I confess it is my nature’s plague
窥探虐待,我的嫉妒常常
To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousys
形状的错误,不是),你的智慧还
Shapes faults that are not), that your wisdom yet
从一个如此不完美地投射
From one that so imperfectly conjectst
150不会在意,也不会给自己带来麻烦,
150Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble
脱离他分散和不确定的观察。
Out of his scattering and unsure observance.
这不是为了你的安静,也不是为了你的利益,
It were not for your quiet nor your good,
也不是因为我的男子气概、诚实和智慧,
Nor for my manhood, honesty, and wisdom,
让你知道我的想法。
To let you know my thoughts.
奥赛罗:你是什么意思?
Othello: What dost thou mean?
155我说:男人和女人都有好名声,亲爱的主,
155Iago: Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
是他们灵魂深处的珍宝。
Is the immediateu jewel of their souls.
谁偷了我的钱包,谁就偷了垃圾;这有关系,也不算什么;
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
这是我的,也是他的,他已奴役了千万人;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
但他夺走了我的好名声
But he that filches from me my good name
160夺走我的东西,却不让他富裕
160Robs me of that which not enriches him
这让我确实很贫穷。
And makes me poor indeed.
哦,你看!天啊,我知道你的想法!
Othello: By heaven, I’ll know thy thoughts!
我说:如果我的心在你的手中,你就不能;
Iago: You cannot, if my heart were in your hand;
只要它在我保管之下,就不可以。
Nor shall not whilst ’tis in my custody.
噢,你好:哈!
Othello: Ha!
165我说:噢,我的主啊,要小心嫉妒!
165Iago: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
这是绿眼怪物,嘲笑我们
It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mockv
它吃的肉。那个戴绿帽的人过着幸福的生活
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss
他确信自己的命运,却不会爱伤害他的人;
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
但啊,他又在说什么呢?
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o’er
170谁溺爱,却又怀疑——谁怀疑,却又深爱!
170Who dotes, yet doubts — suspects, yet fondly loves!
哦,你好:哦,痛苦!
Othello: O misery!
我前言:贫穷而知足,富足而又足够;
Iago: Poor and content is rich, and rich enough;
但财富没有精致,就像冬天一样贫穷
But riches finelessw is as poor as winter
凡是惧怕的人,必定贫穷。
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
175上帝保佑我所有部落的灵魂
175Good God, the souls of all my tribe defend
因为嫉妒!
From jealousy!
Othello :为什么,为什么会这样?
Othello: Why, why is this?
你以为我会过着嫉妒的生活吗?
Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy,
继续追随月亮的变化
To follow still the changes of the moon
有了新的怀疑?不!一旦怀疑
With fresh suspicions? No! To be once in doubt
180是一次解决。把我换成一只山羊
180Is once to be resolved. Exchange me for a goat
当我将我的灵魂的事业
When I shall turn the business of my soul
对于这种令人窒息和吹散的x猜测,
To such exsufflicate and blownx surmises,
符合你的推论。这不是为了让我嫉妒
Matching thy inference. ’Tis not to make me jealous
说我的妻子漂亮,吃得好,喜欢陪伴,
To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
185言论自由,唱歌、演奏和跳舞都很好。
185Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well.
哪里有美德,哪里就有更高的美德。
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous.
我也不会从自己的弱点中汲取
Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw
哪怕她有丝毫的恐惧或怀疑,
The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt,y
因为她有眼睛,并且选择了我。不,伊阿古;
For she had eyes, and chose me. No, Iago;
190在我怀疑之前,我会先看见;当我怀疑时,我会先证明;
190I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;
而证据只有这一点——
And on the proof there is no more but this —
快让爱或嫉妒消失吧!
Away at once with love or jealousy!
我以前:我很高兴,因为现在我有理由了。
Iago: I am glad of this; for now I shall have reason
为了表达我对你的爱和责任
To show the love and duty that I bear you
195以更坦诚的精神。因此,正如我所承诺的,
195With franker spirit. Therefore, as I am bound,
从我这里接受它。我还没有说证据。
Receive it from me. I speak not yet of proof.
照顾好你的妻子;好好观察她和卡西奥的关系;
Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio;
如此佩戴你的眼睛,不嫉妒也不安全:z
Wear your eyes thus, not jealous nor secure:z
我不会拥有你自由高尚的性格,
I would not have your free and noble nature,
200出于自我恩惠,被滥用。小心。
200Out of self-bounty,aa be abused. Look to’t.
我很了解我们国家的性格:
I know our country disposition well:
在威尼斯,他们确实让上帝看到了恶作剧
In Venice they do let God see the pranks
她们不敢向丈夫展示她们的良心
They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience
不是让它未完成,而是让它未知。
Is not to leave’t undone, but keep’t unknown.
205哦,你这么说吗?
205Othello: Dost thou say so?
我知道:她确实欺骗了她的父亲,嫁给了你;
Iago: She did deceive her father, marrying you;
当她似乎颤抖并害怕你的目光时,
And when she seemed to shake and fear your looks,
她最爱它们。
She loved them most.
哦,蒂罗:她确实这么做了。
Othello: And so she did.
我前:那好,去吧!
Iago: Why, go to then!
她这么年轻,却能发出如此看似
She that, so young, could give out such a seeming
210To seelbb her father’s eyes up close as oakcc —
他以为那是巫术——但责任很大程度上在我。
He thought ’twas witchcraft — but I am much to blame.
我恳求你的原谅
I humbly do beseech you of your pardon
因为太爱你。
For too much loving you.
哦,你好:我将永远和你在一起。
Othello: I am bound to thee for ever.
我说过:我看这有点损害了你的精神。
Iago: I see this hath a little dashed your spirits.
哦,你好:一点也没有,一点也没有。
Othello: Not a jot, not a jot.
215我说过:我相信,我担心它已经发生了。
215Iago: I’ faith, I fear it has.
我希望你能考虑一下
I hope you will consider what is spoke
来自我的爱。但我确实看到你很感动。
Comes from my love. But I do see y’ are moved.
我恳求你不要让我讲话太费力
I am to pray you not to strain my speech
对于更严重的问题,也对更大的影响
To grosser issuesdd nor to larger reach
220而不是怀疑。
220Than to suspicion.
噢,我不会。
Othello: I will not.
我问:陛下,您如果这样做,
Iago: Should you do so, my lord,
我的演讲竟然落得如此卑鄙的下场
My speech should fall into such vile successee
这不是我的思想所追求的。卡西奥是我值得信赖的朋友——
As my thoughts aim not at. Cassio’s my worthy friend —
大人,我看您很感动。
My lord, I see y’ are moved.
奥赛罗:没有,没有太大动静。
Othello: No, not much moved:
225我不认为但苔丝狄蒙娜是诚实的。
225I do not think but Desdemona’s honest.ff
我说道:她万岁!你也万岁!
Iago: Long live she so! and long live you to think so!
哦,西罗:然而,自然如何偏离了自身——
Othello: And yet, how nature erring from itself —
我问:是的,这才是重点!(对你来说很大胆)
Iago: Ay, there’s the point! as (to be bold with you)
不影响许多已提议的比赛
Not to affect many proposèd matches
230她自己的气候、肤色和地位,
230Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,
我们看到万事万物都趋向于——
Whereto we see in all things nature tends —
呸!人们可以闻到这种意志中最恶臭的味道,
Foh! one may smell in such a will most rank,
不平衡的现象,不自然的想法——
Foul disproportions, thoughts unnatural —
但请原谅我——我不在位置gg
But pardon me — I do not in positiongg
235清楚地谈论她;尽管我可能害怕
235Distinctly speak of her; though I may fear
她的意志,在她更好的判断面前退缩了,
Her will, recoilinghh to her better judgment,
可能会落到与你相配的乡村形式,
May fall to matchii you with her country forms,
然后高兴的jj忏悔起来。
And happilyjj repent.
噢,再见!再见!
Othello: Farewell, farewell!
如果你了解得更多,请告诉我更多。
If more thou dost perceive, let me know more.
240让你的妻子注意点。别管我,伊阿古。
240Set on thy wife to observe. Leave me, Iago.
我说:大人,我告辞了。
Iago: My lord, I take my leave.
[去。]
[Going.]
哦,你看:我为什么要结婚?这个诚实的人无疑
Othello: Why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless
所看到的和知道的比他展现的多得多。
Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds.
我以前曾说过:大人,我恳求您
Iago [returns]: My lord, I would I might entreat your honor
245不再扫描此物:交给时间吧。
245To scan this thing no further: leave it to time.
虽然凯西奥有他自己的位置,
Although ’tis fit that Cassio have his place,
他肯定能用出色的能力填补这个空缺,
For sure he fills it up with great ability,
不过,如果你愿意拖延他一会儿,
Yet, if you please to hold him off a while,
你将由此了解他和他的手段。
You shall by that perceive him and his means.
250注意如果你的女士影响他的娱乐kk
250Note if your lady strain his entertainmentkk
带着任何强烈或激烈的纠缠;
With any strong or vehement importunity;
这一点将会得到充分体现。与此同时
Much will be seen in that. In the mean time
让我被认为太忙于我的恐惧
Let me be thought too busyll in my fears
(我担心自己值得这么做)
(As worthy cause I have to fear I am)
255并释放她,嗯,我恳求法官大人。
255And hold her free,mm I do beseech your honor.
噢,不要惧怕我的政府。nn
Othello: Fear not my government.nn
我再一次告辞了。
Iago: I once more take my leave.
出口。
Exit.
哦,你看,这家伙真是诚实,
Othello: This fellow’s of exceeding honesty,
并了解所有品质,以博学的精神
And knows all qualities,oo with a learned spirit
260Ofpp human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,qq
尽管她的脚带牵动着我的心弦,
Though that her jessesrr were my dear heartstrings,
我会吹口哨让她离开,让她随风而去
I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind
捕食财富。也许,因为我是黑人
To prey at fortune.ss Haply, for I am black
而没有那些柔软的谈话部分
And have not those soft parts of conversationtt
265有室友,或者我被拒绝
265That chamberersuu have, or for I am declined
进入岁月的低谷——但这并不算多——
Into the vale of years — yet that’s not much —
她走了。我被虐待,我的解脱
She’s gone. I am abused, and my relief
一定是讨厌她。婚姻的诅咒啊,
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
我们可以称这些娇嫩的生物为我们的,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
270而不是他们的胃口!我宁愿做一只蟾蜍
270And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
生活在地牢的蒸汽中
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon
比在我爱的东西里占据一席之地
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
供他人使用。然而,这是大人物的祸害;vv
For others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones;vv
特权ww他们少于基础。
Prerogativedww are they less than the base.
275命运就像死亡一样,是无法逃避的。
275’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death.
即便如此,这场分叉的瘟疫xx也注定会降临到我们头上
Even then this forkèd plaguexx is fated to us
当我们确实加速时。yy看看她来自哪里。
When we do quicken.yy Look where she comes.
苔丝狄蒙娜和艾米莉亚上场。
Enter Desdemona and Emilia.
如果她是假的,哦,那么上天就是在嘲笑自己!
If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself!
我不会相信的。
I’ll not believe’t.
苔丝狄蒙娜:现在怎么样了,我亲爱的奥赛罗?
Desdemona: How now, my dear Othello?
280您的晚餐,以及慷慨的zz岛民
280Your dinner, and the generouszz islanders
受你邀请,一定出席。
By you invited, do attend your presence.
噢,那是我的错。
Othello: I am to blame.
苔丝狄蒙娜:你说话为什么这么小声?
Desdemona: Why do you speak so faintly?
你不舒服吗?
Are you not well?
哦,你好:我的前额这里疼。
Othello: I have a pain upon my forehead, here.
285德斯狄蒙娜:信仰,那是在观察;啊啊啊,再走开。
285Desdemona: Faith, that’s with watching;aaa ’twill away again.
让我在这一个小时内把它绑紧,
Let me but bind it hard, within this hour
一切都会好起来的。
It will be well.
噢你好:你的餐巾纸bbb太小了;
Othello: Your napkinbbb is too little;
[他把手帕推开,它没被注意到就掉了下来。]
[He pushes the handkerchief from him, and it falls unnoticed.]
别管它了。来,我跟你一起进去。
Let itccc alone. Come, I’ll go in with you.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我很遗憾您身体不舒服。
Desdemona: I am very sorry that you are not well.
(和奥赛罗一起)退场。
Exit [with Othello].
290E milia:我很高兴找到了这张餐巾;
290Emilia: I am glad I have found this napkin;
这是她对摩尔人的第一印象,
This was her first remembrance from the Moor,
我任性的丈夫有一百次
My wayward husband hath a hundred times
引诱我去偷它;但她太喜欢这个象征物了
Wooed me to steal it; but she so loves the token
(他祈求她永远保留它)
(For he conjured her she should ever keep it)
295她永远保留着对她的
295That she reserves it evermore about her
亲吻和交谈。我会把工作完成的ddd
To kiss and talk to. I’ll have the work ta’en outddd
并把它交给伊阿古。
And give’t Iago.
天知道他会用它做什么,但我不知道;
What he will do with it heaven knows, not I;
我只不过是为了满足他的幻想。eee
I nothing but to please his fantasy.eee
输入伊阿古。
Enter Iago.
300我问:现在怎么样?你一个人在这里干什么?
300Iago: How now? What do you here alone?
艾米莉亚:你别责备我,我有事要办。
Emilia: Do not you chide; I have a thing for you.
我以前:对我来说是件好事吗?这是一件很平常的事——
Iago: A thing for me? It is a common thing —
E milia:哈哈?
Emilia: Ha?
我说过:娶一个愚蠢的妻子。
Iago: To have a foolish wife.
305E milia:哦,就这些吗?你现在能给我什么呢?
305Emilia: O, is that all? What will you give me now
为了那块手帕吗?
For that same handkerchief?
我前:什么手帕?
Iago: What handkerchief?
E milia:什么手帕!
Emilia: What handkerchief!
为什么,摩尔人首先给了苔丝狄蒙娜;
Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona;
那是你经常要我偷的东西。
That which so often you did bid me steal.
310我问:你从她那儿偷走了它吗?
310Iago: Hast stol’n it from her?
E milia:不,她因为疏忽而把它掉在地上,
Emilia: No, faith; she let it drop by negligence,
我道: “好姑娘!给我吧。”
Iago: A good wench! Give it me.
E milia:你这么认真,你打算怎么办呢?
Emilia: What will you do with’t, that you have been so earnest
让我偷走它?
To have me filch it?
315我问:为什么,这与你有什么关系?
315Iago: Why, what is that to you?
[夺走它。]
[Snatches it.]
E milia:如果不是为了某种进口目的,ggg
Emilia: If it be not for some purpose of import,ggg
再给我一次。可怜的女士,她会发疯的
Give’t me again. Poor lady, she’ll run mad
当她缺少它的时候。
When she shall lack it.
320我以前:不被人知道;我有它用处。
320Iago: Be not acknown on’t;hhh I have use for it.
走吧,别再管我了。
Go, leave me.
艾米莉亚退下。
Exit Emilia.
我会把这张餐巾丢在卡西奥的住处
I will in Cassio’s lodgings lose this napkin
让他找到它。小事轻如空气
And let him find it. Trifles light as air
嫉妒的确认是强烈的
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
作为圣经的证明。这可能会起到一些作用。
As proofs of holy writ. This may do something.
325摩尔人已经因我的毒药而改变了:
325The Moor already changes with my poison:
危险的自负iii本质上是毒药,
Dangerous conceitsiii are in their natures poisons,
乍一看,几乎不会让人反感,
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
但只要对血液稍微采取行动
But with a little act upon the blood
像硫磺矿一样燃烧。
Burn like the mines of sulphur.
进入奥赛罗。
Enter Othello.
我确实这么说过。
I did say so.
330看看他来的地方!不是罂粟也不是曼陀罗,jjj
330Look where he comes! Not poppy nor mandragora,jjj
世上所有使人昏昏欲睡的药水,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
永远让你进入甜蜜的睡眠
Shall ever med’cine thee to that sweet sleep
这是你昨天所欠的。
Which thou owedst yesterday.
哦你:哈!哈!对我来说是假的吗?
Othello: Ha! ha! false to me?
我问: “将军,现在怎么样了?别再这样了!”
Iago: Why, how now, general? No more of that!
335噢,你走吧!你把我放在了刑架上。
335Othello: Avaunt! be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack.
我发誓被虐待更好
I swear ’tis better to be much abused
但比知道一点点。
Than but to know’t a little.
我问:大人,现在怎么样了?
Iago: How now, my lord?
哦,瑟罗:我对她偷来的情欲时光有何感想?
Othello: What sense had I of her stol’n hours of lust?
我没有看见,没有想到,它也没有伤害我;
I saw’t not, thought it not, it harmed not me;
340第二天晚上我睡得很好,吃得很好,很自由,很快乐;
340I slept the next night well, fed well, was freekkk and merry;
我没有在她的嘴唇上发现卡西奥的吻。
I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips.
被抢的人,并不想要被抢的东西,
He that is robbed, not wantinglll what is stol’n,
如果让他不知道,他就根本没被抢劫。
Let him not know’t, and he’s not robbed at all.
我前:听到这个消息我很难过。
Iago: I am sorry to hear this.
345哦,瑟罗:我很高兴,如果总营地,
345Othello: I had been happy if the general camp,
先驱者们,嗯,尝到了她甜美的身体,
Pioneersmmm and all, had tasted her sweet body,
所以我什么都不知道。哦,现在永远
So I had nothing known. O, now for ever
告别宁静的心灵!告别满足!
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
告别了羽毛部队,告别了大战争
Farewell the plumèd troops, and the bignnn wars
350雄心壮志就是美德!哦,再见!
350That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
再见,嘶鸣的骏马和尖锐的号角,
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
振奋人心的鼓声、震耳欲聋的笛声,
The spirit-stirring drum, th’ ear-piercing fife,
皇家旗帜和所有品质,
The royal banner, and all quality,
骄傲、盛况和光荣战争的场面!
Pride, pomp, and circumstanceooo of glorious war!
355哦,你们这些凡人的机器,ppp,你们粗鲁的喉咙
355And O you mortal enginesppp whose rude throats
不朽的朱庇特的恐惧是虚假的,qqq
Th’ immortal Jove’s dread clamors counterfeit,qqq
再见!奥赛罗的职业没了!
Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone!
我说:大人,这不可能吗?
Iago: Is’t possible, my lord?
哦,你这个恶棍,一定要让我的爱人变成妓女!
Othello: Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore!
360请相信我,给我亲眼所见的证据;
360Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof;
或者,凭着我永恒灵魂的价值,
Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
你最好生来就是一只狗
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
回答我苏醒的愤怒!
Than answer my waked wrath!
我问:难道这事儿还不成?
Iago: Is’t come to this?
哦,你让我看看吧,或者至少证明一下,
Othello: Make me to see’t; or at the least so prove it
365缓刑没有铰链也没有环
365That the probationrrr bear no hinge nor loop
悬而未决——否则你的一生就会遭殃!
To hang a doubt on — or woe upon thy life!
我以前:尊贵的阁下——
Iago: My noble lord —
哦,你若诽谤她,折磨我,
Othello: If thou dost slander her and torture me,
不再祈祷;抛弃一切悔恨;
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
370恐怖的头上积累着恐怖;
370On horror’s head horrors accumulate;
行诸事,令天哭泣,令地震惊;
Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed;
你不能将任何事物加到诅咒之上
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
比那还要大。
Greater than that.
我说:哦,仁慈!哦,上天啊,请宽恕我吧!
Iago: O grace! O heaven forgive me!
你是人吗?你有灵魂或理智吗?——
Are you a man? Have you a soul or sense? —
375上帝保佑你!接替我的职位。可怜的傻瓜,
375God buy you! take mine office. O wretched fool,
他喜欢使你的诚实变成罪恶!
That lov’st to make thine honesty a vice!
啊,可怕的世界!注意了,注意了,啊,世界,
O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,
直接而诚实并不安全。
To be direct and honest is not safe.
我感谢你给我带来的利益;从此以后
I thank you for this profit;sss and from hence
380我不会爱任何朋友,因为爱会滋生如此的冒犯。
380I’ll love no friend, sith love breeds such offense.
噢,你别说了。你应该诚实点。
Othello: Nay, stay. Thou shouldst be honest.
我说过:我应该明智,因为诚实是愚蠢的
Iago: I should be wise; for honesty’s a fool
并失去其作用。
And loses that it works for.
哦,以世界之名,
Othello: By the world,
我认为我的妻子是诚实的,但我认为她不是;
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
385我认为你是公正的,但又认为你不公正。
385I think that thou art just, and think thou art not.
我会有一些证据。她的名字,就像
I’ll have some proof. Her name, that was as fresh
黛安的面容现在又脏又黑
As Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black
就像我自己的脸一样。如果有绳索或刀子,
As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives,
毒药、火焰、令人窒息的水流,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,
390我不会忍受的。我会满意的!ttt
390I’ll not endure it. Would I were satisfied!ttt
伊阿古:我明白了,先生,您已经被激情吞噬了。
Iago: I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion:
我真的很后悔把这件事交给你。
I do repent me that I put it to you.
你会满意吗?
You would be satisfied?
噢,你愿意吗?不,我愿意。
Othello: Would? Nay, and I will.
我回答说:也许可以;但是怎样才能满足呢?大人,怎样才能满足呢?
Iago: And may; but how? how satisfied, my lord?
395你这个主管,会不会也大大地瞠目结舌一番呢?
395Would you, the supervisor,uuu grossly gape on?
看到她登顶了吗?
Behold her topped?
哦,你好:死亡和诅咒!哦!
Othello: Death and damnation! O!
我说过:我认为这是一件令人厌烦的困难,
Iago: It were a tedious difficulty, I think,
让他们有这样的前景。该死的,
To bring them to that prospect. Damn them then,
如果凡人的眼睛看到他们支持vvv
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolstervvv
400比他们自己还多!那会怎样?那会怎样?
400More than their own! What then? How then?
我该说什么呢?满意在哪里?
What shall I say? Where’s satisfaction?
你不可能看到这个,
It is impossible you should see this,
如果他们像山羊一样温顺,像猴子一样热情,
Were they as primewww as goats, as hot as monkeys,
As saltxxx as wolves in pride,yyy and fools as gross
405就像无知使人醉了一样。但我要说,
405As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
如果归咎和强有力的情况
If imputation and strong circumstances
直接通向真理之门
Which lead directly to the door of truth
会让你满意,你也许还没有。
Will give you satisfaction, you might have’t.
奥瑟罗:给我一个她不忠诚的活生生的理由。
Othello: Give me a living reason she’s disloyal.
410我前:我不喜欢办公室。
410Iago: I do not like the office.
但我至今仍参与此事,
But sith I am ent’red in this cause so far,
被愚蠢的诚实和爱所刺痛,
Pricked to’t by foolish honesty and love,
我继续说。我最近和卡西奥一起睡觉,
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately,
牙齿痛得厉害,
And being troubled with a raging tooth,
415我睡不着觉。
415I could not sleep.
有一种人,心灵如此散漫
There are a kind of men so loose of soul
他们会在睡梦中嘟囔自己的事。
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs.
卡西欧(Cassio)就是其中之一。
One of this kind is Cassio.
在睡梦中我听见他说:“亲爱的苔丝狄蒙娜,
In sleep I heard him say, “Sweet Desdemona,
420让我们保持警惕,让我们隐藏我们的爱!”
420Let us be wary, let us hide our loves!”
然后,先生,他会紧紧抓住我的手,
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,
大喊“哦可爱的小宝贝!”然后用力吻我,
Cry “O sweet creature!” and then kiss me hard,
仿佛他把吻连根拔起
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
那东西长在我的嘴唇上;然后他的腿
That grew upon my lips; then laid his leg
425趴在我的大腿上,叹息,亲吻,然后
425Over my thigh, and sighed, and kissed, and then
大喊“诅咒的命运把你交给了摩尔人!”
Cried “Cursèd fate that gave thee to the Moor!”
噢,你好可怕!滔天!
Othello: O monstrous! monstrous!
我说:不,这只是他的梦。
Iago: Nay, this was but his dream.
奥赛罗:但这意味着一个已成定局;zzz
Othello: But this denoted a foregone conclusion;zzz
我知道:这是一个明智的怀疑,尽管它只是一场梦。
Iago: ’Tis a shrewd doubt,aaaa though it be but a dream.
430这可能有助于巩固其他证据
430And this may help to thicken other proofs
这确实证明这一点。
That do demonstrate thinly.
哦你好:我要把她撕成碎片!
Othello: I’ll tear her all to pieces!
我说:不,还是要明智。但我们什么也没看到;
Iago: Nay, yet be wise. Yet we see nothing done;
她可能还是诚实的。但请告诉我——
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this —
你有没有见过手帕
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief
435你老婆的手上有草莓斑点吗?
435Spotted with strawberries in your wife’s hand?
哦,你好:我给了她这样一个礼物;这是我的第一份礼物。
Othello: I gave her such a one; ’twas my first gift.
我以前不知道;但这样的手帕——
Iago: I know not that; but such a handkerchief —
我确信那是你妻子的——我今天
I am sure it was your wife’s — did I to-day
看见卡西奥用擦胡子。
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
噢,如果是这样的话——
Othello: If it be that —
440我问:如果那是她的,或者任何她的,
440Iago: If it be that, or any that was hers,
它和其他证据都对她不利。
It speaks against her with the other proofs.
哦,那好:哦,但愿这个奴隶有四万条命!
Othello: O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!
一个人太穷,太弱,无法进行我的复仇。
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
现在我明白了。看这里,伊阿古:
Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago:
445我将我全部的爱吹向天堂。
445All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven.
它已经消失了。
’Tis gone.
崛起吧,黑色的复仇,从你那深陷的地狱中出来!
Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!
交出你的王冠和宝座吧,爱啊
Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne
暴虐的仇恨!胸膛里充满着你的愤怒,
To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,bbbb
那是肉冻般的舌头!
For ’tis of aspics’ tongues!
450我以前说过:但要知足。
450Iago: Yet be content.
哦,你好:哦,血,血,血!
Othello: O, blood, blood, blood!
我说:耐心点,也许你的想法会改变。
Iago: Patience, I say. Your mind perhaps may change.
噢,伊阿古,永远不会。就像庞蒂克海一样,dddd
Othello: Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea,dddd
冰冷的潮流和强迫性的路线
Whose icy current and compulsive course
455从未感到退休,但继续
455Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
前往普罗蓬提克海峡和赫勒斯滂海峡,
To the Propontic and the Hellespont,
尽管如此,我那血腥的思想,以狂暴的步伐,
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
永远不会回头,永远不会消退卑微的爱,
Shall ne’er look back, ne’er ebb to humble love,
直到一个有能力和广泛的复仇
Till that a capableeeee and wide revenge
把它们吞下去。
Swallow them up.
460(他跪下)现在,在大理石的天堂那边,
460(He kneels.) Now, by yond marble heaven,
怀着对神圣誓言的崇敬
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
我在此发表我的看法。
I here engage my words.
伊阿古:别起来。
Iago: Do not rise yet.
(伊阿古跪下。)
(Iago kneels.)
见证吧,天上永远燃烧的灯光,
Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
你们这些元素围绕着我们,
You elements that clipffff us round about,
465伊阿古在这里放弃了,
465Witness that here Iago doth give up
The executiongggg of his wit,hhhh hands, heart
去为受委屈的奥赛罗效命!让他下令,
To wronged Othello’s service! Let him command,
而我若服从,必将后悔,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,iiii
这到底是什么鬼事情啊。
What bloody business ever.
[他们站了起来。]
[They rise.]
噢,你好,我问候你的爱,
Othello: I greet thy love,
470不以虚荣的感谢,而是慷慨的接受,
470Not with vain thanks but with acceptance bounteous,
并会立即让你这么做。
And will upon the instant put thee to’t.
这三天内让我听你说
Within these three days let me hear thee say
卡西奥已经不再活着。
That Cassio’s not alive.
我知道:我的朋友死了;这是按照你的要求做的。
Iago: My friend is dead; ’tis done at your request.
475但让她活下去。
475But let her live.
噢,该死的,淫荡的妖精!噢,该死的!该死的!
Othello: Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her! damn her!
来吧,跟我分开。我将撤退
Come, go with me apart. I will withdraw
为我提供一些快速的死亡手段
To furnish me with some swift means of death
为了那位美丽的魔鬼。现在你就是我的副官。
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
我以前:我永远都是你的。
Iago: I am your own forever.
480下。
480Exeunt.
12.陌生:孤傲。
a12. strangeness: Aloofness.
b 13. 比…距离:比明智的政策要求的要远。
b13. Than … distance: Than wise policy requires.
c 15. 或者...饮食:或者因为这些轻微的原因而继续。
c15. Or … diet: Or be continued for such slight reasons.
d 19. 怀疑:恐惧。
d19. doubt: Fear.
e 23.看着他驯服:让他保持清醒,直到他屈服。
e23. watch him tame: Keep him awake until he gives in.
f 24. 忏悔室:忏悔室。
f24. shrift: Confessional.
g 47. 现在:立即。
g47. present: Immediate.
h 66. 几乎不:几乎没有。
h66. not almost: Hardly.
67.私下检查:甚至是私下谴责。
i67. a private check: Even a private reprimand.
j 70. 犹豫不决。
j70. mamm’ring on: Hesitating about.
k 83. 可怕的:危险的。
k83. fearful: Dangerous.
l 90. wretch:(爱称)。
l90. wretch: (A term of endearment).
m 100. 在我们之间行走:(即作为信使)。
m100. went between us: (i.e., as messenger).
n 115. 自负:幻想。
n115. conceit: Fancy.
o 123–24. 紧密扩张……规则:尽管受到抑制,但秘密的情绪仍会涌出。
o123–24. close dilations … rule: Secret emotions which well up in spite of restraint.
p 127. 看起来不像:即,当他们实际上是怪物时,不要假装是人。
p127. seem none: i.e., not pretend to be men when they are really monsters.
q 135. 约束…自由:约束自己说出甚至奴隶也可以保密的事情。
q135. bound … free to: Bound to tell that which even slaves are allowed to keep to themselves.
r 140. 法律和司法日:法院开庭。
r140. leets and law days: Sittings of the courts.
147.嫉妒:怀疑。
s147. jealousy: Suspicion.
t 149. 猜想:推测。
t149. conjects: Conjectures.
u 156.立即:最接近心脏。
u156. immediate: Nearest the heart.
v 166. 嘲笑:玩耍,像猫捉老鼠一样。
v166. mock: Play with, like a cat with a mouse.
w 173. fineless:无限制。
w173. fineless: Unlimited.
x 182. 呼气和吹出:吐出并吹出。
x182. exsufflicate and blown: Spat out and flyblown.
y 188. 反抗:不忠诚。
y188. revolt: Unfaithfulness.
z 198. 安全:过度自信。
z198. secure: Overconfident.
aa 200.自我恩赐:自然的善良。
aa200. self-bounty: Natural goodness.
bb 210. seel:关闭;
bb210. seel: Close;
cc橡木:橡木纹。
ccoak: Oak grain.
dd 219. 对于更严重的问题:意味着更可怕的事情。
dd219. To grosser issues: To mean something more monstrous.
ee 222. 邪恶的成功:邪恶的结果。
ee222. vile success: Evil outcome.
ff 225.诚实:贞洁。
ff225. honest: Chaste.
gg 234.立场:明确的断言。
gg234. position: Definite assertion.
hh 236. 反冲:回复。
hh236. recoiling: Reverting.
ii 237. 恰好相配:恰好进行比较。
ii237. fall to match: Happen to compare.
jj 238. 高兴地:也许,或许。
jj238. happily: Haply, perhaps.
kk 250. 尽力娱乐他:敦促他回忆。
kk250. strain his entertainment: Urge his recall.
ll 253. 忙碌:爱管闲事。
ll253. busy: Meddlesome.
mm 255. 释放她:认为她是无罪的。
mm255. hold her free: Consider her guiltless.
nn256 . 政府:自我控制。
nn256. government: Self-control.
oo 259. 品质:性质。
oo259. qualities: Natures.
第 259–60页。博学的精神:心灵知情。
pp259–60. learned spirit Of: Mind informed about.
qq 260.憔悴:一只野鹰。
qq260. haggard: A wild hawk.
rr 261. jesses:用来控制鹰的丁字裤。
rr261. jesses: Thongs for controlling a hawk.
262–63节。吹口哨……命运:把她赶出去,让她自己照顾自己。
ss262–63. whistle … fortune: Turn her out and let her take care of herself.
tt 264. 柔和的…谈话:讨好的举止。
tt264. soft … conversation: Ingratiating manners.
uu 265. 内臣:朝臣。
uu265. chamberers: Courtiers.
vv 273. 伟人:杰出的人。
vv273. great ones: Prominent men.
ww 274. 特权:享有特权。
ww274. Prerogatived: Privileged.
xx 276. 分叉的瘟疫:即乌龟的角。
xx276. forkèd plague: i.e., horns of a cuckold.
yy 277. 加速:出生。
yy277. do quicken: Are born.
zz 280. 慷慨:高尚。
zz280. generous: Noble.
aaa 285. 观看:工作到很晚。
aaa285. watching: Working late.
bbb 287. 餐巾:手帕。
bbb287. napkin: Handkerchief.
ccc 288. 它:即他的前额。
ccc288. it: i.e., his forehead.
ddd 296. 工作已完成:图案已复制。
ddd296. work ta’en out: Pattern copied.
eee 299.幻想:一时兴起。
eee299. fantasy: Whim.
fff 312. 有利:恰好。
fff312. to th’ advantage: Opportunely.
ggg 316. 导入:重要性。
ggg316. import: Importance.
hhh 319. Be … on't:不要承认。
hhh319. Be … on’t: Do not acknowledge it.
iii 326. 自负:想法。
iii326. conceits: Ideas.
jjj 330. mandragora:一种麻醉剂。
jjj330. mandragora: A narcotic.
kkk 340.free:无忧无虑。
kkk340. free: Carefree.
lll 342. 想要:失踪。
lll342. wanting: Missing.
mmm 346. 先驱者:工兵、劳工。
mmm346. Pioneers: Sappers, laborers.
nnn 349. 大:庄严。
nnn349. big: Stately.
ooo 354. 情况:盛典。
ooo354. circumstance: Pageantry.
ppp 355. 致命引擎:致命的火炮。
ppp355. mortal engines: Deadly artillery.
qqq 356.假冒:模仿。
qqq356. counterfeit: Imitate.
rrr 365. 缓刑:证明。
rrr365. probation: Proof.
sss 379. 利润:有利可图的教训。
sss379. profit: Profitable lesson.
ttt 390. 满意:完全了解。
ttt390. satisfied: Completely informed.
uuu 395. 监督者:旁观者。
uuu395. supervisor: Spectator.
vvv 399. 靠枕:躺在一起。
vvv399. bolster: Lie together.
www 403. prime:好色。
www403. prime: Lustful.
xxx 404. 盐:好色;
xxx404. salt: Lecherous;
yyy骄傲:热火。
yyypride: Heat.
zzz 428. 定论:先前的经验。
zzz428. foregone conclusion: Previous experience.
aaaa 429. 精明的怀疑:极其怀疑。
aaaa429. a shrewd doubt: Cursedly suspicious.
bbbb 449. 充满:负担;冷冻:致命的毒蛇。
bbbb449. fraught: Burden; aspics: Deadly poisonous snakes.
dddd 453. 庞蒂克海:黑海。
dddd453. Pontic sea: Black Sea.
eeee 459. 能干:包罗万象。
eeee459. capable: All-embracing.
ffff 464. 剪辑:包含。
ffff464. clip: Encompass.
gggg 466. 执行:活动;
gggg466. execution: Activities;
hhhh wit:思想。
hhhhwit: Mind.
iiii 468. 悔恨:可惜。
iiii468. remorse: Pity.
城堡周围。
The environs of the castle.
苔丝狄蒙娜、埃米莉亚、小丑登场。
Enter Desdemona, Emilia, and Clown.
德斯狄蒙娜:先生,您知道卡西奥中尉在哪里吗?
Desdemona: Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?a
C小丑:我不敢说他在任何地方撒谎。
Clown: I dare not say he lies anywhere.
苔丝狄蒙娜:为什么,老兄?
Desdemona: Why, man?
小丑:他是一名士兵,而对于我来说,说一名士兵撒谎就是在刺伤人。
Clown: He’s a soldier, and for me to say a soldier lies, ’tis stabbing.
5苔丝狄蒙娜:去吧。他住在哪儿?
5Desdemona: Go to. Where lodges he?
C小丑:告诉你他住在哪里,就等于告诉你我躺在哪里。
Clown: To tell you where he lodges is to tell you where I lie.
苔丝狄蒙娜:这能做什么呢?
Desdemona: Can anything be made of this?
小丑:我不知道他住在哪里;如果我能想出一个住处,然后说他住在这儿或那儿,那无异于自欺欺人。
Clown: I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and say he lies here or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat.
10苔丝狄蒙娜:你能向他打听一下,并从他的报告里得到启发吗?
10Desdemona: Can you enquire him out, and be edified by report?
小丑:我要为他讲授世界道理,也就是提出问题,然后用问题来解答。
Clown: I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions, and by them answer.
苔丝狄蒙娜:去找他,叫他过来。告诉他,我已经为他请了主公,希望一切顺利。
Desdemona: Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have movedb my lord on his behalf and hope all will be well.
小丑:这是人类智慧所能及的,因此我
Clown: To do this is within the compass of man’s wit, and therefore I’ll at
15诱惑去做这件事。
15tempt the doing of it.
出口。
Exit.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我应该把手帕丢在哪里呢,埃米莉亚?
Desdemona: Where should I lose the handkerchief, Emilia?
E milia:我不知道,夫人。
Emilia: I know not, madam.
德斯德蒙娜:相信我,我宁愿丢掉我的钱包
Desdemona: Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse
E milia:他不嫉妒吗?
Emilia: Is he not jealous?
德斯德蒙娜:谁?他?我想是他出生的地方
Desdemona: Who? he? I think the sun where he was born
进入奥赛罗。
Enter Othello.
二十五E milia:看看他从哪里来。
25Emilia: Look where he comes.
德斯狄蒙娜:我不会离开他,直到卡西奥
Desdemona: I will not leave him now till Cassio
叫他过去——您怎么样了,大人?
Be called to him — How is’t with you, my lord?
哦,你好:好吧,我的好夫人。[旁白。]哦,很难掩饰!——
Othello: Well, my good lady. [Aside.] O, hardness to dissemble! —
你好吗,苔丝狄蒙娜?
How do you, Desdemona?
苔丝狄蒙娜:好的,大人。
Desdemona: Well, my good lord.
三十噢,你好:把手给我。这只手很湿,夫人。
30Othello: Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.
苔丝狄蒙娜:它还未感受到年龄的增长,也未体验过悲伤。
Desdemona: It yet hath felt no age nor known no sorrow.
哦,瑟罗:这论证了富有成果和自由的心。
Othello: This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.
热热的,湿湿的。你的手需要
Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requires
剥夺自由、斋戒和祈祷,
A sequestere from liberty, fasting and prayer,
三十五多受惩罚,多锻炼虔诚;
35Much castigation, exercise devout;
因为这里有一个年轻的、满头大汗的魔鬼
For here’s a young and sweating devil here
通常会反抗。这是一手好牌,
That commonly rebels. ’Tis a good hand,
坦率地说。
A frank one.
苔丝狄蒙娜:你确实可以这么说;
Desdemona: You may, indeed, say so;
40因为那只手掏空了我的心。
40For ’twas that hand that gave away my heart.
噢,你看!伸出一只慷慨的手!古人的心伸出了双手;
Othello: A liberal hand! The hearts of old gave hands;
德斯狄蒙娜:我不能说这个。来吧,答应我!
Desdemona: I cannot speak of this. Come now, your promise!
噢,你说什么,查克?
Othello: What promise, chuck?
四十五苔丝狄蒙娜:我已派人去叫卡西奥来和你谈谈。
45Desdemona: I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you.
哦,你好:我有盐,很抱歉大黄g冒犯了我。
Othello: I have a salt and sorry rheumg offends me.
借我你的手帕吧。
Lend me thy handkerchief.
苔丝狄蒙娜:给,大人。
Desdemona: Here, my lord.
哦,你好:这是我给你的。
Othello: That which I gave you.
德斯狄蒙娜:这与我无关。
Desdemona: I have it not about me.
噢,不是吗?
Othello: Not?
苔丝狄蒙娜:不,大人,我相信您。
Desdemona: No, faith, my lord.
噢,你好:那是一个错误。
Othello: That’s a fault.
50那条手帕
50That handkerchief
给我妈妈送了一个埃及h 。
Did an Egyptianh to my mother give.
她很有魅力,我几乎可以读懂她
She was a charmer,i and could almost read
人们的思想。她告诉她,虽然她保留了它,
The thoughts of people. She told her, while she kept it,
这会让她变得和蔼可亲,并征服我的父亲
’Twould make her amiablej and subdue my father
55完全爱她;但如果她失去了它
55Entirely to her love; but if she lost it
或者把它当作礼物,我父亲的眼睛
Or made a gift of it, my father’s eye
应该让她厌恶,他的灵魂应该追捕
Should hold her loathèd, and his spirits should hunt
追寻新的幻想。她临终时把它给了我,
After new fancies. She, dying, gave it me,
告诉我,当我的命运要我结婚的时候,
And bid me, when my fate would have me wived,
60把它给她。我这样做了;并注意了;
60To give it her. I did so; and take heed on’t;
让它像你珍贵的眼睛一样受到喜爱。
Make it a darling like your precious eye.
失去或放弃都是如此的毁灭
To lose’t or give’t away were such perditionk
因为没有其他东西可以与之匹敌。
As nothing else could match.
苔丝狄蒙娜:不可能吧?
Desdemona: Is’t possible?
噢,是的。这里面有魔法。
Othello: ’Tis true. There’s magic in the web of it.
65世界上有一位女巫,
65A sibyl that had numb’red in the world
太阳运行二百罗盘,
The sun to course two hundred compasses,l
在她预言性的愤怒中缝制了作品;
In her prophetic fury sewed the work;
孕育丝绸的蠕虫是神圣的;
The worms were hallowed that did breed the silk;
而且它被染成了木乃伊m,这是熟练的
And it was dyed in mummym which the skillful
深得少女心。
Conserved of maidens’ hearts.
70德斯狄蒙娜:我信吗?这不是真的吗?
70Desdemona: I’faith? Is’t true?
噢,你好:最真实。因此请好好看看。
Othello: Most veritable. Therefore look to’t well.
苔丝狄蒙娜:那我真希望我从来没有见过它!
Desdemona: Then would to God that I had never seen’t!
噢,你好:哈!为什么呢?
Othello: Ha! Wherefore?
苔丝狄蒙娜:你为什么说话这么令人吃惊和鲁莽?
Desdemona: Why do you speak so startingly and rash?
75噢,你好:不是迷路了吗?不是走了吗?说吧,不是走偏了吗?
75Othello: Is’t lost? Is’t gone? Speak, is’t out o’ th’ way?
苔丝狄蒙娜:上天保佑我们!
Desdemona: Heaven bless us!
噢,你說嗎?
Othello: Say you?
苔丝狄蒙娜:它没有丢。但如果丢了怎么办?
Desdemona: It is not lost. But what an if it were?
噢,你好:怎么办?
Othello: How?
德斯狄蒙娜:我说它没有丢失。
Desdemona: I say it is not lost.
80哦,你好:拿来,让我看看!
80Othello: Fetch’t, let me see’t!
苔丝狄蒙娜:当然可以,先生;但是我现在还不愿意。
Desdemona: Why, so I can, sir; but I will not now.
哦,你好:帮我拿手帕来!我心里很不安。
Othello: Fetch me the handkerchief! My mind misgives.
85苔丝狄蒙娜:来吧,来吧!
85Desdemona: Come, come!
你永远不会遇见比他更有能力的男人了。
You’ll never meet a more sufficient man.
哦你好:手帕!
Othello: The handkerchief!
[苔丝狄蒙娜:请你跟我谈谈卡西奥。
[Desdemona: I pray talk me of Cassio.
哦,你好:手帕!]
Othello: The handkerchief!]
德斯狄蒙娜:一个男人一生都在
Desdemona: A man that all his timeo
他把幸福建立在你的爱上,
Hath founded his good fortunes on your love,
90与您共担危险 —
90Shared dangers with you —
哦你好:手帕!
Othello: The handkerchief!
德斯狄蒙娜:我相信,这都是你的错。
Desdemona: I’ faith, you are to blame.
哦,你好:天哪!
Othello: Zounds!
奥赛罗退场。
Exit Othello.
E milia:这个男人难道不嫉妒吗?
Emilia: Is not this man jealous?
95苔丝狄蒙娜:我以前从未见过这种情况。
95Desdemona: I ne’er saw this before.
这块手帕确实有一些奇妙之处;
Sure there’s some wonder in this handkerchief;
我最伤心的就是失去了它。
I am most unhappy in the loss of it.
E milia:不是一两年就能让我们看出一个人的品格的。
Emilia: ’Tis not a year or two shows us a man.
它们不过是胃,我们也不过是食物;
They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;
100它们饿着肚子吃我们,吃饱之后,
100They eat us hungerly, and when they are full,
它们给我们打嗝。
They belch us.
伊阿古与卡西奥上场。
Enter Iago and Cassio.
瞧瞧你——卡西奥和我的丈夫!
Look you — Cassio and my husband!
我说:没有别的办法;她必须这么做。
Iago: There is no other way; ’tis she must do’t.
德斯狄蒙娜:好卡西奥,现在怎么样?你有什么消息吗?
Desdemona: How now, good Cassio? What’s the news with you?
105卡西欧:夫人,我以前的情妇。我恳求你
105Cassio: Madam, my former suit. I do beseech you
愿我能再次通过你的善举
That by your virtuous means I may again
存在,成为他爱中的一员
Exist, and be a member of his love
我全心全意地
Whom I with all the office of my heart
非常荣幸。我不会拖延。
Entirely honor. I would not be delayed.
110如果我的罪行如此严重
110If my offense be of such mortal kind
无论是我过去的服务,还是现在的悲伤,
That neither my service past, nor present sorrows,
也不打算将来有所成就,
Nor purposed merit in futurity,
能再次将我赎回在他的爱中,
Can ransom me into his love again,
但知道这一点对我来说一定是有益的。
But to know so must be my benefit.
115那么我是否应该穿上强迫的内容,
115So shall I clothe me in a forced content,
而把自己关在别的地方,
And shut myself up inq some other course,
寻求命运的恩赐。
To fortune’s alms.
苔丝狄蒙娜:唉呀,温柔的卡西奥!
Desdemona: Alas, thrice-gentle Cassio!
我的主张现在不一致。
My advocationr is not now in tune.
我的主不是我的主,我也不应该认识他,
My lord is not my lord; nor should I know him,
120他是否赞成改变幽默呢?
120Were he in favors as in humor altered.
请帮助我每一个神圣的灵魂
So help me every spirit sanctified
正如我为你说过的,我尽我所能
As I have spoken for you all my best
站在他不悦的空白处
And stood within the blankt of his displeasure
为了我的言论自由!你必须耐心等待一段时间。
For my free speech! You must a while be patient.
125我会尽我所能,而且我会做得更多
125What I can do I will; and more I will
比我自己更敢。那就够了。
Than for myself I dare. Let that suffice you.
我问:王爷生气了吗?
Iago: Is my lord angry?
E milia:他已经走了,但现在,
Emilia: He went hence but now,
而且确实存在着奇怪的不安感。
And certainly in strange unquietness.
我前:他会生气吗?我看见大炮了
Iago: Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon
130当它把他的队伍吹向空中
130When it hath blown his ranks into the air
就像魔鬼一样,从他的手臂
And, like the devil, from his very arm
吹嘘自己的兄弟——他生气了吗?
Puffed his own brother — and is he angry?
那么,有一件重要的事情。我要去见他。
Something of moment then. I will go meet him.
如果他生气的话,确实有事。
There’s matter in’t indeed if he be angry.
苔丝狄蒙娜:请你这么做。
Desdemona: I prithee do so.
退出[伊阿古]。
Exit [Iago].
135一些确定的状态,u
135Something sure of state,u
无论是来自威尼斯还是一些未孵化的练习v
Either from Venice or some unhatched practicev
在塞浦路斯向他证明了这一点,
Made demonstrable here in Cyprus to him,
用他清澈的灵魂搅动;在这种情况下
Hath puddledw his clear spirit; and in such cases
人类的天性就是与低等事物争吵,
Men’s natures wrangle with inferior things,
140尽管他们的目标是伟人。即便如此;
140Though great ones are their object. ’Tis even so;
让我们的手指疼痛,它赋予x
For let our finger ache, and it enduesx
我们其他健康的身体部位甚至在某种意义上
Our other, healthful members even to a sense
痛苦。不,我们必须认为人不是神,
Of pain. Nay, we must think men are not gods,
他们也不寻求这样的遵守
Nor of them look for such observancy
145就像新娘一样。埃米莉亚,你真是诅咒我,
145As fits the bridal. Beshrew me much, Emilia,
我虽然不英俊,但
I was, unhandsome warriory as I am,
用我的灵魂控告他的不仁慈;z
Arraigning his unkindness with my soul;z
但现在我发现我已经收买了证人,
But now I find I had suborned the witness,
他被错误地起诉了。
And he’s indicted falsely.
150E milia:上天保佑,这是国家大事,正如你所想,
150Emilia: Pray heaven it be state matters, as you think,
德斯狄蒙娜:唉呀!我从来没有给他任何理由。
Desdemona: Alas the day! I never gave him cause.
E milia:但嫉妒的灵魂不会得到这样的回答;
Emilia: But jealous souls will not be answered so;
苔丝狄蒙娜:愿上天让那个怪物远离奥赛罗的脑海!
Desdemona: Heaven keep that monster from Othello’s mind!
E milia:女士,阿门。
Emilia: Lady, amen.
160德斯狄蒙娜:我要去找他。凯西奥,你过来走一走:
160Desdemona: I will go seek him. Cassio, walk here about:
如果我觉得他合适,我会把你的诉讼移走
If I do find him fit, I’ll move your suit
并尽我所能去实现它。
And seek to effect it to my uttermost.
C assio:我谦卑地感谢夫人。
Cassio: I humbly thank your ladyship.
苔丝狄蒙娜和爱米莉亚下。
Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia.
输入比安卡。
Enter Bianca.
比安卡:救救你吧,卡西奥朋友!
Bianca: Save you, friend Cassio!
问:什么让你感觉像在家一样?
Cassio: What make you from home?
165你好吗,我最美丽的比安卡?
165How is’t with you, my most fair Bianca?
我相信,亲爱的,我正要去你的家。
I’ faith, sweet love, I was coming to your house.
比安卡:我正要去你的住处,卡西奥。
Bianca: And I was going to your lodging, Cassio.
C assio:对不起,Bianca:
Cassio: Pardon me, Bianca:
比安卡:噢,卡西奥,这从何而来?
Bianca: O Cassio, whence came this?
175这是一位新朋友发来的礼物
175This is some token from a newer friend
现在,对于那种感觉到的缺失,我感到了原因。
To the felt absence now I feel a cause.
难道不是这样吗?好吧,好吧。
Is’t come to this? Well, well.
卡西奥:去吧,女人!
Cassio: Go to, woman!
把你卑鄙的猜测扔到魔鬼的牙齿里,
Throw your vile guesses in the devil’s teeth,
180你从哪里得到它们。你现在嫉妒
180From whence you have them. You are jealous now
这是来自某位情妇、某位回忆。
That this is from some mistress, some remembrance.
不,我相信,比安卡。
No, by my faith, Bianca.
比安卡:为什么?这是谁的?
Bianca: Why, whose is it?
卡西奥:我也不知道;我是在我的房间里发现的。
Cassio: I know not, neither; I found it in my chamber.
比安卡:离开你?为什么?
Bianca: Leave you? Wherefore?
Cassio :我确实参加了这次大会
Cassio: I do attend here on the general
别以为这不是我的愿望,
And think it no addition, nor my wish,
让他看见我变成女人的样子。
To have him see me womaned.
190比安卡:请问为什么?
190Bianca: Why, I pray you?
卡西奥:并不是我不爱你。
Cassio: Not that I love you not.
比安卡:但你不爱我!
Bianca: But that you do not love me!
我祈求你带我走一小段路,
I pray you bring me on the way a little,
并告诉我晚上是否能见到你。
And say if I shall see you soon at night.
卡西奥:我只能带你走一小段路,
Cassio: ’Tis but a little way that I can bring you,
195因为我在这里出席;但我很快就会见到你。
195For I attend here; but I’ll see you soon.
Bianca :非常好。我肯定是被环境所左右了。gg
Bianca: ’Tis very good. I must be circumstanced.gg
下。
Exeunt.
a 1. 居:居住,宿。
a1. lies: Lives, lodges.
b 13. 提出:提出建议。
b13. moved: Made proposals to.
c 20. 十字军东征:葡萄牙金币。
c20. crusadoes: Portuguese gold coins.
d 24. 体液:倾向。
d24. humors: Inclinations.
e 34. 扣押:移除。
e34. sequester: Removal.
f 42. 纹章学:纹章象征意义。
f42. heraldry: Heraldic symbolism.
g 46.盐…大黄:令人痛苦的头部感冒。
g46. salt … rheum: Distressing head cold.
h 51.埃及:吉普赛人。
h51. Egyptian: Gypsy.
i 52. 魅力者:女巫。
i52. charmer: Sorceress.
j 54. 可亲可爱的:可爱的。
j54. amiable: Lovable.
k 62. 毁灭:灾难。
k62. perdition: Disaster.
l 66. 罗盘:年轮。
l66. compasses: Annual rounds.
m 69.木乃伊:用木乃伊制成的药物。
m69. mummy: A drug made from mummies.
n 82. 放:转移。
n82. put: Divert.
o 88. 所有的时间:在他的整个职业生涯中。
o88. all his time: During his whole career.
p 103.幸福:祝你好运。
p103. happiness: Good luck.
q 116. 把自己关在里面:把自己限制在里面。
q116. shut myself up in: Confine myself to.
r 118. 倡导:宣传。
r118. advocation: Advocacy.
s 120. 青睐:外观。
s120. favor: Appearance.
t 123. 空白:目标的靶心。
t123. blank: Bull’s-eye of the target.
u 135. 状态:公共事务。
u135. state: Public affairs.
v 136. 未孵化的做法:萌芽情节。
v136. unhatched practice: Budding plot.
w 138. 泥泞的:泥泞的。
w138. puddled: Muddied.
x 141. 带来:带来。
x141. endues: Brings.
y 146.不英俊的战士:不合格的士兵。
y146. unhandsome warrior: Inadequate soldier.
z 147. 控告......灵魂:在我的灵魂面前控告他的不仁慈。
z147. Arraigning … soul: Indicting his unkindness before the bar of my soul.
aa 151.玩具:花哨。
aa151. toy: Fancy.
bb 157. 自生:自我产生。
bb157. Begot upon itself: Self-engendered.
cc 170.表盘:时钟。
cc170. dial: Clock.
dd 173. 继续:不间断。
dd173. continuate: Uninterrupted.
ee 174. 拿出…:为我复制这幅刺绣。
ee174. Take … out: Copy this embroidery for me.
ff 184. 工作:针线活。
ff184. work: Needlework.
gg 196. 环境:受环境支配。
gg196. circumstanced: Governed by circumstances.
城堡周围。
The environs of the castle.
奥赛罗与伊阿古上场。
Enter Othello and Iago.
我前:你会这么认为吗?
Iago: Will you think so?
奥瑟罗:伊阿古,你这么认为吗?
Othello: Think so, Iago?
我问:什么,
Iago: What,
私下接吻?
To kiss in private?
噢,你好:一个未经授权的吻。
Othello: An unauthorized kiss.
我喜欢:或者和她的朋友赤身裸体躺在床上
Iago: Or to be naked with her friend in bed
一个小时或更长时间,没有任何伤害吗?
An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
5奥赛罗:伊阿古,赤身裸体躺在床上,没有恶意吗?
5Othello: Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
这是对魔鬼的虚伪。
It is hypocrisy against the devil.a
那些心怀善念却又如此行事的人,
They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
他们的美德诱惑魔鬼,他们又诱惑天堂。
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
我说过:所以他们什么也不做,这只是小事一桩。
Iago: So they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.
10但如果我给我妻子一条手帕——
10But if I give my wife a handkerchief —
哦,你好:那又怎么样?
Othello: What then?
我问:那么,陛下,这就是她的了;既然是她的,
Iago: Why, then ’tis hers, my lord; and being hers,
我想,她可以把它赐予任何男人。
She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
哦,塞罗:她也是她荣誉的保护者;
Othello: She is protectress of her honor too;
15她可以给那个吗?
15May she give that?
我说过:她的荣誉是一种看不见的本质;
Iago: Her honor is an essence that’s not seen;
拥有它的人常常和没有它的人一样。
They have it very oft that have it not.
但对于手帕来说——
But for the handkerchief —
哦,你好:天啊,我真想忘掉这件事!
Othello: By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it!
20你说过——哦,它浮现在我的记忆中
20Thou said’st — O, it comes o’er my memory
就像乌鸦盘旋在被感染的房子上,
As doth the raven o’er the infectedb house,
预示着一切!——他拿了我的手帕。
Boding to all! — he had my handkerchief.
我问:哎,那又怎么样?
Iago: Ay, what of that?
噢,现在情况不太好。
Othello: That’s not so good now.
我以前:什么
Iago: What
如果我说我看见了他,你会觉得错了吗?
If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
二十五或者听他说——就像国外的流氓一样
25Or heard him say — as knaves be such abroad
他们自己不断的请求,
Who having, by their own importunate suit,
或自愿对情妇溺爱,
Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
说服或提供c他们,不能选择
Convincèd or suppliedc them, cannot choose
但他们必须喋喋不休——
But they must blab —
哦,你好:他说了什么吗?
Othello: Hath he said anything?
三十我回答说:他已经走了,大人;不过你放心,
30Iago: He hath, my lord; but be you well assured,
他也不会再发誓。
No more than he’ll unswear.
哦,蒂罗:他说了什么?
Othello: What hath he said?
我知道,他确实做了——但我不知道他做了什么。
Iago: Faith, that he did — I know not what he did.
噢,你好:啥?啥?
Othello: What? what?
我以前:谎言——
Iago: Lie —
噢,你好:和她一起吗?
Othello: With her?
三十五我说过:和她在一起,对她好;随你便吧。
35Iago: With her, on her; what you will.
哦,你跟她撒谎?对她撒谎?——当他们欺骗她时,我们说对她撒谎。——跟她撒谎!天哪,这太过分了。——手帕——忏悔——手帕!——忏悔,并因他的罪行被绞死劳动——先被绞死,然后忏悔!我为此而颤抖。40大自然不会在未经指引的情况下,将自己投入到如此阴暗的激情中。d不是言语让我如此震惊。——呸!鼻子、耳朵和嘴唇?不可能吗?——坦白?——手帕?——哦,魔鬼!
Othello: Lie with her? lie on her? — We say lie on her when they belie her. — Lie with her! Zounds, that’s fulsome. — Handkerchief — confessions — handkerchief! — To confess, and be hanged for his labor — first to be hanged, and then to confess! I tremble at it. 40Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without out some instruction.d It is not words that shakes me thus. — Pish! Noses, ears, and lips? Is’t possible? — Confess? — Handkerchief? — O devil!
(陷入恍惚状态。)
(Falls in a trance.)
我以前:努力工作,
Iago: Work on,
四十五我的药有效!轻信的傻瓜就这样被抓住了,
45My med’cine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught,
很多贞洁的贵妇人也如此
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus
一切无辜者,都应受到谴责。——什么,嗬!我的主!
All guiltless, meet reproach. — What, ho! my lord!
陛下,我说的是!奥赛罗!
My lord, I say! Othello!
凯西奥上。现在怎么样了,凯西奥?
Enter Cassio. How now, Cassio?
卡西奥:发生什么事了?
Cassio: What’s the matter?
50我知道:我的主人患了癫痫病。
50Iago: My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy.
这是他第二次发病,昨天他又发病了一次。
This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.
卡西奥:给他揉揉太阳穴。
Cassio: Rub him about the temples.
我前:不,忍一下。
Iago: No, forbear.
嗜睡者必须有其安静的过程。
The lethargye must have his quiet course.
如果不是,他就会口吐白沫,然后
If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by
55爆发出野蛮的疯狂。看,他动了。
55Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs.
你能不能稍微退后一点儿?
Do you withdraw yourself a little while.
他会很快康复的。当他离开时,
He will recover straight. When he is gone,
我很乐意在很好的场合和你谈话。
I would on great occasion speak with you.
[卡西奥下。]
[Exit Cassio.]
将军,情况怎么样?你的头没受伤吧?
How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?
哦,你这是在嘲笑我吗?
Othello: Dost thou mock me?
60我问:我在嘲笑你吗?天啊,我可不嘲笑你。
60Iago: I mock you? No, by heaven.
你愿意像一个男人一样承受你的命运吗?
Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
哦,你好:长角的男人是怪物和野兽。
Othello: A hornèd man’sf a monster and a beast.
我说过:在人口稠密的城市里,有许多野兽,
Iago: There’s many a beast then in a populous city,
还有许多民间怪物。
And many a civil monster.
噢瑟罗:他承认了吗?
Othello: Did he confess it?
65我说道:好先生,做个男子汉。
65Iago: Good sir, be a man.
想想每一个留着胡子的人,只要
Think every bearded fellow that’s but yoked
可以和你一起画画吗?现在有数百万人
May draw with you? There’s millions now alive
每晚躺在那些不合适的床上
That nightly lie in those unproperg beds
他们敢发誓:你的情况更好。
Which they dare swear peculiar:h your case is better.
70哦,这是地狱的怨恨,魔鬼的嘲弄,
70O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,
在安全的沙发上放荡地吮吸嘴唇,
To lip a wanton in a securei couch,
还以为她是贞洁的!不,告诉我吧;
And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
我知道我现在是什么样的人,因此我也知道她将来会是什么样的人。
And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
噢,你真聪明!这是肯定的。
Othello: O, thou art wise! ’Tis certain.
我说过:你们稍等片刻;
Iago: Stand you awhile apart;
75但要将自己限制在患者名单内。j
75Confine yourself but in a patient list.j
当你在这里,沉浸在悲伤之中时——
Whilst you were here, o’erwhelmèd with your grief —
这种激情与这样的人格格不入——
A passion most unsuiting such a man —
凯西奥来了。我把他赶走了
Cassio came hither. I shifted him away
并为你狂喜辩解;k
And laid good ’scuse upon your ecstasy;k
80叫他快回来,跟我谈谈;
80Bade him anon return, and here speak with me;
他承诺的。但要把自己困住
The which he promised. Do but encavel yourself
留意那些嘲笑、讥笑和明显的蔑视
And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns
栖息在他脸上的每一部分;
That dwell in every region of his face;
我要让他重新讲述这个故事——
For I will make him tell the tale anew —
85在哪里、如何、多久一次、多久以前以及何时
85Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
他已经,并且将再次应付你的妻子。
He hath, and is again to copem your wife.
我说,但请注意他的手势。快,耐心点!
I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience!
或者我应该说你们全都是脾脏,n
Or I shall say y’are all in all in spleen,n
根本就不是一个男人。
And nothing of a man.
哦,你听见了吗,伊阿古?
Othello: Dost thou hear, Iago?
90我的耐心将会被发现是最狡猾的;
90I will be found most cunning in my patience;
但 — — 你听见了吗? — — 极其血腥。
But — dost thou hear? — most bloody.
我以前:那没有错:
Iago: That’s not amiss:
但无论如何都要把握时机。你会退出吗?
But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
[奥赛罗退场。]
[Othello retires.]
现在我要问比安卡的卡西奥,
Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
一个丈夫通过出卖她的欲望
A huswifeo that by selling her desires
95给自己买面包和衣服。这是一种生物
95Buys herself bread and clothes. It is a creature
宠爱凯西奥,就像妓女的祸害一样
That dotes on Cassio, as ’tis the strumpet’s plague
欺骗许多人,却被一个人欺骗。
To beguile many and be beguiled by one.
当他听到她的时候,他禁不住
He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
从过度的欢笑中。他来了。
From the excess of laughter. Here he comes.
输入卡西奥。
Enter Cassio.
100当他微笑时,奥赛罗就会发疯;
100As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
And his unbookishp jealousy must consterq
可怜的卡西奥的微笑、手势和轻浮的行为
Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behavior
完全错了。你现在怎么样了,中尉?
Quite in the wrong. How do you now, lieutenant?
Cassio :你给我的加法越糟糕
Cassio: The worser that you give me the additionr
105他的欲望甚至会杀死我。
105Whose want even kills me.
我知道:好好对待苔丝狄蒙娜,你一定会成功的。
Iago: Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on’t.
现在,如果这套衣服在比安卡的掌控之中,
Now, if this suit lay in Bianca’s power,
你应该加速多快啊!
How quickly should you speed!
卡西奥:唉,可怜的家伙!
Cassio: Alas, poor caitiff!s
哦,你好:看他已经笑得多开心了!
Othello: Look how he laughs already!
110我曾说:我从来不知道有女人如此爱男人。
110Iago: I never knew a woman love man so.
卡西奥:唉,可怜的流氓!我想,她爱我。
Cassio: Alas, poor rogue! I think, i’ faith, she loves me.
哦,瑟罗:现在他隐隐否认,并且一笑置之。
Othello: Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.
我问:你听见了吗,卡西奥?
Iago: Do you hear, Cassio?
哦,他现在在纠缠他
Othello: Now he importunes him
讲出来。去吧!说得好,说得好!
To tell it o’er. Go to! Well said, well said!
115我说过:她允许你娶她。
115Iago: She gives out that you marry her.
你是有意为之吗?
Do you intend it?
卡西奥:哈哈哈!
Cassio: Ha, ha, ha!
噢,你胜利了吗,罗曼?你胜利了吗?
Othello: Do you triumph, Roman? Do you triumph?
120凯西奥:我娶她?什么,娶她做客?请你对我的才智宽容一点,别觉得它有损健康。哈,哈,哈!
120Cassio: I marry her? What, a customer?t Prithee bear some charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha!
噢,你好:所以,所以,所以,所以!他们笑着说赢了!
Othello: So, so, so, so! They laugh that win!
我回答道:信仰,人们都说你必须娶她。
Iago: Faith, the cry goes that you marry her.
卡西奥:请说真话。
Cassio: Prithee say true.
我以前:我是个很坏的人。
Iago: I am a very villain else.
125O你好:你给我打分了吗?u好的。
125Othello: Have you scored me?u Well.
卡西欧:这是猴子自己发的。她被说服,我会娶她是因为她自己的爱和奉承,而不是因为我的承诺。
Cassio: This is the monkey’s own giving out. She is persuaded I will marry her out of her own love and flattery, not out of my promise.
哦,你好:伊阿古向我招手;现在他开始讲故事。
Othello: Iago beckonsv me; now he begins the story.
130卡西奥:她现在还在这里;她到处都缠着我。前几天我在海边和几个威尼斯人聊天,她把那个小玩意儿带到我那儿,她用手把我的脖子挂在那儿——
130Cassio: She was here even now; she haunts me in every place. I was t’ other day talking on the sea bank with certain Venetians, and thither comes the bauble,w and, by this hand, she falls me thus about my neck —
噢,凯西奥:仿佛在喊“噢,亲爱的凯西奥!”他的手势传达了这一信息。
Othello: Crying “O dear Cassio!” as it were. His gesture imports it.
卡西奥:就这样挂着,摇晃着,在我身上哭泣;就这样摇晃着,拉着我!哈,135哈哈!
Cassio: So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so shakes and pulls me! Ha, 135ha, ha!
哦,他现在说她是如何把他带到我房间的。哦,我看到了你的鼻子,但我没有看到那只狗。
Othello: Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to.
卡西奥:好吧,我必须离开她了。
Cassio: Well, I must leave her company.
输入比安卡。
Enter Bianca.
我问: “在我面前!看她从哪儿来的。”
Iago: Before me! Look where she comes.
140C assio:这又是一个混蛋!x结婚,一个香水味十足的人。你觉得
140Cassio: ’Tis such another fitchew!x marry, a perfumed one. What do you
你这样纠缠我,是什么意思?
mean by this haunting of me?
比安卡:让魔鬼和他的混蛋缠着你吧!你现在还给我那条手帕是什么意思?我真是个傻瓜,竟然拿走了它。我必须把作品拿出来?一件很可能是作品的作品,你会在你的房间里找到它,却不知道是谁把它留在那儿的!这是某个妖精的信物,我必须把作品拿出来?好了!把它给你的木马。无论你把它放在哪儿,我都会把它拿出来145没有工作。
Bianca: Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now? I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the work? A likely piece of work that you should find it in your chamber and know not who left it there! This is some minx’s token, and I must take out the work? There! Give it your hobby-horse.y Wheresoever you had it, I’ll take out 145no work on’t.
C assio:现在怎么样了,我亲爱的比安卡?现在怎么样了?现在怎么样了?
Cassio: How now, my sweet Bianca? How now? how now?
150哦,蒂罗:天啊,那应该是我的帕子!
150Othello: By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!
比安卡:如果你今晚愿意来吃晚饭,那就来吧;如果你不愿意来,那就等你下次准备好了再来吧。
Bianca: An you’ll come to supper to-night, you may; an you will not, come when you are next prepared for.
出口。
Exit.
我问:追上她,追上她!
Iago: After her, after her!
卡西奥:我必须相信,要不然她又会在街上大声责骂了。
Cassio: Faith, I must; she’ll rail in the street else.
155我以前:你会在那里吃晚饭吗?
155Iago: Will you sup there?
卡西欧:是的,我是这样想的。
Cassio: Yes, I intend so.
我以前:好吧,我可能有机会见到你;因为我非常想和你谈谈。
Iago: Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain speak with you.
卡西欧:请你来。你愿意吗?
Cassio: Prithee come. Will you?
我前:去吧!别再说了。
Iago: Go to! say no more.
卡西奥下。
Exit Cassio.
噢,你走上前来:伊阿古,我怎样才能杀死他呢
Othello [comes forward]: How shall I murder him, Iago?
我问:你察觉到他是如何嘲笑他的恶习的吗?
Iago: Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?z
你好:哦,伊阿古!
Othello: O Iago!
我以前:你看到手帕了吗?
Iago: And did you see the handkerchief?
165噢,那是我的吗?
165Othello: Was that mine?
我回答说:凭这只手,你就是你的!看看他如何看重你妻子这个愚蠢的女人!她给了他,而他却给了他的妓女。
Iago: Your, by this hand! And to see how he prizesaa the foolish woman your wife! She gave it him, and he hath giv’n it his whore.
你好:我要让他死九年——一个好女人!一个美丽的女人!170一个可爱的女人!
Othello: I would have him nine years a-killing — A fine woman! a fair woman! 170a sweet woman!
我说:不,你必须忘记这一点。
Iago: Nay, you must forget that.
你好:是的,让她腐烂,毁灭,今晚就被诅咒吧;因为她不会活下来了。不,我的心已经变成石头了;我打它,它伤了我的手。噢,世界上没有比她更可爱的人了!她可以躺在皇帝身边175并指挥他任务。
Othello: Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-night; for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter creature! She might lie by an emperor’s side 175and command him tasks.
我回答说:不,这不是你的作风。
Iago: Nay, that’s not your way.
奥赛罗:把她吊死!我只想说她是个什么人。她针线活儿那么细腻!一个令人钦佩的音乐家!哦,她能唱出熊的野性!她有如此高超的才智和创造力——
Othello: Hang her! I do but say what she is. So delicate with her needle! an admirable musician! O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear! Of so high and plenteous wit and inventionbb —
180我说过:这一切都让她变得更糟。
180Iago: She’s the worse for all this.
噢,噢,千万次!而且,条件如此温和!cc
Othello: O, a thousand thousand times! And then, of so gentle a condition!cc
我问:哎呀,太温柔了。
Iago: Ay, too gentle.
噢,那当然了。不过,伊阿古,这太可怜了!噢,伊阿古,这太可怜了,185伊阿古!
Othello: Nay, that’s certain. But yet the pity of it, Iago! O Iago, the pity of it, 185Iago!
我说:如果你如此喜爱她的邪恶,就给她自由去犯罪的权利吧;因为如果它不触及你,它就不会接近任何人。
Iago: If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patentdd to offend; for if it touch not you, it comes near nobody.
噢,你好:我要把她砍得稀巴烂!给我戴绿帽子吧!
Othello: I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me!
我说:哦,她太肮脏了。
Iago: O, ’tis foul in her.
190噢,你好:和我的军官一起!
190Othello: With mine officer!
我说:那更糟糕。
Iago: That’s fouler.
哦,伊阿古,今晚给我弄点毒药。我不会和她争辩,以免她的身体和美貌再次让我失去理智。今晚,伊阿古!
Othello: Get me some poison, Iago, this night. I’ll not expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovideee my mind again. This night, Iago!
195我说过:不要用毒药。把她勒死在床上,哪怕是她污染过的床。
195Iago: Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated.
噢,好极了!正义令人欣慰。非常好!
Othello: Good, good! The justice of it pleases. Very good!
我愿意:至于凯西奥,让我来当他的殡仪员吧;200到午夜就会听到更多。
Iago: And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker;ff you 200shall hear more by midnight.
噢!非常好!
Othello: Excellent good!
一把小号。
A trumpet.
那 是 什么 样 的 小号 ?
What trumpet is that same?
我说过:我保证从威尼斯得到一些东西。
Iago: I warrant something from Venice.
罗多维科、苔丝狄蒙娜及随从上。
Enter Lodovico, Desdemona, and Attendants.
那是洛多维科。
’Tis Lodovico.
这是公爵送来的;瞧,你的妻子和他在一起。
This comes from the Duke; and see, your wife is with him.
洛多维科:上帝保佑您,尊敬的将军!
Lodovico: God save you, worthy general!
噢,你好:我全心全意地爱你,先生。
Othello: With all my heart, sir.
205洛多维科:威尼斯公爵和参议员们向您致意。
205Lodovico: The Duke and senators of Venice greet you.
[给他一封信。]
[Gives him a letter.]
哦,你好:我亲吻他们快乐的工具。
Othello: I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.
[打开信并阅读。]
[Opens the letter and reads.]
苔丝狄蒙娜:有什么消息吗,亲爱的堂兄洛多维科?
Desdemona: And what’s the news, good cousin Lodovico?
我说过:我很高兴见到您,先生。
Iago: I am very glad to see you, signior.
欢迎来到塞浦路斯。
Welcome to Cyprus.
洛多维科:谢谢您。卡西奥中尉怎么样了?
Lodovico: I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?
210我说过:活着,先生。
210Iago: Lives, sir.
黛丝狄蒙娜:表哥,他和我主子之间有矛盾
Desdemona: Cousin, there’s fall’n between him and my lord
这是一个不友善的违反;但你会让一切都好起来的。
An unkind breach; but you shall make all well.
O你好:你确定吗?
Othello: Are you sure of that?
苔丝狄蒙娜:我的主人?
Desdemona: My lord?
215奥赛罗写道: “这件事你不能不做,只要你愿意—— ”
215Othello [reads]: “This fail you not to do, as you will — ”
洛多维科:他没有打电话;他正忙着写报纸。
Lodovico: He did not call; he’s busy in the paper.
陛下和卡西奥之间有矛盾吗?
Is there division ’twixt my lord and Cassio?
德斯德蒙娜:一个最不幸的人。我会尽我所能
Desdemona: A most unhappy one. I would do much
哦你好:火与硫磺!
Othello: Fire and brimstone!
苔丝狄蒙娜:我的主人?
Desdemona: My lord?
220噢,你聪明吗?
220Othello: Are you wise?
苔丝狄蒙娜:怎么,他生气了吗?
Desdemona: What, is he angry?
洛多维科:也许是这封信感动了他;
Lodovico: May be the letter moved him;
因为,我认为他们确实命令他回家,
For, as I think, they do command him home,
委派卡西奥 (Cassio) 管理他的政府。
Deputing Cassio in his government.
苔丝狄蒙娜:说实话,我很高兴。
Desdemona: By my troth, I am glad on’t.
噢,是吗?
Othello: Indeed?
苔丝狄蒙娜:我的主人?
Desdemona: My lord?
O thello:我很高兴看到你疯了。hh
Othello: I am glad to see you mad.hh
225苔丝狄蒙娜:为什么,亲爱的奥赛罗——
225Desdemona: Why, sweet Othello —
哦你好:魔鬼!
Othello: Devil!
[打她。]
[Strikes her.]
苔丝狄蒙娜:我不值得遭受这样的对待。
Desdemona: I have not deserved this.
洛多维科:大人,威尼斯人不会相信这种话,
Lodovico: My lord, this would not be believed in Venice,
尽管我应该发誓我看见了它。确实如此。
Though I should swear I saw’t. ’Tis very much.
让她弥补过失;她哭了。
Make her amends; she weeps.
230噢,魔鬼,魔鬼!
230Othello: O devil, devil!
如果大地充满女人的眼泪,
If that the earth could teemii with woman’s tears,
她掉落的每一滴水都可能是鳄鱼。jj
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.jj
离开我的视线!
Out of my sight!
苔丝狄蒙娜:我不会留下来冒犯你。
Desdemona: I will not stay to offend you.
[去。]
[Going.]
洛多维科:确实是一位听话的女士。
Lodovico: Truly, an obedient lady.
235我恳求大人将她召回来。
235I do beseech your lordship call her back.
哦你好:女主人!
Othello: Mistress!
苔丝狄蒙娜:我的主人?
Desdemona: My lord?
噢,你对她有什么要求,先生?
Othello: What would you with her, sir?
洛多维科:谁?是我,大人?
Lodovico: Who? I, my lord?
噢,你真希望我让她转过来。
Othello: Ay! You did wish that I would make her turn.
240先生,她可以转啊转,但仍然会继续前行
240Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on
再转身;她可以哭,先生,哭吧;
And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;
她很听话,就像你说的,听话,
And she’s obedient; as you say, obedient,
很听话。——流着泪继续说。——
Very obedient. — Proceed you in your tears. —
关于这一点,先生——哦,描绘得很精彩的激情!kk——
Concerning this, sir — O well-painted passion!kk —
245我被命令回家。——让你走吧;
245I am commanded home. — Get you away;
我马上就派人去叫你。——先生,我服从命令
I’ll send for you anon. — Sir, I obey the mandate
并将返回威尼斯。——因此,滚开!
And will return to Venice. — Hence, avaunt!
[苔丝狄蒙娜下。]
[Exit Desdemona.]
凯西奥将代替我。先生,今晚
Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, to-night
我恳求我们可以一起吃晚饭。
I do entreat that we may sup together.
250先生,欢迎您来到塞浦路斯——山羊和猴子!
250You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus — Goats and monkeys!
出口。
Exit.
洛多维科:这就是我们参议院全体成员所尊敬的摩尔人吗?
Lodovico: Is this the noble Moor whom our full Senate
称一切皆足矣?这是本质吗?
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
激情无法动摇谁?谁的美德坚定
Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
意外的射击和机会的飞镖
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
既不能擦伤也不能刺穿?
Could neither graze nor pierce?
255我说过:他变化很大。
255Iago: He is much changed.
洛多维科:他的头脑还好吗?他不是脑子不灵光吗?
Lodovico: Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?
我说过:他就是他;我不能责备他。
Iago: He’s that he is; I may not breathe my censure.
他可能是——如果他不是——
What he might be — if what he might he is not —
我真希望他是!
I would to heaven he were!
洛多维科:什么,打他的妻子?
Lodovico: What, strike his wife?
260我说过:说实话,那不太好;但我知道
260Iago: Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew
那次中风将是最糟糕的!
That stroke would prove the worst!
洛多维科:这是他的用处吗?
Lodovico: Is it his use?ll
或者这些字母是否对他的血液起作用
Or did the letters work upon his blood
并重新产生这个故障?
And new-create this fault?
我前:唉呀,唉呀!
Iago: Alas, alas!
我说这些话不是诚实的
It is not honesty in me to speak
265我所看见和知道的。你们要观察他,
265What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
他自己的历程也将表明他如此
And his own courses will denote him so
以便我可以保留我的言论。
That I may save my speech. Do but go after
请注意他如何继续下去。
And mark how he continues.
洛多维科:我很抱歉我被他欺骗了。
Lodovico: I am sorry that I am deceived in him.
下。
Exeunt.
a 6. 虚伪......魔鬼:即假装有罪,而不是假装有美德。
a6. hypocrisy … devil: i.e., feigned sin instead of feigned virtue.
b 21. 感染:遭受瘟疫侵袭。
b21. infected: Plague-stricken.
c 28. 确信或满足:克服或满意。
c28. Convincèd or supplied: Overcome or gratified.
d 40–41. 自然……教导:我的自然才能不会被毫无理性的激情所征服。
d40–41. Nature … instruction: My natural faculties would not be so overcome by passion without reason.
e 53.嗜睡:昏迷。
e53. lethargy: Coma.
f 62. 有角的男人:乌龟。
f62. hornèd man: Cuckold.
g 68.不当:不专属于自己。
g68. unproper: Not exclusively their own.
h 69. 奇特的:完全属于他们自己的。
h69. peculiar: Exclusively their own.
i 71. 安全:没有竞争的恐惧。
i71. secure: Free from fear of rivalry.
j 75. 在病人名单中:在自我控制的范围内。
j75. in a patient list: Within the limits of self-control.
k 79.狂喜:恍惚。
k79. ecstasy: Trance.
l 81. encave:隐藏。
l81. encave: Conceal.
m 86.cope:见面。
m86. cope: Meet.
n 88. 一切都在脾脏中:完全被你的激情所征服。
n88. all in all in spleen: Wholly overcome by your passion.
o 94. 丈夫:妻子。
o94. huswife: Hussy.
p 101. unbookish:未受指导的;
p101. unbookish: Uninstructed;
q conster:解释,解释。
qconster: Construe, interpret.
r 104. 补充:标题。
r104. addition: Title.
s 108. caitiff:可怜的人。
s108. caitiff: Wretch.
t 119. 顾客:妓女。
t119. customer: Prostitute.
u 125. 给我打分:结清了我的账户(?)。
u125. scored me: Settled my account (?).
v 128. 招手:信号。
v128. beckons: Signals.
w 131. 小玩意:玩具。
w131. bauble: Plaything.
x 140. fitchew:臭鼬(俚语,意为妓女)。
x140. fitchew: Polecat (slang for whore).
y 147.爱好:妓女。
y147. hobby-horse: Harlot.
z 162. vice:即邪恶的行为。
z162. vice: i.e., vicious conduct.
aa 166. 奖品:价值。
aa166. prizes: Values.
bb 179. 发明:想象力。
bb179. invention: Imagination.
cc 182.条件:处置。
cc182. condition: Disposition.
dd 186. 专利:许可证。
dd186. patent: License.
ee 193. unprovide:解除武装。
ee193. unprovide: Disarm.
ff 198. 成为他的承办人:承担与他打交道的工作。
ff198. be his undertaker: Undertake to deal with him.
gg 219. 赎罪:和解。
gg219. atone: Reconcile.
hh 224. 疯狂的:即,爱开玩笑的。
hh224. mad: i.e., waggish.
ii 231. teem:品种。
ii231. teem: Breed.
jj 232.鳄鱼:(鳄鱼会流下虚伪的眼泪来引诱人类走向毁灭)。
jj232. crocodile: (Crocodiles were supposed to shed hypocritical tears to lure men to destruction).
kk 244.激情:悲伤。
kk244. passion: Grief.
ll 261. 用途:自定义。
ll261. use: Custom.
城堡内。
Within the castle.
奥赛罗与艾米莉亚登场。
Enter Othello and Emilia.
哦,你好:那么你什么也没看到吗?
Othello: You have seen nothing then?
E milia:从来没听说过,也从来没怀疑过。
Emilia: Nor ever heard, nor ever did suspect.
奥瑟罗:是的,你看到她和卡西奥在一起。
Othello: Yes, you have seen Cassio and she together.
E milia:但后来我没有看到任何伤害,然后我听到
Emilia: But then I saw no harm, and then I heard
5他们之间发出的每一个音节都是那股呼吸的声音。
5Each syllable that breath made up between them.
哦,瑟罗:怎么,他们从来没有低语过吗?
Othello: What, did they never whisper?
艾米莉亚:绝不,大人。
Emilia: Never, my lord.
哦,你好:我也没有送你走这条路吗?
Othello: Nor send you out o’ th’ way?
E milia:永远不会。
Emilia: Never.
哦,瑟罗:去拿她的扇子,她的手套,她的面具,什么也没有吗?
Othello: To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing?
10艾米莉亚:绝不,大人。
10Emilia: Never, my lord.
Othello :这很奇怪。
Othello: That’s strange.
埃米莉亚:大人,我敢打赌她是诚实的,
Emilia: I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest,
把我的灵魂置于危险之中。如果你认为其他的,
Lay down my soul at stake. If you think other,
除去你的想法吧;它伤害了你的心。
Remove your thought; it doth abuse your bosom.a
15如果哪个恶人把这个植入你的脑海,
15If any wretch have put this in your head,
让上天用蛇的诅咒来报复吧!
Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse!b
如果她不诚实、不贞洁、不真诚,
For if she be not honest, chaste, and true,
没有男人会快乐;他们最纯洁的妻子
There’s no man happy; the purest of their wives
是恶劣的诽谤。
Is foul as slander.
哦,瑟罗:叫她过来。去吧。
Othello: Bid her come hither. Go.
艾米莉亚退下。
Exit Emilia.
20她说得够多了,但她是个简单的妓女
20She says enough; yet she’s a simple bawd
这并不能说明什么。这是一个狡猾的妓女,
That cannot say as much. This is a subtle whore,
一个壁橱锁和邪恶秘密的钥匙;
A closet lock and key of villainous secrets;
但她还是会跪下祈祷;我曾看见她没有这么做。
And yet she’ll kneel and pray; I have seen her do’t.
苔丝狄蒙娜和艾米莉亚上场。
Enter Desdemona and Emilia.
苔丝狄蒙娜:陛下,您的旨意是什么?
Desdemona: My lord, what is your will?
噢,查克:求你了,过来吧。
Othello: Pray you, chuck, come hither.
苔丝狄蒙娜:您有何吩咐?
Desdemona: What is your pleasure?
二十五奥赛罗:让我看看你的眼睛。
25Othello: Let me see your eyes.
看着我的脸。
Look in my face.
苔丝狄蒙娜:这是何等可怕的幻想?
Desdemona: What horrible fancy’s this?
噢,你好[对艾米莉亚 说]:女主人,您有些职责了。
Othello [to Emilia]: Some of your function, mistress.
艾米莉亚退下。
Exit Emilia.
苔丝狄蒙娜:跪下,你到底想说什么?
Desdemona: Upon my knees, what doth your speech import?
我明白你话语中的愤怒,
I understand a fury in your words,
[但不是文字。]
[But not the words.]
哦,瑟罗:为什么,你是什么?
Othello: Why, what art thou?
德斯狄蒙娜:大人,您的妻子,您真正的
Desdemona: Your wife, my lord; your true
也是忠诚的妻子。
And loyal wife.
三十五哦,塞罗:来吧,发誓,该死的你自己;
35Othello: Come, swear it, damn thyself;
苔丝狄蒙娜:上天确实知道这一点。
Desdemona: Heaven doth truly know it.
哦,瑟罗:上天确实知道你如地狱般虚伪。
Othello: Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.
40苔丝狄蒙娜:我向谁撒谎,大人?我向谁撒谎?我怎么又欺骗了谁?
40Desdemona: To whom, my lord? With whom? How am I false?
噢,噢,苔丝狄蒙娜!离开!离开!离开!
Othello: Ah, Desdemona! away! away! away!
德斯狄蒙娜:唉,天气真不好!你为什么哭泣?
Desdemona: Alas the heavy day! Why do you weep?
噢,天啊,
Othello: Had it pleased heaven
用苦难考验我,如果他们下雨
To try me with affliction, had they rained
我的头上布满了各种疮疡和耻辱,
All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head,
50让我陷入贫困,
50Steeped me in poverty to the very lips,
把我和我最大的希望囚禁起来,
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,
我应该在我灵魂的某个地方找到
I should have found in some place of my soul
一滴耐心。但是,唉,让我
A drop of patience. But, alas, to make me
蔑视时代的固定数字
The fixèd figure for the time of scornh
55用他那缓慢不动的手指指向!
55To point his slow unmoving finger at!
但我也能忍受这一点,嗯,非常好。
Yet could I bear that too; well, very well.
但在那里我已收藏了我的心,
But there where I have garnered up my heart,
我要么活着,要么不活,
Where either I must live or bear no life,
我的电流流经的喷泉
The fountain from the which my current runs
60或者干涸——被丢弃,
60Or else dries up — to be discarded thence,
或者把它当作蟾蜍的蓄水池
Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads
打结和性别——把你的肤色转向那里,我
To knot and gender in — turn thy complexion there,i
耐心点,你这有着玫瑰色嘴唇的年轻小天使!
Patience, thou young and rose-lipped cherubin!
哎呀,看上去太可怕了!
Ay, here look grim as hell!
65德斯狄蒙娜:我希望尊贵的阁下认为我是诚实的。
65Desdemona: I hope my noble lord esteems me honest.
哦,你好;夏天的苍蝇乱飞,
Othello: O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles,j
70苔丝狄蒙娜:唉呀,我犯了什么无知的罪孽呢?
70Desdemona: Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
哦,海罗:这美丽的纸张,这最美好的书,
Othello: Was this fair paper, this most goodly book,
被要求写上“妓女”?犯了什么罪?
Made to write “whore” upon? What committed?
承诺了吗?哦你这个公众平民!
Committed? O thou public commoner!l
我应该把我的脸颊锻造成
I should make very forges of my cheeks
75这会把谦逊烧成灰烬,
75That would to cinders burn up modesty,
我只是说了你的所作所为。你犯了什么罪?
Did I but speak thy deeds. What committed?
天堂挡住了它的鼻子,月亮眨了眨眼睛;
Heaven stops the nose at it, and the moon winks;m
淫荡的风,亲吻着它所遇到的一切,
The bawdy wind, that kisses all it meets,
静静地埋藏在地底的空心矿井里
Is hushed within the hollow mine of earth
80却不听。犯了什么罪?
80And will not hear it. What committed?
厚颜无耻的妓女!
Impudent strumpet!
苔丝狄蒙娜:老天在上,你对我太不公平了!
Desdemona: By heaven, you do me wrong!
噢,你不是妓女吗?
Othello: Are not you a strumpet?
苔丝狄蒙娜:不,因为我是一名基督徒!
Desdemona: No, as I am a Christian!
如果要为我的主子保留这艘船
If to preserve this vessel for my lord
任何其他非法触碰
From any other foul unlawful touch
85不要做妓女,我不是妓女。
85Be not to be a strumpet, I am none.
噢,你说什么?不是妓女吗?
Othello: What, not a whore?
苔丝狄蒙娜:不,因为我会得救!
Desdemona: No, as I shall be saved!
O你好:不可能吗?
Othello: Is’t possible?
苔丝狄蒙娜:哦,上天请宽恕我们吧!
Desdemona: O, heaven forgive us!
哦,你好:我为你求饶命。
Othello: I cry you mercyn then.
我把你当成威尼斯那个狡猾的妓女
I took you for that cunning whore of Venice
90和奥赛罗结婚的那个。—— (叫道。)你,女主人,
90That married with Othello. — [Calling.] You, mistress,
办公室就在圣彼得对面
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter
并守住地狱之门!
And keep the gate of hell!
输入艾米莉亚。
Enter Emilia.
你,你,哎,你!
You, you, ay, you!
我们已经完成了我们的任务,有钱可以补偿你的辛苦:
We have done our course; there’s money for your pains:
我祈求您转动钥匙,并保守我们的秘密。
I pray you turn the key, and keep our counsel.
出口。
Exit.
95E milia:唉呀,这位先生想什么呢?
95Emilia: Alas, what does this gentleman conceive?
您好吗,夫人?您好吗,我的好夫人?
How do you, madam? How do you, my good lady?
德斯狄蒙娜:费思,半睡半醒。o
Desdemona: Faith, half asleep.o
艾米莉亚:亲爱的夫人,请问大人有什么事吗?
Emilia: Good madam, what’s the matter with my lord?
苔丝狄蒙娜:和谁?
Desdemona: With who?
100艾米莉亚:当然可以,夫人,和我的主人一起。
100Emilia: Why, with my lord, madam.
苔丝狄蒙娜:谁是你的主人?
Desdemona: Who is thy lord?
E milia:他是你的,亲爱的女士。
Emilia: He that is yours, sweet lady.
德斯狄蒙娜:我没有。别跟我说话,埃米莉亚。
Desdemona: I have none. Do not talk to me, Emilia.
我不能哭,也不能回答
I cannot weep; nor answer have I none
但什么应该通过水路。今晚请
But what should go by water. Prithee to-night
105记住,把我的婚礼床单放在我的床上;
105Lay on my bed my wedding sheets, remember;
并叫你的丈夫过来。
And call thy husband hither.
E milia:这确实是一个变化!
Emilia: Here’s a change indeed!
出口。
Exit.
黛斯狄蒙娜:我应该这么用,非常合适。
Desdemona: ’Tis meet I should be used so, very meet.
伊阿古和艾米莉亚上场。
Enter Iago and Emilia.
110我问:请问有什么事吗,夫人?您好吗?
110Iago: What is your pleasure, madam? How is’t with you?
德斯德蒙娜:我说不出来。那些教小孩子的
Desdemona: I cannot tell. Those that do teach young babes
用温和的方式和简单的任务来做:
Do it with gentle means and easy tasks:
他本可以这样责备我,因为,
He might have chid me so; for, in good faith,
我是个爱责骂的孩子。
I am a child to chiding.
我问:女士,发生什么事了?
Iago: What is the matter, lady?
115埃米莉亚:唉呀,伊阿古,我的主人竟如此地玷污了她,
115Emilia: Alas, Iago, my lord hath so bewhored her,
面对如此的不公和苛刻的条件
Thrown such despite and heavy terms upon her
真心无法承受。
As true hearts cannot bear.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我是这个名字吗,伊阿古?
Desdemona: Am I that name, Iago?
我问:什么名字,美丽的女士?
Iago: What name, fair lady?
120苔丝狄蒙娜:正如她所说的,我的主人确实说过我就是这样的。
120Desdemona: Such as she said my lord did say I was.
E milia:他骂她是妓女。他喝酒时是个乞丐
Emilia: He called her whore. A beggar in his drink
我问:他为什么这么做?
Iago: Why did he so?
苔丝狄蒙娜:我不知道;但我肯定我不是这样的人。
Desdemona: I do not know; I am sure I am none such.
我说道:别哭,别哭。天啊!
Iago: Do not weep, do not weep. Alas the day!
125她抛弃了那么多高贵的姻亲,
125Emilia: Hath she forsook so many noble matches,
她的父亲、她的国家、她的朋友,
Her father and her country, and her friends,
被人骂妓女?难道这不会让人哭泣吗?
To be called whore? Would it not make one weep?
苔丝狄蒙娜:这是我的不幸的命运。
Desdemona: It is my wretched fortune.
我说道:诅咒他!
Iago: Beshrew him for’t!
苔丝狄蒙娜:不,上天知道。
Desdemona: Nay, heaven doth know.
130E milia:如果某个永恒的恶棍,我会被绞死,
130Emilia: I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
我大吃一惊:呸,没有这样的人!不可能。
Iago: Fie, there is no such man! It is impossible.
135苔丝狄蒙娜:如果有这样的人,愿上天宽恕他!
135Desdemona: If any such there be, heaven pardon him!
艾米莉亚:用缰绳宽恕他!地狱会啃咬他的骨头!
Emilia: A halter pardon him! and hell gnaw his bones!
他凭什么骂她是妓女?谁跟她在一起?
Why should he call her whore? Who keeps her company?
什么地点?什么时间?什么形式?什么可能性?
What place? what time? what form? what likelihood?
摩尔人被一些最恶毒的恶棍虐待,
The Moor ’s abused by some most villainous knave,
140一些卑鄙、臭名昭著的恶棍,一些卑鄙的家伙。
140Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow.
O heaven, that such companionsu thou’dst unfold,v
把鞭子放在每一只诚实的手中
And put in every honest hand a whip
把全世界的恶棍都打得赤身裸体
To lash the rascals naked through the world
甚至从东到西!
Even from the east to th’ west!
我之前:在门内说话。w
Iago: Speak within door.w
145埃米莉亚:哦,呸!他就是这样的乡绅
145Emilia: O, fie upon them! Some such squire he was
这让你的智慧变得阴暗,
That turned your wit the seamy side without
并让你怀疑我和摩尔人有关。
And made you to suspect me with the Moor.
我问:“你真是个傻瓜。去吧。”
Iago: You are a fool. Go to.
苔丝狄蒙娜:哦,善良的伊阿古,
Desdemona: O good Iago,
我该怎么做才能再次赢得我的主人的欢心?
What shall I do to win my lord again?
150好朋友,去找他吧;因为,借着天堂的光芒,
150Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven,
我不知道我是怎么失去他的。我跪在这里:
I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel:
如果我的意志违背了他的爱
If e’er my will did trespass ’gainst his love
无论是思想言论还是实际行为,
Either in discoursex of thought or actual deed,
或者我的眼睛、我的耳朵或任何感觉
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense
155以任何其他形式取悦他们,
155Delighted them in any other form,
或者说我至今没有,也从未做过,
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,
永远如此(尽管他会将我甩掉)
And ever will (though he do shake me off
乞求离婚)深爱着他,
To beggarly divorcement) love him dearly,
安慰别来打扰我!不仁慈也许能带来很多好处;
Comfort forsweary me! Unkindness may do much;
160他的无情可能会毁了我的一生,
160And his unkindness may defeatz my life,
但不要玷污我的爱。我不能说“妓女”。
But never taint my love. I cannot say “whore.”
现在我说出这句话时它确实厌恶我;
It does abhor me now I speak the word;
做可能会增加收入的行为
To do the act that might the addition earn
世间的虚荣也无法让我改变。
Not the world’s mass of vanity could make me.
165我说:我祈求你满足。这只是他的幽默。
165Iago: I pray you be content. ’Tis but his humor.
国家事务冒犯了他,
The business of the state does him offense,
[他确实责备你。]
[And he does chide with you.]
苔丝狄蒙娜:如果没有别的——
Desdemona: If ’twere no other —
我说:确实如此,我保证。
Iago: ’Tis but so, I warrant.
[内部传来喇叭声。]
[Trumpets within.]
听听这些乐器是如何召唤你去吃晚饭的。
Hark how these instruments summon you to supper.
170威尼斯的信使们停下了脚步:
170The messengers of Venice stay the meat:
进去吧,别哭。一切都会好起来的。
Go in, and weep not. All things shall be well.
苔丝狄蒙娜和爱米莉亚下。
Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia.
输入罗德里戈。
Enter Roderigo.
现在怎么样了,罗德里戈?
How now, Roderigo?
罗德里格:我发现你待我不公正。
Roderigo: I do not find that thou deal’st justly with me.
我问:那又怎么样?
Iago: What in the contrary?
175罗德里格:伊阿古,你每天都用各种花招来欺骗我,在我看来,你不仅不给我带来一丝希望,反而让我失去了一切便利。我真的再也忍受不了了,而且我还没有被说服平静地忍受我愚蠢地遭受的一切。
175Roderigo: Every day thou daff’st me with some device,aa Iago, and rather, as it seems to me now, keep’st from me all conveniencybb than suppliest me with the least advantage of hope. I will indeed no longer endure it; nor am I yet persuaded to put up in peace what already I have foolishly suffered.
180我问:你能听见我说话吗,罗德里戈?
180Iago: Will you hear me, Roderigo?
罗德里格:说实话,我听得太多了;你的话和你的表现根本不相符。
Roderigo: Faith, I have heard too much; for your words and performances are no kin together.
我问:你这样指控我太不公平了。
Iago: You charge me most unjustly.
罗德里戈:实话实说。我已经浪费了自己的一切。185你让我把珠宝交给苔丝狄蒙娜,这些珠宝足以使一个信徒半堕落。cc你告诉我她已经收到了它们,并回报了我突然的尊重 dd 和熟悉的期望和安慰;但我什么也没找到。
Roderigo: With naught but truth. I have wasted myself out of my means. 185The jewels you have had from me to deliver Desdemona would half have corrupted a votarist.cc You have told me she hath received them, and returned me expectations and comforts of sudden respectdd and acquaintance; but I find none.
我前:好,去吧;很好。
Iago: Well, go to; very well.
罗德里戈:很好!去吧!我不能去,老兄;而且不太好。凭着这只手,我说这很糟糕,开始发现自己被搞砸了190在里面。
Roderigo: Very well! go to! I cannot go to, man; nor ’tis not very well. By this hand, I say ’tis very scurvy, and begin to find myself foppedee 190in it.
我前:非常好。
Iago: Very well.
195罗德里格:我告诉你,情况不太妙。我会让苔丝狄蒙娜知道我的情况。如果她能归还我的珠宝,我就放弃我的追求,并忏悔我的非法请求;如果不行,你放心,我会向你寻求满意的。
195Roderigo: I tell you ’tis not very well. I will make myself known to Desdemona. If she will return me my jewels, I will give over my suit and repent my unlawful solicitation; if not, assure yourself I will seek satisfaction of you.
我前:你现在已经说了。
Iago: You have said now.
Roderigo :是的,除了我抗议的意图外,什么也没说200正在做。
Roderigo: Ay, and said nothing but what I protest intendment of 200doing.
我回答说:为什么,现在我看你很有勇气;甚至从这一刻起,你就会比以前更加有信心。伸出你的手,罗德里戈。你对我提出了最公正的反对;但我声明,我已经在你的事上最直接地处理了。
Iago: Why, now I see there’s mettle in thee; and even from this instant do build on thee a better opinion than ever before. Give me thy hand, Roderigo. Thou has taken against me a most just exception; but yet I protest I have dealt most directlyff in thy affair.
205罗德里戈:还没有出现。
205Roderigo: It hath not appeared.
我以前说过:我承认它确实没有出现,你的怀疑并非没有智慧和判断力。但是,罗德里戈,如果你确实拥有我现在比以往任何时候都更有理由相信的东西,我的意思是决心、勇气和勇气,今晚就展示出来。如果你在下个晚上没有享受210苔丝狄蒙娜,带我离开这个充满背叛的世界,为我设计拯救生命的工具。
Iago: I grant indeed it hath not appeared, and your suspicion is not without wit and judgment. But, Roderigo, if thou hast that in thee indeed which I have greater reason to believe now than ever, I mean purpose, courage, and valor, this night show it. If thou the next night following enjoy not 210Desdemona, take me from this world with treachery and devise engines forgg my life.
罗德里戈:嗯,那是什么?这在合理和合理的范围内吗?
Roderigo: Well, what is it? Is it within reason and compass?
我知道:先生,威尼斯有特别的委任来派卡西奥代替奥赛罗。
Iago: Sir, there is especial commission come from Venice to depute Cassio in Othello’s place.
215罗德里戈:是吗?那么,奥赛罗和苔丝狄蒙娜又回到了威尼斯。
215Roderigo: Is that true? Why, then Othello and Desdemona return again to Venice.
我以前说过:哦,不;他去了毛里塔尼亚,带走了美丽的苔丝狄蒙娜,除非他的住所因为某种意外而留在这里;其中没有什么比移除
Iago: O, no; he goes into Mauritania and takes away with him the fair Desdemona, unless his abode be lingered herehh by some accident; wherein none can be so determinateii as the removing of
220卡西奥。
220Cassio.
罗德里戈:你是什么意思把他除掉?
Roderigo: How do you mean removing of him?
我知道:为什么,通过让他失去奥赛罗的位置——敲掉他的脑袋。
Iago: Why, by making him uncapable of Othello’s place — knocking out his brains.
罗德里戈:你想让我这么做吗?
Roderigo: And that you would have me to do?
伊阿古:是的,如果你敢为自己谋取利益和权利。他今晚和一个妓女共进晚餐,我会去找他。他还不知道他有多么光荣。如果你能看着他离开,我会安排他在十二点到一点之间离开,你可以随心所欲地抓住他。我会支持你的尝试,他会在我们中间倒下。来吧,不要惊讶,跟我一起去。我会让你知道他死的必要性,你会觉得你必须把这件事加在他身上。现在是晚餐时间,夜色渐浓230浪费。就这样!
Iago: Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. He sups to-night with a harlotry, and thither will I go to him. He knows not yet of his honorable fortune. If you will watch his going thence, which I will fashion to fall out between twelve and one, you may take him at your pleasure. I will be near to second your attempt, and he shall fall between us. Come, stand not amazed at it, but go along with me. I will show you such a necessity in his death that you shall think yourself bound to put it on him. It is now high supper time, and the night grows to 230waste. About it!
罗德里戈:我想听听进一步的理由。
Roderigo: I will hear further reason for this.
235我说过:你就会满意。
235Iago: And you shall be satisfied.
下。
Exeunt.
14. 14.虐待你的胸怀:欺骗你的心。
a14. 14. abuse your bosom: Deceive your heart.
b 16. 蛇的诅咒:(参见创世记 3:14)。
b16. serpent’s curse: (cf. Genesis 3: 14).
c 28. 生育者:交配的夫妻。
c28. procreants: Mating couples.
d 30. 神秘:贸易,职业。
d30. mystery: Trade, occupation.
e 36. 成为…天堂:看起来像天使。
e36. being … heaven: Looking like an angel.
f 38.诚实:贞洁。
f38. honest: Chaste.
g 45. 一种工具:作为原因。
g45. An instrument: To be the cause.
h 54.蔑视的时间:蔑视的世界。
h54. time of scorn: Scornful world.
i 62. turn thy complainion there:在那儿改变你的颜色。
i62. turn thy complexion there: Change thy color at that point.
j 66. 一片狼藉:屠宰场。
j66. shambles: Slaughterhouse.
k 67. 加速:活跃起来。
k67. quicken: Come to life.
l 73. 平民:妓女。
l73. commoner: Harlot.
m 77.眨眼:闭上眼睛。
m77. winks: Closes her eyes.
n 88. 求你饶恕:请求你的原谅。
n88. cry you mercy: Beg your pardon.
o 97. 半睡半醒:即惊呆了。
o97. half asleep: i.e., stunned.
p 109. 最小的意见:最少的怀疑;
p109. small’st opinion: Least suspicion;
q最少滥用:最轻微的不当行为。
qleast misuse: Slightest misconduct.
r 122. callet:妓女。
r122. callet: Whore.
s 128. 诡计:怪异的行为。
s128. trick: Freakish behavior.
t 132. cogging,cozening:欺骗,诈骗。
t132. cogging, cozening: Cheating, defrauding.
u 141.同伴:盗贼;
u141. companions: Rogues;
v展开:揭露。
vunfold: Expose.
w 144. 在门内:有克制力。
w144. within door: With restraint.
x 153. 话语:课程。
x153. discourse: Course.
y 159. 抛弃舒适:抛弃幸福。
y159. Comfort forswear: Happiness forsake.
z 160.击败:摧毁。
z160. defeat: Destroy.
aa 175. 你…设备:你用一些技巧来阻止我。
aa175. thou … device: You put me off with some trick.
bb 176. 便利:有利的机会。
bb176. conveniency: Favorable opportunities.
cc 186. 信徒:修女。
cc186. votarist: Nun.
dd 187. 突然尊重:立即通知。
dd187. sudden respect: Immediate notice.
ee 191. fopped:欺骗。
ee191. fopped: Duped.
ff 204. 直接:直截了当地。
ff204. directly: Straightforwardly.
gg 210–11. 引擎用于:反对阴谋。
gg210–11. engines for: Plots against.
hh 218. 住在这里…:延长住在这里的时间。
hh218. abode … here: Stay here be extended.
ii 219. 确定:有效。
ii219. determinate: Effective.
城堡内。
Within the castle.
奥赛罗、罗多维科、苔丝狄蒙娜、爱米莉亚及随从上。
Enter Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona, Emilia, and Attendants.
洛多维科:先生,我恳求您不要再麻烦了。
Lodovico: I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.
哦,你好;哦,请你原谅我;这样走路对我有好处。
Othello: O, pardon me; ’twill do me good to walk.
洛多维科:女士,晚安。我谦卑地感谢您。
Lodovico: Madam, good night. I humbly thank your ladyship.
苔丝狄蒙娜:大人,非常欢迎您。
Desdemona: Your honor is most welcome.
噢,你走一走吗,先生?
Othello: Will you walk, sir?
5哦,苔丝狄蒙娜——
5O, Desdemona —
苔丝狄蒙娜:我的主人?
Desdemona: My lord?
噢,你现在就去睡觉吧,我马上就回来。把你的侍从打发走吧。等着收拾吧。
Othello: Get you to bed on th’ instant; I will be returned forthwith. Dismiss your attendant there. Look’t be done.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我愿意,大人。
Desdemona: I will, my lord.
退场(奥赛罗,与洛多维科及其随从)。
Exit [Othello, with Lodovico and Attendants].
10E milia:现在怎么样了?他看起来比以前温柔多了。
10Emilia: How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did.
德斯狄蒙娜:他说他回来时会失禁。
Desdemona: He says he will return incontinent.a
他命令我去睡觉,
He hath commanded me to go to bed,
并吩咐我解雇你。
And bade me to dismiss you.
E milia:解雇我?
Emilia: Dismiss me?
苔丝狄蒙娜:这是他的命令,所以,好爱米莉亚,
Desdemona: It was his bidding; therefore, good Emilia,
15把我的睡衣还给我,然后告别。
15Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu.
我们现在一定不能让他不高兴。
We must not now displease him.
E milia:我真希望你从来没有见过他!
Emilia: I would you had never seen him!
德斯狄蒙娜:我不会。我的爱人也赞同他
Desdemona: So would not I. My love doth so approve him
That even his stubbornness,b his checks,c his frowns —
20请您解开我——请您给予他们恩典和恩惠。
20Prithee unpin me — have grace and favor in them.
E milia:我已经把你吩咐的床单铺在床上了。
Emilia: I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.
苔丝狄蒙娜:一切都是一样。说实话,我们的思想是多么愚蠢啊!
Desdemona: All’s one. Good faith, how foolish are our minds!
如果我死在你面前,请你为我裹尸布
If I do die before thee, prithee shroud me
在同一张纸上。
In one of those same sheets.
艾米莉亚:来来来!你说话啊。
Emilia: Come, come! You talk.
二十五苔丝狄蒙娜:我母亲有一个女仆,名叫巴巴里。
25Desdemona: My mother had a maid called Barbary.
她坠入爱河,而她爱的人却疯狂地
She was in love; and he she loved proved madd
并抛弃了她。她有一首“柳树”的歌;
And did forsake her. She had a song of “Willow”;
这是一件老事,但它表明了她的命运,
An old thing ’twas; but it expressed her fortune,
她唱着这首歌死去了。今晚的那首歌
And she died singing it. That song to-night
三十不会从我的脑海中消失;我有很多事情要做
30Will not go from my mind; I have much to do
但我却垂下头去
But to go hang my head all at one side
像可怜的巴巴里人一样唱歌。请速递。
And sing it like poor Barbary. Prithee dispatch.
E milia:我去拿你的睡衣好吗?e
Emilia: Shall I go fetch your nightgown?e
德斯狄蒙娜:不,从这里解开我。
Desdemona: No, unpin me here.
这个洛多维科是个正直的人。
This Lodovico is a proper man.
三十五E milia:一位非常英俊的男人。
35Emilia: A very handsome man.
苔丝狄蒙娜:他讲话很好。
Desdemona: He speaks well.
E milia:我知道威尼斯的一位女士会赤脚走到巴勒斯坦,只为触摸他的下唇。
Emilia: I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.
德斯狄蒙娜(唱):“可怜的灵魂坐在一棵梧桐树旁叹息
Desdemona (sings): “The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree
40歌唱一棵绿杨树;
40Sing all a green willow;
她手放在胸前,头靠在膝盖上,
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
唱柳树,柳树,柳树。
Sing willow, willow, willow.
清澈的溪水从她身边流过,低声吟唱着;
The fresh streams ran by her and murmured her moans;
唱柳树,柳树,柳树;
Sing willow, willow, willow;
四十五她的咸咸的泪水落下,软化了石头”——
45Her salt tears fell from her, and soft’ned the stones” —
把这些放在旁边。
Lay by these.
“唱吧,柳树,柳树,柳树”——
“Sing willow, willow, willow” —
请快点,他很快就会来。
Prithee hie thee;f he’ll come anon.
“唱吧,一株绿柳一定是我的花环。
“Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
50不要责怪他;我赞同他的蔑视”——
50Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve” —
不,那不是下一个。听!是谁在敲门?
Nay, that’s not next. Hark! who is’t that knocks?
E milia:是风。
Emilia: It’s the wind.
德斯狄蒙娜(唱) : “我称我的爱为假爱;但是他当时怎么说呢?
Desdemona (sings): “I call my love false love; but what said he then?
唱柳树,柳树,柳树:
Sing willow, willow, willow:
55如果我追求萌妹,你就会追随萌妹。”
55If I court moe women, you’ll couch with moe men.”
那你走吧,晚安。我的眼睛很痒。
So get thee gone; good night. Mine eyes do itch.
这是否预示着哭泣?
Doth that bode weeping?
E milia: “这既不在这里,也不在那里。”
Emilia: ’Tis neither here nor there.
苔丝狄蒙娜:我听人这么说过。哦,这些人,这些人!
Desdemona: I have heard it said so. O, these men, these men!
你是否在良心上想过——告诉我,艾米莉亚——
Dost thou in conscience think — tell me, Emilia —
60确实有女人虐待丈夫
60That there be women do abuse their husbands
这么粗俗吗?
In such gross kind?
E milia:毫无疑问,存在这样的情况。
Emilia: There be some such, no question.
苔丝狄蒙娜:你愿意为全世界做这样的事吗?
Desdemona: Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
E milia:为什么,你不愿意呢?
Emilia: Why, would not you?
苔丝狄蒙娜:不,以这天上的光芒!
Desdemona: No, by this heavenly light!
E milia:我也没有被这天上的光芒所吸引。
Emilia: Nor I neither by this heavenly light.
65在黑暗中我也许不会这么做。
65I might do’t as well i’ th’ dark.
苔丝狄蒙娜:你愿意为全世界做这样的事吗?
Desdemona: Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
E milia:世界很大;小小的恶习却要付出巨大的代价。
Emilia: The world’s a huge thing; it is a great price for a small vice.
苔丝狄蒙娜:说实话,我想你不会这么做的。
Desdemona: In troth, I think thou wouldst not.
E milia:说实话,我想我应该这么做;当我做完这件事时,不要再做了。结婚,我70不会为了一根戒指、一块草坪、一件长袍、一件衬裙、一顶帽子,或者任何一件小玩意儿而做这样的事;但是为了全世界——天啊!谁不愿意让自己的丈夫戴绿帽,让他成为君主呢?我会为此冒着炼狱的风险。
Emilia: In troth, I think I should; and undo’t when I had done it. Marry, I 70would not do such a thing for a joint-ring,g nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition;h but, for all the whole world — ’Ud’s pity! who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for’t.
75德斯狄蒙娜:如果我做这样的错事,我该死
75Desdemona: Beshrew me if I would do such a wrong
为了全世界。
For the whole world.
艾米莉亚:为什么,错误只不过是世界上的错误而已;而如果你为这个世界付出了劳动,那么在你自己的世界里,错误就是一种错误,而你很快就能纠正它。
Emilia: Why, the wrong is but a wrong i’ th’ world; and having the world for your labor, ’tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right.
80苔丝狄蒙娜:我不认为有这样的女人。
80Desdemona: I do not think there is any such woman.
E milia:是的,一打;而且尽可能多的
Emilia: Yes, a dozen; and as many to th’ vantagei as
将存储他们所游玩的世界。
would storej the world they played for.
但我确实认为这是她们丈夫的错
But I do think it is their husbands’ faults
如果妻子们真的堕落了。说她们疏忽了职责
If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties
85把我们的财富倾注到外国人的怀抱里;
85And pour our treasures into foreign laps;
否则就会爆发出嫉妒之心,
Or else break out in peevishk jealousies,
对我们施加限制;或者说他们打击我们,
Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us,
或者说,尽管我们以前有过——
Or scant our former havingl in despite —
我们有胆结石,虽然我们有一些优雅,
Why, we have galls;m and though we have some grace,
90但我们还是有报复的。让丈夫们知道
90Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
他们的妻子和他们一样有感觉。她们能看见,能闻到,
Their wives have sense like them. They see, and smell,
他们的味觉既能吃甜的,也能吃酸的,
And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
就像丈夫一样。他们做了什么
As husbands have. What is it that they do
当他们为了别人而改变我们时?这是运动吗?
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
95我想是的。而感情会滋生这种现象吗?
95I think it is. And doth affection breed it?
我想是的。这难道不是脆弱导致的错误吗?
I think it doth. Is’t frailty that thus errs?
也正是如此。我们难道没有感情,
It is so too. And have not we affections,
像男人一样,渴望运动,又脆弱吗?
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
那么就让他们好好利用我们吧;否则就让他们知道,
Then let them use us well; else let them know,
100我们所作的恶事,是他们的恶事教训我们。
100The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
苔丝狄蒙娜:晚安,晚安。天啊,我就是这样的人,
Desdemona: Good night, good night. God me such usagen send,
不以坏处挑坏处,而是以坏处弥补!
Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!
下。
Exeunt.
11.失禁:立即。
a11. incontinent: At once.
b 19. 固执:粗鲁;
b19. stubbornness: Roughness;
c检查:斥责。
cchecks: Rebukes.
d 26. 疯狂:狂野,不忠诚。
d26. mad: Wild, faithless.
e 33. 睡袍:晨衣。
e33. nightgown: Dressing gown.
f 48. hie thee:快点。
f48. hie thee: Hurry.
g 70. 接缝环:由可分离的两半制成的环。
g70. joint-ring: Ring made in separable halves.
h 72.展览:礼物。
h72. exhibition: Gift.
i 81. 从有利角度来看:此外。
i81. to th’ vantage: Besides.
j 82. 存储:填充。
j82. store: Populate.
k 86. 暴躁的:毫无意义的。
k86. peevish: Senseless.
l 88. 有:津贴。
l88. having: Allowance.
m 89. 胆汁:怨恨的精神。
m89. galls: Spirits to resent.
n 101. 用法:习惯。
n101. usage: Habits.
塞浦路斯的一条街道。
A street in Cyprus.
伊阿古和罗德里戈上场。
Enter Iago and Roderigo.
我回答说:来,站在这块石头后面,他就会径直过来。
Iago: Here, stand behind this bulk;a straight will he come.
把你的好剑脱下来,放回家里。
Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.
快,快!别害怕;我会在你身旁。
Quick, quick! Fear nothing; I’ll be at thy elbow.
它成就我们,或者毁掉我们——想想看,
It makes us, or it mars us — think on that,
5并坚定你的决心。
5And fix most firm thy resolution.
罗德里戈:快到那儿去吧,不然我可能会流产。
Roderigo: Be near at hand; I may miscarry in’t.
我回答说:就在这里,在你的手边。勇敢一点,站稳你的立场。
Iago: Here, at thy hand. Be bold, and take thy stand.
[站到一边。]
[Stands aside.]
罗德里格:我对这件事没有多大的热忱,
Roderigo: I have no great devotion to the deed,
但他还是给了我令人满意的理由。
And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.
10一个人死了。拔出我的剑!他死了!
10’Tis but a man gone. Forth my sword! He dies!
Iago: I have rubbed this young quatb almost to the sense,c
他生气了。现在他是否杀了凯西奥,
And he grows angry. Now whether he kill Cassio,
要么凯西奥杀了他,要么他们互相残杀,
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
每种方法都能让我获益。活着的罗德里戈,
Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,
15他叫我赔偿一大笔钱
15He calls me to a restitution large
我从他那里骗来的金子和珠宝
Of gold and jewels that I bobbedd from him
作为送给苔丝狄蒙娜的礼物。
As gifts to Desdemona.
一定不能。如果卡西奥留下来,
It must not be. If Cassio do remain,
他的生活每天都很美丽
He hath a daily beauty in his life
20这让我很丑陋;而且,摩尔人
20That makes me ugly; and besides, the Moor
可以向他揭示我的内心;我处在极大的危险之中。
May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril.
不,他必须死。千万不要!我听见他来了。
No, he must die. Be’t so! I hear him coming.
输入卡西奥。
Enter Cassio.
罗德里格:我知道他的步态。就是他。恶棍,你去死吧!
Roderigo: I know his gait. ’Tis he. Villain, thou diest!
[向卡西奥示爱。]
[Makes a pass at Cassio.]
凯西奥:那一击确实是我的敌人
Cassio: That thrust had been mine enemy indeed
二十五但我的外套比你所知道的要好。
25But that my coate is better than thou know’st.
我会证明你的。
I will make proof of thine.
[拉扯并击伤罗德里戈。]
[Draws, and wounds Roderigo.]
罗德里格:哦,我被杀了!
Roderigo: O, I am slain!
[伊阿古从卡西奥身后的隐蔽处冲出来,击伤了他的腿,然后退出。]
[Iago darts from concealment behind Cassio, wounds him in the leg, and exit.]
卡西奥:我永远残废了。救命啊!谋杀!谋杀!
Cassio: I am maimed for ever. Help, ho! Murder! murder!
[瀑布。]
[Falls.]
进入奥赛罗。
Enter Othello.
奥瑟罗:这是卡西奥的声音。伊阿古信守诺言。
Othello: The voice of Cassio. Iago keeps his word.
罗德里戈:哦,我真是个恶棍!
Roderigo: O, villain that I am!
噢,原来如此。
Othello: It is even so.
三十卡西奥:哦,救命啊!救命啊!外科医生!
30Cassio: O, help, ho! light! a surgeon!
噢,是的。噢,勇敢的伊阿古,诚实而公正,
Othello: ’Tis he. O brave Iago, honest and just,
你对你朋友的错误有如此高尚的认识!
That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s wrong!
你教我。奴仆,如果你亲爱的人死了,
Thou teachest me. Minion,f your dear lies dead,
你的不幸命运即将来临。g妓女,我来了。
And your unblest fate hies.g Strumpet, I come.
三十五我心中的那些魅力、你的眼睛,都已消失殆尽。
35Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted.
你的床被情欲所玷污,沾满情欲的鲜血。
Thy bed, lust-stained, shall with lust’s blood be spotted.
奥赛罗退场。
Exit Othello.
洛多维科和葛莱西安诺上场。
Enter Lodovico and Gratiano.
卡西奥:什么?没值班?没通道?谋杀!谋杀!
Cassio: What, ho? No watch? No passage?h Murder! murder!
G ratiano:这真是个不幸。声音很可怕。
Gratiano: ’Tis some mischance. The voice is very direful.
卡西奥:哦,救命啊!
Cassio: O, help!
40洛多维科:听!
40Lodovico: Hark!
罗德里戈:哦,可恶的恶棍!
Roderigo: O wretched villain!
洛多维科:两三声呻吟。夜色很沉重。
Lodovico: Two or three groan. ’Tis heavyi night.
这些可能是假货。我们认为不安全
These may be counterfeits. Let’s think’t unsafe
无需更多帮助即可发出哭声。
To come in to the cry without more help.
四十五罗德里戈:没人来吗?那我就要流血而死了。
45Roderigo: Nobody come? Then shall I bleed to death.
洛多维科:听!
Lodovico: Hark!
伊阿古手持火炬上场。
Enter Iago, with a light.
G ratiano:这个人穿着衬衫,带着灯和武器。
Gratiano: Here’s one comes in his shirt, with light and weapons.
我问:是谁?是谁在喊着要谋杀?
Iago: Who’s there? Whose noise is this that cries onj murder?
洛多维科:我们不知道。
Lodovico: We do not know.
我前言:你没听到哭声吗?
Iago: Did not you hear a cry?
卡西奥:来,来!看在老天的份上,救救我吧!
Cassio: Here, here! For heaven’s sake, help me!
50我问:怎么了?
50Iago: What’s the matter?
G ratiano:我认为,这是《奥赛罗》的古作。
Gratiano: This is Othello’s ancient, as I take it.
洛多维科:确实如此,他是一个非常勇敢的家伙。
Lodovico: The same indeed, a very valiant fellow.
我问:你在这里干什么,哭得这么伤心?
Iago: What are you here that cry so grievously?
卡西奥:伊阿古?哦,我被坏人宠坏了,毁了!
Cassio: Iago? O, I am spoiled, undone by villains!
55帮我一下忙。
55Give me some help.
我问:哦,中尉!是哪些恶棍干的?
Iago: O me, lieutenant! What villains have done this?
卡西奥:我想其中一个人就在这儿
Cassio: I think that one of them is hereabout
我说道:哦,背信弃义的恶棍们!
Iago: O treacherous villains!
[对洛多维科和葛莱西安诺说。]
[To Lodovico and Gratiano.]
你在干什么?进来帮帮忙吧。
What are you there? Come in, and give some help.
60罗德里戈:哦,帮帮我吧!
60Roderigo: O, help me here!
卡西奥:这是其中之一。
Cassio: That’s one of them.
我以前:啊,凶残的奴隶!噢,恶棍!
Iago: O murd’rous slave! O villain!
[刺伤罗德里戈。]
[Stabs Roderigo.]
罗德里格:该死的伊阿古!惨无人道的狗!
Roderigo: O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!
我问:在黑暗中杀人?——这些该死的盗贼在哪儿?——
Iago: Kill men i’ th’ dark? — Where be these bloody thieves? —
这座城多么寂静啊!——呸!谋杀!谋杀!——
How silent is this town! — Ho! murder! murder! —
65你是什麽人?你是善人还是恶人?
65What may you be? Are you of good or evil?
洛多维科:正如您所证明的那样,请赞扬我们。
Lodovico: As you shall prove us, praise us.
我问: Lodovico 先生?
Iago: Signior Lodovico?
洛多维科:是的,先生。
Lodovico: He, sir.
我问: “我求求你饶恕我吧。”这是被坏人伤害的卡西奥。
Iago: I cry you mercy. Here’s Cassio hurt by villains.
70G ratiano:卡西奥?
70Gratiano: Cassio?
我问:怎么样,兄弟?
Iago: How is’t, brother?
卡西奥:我的腿被斩成了两截。
Cassio: My leg is cut in two.
我回答说:结婚吧,但愿不会!
Iago: Marry,l heaven forbid!
先生们,点亮它。我会用衬衫绑住它。
Light, gentlemen. I’ll bind it with my shirt.
输入比安卡。
Enter Bianca.
75比安卡:怎么了,老兄?谁没哭啊?
75Bianca: What is the matter, ho? Who is’t that cried?
我问:那是谁没哭呢?
Iago: Who is’t that cried?
比安卡:噢,我亲爱的卡西奥!我可爱的卡西奥!
Bianca: O my dear Cassio! my sweet Cassio!
哦,卡西奥,卡西奥,卡西奥!
O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
我说过:哦,著名的妓女!——卡西奥,你怀疑
Iago: O notable strumpet! — Cassio, may you suspect
是谁把你弄得如此残暴?
Who they should be that have thus mangled you?
80卡西奥:不。
80Cassio: No.
G ratiano:很遗憾看到你这样。我来找过你。
Gratiano: I am sorry to find you thus. I have been to seek you.
我以前:借我一条吊袜带。所以。O 换一把椅子m
Iago: Lend me a garter. So. O for a chairm
把他轻松地带走!
To bear him easily hence!
比安卡:唉,他晕倒了!噢,卡西欧,卡西欧,卡西欧!
Bianca: Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
85我以前:各位先生,我确实怀疑这个垃圾
85Iago: Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash
成为这次伤害的一方。——
To be a party in this injury. —
再忍耐一会儿,好卡西奥。——来吧,来吧!
Patience a while, good Cassio. — Come, come!
借我一盏灯。我们认识这张脸吗?
Lend me a light. Know we this face or no?
唉,我的朋友,我亲爱的同胞
Alas, my friend and my dear countryman
90罗德里戈?不——是的,当然。——天啊,罗德里戈!
90Roderigo? No — Yes, sure. — O heaven, Roderigo!
G ratiano:什么?威尼斯的吗?
Gratiano: What, of Venice?
我问:先生,他也是。你认识他吗?
Iago: Even he, sir. Did you know him?
G ratiano:认识他吗?是的。
Gratiano: Know him? Ay.
我问: “葛莱西安诺先生?我恳请您原谅。”
Iago: Signior Gratiano? I cry your gentle pardon.
这些该死的事故必须原谅我的行为
These bloody accidents must excuse my manners
这真是太忽视你了。
That so neglected you.
95G ratiano:很高兴见到你。
95Gratiano: I am glad to see you.
我问:你好吗,卡西奥?——哦,一把椅子,一把椅子!
Iago: How do you, Cassio? — O, a chair, a chair!
G ratiano:罗德里戈?
Gratiano: Roderigo?
我听后说:他,他,就是他!
Iago: He, he, ’tis he!
[搬来了一把椅子。]
[A chair brought in.]
哦,说得好;在椅子上。
O, that’s well said;n the chair.
100有位好心人小心地把他带走。
100Some good man bear him carefully from hence.
我去叫将军的外科医生来。(对比安卡说)夫人,
I’ll fetch the general’s surgeon. [To Bianca.] For you, mistress,
省省你的力气吧。——凯西奥,被杀的人就在这里,
Save you your labor. — He that lies slain here, Cassio,
是我亲爱的朋友。你们之间有什么恶意?
Was my dear friend. What malice was between you?
卡西奥:世界上没有这样的人;我也不认识这个人。
Cassio: None in the world; nor do I know the man.
105我对比安卡说:怎么,你脸色苍白?哦,把他从空中抬出来。
105Iago [to Bianca]: What, look you pale? — O, bear him out o’ th’ air.
[卡西奥和罗德里戈被抬走了。]
[Cassio and Roderigo are borne off.]
留在这里,好先生们。——您脸色苍白吗,女主人?——
Stay you, good gentlemen. — Look you pale, mistress? —
你察觉到她眼神里的凶狠了吗? ——
Do you perceive the gastnesso of her eye? —
不,如果你仔细看的话,我们很快就会听到更多。
Nay, if you stare, we shall hear more anon.
好好看看她;我请求你看着她。
Behold her well; I pray you look upon her.
110先生们,你们明白了吗?不,罪恶会说话的。
110Do you see, gentlemen? Nay, guiltiness will speak.
尽管舌头已经不再有用。
Though tongues were out of use.
输入艾米莉亚。
Enter Emilia.
艾米莉亚: “拉斯,怎么了?怎么了,老公?”
Emilia: ’Las, what is the matter? What is the matter, husband?
伊阿古:凯西奥在这里被暗中陷害,
Iago: Cassio hath here been set on in the dark
由罗德里戈和逃脱的同伴们。
By Roderigo, and fellows that are scaped.
115他几乎被杀,而罗德里戈也死了。
115He’s almost slain, and Roderigo dead.
埃米莉亚:唉呀,好先生们!唉呀,好卡西奥!
Emilia: Alas, good gentlemen! alas, good Cassio!
我说过:这是淫乱的果实。求你了,艾米莉亚,
Iago: This is the fruits of whoring. Prithee, Emilia,
去打听一下卡西奥今晚在哪儿吃饭。
Go know of Cassio where he supped to-night.
[对比安卡说。]
[To Bianca.]
怎么,你听了会发抖吗?
What, do you shake at that?
120比安卡:他在我家吃过晚饭,但我并不担心。
120Bianca: He supped at my house; but I therefore shake not.
我问: “哦,是吗?我命令你跟我去。”
Iago: O, did he so? I charge you go with me.
E milia:呸,呸,妓女!
Emilia: Fie, fie upon thee, strumpet!
Bianca :我不是妓女,但生活就像一个诚实的人
Bianca: I am no strumpet, but of life as honestp
正如你这样辱骂我。
As you that thus abuse me.
E milia:像我一样?呸!呸!
Emilia: As I? Foh! fie upon thee!
125我走过去:好心的先生们,我们去看看可怜的卡西奥穿好衣服吧。
125Iago: Kind gentlemen, let’s go see poor Cassio dressed.
[对比安卡说。]
[To Bianca.]
来吧,女主人,您必须讲另一个故事。
Come, mistress, you must tell’s another tale.
艾米莉亚,带你去城堡
Emilia, run you to the citadel
并告诉主人和夫人所发生的事。
And tell my lord and lady what hath happed.
[艾米莉亚下。]
[Exit Emilia.]
你能继续走下去吗?
Will you go on afore?
除伊阿古外,其余人下场。
Exeunt [all but Iago].
这是夜晚
This is the night
130这要么让我安静,要么让我安静。
130That either makes me or fordoesq me quite.
1.体积:突出店面。
a1. bulk: Projecting shop-front.
b 11. 季铵盐:粉刺;
b11. quat: Pimple;
c感:快。
csense: Quick.
d 16. bobbed:被骗。
d16. bobbed: Swindled.
e 25. 上衣:锁子甲内衣。
e25. coat: Undershirt of mail.
f 33.奴才:情妇。
f33. Minion: Mistress.
g 34. hies:赶紧走。
g34. hies: Hurries on.
h 37. 段落:路人。
h37. passage: Passersby.
i 42. 阴天:多云,黑暗。
i42. heavy: Cloudy, dark.
j 48. 哭泣:发出呼喊。
j48. cries on: Raises the cry of.
k 58. 使:得到。
k58. make: Get.
l 73. 玛丽:(出自《玛丽》)。
l73. Marry: (From “By Mary”).
m 82.椅子:垃圾。
m82. chair: Litter.
n 99.说得好:做得好。
n99. well said: Well done.
o 107. 恐惧:恐怖。
o107. gastness: Terror.
p 123.诚实:贞洁。
p123. honest: Chaste.
q 130. fordoes:摧毁。
q130. fordoes: Destroys.
城堡里的一间卧室。
A bedchamber in the castle.
苔丝狄蒙娜在床上睡着了。奥赛罗手持灯火上场。
Desdemona [asleep] in her bed. Enter Othello with a light.
哦瑟罗:这就是原因,这就是原因,我的灵魂。
Othello: It is the cause, it is the cause,a my soul.
你们这些贞洁的星星,让我不要向你们说出这个名字!
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!
这是原因。但我不会让她流血,
It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
也不会伤痕她那比雪更白的皮肤,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
5如同巨大的雪花石膏般光滑。
5And smooth as monumental alabaster.
但她必须死,否则她会背叛更多的男人。
Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
把灯灭了,再把灯灭了。
Put out the light, and then put out the light.
如果我扑灭了你,你这燃烧的牧师,
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,b
我可以恢复你昔日的光芒,
I can again thy former light restore,
10我该后悔吗?但一旦你熄灭了你的光,
10Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
你这超越自然的巧妙典范,
Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
我不知道普罗米修斯的热力在哪里
I know not where is that Promethean heatc
你的光芒才能重现。当我摘下你的玫瑰,
That can thy light relume.d When I have plucked thy rose,
我无法让它重新充满活力地生长;
I cannot give it vital growth again;
15它必须枯萎。我会在树上闻到你的味道。
15It needs must wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.
(他亲吻她。)
(He kisses her.)
啊,那芳香的气息,几乎使人信服
O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
正义要折断她的剑!再来一次,再来一次!
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more!
你死了以后,我就杀了你,
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
之后我爱你。再来一次,就是最后一次!
And love thee after. One more, and that’s the last!
20如此甜蜜却没有如此致命。我哭了,
20So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
但这是残酷的眼泪。这悲伤是天堂般的;
But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly;
它袭击了它所爱之人。她醒了。
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
苔丝狄蒙娜:那是谁?奥赛罗?
Desdemona: Who’s there? Othello?
哦,苔丝狄蒙娜。
Othello: Ay, Desdemona.
苔丝狄蒙娜:陛下,您能上床睡觉吗?
Desdemona: Will you come to bed, my lord?
哦,你好:今晚你祈祷过吗,苔丝狄蒙?
Othello: Have you prayed to-night, Desdemon?
二十五苔丝狄蒙娜:是的,大人。
25Desdemona: Ay, my lord.
哦,你好:如果你认为自己犯了任何罪行,
Othello: If you bethink yourself of any crimee
尚未与天堂和恩典和解,
Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
直接请求。
Solicit for it straight.
苔丝狄蒙娜:哎呀,大人,您这话是什么意思呢?
Desdemona: Alack, my lord, what may you mean by that?
三十O thello:好吧,那就这么做吧,简短些;我会走过去的。
30Othello: Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by.
我不会消灭你那毫无准备的心灵。
I would not kill thy unpreparèd spirit.
不,上天保佑!我不会杀死你的灵魂。
No, heaven forfend!f I would not kill thy soul.
苔丝狄蒙娜:你在谈论杀戮吗?
Desdemona: Talk you of killing?
噢,我明白。
Othello: Ay, I do.
德斯狄蒙娜:然后是天堂
Desdemona: Then heaven
可怜我吧!
Have mercy on me!
噢,你好:阿门,我全心全意!
Othello: Amen, with all my heart!
三十五苔丝狄蒙娜:如果你这么说,我希望你不会杀了我。
35Desdemona: If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
噢你好:嗯!
Othello: Hum!
德斯狄蒙娜:但我还是怕你,因为你是致命的
Desdemona: And yet I fear you; for you’re fatal then
当你的眼睛转动时。我不知道我为什么要害怕,
When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know not,
我不知道自己是否有罪,但我却感到害怕。
Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.
哦,赛罗:反省一下你的罪孽。
Othello: Think on thy sins.
40苔丝狄蒙娜:这是我对你的爱。
40Desdemona: They are loves I bear to you.
哦,你死定了。
Othello: Ay, and for that thou diest.
苔丝狄蒙娜:为爱而杀人,这种死亡是违反自然的。
Desdemona: That death ’s unnatural that kills for loving.
唉,你为何这样咬你的下唇?
Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
某种血腥的激情震撼了你的全身。
Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.
四十五这些都是预兆,但我希望,我希望,
45These are portents,g but yet I hope, I hope,
他们没有指责我。
They do not point on me.
哦你好:平安安静吧!
Othello: Peace and be still!
德斯狄蒙娜:我会的。有什么事吗?
Desdemona: I will so. What’s the matter?
哦,你好:我非常喜爱并送给你的那条手帕
Othello: That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee
你把它给了卡西奥。
Thou gav’st to Cassio.
苔丝狄蒙娜:不,我以我的生命和灵魂发誓!
Desdemona: No, by my life and soul!
派人去找那人去问问他。
Send for the man and ask him.
50噢,亲爱的灵魂,小心,
50Othello: Sweet soul, take heed,
当心伪证;你已奄奄一息。
Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy deathbed.
苔丝狄蒙娜:是的,但还没死。
Desdemona: Ay, but not yet to die.
O thello:是的,现在。h
Othello: Yes, presently.h
因此,请坦然承认你的罪过;
Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;
用誓言否认每一篇文章
For to deny each article with oath
55无法消除或扼杀我强烈的观念
55Cannot remove nor choke the strong conceptioni
我为此而呻吟。你必死无疑。
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
苔丝狄蒙娜:那么,上帝啊,饶恕我吧!
Desdemona: Then Lord have mercy on me!
哦,你好:我说阿门。
Othello: I say amen.
德斯德蒙娜:也请你仁慈一点!我从来没有
Desdemona: And have you mercy too! I never did
得罪j你在我的生命中;从来没有爱过卡西奥
Offendj you in my life; never loved Cassio
60但是,有了天堂的普遍保障
60But with such general warranty of heaven
正如我可能爱的那样。我从来没有给过他信物。
As I might love. I never gave him token.
哦,你好:天啊,我看见我的手帕在他手里!
Othello: By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in’s hand!
哦,伪证人!你使我的心变成石头,
O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,k
让我说出我打算做的事
And mak’st me call what I intend to do
65一场谋杀,我以为是一场牺牲。
65A murder, which I thought a sacrifice.
我看到了手帕。
I saw the handkerchief.
苔丝狄蒙娜:然后他就找到了。
Desdemona: He found it then.
我从来没有给过他。派人去把他叫过来。
I never gave it him. Send for him hither.
让他坦白一个事实。
Let him confess a truth.
哦,他已经承认了。
Othello: He hath confessed.
苔丝狄蒙娜:什么事,大人?
Desdemona: What, my lord?
哦,他利用了你。
Othello: That he hath used thee.
德斯狄蒙娜:怎么会这样?违法吗?
Desdemona: How? Unlawfully?
70噢,是的。
70Othello: Ay.
苔丝狄蒙娜:他不会这么说。
Desdemona: He will not say so.
奥赛罗:不,他的嘴被堵住了。
Othello: No, his mouth is stopped.
苔丝狄蒙娜:噢,我的恐惧感油然而生。怎么,他死了吗?
Desdemona: O, my fear interprets. What, is he dead?
哦,他的头发都是生命,我的复仇
Othello: Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
75对他们所有人都有胃口。
75Had stomach for them all.
苔丝狄蒙娜:唉呀,他被出卖了,我完了!
Desdemona: Alas, he is betrayed, and I undone!
哦,你这个婊子,滚开!你当着我的面为他哭泣吗?
Othello: Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?
苔丝狄蒙娜:哦,放逐我吧,我的主人,但是不要杀我!
Desdemona: O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
哦,你好:下来,妓女!
Othello: Down, strumpet!
80苔丝狄蒙娜:明天杀了我吧,今晚让我活下去!
80Desdemona: Kill me to-morrow; let me live to-night!
哦,你若努力——
Othello: Nay, if you strive —
德斯狄蒙娜:但是半个小时啊!
Desdemona: But half an hour!
Othello :完成后,没有暂停。
Othello: Being done, there is no pause.
德斯狄蒙娜:但是当我祈祷的时候!
Desdemona: But while I say one prayer!
噢!已经太晚了。
Othello: It is too late.
[苔丝狄蒙娜:主啊,主啊,主啊!]
[Desdemona: O Lord, Lord, Lord!]
(窒息了她。)
(Smothers her.)
艾米莉亚在门口。
Emilia at the door.
85埃米莉亚(在里面喊道) :大人,大人!怎么了,大人,大人!
85Emilia (calls within): My lord, my lord! What, ho! my lord, my lord!
噢,你好:这是什么声音?没死?还没死透?
Othello: What noise is this? Not dead? not yet quite dead?
我虽然残忍,却也有慈悲;
I that am cruel am yet merciful;
我不想让你继续忍受痛苦。
I would not have thee linger in thy pain.
就这样吧。
So, so.
埃米莉亚(在内): “怎么!大人,大人!”
Emilia (within): What, ho! my lord, my lord!
90噢,你好:谁在那里?
90Othello: Who’s there?
埃米莉亚(在内):哦,大人,我想和您说句话!
Emilia (within): O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
奥瑟罗:是的,是埃米莉亚。——不久之后。——她死了。——
Othello: Yes, ’tis Emilia. — By and by.m — She’s dead. —
就好像她是来谈论卡西奥的死因的。
’Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death.
噪音很大。哈!不动了?
The noise was high. Ha! no more moving?
95寂静如坟墓。——她能进来吗?我们不太好!——
95Still as the grave. — Shall she come in? Were’t good! —
我觉得她又动了。没有。——最好怎么做?
I think she stirs again. No. — What’s best to do?
如果她进来,她肯定会和我的妻子说话。
If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.
我的老婆!我的老婆!什么老婆?我没有老婆。
My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.
啊,难以忍受!啊,沉重的时刻!
O, insupportable! O heavy hour!
100我认为现在应该是一次巨大的日食
100Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
太阳和月亮,还有那受惊的地球
Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe
改变时应打哈欠。
Should yawnn at alteration.
E milia(在内):我恳求你
Emilia (within): I do beseech you
为了能和您说话,我的好主啊!
That I may speak with you, O good my lord!
噢,你好:我忘了你了。噢,进来吧,埃米莉亚。
Othello: I had forgot thee. O, come in, Emilia.
105慢慢地,就变得柔软了。——让我拉上窗帘。——
105Soft, by and by. — Let me the curtains draw. —
[拉上床帘。]
[Closes the bed-curtains.]
你在哪里?
Where art thou?
[打开门。]
[Opens the door.]
输入艾米莉亚。
Enter Emilia.
你現在有什麼事嗎?
What’s the matter with thee now?
埃米莉亚:噢,我的大人,那边发生了一起令人发指的谋杀案!
Emilia: O my good lord, yonder’s foul murder done!
哦,你好:什么?现在?
Othello: What? Now?
埃米莉亚:但是现在,大人。
Emilia: But now, my lord.
110噢,这是月亮的错误。
110Othello: It is the very erroro of the moon.
她比以前更接近地球
She comes more nearer earth than she was wont
并使人疯狂。
And makes men mad.
埃米莉亚:卡西奥,我的主人,杀死了一个年轻的威尼斯人
Emilia: Cassio, my lord, hath killed a young Venetian
叫罗德里戈。
Called Roderigo.
哦你好:罗德里戈被杀了?
Othello: Roderigo killed?
卡西奥被杀了吗?
And Cassio killed?
115艾米莉亚:不,卡西奥没有被杀。
115Emilia: No, Cassio is not killed.
哦,凯西奥没有被杀吗?那么谋杀就不合时宜了,
Othello: Not Cassio killed? Then murder’s out of tune,
甜蜜的复仇变得残酷。
And sweet revenge grows harsh.
苔丝狄蒙娜:哦,被诬陷、被诬陷!
Desdemona: O, falsely, falsely murdered!
埃米莉亚:哦,主啊!那是什么哭声?
Emilia: O, Lord! what cry is that?
噢,你好:那?什么?
Othello: That? What?
120埃米莉亚:哎呀!那是我夫人的声音。
120Emilia: Out and alas! that was my lady’s voice.
救命!救命!救命!噢,女士,再说一遍!
Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!
亲爱的苔丝狄蒙娜!噢,亲爱的女主人,请说话!
Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
苔丝狄蒙娜:我的死是无罪的。
Desdemona: A guiltless death I die.
艾米莉亚:哦,是谁干的这件事?
Emilia: O, who hath done this deed?
125德斯狄蒙娜:没人——是我自己。再见。
125Desdemona: Nobody — I myself. Farewell.
哦,为什么?她怎么会被谋杀?
Othello: Why, how should she be murd’red?
E milia:唉,谁知道呢?
Emilia: Alas, who knows?
噢,你听到她自己说了,那不是我。
Othello: You heard her say herself, it was not I.
艾米莉亚:她这么说。我必须报道真相。
Emilia: She said so. I must needs report the truth.
130哦,你好:她就像一个下了地狱的骗子!
130Othello: She’s like a liar gone to burning hell!
是我杀了她。
’Twas I that killed her.
E milia:哦,她越天使,
Emilia: O, the more angel she,
你这个更黑暗的魔鬼!
And you the blacker devil!
哦西罗:她变得愚昧,她成了妓女。
Othello: She turned to folly, and she was a whore.
艾米莉亚:你欺骗了她,你是一个魔鬼。
Emilia: Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
哦瑟罗:她虚伪得像水。q
Othello: She was false as water.q
135E milia:你鲁莽地说
135Emilia: Thou art rash as fire to say
她是虚伪的。噢,她真是太真诚了!
That she was false. O, she was heavenly true!
哦,你看!凯西奥确实打败了她。你去问你的丈夫吧。
Othello: Cassio did top her. Ask thy husband else.
哦,我被诅咒在地狱最深处
O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell
但我这样做是有正当理由的
But that I did proceed upon just grounds
140到了这个地步。你的丈夫全都知道。
140To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
E milia:我的丈夫?
Emilia: My husband?
哦,你好:你的丈夫。
Othello: Thy husband.
E milia:她没有结婚吗?
Emilia: That she was false to wedlock?
哦,凯西奥。不,如果她忠心耿耿,
Othello: Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
145如果上天能给我创造另一个世界
145If heaven would make me such another world
一块完整无缺的绿柱石,
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,r
我不会为了它而卖掉她。
I’d not have sold her for it.
E milia:我的丈夫?
Emilia: My husband?
哦,瑟罗:是他先告诉我关于她的事情的。
Othello: Ay ’twas he that told me on her first.
他是个诚实的人,讨厌黏液
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
那是沾染肮脏行为的。
That sticks on filthy deeds.
150E milia:我的丈夫?
150Emilia: My husband?
哦,你这个女人,你为什么还要说这些?我说的是你的丈夫。
Othello: What needs this iterance,s woman? I say thy husband.
E milia:噢,女主人,邪恶用爱情来嘲弄你!
Emilia: O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!
我老公说她是假的?
My husband say that she was false?
噢瑟罗:他,女人。
Othello: He, woman.
我说,你的丈夫。你懂这句话吗?
I say, thy husband. Dost understand the word?
155我的朋友,你的丈夫;诚实、正直的伊阿古。
155My friend, thy husband; honest, honest Iago.
E milia:如果他这么说,愿他那邪恶的灵魂
Emilia: If he say so, may his pernicious soul
一天吃半粒烂谷!他欺骗了你的心。
Rot half a grain a day! he lies to th’ heart.
她太喜欢这桩最肮脏的交易了。
She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
噢,你好:哈!
Othello: Ha!
160E milia:尽你所能。
160Emilia: Do thy worst.
你的行为不再值得天堂
This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
那你就配得上她。
Than thou wast worthy her.
噢,你好:和平,你是最棒的。
Othello: Peace, you were best.
E milia:你连伤害我的一半力量都没有
Emilia: Thou hast not half the power to do me harm
正如我必须受到伤害一样。噢,海鸥!噢,笨蛋!
As I have to be hurt.t O gull! O dolt!
165像泥土一样无知!你做了一件事情——
165As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed —
我不在乎你的剑;我会让你出名,
I care not for thy sword; I’ll make thee known,
尽管我失去了二十条生命。救命!救命!救命!
Though I lost twenty lives. Help! help! Ho! help!
摩尔人杀了我的情人!谋杀!谋杀!
The Moor hath killed my mistress! Murder! murder!
蒙塔诺、葛莱西安诺、伊阿古和其他人进入。
Enter Montano, Gratiano, Iago, and others.
蒙塔诺:发生什么事了?现在怎么样了,将军?
Montano: What is the matter? How now, general?
170埃米利亚:哦,你来了,伊阿古?你做得很好,
170Emilia: O, are you come, Iago? You have done well,
人们必须把谋杀罪加在你的脖子上。
That men must lay their murders on your neck.
G ratiano:发生什么事了?
Gratiano: What is the matter?
艾米莉亚:如果你是个男人,就反驳这个恶棍吧。
Emilia: Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man.
他说你告诉他他的妻子不忠。
He says thou told’st him that his wife was false.
175我知道你没有这么做;你不是这样的恶棍。
175I know thou didst not; thou’rt not such a villain.
说吧,我心里满满的。
Speak, for my heart is full.
我说过:我告诉了他我的想法,没有再说更多。
Iago: I told him what I thought, and told no more
他发现自己说的都是恰当和真实的。
Than what he found himself was apt and true.
E milia:但是你有没有告诉他她是假的?
Emilia: But did you ever tell him she was false?
180我以前:我做到了。
180Iago: I did.
E milia:你撒了谎,可恶的谎言!
Emilia: You told a lie, an odious damnèd lie!
我发誓,这是一个谎言!一个邪恶的谎言!
Upon my soul, a lie! a wicked lie!
她对凯西奥不忠?你是说她对凯西奥不忠吗?
She false with Cassio? Did you say with Cassio?
我回答说:和凯西奥在一起,女主人。去吧,用你的舌头来迷惑你。
Iago: With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charmu your tongue.
185E milia:我不会用魅力吸引我的舌头;我必须说:
185Emilia: I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
我的女主人在床上被谋杀了——
My mistress here lies murdered in her bed —
所有人:天啊,可恶啊!
All: O heavens forfend!
艾米莉亚:而你的报告已经引发了谋杀。
Emilia: And your reports have set the murder on.
噢,你别盯着看,主人。这确实是真的。
Othello: Nay, stare not, masters. It is true indeed.
190G ratiano:这是一个奇怪的事实。
190Gratiano: ’Tis a strange truth.
蒙塔诺:哦,残忍的行为!
Montano: O monstrous act!
E milia:邪恶,邪恶,邪恶!
Emilia: Villainy, villainy, villainy!
我想到它了 — — 我想我闻到它了! — — 哦,邪恶!
I think upon’t — I think I smell’t! — O villainy!
我当时也是这么想的。——我会因悲伤而自杀。——
I thought so then. — I’ll kill myself for grief. —
噢,邪恶,邪恶!
O villainy, villainy!
195我问: “怎么,你疯了吗?我命令你回家。”
195Iago: What, are you mad? I charge you get you home.
E milia:各位先生,请允许我发言。
Emilia: Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak.
我理应服从他,但是现在还不行。
’Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
伊阿古,也许我永远也不会回家了。
Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.
噢,你好:噢!噢!噢!
Othello: O! O! O!
(倒在床上。)
(Falls on the bed.)
E milia:不,躺下并咆哮!
Emilia: Nay, lay thee down and roar!
200因为你杀死了最可爱的无辜者
200For thou hast killed the sweetest innocent
她永远都不会抬起眼睛。
That e’er did lift up eye.
噢,她太恶心了!
Othello: O, she was foul!
205格拉提诺:可怜的苔丝狄蒙!我很高兴你的父亲去世了。
205Gratiano: Poor Desdemon! I am glad thy father’s dead.
噢,太可怜了,但伊阿古知道
Othello: ’Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows
她和凯西奥犯下了可耻的罪行
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
千百遍地犯下罪行。卡西奥承认了这一点;
A thousand times committed. Cassio confessed it;
她满足了他的多情行为
And she did gratifyy his amorous works
215凭借那份承诺和爱的誓言
215With that recognizancez and pledge of love
这是我最先送给她的。我看到它在他的手里。
Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand.
那是一块手帕,一个古董纪念品
It was a handkerchief, an antique token
我的父亲给了我的母亲。
My father gave my mother.
艾米莉亚:哦上帝!哦天上的上帝!
Emilia: O God! O heavenly God!
我说过: Zounds,保持安静!
Iago: Zounds, hold your peace!
220E milia: '斜纹布出来了,'斜纹布出来了!我平安吗?
220Emilia: ’Twill out, ’twill out! I peace?
我说过:明智一点,带你回家。
Iago: Be wise, and get you home.
E milia:我不会。
Emilia: I will not.
[伊阿古引诱艾米莉亚并威胁她。]
[Iago draws and threatens Emilia.]
G ratiano:呸!
Gratiano: Fie!
225你的剑指向一个女人吗?
225Your sword upon a woman?
E milia:哦,你这个愚蠢的摩尔人,你说的那条手帕
Emilia: O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st of
我幸运地找到了它并把它交给了我的丈夫;
I found by fortune, and did give my husband;
因为常常带着庄严的诚意——
For often with a solemn earnestness —
不仅仅是属于这样的小事——
More than indeed belonged to such a trifle —
他恳求我偷它。
He begged of me to steal’t.
230我说过:卑鄙的婊子!
230Iago: Villainous whore!
E milia:她给了卡西奥?不,唉,我找到了,
Emilia: She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it,
我也确实给了我的丈夫。
And I did give’t my husband.
我说:你撒谎,真肮脏!
Iago: Filth, thou liest!
E milia:天啊,我没有,我没有,先生们。
Emilia: By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
哦,该死的花花公子!这样的傻瓜
O murd’rous coxcomb! what should such a fool
有这么好的老婆干什么?
Do with so good a wife?
235哦,天上没有石头吗
235Othello: Are there no stonesbb in heaven
但雷霆又有何用呢?你这个小偷!
But what serves for the thunder? Precious villain!
摩尔人向伊阿古冲去 [但被蒙塔诺缴获]。
The Moor runs at Iago [but is disarmed by Montano].
伊阿古杀死了他的妻子。
Iago kills his wife.
格拉提亚诺:女人摔倒了。他当然杀了他的妻子。
Gratiano: The woman falls. Sure he hath killed his wife.
E米莉亚:哎呀哎呀。哦,把我放在我情妇身边吧。
Emilia: Ay, ay. O, lay me by my mistress’ side.
伊阿古退下。
Exit Iago.
G ratiano:他走了,但他的妻子被杀了。
Gratiano: He’s gone, but his wife’s killed.
240蒙塔诺:这是臭名昭著的CC恶棍。带上这件武器,
240Montano: ’Tis a notoriouscc villain. Take you this weapon,
这是我在摩尔人那儿找回的。
Which I have here recovered from the Moor.
来,守住门外。别让他过去,
Come, guard the door without. Let him not pass,
宁愿杀了他。我要追捕那个恶棍,
But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,
因为他是一个该死的奴隶。
For ’tis a damnèd slave.
退场(蒙塔诺,除了奥赛罗和艾米莉亚之外的所有人)。
Exit [Montano, with all but Othello and Emilia].
哦你看!我也不勇敢;
Othello: I am not valiant neither;
E milia:女士,你的歌声预示着什么?
Emilia: What did thy song bode, lady?
听,你能听见我吗?我会扮演天鹅,
Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,
在音乐中死去。[唱歌。] “柳树,柳树,柳树。”
And die in music. [Sings.] “Willow, willow, willow.”
250摩尔,她是贞洁的。她爱你,残忍的摩尔:
250Moor, she was chaste. She loved thee, cruel Moor:
所以当我说实话时我的灵魂便会感到幸福。
So come my soul to bliss as I speak true.
所以当我说话并思考时,我死了,我死了。
So speaking as I think, I die, I die.
(她死了。)
(She dies.)
哦,你好:我在这个房间里还有另一件武器;
Othello: I have another weapon in this chamber;
葛莱西安诺(在内):如果你尝试这么做,你将付出惨重的代价。
Gratiano (within): If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear.
你没有武器,所以必须受苦。
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
噢,你看我一眼,和我说话,
Othello: Look in upon me then and speak with me,
G ratiano:发生什么事了?
Gratiano: What is the matter?
260哦他罗:看哪,我有武器;
260Othello: Behold, I have a weapon;
更好的人永远不会自己维持下去
A better never did itself sustain
站在士兵的大腿上。我见过
Upon a soldier’s thigh. I have seen the day
凭借这只小手臂和这把好剑
That with this little arm and this good sword
我已经克服了更多障碍
I have made my way through more impediments
265比你停下来的二十倍还要多。gg但是,虚荣的吹嘘!
265Than twenty times your stop.gg But O vain boast!
谁能主宰他的命运?现在不是这样。
Who can control his fate? ’Tis not so now.
尽管你看到我带着武器,但不要害怕。
Be not afraid, though you do see me weaponed.
这是我的旅程的终点,这是我的屁股,hh
Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt,hh
这是我最大航程的第二航标:
And very seamarkii of my utmost sail:
270你会沮丧地回去吗?这是一种迷失的恐惧。
270Do you go back dismayed? ’Tis a lostjj fear.
男人只是冲向奥赛罗的胸膛,
Man but a rushkk against Othello’s breast,
然后他退休了。奥赛罗该去哪里呢?
And he retires. Where should Othello go?
现在你看上去怎么样?啊,倒霉的姑娘!
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starred wench!
苍白如你的罩衫!当我们在康普特见面时,
Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt,ll
275你这目光会将我的灵魂从天堂抛出,
275This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
魔鬼会抢走它。冷,冷,我的女孩?
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
甚至像你的贞洁。
Even like thy chastity.
啊,该死的奴隶!该死的奴隶,鞭打我吧,魔鬼们,
O cursèd, cursèd slave! Whip me, ye devils,
从拥有这天堂般的景象!
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
280把我吹进风里吧!把我放在硫磺里烤吧!
280Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
将我冲进液体火焰的陡峭深渊!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
哦 苔丝狄蒙!死了 苔丝狄蒙!死了!哦!哦!
Oh Desdemon! dead Desdemon! dead! Oh! Oh!
罗多维科、蒙塔诺、伊阿古(囚犯)及军官上;凯西奥坐在椅子上。
Enter Lodovico, Montano, Iago [as prisoner], and Officers; Cassio in a chair.
洛多维科:这个鲁莽而又不幸的人在哪儿?
Lodovico: Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
奥赛罗:这就是奥赛罗。我在这里。
Othello: That’s he that was Othello. Here I am.
285洛多维科:那条毒蛇在哪儿?把那个恶棍带出来。
285Lodovico: Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.
哦,你好:我低头看着他的脚嗯——但那只是个寓言。
Othello: I look down towards his feetmm — but that’s a fable.
如果你是个魔鬼,我就不能杀死你。
If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
[伤害伊阿古。]
[Wounds Iago.]
洛多维科:把他的剑夺下来。
Lodovico: Wrench his sword from him.
[奥赛罗被解除了武装。]
[Othello is disarmed.]
我说过:先生,我流血了,但没有死。
Iago: I bleed, sir, but not killed.
噢,我也不遗憾。我希望你活下去;
Othello: I am not sorry neither. I’d have thee live;
290因为在我看来,死亡是一种幸福。
290For in my sense, ’tis happiness to die.
洛多维科:奥赛罗,你曾经如此善良,
Lodovico: O thou Othello that wert once so good,
奥瑟罗:为什么,任何事情;
Othello: Why, anything;
如果你愿意的话,你是一个光荣的杀手;
An honorable murderer, if you will;
295我所做的一切都是出于仇恨,只是出于荣誉。
295For naught did I in hate, but all in honor.
洛多维科:这个恶棍已经部分承认了他的恶行。
Lodovico: This wretch hath part confessed his villainy.
噢,是的。
Othello: Ay.
卡西奥:尊敬的将军,我从来没有给您提供过理由。
Cassio: Dear general, I never gave you cause.
300噢,你好:我确实相信,并且请求你的原谅。
300Othello: I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
请问你能否要求那个半魔鬼
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
他为何要这样俘获我的灵魂和肉体?
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?
我说过:别向我索要任何东西。你知道的,你知道的。
Iago: Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.
从此以后我再也不会说话了。
From this time forth I never will speak word.
洛多维科:怎么,不祈祷吗?
Lodovico: What, not to pray?
305格拉提亚诺:折磨会张开你的嘴唇。
305Gratiano: Torments will ope your lips.
哦,瑟罗:好吧,你做得最好。
Othello: Well, thou dost best.
洛多维科:先生,您一定知道发生了什么事,
Lodovico: Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,
我想你不知道。这是一封信
Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
在被杀的罗德里戈的口袋里发现;
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
310这里还有另一个。其中一个进口
310And here another. The one of them imports
凯西奥的死即将来临
The death of Cassio to be undertook
作者:罗德里戈。
By Roderigo.
哦,你好:哦,恶棍!
Othello: O villain!
C assio:最异教、最粗俗!
Cassio: Most heathenish and most gross!
洛多维科:现在又有一篇不满的论文
Lodovico: Now here’s another discontented paper
噢,你这个恶毒的流氓! —
Othello: O thou pernicious caitiff! —
凯西奥,你怎么会得到这块手帕呢?
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
那是我妻子的吗?
That was my wife’s?
320卡西奥:我在我的房间里发现了它;
320Cassio: I found it in my chamber;
他自己也承认了,但直到现在
And he himself confessed but even now
他为了特殊目的把它丢在那里
That there he dropped it for a special purpose
这满足了他的愿望。
Which wrought to his desire.
哦,你好:哦,傻瓜!傻瓜!傻瓜!
Othello: O fool! fool! fool!
C assio:罗德里戈的信里还说,
Cassio: There is besides in Roderigo’s letter,
330洛多维科:你必须离开这个房间,跟我们一起走。
330Lodovico: You must forsake this room and go with us.
你的权力和你的命令被剥夺了,
Your power and your command is taken off,
凯西奥统治着塞浦路斯。对于这个奴隶来说,
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
如果有任何狡猾的残忍
If there be any cunning cruelty
这可以折磨他很久,
That can torment him much and hold him long,
335这将是他的。你将关闭囚犯休息
335It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest
直到你明白自己的过错
Till that the nature of your fault be known
去威尼斯吧。来吧,带走吧。
To the Venetian state. Come, bring away.
噢,你好:温柔点!走之前说两句话。
Othello: Soft you! a word or two before you go.
我为国家做出了贡献,但他们却不知道。
I have done the state some service, and they know’t.
340别再这样了。我恳求你在信中,
340No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
当你讲述这些不幸的事迹时,
When you shall these unluckyrr deeds relate,
像我一样谈论我。没有什么可以减轻,
Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,
不要怀有恶意地写下任何东西。然后你必须说
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
一个人爱得不够明智,却爱得太深;
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
345一个不容易嫉妒的人,但是,被塑造,
345Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
极度困惑的ss ;一个人的手,
Perplexedss in the extreme; of one whose hand,
像卑鄙的犹太人一样,他们扔掉了一颗珍珠
Like the base Judean,tt threw a pearl away
比他的整个部落都富有;他的眼神柔和,
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdueduu eyes,
尽管不习惯融化的气氛,
Albeit unusèd to the melting mood,
350像阿拉伯树一样快速地流泪
350Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
他们的药用口香糖。把这个给你。
Their med’cinable gum. Set you down this.
并且还说在阿勒颇有一次,
And say besides that in Aleppo once,
一个心怀恶意、头戴头巾的土耳其人
Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk
殴打威尼斯人并诽谤国家,
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
355我掐住了那条割过包皮的狗的喉咙
355I took by th’ throat the circumcisèd dog
并击打了他——就这样。
And smote him — thus.
(他用刀刺伤了自己。)
(He stabs himself.)
L odovico:哦,该死的时期!维维
Lodovico: O bloody period!vv
G ratiano:所说的一切都被破坏了。
Gratiano: All that’s spoke is marred.
哦,你好:我吻了你,然后才杀了你。没有别的办法,
Othello: I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
自杀,死于一吻之中。
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
(他 [倒在床上] 死了。)
(He [falls upon the bed and] dies.)
360卡西奥:我确实担心这一点,但我想他没有武器。
360Cassio: This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
因为他有一颗伟大的心。
For he was great of heart.
洛多维科(对伊阿古说):斯巴达的狗啊,
Lodovico [to Iago]: O Spartan dog,
比痛苦、饥饿或大海更可怕的是!
More fellww than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
看看这张床的悲惨负荷。
Look on the tragic loading of this bed.
这是你的作品。物体毒害了视线;
This is thy work. The object poisons sight;
365把它藏起来。xx格拉西亚诺,守住房子,
365Let it be hid.xx Gratiano, keep the house,
并抓住摩尔人的命运,
And seize uponyy the fortunes of the Moor,
因为他们成功了。总督大人,
For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
仍然是这个地狱恶棍的谴责zz ,
Remains the censurezz of this hellish villain,
时间、地点、酷刑。哦,强制执行!
The time, the place, the torture. O, enforce it!
370我将直接上船,并前往州
370Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
这一沉重的行为与沉重的心情相关。
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
下。
Exeunt.
[1604]
[1604]
a 1. 原因:正义事业。
a1. cause: Cause of justice.
b 8. 臣僕:仆人。
b8. minister: Servant.
c 12. 普罗米修斯之热:神圣之火。
c12. Promethean heat: Divine fire.
d 13. relume:重新点亮。
d13. relume: Relight.
e 26. 罪行:罪孽。
e26. crime: Sin.
f 32. 禁止:禁止。
f32. forfend: Forbid.
g 45. 预兆:即将发生暴力事件的迹象。
g45. portents: Signs of impending violence.
h 52. 立即:立刻。
h52. presently: At once.
i 55. 概念:信仰。
i55. conception: Belief.
j 59. 犯:错误。
j59. Offend: Wrong.
k 63. stone my heart:把我的心变成石头。
k63. stone my heart: Turn my heart to stone.
l 72. ta'en order:采取措施。
l72. ta’en order: Taken measures.
m 92. 一会儿:稍等一下(对艾米莉亚说)。
m92. By and by: Just a moment (addressed to Emilia).
n 102. 打哈欠:张开,像地震时一样。
n102. yawn: Open, as in an earthquake.
o 110. 错误:偏离航线。
o110. error: Straying off course.
p126 .赞扬:记住。
p126. Commend: Remember.
q 134. 水:(具有流动性)。
q134. water: (Which is yielding).
r 146. 贵橄榄石:(珍贵的黄玉)。
r146. chrysolite: (Precious topaz).
s 151. iterance:重复。
s151. iterance: Repetition.
t 164. 受到伤害:忍受伤害。
t164. to be hurt: To endure hurt.
u 184. 魅力:施展魔法。
u184. charm: Cast a spell on.
v 204. 顯示:出現。
v204. shows: Appears.
w 208. 转:行动。
w208. turn: Act.
x 210. 谴责:被上帝拒绝,诅咒。
x210. reprobation: Rejection by God, damnation.
y 214. 獻赏:獎勵。
y214. gratify: Reward.
z 215. 保证:象征。
z215. recognizance: Token.
aa 221. 像北方一样自由:像北风一样肆无忌惮地吹拂。
aa221. liberal as the north: Unchecked as the north wind blows.
bb 235. 石头:像用于雷电的螺栓。
bb235. stones: Bolts like those used for thunderbolts.
cc 240. 臭名昭著:著名的。
cc240. notorious: Notable.
dd 245. puny whipster:小家伙。
dd245. puny whipster: Whippersnapper.
ee 254. 冰溪:即在冷流水中淬火的西班牙刀刃。
ee254. ice brook: i.e., a Spanish blade, tempered in cold running water.
ff 258.裸体:解除武装。
ff258. naked: Disarmed.
gg 265. stop:电源停止。
gg265. stop: Power to stop.
hh 268. 对接:限制。
hh268. butt: Limit.
ii 269. 海标:灯塔,目的地。
ii269. seamark: Beacon, destination.
jj 270.丢失:浪费。
jj270. lost: Wasted.
kk 271. 人不过一缕光辉:只挥动一根芦苇。
kk271. Man but a rush: Wield only a reed.
ll 274. compt:最后的会计,最后的审判。
ll274. compt: Final accounting, Last Judgment.
mm 286. 我……脚:即看看它们是否像魔鬼的脚一样有裂痕。
mm286. I … feet: i.e., to see if they are cloven, like the Devil’s.
nn 292. 练习:情节。
nn292. practice: Plot.
oo 297. 同意:同意。
oo297. consent in: Agree upon.
第 317页。nick:时间不多了。
pp317. nick: Nick of time.
qq 327.演员:解散。
qq327. cast: Dismissed.
rr 341.不幸:致命的。
rr341. unlucky: Fatal.
ss 346. 困惑:心烦意乱。
ss346. Perplexed: Distracted.
tt 347. 犹大:加略人犹大(?)(四开本读作“印度”)。
tt347. Judean: Judas Iscariot (?) (quarto reads “Indian”).
uu 348. 制服:即被悲伤征服。
uu348. subdued: i.e., conquered by grief.
vv 357. 句号:结束。
vv357. period: Ending.
ww 362. 堕落:残酷。
ww362. fell: Cruel.
xx 365. 把它隐藏起来:即拉上窗帘。
xx365. Let it be hid: i.e., draw the bed curtains.
yy 366. 夺取:合法占有。
yy366. seize upon: Take legal possession of.
zz 368. 谴责:司法判决。
zz368. censure: Judicial sentence.
(1828–1906)
[1828–1906]
译者:r. farquharson sharp
translated by r. farquharson sharp
剧中人
Dramatis personae
托尔瓦尔德·赫尔默
Torvald Helmer
他的妻子诺拉
Nora, his wife
医生职称
Doctor Rank
林德夫人
Mrs. Linde
尼尔斯·克罗格斯塔德
Nils Krogstad
海尔茂的三个孩子
Helmer’s three young children
安妮,他们的护士
Anne, their nurse
女佣
A Housemaid
一名搬运工
A Porter
场景:故事发生在海尔茂的家里。
Scene: The action takes place in Helmer’s house.
场景:一间布置舒适、雅致但不奢华的房间。房间后面,右侧有一扇门通往门厅,左侧的另一扇门通往海尔茂的书房。两扇门之间放着一架钢琴。左侧墙壁中间有一扇门,门后有一扇窗户。窗户附近有一张圆桌、扶手椅和一张小沙发。右侧墙壁的另一端是另一扇门;在同一侧,靠近脚灯的地方,有一个炉子、两把安乐椅和一把摇椅;炉子和门之间有一张小桌子。墙上有雕刻;一个橱柜里放着瓷器和其他小物件;一个小书柜里放着装订精美的书籍。地板上铺着地毯,炉子里燃着火。现在是冬天。
Scene: A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer’s study. Between the doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, and beyond it a window. Near the window are a round table, arm-chairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small book-case with well-bound books. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter.
门厅里响起铃声,不一会儿,门开了。诺拉进来了,她哼着小曲,兴致勃勃。她穿着户外服装,带着几个包裹,放在右边的桌子上。她走后,外门敞开着,透过门,可以看到一个搬运工拿着一棵圣诞树和一个篮子,他把篮子交给了开门的女仆。
A bell rings in the hall; shortly afterwards the door is heard to open. Enter Nora, humming a tune and in high spirits. She is in outdoor dress and carries a number of parcels; these she lays on the table to the right. She leaves the outer door open after her, and through it is seen a Porter who is carrying a Christmas Tree and a basket, which he gives to the Maid who has opened the door.
诺拉:海伦,把圣诞树藏好。确保孩子们在今天晚上装饰完毕之前看不到它。(对门房说,拿出钱包。)多少钱?
Nora: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. (To the Porter, taking out her purse.) How much?
搬运工:六便士。
Porter: Sixpence.
诺拉:有一先令。不,不用找零了。(门房向她道谢,然后走了出去。诺拉关上了门。她一边笑着,一边脱下帽子和外套。她从口袋里掏出一包杏仁饼,吃了一两块;然后小心翼翼地走到丈夫的门口,听了听。)是的,他在家。(她一边哼着歌,一边走到右边的桌子旁。)
Nora: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. (The Porter thanks her, and goes out. Nora shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband’s door and listens.) Yes, he is in. (Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.)
赫尔墨(从他的房间里喊道) :那是我的小云雀在那儿叽叽喳喳地叫吗?
Helmer (calls out from his room): Is that my little lark twittering out there?
N ora(忙着打开一些包裹):是的!
Nora (busy opening some of the parcels): Yes, it is!
赫尔默:是不是我的小松鼠在忙碌呢?
Helmer: Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
N ora:是的!
Nora: Yes!
赫尔默:我的小松鼠什么时候回家?
Helmer: When did my squirrel come home?
诺拉:现在。(把那袋杏仁饼放进口袋,擦了擦嘴。)托尔瓦德,进来,看看我买了什么。
Nora: Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
赫尔默:别打扰我。(过了一会儿,他打开门,手里拿着笔,朝房间里望去。)你说买的?所有这些东西?我这个小浪荡子又在浪费钱吗?
Helmer: Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
Nora :是的,但是,托尔瓦德,今年我们确实可以放纵一下。这是我们第一次不需要节俭的圣诞节。
Nora: Yes but, Torvald, this year we really can let ourselves go a little. This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise.
赫尔默:但是你知道的,我们不能肆意花钱。
Helmer: Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly.
Nora :是的,托尔瓦德,我们现在可以稍微放肆一点了,不是吗?只是一点点!你将获得高薪,赚很多很多钱。
Nora: Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money.
赫尔默:是的,新年过后;但还要过整整一个季度才能发工资。
Helmer: Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due.
N ora:哎呀!我们可以借到那时。
Nora: Pooh! we can borrow until then.
海尔茂:诺拉!(走到她面前,开玩笑似的揪住她的耳朵。)还是那个小笨蛋!假设我今天借了五十英镑,你圣诞节那周把钱全花光了,然后在除夕夜,一块石板掉在我头上砸死了我,然后——
Helmer: Nora! (Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.) The same little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and —
诺拉(用手捂住他的嘴):“噢!别说这么可怕的话。”
Nora ( putting her hands over his mouth): Oh! don’t say such horrid things.
赫尔墨:但是,假设那件事发生了,——那会怎样呢?
Helmer: Still, suppose that happened, — what then?
N ora:如果那样的话,我想我不应该关心我是否欠钱。
Nora: If that were to happen, I don’t suppose I should care whether I owed money or not.
赫尔默:是的,但是那些借出它的人怎么办呢?
Helmer: Yes, but what about the people who had lent it?
诺拉:他们?谁会关心他们?我真不知道他们是谁。
Nora: They? Who would bother about them? I should not know who they were.
赫尔默:这才是女人的作风!不过,诺拉,说真的,你知道我是怎么想的。不负债,不借钱。依赖借钱和债务的家庭生活不可能有自由或美好。到目前为止,我们两个一直勇敢地走在正路上,只要不需要任何挣扎,我们就会继续走下去。
Helmer: That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.
诺拉(走向火炉) :随你便吧,托瓦德。
Nora (moving towards the stove): As you please, Torvald.
海尔茂(跟着她) :来吧,来吧,我的小云雀可不能垂下翅膀。怎么回事!我的小松鼠是不是发脾气了? (掏出钱包。 ) 诺拉,你猜我这里有什么东西?
Helmer ( following her): Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper? (Taking out his purse.) Nora, what do you think I have got here?
诺拉(迅速转过身):“钱!”
Nora (turning round quickly): Money!
赫尔默:你看怎么样?(给她一些钱。)你以为我不知道圣诞节期间家务活需要多少钱吗?
Helmer: There you are. (Gives her some money.) Do you think I don’t know what a lot is wanted for housekeeping at Christmas-time?
诺拉(数数):十先令——一英镑——两英镑!谢谢你,谢谢你,托尔瓦德;这笔钱够我花很长时间了。
Nora (counting): Ten shillings — a pound — two pounds! Thank you, thank you, Torvald; that will keep me going for a long time.
赫尔默:确实如此。
Helmer: Indeed it must.
诺拉:是的,是的,会的。不过过来让我给你看看我买了什么。而且都很便宜!看,这是给伊瓦尔的一套新衣服,还有一把剑;给鲍勃的一匹马和一支喇叭;给艾米的一个洋娃娃和洋娃娃的床架——它们很朴素,但无论如何她很快就会把它们弄碎。这是给女仆的长裙和手帕;老安妮真的应该有更好的东西。
Nora: Yes, yes, it will. But come here and let me show you what I have bought. And all so cheap! Look, here is a new suit for Ivar, and a sword; and a horse and a trumpet for Bob; and a doll and dolly’s bedstead for Emmy, — they are very plain, but anyway she will soon break them in pieces. And here are dress-lengths and handkerchiefs for the maids; old Anne ought really to have something better.
赫尔默:这包裹里是什么?
Helmer: And what is in this parcel?
诺拉(大叫):“不,不!你今天晚上才能看到它。”
Nora (crying out): No, no! you mustn’t see that until this evening.
海尔默:很好。但是现在告诉我,你这个奢侈的小人,你想要什么呢?
Helmer: Very well. But now tell me, you extravagant little person, what would you like for yourself?
N ora:为了我自己?噢,我确定我什么都不想要。
Nora: For myself? Oh, I am sure I don’t want anything.
赫尔默:是的,但你必须这么做。告诉我你特别想得到什么合理的结果。
Helmer: Yes, but you must. Tell me something reasonable that you would particularly like to have.
N ora:不,我真的想不出任何东西——除非,托尔瓦德——
Nora: No, I really can’t think of anything — unless, Torvald —
赫尔默:怎么样?
Helmer: Well?
诺拉(玩弄着他的外套纽扣,没有抬头看他):如果你真的想给我点什么,你可以——你可以——
Nora (playing with his coat buttons, and without raising her eyes to his): If you really want to give me something, you might — you might —
赫尔默:好,说吧!
Helmer: Well, out with it!
诺拉(快速说道):你可以给我钱,托尔瓦德。只要你能负担得起就行;然后总有一天我会用这笔钱买点东西。
Nora (speaking quickly): You might give me money, Torvald. Only just as much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something with it.
海尔默:但是,诺拉——
Helmer: But, Nora —
N ora:哦,那就这么做吧!亲爱的托尔瓦德,求求你,求求你!然后我会用漂亮的烫金纸包起来,挂在圣诞树上。那不是很有趣吗?
Nora: Oh, do! dear Torvald; please, please do! Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?
赫尔默:那些总是浪费钱的小人叫什么?
Helmer: What are little people called that are always wasting money?
Nora :挥霍无度的人——我知道。让我们按照你的建议去做吧,托尔瓦德,然后我就有时间考虑我最需要什么了。这是一个非常明智的计划,不是吗?
Nora: Spendthrifts — I know. Let us do as you suggest, Torvald, and then I shall have time to think what I am most in want of. That is a very sensible plan, isn’t it?
海尔默(微笑):确实如此——也就是说,如果你真的把我给你的钱存起来,然后真的给自己买点东西。但如果你把钱都花在了家务和许多不必要的事情上,那么我就得再付钱了。
Helmer (smiling): Indeed it is — that is to say, if you were really to save out of the money I give you, and then really buy something for yourself. But if you spend it all on the housekeeping and any number of unnecessary things, then I merely have to pay up again.
Nora :哦,但是,托尔瓦德——
Nora: Oh but, Torvald —
海尔默:你无法否认,我亲爱的小诺拉。(用手搂住她的腰。)她是个可爱的小浪荡子,但她花了很多钱。很难相信这样的小人物竟然如此奢侈!
Helmer: You can’t deny it, my dear little Nora. (Puts his arm round her waist.) It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money. One would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are!
N ora:说起来真可惜。我确实尽力省钱了。
Nora: It’s a shame to say that. I do really save all I can.
赫尔墨(笑):确实如此,你能做的只有这些。但你什么也救不了!
Helmer (laughing): That’s very true, — all you can. But you can’t save anything!
诺拉(静静地、开心地微笑):托瓦德,你不知道我们云雀和松鼠有多少花销。
Nora (smiling quietly and happily): You haven’t any idea how many expenses we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald.
海尔默:你真是个奇怪的小家伙。和你父亲很像。你总是想出新办法从我这里骗钱,而且,一旦你拿到钱,钱似乎就在你的手里融化了。你永远不知道钱都去哪儿了。不过,我们必须接受你的本性。这是你的天性;因为诺拉,你确实可以继承这些东西。
Helmer: You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone. Still, one must take you as you are. It is in the blood; for indeed it is true that you can inherit these things, Nora.
N ora:啊,我希望我能继承爸爸的许多品质。
Nora: Ah, I wish I had inherited many of papa’s qualities.
海尔默:我不希望你变成现在这个样子,我可爱的小云雀。但是,你知道吗,我觉得你今天看起来有点——我该怎么说——有点不安?
Helmer: And I would not wish you to be anything but just what you are, my sweet little skylark. But, do you know, it strikes me that you are looking rather — what shall I say — rather uneasy today?
N ora:我会吗?
Nora: Do I?
赫尔默:你确实需要。看着我。
Helmer: You do, really. Look straight at me.
诺拉(看着他):“嗯?”
Nora (looks at him): Well?
赫尔默(朝她摇着手指): “甜心小姐今天不是违反了城里的规矩吗?”
Helmer (wagging his finger at her): Hasn’t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today?
N ora:不;是什么让你这么想的?
Nora: No; what makes you think that?
赫尔默:她没有去过糖果店吗?
Helmer: Hasn’t she paid a visit to the confectioner’s?
诺拉:不,我向你保证,托尔瓦德——
Nora: No, I assure you, Torvald —
赫尔默:没吃过糖果吗?
Helmer: Not been nibbling sweets?
N ora:不,当然不是。
Nora: No, certainly not.
H elmer:连一两口杏仁饼都没吃过吗?
Helmer: Not even taken a bite at a macaroon or two?
诺拉:不,托尔瓦德,我向你保证——
Nora: No, Torvald, I assure you really —
赫尔默:好了好了,我当然只是在开玩笑。
Helmer: There, there, of course I was only joking.
诺拉(走向右边的桌子):我不该想违背你的意愿。
Nora (going to the table on the right): I should not think of going against your wishes.
海尔默:不,我确信这一点;再说,你也向我保证过——(走到她面前)亲爱的,别把圣诞节的小秘密藏在心里。毫无疑问,今晚圣诞树亮起来的时候,这些秘密就会全部揭晓。
Helmer: No, I am sure of that; besides, you gave me your word — (Going up to her.) Keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, my darling. They will all be revealed to-night when the Christmas Tree is lit, no doubt.
N ora:你记得邀请 Rank 博士吗?
Nora: Did you remember to invite Doctor Rank?
赫尔默:没有。但没有必要;他当然会来和我们一起吃饭。不过,我会在今天早上他来的时候问他。我订了一些好酒。诺拉,你无法想象我多么期待今晚的到来。
Helmer: No. But there is no need; as a matter of course he will come to dinner with us. However, I will ask him when he comes in this morning. I have ordered some good wine. Nora, you can’t think how I am looking forward to this evening.
Nora :我也是!孩子们会玩得很开心的,托尔瓦德!
Nora: So am I! And how the children will enjoy themselves, Torvald!
赫尔默:能有一份绝对稳定的工作,而且收入也足够高,这种感觉真是太棒了。想想就很开心,不是吗?
Helmer: It is splendid to feel that one has a perfectly safe appointment, and a big enough income. It’s delightful to think of, isn’t it?
N ora:太棒了!
Nora: It’s wonderful!
赫尔默:你还记得去年圣诞节吗?在圣诞节前整整三个星期里,你每天晚上都把自己关起来,直到午夜过后很久,为圣诞树做装饰品,做所有其他让我们惊喜的精美物品。那是我度过的最无聊的三个星期!
Helmer: Do you remember last Christmas? For a full three weeks beforehand you shut yourself up every evening until long after midnight, making ornaments for the Christmas Tree, and all the other fine things that were to be a surprise to us. It was the dullest three weeks I ever spent!
N ora:我并不觉得它无趣。
Nora: I didn’t find it dull.
赫尔茂(微笑):“但是,诺拉,没有什么成果。”
Helmer (smiling): But there was precious little result, Nora.
N ora:哦,你不该再拿这个来取笑我。我怎么能阻止那只猫进去把一切都撕成碎片呢?
Nora: Oh, you shouldn’t tease me about that again. How could I help the cat’s going in and tearing everything to pieces?
赫尔默:当然,你做不到,可怜的小女孩。你本意是想让我们大家高兴,这才是最重要的。不过,幸好我们的艰难时期已经过去了。
Helmer: Of course you couldn’t, poor little girl. You had the best of intentions to please us all, and that’s the main thing. But it is a good thing that our hard times are over.
N ora:是的,真是太棒了。
Nora: Yes, it is really wonderful.
海尔茂:这次我不用再一个人坐在这儿无聊了,你也不必再毁掉你那双可爱的眼睛和你那双漂亮的小手了——
Helmer: This time I needn’t sit here and be dull all alone, and you needn’t ruin your dear eyes and your pretty little hands —
诺拉(拍着手) 不,托尔瓦德,我再也不需要了,真的!听你这么说真是太好了! (抓住他的胳膊。 )现在我要告诉你,我一直在想我们应该安排好一切,托尔瓦德。圣诞节一过—— (大厅里响起铃声。)铃声响了。 (她稍微整理了一下房间。)门口有人。真讨厌!
Nora (clapping her hands): No, Torvald, I needn’t any longer, need I! It’s wonderfully lovely to hear you say so! (Taking his arm.) Now I will tell you how I have been thinking we ought to arrange things, Torvald. As soon as Christmas is over — (A bell rings in the hall.) There’s the bell. (She tidies the room a little.) There’s some one at the door. What a nuisance!
赫尔默:如果有人来访,请记住我不在家。
Helmer: If it is a caller, remember I am not at home.
女仆(在门口):一位女士来见您,女士,一位陌生人。
Maid (in the doorway): A lady to see you, ma’am, — a stranger.
N ora:请她进来。
Nora: Ask her to come in.
女仆(对海尔茂说):先生,医生也同时来了。
Maid (to Helmer): The doctor came at the same time, sir.
赫尔默:他直接进我的房间了吗?
Helmer: Did he go straight into my room?
女仆:是的,先生。
Maid: Yes, sir.
(海尔茂走进自己的房间。女仆把身着旅行服的林德太太迎了进来,然后关上了门。)
(Helmer goes into his room. The Maid ushers in Mrs. Linde, who is in travelling dress, and shuts the door.)
林德夫人(声音沮丧而怯生生):诺拉,你好吗?
Mrs. Linde (in a dejected and timid voice): How do you do, Nora?
N ora(怀疑地):你好——
Nora (doubtfully): How do you do —
林德女士:我想您不认识我了。
Mrs. Linde: You don’t recognise me, I suppose.
诺拉:不,我不知道——是的,可以肯定的是,我似乎——(突然)是的!克里斯汀!真的是你吗?
Nora: No, I don’t know — yes, to be sure, I seem to — (Suddenly.) Yes! Christine! Is it really you?
林德女士:是的,是我。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, it is I.
诺拉:克里斯汀!我竟然认不出你了!但我怎么能——(声音温柔)你变了这么多,克里斯汀!
Nora: Christine! To think of my not recognising you! And yet how could I — (In a gentle voice.) How you have altered, Christine!
林德夫人:是的,我确实这么做了。在漫长的九年、十年里——
Mrs. Linde: Yes, I have indeed. In nine, ten long years —
诺拉:我们见面这么久了吗?我想是的。我可以告诉你,过去八年对我来说是一段快乐的时光。所以现在你来到这个小镇,在冬天踏上了这段漫长的旅程——你真勇敢。
Nora: Is it so long since we met? I suppose it is. The last eight years have been a happy time for me, I can tell you. And so now you have come into the town, and have taken this long journey in winter — that was plucky of you.
林德女士:我是今天早上乘轮船来的。
Mrs. Linde: I arrived by steamer this morning.
诺拉:当然是为了在圣诞节玩得开心。多么愉快啊!我们在一起会玩得很开心!不过,脱掉你的衣服吧。我希望你不冷。(帮助她。)现在我们坐在炉子旁边,舒服地坐一会儿。不,坐这张扶手椅吧;我坐在摇椅上。(抓住她的手。)现在你看起来又像以前一样了;那只是第一刻——你脸色苍白了一点,克里斯汀,也许还瘦了一点。
Nora: To have some fun at Christmas-time, of course. How delightful! We will have such fun together! But take off your things. You are not cold, I hope. (Helps her.) Now we will sit down by the stove, and be cosy. No, take this armchair; I will sit here in the rocking-chair. (Takes her hands.) Now you look like your old self again; it was only the first moment — You are a little paler, Christine, and perhaps a little thinner.
林德夫人:而且比诺拉大很多。
Mrs. Linde: And much, much older, Nora.
诺拉:也许年纪大一点;非常非常小;当然不大。(突然停下来,严肃地说。)我真是个没脑子的人,喋喋不休地说个不停。我可怜的、亲爱的克里斯汀,请原谅我。
Nora: Perhaps a little older; very, very little; certainly not much. (Stops suddenly and speaks seriously.) What a thoughtless creature I am, chattering away like this. My poor, dear Christine, do forgive me.
林德女士:诺拉,你是什么意思?
Mrs. Linde: What do you mean, Nora?
诺拉(温柔地):可怜的克里斯汀,你是个寡妇了。
Nora (gently): Poor Christine, you are a widow.
林德女士:是的,已经是三年前的事了。
Mrs. Linde: Yes; it is three years ago now.
诺拉:是的,我知道;我在报纸上看到的。我向你保证,克里斯汀,当时我经常想给你写信,但我总是拖延,总有事情阻止我。
Nora: Yes, I knew; I saw it in the papers. I assure you, Christine, I meant ever so often to write to you at the time, but I always put it off and something always prevented me.
林德夫人:我非常理解,亲爱的。
Mrs. Linde: I quite understand, dear.
诺拉:我真是太坏了,克里斯汀。可怜的孩子,你一定受了不少苦。他什么也没给你留下?
Nora: It was very bad of me, Christine. Poor thing, how you must have suffered. And he left you nothing?
林德女士:不。
Mrs. Linde: No.
N ora:没有孩子吗?
Nora: And no children?
林德女士:不。
Mrs. Linde: No.
N ora:那么,什么也没有。
Nora: Nothing at all, then.
林德夫人:甚至没有任何悲伤或悲痛可以支撑生活。
Mrs. Linde: Not even any sorrow or grief to live upon.
诺拉(难以置信地看着她): “但是,克里斯汀,这可能吗?”
Nora (looking incredulously at her): But, Christine, is that possible?
林德夫人(悲伤地笑着,抚摸着她的头发): “诺拉,有时候会发生这种事。”
Mrs. Linde (smiles sadly and strokes her hair): It sometimes happens, Nora.
N ora:所以你很孤单。那一定非常令人伤心。我有三个可爱的孩子。你现在不能见他们,因为他们和保姆出去了。但现在你必须告诉我这一切。
Nora: So you are quite alone. How dreadfully sad that must be. I have three lovely children. You can’t see them just now, for they are out with their nurse. But now you must tell me all about it.
林德女士:不,不;我想听听你的情况。
Mrs. Linde: No, no; I want to hear about you.
诺拉:不,你必须开始。我今天不能自私;今天我必须只考虑你的事情。但有一件事我必须告诉你。你知道我们刚刚有了一个大好运吗?
Nora: No, you must begin. I mustn’t be selfish today; today I must only think of your affairs. But there is one thing I must tell you. Do you know we have just had a great piece of good luck?
林德女士:不,是什么事?
Mrs. Linde: No, what is it?
N ora:真没想到,我的丈夫竟然被任命为银行经理了!
Nora: Just fancy, my husband has been made manager of the Bank!
林德夫人:您的丈夫?好幸运啊!
Mrs. Linde: Your husband? What good luck!
N ora:是的,太棒了!律师这个职业太不确定了,尤其是如果他不愿意接手那些令人讨厌的案子的话;当然托瓦尔德从来都不愿意做这件事,我非常同意他的观点。你可以想象我们有多高兴!新年的时候,他将在银行工作,到时候他的薪水会很高,佣金也会很多。未来我们可以过上完全不同的生活——我们可以随心所欲。我感到很轻松,很开心,克里斯汀!有一大笔钱而不需要担心,那将是多么美好,不是吗?
Nora: Yes, tremendous! A barrister’s profession is such an uncertain thing, especially if he won’t undertake unsavoury cases; and naturally Torvald has never been willing to do that, and I quite agree with him. You may imagine how pleased we are! He is to take up his work in the Bank at the New Year, and then he will have a big salary and lots of commissions. For the future we can live quite differently — we can do just as we like. I feel so relieved and so happy, Christine! It will be splendid to have heaps of money and not need to have any anxiety, won’t it?
林德女士:是的,无论如何,我认为得到自己需要的东西是很令人高兴的。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, anyhow I think it would be delightful to have what one needs.
N ora:不,不只是一个人所需要的,而且还需要大量的钱。
Nora: No, not only what one needs, but heaps and heaps of money.
林德夫人(微笑):诺拉,诺拉,你还没学会理智吗?在我们上学的时候,你是个挥霍无度的人。
Mrs. Linde (smiling): Nora, Nora, haven’t you learned sense yet? In our schooldays you were a great spendthrift.
诺拉(笑):是的,托尔瓦德现在就是这么说的。(对她摇手指。)但“诺拉,诺拉”并不像你想象的那么傻。我们还没有到让我浪费钱的地步。我们俩都得工作。
Nora (laughing): Yes, that is what Torvald says now. (Wags her finger at her.) But “Nora, Nora” is not so silly as you think. We have not been in a position for me to waste money. We have both had to work.
林德女士:你也是吗?
Mrs. Linde: You too?
诺拉:是的,做些零碎活儿,针线活,钩针编织,刺绣,诸如此类。(声音放低。)还有其他事情。你知道我们结婚后托尔瓦德就离开了办公室吗?那里没有升职的希望,他必须努力挣得比以前多。但第一年他工作过度。你知道,他必须想尽一切办法赚钱,他早出晚归,但他受不了,病得很重,医生说他必须去南方。
Nora: Yes; odds and ends, needlework, crotchet-work, embroidery, and that kind of thing. (Dropping her voice.) And other things as well. You know Torvald left his office when we were married? There was no prospect of promotion there, and he had to try and earn more than before. But during the first year he over-worked himself dreadfully. You see, he had to make money every way he could, and he worked early and late; but he couldn’t stand it, and fell dreadfully ill, and the doctors said it was necessary for him to go south.
林德女士:您在意大利呆了整整一年,是吗?
Mrs. Linde: You spent a whole year in Italy, didn’t you?
Nora :是的。我可以告诉你,要离开并不容易。那是在伊瓦尔刚出生的时候;但我们自然不得不去。这是一次非常美妙的旅程,它救了托尔瓦德的命。但花费了巨额资金,克里斯汀。
Nora: Yes. It was no easy matter to get away, I can tell you. It was just after Ivar was born; but naturally we had to go. It was a wonderfully beautiful journey, and it saved Torvald’s life. But it cost a tremendous lot of money, Christine.
林德女士:我想也是这样的。
Mrs. Linde: So I should think.
Nora :大约花了 250 英镑。这可不少啊,不是吗?
Nora: It cost about two hundred and fifty pounds. That’s a lot, isn’t it?
林德女士:是的,在那样的紧急情况下,有钱真是幸运。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, and in emergencies like that it is lucky to have the money.
N ora:我应该告诉你,这是我们从爸爸那里得到的。
Nora: I ought to tell you that we had it from papa.
林德夫人:哦,我明白了。他就是那个时候去世的,对吧?
Mrs. Linde: Oh, I see. It was just about that time that he died, wasn’t it?
诺拉:是的;想想看,我没法去照顾他。我每天都在盼望小伊瓦尔的出生,还要照顾可怜的生病的托尔瓦德。我亲爱的、慈祥的父亲——我再也没见过他,克里斯汀。那是我们结婚以来我经历过的最悲伤的时光。
Nora: Yes; and, just think of it, I couldn’t go and nurse him. I was expecting little Ivar’s birth every day and I had my poor sick Torvald to look after. My dear, kind father — I never saw him again, Christine. That was the saddest time I have known since our marriage.
林德夫人:我知道你很喜欢他。然后你就去了意大利?
Mrs. Linde: I know how fond you were of him. And then you went off to Italy?
N ora:是的,你知道,我们当时有钱,医生也坚持让我们去,所以我们一个月后就出发了。
Nora: Yes; you see we had money then, and the doctors insisted on our going, so we started a month later.
林德夫人:您的丈夫恢复得还好吗?
Mrs. Linde: And your husband came back quite well?
N ora:声音如铃声般清脆!
Nora: As sound as a bell!
林德夫人:但是——医生呢?
Mrs. Linde: But — the doctor?
N ora:什么医生?
Nora: What doctor?
林德夫人:我记得你的女仆说过和我刚到这里来的那位先生是医生吧?
Mrs. Linde: I thought your maid said the gentleman who arrived here just as I did, was the doctor?
诺拉:是的,那是兰克医生,但他不是来这里看病的。他是我们最好的朋友,每天至少来一次。不,从那以后,托尔瓦德一小时没生过病,我们的孩子都强壮健康,我也是。(跳起来拍拍手。)克里斯汀!克里斯汀!活着真好,快乐!——但我真可恶;我只说我自己的事。(坐在她旁边的凳子上,把胳膊放在膝盖上。)你千万不要生我的气。告诉我,你真的不爱你的丈夫吗?你为什么嫁给他?
Nora: Yes, that was Doctor Rank, but he doesn’t come here professionally. He is our greatest friend, and comes in at least once everyday. No, Torvald has not had an hour’s illness since then, and our children are strong and healthy and so am I. (Jumps up and claps her hands.) Christine! Christine! it’s good to be alive and happy! — But how horrid of me; I am talking of nothing but my own affairs. (Sits on a stool near her, and rests her arms on her knees.) You mustn’t be angry with me. Tell me, is it really true that you did not love your husband? Why did you marry him?
林德夫人:当时我母亲还健在,卧床不起,无助,我还要赡养两个弟弟,所以我认为我没有理由拒绝他的提议。
Mrs. Linde: My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and I had to provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified in refusing his offer.
N ora:不,也许你说得很对。那么,他当时很有钱吗?
Nora: No, perhaps you were quite right. He was rich at that time, then?
林德夫人:我认为他过得还不错。但他的生意很不稳定;他死后,一切都化为乌有,什么也没留下。
Mrs. Linde: I believe he was quite well off. But his business was a precarious one; and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left.
N ora:然后呢?——
Nora: And then? —
林德夫人:好吧,我不得不开始尝试任何我能找到的东西——首先是一家小商店,然后是一所小学校,等等。过去三年似乎就像一个漫长的工作日,没有休息。现在结束了,诺拉。我可怜的母亲不再需要我了,因为她已经走了;孩子们也不需要我了;他们有了自己的工作,可以自己谋生了。
Mrs. Linde: Well, I had to turn my hand to anything I could find — first a small shop, then a small school, and so on. The last three years have seemed like one long working-day, with no rest. Now it is at an end, Nora. My poor mother needs me no more, for she is gone; and the boys do not need me either; they have got situations and can shift for themselves.
N ora:你一定感到如释重负——
Nora: What a relief you must feel it —
林德夫人:不,确实如此;我只觉得我的生活空虚得无法形容。没有人可以让我活下去。(不安地站起来。)这就是为什么我再也无法忍受我这个小地方的生活。我希望在这里能更容易地找到一些能让我忙碌并占据我思想的东西。如果我能有幸找到一份固定的工作——某种办公室工作——
Mrs. Linde: No, indeed; I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore. (Gets up restlessly.) That was why I could not stand the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts. If only I could have the good luck to get some regular work — office work of some kind —
诺拉:但是,克里斯汀,这太累人了,你现在看起来已经筋疲力尽了。你最好去温泉池边泡个澡。
Nora: But, Christine, that is so frightfully tiring, and you look tired out now. You had far better go away to some watering-place.
林德夫人(走到窗前): “诺拉,我没有父亲给我钱去旅行。”
Mrs. Linde (walking to the window): I have no father to give me money for a journey, Nora.
诺拉(站起): “噢,别生我的气!”
Nora (rising): Oh, don’t be angry with me!
林德太太(走到她面前) :亲爱的,你不应该对我生气。像我这样的处境最糟糕的地方在于它让人如此痛苦。没有人为我工作,却不得不时刻寻找机会。人必须生存,所以人变得自私。当你告诉我你的命运发生了幸福的转折时——你几乎不会相信——我很高兴,而不是因为你,而是我自己。
Mrs. Linde (going up to her): It is you that must not be angry with me, dear. The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter. No one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for chances. One must live, and so one becomes selfish. When you told me of the happy turn your fortunes have taken — you will hardly believe it — I was delighted not so much on your account as on my own.
N ora:你是什么意思?——哦,我明白了。你的意思是也许托尔瓦德可以给你找点事做。
Nora: How do you mean? — Oh, I understand. You mean that perhaps Torvald could get you something to do.
林德女士:是的,我正是这么想的。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, that was what I was thinking of.
Nora :他必须这么做,克里斯汀。就交给我吧;我会非常巧妙地提出这个话题——我会想出一些让他非常高兴的事情。能帮到你,我会非常高兴。
Nora: He must, Christine. Just leave it to me; I will broach the subject very cleverly — I will think of something that will please him very much. It will make me so happy to be of some use to you.
林德夫人:诺拉,你真是太好了,这么急切地想要帮助我!你真是太仁慈了,因为你对生活的重担和烦恼知之甚少。
Mrs. Linde: How kind you are, Nora, to be so anxious to help me! It is doubly kind in you, for you know so little of the burdens and troubles of life.
N ora:我——?我对他们了解太少了?
Nora: I — ? I know so little of them?
林德夫人(微笑):亲爱的!家务琐事之类的!——你还是个孩子,诺拉。
Mrs. Linde (smiling): My dear! Small household cares and that sort of thing! — You are a child, Nora.
诺拉(摇摇头,走下舞台): “你不该这么高人一等。”
Nora (tosses her head and crosses the stage): You ought not to be so superior.
林德女士:没有?
Mrs. Linde: No?
N ora:你和其他人一样。他们都认为我做不了什么真正严肃的事情——
Nora: You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of anything really serious —
林德夫人:来吧,来吧——
Mrs. Linde: Come, come —
N ora: ——我在这个充满烦恼的世界上什么也没经历过。
Nora: — that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.
林德夫人:但是,亲爱的诺拉,你刚才已经把你所有的烦恼都告诉了我。
Mrs. Linde: But, my dear Nora, you have just told me all your troubles.
诺拉:哎呀!——那些都是小事。(压低声音)我还没告诉你重要的事情呢。
Nora: Pooh! — those were trifles. (Lowering her voice.) I have not told you the important thing.
林德女士:重要的事情?你是什么意思?
Mrs. Linde: The important thing? What do you mean?
诺拉:克里斯汀,你完全瞧不起我——但你不应该这样。你为自己为母亲付出了如此多的努力和时间而感到自豪,不是吗?
Nora: You look down upon me altogether, Christine — but you ought not to. You are proud, aren’t you, of having worked so hard and so long for your mother?
林德夫人:确实,我并不瞧不起任何人。但想到自己有幸让母亲在生命的最后阶段几乎无忧无虑,我的确感到自豪和高兴。
Mrs. Linde: Indeed, I don’t look down on anyone. But it is true that I am both proud and glad to think that I was privileged to make the end of my mother’s life almost free from care.
N ora:想到你为你的兄弟们所做的一切,你感到自豪吗?
Nora: And you are proud to think of what you have done for your brothers?
林德女士:我认为我有权这么做。
Mrs. Linde: I think I have the right to be.
Nora :我也这么认为。不过现在,听我说,我也有一些值得骄傲和高兴的事情。
Nora: I think so, too. But now, listen to this; I too have something to be proud and glad of.
林德女士:我确信您有。但您指的是什么呢?
Mrs. Linde: I have no doubt you have. But what do you refer to?
Nora :小声点。万一被托尔瓦德听到了呢!无论如何他都不能说——克里斯汀,除了你,世界上任何人都不能知道。
Nora: Speak low. Suppose Torvald were to hear! He mustn’t on any account — no one in the world must know, Christine, except you.
林德女士:但是那是什么呢?
Mrs. Linde: But what is it?
诺拉:过来。(把她拉到她身边的沙发上。)现在我要让你知道,我也有值得骄傲和高兴的事情。是我救了托尔瓦德的命。
Nora: Come here. (Pulls her down on the sofa beside her.) Now I will show you that I too have something to be proud and glad of. It was I who saved Torvald’s life.
林德女士: “得救”?怎么得救的?
Mrs. Linde: “Saved”? How?
Nora :我跟你讲过我们去意大利的旅行。如果 Torvald 没有去那里,他就永远无法康复——
Nora: I told you about our trip to Italy. Torvald would never have recovered if he had not gone there —
林德女士:是的,但是你父亲给了你必要的资金。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, but your father gave you the necessary funds.
诺拉(微笑):是的,托尔瓦德和其他人都是这么想的,但是——
Nora (smiling): Yes, that is what Torvald and all the others think, but —
林德女士:但是——
Mrs. Linde: But —
诺拉:爸爸没有给我们一先令。是我自己想出来的钱。
Nora: Papa didn’t give us a shilling. It was I who procured the money.
林德女士:你?这么多钱?
Mrs. Linde: You? All that large sum?
N ora: 250 英镑。你觉得怎么样?
Nora: Two hundred and fifty pounds. What do you think of that?
林德夫人:但是,诺拉,你怎么可能做到呢?你中了彩票大奖吗?
Mrs. Linde: But, Nora, how could you possibly do it? Did you win a prize in the Lottery?
诺拉(轻蔑地):中彩票?那样的话就没什么信用了。
Nora (contemptuously): In the Lottery? There would have been no credit in that.
林德女士:但是您是从哪里得到它的呢?
Mrs. Linde: But where did you get it from, then?
诺拉(一边哼着歌一边带着神秘的微笑): “嗯,嗯!啊哈!”
Nora (humming and smiling with an air of mystery): Hm, hm! Aha!
林德女士:因为你不可能借它。
Mrs. Linde: Because you couldn’t have borrowed it.
N ora:我不能吗?为什么不可以?
Nora: Couldn’t I? Why not?
林德女士:不可以,妻子未经丈夫同意不得借钱。
Mrs. Linde: No, a wife cannot borrow without her husband’s consent.
诺拉(摇摇头):哦,如果妻子有做生意的头脑——一个有点聪明的妻子——
Nora (tossing her head): Oh, if it is a wife who has any head for business — a wife who has the wit to be a little bit clever —
林德女士:诺拉,我完全不明白。
Mrs. Linde: I don’t understand it at all, Nora.
诺拉:你没必要。我从没说过我借了钱。我可能从别的地方拿到了。(躺在沙发上。)也许我从其他仰慕者那里拿到了。当任何人像我一样有魅力时——
Nora: There is no need you should. I never said I had borrowed the money. I may have got it some other way. (Lies back on the sofa.) Perhaps I got it from some other admirer. When anyone is as attractive as I am —
林德女士:你真是个疯子。
Mrs. Linde: You are a mad creature.
N ora:现在,你知道你充满好奇心,克里斯汀。
Nora: Now, you know you’re full of curiosity, Christine.
林德夫人:听我说,诺拉,亲爱的。你是不是有点太鲁莽了?
Mrs. Linde: Listen to me, Nora dear. Haven’t you been a little bit imprudent?
诺拉(坐直身子): “救你丈夫的命是不是太轻率了?”
Nora (sits up straight): Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life?
林德夫人:在我看来,在他不知情的情况下,这样做是不明智的——
Mrs. Linde: It seems to me imprudent, without his knowledge, to —
诺拉:但绝对不能让他知道!天哪,你不明白吗?绝对不能让他知道他的情况有多危险。医生来找我,告诉我他有生命危险,唯一能救他的办法就是住在南方。你认为我没有首先像为自己争取一样去争取我想要的东西吗?我告诉他我多么想像其他年轻的妻子一样出国旅行;我试图用眼泪和恳求来劝他;我告诉他应该记住我的状况,应该对我好一点,宽容一点;我甚至暗示他可以借钱。克里斯汀,这差点让他生气。他说我太粗心了,作为我的丈夫,他有责任不纵容我的任性——我相信他是这么称呼的。好吧,我想,你一定得救了——这就是我想出摆脱困境的方法——
Nora: But it was absolutely necessary that he should not know! My goodness, can’t you understand that? It was necessary he should have no idea what a dangerous condition he was in. It was to me that the doctors came and said that his life was in danger, and that the only thing to save him was to live in the south. Do you suppose I didn’t try, first of all, to get what I wanted as if it were for myself? I told him how much I should love to travel abroad like other young wives; I tried tears and entreaties with him; I told him that he ought to remember the condition I was in, and that he ought to be kind and indulgent to me; I even hinted that he might raise a loan. That nearly made him angry, Christine. He said I was thoughtless, and that it was his duty as my husband not to indulge me in my whims and caprices — as I believe he called them. Very well, I thought, you must be saved — and that was how I came to devise a way out of the difficulty —
林德夫人:难道您的丈夫从未从您父亲那里得知这笔钱不是他给的吗?
Mrs. Linde: And did your husband never get to know from your father that the money had not come from him?
诺拉:不,从来没有。爸爸当时就去世了。我本想让他知道这个秘密,并恳求他永远不要透露。但当时他病得很重——唉,没有必要告诉他。
Nora: No, never. Papa died just at that time. I had meant to let him into the secret and beg him never to reveal it. But he was so ill then — alas, there never was any need to tell him.
林德女士:从那以后你就没有把这个秘密告诉你丈夫吗?
Mrs. Linde: And since then have you never told your secret to your husband?
N ora:天哪,不!你怎么会这么想?一个对这些事情有如此强烈意见的人!此外,如果托尔瓦德以他男子汉的独立性知道自己欠我什么,那将是多么痛苦和羞辱!这会彻底破坏我们之间的关系;我们美丽幸福的家将不再像现在这样。
Nora: Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.
林德夫人:你的意思是永远不告诉他这件事吗?
Mrs. Linde: Do you mean never to tell him about it?
诺拉(若有所思,微笑着):是的——也许,多年以后,当我不再像现在这样漂亮的时候。别笑我!我的意思当然是,当托尔瓦德不再像现在这样对我忠诚,当我的舞蹈、装扮和朗诵让他厌倦的时候,那时留点东西也许是件好事——(停顿)真是胡说八道!那个时候永远不会到来。现在,克里斯汀,你觉得我的大秘密怎么样?你仍然认为我没用吗?我还可以告诉你,这件事让我很担心。我很难准时履行约定。我可以告诉你,在商业中,有一种东西叫做季度利息,还有一种叫做分期付款的东西,管理它们总是非常困难。我不得不在力所能及的地方节省一点,你明白。我没有从家庭开支中存下多少钱,因为托尔瓦德必须有一张好桌子。我不能让我的孩子们穿得破破烂烂;我觉得有义务把他给我的所有东西都用在他们身上,这些可爱的小宝贝!
Nora (meditatively, and with a half smile): Yes — someday, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now. Don’t laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him; then it may be a good thing to have something in reserve — (Breaking off.) What nonsense! That time will never come. Now, what do you think of my great secret, Christine? Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to meet my engagements punctually. I may tell you that there is something that is called, in business, quarterly interest, and another thing called payment in installments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, you understand. I have not been able to put aside much from my housekeeping money, for Torvald must have a good table. I couldn’t let my children be shabbily dressed; I have felt obliged to use up all he gave me for them, the sweet little darlings!
林德夫人:那么,你所有的钱都得来自你自己的生活必需品吗,可怜的诺拉?
Mrs. Linde: So it has all had to come out of your own necessaries of life, poor Nora?
诺拉:当然。此外,我才是罪魁祸首。每当托尔瓦德给我钱买新衣服之类的东西时,我从来没有花掉一半以上;我总是买最简单、最便宜的东西。谢天谢地,任何衣服穿在我身上都很好看,所以托尔瓦德从来没有注意到这一点。但这对我来说往往很难,克里斯汀——因为穿得好是一件很愉快的事情,不是吗?
Nora: Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has never noticed it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine — because it is delightful to be really well dressed, isn’t it?
林德女士:确实如此。
Mrs. Linde: Quite so.
Nora :好吧,那我找到了其他赚钱的方法。去年冬天我很幸运地得到了很多抄写工作;所以我把自己关起来,每天晚上坐下来写作,直到深夜。很多时候我都累得要命;但不管怎样,坐在那里工作赚钱是一种极大的乐趣。就像做个男人一样。
Nora: Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night. Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.
林德女士:用这种方法您能还清多少钱?
Mrs. Linde: How much have you been able to pay off in that way?
诺拉:我不能确切地告诉你。你知道,记账这种生意很难。我只知道我已经把能凑到的每一分钱都付清了。很多时候我都束手无策了。(微笑。)然后我常常坐在这里想象一位富有的老绅士爱上了我——
Nora: I can’t tell you exactly. You see, it is very difficult to keep an account of a business matter of that kind. I only know that I have paid every penny that I could scrape together. Many a time I was at my wits’ end. (Smiles.) Then I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old gentleman had fallen in love with me —
林德夫人:什么!是谁啊?
Mrs. Linde: What! Who was it?
N ora:安静!——他已经死了;当他的遗嘱被打开时,里面用大字写着这样一条指示:“我将立即把所有财产以现金形式转让给可爱的诺拉·赫尔默夫人。”
Nora: Be quiet! — that he had died; and that when his will was opened it contained, written in big letters, the instruction: “The lovely Mrs. Nora Helmer is to have all I possess paid over to her at once in cash.”
林德夫人:但是,亲爱的诺拉——这个人会是谁呢?
Mrs. Linde: But, my dear Nora — who could the man be?
诺拉:天哪,难道你不明白吗?根本没有老先生;那只是我以前坐在这里想象的事情,当时我想不出任何办法来赚钱。但现在都一样了;就我而言,那个令人疲倦的老人可以留在原地;我也不关心他或他的遗嘱,因为我现在无忧无虑了。(跳起来。)天哪,克里斯汀,想想就很开心!无忧无虑!能够无忧无虑,完全无忧无虑;能够和孩子们玩耍嬉闹;能够把房子打理得漂漂亮亮,一切都如托尔瓦德所愿!想想看,春天很快就会到来,天空蔚蓝!也许我们可以去旅行——也许我还能再看到大海!哦,活着并快乐着真是一件美妙的事。(大厅里传来铃声。)
Nora: Good gracious, can’t you understand? There was no old gentleman at all; it was only something that I used to sit here and imagine, when I couldn’t think of any way of procuring money. But it’s all the same now; the tiresome old person can stay where he is, as far as I am concerned; I don’t care about him or his will either, for I am free from care now. (Jumps up.) My goodness, it’s delightful to think of, Christine! Free from care! To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it! And, think of it, soon the spring will come and the big blue sky! Perhaps we shall be able to take a little trip — perhaps I shall see the sea again! Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to be alive and be happy. (A bell is heard in the hall.)
林德夫人(起身):铃响了;我还是走了吧。
Mrs. Linde (rising): There is the bell; perhaps I had better go.
诺拉:不,别去;没有人会进来的;这肯定是给托尔瓦德的。
Nora: No, don’t go; no one will come in here; it is sure to be for Torvald.
仆人(在门厅门口):对不起,夫人。有一位先生来见主人,医生也陪着他。
Servant (at the hall door): Excuse me, ma’am — there is a gentleman to see the master, and as the doctor is with him —
诺拉:是谁?
Nora: Who is it?
柯罗格斯塔(在门口):是我,赫尔默夫人。(林德夫人吃了一惊,浑身发抖,转向窗户。)
Krogstad (at the door): It is I, Mrs. Helmer (Mrs. Linde starts, trembles, and turns to the window.)
诺拉(朝他走了一步,用紧张而低沉的声音说): “你?怎么了?你找我丈夫有什么事吗?”
Nora (takes a step towards him, and speaks in a strained, low voice): You? What is it? What do you want to see my husband about?
K rogstad:银行业务——在某种程度上。我在银行有个小职位,听说你丈夫现在要担任我们的负责人——
Krogstad: Bank business — in a way. I have a small post in the Bank, and I hear your husband is to be our chief now —
N ora:那么——
Nora: Then it is —
柯罗格斯塔:除了枯燥的商业事务,赫尔默夫人,再没有别的事了。
Krogstad: Nothing but dry business matters, Mrs. Helmer; absolutely nothing else.
诺拉:那就请你进书房去吧。(她漠不关心地向他鞠躬,关上通往大厅的门;然后回来生火。)
Nora: Be so good as to go into the study, then. (She bows indifferently to him and shuts the door into the hall; then comes back and makes up the fire in the stove.)
林德夫人:诺拉——那个男人是谁?
Mrs. Linde: Nora — who was that man?
诺拉(Nora):一位律师,名叫克罗格斯塔(Krogstad)。
Nora: A lawyer, of the name of Krogstad.
林德女士:那么确实是他。
Mrs. Linde: Then it really was he.
N ora:你认识这个人吗?
Nora: Do you know the man?
林德夫人:我以前认识他——很多年前。他曾经是我们镇上的一名律师助理。
Mrs. Linde: I used to — many years ago. At one time he was a solicitor’s clerk in our town.
N ora:是的,他是。
Nora: Yes, he was.
林德夫人:他变化很大。
Mrs. Linde: He is greatly altered.
N ora:他的婚姻非常不幸福。
Nora: He made a very unhappy marriage.
林德夫人:他现在是个鳏夫了,不是吗?
Mrs. Linde: He is a widower now, isn’t he?
N ora:和几个孩子在一起。现在那里火光四起。(关上炉门,把摇椅移到一边。)
Nora: With several children. There now, it is burning up. (Shuts the door of the stove and moves the rocking-chair aside.)
林德女士:据说他经营多种生意。
Mrs. Linde: They say he carries on various kinds of business.
Nora :真的!也许他有;我对此一无所知。但我们别再考虑生意了;这太累人了。
Nora: Really! Perhaps he does; I don’t know anything about it. But don’t let us think of business; it is so tiresome.
兰克医生(走出赫尔茂的书房。在关门前他叫住他):不,我亲爱的朋友,我不想打扰你;我宁愿进去陪你妻子一会儿。(关上门,看见林德太太。)请您原谅;恐怕我也打扰到你了。
Doctor Rank (comes out of Helmer’s study. Before he shuts the door he calls to him): No, my dear fellow, I won’t disturb you; I would rather go in to your wife for a little while. (Shuts the door and sees Mrs. Linde.) I beg your pardon; I am afraid I am disturbing you too.
诺拉:不,一点也不。(介绍他。)兰克医生,林德夫人。
Nora: No, not at all. (Introducing him.) Doctor Rank, Mrs. Linde.
兰克:我经常听到有人提到林德太太的名字。我想我来的时候在楼梯上碰到过你,林德太太?
Rank: I have often heard Mrs. Linde’s name mentioned here. I think I passed you on the stairs when I arrived, Mrs. Linde?
林德女士:是的,我爬得非常慢;我不擅长爬楼梯。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, I go up very slowly; I can’t manage stairs well.
排名:啊!内部有些虚弱?
Rank: Ah! some slight internal weakness?
林德女士:不,事实上我已经过度劳累了。
Mrs. Linde: No, the fact is I have been overworking myself.
兰克:就这些了?那你来城里就是为了享受我们的娱乐活动吧?
Rank: Nothing more than that? Then I suppose you have come to town to amuse yourself with our entertainments?
林德女士:我来找工作。
Mrs. Linde: I have come to look for work.
Rank :这是治疗劳累过度的良方吗?
Rank: Is that a good cure for overwork?
林德夫人:人总得活下去,兰克医生。
Mrs. Linde: One must live, Doctor Rank.
RANK :是的,普遍的看法似乎是有必要的。
Rank: Yes, the general opinion seems to be that it is necessary.
N ora:听我说,Rank 医生——你知道你想活下去。
Nora: Look here, Doctor Rank — you know you want to live.
兰克:当然。不管我感觉多么痛苦,我都想尽可能延长这种痛苦。我所有的病人都是这样。那些道德上有病的人也是如此;他们中的一个,而且病情很严重,现在正和海尔茂在一起——
Rank: Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case too, is at this very moment with Helmer —
林德夫人(悲伤地):啊!
Mrs. Linde (sadly): Ah!
N ora:你指的是谁?
Nora: Whom do you mean?
排名:一位名叫柯洛克斯塔德的律师,你根本不认识他。他患有道德败坏症,赫尔默夫人;但就连他也开始说他应该活下去,这非常重要。
Rank: A lawyer of the name of Krogstad, a fellow you don’t know at all. He suffers from a diseased moral character, Mrs. Helmer; but even he began talking of its being highly important that he should live.
N ora:他有吗?他想跟 Torvald 谈什么?
Nora: Did he? What did he want to speak to Torvald about?
RANK :我不知道,我只听说是关于银行的事。
Rank: I have no idea; I only heard that it was something about the Bank.
N ora:我不知道这个——他叫什么名字——Krogstad 和银行有什么关系。
Nora: I didn’t know this — what’s his name — Krogstad had anything to do with the Bank.
兰克:是的,他在那里有某种任命。(对林德夫人说。)我不知道你们是否也发现,在你们那里,有些人热心地四处嗅探,以发现道德败坏,一旦发现,就把有关人员安排到有利可图的职位上,以便监视他。天性健康的人被冷落了。
Rank: Yes, he has some sort of appointment there. (To Mrs. Linde.) I don’t know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold.
林德女士:我仍然认为病人是最需要照顾的人。
Mrs. Linde: Still I think the sick are those who most need taking care of.
兰克(耸耸肩):是的,你说得对。这种情绪正在把社会变成一个病房。
Rank (shrugging his shoulders): Yes, there you are. That is the sentiment that is turning Society into a sick-house.
(诺拉一直沉浸在自己的思绪中,突然忍不住笑了起来,并拍起了手。)
(Nora, who has been absorbed in her thoughts, breaks out into smothered laughter and claps her hands.)
兰克:你笑什么?你知道社会到底是什么吗?
Rank: Why do you laugh at that? Have you any notion what Society really is?
Nora :我为什么要在乎无聊的社会?我正在笑一些完全不同的东西,一些非常有趣的东西。告诉我,Rank 博士,现在所有在银行工作的人都依赖 Torvald 吗?
Nora: What do I care about tiresome Society? I am laughing at something quite different, something extremely amusing. Tell me, Doctor Rank, are all the people who are employed in the Bank dependent on Torvald now?
Rank :这就是你觉得极其有趣的事情吗?
Rank: Is that what you find so extremely amusing?
诺拉(微笑着哼唱):那是我的事!(在房间里走来走去。)想到我们拥有——托尔瓦德拥有如此大的力量,控制着如此多的人,真是太光荣了。(从口袋里掏出那包饼干。)兰克医生,你觉得杏仁饼怎么样?
Nora (smiling and humming): That’s my affair! (Walking about the room.) It’s perfectly glorious to think that we have — that Torvald has so much power over so many people. (Takes the packet from her pocket.) Doctor Rank, what do you say to a macaroon?
Rank :什么,杏仁饼?我以为这里禁止吃杏仁饼呢。
Rank: What, macaroons? I thought they were forbidden here.
N ora:是的,但是这些是 Christine 给我的。
Nora: Yes, but these are some Christine gave me.
林德夫人:什么!我?——
Mrs. Linde: What! I? —
诺拉:哦,好吧,别担心!你不可能知道托尔瓦德禁止我吃这些。我得告诉你,他担心这些会损坏我的牙齿。但是,呸!——偶尔——就是这样,不是吗,兰克医生?请你原谅!(把一块杏仁饼放进嘴里。)你也得吃一个,克里斯汀。我也吃一个,只要一小块——或者最多两块。(走来走去。)我非常高兴。现在世界上只有一件事是我非常想做的。
Nora: Oh, well, don’t be alarmed! You couldn’t know that Torvald had forbidden them. I must tell you that he is afraid they will spoil my teeth. But, bah! — once in a way — That’s so, isn’t it, Doctor Rank? By your leave! (Puts a macaroon into his mouth.) You must have one too, Christine. And I shall have one, just a little one — or at most two. (Walking about.) I am tremendously happy. There is just one thing in the world now that I should dearly love to do.
Rank :那么,那是什么?
Rank: Well, what is that?
N ora:如果托瓦德能听到的话,我非常想说这句话。
Nora: It’s something I should dearly love to say, if Torvald could hear me.
Rank :那么,你为什么不能说呢?
Rank: Well, why can’t you say it?
N ora:不,我不敢;这太令人震惊了。
Nora: No, I daren’t; it’s so shocking.
林德女士:令人震惊吗?
Mrs. Linde: Shocking?
兰克:好吧,我不建议你这么说。不过,和我们在一起你还是可以这么说的。如果托尔瓦德能听到你说话,你最想说什么?
Rank: Well, I should not advise you to say it. Still, with us you might. What is it you would so much like to say if Torvald could hear you?
N ora:我只想说——好吧,我该死!
Nora: I should just love to say — Well, I’m damned!
Rank :你疯了吗?
Rank: Are you mad?
林德夫人:诺拉,亲爱的—— !
Mrs. Linde: Nora, dear — !
Rank :说吧,他在这儿!
Rank: Say it, here he is!
诺拉(藏起包裹):嘘!嘘!嘘! (海尔茂从房间里走出来,手臂上搭着大衣,手里拿着帽子。 )
Nora (hiding the packet): Hush! Hush! Hush! (Helmer comes out of his room, with his coat over his arm and his hat in his hand.)
诺拉:那么,亲爱的托瓦德,你除掉他了吗?
Nora: Well, Torvald dear, have you got rid of him?
赫尔默:是的,他刚刚走了。
Helmer: Yes, he has just gone.
N ora:让我给你们介绍一下——她是克里斯汀,她已经来到这个城里了。
Nora: Let me introduce you — this is Christine, who has come to town.
H elmer: Christine——?不好意思,我不知道——
Helmer: Christine — ? Excuse me, but I don’t know —
N ora:亲爱的林德夫人;克里斯汀·林德。
Nora: Mrs. Linde, dear; Christine Linde.
赫尔默:当然了。我想是我妻子的校友吧?
Helmer: Of course. A school friend of my wife’s, I presume?
林德女士:是的,我们从那时起就认识了。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, we have known each other since then.
N ora:想想看,她为了见你可是走了很长的路啊。
Nora: And just think, she has taken a long journey in order to see you.
海尔默:你的意思是什么?
Helmer: What do you mean?
林德女士:不,真的,我——
Mrs. Linde: No, really, I —
N ora:克里斯汀非常擅长记账,她非常渴望在某个聪明的人手下工作,以完善自己——
Nora: Christine is tremendously clever at book-keeping, and she is frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so as to perfect herself —
赫尔默:非常明智,林德夫人。
Helmer: Very sensible, Mrs. Linde.
诺拉:当她听说你被任命为银行经理时——你知道,这个消息是通过电报传出去的——她尽快赶到这里。托尔瓦德,我相信你能为克里斯汀做点什么,为了我,不是吗?
Nora: And when she heard you had been appointed manager of the Bank — the news was telegraphed, you know — she travelled here as quick as she could. Torvald, I am sure you will be able to do something for Christine, for my sake, won’t you?
赫尔默:嗯,这也不是完全不可能。我想您是寡妇吧,林德夫人?
Helmer: Well, it is not altogether impossible. I presume you are a widow, Mrs. Linde?
林德女士:是的。
Mrs. Linde: Yes.
赫尔默:您有过记账的经验吗?
Helmer: And have had some experience of book-keeping?
林德女士:是的,相当多。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, a fair amount.
海尔默:啊!好吧,我很可能能为你找到一些东西——
Helmer: Ah! well, it’s very likely I may be able to find something for you —
诺拉(拍手):我跟你说了什么?我跟你说了什么?
Nora (clapping her hands): What did I tell you? What did I tell you?
赫尔默:林德夫人,您来的真是时候。
Helmer: You have just come at a fortunate moment, Mrs. Linde.
林德女士:我该怎样感谢您呢?
Mrs. Linde: How am I to thank you?
海尔茂:没必要。(穿上外套。)不过今天你必须原谅我——
Helmer: There is no need. (Puts on his coat.) But to-day you must excuse me —
兰克:等一下,我跟你一起去。(从大厅里拿出他的皮大衣,在火边烤。)
Rank: Wait a minute; I will come with you. (Brings his fur coat from the hall and warms it at the fire.)
N ora:别离开太久,亲爱的托瓦德。
Nora: Don’t be long away, Torvald dear.
赫尔默:大约一个小时,不会更多。
Helmer: About an hour, not more.
N ora:你也要去吗,克里斯汀?
Nora: Are you going too, Christine?
林德夫人(披上斗篷): “是的,我得去找个房间。”
Mrs. Linde (putting on her cloak): Yes, I must go and look for a room.
赫尔默:哦,那好,我们可以一起沿街散步。
Helmer: Oh, well then, we can walk down the street together.
诺拉(帮助她):真遗憾,我们这里空间太小了;恐怕我们不可能——
Nora (helping her): What a pity it is we are so short of space here; I am afraid it is impossible for us —
林德夫人:请不要再想了!再见,亲爱的诺拉,非常感谢。
Mrs. Linde: Please don’t think of it! Good-bye, Nora dear, and many thanks.
诺拉:暂时再见。当然你今晚会回来的。还有你,兰克医生。你说什么?如果你身体还好吗?噢,你一定还好!好好裹好自己。(他们一起走到门口,一边聊天。楼梯上传来孩子们的声音。)
Nora: Good-bye for the present. Of course you will come back this evening. And you too, Dr. Rank. What do you say? If you are well enough? Oh, you must be! Wrap yourself up well. (They go to the door all talking together. Children’s voices are heard on the staircase.)
诺拉:他们在那儿!他们在那儿!(她跑去开门。保姆带着孩子们进来。)进来!进来!(弯腰亲吻他们。)哦,你们这些可爱的孩子!看看他们,克里斯汀!他们不是很可爱吗?
Nora: There they are! There they are! (She runs to open the door. The Nurse comes in with the children.) Come in! Come in! (Stoops and kisses them.) Oh, you sweet blessings! Look at them, Christine! Aren’t they darlings?
RANK :别让我们站在这儿受风。
Rank: Don’t let us stand here in the draught.
赫尔默:跟我来,林德夫人;现在这个地方只有母亲才可以忍受!
Helmer: Come along, Mrs. Linde; the place will only be bearable for a mother now!
(兰克、赫尔茂和林德太太下楼。保姆带着孩子们走上前来;诺拉关上了门厅的门。)
(Rank, Helmer, and Mrs. Linde go downstairs. The Nurse comes forward with the children; Nora shuts the hall door.)
诺拉:你看上去多精神啊!脸颊红红的,像苹果和玫瑰。 (她跟孩子们说话的时候,他们都一齐开口。)你玩得开心吗?真棒!怎么,你把艾米和鲍勃都拉上雪橇了?——同时拉着他们?——真好。你真是个聪明的孩子,伊瓦尔。让我带她去玩一会儿,安妮。我可爱的小娃娃! (从女仆手里接过婴儿,跳上跳下。)是的,是的,妈妈也要和鲍勃跳舞。怎么!你在打雪仗吗?我也希望在场!不,不,我要把他们的衣服脱下来,安妮;让我来吧,太好玩了。现在进去吧,你看起来都冻僵了。炉子上有一些热咖啡给你。
Nora: How fresh and well you look! Such red cheeks like apples and roses. (The children all talk at once while she speaks to them.) Have you had great fun? That’s splendid! What, you pulled both Emmy and Bob along on the sledge? — both at once? — that was good. You are a clever boy, Ivar. Let me take her for a little, Anne. My sweet little baby doll! (Takes the baby from the Maid and dances it up and down.) Yes, yes, mother will dance with Bob too. What! Have you been snowballing? I wish I had been there too! No, no, I will take their things off, Anne; please let me do it, it is such fun. Go in now, you look half frozen. There is some hot coffee for you on the stove.
(保姆走进左边的房间。诺拉脱下孩子们的东西并把它们扔来扔去,而他们都同时和她说话。)
(The Nurse goes into the room on the left. Nora takes off the children’s things and throws them about, while they all talk to her at once.)
N ora:真的!有一只大狗追你吗?但它没有咬你?不,狗不会咬乖巧的小孩。你不该看那些包裹,Ivar。它们是什么?啊,我敢说你想知道。不,不——那是一件令人讨厌的东西!来吧,我们来玩个游戏!我们玩什么?捉迷藏?是的,我们玩捉迷藏。鲍勃先躲起来。我必须躲起来吗?很好,我先躲起来。 (她和孩子们又笑又叫,在房间里嬉闹着。最后,诺拉躲在桌子底下,孩子们跑进跑出去找她,但没有看到她。他们听到她压抑的笑声,跑到桌子旁,掀起桌布,找到了她。笑声一片。她爬上前去假装吓唬他们。又是一阵笑声。与此同时,大厅的门口传来了敲门声,但他们都没有注意到。门半开着,柯洛克斯泰出现了。他等了一会儿;游戏继续进行。)
Nora: Really! Did a big dog run after you? But it didn’t bite you? No, dogs don’t bite nice little dolly children. You mustn’t look at the parcels, Ivar. What are they? Ah, I daresay you would like to know. No, no — it’s something nasty! Come, let us have a game! What shall we play at? Hide and Seek? Yes, we’ll play Hide and Seek. Bob shall hide first. Must I hide? Very well, I’ll hide first. (She and the children laugh and shout, and romp in and out of the room; at last Nora hides under the table, the children rush in and out for her, but do not see her; they hear her smothered laughter, run to the table, lift up the cloth and find her. Shouts of laughter. She crawls forward and pretends to frighten them. Fresh laughter. Meanwhile there has been a knock at the hall door, but none of them has noticed it. The door is half opened, and Krogstad appears. He waits a little; the game goes on.)
克罗格斯塔:对不起,赫尔默夫人。
Krogstad: Excuse me, Mrs. Helmer.
诺拉(压抑地叫了一声,转身跪下): “啊!你想干什么?”
Nora (with a stifled cry, turns round and gets up on to her knees): Ah! what do you want?
K rogstad:对不起,外面的门半开着;我想有人忘了关门。
Krogstad: Excuse me, the outer door was ajar; I suppose someone forgot to shut it.
诺拉(起立):“我丈夫不在家,柯洛克斯泰德先生。”
Nora (rising): My husband is out, Mr Krogstad.
柯罗格斯塔德:我知道。
Krogstad: I know that.
N ora:那么,你来这里到底想干什么?
Nora: What do you want here, then?
K rogstad:和您谈谈。
Krogstad: A word with you.
诺拉:跟我一起?——(温柔地对孩子们说。)进去找保姆。什么?不,那个陌生人不会伤害妈妈的。他走了之后,我们再玩一局。(她把孩子们带到左边的房间,然后关上门。)你想跟我说话吗?
Nora: With me? — (To the children, gently.) Go in to nurse. What? No, the strange man won’t do mother any harm. When he has gone we will have another game. (She takes the children into the room on the left, and shuts the door after them.) You want to speak to me?
克罗格斯塔德:是的,我同意。
Krogstad: Yes, I do.
N ora:今天?现在还不是月初一。
Nora: To-day? It is not the first of the month yet.
柯罗格斯塔:不,这是平安夜,你要过一个怎样的圣诞节还得由你自己来决定。
Krogstad: No, it is Christmas Eve, and it will depend on yourself what sort of a Christmas you will spend.
诺拉:你是什么意思?今天我绝对不可能——
Nora: What do you mean? To-day it is absolutely impossible for me —
K rogstad:我们以后再谈这个。这是另一回事。我想你能给我一点时间吗?
Krogstad: We won’t talk about that until later on. This is something different. I presume you can give me a moment?
N ora:是的——是的,我可以——尽管——
Nora: Yes — yes, I can — although —
K rogstad:很好。我在 Olsen 餐厅看到你丈夫在街上走来走去——
Krogstad: Good. I was in Olsen’s Restaurant and saw your husband going down the street —
N ora:是吗?
Nora: Yes?
K rogstad:和一位女士。
Krogstad: With a lady.
N ora:然后呢?
Nora: What then?
K rogstad:我可以冒昧地问一下她是不是林德夫人吗?
Krogstad: May I make so bold as to ask if it was a Mrs. Linde?
N ora:是的。
Nora: It was.
K rogstad:刚到城里?
Krogstad: Just arrived in town?
N ora:是的,今天。
Nora: Yes, to-day.
克罗格斯塔德:她是你的好朋友,不是吗?
Krogstad: She is a great friend of yours, isn’t she?
Nora :是的。但我不明白——
Nora: She is. But I don’t see —
K rogstad:我曾经也认识她。
Krogstad: I knew her too, once upon a time.
N ora:我知道这一点。
Nora: I am aware of that.
K rogstad:是吗?所以你全都知道;我也这么想。那么我可以直截了当地问你——林德太太在银行有预约吗?
Krogstad: Are you? So you know all about it; I thought as much. Then I can ask you, without beating about the bush — is Mrs. Linde to have an appointment in the Bank?
诺拉:你有什么权利质问我,柯罗格斯塔德先生?——你,我丈夫的下属之一!但既然你问了,你就会知道。是的,林德夫人要预约。柯罗格斯塔德先生,让我告诉你,是我为她辩护的。
Nora: What right have you to question me, Mr. Krogstad? — You, one of my husband’s subordinates! But since you ask, you shall know. Yes, Mrs. Linde is to have an appointment. And it was I who pleaded her cause, Mr. Krogstad, let me tell you that.
K rogstad:当时我的想法是正确的。
Krogstad: I was right in what I thought, then.
诺拉(在台上走来走去):有时一个人会有一点点影响力,我希望如此。因为一个人是女人,这并不一定意味着——。当任何人处于从属地位时,柯罗格斯塔德先生,他们真的应该小心,避免冒犯任何人——谁——
Nora (walking up and down the stage): Sometimes one has a tiny little bit of influence, I should hope. Because one is a woman, it does not necessarily follow that — . When anyone is in a subordinate position, Mr. Krogstad, they should really be careful to avoid offending anyone who — who —
K rogstad:谁有影响力?
Krogstad: Who has influence?
N ora:确实如此。
Nora: Exactly.
柯罗格斯塔(改变语气): “赫尔默夫人,您真是好心,能利用您的影响力帮我办事吗?”
Krogstad (changing his tone): Mrs. Helmer, you will be so good as to use your influence on my behalf.
N ora:什么?你是什么意思?
Nora: What? What do you mean?
柯罗格斯塔:请您允许我保留我在银行的下属职位。
Krogstad: You will be so kind as to see that I am allowed to keep my subordinate position in the Bank.
N ora:你这话什么意思?谁提议夺走你的职位?
Nora: What do you mean by that? Who proposes to take your post away from you?
K rogstad:哦,没必要继续装作不知道。我完全可以理解你的朋友不太愿意与我接触;我也完全理解,我要感谢她让我不来打扰你。
Krogstad: Oh, there is no necessity to keep up the pretence of ignorance. I can quite understand that your friend is not very anxious to expose herself to the chance of rubbing shoulders with me; and I quite understand, too, whom I have to thank for being turned off.
Nora :但我向你保证——
Nora: But I assure you —
K rogstad:很有可能;不过,说到点子上了,现在我应该建议你利用你的影响力来阻止这种情况发生。
Krogstad: Very likely; but, to come to the point, the time has come when I should advise you to use your influence to prevent that.
N ora:但是,柯罗格斯塔德先生,我没有影响力。
Nora: But, Mr. Krogstad, I have no influence.
K rogstad:你没有吗?我以为你刚才自己说过——
Krogstad: Haven’t you? I thought you said yourself just now —
Nora :当然,我并不是想让你这么解释。你凭什么认为我对我丈夫有这种影响?
Nora: Naturally I did not mean you to put that construction on it. What should make you think I have any influence of that kind with my husband?
K rogstad:噢,我从学生时代就认识你的丈夫了。我想他并不比其他丈夫更无懈可击。
Krogstad: Oh, I have known your husband from our student days. I don’t suppose he is any more unassailable than other husbands.
N ora:如果你轻蔑地谈论我的丈夫,我就会把你赶出家门。
Nora: If you speak slightingly of my husband, I shall turn you out of the house.
柯罗格斯塔:您很大胆,赫尔默夫人。
Krogstad: You are bold, Mrs. Helmer.
诺拉:我不再怕你了。只要新年一到,我很快就会摆脱这一切。
Nora: I am not afraid of you any longer. As soon as the New Year comes, I shall in a very short time be free of the whole thing.
柯罗格斯塔(克制自己):听我说,赫尔默太太。如果有必要,我愿意为我在银行的小职位而战,就像为我的生命而战一样。
Krogstad (controlling himself): Listen to me, Mrs. Helmer. If necessary, I am prepared to fight for my small post in the Bank as if I were fighting for my life.
N ora:看起来是这样。
Nora: So it seems.
克罗格斯塔德:这不仅仅是为了钱;事实上,这对我来说最不重要。还有一个原因——好吧,我也可以告诉你。我的立场是这样的。我敢说,你和其他人一样,都知道,很多年前,我曾经犯过一次轻率的错误。
Krogstad: It is not only for the sake of the money; indeed, that weighs least with me in the matter. There is another reason — well, I may as well tell you. My position is this. I daresay you know, like everybody else, that once, many years ago, I was guilty of an indiscretion.
N ora:我想我听说过类似的事情。
Nora: I think I have heard something of the kind.
K rogstad:这件事从未上过法庭;但此后,我似乎走投无路了。所以我开始做你知道的生意。我必须做点什么;老实说,我不认为我是最糟糕的人之一。但现在我必须摆脱这一切。我的儿子们正在长大;为了他们,我必须努力在镇上赢回尽可能多的尊重。银行的这个职位对我来说就像是第一步——现在你的丈夫又要把我踢下楼,让我跌入泥潭。
Krogstad: The matter never came into court; but every way seemed to be closed to me after that. So I took to the business that you know of. I had to do something; and, honestly, I don’t think I’ve been one of the worst. But now I must cut myself free from all that. My sons are growing up; for their sake I must try and win back as much respect as I can in the town. This post in the Bank was like the first step up for me — and now your husband is going to kick me downstairs again into the mud.
N ora:但是您必须相信我,柯洛克斯泰德先生;我根本无力帮助您。
Nora: But you must believe me, Mr. Krogstad; it is not in my power to help you at all.
柯罗格斯塔德:那是因为你没有意愿;但我有办法强迫你。
Krogstad: Then it is because you haven’t the will; but I have means to compel you.
N ora:你该不会是说你会告诉我丈夫我欠你钱吧?
Nora: You don’t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money?
K rogstad:嗯!——我应该告诉他吗?
Krogstad: Hm! — suppose I were to tell him?
诺拉:你这样做太丢脸了。(抽泣。)想想看,他竟然会以一种丑陋、笨拙的方式知道我的秘密,而这一直是我的快乐和骄傲——他竟然会从你那里知道!这会让我陷入非常不愉快的境地——
Nora: It would be perfectly infamous of you. (Sobbing.) To think of his learning my secret, which has been my joy and pride, in such an ugly, clumsy way — that he should learn it from you! And it would put me in a horribly disagreeable position —
K rogstad:只是不愉快吗?
Krogstad: Only disagreeable?
诺拉(冲动地):那好,那就这么做吧!——这对你来说会更糟。我丈夫会亲眼看到你是个多么无赖的人,到时候你肯定保不住你的职位。
Nora (impetuously): Well, do it, then! — and it will be the worse for you. My husband will see for himself what a blackguard you are, and you certainly won’t keep your post then.
克罗格斯塔德:我问你,你是否只是害怕家里发生不愉快的场面?
Krogstad: I asked you if it was only a disagreeable scene at home that you were afraid of?
N ora:如果我丈夫知道了这件事,他当然会立即支付你所欠的款项,而且我们也不会再与你有任何关系。
Nora: If my husband does get to know of it, of course he will at once pay you what is still owing, and we shall have nothing more to do with you.
柯罗格斯塔(走近一步):听我说,赫尔默太太。要么你记性不好,要么你不懂生意。我不得不提醒你一些细节。
Krogstad (coming a step nearer): Listen to me, Mrs. Helmer. Either you have a very bad memory or you know very little of business. I shall be obliged to remind you of a few details.
N ora:你的意思是什么?
Nora: What do you mean?
克罗格斯塔德:当您丈夫生病的时候,您来找我借二百五十英镑。
Krogstad: When your husband was ill, you came to me to borrow two hundred and fifty pounds.
N ora:我不知道还有谁可以去。
Nora: I didn’t know anyone else to go to.
K rogstad:我答应给你那么多钱——
Krogstad: I promised to get you that amount —
N ora:是的,你确实这么做了。
Nora: Yes, and you did so.
K rogstad:我答应给你这笔钱,但有条件。你丈夫的病情让你心烦意乱,你又急于拿到旅费,似乎根本没注意到我们交易的条件。因此,我提醒你一下这些条件也无妨。现在,我答应以我起草的一份保证书作为担保来获得这笔钱。
Krogstad: I promised to get you that amount, on certain conditions. Your mind was so taken up with your husband’s illness, and you were so anxious to get the money for your journey, that you seem to have paid no attention to the conditions of our bargain. Therefore it will not be amiss if I remind you of them. Now, I promised to get the money on the security of a bond which I drew up.
N ora:是的,并且我签了字。
Nora: Yes, and which I signed.
K rogstad:很好。但是在你的签名下面有几行字,写着你父亲是这笔钱的担保人;这些字应该由你父亲签的。
Krogstad: Good. But below your signature there were a few lines constituting your father a surety for the money; those lines your father should have signed.
N ora:应该吗?他确实签了。
Nora: Should? He did sign them.
K rogstad:我把日期留空了;也就是说,你父亲应该亲自填写签署文件的日期。你还记得吗?
Krogstad: I had left the date blank; that is to say, your father should himself have inserted the date on which he signed the paper. Do you remember that?
N ora:是的,我想我记得——
Nora: Yes, I think I remember —
K rogstad:然后我给了你一张保证金,让你邮寄给你父亲。是吗?
Krogstad: Then I gave you the bond to send by post to your father. Is that not so?
N ora:是的。
Nora: Yes.
K rogstad:你当然立刻就这么做了,因为五六天后你就把有你父亲签名的债券交给我了。然后我就把钱给了你。
Krogstad: And you naturally did so at once, because five or six days afterwards you brought me the bond with your father’s signature. And then I gave you the money.
N ora:那么,我不是一直按时还款吗?
Nora: Well, haven’t I been paying it off regularly?
克罗格斯塔:确实如此。但是——回到手头的问题——那段时间对你来说一定非常艰难,赫尔默夫人。
Krogstad: Fairly so, yes. But — to come back to the matter in hand — that must have been a very trying time for you, Mrs. Helmer.
N ora:确实如此。
Nora: It was, indeed.
柯罗格斯塔德:你父亲病得很重,是吗?
Krogstad: Your father was very ill, wasn’t he?
N ora:他已经快要走到生命终点了。
Nora: He was very near his end.
K rogstad:然后他不久后就去世了?
Krogstad: And he died soon afterwards?
N ora:是的。
Nora: Yes.
柯罗格斯塔:告诉我,赫尔默夫人,您还记得您父亲去世的日期吗?——我是说,是在几月的哪一天。
Krogstad: Tell me, Mrs. Helmer, can you by any chance remember what day your father died? — on what day of the month, I mean.
N ora:爸爸于 9 月 29 日去世。
Nora: Papa died on the 29th of September.
K rogstad:没错,我已经亲自查明了。但事实确实如此,其中有一个矛盾(从口袋里掏出一张纸),我无法解释。
Krogstad: That is correct; I have ascertained it for myself. And, as that is so, there is a discrepancy (taking a paper from his pocket) which I cannot account for.
N ora:什么差异?我不知道——
Nora: What discrepancy? I don’t know —
柯罗格斯塔:赫尔默夫人,矛盾之处在于,您的父亲去世三天后才签署了这份保证书。
Krogstad: The discrepancy consists, Mrs. Helmer, in the fact that your father signed this bond three days after his death.
N ora:你是什么意思?我不明白——
Nora: What do you mean? I don’t understand —
柯罗格斯塔:您父亲于 9 月 29 日去世。但是,您看,您父亲的签名日期是 10 月 2 日。这不符,对吗?(诺拉沉默不语。)您能解释一下吗?(诺拉仍然沉默。)同样令人惊奇的是,“10 月 2 日”这几个字以及年份都不是您的父亲的笔迹,而是我认为我认识的笔迹。当然,这可以解释;您父亲可能忘记了签名的日期,而其他人在得知他去世之前可能随意地签了日期。这没有什么坏处。一切都取决于签名;我想,那是真的吗,海尔默夫人?是您父亲亲自在这里签的名吗?
Krogstad: Your father died on the 29th of September. But, look here; your father has dated his signature the 2nd of October. It is a discrepancy, isn’t it? (Nora is silent.) Can you explain it to me? (Nora is still silent.) It is a remarkable thing, too, that the words “2nd of October,” as well as the year, are not written in your father’s handwriting but in one that I think I know. Well, of course it can be explained; your father may have forgotten to date his signature, and someone else may have dated it haphazard before they knew of his death. There is no harm in that. It all depends on the signature of the name; and that is genuine, I suppose, Mrs. Helmer? It was your father himself who signed his name here?
诺拉(停顿片刻后,抬起头,挑衅地看着他):“不是的。是我写的爸爸的名字。”
Nora (after a short pause, throws her head up and looks defiantly at him): No, it was not. It was I that wrote papa’s name.
K rogstad:您是否意识到这是一种危险的供词?
Krogstad: Are you aware that is a dangerous confession?
N ora:用什么方法?你很快就会拿到钱的。
Nora: In what way? You shall have your money soon.
K rogstad:我问你一个问题;你为什么不把这份论文寄给你父亲?
Krogstad: Let me ask you a question; why did you not send the paper to your father?
诺拉:不可能,爸爸病得很重。如果我向他要签名,我就得告诉他这笔钱的用途;而他自己病得很重,我又不能告诉他我丈夫的生命处于危险之中——这不可能。
Nora: It was impossible; papa was so ill. If I had asked him for his signature, I should have had to tell him what the money was to be used for; and when he was so ill himself I couldn’t tell him that my husband’s life was in danger — it was impossible.
K rogstad:如果您放弃出国旅行的话,对您来说会更好。
Krogstad: It would have been better for you if you had given up your trip abroad.
诺拉:不,那是不可能的。那次旅行是为了救我丈夫的命;我不能放弃。
Nora: No, that was impossible. That trip was to save my husband’s life; I couldn’t give that up.
K rogstad:但是你就没有想过你是在欺骗我吗?
Krogstad: But did it never occur to you that you were committing a fraud on me?
诺拉:我没法考虑这些,我根本没为你操心。我受不了你,因为你明明知道我丈夫的处境多么危险,却还给我制造那么多无情的麻烦。
Nora: I couldn’t take that into account; I didn’t trouble myself about you at all. I couldn’t bear you, because you put so many heartless difficulties in my way, although you knew what a dangerous condition my husband was in.
克罗格斯塔:赫尔默夫人,你显然没有清楚地认识到自己犯了什么罪。但我可以向你保证,我那次失足让我失去了所有的名誉,但这并不比你犯的罪更严重。
Krogstad: Mrs. Helmer, you evidently do not realise clearly what it is that you have been guilty of. But I can assure you that my one false step, which lost me all my reputation, was nothing more or nothing worse than what you have done.
诺拉:你?你想让我相信你有足够的勇气去冒险救你妻子的命吗?
Nora: You? Do you ask me to believe that you were brave enough to run a risk to save your wife’s life?
K rogstad:法律根本不关心动机。
Krogstad: The law cares nothing about motives.
N ora:那么这必定是一条非常愚蠢的法律。
Nora: Then it must be a very foolish law.
克罗格斯塔德:不管愚蠢与否,如果我在法庭上出示这份文件,你都会受到法律的审判。
Krogstad: Foolish or not, it is the law by which you will be judged, if I produce this paper in court.
诺拉:我不相信。难道女儿不可以免除垂死父亲的忧虑和照顾吗?难道妻子不可以救丈夫的命吗?我不太懂法律,但我确信一定有法律允许这样的事情。你是一名律师,难道你不知道这样的法律吗?你一定是个很差劲的律师,柯洛克斯塔德先生。
Nora: I don’t believe it. Is a daughter not to be allowed to spare her dying father anxiety and care? Is a wife not to be allowed to save her husband’s life? I don’t know much about law; but I am certain that there must be laws permitting such things as that. Have you no knowledge of such laws — you who are a lawyer? You must be a very poor lawyer, Mr. Krogstad.
克罗格斯塔:也许吧。但生意上的事——像你我之间的事情——你以为我不明白吗?好吧。随你便吧。但我要告诉你——如果我第二次失去职位,你也会失去我的职位。(他鞠躬,穿过大厅走了出去。)
Krogstad: Maybe. But matters of business — such business as you and I have had together — do you think I don’t understand that? Very well. Do as you please. But let me tell you this — if I lose my position a second time, you shall lose yours with me. (He bows, and goes out through the hall.)
诺拉(似乎陷入沉思了一会儿,然后摇摇头):胡说!想这样吓唬我!——我可没有他想象的那么傻。(开始忙着整理孩子们的东西。)可是——?不,不可能!我是为了爱才这么做的。
Nora (appears buried in thought for a short time, then tosses her head): Nonsense! Trying to frighten me like that! — I am not so silly as he thinks. (Begins to busy herself putting the children’s things in order.) And yet — ? No, it’s impossible! I did it for love’s sake.
孩子们(在左边的门口):妈妈,那个陌生人已经从门出去了。
Children (in the doorway on the left): Mother, the stranger man has gone out through the gate.
诺拉:是的,亲爱的,我知道。但是,不要告诉任何人有关那个陌生人的事。你听见了吗?甚至连爸爸也不要告诉。
Nora: Yes, dears, I know. But, don’t tell anyone about the stranger man. Do you hear? Not even papa.
孩子们:不,妈妈;但是你还会再来玩吗?
Children: No, mother; but will you come and play again?
N ora:不,不,现在还不行。
Nora: No, no, — not now.
孩子们:但是,妈妈,你答应过我们的。
Children: But, mother, you promised us.
诺拉:是的,但现在不行。快进屋去吧,我还有很多事要做。快进屋去吧,我可爱的小宝贝们。(她慢慢地把他们带进房间,关上门,然后坐在沙发上,拿起针线缝了几针,但很快就停了下来。)不!(扔下针线,站起来,走到门厅,大声喊道。)海伦!把树拿进来。(走到左边的桌子旁,打开抽屉,又停了下来。)不,不!这根本不可能!
Nora: Yes, but I can’t now. Run away in; I have such a lot to do. Run away in, my sweet little darlings. (She gets them into the room by degrees and shuts the door on them; then sits down on the sofa, takes up a piece of needlework and sews a few stitches, but soon stops.) No! (Throws down the work, gets up, goes to the hall door and calls out.) Helen! bring the Tree in. (Goes to the table on the left, opens a drawer, and stops again.) No, no! it is quite impossible!
女仆(抱着树进来) :我该把它放哪儿呢,女士?
Maid (coming in with the Tree): Where shall I put it, ma’am?
N ora:这里,在地板中央。
Nora: Here, in the middle of the floor.
女仆:我还需要给您做点什么吗?
Maid: Shall I get you anything else?
Nora :不,谢谢。我已经得到了我想要的一切。(女仆下。)
Nora: No, thank you. I have all I want.(Exit Maid.)
诺拉(开始装饰圣诞树):蜡烛在这儿,鲜花在这儿。这个可怕的人!这都是胡说八道,没什么不对。圣诞树会很美的!我会尽我所能取悦你,托尔瓦德!我会为你唱歌,为你跳舞——(海尔茂夹着几张纸走了进来。)哦!你回来了吗?
Nora (begins dressing the tree): A candle here — and flowers here — . The horrible man! It’s all nonsense — there’s nothing wrong. The Tree shall be splendid! I will do everything I can think of to please you, Torvald! — I will sing for you, dance for you — (Helmer comes in with some papers under his arm.) Oh! are you back already?
赫尔默:是的。有人来过这里吗?
Helmer: Yes. Has anyone been here?
N ora:这里吗?不。
Nora: Here? No.
赫尔默:真奇怪。我看到柯洛克斯泰德走出了大门。
Helmer: That is strange. I saw Krogstad going out of the gate.
N ora:你真的回来了吗?哦,是的,我忘了,Krogstad 刚才在这里。
Nora: Did you? Oh yes, I forgot, Krogstad was here for a moment.
海尔茂:诺拉,从你的态度我看得出来,他来这里是求你为他说好话的。
Helmer: Nora, I can see from your manner that he has been here begging you to say a good word for him.
N ora:是的。
Nora: Yes.
海尔茂:而你却似乎是自愿这么做的;你要向我隐瞒他来过这里的事实;他不是也请求你这么做吗?
Helmer: And you were to appear to do it of your own accord; you were to conceal from me the fact of his having been here; didn’t he beg that of you too?
Nora :是的,托尔瓦德,但是——
Nora: Yes, Torvald, but —
海尔茂:诺拉,诺拉,你愿意参与这种事情吗?和这样的人交谈,给他任何承诺?还对我撒谎?
Helmer: Nora, Nora, and you would be a party to that sort of thing? To have any talk with a man like that, and give him any sort of promise? And to tell me a lie into the bargain?
N ora:谎言——?
Nora: A lie — ?
海尔默:你不是告诉我没人来过吗?(摇摇手指)我的小歌鸟绝不能再这样做了。歌鸟必须有干净的喙才能鸣叫——不能发出错误的音调!(用胳膊搂住她的腰。)是这样的,对吧?是的,我相信是这样。(让她走。)我们不再谈论这件事了。(坐在火炉旁边。)这里多么温暖舒适啊!(翻阅他的文件。)
Helmer: Didn’t you tell me no one had been here? (Shakes his finger at her.) My little song-bird must never do that again. A song-bird must have a clean beak to chirp with — no false notes! (Puts his arm around her waist.) That is so, isn’t it? Yes, I am sure it is. (Lets her go.) We will say no more about it. (Sits down by the stove.) How warm and snug it is here! (Turns over his papers.)
诺拉(短暂的停顿之后,她忙着装饰圣诞树):托瓦德!
Nora (after a short pause, during which she busies herself with the Christmas Tree): Torvald!
赫尔默:是的。
Helmer: Yes.
N ora:我非常期待后天在 Stenborgs 举行的化装舞会。
Nora: I am looking forward tremendously to the fancy-dress ball at the Stenborgs’ the day after to-morrow.
赫尔默:我非常好奇,想知道你会给我什么惊喜。
Helmer: And I am tremendously curious to see what you are going to surprise me with.
N ora:我想这么做真是太傻了。
Nora: It was very silly of me to want to do that.
海尔默:你的意思是什么?
Helmer: What do you mean?
N ora:我想不出任何可行的办法;我想到的一切似乎都那么愚蠢和微不足道。
Nora: I can’t hit upon anything that will do; everything I think of seems so silly and insignificant.
赫尔墨:我的小诺拉终于承认这一点了吗?
Helmer: Does my little Nora acknowledge that at last?
诺拉(站在他的椅子后面,双手放在椅背上): “托瓦德,你很忙吗?”
Nora (standing behind his chair with her arms on the back of it): Are you very busy, Torvald?
H elmer:好吧——
Helmer: Well —
N ora:这些是什么文件?
Nora: What are all those papers?
H elmer:银行业务。
Helmer: Bank business.
N ora:已经?
Nora: Already?
赫尔默:我已获得退休经理的授权,对员工进行必要的变动并重新安排工作;我必须利用圣诞节这一周来完成这项工作,以便为新的一年做好一切准备。
Helmer: I have got authority from the retiring manager to undertake the necessary changes in the staff and in the rearrangement of the work; and I must make use of the Christmas week for that, so as to have everything in order for the new year.
N ora:那么这就是为什么这个可怜的Krogstad——
Nora: Then that was why this poor Krogstad —
赫尔默:嗯!
Helmer: Hm!
诺拉(靠在椅背上,抚摸着他的头发):托瓦德,如果你不是那么忙的话,我本来要请你帮个大忙的。
Nora (leans against the back of his chair and strokes his hair): If you hadn’t been so busy I should have asked you a tremendously big favour, Torvald.
海尔默:那是什么?告诉我。
Helmer: What is that? Tell me.
诺拉:没有人的品味比你好。我真的很想在化装舞会上打扮得漂漂亮亮。托尔瓦德,你能不能帮我决定一下我应该穿什么衣服去,穿什么样的衣服?
Nora: There is no one has such good taste as you. And I do so want to look nice at the fancy-dress ball. Torvald, couldn’t you take me in hand and decide what I shall go as, and what sort of a dress I shall wear?
赫尔墨:啊哈!所以我这个固执的小女人必须找个人来救她吗?
Helmer: Aha! so my obstinate little woman is obliged to get someone to come to her rescue?
N ora:是的,托瓦德,没有你的帮助我就过不下去了。
Nora: Yes, Torvald, I can’t get along a bit without your help.
海尔默:好吧,我会仔细考虑的,我们一定会找到办法的。
Helmer: Very well, I will think it over, we shall manage to hit upon something.
N ora:你真好。(走向圣诞树。短暂的停顿。)红色的花朵看起来多么漂亮——。但是,告诉我,这个 Krogstad 真的犯了什么非常糟糕的罪行吗?
Nora: That is nice of you. (Goes to the Christmas Tree. A short pause.) How pretty the red flowers look — . But, tell me, was it really something very bad that this Krogstad was guilty of?
赫尔默:他伪造了某人的名字。你知道这意味着什么吗?
Helmer: He forged someone’s name. Have you any idea what that means?
N ora:他是不是被迫这么做的呢?
Nora: Isn’t it possible that he was driven to do it by necessity?
海尔茂:是的,或者像很多情况一样,是因为轻率。我不会因为一个人犯了这种错误就狠心谴责他。
Helmer: Yes; or, as in so many cases, by imprudence. I am not so heartless as to condemn a man altogether because of a single false step of that kind.
诺拉:不,你不会的,对吧,托瓦德?
Nora: No, you wouldn’t, would you, Torvald?
海尔茂:许多人如果公开承认自己的错误并接受惩罚,就能够恢复自己的品格。
Helmer: Many a man has been able to retrieve his character, if he has openly confessed his fault and taken his punishment.
N ora:惩罚——?
Nora: Punishment — ?
赫尔墨:但是柯洛克斯泰并没有做那样的事;他用一种狡猾的诡计摆脱了困境,这就是他彻底失败的原因。
Helmer: But Krogstad did nothing of that sort; he got himself out of it by a cunning trick, and that is why he has gone under altogether.
N ora:但是你认为它会——?
Nora: But do you think it would — ?
海尔默:想想看,这样一个罪孽深重的人,不得不对每个人撒谎、装假,不得不在亲朋好友面前戴上面具,甚至在自己的妻子和孩子面前。至于孩子——这是最可怕的部分,诺拉。
Helmer: Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with every one, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And about the children — that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora.
N ora:怎么办?
Nora: How?
赫尔墨:因为这种谎言的氛围会感染和毒害整个家庭的生活。在这样的家庭里,孩子们呼吸的每一口空气都充满了邪恶的细菌。
Helmer: Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil.
诺拉(走近他): “你确定吗?”
Nora (coming nearer him): Are you sure of that?
海尔默:亲爱的,在我当律师的一生中,我经常看到这种情况。几乎每个早年走上歧途的人都有一个不诚实的母亲。
Helmer: My dear, I have often seen it in the course of my life as a lawyer. Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother.
N ora:你为什么只说——妈妈?
Nora: Why do you only say — mother?
海尔默:这似乎最常见是母亲的影响,但坏父亲的影响自然也会导致同样的结果。每个律师都知道这个事实。这个柯洛克斯塔德现在一直在用谎言和掩饰毒害自己的孩子;这就是为什么我说他已经失去了所有的道德品质。(向她伸出双手。)这就是为什么我可爱的小诺拉必须答应我不再为他辩护。把手伸给我。来吧,来吧,这是什么?把手伸给我。好了,事情已经解决了。我向你保证,我不可能和他一起工作;当我和这样的人在一起时,我真的感到身体不舒服。
Helmer: It seems most commonly to be the mother’s influence, though naturally a bad father’s would have the same result. Every lawyer is familiar with the fact. This Krogstad, now, has been persistently poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation; that is why I say he has lost all moral character. (Holds out his hands to her.) That is why my sweet little Nora must promise me not to plead his cause. Give me your hand on it. Come, come, what is this? Give me your hand. There now, that’s settled. I assure you it would be quite impossible for me to work with him; I literally feel physically ill when I am in the company of such people.
诺拉(从他的手中抽出她的手,走到圣诞树的另一边):这里好热啊;我还有好多事要做。
Nora (takes her hand out of his and goes to the opposite side of the Christmas Tree): How hot it is in here; and I have such a lot to do.
海尔茂(站起来,整理文件) :是的,晚饭前我得把这些文件读完,还要考虑你的服装。也许我可以用金纸准备好一些挂在圣诞树上。 (把手放在她头上。) 我珍贵的小歌鸟! (他走进房间,关上门。)
Helmer (getting up and putting his papers in order): Yes, and I must try and read through some of these before dinner; and I must think about your costume, too. And it is just possible I may have something ready in gold paper to hang up on the Tree. (Puts his hand on her head.) My precious little singing-bird! (He goes into his room and shuts the door after him.)
诺拉(停顿了一下,低声说):不,不——这不是真的。这不可能;一定是不可能的。
Nora (after a pause, whispers): No, no — it isn’t true. It’s impossible; it must be impossible.
(护士打开左边的门。)
(The Nurse opens the door on the left.)
护士:小宝宝们迫切地乞求妈妈允许他们进入。
Nurse: The little ones are begging so hard to be allowed to come in to mamma.
诺拉:不,不,不!别让他们来找我!你和他们待在一起,安妮。
Nora: No, no, no! Don’t let them come in to me! You stay with them, Anne.
护士:好的,夫人。(关上门。)
Nurse: Very well, ma’am. (Shuts the door.)
诺拉(吓得脸色苍白):败坏我的孩子们?毒害我的家?(短暂的沉默。然后她摇摇头。)这不是真的。这不可能是真的。
Nora (pale with terror): Deprave my little children? Poison my home? (A short pause. Then she tosses her head.) It’s not true. It can’t possibly be true.
同一场景:圣诞树在钢琴旁边的角落里,装饰物被剥光,散乱的树枝上挂着烧焦的蜡烛头。诺拉的斗篷和帽子放在沙发上。她独自一人在房间里,不安地走来走去。她在沙发旁停下,拿起斗篷。
The Same Scene: The Christmas Tree is in the corner by the piano, stripped of its ornaments and with burnt-down candle-ends on its dishevelled branches. Nora’s cloak and hat are lying on the sofa. She is alone in the room, walking about uneasily. She stops by the sofa and takes up her cloak.
诺拉(脱下斗篷):有人来了!(走到门口听了听。)不——没人。当然,今天圣诞节不会有人来——明天也不会有人来。但是,也许——(打开门向外看)。不,信箱里什么也没有;里面是空的。(走上前来。)胡说八道!当然他不会是认真的。这样的事不可能发生;这是不可能的——我有三个小孩。
Nora (drops her cloak): Someone is coming now! (Goes to the door and listens.) No — it is no one. Of course, no one will come to-day, Christmas Day — nor to-morrow either. But, perhaps — (opens the door and looks out). No, nothing in the letter-box; it is quite empty. (Comes forward.) What rubbish! of course he can’t be in earnest about it. Such a thing couldn’t happen; it is impossible — I have three little children.
(从左边的房间进入护士,她拿着一个大纸箱。)
(Enter the Nurse from the room on the left, carrying a big cardboard box.)
护士:我终于找到了装有化装舞会服装的盒子。
Nurse: At last I have found the box with the fancy dress.
N ora:谢谢;把它放在桌子上。
Nora: Thanks; put it on the table.
护士(照做):但是它非常需要修补。
Nurse (doing so): But it is very much in want of mending.
N ora:我想把它撕成十万片。
Nora: I should like to tear it into a hundred thousand pieces.
护士:真是个好主意!这很容易解决——只要有一点耐心。
Nurse: What an idea! It can easily be put in order — just a little patience.
诺拉:是的,我会去找林德夫人来帮我。
Nora: Yes, I will go and get Mrs. Linde to come and help me with it.
护士:怎么,又出去了?天气这么糟糕?你会着凉的,夫人,你会生病的。
Nurse: What, out again? In this horrible weather? You will catch cold, ma’am, and make yourself ill.
N ora:嗯,情况可能比这更糟。孩子们怎么样了?
Nora: Well, worse than that might happen. How are the children?
护士:这些可怜的小家伙们正在玩他们的圣诞礼物,但是——
Nurse: The poor little souls are playing with their Christmas presents, but —
N ora:他们为我要求很多吗?
Nora: Do they ask much for me?
护士:你看,他们已经习惯妈妈陪伴他们了。
Nurse: You see, they are so accustomed to have their mamma with them.
诺拉:是的,不过,保姆,我现在不能像以前那样和他们在一起了。
Nora: Yes, but, nurse, I shall not be able to be so much with them now as I was before.
护士:哦,没关系,小孩子很容易习惯任何事情。
Nurse: Oh well, young children easily get accustomed to anything.
N ora:你这样认为吗?你认为如果他们的母亲完全离开,他们会忘记她吗?
Nora: Do you think so? Do you think they would forget their mother if she went away altogether?
护士:天哪!——完全消失了吗?
Nurse: Good heavens! — went away altogether?
诺拉:护士,我希望您告诉我一个我经常想问的问题——您怎么忍心让自己的孩子与陌生人在一起?
Nora: Nurse, I want you to tell me something I have often wondered about — how could you have the heart to put your own child out among strangers?
保姆:如果我想当小诺拉的保姆,我就不得不这么做。
Nurse: I was obliged to, if I wanted to be little Nora’s nurse.
N ora:是的,但是你怎么愿意这么做呢?
Nora: Yes, but how could you be willing to do it?
护士:怎么,我靠这个能得到这么好的地位?一个陷入困境的可怜女孩应该很高兴。再说,那个恶毒的男人什么也没为我做过。
Nurse: What, when I was going to get such a good place by it? A poor girl who has got into trouble should be glad to. Besides, that wicked man didn’t do a single thing for me.
诺拉:但是我想您的女儿已经完全忘记您了。
Nora: But I suppose your daughter has quite forgotten you.
护士:没有,确实没有。她受坚振礼时和结婚时都写信给我。
Nurse: No, indeed she hasn’t. She wrote to me when she was confirmed, and when she was married.
诺拉(双手搂住她的脖子):亲爱的老安妮,当我小的时候,您是我的好妈妈。
Nora (putting her arms round her neck): Dear old Anne, you were a good mother to me when I was little.
保姆:可怜的小诺拉,除了我之外没有别的妈妈。
Nurse: Little Nora, poor dear, had no other mother but me.
诺拉:如果我的孩子没有其他妈妈,我相信你会——我在胡说八道!(打开盒子。)进去吧。现在我必须——。明天你就会看到我有多迷人。
Nora: And if my little ones had no other mother, I am sure you would — What nonsense I am talking! (Opens the box.) Go in to them. Now I must — . You will see to-morrow how charming I shall look.
护士:我确信舞会上没有人像您这么迷人,夫人。(走进左边的房间。)
Nurse: I am sure there will be no one at the ball so charming as you, ma’am. (Goes into the room on the left.)
诺拉(开始拆箱子,但很快又把它推开):要是我敢出去就好了。要是没人来就好了。要是我能确定这段时间不会发生任何事情就好了。胡说八道!没人会来。只是我不能去想这些。我要刷刷我的皮手筒。多可爱的手套啊!别想了,别想了!一、二、三、四、五、六——(尖叫。)啊!有人来了——。(朝门口走去,但犹豫不决。)
Nora (begins to unpack the box, but soon pushes it away from her): If only I dared go out. If only no one would come. If only I could be sure nothing would happen here in the meantime. Stuff and nonsense! No one will come. Only I mustn’t think about it. I will brush my muff. What lovely, lovely gloves! Out of my thoughts, out of my thoughts! One, two, three, four, five, six — (Screams.) Ah! there is someone coming — . (Makes a movement towards the door, but stands irresolute.)
(林德夫人从大厅走进来,她已脱下斗篷和帽子。)
(Enter Mrs. Linde from the hall, where she has taken off her cloak and hat.)
Nora :哦,是你,克里斯汀。那里没有其他人了,是吗?你能来真是太好了!
Nora: Oh, it’s you, Christine. There is no one else out there, is there? How good of you to come!
林德女士:我听说您上来找我。
Mrs. Linde: I heard you were up asking for me.
Nora :是的,我路过。事实上,这是你能帮我的事情。我们坐在沙发上吧。听着。明天晚上,住在我们楼上的 Stenborgs 家要举行化装舞会;Torvald 想让我扮成那不勒斯渔女,跳我在卡普里学到的塔兰泰拉舞。
Nora: Yes, I was passing by. As a matter of fact, it is something you could help me with. Let us sit down here on the sofa. Look here. To-morrow evening there is to be a fancy-dress ball at the Stenborgs’, who live above us; and Torvald wants me to go as a Neapolitan fisher-girl, and dance the Tarantella that I learned at Capri.
林德女士:我明白了,你要继续保持这个角色。
Mrs. Linde: I see; you are going to keep up the character.
诺拉:是的,托尔瓦德要我这么做。看,这是衣服;托尔瓦德在那里为我做了,但现在它全都破了,我不知道——
Nora: Yes, Torvald wants me to. Look, here is the dress; Torvald had it made for me there, but now it is all so torn, and I haven’t any idea —
林德女士:我们很容易就搞定了。只是有些地方的边饰松开了。针和线?好了,这就是我们想要的。
Mrs. Linde: We will easily put that right. It is only some of the trimming come unsewn here and there. Needle and thread? Now then, that’s all we want.
N ora:您真是太好了。
Nora: It is nice of you.
林德夫人(缝纫):诺拉,明天你要盛装打扮了。我告诉你——我会进来一会儿,看看你穿着漂亮的羽毛。但我完全忘了感谢你昨天给我带来的愉快夜晚。
Mrs. Linde (sewing): So you are going to be dressed up to-morrow, Nora. I will tell you what — I shall come in for a moment and see you in your fine feathers. But I have completely forgotten to thank you for a delightful evening yesterday.
诺拉(站起来,穿过舞台):嗯,我觉得昨天不像往常那么愉快。你应该早点进城,克里斯汀。托尔瓦德确实知道如何把房子布置得精致而迷人。
Nora (gets up, and crosses the stage): Well, I don’t think yesterday was as pleasant as usual. You ought to have come to town a little earlier, Christine. Certainly Torvald does understand how to make a house dainty and attractive.
林德夫人:在我看来,你也是这样;你不是白白成为你父亲的女儿的。但告诉我,兰克医生是不是总是像昨天一样沮丧?
Mrs. Linde: And so do you, it seems to me; you are not your father’s daughter for nothing. But tell me, is Doctor Rank always as depressed as he was yesterday?
N ora:不,昨天就很明显了。我必须告诉你,他得了一种非常危险的疾病。他得了脊柱炎,可怜的人。他的父亲是个可怕的人,做了很多过分的事情;这就是为什么他的儿子从小就体弱多病,你明白吗?
Nora: No; yesterday it was very noticeable. I must tell you that he suffers from a very dangerous disease. He has consumption of the spine, poor creature. His father was a horrible man who committed all sorts of excesses; and that is why his son was sickly from childhood, do you understand?
林德夫人(放下手中的针线活): “可是,我最亲爱的诺拉,你怎么会知道这些事情呢?”
Mrs. Linde (dropping her sewing): But, my dearest Nora, how do you know anything about such things?
诺拉(走来走去):哎呀!如果你有三个孩子,你就会时不时地接到已婚妇女的来访,她们懂一些医学知识,她们会谈论这方面的事情,谈论那方面的事情。
Nora (walking about): Pooh! When you have three children, you get visits now and then from — from married women, who know something of medical matters, and they talk about one thing and another.
林德夫人:(继续缝纫。短暂的沉默)兰克医生每天都来这里吗?
Mrs. Linde: (goes on sewing. A short silence) Does Doctor Rank come here everyday?
N ora:每天都会。他是 Torvald 最亲密的朋友,也是我的好朋友。他就像家人一样。
Nora: Everyday regularly. He is Torvald’s most intimate friend, and a great friend of mine too. He is just like one of the family.
林德夫人:但是请告诉我——他真的真诚吗?我的意思是,他不是那种急于让自己变得讨人喜欢的人吗?
Mrs. Linde: But tell me this — is he perfectly sincere? I mean, isn’t he the kind of man that is very anxious to make himself agreeable?
N ora:一点也不。你为什么会这么想呢?
Nora: Not in the least. What makes you think that?
林德夫人:昨天你把他介绍给我的时候,他说他经常听到有人在这所房子里提起我的名字;但后来我发现你丈夫根本不知道我是谁。那么兰克医生怎么会——?
Mrs. Linde: When you introduced him to me yesterday, he declared he had often heard my name mentioned in this house; but afterwards I noticed that your husband hadn’t the slightest idea who I was. So how could Doctor Rank — ?
Nora :没错,克里斯汀。托尔瓦德太喜欢我了,他想把我完全占为己有,就像他说的。起初,如果我提到家里的亲人,他似乎会嫉妒,所以我自然就不再提了。但我经常和兰克医生谈论这些事情,因为他喜欢听这些事情。
Nora: That is quite right, Christine. Torvald is so absurdly fond of me that he wants me absolutely to himself, as he says. At first he used to seem almost jealous if I mentioned any of the dear folk at home, so naturally I gave up doing so. But I often talk about such things with Doctor Rank, because he likes hearing about them.
林德夫人:听我说,诺拉。在很多方面,你还像个孩子,而我在很多方面都比你年长,经验也更多一些。我告诉你——你应该和兰克医生一了百了。
Mrs. Linde: Listen to me, Nora. You are still very like a child in many things, and I am older than you in many ways and have a little more experience. Let me tell you this — you ought to make an end of it with Doctor Rank.
N ora:我该结束什么呢?
Nora: What ought I to make an end of?
林德夫人:我想是两件事。昨天你说了一些胡话,说有一位富有的仰慕者会给你留下钱——
Mrs. Linde: Of two things, I think. Yesterday you talked some nonsense about a rich admirer who was to leave you money —
N ora:不幸的是,这位仰慕者并不存在!但那又怎么样呢?
Nora: An admirer who doesn’t exist, unfortunately! But what then?
林德夫人:兰克医生有钱吗?
Mrs. Linde: Is Doctor Rank a man of means?
N ora:是的,他是。
Nora: Yes, he is.
林德女士:没人照顾吗?
Mrs. Linde: And has no one to provide for?
N ora:没有,没有人;但是——
Nora: No, no one; but —
林德女士:每天都来这儿吗?
Mrs. Linde: And comes here everyday?
诺拉:是的,我告诉过你。
Nora: Yes, I told you so.
林德夫人:但是这位有教养的人怎么会这么不懂规矩呢?
Mrs. Linde: But how can this well-bred man be so tactless?
N ora:我完全不明白你的意思。
Nora: I don’t understand you at all.
林德夫人:诺拉,别搪塞了。你以为我猜不到是谁借给你的 250 英镑吗?
Mrs. Linde: Don’t prevaricate, Nora. Do you suppose I don’t guess who lent you the two hundred and fifty pounds?
N ora:你疯了吗?你怎么能想到这样的事情!我们的朋友,每天都来这里!你知道那将是多么痛苦的处境吗?
Nora: Are you out of your senses? How can you think of such a thing! A friend of ours, who comes here everyday! Do you realise what a horribly painful position that would be?
林德女士:那么他真的不是吗?
Mrs. Linde: Then it really isn’t he?
诺拉:不,当然不是。我根本就没想过。再说,他当时没钱借给他人;后来他才拿到了钱。
Nora: No, certainly not. It would never have entered into my head for a moment. Besides, he had no money to lend then; he came into his money afterwards.
林德夫人:嗯,我想这对你来说是幸运的,我亲爱的诺拉。
Mrs. Linde: Well, I think that was lucky for you, my dear Nora.
诺拉:不,我从来没想过要问兰克医生。不过我很确定,如果我问他——
Nora: No, it would never have come into my head to ask Doctor Rank. Although I am quite sure that if I had asked him —
林德女士:但你当然不会这么做。
Mrs. Linde: But of course you won’t.
Nora :当然不是。我没有理由认为这可能需要。但我确信如果我告诉 Rank 医生——
Nora: Of course not. I have no reason to think it could possibly be necessary. But I am quite sure that if I told Doctor Rank —
林德夫人:背着你丈夫?
Mrs. Linde: Behind your husband’s back?
诺拉:我必须和另一个人了结这件事,而且要背着他。我必须和他了结这件事。
Nora: I must make an end of it with the other one, and that will be behind his back too. I must make an end of it with him.
林德女士:是的,我昨天就告诉你了,但是——
Mrs. Linde: Yes, that is what I told you yesterday, but —
N ora(走来走去):男人比女人更容易把这样的事情说清楚——
Nora (walking up and down): A man can put a thing like that straight much easier than a woman —
林德夫人:是的,是某人的丈夫。
Mrs. Linde: One’s husband, yes.
诺拉:胡说!(站着不动。)当你还清债务时,你就能拿回你的债券,不是吗?
Nora: Nonsense! (Standing still.) When you pay off a debt you get your bond back, don’t you?
林德女士:是的,理所当然。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, as a matter of course.
N ora:并且可以把它撕成十万片,然后烧掉——肮脏的纸!
Nora: And can tear it into a hundred thousand pieces, and burn it up — the nasty dirty paper!
林德夫人(狠狠地看着她,放下手中的针线,慢慢站起来): “诺拉,你对我隐瞒了一些事情。”
Mrs. Linde (looks hard at her, lays down her sewing and gets up slowly): Nora, you are concealing something from me.
N ora:我看上去像是这样的吗?
Nora: Do I look as if I were?
林德夫人:从昨天早上开始你就出事了。诺拉,怎么回事?
Mrs. Linde: Something has happened to you since yesterday morning. Nora, what is it?
诺拉(走近她):克里斯汀!(听着。 )嘘!托尔瓦德回来了。你介意现在去孩子们那儿吗?托尔瓦德不忍心看到有人在做衣服。让安妮帮你吧。
Nora (going nearer to her): Christine! (Listens.) Hush! there’s Torvald come home. Do you mind going in to the children for the present? Torvald can’t bear to see dressmaking going on. Let Anne help you.
林德太太(整理了一些事情):当然了——不过,在我们把事情解决之前,我是不会离开这里的。(她走进左边的房间,赫尔默从走廊进来。)
Mrs. Linde (gathering some of the things together): Certainly — but I am not going away from here until we have had it out with one another. (She goes into the room on the left, as Helmer comes in from the hall.)
诺拉(走到海尔茂面前) :我非常想念你,亲爱的托尔瓦德。
Nora (going up to Helmer): I have wanted you so much, Torvald dear.
赫尔默:那是裁缝吗?
Helmer: Was that the dressmaker?
诺拉:不,是克里斯汀;她正在帮我整理衣服。你会看到我看起来很漂亮。
Nora: No, it was Christine; she is helping me to put my dress in order. You will see I shall look quite smart.
赫尔默:现在,这难道不是我的一个快乐的想法吗?
Helmer: Wasn’t that a happy thought of mine, now?
Nora :太好了!不过你不觉得我按照你的意愿做也是件好事吗?
Nora: Splendid! But don’t you think it is nice of me, too, to do as you wish?
赫尔默:很好?——因为你按照你丈夫的意愿行事?好吧,你这个小流氓,我相信你不是那个意思。但我不会打扰你;我想你会想试穿你的衣服。
Helmer: Nice? — because you do as your husband wishes? Well, well, you little rogue, I am sure you did not mean it in that way. But I am not going to disturb you; you will want to be trying on your dress, I expect.
N ora:我想你要去上班了。
Nora: I suppose you are going to work.
赫尔默:是的。(给她看一叠文件。)看那个。我刚去过银行。(转身走进他的房间。)
Helmer: Yes. (Shows her a bundle of papers.) Look at that. I have just been into the bank. (Turns to go into his room.)
现在:托瓦德。
Nora: Torvald.
赫尔默:是的。
Helmer: Yes.
N ora:如果你的小松鼠向你要一件非常非常漂亮的东西——?
Nora: If your little squirrel were to ask you for something very, very prettily — ?
赫尔默:然后呢?
Helmer: What then?
N ora:你会这么做吗?
Nora: Would you do it?
赫尔默:首先我想听听那是什么。
Helmer: I should like to hear what it is, first.
N ora:如果你乖巧,你的松鼠就会跑来跑去,做它想做的一切。
Nora: Your squirrel would run about and do all her tricks if you would be nice, and do what she wants.
海尔默:说清楚点。
Helmer: Speak plainly.
N ora:你的云雀会在每个房间里叽叽喳喳地叫,歌声时高时低——
Nora: Your skylark would chirp about in every room, with her song rising and falling —
赫尔默:好吧,我的云雀无论如何都会这么做。
Helmer: Well, my skylark does that anyhow.
N ora:我会扮演仙女,在月光下为你跳舞,托瓦德。
Nora: I would play the fairy and dance for you in the moonlight, Torvald.
赫尔默:诺拉——你该不会是真心想实现今天早上向我提出的那个请求吧?
Helmer: Nora — you surely don’t mean that request you made to me this morning?
诺拉(走近他):是的,托尔瓦德,我恳求你——
Nora (going near him): Yes, Torvald, I beg you so earnestly —
赫尔默:你真的有勇气再次提出这个问题吗?
Helmer: Have you really the courage to open up that question again?
N ora:是的,亲爱的,你必须按我说的做;你必须让柯洛克斯泰德保住他在银行的职位。
Nora: Yes, dear, you must do as I ask; you must let Krogstad keep his post in the bank.
赫尔默:亲爱的诺拉,我已经安排林德夫人担任他的职位了。
Helmer: My dear Nora, it is his post that I have arranged Mrs. Linde shall have.
N ora:是的,您对此非常友善;但您也可以解雇其他职员,而不是解雇 Krogstad。
Nora: Yes, you have been awfully kind about that; but you could just as well dismiss some other clerk instead of Krogstad.
海尔默:这简直是难以置信的固执!因为你选择轻率地向他承诺你会为他说话,所以我应该——
Helmer: This is simply incredible obstinacy! Because you chose to give him a thoughtless promise that you would speak for him, I am expected to —
诺拉:这不是原因,托尔瓦德。这是为了你自己。这家伙在最卑鄙的报纸上写文章;你自己也告诉我了。他能给你带来难以言喻的伤害。我害怕得要死——
Nora: That isn’t the reason, Torvald. It is for your own sake. This fellow writes in the most scurrilous newspapers; you have told me so yourself. He can do you an unspeakable amount of harm. I am frightened to death of him —
赫尔默:啊,我明白了,正是过去的回忆让你感到害怕。
Helmer: Ah, I understand; it is recollections of the past that scare you.
N ora:你的意思是什么?
Nora: What do you mean?
赫尔墨:你自然会想到你的父亲。
Helmer: Naturally you are thinking of your father.
诺拉:是的——当然是的。回想一下这些恶毒的家伙在报纸上写了些什么关于爸爸的事,以及他们如何诽谤他。如果部门没有派你去调查此事,如果你没有对他如此友善和帮助,我相信他们本会让他被解雇的。
Nora: Yes — yes, of course. Just recall to your mind what these malicious creatures wrote in the papers about papa, and how horribly they slandered him. I believe they would have procured his dismissal if the Department had not sent you over to inquire into it, and if you had not been so kindly disposed and helpful to him.
海尔默:我的小诺拉,你父亲和我之间有一个重要的区别。你父亲作为一名公职人员的名声并非无可置疑。而我的名声却无可置疑,而且我希望只要我还在任,这种名声将一直存在。
Helmer: My little Nora, there is an important difference between your father and me. Your father’s reputation as a public official was not above suspicion. Mine is, and I hope it will continue to be so, as long as I hold my office.
诺拉:你永远不知道这些人会想出什么坏事。我们应该过得这么好,在我们平静的家里这么舒适快乐,无忧无虑——你、我和孩子们,托尔瓦德!这就是为什么我如此真诚地请求你——
Nora: You never can tell what mischief these men may contrive. We ought to be so well off, so snug and happy here in our peaceful home, and have no cares — you and I and the children, Torvald! That is why I beg you so earnestly —
海尔默:你替他说情,让我无法留住他。银行里已经知道我要解雇柯洛克斯塔德了。既然新经理已经按照他妻子的吩咐改变主意了,是不是要赶快离开呢——
Helmer: And it is just by interceding for him that you make it impossible for me to keep him. It is already known at the Bank that I mean to dismiss Krogstad. Is it to get about now that the new manager has changed his mind at his wife’s bidding —
N ora:如果确实如此,那会怎样?
Nora: And what if it did?
赫尔默:当然!——只要这个固执的小人能得逞!你以为我会在全体员工面前出丑,让人们认为我是一个容易被各种外界影响左右的人吗?我很快就会感受到后果,我可以告诉你!此外,有一件事让我在银行当经理期间不可能让柯洛克斯泰德留在银行。
Helmer: Of course! — if only this obstinate little person can get her way! Do you suppose I am going to make myself ridiculous before my whole staff, to let people think that I am a man to be swayed by all sorts of outside influence? I should very soon feel the consequences of it, I can tell you! And besides, there is one thing that makes it quite impossible for me to have Krogstad in the Bank as long as I am manager.
N ora:那是什么?
Nora: Whatever is that?
赫尔默:如果有必要,我或许可以忽略他的道德缺陷——
Helmer: His moral failings I might perhaps have overlooked, if necessary —
N ora:是的,你可以——不是吗?
Nora: Yes, you could — couldn’t you?
海尔茂:我听说他也是个好工人。但我小时候就认识他了。我们之间的友谊很轻率,但这种友谊在以后的日子里往往会成为噩梦。我不妨坦白地告诉你,我们曾经非常亲密。但这个不懂规矩的家伙在别人面前毫不收敛。相反,他认为这给了他权利对我使用亲昵的语气,他每分钟都在说“我说,海尔茂,老兄!”之类的话。我向你保证,这对我来说非常痛苦。他会让我在银行的处境变得无法忍受。
Helmer: And I hear he is a good worker, too. But I knew him when we were boys. It was one of those rash friendships that so often prove an incubus in afterlife. I may as well tell you plainly, we were once on very intimate terms with one another. But this tactless fellow lays no restraint on himself when other people are present. On the contrary, he thinks it gives him the right to adopt a familiar tone with me, and every minute it is “I say, Helmer, old fellow!” and that sort of thing. I assure you it is extremely painful for me. He would make my position in the Bank intolerable.
N ora:托瓦德,我不相信你的意思。
Nora: Torvald, I don’t believe you mean that.
赫尔默:难道你不这么认为吗?为什么不呢?
Helmer: Don’t you? Why not?
N ora:因为这是非常狭隘的看待事物的方式。
Nora: Because it is such a narrow-minded way of looking at things.
海尔默:你说什么?心胸狭窄?你觉得我心胸狭窄吗?
Helmer: What are you saying? Narrow-minded? Do you think I am narrow-minded?
N ora:不,恰恰相反,亲爱的——原因也正是如此。
Nora: No, just the opposite, dear — and it is exactly for that reason.
海尔默:完全一样。你说我的观点狭隘,那我也一定如此。狭隘!好吧——我必须结束这一切。(走到门厅门口喊道。)海伦!
Helmer: It’s the same thing. You say my point of view is narrow-minded, so I must be so too. Narrow-minded! Very well — I must put an end to this. (Goes to the hall door and calls.) Helen!
N ora:你打算做什么?
Nora: What are you going to do?
海尔茂(翻看文件):算了。(女仆上。)看这儿,拿着这封信,马上下楼。找个信差,叫他把信送过去,动作要快。信上有地址,钱在这里。
Helmer (looking among his papers): Settle it. (Enter Maid.) Look here; take this letter and go downstairs with it at once. Find a messenger and tell him to deliver it, and be quick. The address is on it, and here is the money.
女仆:好的,先生。(拿着信出去。)
Maid: Very well, sir. (Exit with the letter.)
赫尔墨(整理文件):“好了,小固执小姐。”
Helmer (putting his papers together): Now then, little Miss Obstinate.
诺拉(气喘吁吁地):托瓦德——那封是什么信?
Nora (breathlessly): Torvald — what was that letter?
赫尔默:克罗格斯塔被解雇了。
Helmer: Krogstad’s dismissal.
Nora :叫她回来,托尔瓦德!还有时间。哦,托尔瓦德,叫她回来!为了我,为了你自己,为了孩子们,请这么做!你听见了吗,托尔瓦德?叫她回来!你不知道那封信会给我们带来什么。
Nora: Call her back, Torvald! There is still time. Oh Torvald, call her back! Do it for my sake — for your own sake — for the children’s sake! Do you hear me, Torvald? Call her back! You don’t know what that letter can bring upon us.
赫尔默:太晚了。
Helmer: It’s too late.
N ora:是的,太晚了。
Nora: Yes, it’s too late.
海尔茂:我亲爱的诺拉,我能原谅你的焦虑,尽管这对我来说是一种侮辱。确实如此。想到我竟然害怕一个饥饿的羽毛笔作家的报复,难道不是一种侮辱吗?不过我还是原谅你,因为这充分证明了你对我的深爱。(把她搂在怀里。)这本该是这样的,我亲爱的诺拉。无论发生什么,你都可以相信,如果需要的话,我会有勇气和力量。你会看到我有足够的勇气承担一切。
Helmer: My dear Nora, I can forgive the anxiety you are in, although really it is an insult to me. It is, indeed. Isn’t it an insult to think that I should be afraid of a starving quill-driver’s vengeance? But I forgive you nevertheless, because it is such eloquent witness to your great love for me. (Takes her in his arms.) And that is as it should be, my own darling Nora. Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to take everything upon myself.
诺拉(惊恐地说道):你这是什么意思?
Nora (in a horror-stricken voice): What do you mean by that?
海尔默:我说的是一切——
Helmer: Everything, I say —
诺拉(恢复了镇定):你永远不需要这么做。
Nora (recovering herself ): You will never have to do that.
海尔茂:对。那好,诺拉,我们分担吧,就像夫妻一样。事情就是这样。(爱抚着她。)现在你满意了吗?好了!好了!——不要再有这些受惊的鸽子眼了!这整件事都只是最疯狂的幻想!——现在,你必须去演奏塔兰泰拉舞曲,练习敲击你的手鼓。我会去里面的办公室,关上门,这样我就什么也听不到了;你想发出多大的声音就发出多大的声音。(在门口转身。)兰克来的时候,告诉他在哪儿能找到我。(向她点点头,拿起文件,走进他的房间,关上门。)
Helmer: That’s right. Well, we will share it, Nora, as man and wife should. That is how it shall be. (Caressing her.) Are you content now? There! there! — not these frightened dove’s eyes! The whole thing is only the wildest fancy! — Now, you must go and play through the Tarantella and practise with your tambourine. I shall go into the inner office and shut the door, and I shall hear nothing; you can make as much noise as you please. (Turns back at the door.) And when Rank comes, tell him where he will find me. (Nods to her, takes his papers and goes into his room, and shuts the door after him.)
诺拉(焦虑得不知所措,像生了根一样站在原地,低声说):他有能力做到。他会做到的。他会不惜一切代价做到的。——不,不是那样!永远,永远!除了那样,什么都行!噢,求帮助,什么办法摆脱它!(门铃响了。)兰克医生!除了那样,什么都行——什么都行,不管是什么!(她用双手捂住脸,振作起来,走到门口打开门。兰克站在门外,挂上外套。在接下来的对话中,天开始变暗。)
Nora (bewildered with anxiety, stands as if rooted to the spot, and whispers): He was capable of doing it. He will do it. He will do it in spite of everything. — No, not that! Never, never! Anything rather than that! Oh, for some help, some way out of it! (The door-bell rings.) Doctor Rank! Anything rather than that — anything, whatever it is! (She puts her hands over her face, pulls herself together, goes to the door and opens it. Rank is standing without, hanging up his coat. During the following dialogue it begins to grow dark.)
诺拉:你好,兰克医生。我知道你的戒指。不过你现在不能去见托尔瓦德;我想他有事要忙。
Nora: Good-day, Doctor Rank. I knew your ring. But you mustn’t go in to Torvald now; I think he is busy with something.
Rank :那你呢?
Rank: And you?
诺拉(把他带进来并关上门):噢,你很清楚我总是有时间陪你。
Nora (brings him in and shuts the door after him): Oh, you know very well I always have time for you.
RANK :谢谢。我会尽量利用它。
Rank: Thank you. I shall make use of as much of it as I can.
N ora:你这话什么意思?能给多少就给多少?
Nora: What do you mean by that? As much of it as you can?
Rank :那么,这让你担心吗?
Rank: Well, does that alarm you?
N ora:这种说法太奇怪了。有什么可能发生吗?
Nora: It was such a strange way of putting it. Is anything likely to happen?
兰克:我早就做好了准备。但我当然没想到会这么快发生。
Rank: Nothing but what I have long been prepared for. But I certainly didn’t expect it to happen so soon.
诺拉(抓住他的胳膊):你发现了什么?兰克医生,你必须告诉我。
Nora (gripping him by the arm): What have you found out? Doctor Rank, you must tell me.
兰克(坐在炉子旁边):我完蛋了。没有办法了。
Rank (sitting down by the stove): It is all up with me. And it can’t be helped.
N ora(松了一口气):“是关于你自己的事吗?”
Nora (with a sigh of relief ): Is it about yourself?
兰克:还有谁?骗自己是没有用的。我是我所有病人中最可怜的一个,赫尔默夫人。最近我一直在评估我的内部经济状况。破产了!可能一个月内我就会躺在教堂墓地里腐烂。
Rank: Who else? It is no use lying to one’s self. I am the most wretched of all my patients, Mrs. Helmer. Lately I have been taking stock of my internal economy. Bankrupt! Probably within a month I shall lie rotting in the churchyard.
N ora:说的话太难听了!
Nora: What an ugly thing to say!
兰克:事情本身就丑陋不堪,最糟糕的是,在此之前,我还得面对更多丑陋的事情。我只需要再检查一次自己;当我这样做的时候,我就会非常确定什么时候会开始毁灭的恐怖。有件事我想告诉你。海尔默的优雅天性使他对一切丑陋的东西都感到无法克服的厌恶;我不会让他呆在我的病房里。
Rank: The thing itself is cursedly ugly, and the worst of it is that I shall have to face so much more that is ugly before that. I shall only make one more examination of myself; when I have done that, I shall know pretty certainly when it will be that the horrors of dissolution will begin. There is something I want to tell you. Helmer’s refined nature gives him an unconquerable disgust at everything that is ugly; I won’t have him in my sick-room.
N ora:哦,但是,Rank 医生——
Nora: Oh, but, Doctor Rank —
兰克:我不会让他在那里。无论如何都不会。我把他关在门外。一旦我确信最坏的事情已经发生,我就会给你寄一张上面有黑色十字的卡片,然后你就会知道可恶的结局已经开始了。
Rank: I won’t have him there. Not on any account. I bar my door to him. As soon as I am quite certain that the worst has come, I shall send you my card with a black cross on it, and then you will know that the loathsome end has begun.
N ora:你今天真是太荒唐了。我真希望你能心情愉快。
Nora: You are quite absurd to-day. And I wanted you so much to be in a really good humour.
等级:死亡就在我身边?——为了别人的罪孽而付出代价?这难道是正义吗?每个家庭,都会以这样或那样的方式,遭受这种无情的惩罚——
Rank: With death stalking beside me? — To have to pay this penalty for another man’s sin? Is there any justice in that? And in every single family, in one way or another, some such inexorable retribution is being exacted —
诺拉(捂住耳朵):废话!说点开心的事儿。
Nora (putting her hands over her ears): Rubbish! Do talk of something cheerful.
兰克:哦,这整件事都只是个笑话。我可怜的无辜的脊椎却要为我父亲年轻时的娱乐而受苦。
Rank: Oh, it’s a mere laughing matter, the whole thing. My poor innocent spine has to suffer for my father’s youthful amusements.
诺拉(坐在左边的桌子旁):我想你的意思是他太喜欢芦笋和鹅肝酱了,是吗?
Nora (sitting at the table on the left): I suppose you mean that he was too partial to asparagus and pâté de foie gras, don’t you?
Rank :是的,还有松露。
Rank: Yes, and to truffles.
N ora:是的,松露。我想还有牡蛎吧?
Nora: Truffles, yes. And oysters too, I suppose?
排名:当然是牡蛎,这是不言而喻的。
Rank: Oysters, of course, that goes without saying.
诺拉:还有大量的波特酒和香槟。可悲的是,所有这些美好的东西竟然要报复我们的骨头。
Nora: And heaps of port and champagne. It is sad that all these nice things should take their revenge on our bones.
排名:尤其是他们应该对那些没有享受到享受的人的倒霉骨头进行报复。
Rank: Especially that they should revenge themselves on the unlucky bones of those who have not had the satisfaction of enjoying them.
N ora:是的,这是最悲伤的部分。
Nora: Yes, that’s the saddest part of it all.
兰克(用探究的目光看着她):嗯!——
Rank (with a searching look at her): Hm! —
诺拉(短暂的停顿后): “你为什么笑?”
Nora (after a short pause): Why did you smile?
RANK :不,笑的人是你。
Rank: No, it was you that laughed.
N ora:不,是你笑了,Rank 医生!
Nora: No, it was you that smiled, Doctor Rank!
等级(上升):你比我想象的还要无赖。
Rank (rising): You are a greater rascal than I thought.
N ora:我今天心情不太好。
Nora: I am in a silly mood to-day.
Rank :看起来是这样。
Rank: So it seems.
诺拉(把双手放在他的肩上):亲爱的兰克医生,死亡不能把您从托瓦德和我身边带走。
Nora (putting her hands on his shoulders): Dear, dear Doctor Rank, death mustn’t take you away from Torvald and me.
排名:这是很容易恢复的损失。逝去的人很快就会被遗忘。
Rank: It is a loss you would easily recover from. Those who are gone are soon forgotten.
诺拉(焦急地看着他): “你相信吗?”
Nora (looking at him anxiously): Do you believe that?
排名:人们建立新的联系,然后——
Rank: People form new ties, and then —
N ora:谁将建立新的联系?
Nora: Who will form new ties?
兰克:我走后,你和赫尔默都会去。我想你自己已经走上了正轨。昨晚林德太太来这里干什么?
Rank: Both you and Helmer, when I am gone. You yourself are already on the high road to it, I think. What did that Mrs. Linde want here last night?
N ora:哦哦!——你该不会是说你嫉妒可怜的克里斯汀吧?
Nora: Oho! — you don’t mean to say you are jealous of poor Christine?
兰克:是的,我是。她将成为我在这个家里的继任者。当我死后,这个女人将——
Rank: Yes, I am. She will be my successor in this house. When I am done for, this woman will —
Nora :嘘!别那么大声。她就在那间房间里。
Nora: Hush! don’t speak so loud. She is in that room.
兰克:今天又到了。你看,就是这样。
Rank: To-day again. There, you see.
诺拉:她只是来帮我缝衣服的。天哪,你太不讲道理了!(在沙发上坐下。)现在乖一点,兰克医生,明天你会看到我跳得多么漂亮,你可以想象我为你做这一切——当然也是为了托尔瓦德。(从盒子里拿出各种东西。)兰克医生,过来坐下,我给你看一样东西。
Nora: She has only come to sew my dress for me. Bless my soul, how unreasonable you are! (Sits down on the sofa.) Be nice now, Doctor Rank, and to-morrow you will see how beautifully I shall dance, and you can imagine I am doing it all for you — and for Torvald too, of course. (Takes various things out of the box.) Doctor Rank, come and sit down here, and I will show you something.
RANK (坐下) :什么事?
Rank (sitting down): What is it?
N ora:看看这些!
Nora: Just look at those!
排名:丝袜。
Rank: Silk stockings.
N ora:肉色。它们不是很可爱吗?现在这里很暗,但明天——。不,不,不!你只能看脚。哦,好吧,你也可以看看腿。
Nora: Flesh-coloured. Aren’t they lovely? It is so dark here now, but to-morrow — . No, no, no! you must only look at the feet. Oh well, you may have leave to look at the legs too.
Rank :嗯!——
Rank: Hm! —
N ora:你干嘛这么挑剔?你不觉得它们适合我吗?
Nora: Why are you looking so critical? Don’t you think they will fit me?
Rank :我对此没有办法形成意见。
Rank: I have no means of forming an opinion about that.
诺拉(看了他一会儿):羞耻!(用长袜轻轻地打他耳朵。)这是在惩罚你。(又把长袜卷起来。)
Nora (looks at him for a moment): For shame! (Hits him lightly on the ear with the stockings.) That’s to punish you. (Folds them up again.)
Rank :我还可以看到什么好东西呢?
Rank: And what other nice things am I to be allowed to see?
诺拉:什么都不要了,你太淘气了。(她看着那些东西,哼着歌。)
Nora: Not a single thing more, for being so naughty. (She looks among the things, humming to herself.)
兰克(短暂的沉默后):当我坐在这里,如此亲密地和您交谈时,我一刻也无法想象,如果我没有来到这所房子,我会变成什么样子。
Rank (after a short silence): When I am sitting here, talking to you as intimately as this, I cannot imagine for a moment what would have become of me if I had never come into this house.
诺拉(微笑):我相信和我们在一起你确实感觉很自在。
Nora (smiling): I believe you do feel thoroughly at home with us.
兰克(低声说,直视前方): “不得不放弃一切——
Rank (in a lower voice, looking straight in front of him): And to be obliged to leave it all —
N ora:胡说,你不会离开它的。
Nora: Nonsense, you are not going to leave it.
排名(与之前相同):不能留下丝毫感激之情,甚至连一丝遗憾都没有,只不过是一个空位,第一个来的人可以像其他任何人一样填补这个空位。
Rank (as before): And not be able to leave behind one the slightest token of one’s gratitude, scarcely even a fleeting regret — nothing but an empty place which the first comer can fill as well as any other.
N ora:如果我现在问你要——?不!
Nora: And if I asked you now for a — ? No!
Rank :为了什么?
Rank: For what?
N ora:作为你们友谊的重要证明——
Nora: For a big proof of your friendship —
Rank :是的,是的!
Rank: Yes, yes!
N ora:我的意思是这是一个极大的恩惠。
Nora: I mean a tremendously big favour.
Rank :你真能让我这么开心一次吗?
Rank: Would you really make me so happy for once?
N ora:啊,但是你还不知道它是什么。
Nora: Ah, but you don’t know what it is yet.
兰克:没有——但是请告诉我。
Rank: No — but tell me.
诺拉:我真的不能,兰克医生。这是一件不合情理的事;这意味着建议、帮助和恩惠——
Nora: I really can’t, Doctor Rank. It is something out of all reason; it means advice, and help, and a favour —
兰克:事情越大越好。我不明白你的意思。告诉我吧。难道我没有你的信心吗?
Rank: The bigger a thing it is the better. I can’t conceive what it is you mean. Do tell me. Haven’t I your confidence?
Nora :比任何人都要多。我知道你是我最真诚、最好的朋友,所以我会告诉你是什么。好吧,Rank 医生,你必须帮我阻止这件事。你知道托尔瓦德对我的爱有多么虔诚、多么深沉;他一刻也不会犹豫为我献出生命。
Nora: More than anyone else. I know you are my truest and best friend, and so I will tell you what it is. Well, Doctor Rank, it is something you must help me to prevent. You know how devotedly, how inexpressibly deeply Torvald loves me; he would never for a moment hesitate to give his life for me.
兰克(向她倾身):诺拉——你认为他是唯一一个——?
Rank (leaning towards her): Nora — do you think he is the only one — ?
诺拉(微微一惊) : “唯一的一个——?”
Nora (with a slight start): The only one — ?
排名:唯一一个愿意为你献出生命的人。
Rank: The only one who would gladly give his life for your sake.
N ora(悲伤地):就这样吗?
Nora (sadly): Is that it?
兰克:我下定决心,在我离开之前,你应该知道这一点,而这绝对是个好机会。现在你知道了,诺拉。现在你也知道,你可以信任我,就像你不会信任其他任何人一样。
Rank: I was determined you should know it before I went away, and there will never be a better opportunity than this. Now you know it, Nora. And now you know, too, that you can trust me as you would trust no one else.
诺拉(故意静静地站起身) :让我过去。
Nora (rises, deliberately and quietly): Let me pass.
兰克(给她让出空间,但仍然坐着不动):诺拉!
Rank (makes room for her to pass him, but sits still): Nora!
诺拉(在大厅门口):海伦,把灯拿进来。(走到炉子旁。)亲爱的兰克医生,你真是太可恶了。
Nora (at the hall door): Helen, bring in the lamp. (Goes over to the stove.) Dear Doctor Rank, that was really horrid of you.
兰克:像其他人一样爱你?这很糟糕吗?
Rank: To have loved you as much as anyone else does? Was that horrid?
Nora :不,但要去告诉我。真的没有必要——
Nora: No, but to go and tell me so. There was really no need —
兰克:你是什么意思?你知道吗——?(女仆拿着灯进来,把它放在桌子上,然后出去。)诺拉——海尔茂太太——告诉我,你知道这件事吗?
Rank: What do you mean? Did you know — ? (Maid enters with lamp, puts it down on the table, and goes out.) Nora — Mrs. Helmer — tell me, had you any idea of this?
诺拉:噢,我怎么知道我有没有做过?我真的没法告诉你——你竟然这么笨,兰克医生!我们相处得还不错。
Nora: Oh, how do I know whether I had or whether I hadn’t? I really can’t tell you — To think you could be so clumsy, Doctor Rank! We were getting on so nicely.
兰克:好吧,无论如何,你现在知道你可以指挥我,身体和灵魂。所以你不说出来吗?
Rank: Well, at all events you know now that you can command me, body and soul. So won’t you speak out?
诺拉(看着他):之后发生了什么事?
Nora (looking at him): After what happened?
Rank :我求求你告诉我那是什么。
Rank: I beg you to let me know what it is.
N ora:我现在不能告诉你任何事情。
Nora: I can’t tell you anything now.
兰克:是的,是的。你不能用这种方式惩罚我。请允许我为你做任何男人能做的事。
Rank: Yes, yes. You mustn’t punish me in that way. Let me have permission to do for you whatever a man may do.
诺拉:你现在什么也帮不了我。再说,我真的不需要任何帮助。你会发现,这整件事都只是我的幻想。事实确实如此——当然如此!(坐在摇椅上,微笑着看着他。)你是个好人,兰克医生!——现在灯已经拿来了,你不觉得羞愧吗?
Nora: You can do nothing for me now. Besides, I really don’t need any help at all. You will find that the whole thing is merely fancy on my part. It really is so — of course it is! (Sits down in the rocking-chair, and looks at him with a smile.) You are a nice sort of man, Doctor Rank! — don’t you feel ashamed of yourself, now the lamp has come?
兰克:一点也不。但也许我最好离开——永远离开?
Rank: Not a bit. But perhaps I had better go — for ever?
诺拉:不,你确实不能来。当然,你必须像以前一样来这里。你很清楚,托尔瓦德离不开你。
Nora: No, indeed, you shall not. Of course you must come here just as before. You know very well Torvald can’t do without you.
Rank :是的,但是你呢?
Rank: Yes, but you?
N ora:噢,你来的时候我总是非常高兴。
Nora: Oh, I am always tremendously pleased when you come.
兰克:正是这一点让我误入歧途。你对我来说是个谜。我常常想,你很快就会和我在一起,就像和海尔茂在一起一样。
Rank: It is just that, that put me on the wrong track. You are a riddle to me. I have often thought that you would almost as soon be in my company as in Helmer’s.
N ora:是的——你知道,一个人最爱一些人,而一个人几乎总是更愿意与其他人为伴。
Nora: Yes — you see there are some people one loves best, and others whom one would almost always rather have as companions.
Rank :是的,有一定的道理。
Rank: Yes, there is something in that.
N ora:在家的时候,我当然最爱爸爸。但我总是觉得,如果我能偷偷溜进女仆的房间,那将是一件非常有趣的事情,因为她们从不说教,而且会谈论一些有趣的事情。
Nora: When I was at home, of course I loved papa best. But I always thought it tremendous fun if I could steal down into the maids’ room, because they never moralised at all, and talked to each other about such entertaining things.
兰克:我明白了——我取代了他们的位置。
Rank: I see — it is their place I have taken.
诺拉(跳起来走到他面前):哦,亲爱的,好心的兰克医生,我根本没有那个意思。但你肯定能理解,和托尔瓦德在一起有点像和爸爸在一起——
Nora ( jumping up and going to him): Oh, dear, nice Doctor Rank, I never meant that at all. But surely you can understand that being with Torvald is a little like being with papa —
(女仆从大厅进入。)
(Enter Maid from the hall.)
女仆:请便,女士。(低声说并递给她一张卡片。)
Maid: If you please, ma’am. (Whispers and hands her a card.)
诺拉(看了一眼卡片):“哦! ”(把它放进口袋里。)
Nora (glancing at the card): Oh! (Puts it in her pocket.)
Rank :有什么问题吗?
Rank: Is there anything wrong?
诺拉:不,不,一点也不。这只是一件东西——这是我的新裙子——
Nora: No, no, not in the least. It is only something — it is my new dress —
兰克:什么?你的衣服在那儿呢。
Rank: What? Your dress is lying there.
诺拉:哦,是的,那一个;但这是另一个。我点了。不能让托尔瓦德知道这件事——
Nora: Oh, yes, that one; but this is another. I ordered it. Torvald mustn’t know about it —
Rank :哦哦!那可真是个大秘密。
Rank: Oho! Then that was the great secret.
诺拉:当然。直接进去吧;他现在坐在内室里。把他留在那里,直到——
Nora: Of course. Just go in to him; he is sitting in the inner room. Keep him as long as —
兰克:放心吧,我不会让他逃走的。(走进海尔茂的房间。)
Rank: Make your mind easy; I won’t let him escape. (Goes into Helmer’s room.)
诺拉(对女仆说):他站在厨房里等着吗?
Nora (to the Maid): And he is standing waiting in the kitchen?
女佣:是的,他从后楼梯上来的。
Maid: Yes; he came up the back stairs.
N ora:但是你没有告诉他家里没人吗?
Nora: But didn’t you tell him no one was in?
女佣:是的,但是没什么用。
Maid: Yes, but it was no good.
N ora:他不走吗?
Nora: He won’t go away?
女仆:不,他说除非见到您,否则他不会这么做,女士。
Maid: No; he says he won’t until he has seen you, ma’am.
诺拉:好吧,让他进来吧——但要悄悄地。海伦,你千万不能跟任何人说这件事。这会给我丈夫一个惊喜。
Nora: Well, let him come in — but quietly. Helen, you mustn’t say anything about it to anyone. It is a surprise for my husband.
女仆:是的,女士,我完全明白。(下。)
Maid: Yes, ma’am, I quite understand. (Exit.)
诺拉:这件可怕的事情就要发生了!不管我如何阻拦,它还是会发生!不,不,不,这不可能发生——这不会发生!(她闩上了海尔茂房间的门。女仆为柯洛克斯泰打开门厅,然后关上门。他穿着一件皮大衣,一双高筒靴,戴着一顶皮帽。)
Nora: This dreadful thing is going to happen! It will happen in spite of me! No, no, no, it can’t happen — it shan’t happen! (She bolts the door of Helmer’s room. The Maid opens the hall door for Krogstad and shuts it after him. He is wearing a fur coat, high boots and a fur cap.)
诺拉(向他走去):“小声点儿——我丈夫在家。”
Nora (advancing towards him): Speak low — my husband is at home.
克罗格斯塔德:没关系。
Krogstad: No matter about that.
N ora:你想让我做什么?
Nora: What do you want of me?
K rogstad:对某事的解释。
Krogstad: An explanation of something.
Nora :那就快点吧。是什么事?
Nora: Make haste then. What is it?
柯罗格斯塔德:我想,您知道我已经被解雇了。
Krogstad: You know, I suppose, that I have got my dismissal.
诺拉:我无法阻止,柯罗格斯塔德先生。我尽我所能为你抗争,但毫无成效。
Nora: I couldn’t prevent it, Mr. Krogstad. I fought as hard as I could on your side, but it was no good.
K rogstad:那么,你的丈夫就这么不爱你吗?他知道我会给你带来什么,但他还是冒险——
Krogstad: Does your husband love you so little, then? He knows what I can expose you to, and yet he ventures —
N ora:你怎么能认为他有这类知识呢?
Nora: How can you suppose that he has any knowledge of the sort?
克罗格斯塔:我根本没想到。我们亲爱的托尔瓦德·海尔默竟然会表现出如此大的勇气——
Krogstad: I didn’t suppose so at all. It would not be the least like our dear Torvald Helmer to show so much courage —
N ora:柯罗格斯塔德先生,请尊重一下我的丈夫。
Nora: Mr. Krogstad, a little respect for my husband, please.
K rogstad:当然了——他值得我们尊敬。但是既然你一直把这件事藏在心里,我敢说你比昨天更清楚自己到底做了什么?
Krogstad: Certainly — all the respect he deserves. But since you have kept the matter so carefully to yourself, I make bold to suppose that you have a little clearer idea, than you had yesterday, of what it actually is that you have done?
N ora:比您教给我的还多。
Nora: More than you could ever teach me.
K rogstad:是的,我真是一个糟糕的律师。
Krogstad: Yes, such a bad lawyer as I am.
N ora:你想让我做什么?
Nora: What is it you want of me?
克罗格斯塔:只是想看看你过得怎么样,赫尔默夫人。我整天都在想你。一个小小的收银员,一个羽毛笔作家,一个——嗯,像我这样的人——你知道,即使他也有一点所谓的感情。
Krogstad: Only to see how you were, Mrs. Helmer. I have been thinking about you all day long. A mere cashier, a quill-driver, a — well, a man like me — even he has a little of what is called feeling, you know.
N ora:那就展示出来吧;想想我的孩子们。
Nora: Show it, then; think of my little children.
K rogstad:你和你丈夫有没有想过我?不过那没关系。我只是想告诉你,你不必太在意这件事。首先,我不会提出任何指控。
Krogstad: Have you and your husband thought of mine? But never mind about that. I only wanted to tell you that you need not take this matter too seriously. In the first place there will be no accusation made on my part.
N ora:不,当然不是;我确信这一点。
Nora: No, of course not; I was sure of that.
K rogstad:整个事情可以友好地安排;没有理由让任何人知道这件事。这只会是我们三个人之间的秘密。
Krogstad: The whole thing can be arranged amicably; there is no reason why anyone should know anything about it. It will remain a secret between us three.
N ora:我丈夫绝不能知道这件事。
Nora: My husband must never get to know anything about it.
K rogstad:您如何才能阻止这种情况发生?我是否可以理解为您能够支付所欠余额?
Krogstad: How will you be able to prevent it? Am I to understand that you can pay the balance that is owing?
N ora:不,目前还不行。
Nora: No, not just at present.
K rogstad:或者也许您有一些尽快筹集资金的权宜之计?
Krogstad: Or perhaps that you have some expedient for raising the money soon?
N ora:我无意采用任何权宜之计。
Nora: No expedient that I mean to make use of.
K rogstad:好吧,无论如何,现在这对你来说已经毫无用处了。如果你手里拿着那么多钱站在那里,我永远不会放弃你的债券。
Krogstad: Well, in any case, it would have been of no use to you now. If you stood there with ever so much money in your hand, I would never part with your bond.
N ora:告诉我你打算用它做什么。
Nora: Tell me what purpose you mean to put it to.
K rogstad:我只会保留它——把它留在我手中。与此事无关的人不得有丝毫动静。所以,如果想到这件事让你做出了任何绝望的决定——
Krogstad: I shall only preserve it — keep it in my possession. No one who is not concerned in the matter shall have the slightest hint of it. So that if the thought of it has driven you to any desperate resolution —
N ora:是的。
Nora: It has.
K rogstad:如果你真的想离家出走——
Krogstad: If you had it in your mind to run away from your home —
N ora:是的。
Nora: I had.
K rogstad:或者更糟糕的事情——
Krogstad: Or even something worse —
N ora:你怎么会知道呢?
Nora: How could you know that?
K rogstad:放弃这个想法吧。
Krogstad: Give up the idea.
N ora:你怎么知道我想到这个了?
Nora: How did you know I had thought of that?
K rogstad:我们大多数人一开始都会想到这一点。我也想到了——但我没有勇气。
Krogstad: Most of us think of that at first. I did, too — but I hadn’t the courage.
N ora(微弱地):“我没有再这样做了。”
Nora ( faintly): No more had I.
克罗格斯塔德(松了一口气):“不,是这样,不是吗——你也没有勇气?”
Krogstad (in a tone of relief ): No, that’s it, isn’t it — you hadn’t the courage either?
N ora:不,我没有——我没有。
Nora: No, I haven’t — I haven’t.
K rogstad:此外,这本来是一件非常愚蠢的事情。一旦家里的第一场暴风雨过去——。我口袋里有一封给你丈夫的信。
Krogstad: Besides, it would have been a great piece of folly. Once the first storm at home is over — . I have a letter for your husband in my pocket.
N ora:告诉他一切?
Nora: Telling him everything?
K rogstad:我会以尽可能宽容的方式处理。
Krogstad: In as lenient a manner as I possibly could.
诺拉(迅速):不能让他收到这封信。把它撕掉。我会想办法弄到钱的。
Nora (quickly): He mustn’t get the letter. Tear it up. I will find some means of getting money.
K rogstad:对不起,Helmer 夫人,但我想我刚才告诉过你——
Krogstad: Excuse me, Mrs. Helmer, but I think I told you just now —
诺拉:我不是在说我欠你多少钱。告诉我你向我丈夫要多少钱,我会拿到钱的。
Nora: I am not speaking of what I owe you. Tell me what sum you are asking my husband for, and I will get the money.
克罗格斯塔德:我没有向你丈夫要一分钱。
Krogstad: I am not asking your husband for a penny.
N ora:那么你想要什么?
Nora: What do you want, then?
克罗格斯塔:我会告诉你的。我想恢复名誉,赫尔默太太;我想出人头地;而在这方面你丈夫必须帮助我。在过去的一年半里,我没有做过任何不光彩的事,而这段时间我一直在最受限制的环境中挣扎。我满足于一步步地往上爬。现在我被赶了出去,我不会满足于仅仅再次受到宠爱。我想出人头地,我告诉你。我想再次进入银行,担任更高的职位。你的丈夫必须为我腾出一个位置——
Krogstad: I will tell you. I want to rehabilitate myself, Mrs. Helmer; I want to get on; and in that your husband must help me. For the last year and a half I have not had a hand in anything dishonourable, and all that time I have been struggling in most restricted circumstances. I was content to work my way up step by step. Now I am turned out, and I am not going to be satisfied with merely being taken into favour again. I want to get on, I tell you. I want to get into the Bank again, in a higher position. Your husband must make a place for me —
N ora:他绝不会这么做!
Nora: That he will never do!
柯罗格斯塔:他会的;我了解他;他不敢抗议。只要我再次和他在一起,你就会知道!一年之内,我将成为经理的得力助手。管理银行的人将是尼尔斯·柯罗格斯塔,而不是托尔瓦德·赫尔默。
Krogstad: He will; I know him; he dare not protest. And as soon as I am in there again with him, then you will see! Within a year I shall be the manager’s right hand. It will be Nils Krogstad and not Torvald Helmer who manages the Bank.
N ora:那是你永远看不到的东西!
Nora: That’s a thing you will never see!
K rogstad:你的意思是你会——?
Krogstad: Do you mean that you will — ?
N ora:现在我有足够的勇气去做这件事了。
Nora: I have courage enough for it now.
K rogstad:哦,你吓不倒我。像你这样娇生惯养的淑女——
Krogstad: Oh, you can’t frighten me. A fine, spoilt lady like you —
诺拉:你会看到的,你会看到的。
Nora: You will see, you will see.
K rogstad:也许在冰层下面?潜入冰冷、漆黑的水中?然后,到了春天,浮出水面,一副可怕、面目全非的样子,头发都掉光了——
Krogstad: Under the ice, perhaps? Down into the cold, coal-black water? And then, in the spring, to float up to the surface, all horrible and unrecognisable, with your hair fallen out —
诺拉:你吓不倒我。
Nora: You can’t frighten me.
克罗格斯塔:你也一样。人们不会做这样的事,赫尔默夫人。此外,那又有什么用呢?我应该可以完全控制他。
Krogstad: Nor you me. People don’t do such things, Mrs. Helmer. Besides, what use would it be? I should have him completely in my power all the same.
N ora:之后呢?当我不再——
Nora: Afterwards? When I am no longer —
柯罗格斯塔:你忘了是我在维护你的名誉吗?(诺拉站着,无言地看着他。)好了,现在我警告你了。别做傻事。海尔茂收到我的信后,我会等他的消息。你一定要记住,是你丈夫逼我再次这样做的。我永远不会原谅他。再见,海尔茂夫人。(从大厅退去。)
Krogstad: Have you forgotten that it is I who have the keeping of your reputation? (Nora stands speechlessly looking at him.) Well, now, I have warned you. Do not do anything foolish. When Helmer has had my letter, I shall expect a message from him. And be sure you remember that it is your husband himself who has forced me into such ways as this again. I will never forgive him for that. Good-bye, Mrs. Helmer. (Exit through the hall.)
诺拉(走到门厅门口,把门打开一小段,听了听):他要走了。他没有把信放进信箱。哦不,不!这不可能!(慢慢打开门。)那是什么?他站在外面。他没有下楼。他在犹豫吗?他能——?(一封信掉进了信箱;然后传来柯洛克斯泰德的脚步声,直到他下楼时脚步声才消失。诺拉发出一声压抑的叫喊,跑过房间,来到沙发旁边的桌子旁。短暂的停顿。)
Nora (goes to the hall door, opens it slightly and listens): He is going. He is not putting the letter in the box. Oh no, no! that’s impossible! (Opens the door by degrees.) What is that? He is standing outside. He is not going downstairs. Is he hesitating? Can he — ? (A letter drops into the box; then Krogstad’s footsteps are heard, till they die away as he goes downstairs. Nora utters a stifled cry, and runs across the room to the table by the sofa. A short pause.)
诺拉:在信箱里。(偷偷走到门厅门口。)它就在那里——托尔瓦德,托尔瓦德,现在我们没有希望了!
Nora: In the letter-box. (Steals across to the hall door.) There it lies — Torvald, Torvald, there is no hope for us now!
(林德夫人从左边的房间走进来,手里拿着裙子。)
(Mrs. Linde comes in from the room on the left, carrying the dress.)
林德夫人:好了,我看不出还有什么需要修补的了。你想试穿一下吗——?
Mrs. Linde: There, I can’t see anything more to mend now. Would you like to try it on — ?
诺拉(嘶哑地低语):“克里斯汀,过来。”
Nora (in a hoarse whisper): Christine, come here.
林德太太(把衣服扔到沙发上):你怎么了?看上去你很焦躁啊!
Mrs. Linde (throwing the dress down on the sofa): What is the matter with you? You look so agitated!
诺拉:过来。你看到那封信了吗?看那儿——你可以透过信箱里的玻璃看到它。
Nora: Come here. Do you see that letter? There, look — you can see it through the glass in the letter-box.
林德女士:是的,我明白了。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, I see it.
N ora:那封信是柯罗格斯塔德寄来的。
Nora: That letter is from Krogstad.
林德夫人:诺拉——是柯洛克斯塔德借给你钱的!
Mrs. Linde: Nora — it was Krogstad who lent you the money!
N ora:是的,现在托瓦德就会知道这一切了。
Nora: Yes, and now Torvald will know all about it.
林德夫人:相信我,诺拉,这对你们俩来说都是最好的。
Mrs. Linde: Believe me, Nora, that’s the best thing for both of you.
诺拉:你并不全知。我伪造了一个名字。
Nora: You don’t know all. I forged a name.
林德夫人:天啊—— !
Mrs. Linde: Good heavens — !
N ora:我只想对你说这句话,克里斯汀——你必须是我的见证人。
Nora: I only want to say this to you, Christine — you must be my witness.
林德女士:你的证人?你是什么意思?我要做什么——?
Mrs. Linde: Your witness? What do you mean? What am I to — ?
诺拉:如果我发疯了——这很容易发生——
Nora: If I should go out of my mind — and it might easily happen —
林德夫人:诺拉!
Mrs. Linde: Nora!
诺拉:或者如果我发生其他事情——比如,任何可能阻止我在这里的事情——
Nora: Or if anything else should happen to me — anything, for instance, that might prevent my being here —
林德夫人:诺拉!诺拉!你真是疯了。
Mrs. Linde: Nora! Nora! you are quite out of your mind.
N ora:如果有人想承担所有的责任,所有的责任,你明白——
Nora: And if it should happen that there were some one who wanted to take all the responsibility, all the blame, you understand —
林德女士:是的,是的——但是您怎么能认为——?
Mrs. Linde: Yes, yes — but how can you suppose — ?
诺拉:那你就必须为我作证,那不是真的,克里斯汀。我一点都没有疯!我现在神志清醒,我告诉你,没有其他人知道这件事;我,只有我一个人,做了整件事。记住这一点。
Nora: Then you must be my witness, that it is not true, Christine. I am not out of my mind at all! I am in my right senses now, and I tell you no one else has known anything about it; I, and I alone, did the whole thing. Remember that.
林德女士:我当然会的。但我不明白这一切。
Mrs. Linde: I will, indeed. But I don’t understand all this.
N ora:该怎么理解呢?奇妙的事情要发生了!
Nora: How should you understand it? A wonderful thing is going to happen!
林德女士:一件奇妙的事?
Mrs. Linde: A wonderful thing?
诺拉:是的,真是一件奇妙的事!——但是,克里斯汀,这太可怕了;这种事绝不应该发生,无论如何都不应该。
Nora: Yes, a wonderful thing! — But it is so terrible, Christine; it mustn’t happen, not for all the world.
林德女士:我马上去见柯洛克斯泰德。
Mrs. Linde: I will go at once and see Krogstad.
诺拉:别去找他,他会伤害你。
Nora: Don’t go to him; he will do you some harm.
林德女士:曾经有一段时间,他愿意为我做任何事。
Mrs. Linde: There was a time when he would gladly do anything for my sake.
N ora:他?
Nora: He?
林德女士:他住在哪里?
Mrs. Linde: Where does he live?
诺拉:我怎么知道——?是的(摸摸口袋),这是他的名片。但是那封信,那封信——!
Nora: How should I know — ? Yes ( feeling in her pocket), here is his card. But the letter, the letter — !
赫尔墨(从他的房间喊道,敲门):诺拉!
Helmer (calls from his room, knocking at the door): Nora!
诺拉(焦急地大叫):噢,那是什么?你想要什么?
Nora (cries out anxiously): Oh, what’s that? What do you want?
赫尔默:别这么害怕。我们不进来;你锁上了门。你在试穿你的衣服吗?
Helmer: Don’t be so frightened. We are not coming in; you have locked the door. Are you trying on your dress?
Nora :是的,就是这样。我看上去真漂亮,托尔瓦德。
Nora: Yes, that’s it. I look so nice, Torvald.
林德夫人(看过卡片的人) :我看他住在这里的拐角处。
Mrs. Linde (who has read the card): I see he lives at the corner here.
诺拉:是的,但是没用。没救了。信还在盒子里呢。
Nora: Yes, but it’s no use. It is hopeless. The letter is lying there in the box.
林德女士:钥匙在您丈夫手里吗?
Mrs. Linde: And your husband keeps the key?
N ora:是的,一直如此。
Nora: Yes, always.
林德夫人:柯洛克斯塔德必须要求对方不读他的信就把他退回来,他必须找个借口——
Mrs. Linde: Krogstad must ask for his letter back unread, he must find some pretence —
N ora:但正是在这个时候,托尔瓦德通常——
Nora: But it is just at this time that Torvald generally —
林德夫人:你必须拖延他。你先进去见他。我会尽快回来。(她匆匆走出门厅。)
Mrs. Linde: You must delay him. Go in to him in the meantime. I will come back as soon as I can. (She goes out hurriedly through the hall door.)
诺拉(走到海尔茂的门前,打开门,往里偷看):“托尔瓦德!”
Nora (goes to Helmer’s door, opens it and peeps in): Torvald!
海尔茂(从内室走出来):怎么样?我终于可以回到自己的房间了?来吧,兰克,现在你会看到——(在门口停下脚步。)但这是什么?
Helmer ( from the inner room): Well? May I venture at last to come into my own room again? Come along, Rank, now you will see — (Halting in the doorway.) But what is this?
N ora:什么是什么,亲爱的?
Nora: What is what, dear?
赫尔默:等级让我期待着一次辉煌的转变。
Helmer: Rank led me to expect a splendid transformation.
兰克(在门口):我明白,但显然我错了。
Rank (in the doorway): I understood so, but evidently I was mistaken.
N ora:是的,直到明天之前,都不会有人有机会欣赏我穿这身衣服的样子。
Nora: Yes, nobody is to have the chance of admiring me in my dress until to-morrow.
海尔默:但是,亲爱的诺拉,你看上去太疲惫了。是不是练习太多了?
Helmer: But, my dear Nora, you look so worn out. Have you been practising too much?
N ora:没有,我根本就没练习过。
Nora: No, I have not practised at all.
H elmer:但你需要——
Helmer: But you will need to —
诺拉:是的,我会的,托尔瓦德。但是没有你的帮助,我一点也坚持不下去;我已经完全忘记了整件事。
Nora: Yes, indeed I shall, Torvald. But I can’t get on a bit without you to help me; I have absolutely forgotten the whole thing.
赫尔默:噢,我们很快就会重新开始。
Helmer: Oh, we will soon work it up again.
诺拉:是的,帮帮我,托尔瓦德。答应我!我对此非常紧张——所有人——。今晚你必须完全听从我。一点小事都不能做——你甚至不能拿笔。你能答应我吗,亲爱的托尔瓦德?
Nora: Yes, help me, Torvald. Promise that you will! I am so nervous about it — all the people — . You must give yourself up to me entirely this evening. Not the tiniest bit of business — you mustn’t even take a pen in your hand. Will you promise, Torvald dear?
海尔默:我保证。今晚我将全心全意地为您服务,你这个无助的小凡人。啊,顺便说一句,首先我要——(走向大厅门口。)
Helmer: I promise. This evening I will be wholly and absolutely at your service, you helpless little mortal. Ah, by the way, first of all I will just — (Goes towards the hall door.)
N ora:你准备去那儿做什么?
Nora: What are you going to do there?
海尔默:只要看看有没有收到信件就行了。
Helmer: Only see if any letters have come.
N ora:不,不!不要这样,托尔瓦德!
Nora: No, no! don’t do that, Torvald!
赫尔默:为什么不呢?
Helmer: Why not?
Nora :托瓦德,请不要这样。那里什么也没有。
Nora: Torvald, please don’t. There is nothing there.
海尔茂:好吧,让我看看。(转身走向信箱。诺拉在钢琴旁弹奏塔兰泰拉舞曲的前几个小节。海尔茂在门口停下。)啊哈!
Helmer: Well, let me look. (Turns to go to the letter-box. Nora, at the piano, plays the first bars of the Tarantella. Helmer stops in the doorway.) Aha!
N ora:如果我不和你练习,明天我就不能跳舞了。
Nora: I can’t dance to-morrow if I don’t practise with you.
海尔茂(走到她身边): “亲爱的,你真的这么害怕吗?”
Helmer (going up to her): Are you really so afraid of it, dear?
诺拉:是的,非常害怕。让我马上练习一下;现在有时间,在我们去吃饭之前。坐下来为我弹奏,亲爱的托尔瓦德;一边弹奏一边批评我,纠正我。
Nora: Yes, so dreadfully afraid of it. Let me practise at once; there is time now, before we go to dinner. Sit down and play for me, Torvald dear; criticise me, and correct me as you play.
赫尔墨:如果您愿意的话,我非常乐意。(在钢琴前坐下。)
Helmer: With great pleasure, if you wish me to. (Sits down at the piano.)
诺拉(从盒子里拿出一个铃鼓和一条长长的杂色披肩。她匆忙地把披肩披在身上。然后她跳到舞台前面,大声喊道):现在为我演奏!我要跳舞了!
Nora (takes out of the box a tambourine and a long variegated shawl. She hastily drapes the shawl round her. Then she springs to the front of the stage and calls out): Now play for me! I am going to dance!
(海尔茂弹琴,诺拉跳舞。兰克站在海尔茂身后的钢琴旁观看。)
(Helmer plays and Nora dances. Rank stands by the piano behind Helmer, and looks on.)
赫尔默(演奏时):慢一点,慢一点!
Helmer (as he plays): Slower, slower!
N ora:我没有其他办法。
Nora: I can’t do it any other way.
海尔茂:诺拉,别这么暴力!
Helmer: Not so violently, Nora!
N ora:就是这样。
Nora: This is the way.
赫尔默(停止演奏):不,不——一点也不对。
Helmer (stops playing): No, no — that is not a bit right.
诺拉(笑着摇动着手鼓): “我不是告诉过你吗?”
Nora (laughing and swinging the tambourine): Didn’t I tell you so?
Rank :让我为她演奏。
Rank: Let me play for her.
赫尔墨(站起身):是的,听我说。这样我就能更好地纠正她了。
Helmer (getting up): Yes, do. I can correct her better then.
(兰克坐在钢琴前弹奏。娜拉跳得越来越狂野。海尔茂在火炉旁站好,在娜拉跳舞时不断给她指示。娜拉似乎没有听见他的话,她的头发垂下来,落在肩上,但她毫不在意,继续跳舞。林德太太上场。)
(Rank sits down at the piano and plays. Nora dances more and more wildly. Helmer has taken up a position beside the stove, and during her dance gives her frequent instructions. She does not seem to hear him; her hair comes down and falls over her shoulders; she pays no attention to it, but goes on dancing. Enter Mrs. Linde.)
林德太太(站在门口,像着了魔似的):哦!——
Mrs. Linde (standing as if spell-bound in the doorway): Oh! —
诺拉(一边跳舞一边说):真有趣,克里斯汀!
Nora (as she dances): Such fun, Christine!
海尔茂:我亲爱的诺拉,你正在跳舞,就好像你的生命取决于它一样。
Helmer: My dear darling Nora, you are dancing as if your life depended on it.
N ora:确实如此。
Nora: So it does.
海尔茂:停下来,兰克,这简直是疯了。停下来,我告诉你!(兰克停止演奏,诺拉突然站住了。海尔茂走到她身边。)我简直不敢相信。你已经忘记了我教给你的一切。
Helmer: Stop, Rank; this is sheer madness. Stop, I tell you! (Rank stops playing, and Nora suddenly stands still. Helmer goes up to her.) I could never have believed it. You have forgotten everything I taught you.
诺拉(扔掉手鼓):瞧,就是这样。
Nora (throwing away the tambourine): There, you see.
赫尔默:你会需要很多指导。
Helmer: You will want a lot of coaching.
Nora :是的,你知道我多么需要它。你必须指导我直到最后一刻。答应我,托尔瓦德!
Nora: Yes, you see how much I need it. You must coach me up to the last minute. Promise me that, Torvald!
赫尔默:你可以信赖我。
Helmer: You can depend on me.
诺拉:今天和明天,你除了我什么都别想;你不许拆一封信,甚至不许打开信箱。
Nora: You must not think of anything but me, either to-day or to-morrow; you mustn’t open a single letter — not even open the letter-box —
海尔默:啊,你还怕那家伙——
Helmer: Ah, you are still afraid of that fellow —
N ora:是的,确实是。
Nora: Yes, indeed I am.
海尔茂:诺拉,从你的表情我看出来,那里有一封他的信。
Helmer: Nora, I can tell from your looks that there is a letter from him lying there.
Nora :我不知道,我想是有的,但你现在不能读这种东西。在这一切结束之前,我们之间不能有任何可怕的事情发生。
Nora: I don’t know; I think there is; but you must not read anything of that kind now. Nothing horrid must come between us until this is all over.
兰克(对赫尔茂低声说):你不能反驳她。
Rank (whispers to Helmer): You mustn’t contradict her.
海尔茂(把她抱在怀里):孩子可以随心所欲。但明天晚上,你们跳完舞后——
Helmer (taking her in his arms): The child shall have her way. But to-morrow night, after you have danced —
诺拉:那你就自由了。(女仆出现在右边的门口。)
Nora: Then you will be free. (The Maid appears in the doorway to the right.)
女仆:女士,晚餐已准备好了。
Maid: Dinner is served, ma’am.
诺拉:我们要喝香槟,海伦。
Nora: We will have champagne, Helen.
女仆:非常好,女士。(退出。)
Maid: Very good, ma’am.(Exit.)
赫尔默:你好!我们要举行宴会吗?
Helmer: Hullo! — are we going to have a banquet?
N ora:是的,香槟宴会一直持续到凌晨。(大声喊道。)还有一些杏仁饼,海伦——很多,就这一次!
Nora: Yes, a champagne banquet until the small hours. (Calls out.) And a few macaroons, Helen — lots, just for once!
海尔茂:好了好了,别这么疯狂和紧张。像以前一样,做我的小云雀吧。
Helmer: Come, come, don’t be so wild and nervous. Be my own little skylark, as you used.
诺拉:好的,亲爱的,我会的。不过现在进去吧,你也进去吧,兰克医生。克里斯汀,你得帮我梳理一下头发。
Nora: Yes, dear, I will. But go in now and you too, Doctor Rank. Christine, you must help me to do up my hair.
兰克(走出去时对赫尔茂低声说):我想应该没什么——她没有期待什么吧?
Rank (whispers to Helmer as they go out): I suppose there is nothing — she is not expecting anything?
海尔茂:完全不是,我亲爱的朋友;这只不过是我刚才跟你说的那种孩子气的紧张情绪罢了。(他们走进右边的房间。)
Helmer: Far from it, my dear fellow; it is simply nothing more than this childish nervousness I was telling you of. (They go into the right-hand room.)
N ora:好吧!
Nora: Well!
林德夫人:出城了。
Mrs. Linde: Gone out of town.
N ora:我从你的脸上就看出来。
Nora: I could tell from your face.
林德夫人:他明天晚上回家。我给他写了一张便条。
Mrs. Linde: He is coming home to-morrow evening. I wrote a note for him.
N ora:你应该顺其自然,你不应该阻止任何事情。毕竟,等待一件美妙的事情发生是一件很美妙的事情。
Nora: You should have let it alone; you must prevent nothing. After all, it is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen.
林德女士:您还在等什么?
Mrs. Linde: What is it that you are waiting for?
诺拉:噢,你不会明白的。你去他们那儿,我一会儿就来。(林德太太走进餐厅。诺拉静静地站了一会儿,好像要让自己平静下来。然后她看了看手表。)五点。到午夜还有七个小时;然后到下一个午夜还有二十四小时。然后塔兰泰拉舞就结束了。二十四七?还有三十一小时可以活。
Nora: Oh, you wouldn’t understand. Go in to them, I will come in a moment. (Mrs. Linde goes into the dining-room. Nora stands still for a little while, as if to compose herself. Then she looks at her watch.) Five o’clock. Seven hours until midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours until the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven? Thirty-one hours to live.
赫尔墨(从右边的门口走来):“我的小云雀在哪儿?”
Helmer ( from the doorway on the right): Where’s my little skylark?
诺拉(张开双臂走向他): “她在这里!”
Nora (going to him with her arms outstretched): Here she is!
同一场景:桌子被摆放在舞台中央,周围摆放着椅子。桌子上点着一盏灯。通向大厅的门开着。楼上房间里传来舞曲的声音。林德夫人坐在桌边,悠闲地翻阅着一本书;她试着阅读,但似乎无法集中注意力。她不时地专心听着外门的动静。
The Same Scene: The table has been placed in the middle of the stage, with chairs round it. A lamp is burning on the table. The door into the hall stands open. Dance music is heard in the room above. Mrs. Linde is sitting at the table idly turning over the leaves of a book; she tries to read, but does not seem able to collect her thoughts. Every now and then she listens intently for a sound at the outer door.
林德太太(看了看手表):还没——时间快到了。要是他不——就好了。(又听了听。)啊,他来了。(走进大厅,小心翼翼地打开外门。楼梯上传来轻柔的脚步声。她低声说。)进来吧。这里没人。
Mrs. Linde (looking at her watch): Not yet — and the time is nearly up. If only he does not — . (Listens again.) Ah, there he is. (Goes into the hall and opens the outer door carefully. Light footsteps are heard on the stairs. She whispers.) Come in. There is no one here.
克罗格斯塔德(在门口):我在家里发现了你的一张纸条。这是什么意思?
Krogstad (in the doorway): I found a note from you at home. What does this mean?
林德女士:我绝对有必要和您谈谈。
Mrs. Linde: It is absolutely necessary that I should have a talk with you.
K rogstad:真的吗?它一定有必要放在这里吗?
Krogstad: Really? And is it absolutely necessary that it should be here?
林德夫人:我住的地方不可能有这种事,我的房间没有私人入口。请进,我们这里很孤单。女仆睡着了,赫尔默斯一家在楼上跳舞。
Mrs. Linde: It is impossible where I live; there is no private entrance to my rooms. Come in; we are quite alone. The maid is asleep, and the Helmers are at the dance upstairs.
柯罗格斯塔(走进房间): “海尔默斯一家今晚真的要参加舞会吗?”
Krogstad (coming into the room): Are the Helmers really at a dance to-night?
林德女士:是的,为什么不呢?
Mrs. Linde: Yes, why not?
K rogstad:当然——为什么不呢?
Krogstad: Certainly — why not?
林德夫人:现在,尼尔斯,我们来谈谈吧。
Mrs. Linde: Now, Nils, let us have a talk.
K rogstad:我们俩能聊点什么吗?
Krogstad: Can we two have anything to talk about?
林德女士:我们有很多事情要谈。
Mrs. Linde: We have a great deal to talk about.
克罗格斯塔德:我不该这么想。
Krogstad: I shouldn’t have thought so.
林德女士:不,你从来没有真正理解过我。
Mrs. Linde: No, you have never properly understood me.
K rogstad:除了所有人都清楚的事实——当一个更有利可图的机会出现时,一个无情的女人抛弃了一个男人——之外,还有什么需要理解的吗?
Krogstad: Was there anything else to understand except what was obvious to all the world — a heartless woman jilts a man when a more lucrative chance turns up?
林德夫人:你相信我如此冷酷无情吗?你相信我做这些事是出于无心之失吗?
Mrs. Linde: Do you believe I am as absolutely heartless as all that? And do you believe that I did it with a light heart?
克罗格斯塔德:不是吗?
Krogstad: Didn’t you?
林德女士:尼尔斯,你真的这么想吗?
Mrs. Linde: Nils, did you really think that?
K rogstad:如果真如你所说,那你当时为什么给我写信呢?
Krogstad: If it were as you say, why did you write to me as you did at the time?
林德夫人:我别无选择。既然我不得不和你分手,我也有责任结束你对我的一切感情。
Mrs. Linde: I could do nothing else. As I had to break with you, it was my duty also to put an end to all that you felt for me.
克罗格斯塔德(绞着手):原来如此。所有这一切——都是为了钱!
Krogstad (wringing his hands): So that was it. And all this — only for the sake of money!
林德夫人:你一定不要忘记,我有一个无助的母亲和两个弟弟。我们等不及你了,尼尔斯;那时你的前途似乎一片渺茫。
Mrs. Linde: You must not forget that I had a helpless mother and two little brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Nils; your prospects seemed hopeless then.
柯罗格斯塔德:也许是这样,但你无权为了别人而抛弃我。
Krogstad: That may be so, but you had no right to throw me over for anyone else’s sake.
林德女士:我确实不知道。我曾多次问自己是否有权这样做。
Mrs. Linde: Indeed I don’t know. Many a time did I ask myself if I had the right to do it.
克罗格斯塔德(语气更温和):当我失去你时,我感觉好像脚下的所有坚实地面都消失了。看看现在的我——我是一个遇难的人,紧紧抓住一片残骸。
Krogstad (more gently): When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet. Look at me now — I am a shipwrecked man clinging to a bit of wreckage.
林德女士:但援助可能就在附近。
Mrs. Linde: But help may be near.
K rogstad:它已经很近了;但是你就出现了,挡住了我的路。
Krogstad: It was near; but then you came and stood in my way.
林德夫人:无意的,尼尔斯。直到今天我才知道我要接替你在银行的职位。
Mrs. Linde: Unintentionally, Nils. It was only to-day that I learned it was your place I was going to take in the Bank.
K rogstad:如果你这么说,我相信你。但现在你知道了,你还不打算把它交给我吗?
Krogstad: I believe you, if you say so. But now that you know it, are you not going to give it up to me?
林德女士:不,因为那对你没有丝毫好处。
Mrs. Linde: No, because that would not benefit you in the least.
K rogstad:哦,好处,好处——不管有没有我都会这么做。
Krogstad: Oh, benefit, benefit — I would have done it whether or no.
林德夫人:我已经学会了谨慎行事。生活和艰苦的生存环境教会了我这一点。
Mrs. Linde: I have learned to act prudently. Life, and hard, bitter necessity have taught me that.
克罗格斯塔德:生活教会了我不要相信华丽的演说。
Krogstad: And life has taught me not to believe in fine speeches.
林德女士:那么生活已经教会了你一些非常合理的东西。但你必须相信行动吗?
Mrs. Linde: Then life has taught you something very reasonable. But deeds you must believe in?
K rogstad:你这话是什么意思?
Krogstad: What do you mean by that?
林德女士:您说您就像一位遇难者,紧紧抓住一艘船的残骸不放。
Mrs. Linde: You said you were like a shipwrecked man clinging to some wreckage.
柯罗格斯塔德:我有充分的理由这么说。
Krogstad: I had good reason to say so.
林德女士:好吧,我就像一个遇难的女人,紧紧抓住一艘船的残骸——没有人为我哀悼,没有人关心。
Mrs. Linde: Well, I am like a shipwrecked woman clinging to some wreckage — no one to mourn for, no one to care for.
柯罗格斯塔德:这是你自己的选择。
Krogstad: It was your own choice.
林德女士:那么,没有别的选择。
Mrs. Linde: There was no other choice — then.
K rogstad:那么现在怎么办?
Krogstad: Well, what now?
林德夫人尼尔斯,如果我们两个遭遇海难的人能够联手会怎么样?
Mrs. Linde: Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?
克罗格斯塔德:你说什么?
Krogstad: What are you saying?
林德女士:两个人在同一块残骸上,比一个人单独行动有更好的机会。
Mrs. Linde: Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
K rogstad:克里斯汀!
Krogstad: Christine!
林德夫人:你认为是什么风把我吹到城里来的?
Mrs. Linde: What do you suppose brought me to town?
K rogstad:你的意思是你给了我一个想法?
Krogstad: Do you mean that you gave me a thought?
林德夫人:没有工作,我无法忍受生活。从我记事起,我一生都在工作,这是我最大的也是唯一的乐趣。但现在我在这个世界上孤身一人——我的生活如此空虚,我感到如此孤独。为自己工作没有丝毫乐趣。尼尔斯,给我一个人和一些东西让我为之工作吧。
Mrs. Linde: I could not endure life without work. All my life, as long as I can remember, I have worked, and it has been my greatest and only pleasure. But now I am quite alone in the world — my life is so dreadfully empty and I feel so forsaken. There is not the least pleasure in working for one’s self. Nils, give me someone and something to work for.
克罗格斯塔:我不相信。你这样做,完全是因为女人的慷慨大方。
Krogstad: I don’t trust that. It is nothing but a woman’s overstrained sense of generosity that prompts you to make such an offer of yourself.
林德女士:您有没有注意到我身上有这样的情况?
Mrs. Linde: Have you ever noticed anything of the sort in me?
克罗格斯塔:你真的能做到吗?告诉我——你知道我过去的一切吗?
Krogstad: Could you really do it? Tell me — do you know all about my past life?
林德女士:是的。
Mrs. Linde: Yes.
K rogstad:你知道他们是怎么看待我的吗?
Krogstad: And do you know what they think of me here?
林德夫人:在我看来,你的意思是跟我在一起你可能会变成另外一个人。
Mrs. Linde: You seemed to me to imply that with me you might have been quite another man.
克罗格斯塔德:我确信如此。
Krogstad: I am certain of it.
林德女士:现在是不是太晚了?
Mrs. Linde: Is it too late now?
K rogstad:克里斯汀,你是故意这么说的吗?是的,我确信你是故意这么说的。我从你的脸上看出来了。那么,你真的有勇气吗——?
Krogstad: Christine, are you saying this deliberately? Yes, I am sure you are. I see it in your face. Have you really the courage, then — ?
林德夫人:我想成为某人的母亲,而你的孩子也需要母亲。我们两个彼此需要。尼尔斯,我相信你的真实性格——我可以和你一起做任何事情。
Mrs. Linde: I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character — I can dare anything together with you.
克罗格斯塔德(握住她的手):谢谢,谢谢,克里斯汀!现在我要找到一种方法来洗清自己在世人眼中的罪名。啊,但我忘了——
Krogstad (grasps her hands): Thanks, thanks, Christine! Now I shall find a way to clear myself in the eyes of the world. Ah, but I forgot —
林德夫人(倾听):嘘!塔兰泰拉舞!快跳,快跳!
Mrs. Linde (listening): Hush! The Tarantella! Go, go!
K rogstad:为什么?是什么原因?
Krogstad: Why? What is it?
林德女士:你听到他们在那里吗?等那件事结束后,我们就可以等他们回来了。
Mrs. Linde: Do you hear them up there? When that is over, we may expect them back.
克罗格斯塔:是的,是的——我会去的。但这一切都没有用。当然,你不知道我在赫尔默斯事件上采取了什么措施。
Krogstad: Yes, yes — I will go. But it is all no use. Of course you are not aware what steps I have taken in the matter of the Helmers.
林德女士:是的,我全都知道。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, I know all about that.
K rogstad:那么尽管如此,您还有勇气——?
Krogstad: And in spite of that have you the courage to — ?
林德女士:我非常理解像你这样的人可能会因为绝望而陷入怎样的境地。
Mrs. Linde: I understand very well to what lengths a man like you might be driven by despair.
K rogstad:如果我能撤销我所做过的事就好了!
Krogstad: If I could only undo what I have done!
林德女士:不可以。你的信现在还在信箱里。
Mrs. Linde: You cannot. Your letter is lying in the letter-box now.
K rogstad:你确定吗?
Krogstad: Are you sure of that?
林德女士:非常确定,但是——
Mrs. Linde: Quite sure, but —
克罗格斯塔德(用探究的目光看着她):这就是一切的意义吗?——你想不惜一切代价去救你的朋友?坦白地告诉我。是吗?
Krogstad (with a searching look at her): Is that what it all means? — that you want to save your friend at any cost? Tell me frankly. Is that it?
林德夫人:尼尔斯,一个曾经为他人出卖过自己的女人,不会再做第二次了。
Mrs. Linde: Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another’s sake, doesn’t do it a second time.
K rogstad:我会要求回复我的信。
Krogstad: I will ask for my letter back.
林德女士:不,不。
Mrs. Linde: No, no.
克罗格斯塔:是的,我当然会的。我会在这里等到海尔默回来;我会告诉他必须把我的信还给我——这封信只与我被解雇有关——他不能读这封信——
Krogstad: Yes, of course I will. I will wait here until Helmer comes; I will tell him he must give me my letter back — that it only concerns my dismissal — that he is not to read it —
林德夫人:不,尼尔斯,你不能撤回你的信。
Mrs. Linde: No, Nils, you must not recall your letter.
柯罗格斯塔德:但是,告诉我,你叫我来这里见你不就是为了这个目的吗?
Krogstad: But, tell me, wasn’t it for that very purpose that you asked me to meet you here?
林德夫人:我刚开始害怕的时候,确实如此。但从那时起已经过去了二十四小时,在这段时间里,我目睹了这所房子里发生的令人难以置信的事情。海尔默一定知道这一切。这个不幸的秘密必须被揭露;他们之间必须完全理解,但在所有这些隐瞒和谎言的情况下,这是不可能的。
Mrs. Linde: In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret must be disclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.
克罗格斯塔:很好,只要你愿意承担责任。但无论如何,有一件事我可以做,而且我会立即做。
Krogstad: Very well, if you will take the responsibility. But there is one thing I can do in any case, and I shall do it at once.
林德夫人(倾听) :你必须快点走!舞会结束了;我们一刻也不安全了。
Mrs. Linde (listening): You must be quick and go! The dance is over; we are not safe a moment longer.
K rogstad:我会在下面等你。
Krogstad: I will wait for you below.
林德夫人:是的,请送我回去。你必须送我回门口。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, do. You must see me back to my door.
K rogstad:我这辈子从来没有遇到过如此惊人的好运!(从外门出去。房间与大厅之间的门仍然开着。)
Krogstad: I have never had such an amazing piece of good fortune in my life! (Goes out through the outer door. The door between the room and the hall remains open.)
林德太太(收拾房间,准备好帽子和斗篷):真是天壤之别!真是天壤之别!有个人可以为其工作、为其生活——一个可以带来舒适生活的家。这我一定会做到的。但愿他们快点来——(倾听。)啊,他们来了。我得穿衣服了。(拿起帽子和斗篷。外面传来海尔茂和娜拉的声音;钥匙转动,海尔茂几乎是强行把娜拉带进门厅。娜拉穿着意大利服装,披着一条大黑披肩;他穿着晚礼服,黑色多米诺骨牌敞开着。)
Mrs. Linde (tidying up the room and laying her hat and cloak ready): What a difference! what a difference! Some-one to work for and live for — a home to bring comfort into. That I will do, indeed. I wish they would be quick and come — (Listens.) Ah, there they are now. I must put on my things. (Takes up her hat and cloak. Helmer’s and Nora’s voices are heard outside; a key is turned, and Helmer brings Nora almost by force into the hall. She is in an Italian costume with a large black shawl around her; he is in evening dress, and a black domino which is flying open.)
诺拉(站在门口,和他争吵):“不,不,不!别让我进去。我还想上楼,我不想这么早就走。”
Nora (hanging back in the doorway, and struggling with him): No, no, no! — don’t take me in. I want to go upstairs again; I don’t want to leave so early.
海尔茂:但是,我最亲爱的诺拉——
Helmer: But, my dearest Nora —
N ora:托尔瓦德,亲爱的,求求你,再等一个小时就好。
Nora: Please, Torvald dear — please, please — only an hour more.
海尔默:一分钟也不行,我亲爱的诺拉。你知道那是我们的约定。快进屋来,你站在那里会着凉的。(他轻轻地把她带进屋里,尽管她很抗拒。)
Helmer: Not a single minute, my sweet Nora. You know that was our agreement. Come along into the room; you are catching cold standing there. (He brings her gently into the room, in spite of her resistance.)
林德女士:晚上好。
Mrs. Linde: Good-evening.
N ora:克里斯汀!
Nora: Christine!
赫尔默:林德夫人,您这么晚还来吗?
Helmer: You here, so late, Mrs. Linde?
林德夫人:是的,请您原谅;我太想看看诺拉穿上礼服的样子了。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, you must excuse me; I was so anxious to see Nora in her dress.
N ora:你一直坐在这里等我吗?
Nora: Have you been sitting here waiting for me?
林德夫人:是的,可惜我来得太晚了,你已经上楼了;我想我不能再走,因为我还没见到你。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, unfortunately I came too late, you had already gone upstairs; and I thought I couldn’t go away again without having seen you.
海尔茂(脱掉诺拉的披肩):是的,好好看看她。我觉得她值得一看。她很迷人,不是吗,林德夫人?
Helmer (taking off Nora’s shawl): Yes, take a good look at her. I think she is worth looking at. Isn’t she charming, Mrs. Linde?
林德女士:是的,确实是。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, indeed she is.
海尔默:她看起来是不是非常漂亮?舞会上每个人都这么认为。但是这个可爱的小家伙非常任性。我们该怎么对待她?你几乎不会相信我差点就强行把她带走了。
Helmer: Doesn’t she look remarkably pretty? Everyone thought so at the dance. But she is terribly self-willed, this sweet little person. What are we to do with her? You will hardly believe that I had almost to bring her away by force.
N ora:托瓦德,你会后悔不让我留下来的,哪怕只有半个小时。
Nora: Torvald, you will repent not having let me stay, even if it were only for half an hour.
海尔默:听她说,林德太太!她跳了塔兰泰拉舞,大获成功,这是她应得的——虽然表演可能有点过于逼真——我的意思是,有点过于逼真,超出了艺术的极限。不过别在意这些!最重要的是,她获得了成功——她获得了巨大的成功。你认为我还会让她在那儿呆着,破坏效果吗?不,真的!我挽着我那迷人的小卡普里岛姑娘——应该说,我那任性的小卡普里岛姑娘——在房间里快速转了一圈,向两边行了个屈膝礼,然后,就像小说里说的,美丽的幽灵消失了。退出总是有效的,林德太太;但我没能让诺拉明白这一点。呸!这房间好热。(把多米诺骨牌扔到椅子上,打开房门。)嗨!这里一片漆黑。噢,当然了——抱歉——。(他走进去,点上了几根蜡烛。)
Helmer: Listen to her, Mrs. Linde! She had danced her Tarantella, and it had been a tremendous success, as it deserved — although possibly the performance was a trifle too realistic — a little more so, I mean, than was strictly compatible with the limitations of art. But never mind about that! The chief thing is, she had made a success — she had made a tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little Capri maiden — my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say — on my arm; took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and, as they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared. An exit ought always to be effective, Mrs. Linde; but that is what I cannot make Nora understand. Pooh! this room is hot. (Throws his domino on a chair, and opens the door of his room.) Hullo! it’s all dark in here. Oh, of course — excuse me — . (He goes in, and lights some candles.)
诺拉(急促而气喘吁吁地低语):“怎么样?”
Nora (in a hurried and breathless whisper): Well?
林德夫人(低声): “我和他谈过了。”
Mrs. Linde (in a low voice): I have had a talk with him.
Nora :是的,而且——
Nora: Yes, and —
林德夫人:诺拉,你必须把这件事告诉你丈夫。
Mrs. Linde: Nora, you must tell your husband all about it.
诺拉(面无表情地) :我就知道。
Nora (in an expressionless voice): I knew it.
林德夫人:就柯洛克斯泰德而言,你没什么可害怕的;但你必须告诉他。
Mrs. Linde: You have nothing to be afraid of as far as Krogstad is concerned; but you must tell him.
诺拉:我不会告诉他的。
Nora: I won’t tell him.
林德女士:那么这封信就好了。
Mrs. Linde: Then the letter will.
N ora:谢谢你,克里斯汀。现在我知道我该做什么了。嘘——!
Nora: Thank you, Christine. Now I know what I must do. Hush — !
赫尔默(再次进来) :那么,林德夫人,您钦佩她吗?
Helmer (coming in again): Well, Mrs. Linde, have you admired her?
林德女士:是的,现在我要说晚安了。
Mrs. Linde: Yes, and now I will say good-night.
海尔默:怎么,已经这样了?这件针织品是你的吗?
Helmer: What, already? Is this yours, this knitting?
林德女士(接过): “是的,谢谢您,我差点就忘了。”
Mrs. Linde (taking it): Yes, thank you, I had very nearly forgotten it.
赫尔默:那么你会编织吗?
Helmer: So you knit?
林德女士:当然了。
Mrs. Linde: Of course.
赫尔墨:你知道吗,你应该去刺绣。
Helmer: Do you know, you ought to embroider.
林德女士:真的吗?为什么?
Mrs. Linde: Really? Why?
赫尔默:是的,这样更合适。让我给你演示一下。你用左手拿着刺绣,用右手用针——就像这样——轻轻地长扫。你看到了吗?
Helmer: Yes, it’s far more becoming. Let me show you. You hold the embroidery thus in your left hand, and use the needle with the right — like this — with a long, easy sweep. Do you see?
林德女士:是的,也许——
Mrs. Linde: Yes, perhaps —
赫尔默:但就编织而言——编织绝对不优雅;你看这里——手臂并拢,编织针上下移动——有一种中国风——他们给我们的香槟真是太棒了。
Helmer: But in the case of knitting — that can never be anything but ungraceful; look here — the arms close together, the knitting-needles going up and down — it has a sort of Chinese effect — . That was really excellent champagne they gave us.
林德夫人:好吧,——晚安,诺拉,别再任性了。
Mrs. Linde: Well, — good-night, Nora, and don’t be self-willed any more.
赫尔默:没错,林德夫人。
Helmer: That’s right, Mrs. Linde.
林德夫人:晚安,赫尔默先生。
Mrs. Linde: Good-night, Mr. Helmer.
海尔茂(送她到门口):晚安,晚安。希望你能平安到家。我非常高兴——不过你不用走太远。晚安,晚安。(她走出去;他关上门,又进来。 )啊! ——我们终于摆脱了她。那女人真是令人厌烦。
Helmer (accompanying her to the door): Good-night, good-night. I hope you will get home all right. I should be very happy to — but you haven’t any great distance to go. Good-night, good-night. (She goes out; he shuts the door after her, and comes in again.) Ah! — at last we have got rid of her. She is a frightful bore, that woman.
N ora:托瓦德,你不累吗?
Nora: Aren’t you very tired, Torvald?
赫尔默:不,一点也没有。
Helmer: No, not in the least.
N ora:也不困吗?
Nora: Nor sleepy?
赫尔默:一点也不。相反,我感觉精神特别充沛。你呢?——你看起来确实又累又困。
Helmer: Not a bit. On the contrary, I feel extraordinarily lively. And you? — you really look both tired and sleepy.
Nora :是的,我很累。我想马上去睡觉。
Nora: Yes, I am very tired. I want to go to sleep at once.
海尔默:好了,你看,我不让你继续呆在那里是完全正确的。
Helmer: There, you see it was quite right of me not to let you stay there any longer.
N ora:你做的一切都很正确,托瓦德。
Nora: Everything you do is quite right, Torvald.
海尔茂(亲吻她的额头):现在我的小云雀说话很通情达理了。你有没有注意到兰克今晚的心情多好?
Helmer (kissing her on the forehead): Now my little skylark is speaking reasonably. Did you notice what good spirits Rank was in this evening?
N ora:真的吗?是吗?我根本没跟他说过话。
Nora: Really? Was he? I didn’t speak to him at all.
海尔茂:我很少见到他,但我很久没有看到他这么好的样子了。(看了她一会儿,然后走近她。)我们又能独自在家,和你独处,真是太开心了——你这个迷人、迷人的小宝贝!
Helmer: And I very little, but I have not for a long time seen him in such good form. (Looks for a while at her and then goes nearer to her.) It is delightful to be at home by ourselves again, to be all alone with you — you fascinating, charming little darling!
诺拉:别用那样的眼神看着我,托瓦德。
Nora: Don’t look at me like that, Torvald.
赫尔墨斯:为什么我不应该看看我最珍贵的宝贝?——看看那些属于我、只属于我自己的美好事物?
Helmer: Why shouldn’t I look at my dearest treasure? — at all the beauty that is mine, all my very own?
诺拉(走到桌子另一边):你今晚不许对我说这样的话。
Nora (going to the other side of the table): You mustn’t say things like that to me to-night.
海尔茂(跟着她):我看得出,你身上仍然流淌着塔兰泰拉舞的血液。它让你比以前更加迷人。听着——客人们已经开始离开了。(低声说。 )诺拉——很快整个房子就会安静下来。
Helmer ( following her): You have still got the Tarantella in your blood, I see. And it makes you more captivating than ever. Listen — the guests are beginning to go now. (In a lower voice.) Nora — soon the whole house will be quiet.
N ora:是的,我希望如此。
Nora: Yes, I hope so.
海尔默:是的,我亲爱的诺拉。你知道吗,当我和你一起参加这样的聚会时,我为什么很少和你说话,远离你,只是偶尔偷偷地朝你瞥一眼?——你知道我为什么这么做吗?因为我相信我们暗暗相爱,你是我暗中许配的新娘,没有人怀疑我们之间有什么关系。
Helmer: Yes, my own darling Nora. Do you know, when I am out at a party with you like this, why I speak so little to you, keep away from you, and only send a stolen glance in your direction now and then? — do you know why I do that? It is because I make believe to myself that we are secretly in love, and you are my secretly promised bride, and that no one suspects there is anything between us.
N ora:是的,是的——我很清楚你一直都在想着我。
Nora: Yes, yes — I know very well your thoughts are with me all the time.
海尔茂:当我们离开时,我把披肩披在你年轻美丽的肩膀上——披在你可爱的脖子上——然后我想象你是我年轻的新娘,我们刚从婚礼上回来,我第一次把你带进我们家——第一次和你独处——和我害羞的小宝贝独处!整个晚上我只想着你。当我看到塔兰泰拉舞的诱人身影时,我的血液在燃烧;我再也忍受不了了,这就是为什么我这么早就把你带下来——
Helmer: And when we are leaving, and I am putting the shawl over your beautiful young shoulders — on your lovely neck — then I imagine that you are my young bride and that we have just come from the wedding, and I am bringing you for the first time into our home — to be alone with you for the first time — quite alone with my shy little darling! All this evening I have longed for nothing but you. When I watched the seductive figures of the Tarantella, my blood was on fire; I could endure it no longer, and that was why I brought you down so early —
诺拉:走开,托尔瓦德!你必须放我走。我不会——
Nora: Go away, Torvald! You must let me go. I won’t —
赫尔默:什么?你在开玩笑,我的小诺拉!你不会——你不会吧?我不是你的丈夫吗——?(外面传来一阵敲门声。)
Helmer: What’s that? You’re joking, my little Nora! You won’t — you won’t? Am I not your husband — ? (A knock is heard at the outer door.)
诺拉(开始):你听说了吗——?
Nora (starting): Did you hear — ?
赫尔墨(走进大厅) :是谁?
Helmer (going into the hall): Who is it?
Rank (外面):是我。我可以进来一下吗?
Rank (outside): It is I. May I come in for a moment?
海尔茂(焦躁地低声说):噢,他现在想干什么?(大声说)等一下!(打开门)来吧,你真好心,不要从我们家门口经过。
Helmer (in a fretful whisper): Oh, what does he want now? (Aloud.) Wait a minute! (Unlocks the door.) Come, that’s kind of you not to pass by our door.
兰克:我好像听到了你的声音,感觉好像应该进去看看。(迅速环顾四周。)啊,是的!——这些亲爱的熟悉的房间。你们俩在这里很开心,很舒适。
Rank: I thought I heard your voice, and felt as if I should like to look in. (With a swift glance round.) Ah, yes! — these dear familiar rooms. You are very happy and cosy in here, you two.
赫尔默:在我看来,你在楼上也把自己照顾得很好。
Helmer: It seems to me that you looked after yourself pretty well upstairs too.
评分:非常好。我为什么不可以?为什么一个人不能享受世上的一切?——至少,尽可能多地享受,尽可能长时间地享受。葡萄酒非常棒——
Rank: Excellently. Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t one enjoy everything in this world? — at any rate as much as one can, and as long as one can. The wine was capital —
H elmer:特别是香槟。
Helmer: Especially the champagne.
Rank :所以你也注意到了?我减掉的体重简直令人难以置信!
Rank: So you noticed that too? It is almost incredible how much I managed to put away!
N ora:托瓦德今晚也喝了很多香槟。
Nora: Torvald drank a great deal of champagne to-night too.
Rank :是吗?
Rank: Did he?
诺拉:是的,而且事后他的精神状态一直很好。
Nora: Yes, and he is always in such good spirits afterwards.
Rank :那么,在度过了充实的一天之后,为什么我们不享受一个快乐的夜晚呢?
Rank: Well, why should one not enjoy a merry evening after a well-spent day?
赫尔默:花得值?恐怕我不能承担这份荣誉。
Helmer: Well spent? I am afraid I can’t take credit for that.
兰克(拍拍他的肩膀): “但是我能,你知道!”
Rank (clapping him on the back): But I can, you know!
N ora: Rank 博士,您今天肯定在忙于一些科学研究。
Nora: Doctor Rank, you must have been occupied with some scientific investigation to-day.
Rank :确实如此。
Rank: Exactly.
赫尔默:听着!小诺拉正在谈论科学研究!
Helmer: Just listen! — little Nora talking about scientific investigations!
N ora:我可以祝贺你取得的成果吗?
Nora: And may I congratulate you on the result?
Rank :确实可以。
Rank: Indeed you may.
N ora:那么,是有利的吗?
Nora: Was it favourable, then?
排名:对于医生和患者来说,最好的可能是——确定性。
Rank: The best possible, for both doctor and patient — certainty.
N ora(快速而搜寻地):“确定吗?”
Nora (quickly and searchingly): Certainty?
排名:绝对肯定。那么,难道我不应该在那之后度过一个快乐的夜晚吗?
Rank: Absolute certainty. So wasn’t I entitled to make a merry evening of it after that?
N ora:是的,您确实是,Rank 医生。
Nora: Yes, you certainly were, Doctor Rank.
赫尔默:我也这么认为,只要你早上不用付钱就可以了。
Helmer: I think so too, so long as you don’t have to pay for it in the morning.
Rank :哦,好吧,人这一生不可能不付出就得到任何东西。
Rank: Oh well, one can’t have anything in this life without paying for it.
N ora: Rank 医生,您喜欢化装舞会吗?
Nora: Doctor Rank — are you fond of fancy-dress balls?
Rank :是的,如果有很多漂亮的服装的话。
Rank: Yes, if there is a fine lot of pretty costumes.
N ora:告诉我——下次我们两个该穿什么?
Nora: Tell me — what shall we two wear at the next?
H elmer:小白痴!——你已经在想下一步了吗?
Helmer: Little featherbrain! — are you thinking of the next already?
兰克:我们两个?是的,我可以告诉你。你可以像一个善良的仙女一样去——
Rank: We two? Yes, I can tell you. You shall go as a good fairy —
赫尔默:是的,但是您建议什么样的服装才合适呢?
Helmer: Yes, but what do you suggest as an appropriate costume for that?
排名:让你的妻子穿着和日常生活中一样的衣服去。
Rank: Let your wife go dressed just as she is in everyday life.
赫尔默:那真是太漂亮了。但是你不能告诉我们你会变成什么样吗?
Helmer: That was really very prettily turned. But can’t you tell us what you will be?
兰克:是的,我亲爱的朋友,我已经下定决心了。
Rank: Yes, my dear friend, I have quite made up my mind about that.
赫尔默:怎么样?
Helmer: Well?
RANK :在下一次化装舞会上,我将不再露面。
Rank: At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible.
赫尔默:这真是一个好笑话!
Helmer: That’s a good joke!
Rank :有一顶大黑帽子——你没听说过能让你隐形的帽子吗?如果你戴上一顶,就没人能看见你了。
Rank: There is a big black hat — have you never heard of hats that make you invisible? If you put one on, no one can see you.
赫尔墨(强忍笑容) :是的,你说得对。
Helmer (suppressing a smile): Yes, you are quite right.
兰克:但我完全忘记我来这里是为了什么。海尔默,给我一支雪茄——一支深色的哈瓦那雪茄。
Rank: But I am clean forgetting what I came for. Helmer, give me a cigar — one of the dark Havanas.
海尔茂:非常乐意。(向他陈述了自己的案子。)
Helmer: With the greatest pleasure. (Offers him his case.)
兰克(拿起一支雪茄,并剪掉末端):谢谢。
Rank (takes a cigar and cuts off the end): Thanks.
N ora(划一根火柴):“让我给你点火。”
Nora (striking a match): Let me give you a light.
兰克:谢谢。(她拿着火柴让他点燃雪茄。)现在再见!
Rank: Thank you. (She holds the match for him to light his cigar.) And now good-bye!
赫尔墨:再见,再见,亲爱的老头子!
Helmer: Good-bye, good-bye, dear old man!
N ora:睡个好觉,Rank 医生。
Nora: Sleep well, Doctor Rank.
Rank :谢谢你的祝福。
Rank: Thank you for that wish.
N ora:希望我也一样。
Nora: Wish me the same.
兰克:你呢?好吧,如果你想让我睡个好觉的话!谢谢你给我点灯。(他向他们俩点点头,然后出去了。)
Rank: You? Well, if you want me to sleep well! And thanks for the light. (He nods to them both and goes out.)
海尔茂(低声说):他喝得太多了。
Helmer (in a subdued voice): He has drunk more than he ought.
诺拉(心不在焉地):也许吧。(海尔茂从口袋里掏出一串钥匙,走进大厅。)托尔瓦德!你去那儿干什么?
Nora (absently): Maybe. (Helmer takes a bunch of keys out of his pocket and goes into the hall.) Torvald! what are you going to do there?
赫尔默:清空信箱吧,它已经满了,明天早上就没有地方放报纸了。
Helmer: Empty the letter-box; it is quite full; there will be no room to put the newspaper in to-morrow morning.
N ora:你今晚要上班吗?
Nora: Are you going to work to-night?
赫尔默:你很清楚我不是。这是怎么回事?有人来过水闸。
Helmer: You know quite well I’m not. What is this? Someone has been at the lock.
N ora:在锁处——?
Nora: At the lock — ?
海尔默:是的,有人这么做了。这是什么意思?我怎么没想到女仆会——。这里有一个断了的发夹。诺拉,这是你的发夹。
Helmer: Yes, someone has. What can it mean? I should never have thought the maid — . Here is a broken hairpin. Nora, it is one of yours.
诺拉(很快地) :那么一定是孩子们——
Nora (quickly): Then it must have been the children —
海尔默:那你就得把信从那些地方弄出来。好了,我终于打开了。(拿出信箱里的信,朝厨房喊。)海伦!——海伦,把前门上的灯关掉。(回到房间,关上通往大厅的门。他伸出手里,手里拿着满满的信。)看那——看那有多么一大堆。(把信翻过来。)那到底是什么?
Helmer: Then you must get them out of those ways. There, at last I have got it open. (Takes out the contents of the letter-box, and calls to the kitchen.) Helen! — Helen, put out the light over the front door. (Goes back into the room and shuts the door into the hall. He holds out his hand full of letters.) Look at that — look what a heap of them there are. (Turning them over.) What on earth is that?
诺拉(在窗边) :信——不!托尔瓦德,不!
Nora (at the window): The letter — No! Torvald, no!
海尔默:两张牌——是兰克的。
Helmer: Two cards — of Rank’s.
N ora:是 Rank 医生的吗?
Nora: Of Doctor Rank’s?
海尔默(看着它们):兰克医生。它们在最上面。他出去的时候一定把它们放进去了。
Helmer (looking at them): Doctor Rank. They were on the top. He must have put them in when he went out.
N ora:上面写了什么吗?
Nora: Is there anything written on them?
海尔默:名字上有一个黑色的十字。看那儿——多么令人不安的想法!看起来好像他在宣布自己的死亡。
Helmer: There is a black cross over the name. Look there — what an uncomfortable idea! It looks as if he were announcing his own death.
N ora:这正是他正在做的事情。
Nora: It is just what he is doing.
赫尔默:什么?你知道这件事吗?他跟你说过什么吗?
Helmer: What? Do you know anything about it? Has he said anything to you?
诺拉:是的。他告诉我,卡片寄来时,就是他向我们告别的时候。他想闭门自尽,然后死去。
Nora: Yes. He told me that when the cards came it would be his leave-taking from us. He means to shut himself up and die.
海尔默:我可怜的老朋友!我当然知道他不会和我们在一起太久。但他这么快就回来了!所以他像受伤的动物一样躲了起来。
Helmer: My poor old friend! Certainly I knew we should not have him very long with us. But so soon! And so he hides himself away like a wounded animal.
N ora:如果这件事必须发生,最好是默默无闻——你不这么认为吗,托瓦德?
Nora: If it has to happen, it is best it should be without a word — don’t you think so, Torvald?
海尔茂(走来走去):他已经融入我们的生活。我无法想象他会离开我们的生活。他饱受苦难,孤独无助,就像一片乌云遮蔽了我们阳光灿烂的幸福。好吧,也许这样最好。至少对他来说是这样。(站着不动。)也许对我们也是如此,诺拉。现在我们俩完全被紧紧地抱在了一起。(用双臂搂住她。)我亲爱的妻子,我觉得我抱你抱得不够紧。你知道吗,诺拉,我常常希望你遇到什么大危险,这样我就可以为你冒生命危险,冒一切危险。
Helmer (walking up and down): He had so grown into our lives. I can’t think of him as having gone out of them. He, with his sufferings and his loneliness, was like a cloudy background to our sunlit happiness. Well, perhaps it is best so. For him, anyway. (Standing still.) And perhaps for us too, Nora. We two are thrown quite upon each other now. (Puts his arms round her.) My darling wife, I don’t feel as if I could hold you tight enough. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life’s blood, and everything, for your sake.
诺拉(挣脱并坚决地说) :现在你必须阅读你的信件,托瓦德。
Nora (disengages herself, and says firmly and decidedly): Now you must read your letters, Torvald.
海尔默:不,不,今晚不行。我想和你在一起,我亲爱的妻子。
Helmer: No, no; not to-night. I want to be with you, my darling wife.
N ora:想到你朋友的死——
Nora: With the thought of your friend’s death —
赫尔默:你说得对,这件事影响到了我们俩。我们之间出现了一些不好的事情——死亡的恐怖。我们必须努力摆脱这种想法。在那之前——我们各自回自己的房间。
Helmer: You are right, it has affected us both. Something ugly has come between us — the thought of the horrors of death. We must try and rid our minds of that. Until then — we will each go to our own room.
诺拉(挂在他的脖子上):晚安,托瓦德——晚安!
Nora (hanging on his neck): Good-night, Torvald — Good-night!
海尔茂(吻她的额头):晚安,我的小歌鸟。睡个好觉吧,诺拉。现在我要把信读一遍。(他拿起信走进房间,关上了门。)
Helmer (kissing her on the forehead): Good-night, my little singing-bird. Sleep sound, Nora. Now I will read my letters through. (He takes his letters and goes into his room, shutting the door after him.)
诺拉(心烦意乱地摸索着,抓起海尔茂的多米诺骨牌,披在身上,同时用急促、嘶哑、断断续续的声音低语道) 再也见不到他了。再也见不到!再也见不到! (用披肩蒙住头。) 也再也见不到我的孩子们了——再也见不到了。再也见不到了!再也见不到了!——啊!那冰冷、漆黑的海水——那深不可测的深渊——要是一切都结束了就好了!他现在拿到了信——现在正在读它。再见,托尔瓦德和我的孩子们! (她正要冲出大厅,海尔茂急忙打开门,手里拿着一封打开的信站在那里。)
Nora (gropes distractedly about, seizes Helmer’s domino, throws it round her, while she says in quick, hoarse, spasmodic whispers): Never to see him again. Never! Never! (Puts her shawl over her head.) Never to see my children again either — never again. Never! Never! — Ah! the icy, black water — the unfathomable depths — If only it were over! He has got it now — now he is reading it. Good-bye, Torvald and my children! (She is about to rush out through the hall, when Helmer opens his door hurriedly and stands with an open letter in his hand.)
海尔默:诺拉!
Helmer: Nora!
N ora:啊!——
Nora: Ah! —
海尔默:这是什么?你知道这封信里写的是什么吗?
Helmer: What is this? Do you know what is in this letter?
诺拉:是的,我知道。放我走!让我出去!
Nora: Yes, I know. Let me go! Let me get out!
海尔茂(拦住她): “你要去哪儿?”
Helmer (holding her back): Where are you going?
诺拉(试图挣脱):你救不了我,托瓦德!
Nora (trying to get free): You shan’t save me, Torvald!
赫尔墨(震惊):真的吗?我读到的这些是真的吗?太可怕了!不,不——这不可能是真的。
Helmer (reeling): True? Is this true, that I read here? Horrible! No, no — it is impossible that it can be true.
诺拉:确实如此。我爱你胜过世上的一切。
Nora: It is true. I have loved you above everything else in the world.
赫尔默:噢,别让我们找任何愚蠢的借口。
Helmer: Oh, don’t let us have any silly excuses.
诺拉(向他迈了一步):“托瓦德——!”
Nora (taking a step towards him): Torvald — !
海尔默:可怜的人啊——你做了什么?
Helmer: Miserable creature — what have you done?
诺拉:放开我。你不应该因为我而受苦。你不应该自己承担这一切。
Nora: Let me go. You shall not suffer for my sake. You shall not take it upon yourself.
海尔默:请不要上演悲剧。(锁上门厅门。)你待在这里,给我一个解释。你明白你做了什么吗?回答我!你明白你做了什么吗?
Helmer: No tragedy airs, please. (Locks the hall door.) Here you shall stay and give me an explanation. Do you understand what you have done? Answer me! Do you understand what you have done?
诺拉(目不转睛地看着他,脸上越来越冷漠地说道):是的,现在我开始彻底明白了。
Nora (looks steadily at him and says with a growing look of coldness in her face): Yes, now I am beginning to understand thoroughly.
海尔茂(在房间里走来走去):这是多么可怕的觉醒啊!八年来,她是我的快乐和骄傲,现在却成了一个伪君子、一个骗子,更糟的是,她成了一个罪犯!这一切都丑陋得无法形容!——羞耻!羞耻!(诺拉沉默不语,目不转睛地看着他。他停在她面前。)我应该想到会发生这样的事情。我应该预见到的。你父亲的无原则——闭嘴!——你父亲的无原则在你身上显露出来。没有宗教信仰,没有道德,没有责任感——。我竟然对他的所作所为视而不见,我却受到了多么大的惩罚!我是为了你才这么做的,而你却用这种方式报复我。
Helmer (walking about the room): What a horrible awakening! All these eight years — she who was my joy and pride — a hypocrite, a liar — worse, worse — a criminal! The unutterable ugliness of it all! — For shame! For shame! (Nora is silent and looks steadily at him. He stops in front of her.) I ought to have suspected that something of the sort would happen. I ought to have foreseen it. All your father’s want of principle — be silent! — all your father’s want of principle has come out in you. No religion, no morality, no sense of duty — . How I am punished for having winked at what he did! I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay me.
N ora:是的,就是这样。
Nora: Yes, that’s just it.
海尔默:现在你毁了我的幸福,毁了我的未来。想想都觉得可怕!我被一个无耻的男人控制着,他可以对我为所欲为,可以向我要求任何他想做的事,可以对我下任何他想下的命令——我不敢拒绝。而我却因为一个轻率的女人而堕入如此悲惨的深渊!
Helmer: Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future. It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous man; he can do what he likes with me, ask anything he likes of me, give me any orders he pleases — I dare not refuse. And I must sink to such miserable depths because of a thoughtless woman!
诺拉:当我离开之后,你就自由了。
Nora: When I am out of the way, you will be free.
海尔默:请不要说漂亮话。你父亲也总是准备好很多漂亮话。如你所说,如果你不插手,对我有什么好处?一点好处也没有。他可以把这件事公之于众;如果他这样做,我可能会被错误地怀疑是你犯罪行为的参与者。很可能人们会认为我就是幕后黑手——是我怂恿了你!我必须感谢你——你是我整个婚姻生活中最珍爱的人。你现在明白你为我做了什么了吗?
Helmer: No fine speeches, please. Your father had always plenty of those ready, too. What good would it be to me if you were out of the way, as you say? Not the slightest. He can make the affair known everywhere; and if he does, I may be falsely suspected of having been a party to your criminal action. Very likely people will think I was behind it all — that it was I who prompted you! And I have to thank you for all this — you whom I have cherished during the whole of our married life. Do you understand now what it is you have done for me?
诺拉(冷冷地、静静地):“是的。”
Nora (coldly and quietly): Yes.
海尔默:这太不可思议了,我真无法接受。但我们必须达成某种谅解。脱掉那条披肩。脱掉它,我告诉你。我必须设法安抚他。这件事必须不惜一切代价掩盖起来。至于你和我,我们之间必须看起来和以前一样——当然,只是在世人眼中。你仍然会住在我家里,这是理所当然的。但我不会让你抚养孩子;我不敢把他们托付给你。想想看,我不得不对一个我如此深爱的人说这样的话,我仍然——。不,一切都结束了。从现在起,幸福不再是问题;我们唯一关心的是挽救遗体、碎片和外表——
Helmer: It is so incredible that I can’t take it in. But we must come to some understanding. Take off that shawl. Take it off, I tell you. I must try and appease him some way or another. The matter must be hushed up at any cost. And as for you and me, it must appear as if everything between us were just as before — but naturally only in the eyes of the world. You will still remain in my house, that is a matter of course. But I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you. To think that I should be obliged to say so to one whom I have loved so dearly, and whom I still — . No, that is all over. From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to save the remains, the fragments, the appearance —
(听到前门铃响了。)
(A ring is heard at the front-door bell.)
海尔茂(一惊):怎么回事?这么晚了!最坏的情况会不会——?他会不会——?躲起来,诺拉。说你病了。
Helmer (with a start): What is that? So late! Can the worst — ? Can he — ? Hide yourself, Nora. Say you are ill.
(诺拉一动不动地站着。海尔茂走过去打开了门厅的门。)
(Nora stands motionless. Helmer goes and unlocks the hall door.)
女仆(半裸着来到门口):给女主人的一封信。
Maid (half-dressed, comes to the door): A letter for the mistress.
海尔茂:给我。(接过信,关上门。)是的,是他写的。你不能拿走它;我要自己读。
Helmer: Give it to me. (Takes the letter, and shuts the door.) Yes, it is from him. You shall not have it; I will read it myself.
N ora:是的,读一下。
Nora: Yes, read it.
海尔茂(站在灯边) :我几乎没有勇气这么做。这可能意味着我们俩的毁灭。不,我必须知道。 (撕开信,翻了几行,看了看里面的一张纸,高兴地大叫起来。)诺拉! (她疑惑地看着他。) 诺拉!——不,我必须再读一遍——。是的,这是真的!我得救了! 诺拉,我得救了!
Helmer (standing by the lamp): I scarcely have the courage to do it. It may mean ruin for both of us. No, I must know. (Tears open the letter, runs his eye over a few lines, looks at a paper enclosed, and gives a shout of joy.) Nora! (She looks at him questioningly.) Nora! — No, I must read it once again — . Yes, it is true! I am saved! Nora, I am saved!
N ora:那我呢?
Nora: And I?
海尔默:当然,你也一样;我们俩都得救了,你和我。瞧,他把契约还给你了。他说他很后悔,很后悔——这是他人生中一次幸福的改变——不管他说了什么!我们得救了,诺拉!没人能把你怎么样。噢,诺拉,诺拉!——不,我必须先毁掉这些可恶的东西。让我看看——。(看了看契约。)不,不,我不看。这整件事对我来说只不过是一场噩梦。(撕碎契约和两封信,把它们全部扔进炉子里,看着它们烧掉。)好了——现在它不再存在了。他说从圣诞夜开始你——。诺拉,这三天对你来说一定很可怕。
Helmer: You too, of course; we are both saved, both you and I. Look, he sends you your bond back. He says he regrets and repents — that a happy change in his life — never mind what he says! We are saved, Nora! No one can do anything to you. Oh, Nora, Nora! — no, first I must destroy these hateful things. Let me see — . (Takes a look at the bond.) No, no, I won’t look at it. The whole thing shall be nothing but a bad dream to me. (Tears up the bond and both letters, throws them all into the stove, and watches them burn.) There — now it doesn’t exist any longer. He says that since Christmas Eve you — . These must have been three dreadful days for you, Nora.
N ora:这三天我打了一场艰苦的斗争。
Nora: I have fought a hard fight these three days.
海尔茂:遭受痛苦,看不到出路,只能——。不,我们不会再想起任何恐怖。我们只会欢呼雀跃,不停地说:“一切都结束了!一切都结束了!”听我说,诺拉。你似乎没有意识到一切都结束了。这是什么?——一张冷漠而坚定的脸!我可怜的小诺拉,我很理解;你觉得你无法相信我已经原谅了你。但这是真的,诺拉,我发誓;我已经原谅了你的一切。我知道你所做的一切都是出于对我的爱。
Helmer: And suffered agonies, and seen no way out but — . No, we won’t call any of the horrors to mind. We will only shout with joy, and keep saying, “It’s all over! It’s all over!” Listen to me, Nora. You don’t seem to realise that it is all over. What is this? — such a cold, set face! My poor little Nora, I quite understand; you don’t feel as if you could believe that I have forgiven you. But it is true, Nora, I swear it; I have forgiven you everything. I know that what you did, you did out of love for me.
N ora:确实如此。
Nora: That is true.
海尔默:你爱我就像妻子爱丈夫一样。只是你没有足够的知识来判断你所使用的手段。但你以为你不懂得如何履行自己的责任,就不值得我爱吗?不,不;你只要依靠我;我会给你建议和指导。如果这种女人的无助不能让我眼中的你更加迷人,那我就不是男人了。你一定不要再想我在惊慌失措的那一刻说的那些难听的话了,当时我以为一切都会压垮我。我已经原谅你了,诺拉;我向你发誓我已经原谅你了。
Helmer: You have loved me as a wife ought to love her husband. Only you had not sufficient knowledge to judge of the means you used. But do you suppose you are any the less dear to me, because you don’t understand how to act on your own responsibility? No, no; only lean on me; I will advise you and direct you. I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes. You must not think anymore about the hard things I said in my first moment of consternation, when I thought everything was going to overwhelm me. I have forgiven you, Nora; I swear to you I have forgiven you.
诺拉:谢谢你的原谅。(她从右边的门出去了。)
Nora: Thank you for your forgiveness. (She goes out through the door to the right.)
赫尔默:不,别走——。(往里看。)你在里面干什么?
Helmer: No, don’t go — . (Looks in.) What are you doing in there?
N ora(从内部):脱掉我的化装舞会服装。
Nora ( from within): Taking off my fancy dress.
海尔茂(站在敞开的门口) 好的,请你放心,我受惊的小鸟,试着让自己平静下来,让自己的心情恢复平静。请你安息,放心吧;我有宽大的翅膀可以保护你。 (在门口走来走去。)我们的家多么温暖舒适啊,诺拉。这里是你的庇护所;在这里,我会像保护一只被猎杀的鸽子一样保护你,就像我救下它脱离鹰爪一样;我会给你那颗可怜的跳动的心带来平静。诺拉,相信我,这会一点一点到来的。明天早上,你就会完全不同地看待这一切;很快一切都会和以前一样。很快你就不需要我向你保证我已经原谅你了;你会自己感觉到我已经原谅了你。你以为我会想到要否定你,甚至责备你吗?诺拉,你根本不知道一个真正的男人的心是什么样的。对于一个男人来说,当他知道自己已经原谅了他的妻子时,有一种难以形容的甜蜜和满足——他全心全意地原谅了她。这似乎让她成为了他自己的双重人格;可以说,他给了她新的生活;在某种程度上,她既是他的妻子,也是他的儿女。从今以后,你对我来说就是这样,我那害怕、无助的小宝贝。诺拉,不要为任何事情担心;只要对我坦诚相待,我就会成为你的意志和良心——。怎么了?还没睡觉?你换衣服了吗?
Helmer (standing at the open door): Yes, do. Try and calm yourself, and make your mind easy again, my frightened little singing-bird. Be at rest, and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under. (Walks up and down by the door.) How warm and cosy our home is, Nora. Here is shelter for you; here I will protect you like a hunted dove that I have saved from a hawk’s claws; I will bring peace to your poor beating heart. It will come, little by little, Nora, believe me. To-morrow morning you will look upon it all quite differently; soon everything will be just as it was before. Very soon you won’t need me to assure you that I have forgiven you; you will yourself feel the certainty that I have done so. Can you suppose I should ever think of such a thing as repudiating you, or even reproaching you? You have no idea what a true man’s heart is like, Nora. There is something so indescribably sweet and satisfying, to a man, in the knowledge that he has forgiven his wife — forgiven her freely, and with all his heart. It seems as if that had made her, as it were, doubly his own; he has given her a new life, so to speak; and she has in a way become both wife and child to him. So you shall be for me after this, my little scared, helpless darling. Have no anxiety about anything, Nora; only be frank and open with me, and I will serve as will and conscience both to you — . What is this? Not gone to bed? Have you changed your things?
诺拉(穿着便装):是的,托瓦德,我已经换衣服了。
Nora (in everyday dress): Yes, Torvald, I have changed my things now.
赫尔墨:可是为什么呢?——这么晚了。
Helmer: But what for? — so late as this.
N ora:今晚我将睡不着觉。
Nora: I shall not sleep to-night.
海尔茂:但是,我亲爱的诺拉——
Helmer: But, my dear Nora —
诺拉(看了看手表):时间还不算太晚。托尔瓦德,你坐这儿吧。你和我有很多话要说。(她在桌子的一侧坐下。)
Nora (looking at her watch): It is not so very late. Sit down here, Torvald. You and I have much to say to one another. (She sits down at one side of the table.)
赫尔默:诺拉——这是怎么回事?——这么冷漠、严肃的脸?
Helmer: Nora — what is this? — this cold, set face?
Nora :坐下。这需要一些时间;我有很多事情要和你谈。
Nora: Sit down. It will take some time; I have a lot to talk over with you.
赫尔墨(在桌子对面坐下):“诺拉,你让我害怕了!——我不了解你。”
Helmer (sits down at the opposite side of the table): You alarm me, Nora! — and I don’t understand you.
诺拉:不,就是这样。你不了解我,我也从来没了解过你——直到今晚。不,你别打断我的话。你只要听我说。托尔瓦德,这是算账。
Nora: No, that is just it. You don’t understand me, and I have never understood you either — before to-night. No, you mustn’t interrupt me. You must simply listen to what I say. Torvald, this is a settling of accounts.
赫尔默:你这话是什么意思?
Helmer: What do you mean by that?
诺拉(短暂的沉默后):我们这样坐在这里,难道你不觉得有什么奇怪的吗?
Nora (after a short silence): Isn’t there one thing that strikes you as strange in our sitting here like this?
海尔默:那是什么?
Helmer: What is that?
诺拉:我们结婚已经八年了。你难道没有想到,这是我们两个,你和我,夫妻,第一次进行认真的交谈吗?
Nora: We have been married now eight years. Does it not occur to you that this is the first time we two, you and I, husband and wife, have had a serious conversation?
赫尔默:你说的认真是什么意思?
Helmer: What do you mean by serious?
诺拉:从我们相识到现在已经有八年了——甚至更长——我们从未就任何严肃的话题交谈过一句话。
Nora: In all these eight years — longer than that — from the very beginning of our acquaintance, we have never exchanged a word on any serious subject.
赫尔墨:我是不是会不断地、永远地向你诉说你无法帮我承受的忧虑?
Helmer: Was it likely that I would be continually and forever telling you about worries that you could not help me to bear?
Nora :我不是在谈论商业问题。我说的是,我们从来没有认真地坐下来讨论过任何事情。
Nora: I am not speaking about business matters. I say that we have never sat down in earnest together to try and get at the bottom of anything.
海尔茂:但是,最亲爱的诺拉,这对你有什么好处吗?
Helmer: But, dearest Nora, would it have been any good to you?
诺拉:没错,你从来就不了解我。托尔瓦德,我受了很大的委屈——先是爸爸的委屈,然后是你。
Nora: That is just it; you have never understood me. I have been greatly wronged, Torvald — first by papa and then by you.
海尔茂:什么!就凭我们两个——就凭我们两个,谁比世界上任何人都更爱你?
Helmer: What! By us two — by us two, who have loved you better than anyone else in the world?
诺拉(摇头):你从来就没有爱过我。你只是觉得爱上我是件很愉快的事。
Nora (shaking her head): You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me.
赫尔默:诺拉,我听到你说什么了?
Helmer: Nora, what do I hear you saying?
诺拉:托尔瓦德,这是千真万确的。当我和爸爸一起在家时,他对每件事都告诉我他的看法,所以我也有同样的看法;如果我和他意见不同,我就会隐瞒事实,因为他不会喜欢。他叫我他的洋娃娃,他和我一起玩,就像我以前玩洋娃娃一样。当我来和你住在一起时——
Nora: It is perfectly true, Torvald. When I was at home with papa, he told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you —
赫尔默:该用什么样的措辞来形容我们的婚姻呢?
Helmer: What sort of an expression is that to use about our marriage?
诺拉(未受干扰):我的意思是,我只是从爸爸手里转到你手里。你按照自己的口味安排一切,所以我的口味和你一样——或者我假装一样,我真的不太确定是哪种——我想有时是这种,有时是那种。现在回想起来,我觉得我在这里过着像个穷女人一样的生活——勉强糊口。我活着只是为了为你表演把戏,托尔瓦德。但你却要这样。你和爸爸对我犯下了大罪。我一事无成都是你的错。
Nora (undisturbed): I mean that I was simply transferred from papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you — or else I pretended to, I am really not quite sure which — I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other. When I look back on it, it seems to me as if I had been living here like a poor woman — just from hand to mouth. I have existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life.
海尔默:诺拉,你太不讲道理了,太不知感恩了!难道你在这里不开心吗?
Helmer: How unreasonable and how ungrateful you are, Nora! Have you not been happy here?
诺拉:不,我从来没快乐过。我以为我很快乐,但实际上我从未快乐过。
Nora: No, I have never been happy. I thought I was, but it has never really been so.
赫尔默:不——不高兴!
Helmer: Not — not happy!
诺拉:不,只是快乐。你一直对我很好。但我们的家只不过是一个游戏室。我一直是你的玩偶妻子,就像在家里我是爸爸的玩偶孩子一样;在这里孩子们是我的玩偶。当你和我一起玩的时候,我觉得很有趣,就像当我和他们一起玩的时候,他们也觉得很有趣一样。这就是我们的婚姻,托尔瓦德。
Nora: No, only merry. And you have always been so kind to me. But our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa’s doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, Torvald.
海尔默:你说的有些道理——尽管你的观点有些夸张和牵强。但未来会有所不同。游戏时间会结束,课程时间会开始。
Helmer: There is some truth in what you say — exaggerated and strained as your view of it is. But for the future it shall be different. Playtime shall be over, and lesson-time shall begin.
N ora:谁的课?我的课,还是孩子们的课?
Nora: Whose lessons? Mine, or the children’s?
赫尔墨:这既是你的,也是孩子们的,我亲爱的诺拉。
Helmer: Both yours and the children’s, my darling Nora.
N ora:唉呀,托尔瓦德,你不是能教育我成为你合适妻子的人。
Nora: Alas, Torvald, you are not the man to educate me into being a proper wife for you.
赫尔默:你可以这么说!
Helmer: And you can say that!
N ora:那我——我适合抚养孩子吗?
Nora: And I — how am I fitted to bring up the children?
海尔默:诺拉!
Helmer: Nora!
N ora:刚才你不是自己这么说过吗——你不敢相信我会提起这些事情?
Nora: Didn’t you say so yourself a little while ago — that you dare not trust me to bring them up?
海尔默:一时气愤!你干嘛在意这些?
Helmer: In a moment of anger! Why do you pay any heed to that?
N ora:确实,你说得完全正确。我不适合这个任务。我必须先完成另一项任务。我必须努力学习——你不是能帮我做这件事的人。我必须自己学习。这就是我现在要离开你的原因。
Nora: Indeed, you were perfectly right. I am not fit for the task. There is another task I must undertake first. I must try and educate myself — you are not the man to help me in that. I must do that for myself. And that is why I am going to leave you now.
赫尔墨(跳起来):“你说什么?”
Helmer (springing up): What do you say?
诺拉:如果我要了解我自己和关于我的一切,我必须独自一人。正因为如此,我不能再和你在一起了。
Nora: I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any longer.
海尔茂:诺拉,诺拉!
Helmer: Nora, Nora!
诺拉:我现在就要离开这里,马上。我相信克里斯汀会收留我过夜的——
Nora: I am going away from here now, at once. I am sure Christine will take me in for the night —
海尔默:你疯了!我不会允许的!我禁止你这样做!
Helmer: You are out of your mind! I won’t allow it! I forbid you!
Nora :再禁止我做任何事情也没有用。我会带走属于我自己的东西。我不会从你那里拿走任何东西,无论是现在还是以后。
Nora: It is no use forbidding me anything any longer. I will take with me what belongs to myself. I will take nothing from you, either now or later.
海尔默:这是何等疯狂的事啊!
Helmer: What sort of madness is this!
Nora :明天我要回家——我是说,回到我的老家。在那里找点事情做对我来说最容易。
Nora: To-morrow I shall go home — I mean, to my old home. It will be easiest for me to find something to do there.
海尔墨斯:你这个又瞎又蠢的女人!
Helmer: You blind, foolish woman!
N ora:我必须试着弄清楚,托瓦德。
Nora: I must try and get some sense, Torvald.
海尔默:抛弃你的家,你的丈夫和你的孩子!你不考虑别人会怎么说!
Helmer: To desert your home, your husband and your children! And you don’t consider what people will say!
N ora:我根本没想过这个。我只知道这对我来说是必要的。
Nora: I cannot consider that at all. I only know that it is necessary for me.
海尔默:这太令人震惊了。这就是你忽视自己最神圣的职责的方式。
Helmer: It’s shocking. This is how you would neglect your most sacred duties.
N ora:您认为我最神圣的职责是什么?
Nora: What do you consider my most sacred duties?
赫尔默:我还需要告诉你吗?这难道不是你对丈夫和孩子的职责吗?
Helmer: Do I need to tell you that? Are they not your duties to your husband and your children?
N ora:我还有其他同样神圣的职责。
Nora: I have other duties just as sacred.
赫尔默:你没有。那是什么职责呢?
Helmer: That you have not. What duties could those be?
N ora:对我自己的职责。
Nora: Duties to myself.
赫尔默:首先,你是一位妻子、一位母亲。
Helmer: Before all else, you are a wife and a mother.
Nora :我不再相信这一点了。我相信,首先我是一个通情达理的人,就像你一样——或者,无论如何,我必须努力成为一个通情达理的人。托尔瓦德,我很清楚,大多数人会认为你是对的,而且那种观点可以在书中找到;但我不能再满足于大多数人说的话,也不能满足于书本上的内容。我必须自己思考并理解它们。
Nora: I don’t believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are — or, at all events, that I must try and become one. I know quite well, Torvald, that most people would think you right, and that views of that kind are to be found in books; but I can no longer content myself with what most people say, or with what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get to understand them.
海尔默:难道你不明白自己在自己家里的地位吗?在这样的事情上,难道你没有可靠的向导吗?——难道你没有宗教信仰吗?
Helmer: Can you not understand your place in your own home? Have you not a reliable guide in such matters as that? — have you no religion?
N ora:托瓦德,恐怕我并不确切知道宗教是什么。
Nora: I am afraid, Torvald, I do not exactly know what religion is.
海尔默:你说什么?
Helmer: What are you saying?
N ora:我只知道牧师在我去坚振圣事时说的话。他告诉我们宗教是这样的,是那样的,是其他的。当我远离这一切,独自一人时,我也会研究这个问题。我会看看牧师说的话是否属实,或者至少对我来说是否属实。
Nora: I know nothing but what the clergyman said, when I went to be confirmed. He told us that religion was this, and that, and the other. When I am away from all this, and am alone, I will look into that matter too. I will see if what the clergyman said is true, or at all events if it is true for me.
海尔默:你这个年纪的女孩子,居然会做出这种事!但如果宗教不能引导你走上正路,那就让我试着唤醒你的良知吧。我想你还是有道德感的吧?或者——回答我——我认为你一点道德感都没有?
Helmer: This is unheard of in a girl of your age! But if religion cannot lead you aright, let me try and awaken your conscience. I suppose you have some moral sense? Or — answer me — am I to think you have none?
Nora :我向你保证,托尔瓦德,这不是一个容易回答的问题。我真的不知道。这件事让我很困惑。我只知道你和我看待这件事的眼光完全不同。我也了解到,法律与我所想象的完全不同;但我发现自己无法说服自己法律是正确的。根据法律,一个女人没有权利饶恕她年迈的垂死的父亲,也没有权利挽救她丈夫的生命。我不敢相信。
Nora: I assure you, Torvald, that is not an easy question to answer. I really don’t know. The thing perplexes me altogether. I only know that you and I look at it in quite a different light. I am learning, too, that the law is quite another thing from what I supposed; but I find it impossible to convince myself that the law is right. According to it a woman has no right to spare her old dying father, or to save her husband’s life. I can’t believe that.
海尔默:你说话就像个孩子。你不了解你生活的世界的情况。
Helmer: You talk like a child. You don’t understand the conditions of the world in which you live.
诺拉:不,我不知道。但现在我要试一试。我要看看我是否能分清谁是对的,是世界还是我。
Nora: No, I don’t. But now I am going to try. I am going to see if I can make out who is right, the world or I.
海尔茂:诺拉,你病了,你神志不清,我几乎认为你疯了。
Helmer: You are ill, Nora; you are delirious; I almost think you are out of your mind.
N ora:我从来没有感觉到我的头脑像今晚这样清晰和确定。
Nora: I have never felt my mind so clear and certain as to-night.
海尔茂:难道你真的确定要抛弃你的丈夫和孩子吗?
Helmer: And is it with a clear and certain mind that you forsake your husband and your children?
N ora:是的。
Nora: Yes, it is.
赫尔默:那么就只有一种可能的解释。
Helmer: Then there is only one possible explanation.
N ora:那是什么?
Nora: What is that?
海尔默:你不再爱我了。
Helmer: You do not love me anymore.
N ora:不,就是这样。
Nora: No, that is just it.
赫尔默:诺拉!——你可以这么说吗?
Helmer: Nora! — and you can say that?
诺拉:托尔瓦德,你一直对我那么好,这让我很痛苦,但我没法控制自己。我不再爱你了。
Nora: It gives me great pain, Torvald, for you have always been so kind to me, but I cannot help it. I do not love you any more.
赫尔墨(恢复镇静):“这也是一个明确而肯定的信念吗?”
Helmer (regaining his composure): Is that a clear and certain conviction too?
Nora :是的,非常清楚,非常肯定。这就是我不会再待在这里的原因。
Nora: Yes, absolutely clear and certain. That is the reason why I will not stay here any longer.
海尔茂:你能告诉我,我做了什么才让我失去你的爱吗?
Helmer: And can you tell me what I have done to forfeit your love?
诺拉:是的,我确实能。今晚,当那件奇妙的事情没有发生时,我才发现你不是我想象中的那个人。
Nora: Yes, indeed I can. It was to-night, when the wonderful thing did not happen; then I saw you were not the man I had thought you.
赫尔默:你解释清楚点吧。我不明白你的意思。
Helmer: Explain yourself better. I don’t understand you.
诺拉:我已经耐心地等待了八年;因为,天知道,我很清楚,奇妙的事情不会每天都发生。然后这个可怕的不幸降临到我头上;然后我非常肯定,奇妙的事情最终会发生。当克罗格斯塔德的信散落在外面时,我一刻也没有想到你会同意接受这个人的条件。我绝对肯定你会对他说:把这件事公之于众。当这件事完成后——
Nora: I have waited so patiently for eight years; for, goodness knows, I knew very well that wonderful things don’t happen every day. Then this horrible misfortune came upon me; and then I felt quite certain that the wonderful thing was going to happen at last. When Krogstad’s letter was lying out there, never for a moment did I imagine that you would consent to accept this man’s conditions. I was so absolutely certain that you would say to him: Publish the thing to the whole world. And when that was done —
赫尔墨:是的,那又怎么样呢?——当我让我的妻子蒙羞受辱的时候?
Helmer: Yes, what then? — when I had exposed my wife to shame and disgrace?
诺拉:当这一切完成后,我非常肯定,你会站出来承担一切,并说:“我有罪。”
Nora: When that was done, I was so absolutely certain, you would come forward and take everything upon yourself, and say: I am the guilty one.
海尔茂:诺拉——!
Helmer: Nora — !
诺拉:你的意思是我永远不会接受你做出的这种牺牲?不,当然不是。但我的保证与你的保证相比又算得了什么呢?这正是我所希望和害怕的好事;正是为了防止这种情况发生,我才想自杀。
Nora: You mean that I would never have accepted such a sacrifice on your part? No, of course not. But what would my assurances have been worth against yours? That was the wonderful thing which I hoped for and feared; and it was to prevent that, that I wanted to kill myself.
海尔茂:诺拉,我愿意为你日夜操劳——为你承受痛苦和匮乏。但没有人会为了心爱的人牺牲自己的荣誉。
Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora — bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves.
N ora:这是成千上万的女性都做过的事情。
Nora: It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.
海尔默:噢,你的思维和说话就像一个无忧无虑的孩子。
Helmer: Oh, you think and talk like a heedless child.
诺拉:也许吧。但你的想法和言谈都不像我能依附的人。你的恐惧一消失——不是害怕威胁我的东西,而是害怕可能发生在你身上的事情——当整个事情过去后,对你而言,就如同什么事都没发生过一样。和以前一样,我是你的小云雀,你的洋娃娃,你将来会加倍温柔地对待它,因为它是如此脆弱和易碎。(站起来。)托尔瓦德——就在那时我才意识到,八年来我一直和一个陌生的男人住在这里,为他生了三个孩子——。哦,我不敢想象!我真想把自己撕成碎片!
Nora: Maybe. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could bind myself to. As soon as your fear was over — and it was not fear for what threatened me, but for what might happen to you — when the whole thing was past, as far as you were concerned it was exactly as if nothing at all had happened. Exactly as before, I was your little skylark, your doll, which you would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because it was so brittle and fragile. (Getting up.) Torvald — it was then it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a strange man, and had borne him three children — . Oh, I can’t bear to think of it! I could tear myself into little bits!
海尔茂(悲伤地):我明白了,我明白了。我们之间已经出现了一道深渊——这是无可否认的。但是,诺拉,难道我们就不能把它填平吗?
Helmer (sadly): I see, I see. An abyss has opened between us — there is no denying it. But, Nora, would it not be possible to fill it up?
诺拉:就现在而言,我不是你的妻子。
Nora: As I am now, I am no wife for you.
海尔茂:我有能力成为一个不同的人。
Helmer: I have it in me to become a different man.
N ora:也许——如果你的娃娃被拿走了。
Nora: Perhaps — if your doll is taken away from you.
海尔默:但是要分开!——要和你分开!不,不,诺拉,我无法理解这个想法。
Helmer: But to part! — to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can’t understand that idea.
诺拉(向右走去):这更确定了这件事必须做。(她带着斗篷和帽子回来了,还把一个小袋子放在桌边的椅子上。)
Nora (going out to the right): That makes it all the more certain that it must be done. (She comes back with her cloak and hat and a small bag which she puts on a chair by the table.)
海尔茂:诺拉,诺拉,现在不行!等到明天吧。
Helmer: Nora, Nora, not now! Wait until to-morrow.
诺拉(穿上斗篷): “我不能在陌生男人的房间里过夜。”
Nora (putting on her cloak): I cannot spend the night in a strange man’s room.
赫尔默:但是我们不能像兄妹一样生活在这里吗——?
Helmer: But can’t we live here like brother and sister — ?
诺拉(戴上帽子):你很清楚,这种情况不会持续太久。(披上披肩。 )再见,托尔瓦德。我不会去看那些小家伙了。我知道他们有更好的人照顾,而不是我。我现在这样,对他们没什么用。
Nora (putting on her hat): You know very well that would not last long. (Puts the shawl round her.) Good-bye, Torvald. I won’t see the little ones. I know they are in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can be of no use to them.
海尔默:但是有一天,诺拉——有一天?
Helmer: But some day, Nora — some day?
N ora:我怎么知道呢?我不知道自己会变成什么样子。
Nora: How can I tell? I have no idea what is going to become of me.
海尔茂:但无论你变成什么样子,你都是我的妻子。
Helmer: But you are my wife, whatever becomes of you.
诺拉:听着,托尔瓦德。我听说,当妻子抛弃丈夫的家时,就像我现在所做的那样,丈夫在法律上就不再对她承担任何义务。无论如何,我解除了你的所有义务。你不会感到自己受到任何束缚,我也不会。双方必须完全自由。看,这是你的戒指。把我的给我。
Nora: Listen, Torvald. I have heard that when a wife deserts her husband’s house, as I am doing now, he is legally freed from all obligations towards her. In any case, I set you free from all your obligations. You are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way, any more than I shall. There must be perfect freedom on both sides. See, here is your ring back. Give me mine.
赫尔默:那也是吗?
Helmer: That too?
N ora:那也是。
Nora: That too.
海尔默:就是这个。
Helmer: Here it is.
诺拉:没错。现在一切都结束了。我把钥匙放在这里。女佣对房子里的一切了如指掌——比我还要清楚。明天,我离开她之后,克里斯汀会来这里收拾我从家里带来的东西。我会让人把这些东西寄给我的。
Nora: That’s right. Now it is all over. I have put the keys here. The maids know all about everything in the house — better than I do. To-morrow, after I have left her, Christine will come here and pack up my own things that I brought with me from home. I will have them sent after me.
海尔茂:全完了!全完了!——诺拉,你再也不要想我了吗?
Helmer: All over! All over! — Nora, shall you never think of me again?
N ora:我知道我会经常想念你、孩子们和这座房子。
Nora: I know I shall often think of you, the children, and this house.
赫尔默:诺拉,我可以给你写信吗?
Helmer: May I write to you, Nora?
Nora :不,绝不。你绝对不能这么做。
Nora: No — never. You must not do that.
H elmer:但至少让我给你发——
Helmer: But at least let me send you —
诺拉:没什么——没什么——
Nora: Nothing — nothing —
海尔默:如果你需要的话,让我来帮助你。
Helmer: Let me help you if you are in want.
N ora:不。我不能从陌生人那里得到任何东西。
Nora: No. I can receive nothing from a stranger.
海尔茂:诺拉——对你来说难道我就只是一个陌生人吗?
Helmer: Nora — can I never be anything more than a stranger to you?
诺拉(拿起包) :啊,托瓦德,最奇妙的事情就要发生了。
Nora (taking her bag): Ah, Torvald, the most wonderful thing of all would have to happen.
海尔默:告诉我那会是什么!
Helmer: Tell me what that would be!
诺拉:你和我都必须改变得如此之多——哦,托尔瓦德,我不再相信有奇妙的事情发生了。
Nora: Both you and I would have to be so changed that — . Oh, Torvald, I don’t believe any longer in wonderful things happening.
海尔默:但我会相信的。告诉我!所以改变了——?
Helmer: But I will believe in it. Tell me! So changed that — ?
诺拉:希望我们的生活是真正的婚姻。再见。(她穿过大厅走出去。)
Nora: That our life together would be a real wedlock. Good-bye. (She goes out through the hall.)
海尔茂(坐在门口的椅子上,双手捂脸) 诺拉!诺拉! (环顾四周,站起身。) 空无一人。她走了。 (一丝希望闪过他的脑海。)最奇妙的事——?
Helmer (sinks down on a chair at the door and buries his face in his hands): Nora! Nora! (Looks round, and rises.) Empty. She is gone. (A hope flashes across his mind.) The most wonderful thing of all — ?
(楼下传来关门的声音。)
(The sound of a door shutting is heard from below.)
[1879]
[1879]
(1882–1948)
[1882–1948]
人物
Characters
乔治·亨德森,县检察官
George Henderson, county attorney
亨利·彼得斯,警长
Henry Peters, sheriff
刘易斯·黑尔(Lewis Hale) ,邻近的农民
Lewis Hale, a neighboring farmer
彼得斯夫人
Mrs. Peters
黑尔夫人
Mrs. Hale
场景:约翰·赖特农舍的厨房,现已废弃,阴暗的厨房,没有整理过——墙上贴着褪色的墙纸。右下方是一扇通往客厅的门。门上方的右侧墙上有一个嵌入式厨房橱柜,上部有架子,下部有抽屉。右侧后墙上,上两级台阶是一扇门,通往二楼的楼梯。左侧后墙上有一扇门,通往棚屋,从棚屋通向室外。这两扇门之间是一个老式的黑铁炉。从棚屋门沿着左侧墙壁延伸出去,是一个旧铁水槽和水槽架,里面放着一个手动泵。水槽下方是一扇没有窗帘的窗户。窗户附近有一把旧木摇椅。中间是一张未上漆的木制厨房桌子,两边都有直椅。右下方有一把小椅子。水槽下有未洗的平底锅,面包盒外面有一条面包,桌子上有一条洗碗布——这些都是未完成工作的迹象。棚屋后面的门打开了,警长走了进来,后面跟着县检察官和黑尔。警长和黑尔都是中年男子,县检察官是个年轻人;他们都穿得严严实实,一起走到炉子旁。后面跟着两个女人——警长的妻子彼得斯太太是第一位:她身材瘦削,面容瘦削,神情紧张。黑尔太太体型较大,通常看起来比较安逸,但她现在很不安,进来时四处张望,惊恐不已。两个女人慢慢地走了进来,并排站在门口。
Scene: The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order — the walls covered with a faded wall paper. Down right is a door leading to the parlor. On the right wall above this door is a built-in kitchen cupboard with shelves in the upper portion and drawers below. In the rear wall at right, up two steps is a door opening onto stairs leading to the second floor. In the rear wall at left is a door to the shed and from there to the outside. Between these two doors is an old-fashioned black iron stove. Running along the left wall from the shed door is an old iron sink and sink shelf, in which is set a hand pump. Downstage of the sink is an uncurtained window. Near the window is an old wooden rocker. Center stage is an unpainted wooden kitchen table with straight chairs on either side. There is a small chair down right. Unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table — other signs of incompleted work. At the rear the shed door opens and the Sheriff comes in followed by the County Attorney and Hale. The Sheriff and Hale are men in middle life, the County Attorney is a young man; all are much bundled up and go at once to the stove. They are followed by the two women — the Sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters, first: she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. Mrs. Hale is larger and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters. The women have come in slowly, and stand close together near the door.
县检察官(在炉子旁搓着手):感觉真好。女士们,到炉子边来。
County Attorney (at stove rubbing his hands): This feels good. Come up to the fire, ladies.
彼得斯夫人(向前迈了一步): “我不——冷。”
Mrs. Peters (after taking a step forward): I’m not — cold.
警长(解开大衣扣子,从火炉旁走到桌子右边,好像要开始处理公务):现在,黑尔先生,在我们开始行动之前,你先向亨德森先生解释一下你昨天早上来时看到的情况。
Sheriff (unbuttoning his overcoat and stepping away from the stove to right of table as if to mark the beginning of official business): Now, Mr. Hale, before we move things about, you explain to Mr. Henderson just what you saw when you came here yesterday morning.
县检察官(从桌子左边穿过):顺便问一下,有什么东西被移动过吗?东西还和你昨天离开时一样吗?
County Attorney (crossing down to left of the table): By the way, has anything been moved? Are things just as you left them yesterday?
警长(四处张望):差不多一样。昨晚气温降到零度以下时,我想今天早上最好让弗兰克出去给我们生火——(坐在中间桌子的右边)带着大箱子得肺炎也没用,但我告诉他除了炉子以外别的什么都别碰——你知道弗兰克。
Sheriff (looking about): It’s just about the same. When it dropped below zero last night I thought I’d better send Frank out this morning to make a fire for us — (sits right of center table) no use getting pneumonia with a big case on, but I told him not to touch anything except the stove — and you know Frank.
县律师:昨天应该有人留在这里。
County Attorney: Somebody should have been left here yesterday.
警长:哦——昨天。当我不得不把弗兰克送到莫里斯中心去救那个疯了的人时——我想让你知道,我昨天忙得不可开交。我知道你今天可以从奥马哈回来,只要我亲自检查这里的一切————
Sheriff: Oh — yesterday. When I had to send Frank to Morris Center for that man who went crazy — I want you to know I had my hands full yesterday. I knew you could get back from Omaha by today and as long as I went over everything here myself ———
县检察官:好吧,黑尔先生,请讲讲您昨天早上来这里时发生的事情。
County Attorney: Well, Mr. Hale, tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning.
黑尔(走到桌子上方):哈利和我带着一车土豆进城了。我们从我家沿路而来,一到这儿,我就说:“我要看看能不能让约翰·赖特和我一起去接一个共用电话。”我以前跟赖特谈过这件事,他推脱了,说人们说话太多了,他只要求安静——我想你知道他自己说了多少话;但我想也许我应该去他家,当着他妻子的面谈这件事,尽管我对哈利说我不知道,因为他妻子想要什么对约翰来说很重要————
Hale (crossing down to above table): Harry and I had started to town with a load of potatoes. We came along the road from my place and as I got here I said, “I’m going to see if I can’t get John Wright to go in with me on a party telephone.” I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet — I guess you know about how much he talked himself; but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John ———
县检察官:我们以后再谈,黑尔先生。我确实想谈这个,但现在请你告诉我,你到家后到底发生了什么。
County Attorney: Let’s talk about that later, Mr. Hale. I do want to talk about that, but tell now just what happened when you got to the house.
黑尔:我什么也没听到,什么也没看到;我敲了敲门,里面还是一片寂静。我知道他们一定起床了,已经八点多了。所以我又敲了敲门,我好像听到有人说:“进来。”我不确定,我还不确定,但我打开了门——这扇门(指着那两个女人还站在旁边的门)那里的那把摇椅上——(指着它)坐着赖特太太。(他们都看着左下方的摇椅。)
Hale: I didn’t hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up, it was past eight o’clock. So I knocked again, and I thought I heard someone say, “Come in.” I wasn’t sure, I’m not sure yet, but I opened the door — this door (indicating the door by which the two women are still standing) and there in that rocker — ( pointing to it) sat Mrs. Wright. (They all look at the rocker down left.)
县律师:她在做什么?
County Attorney: What — was she doing?
黑尔:她摇摇晃晃地。她手里拿着围裙,正在——打褶它。
Hale: She was rockin’ back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of — pleating it.
县律师:她看上去怎么样?
County Attorney: And how did she — look?
黑尔:嗯,她看上去很奇怪。
Hale: Well, she looked queer.
县律师:您所说的“同性恋”是什么意思?
County Attorney: How do you mean — queer?
黑尔:嗯,好像她不知道下一步要做什么。而且有点不知所措。
Hale: Well, as if she didn’t know what she was going to do next. And kind of done up.
县律师(拿出笔记本和铅笔,坐在中央桌子的左边) :她对于你的到来有什么感觉?
County Attorney (takes out notebook and pencil and sits left of center table): How did she seem to feel about your coming?
黑尔:我想她并不介意——不管怎样。她没怎么注意。我说:“赖特太太,你好吗,很冷,不是吗?”她说:“是吗?”——然后继续打着围裙的褶子。好吧,我很惊讶:她没有叫我到炉子边来,也没有叫我坐下,只是坐在那里,甚至没有看我一眼,所以我说:“我想见约翰。”然后她——笑了。我想你会称之为笑声。我想到哈利和外面的队伍,所以我有点尖锐地说:“我不能见约翰吗?”“不,”她有点无趣地说。“他不在家吗?”我说。“是的,”她说,“他在家。”“那我为什么不能见他?”我不耐烦地问她。“因为他死了,”她说。“死了? ”我说。她只是点点头,一点也不激动,只是前后摇晃。“为什么——他在哪里?”我说,不知道该说什么。她只是指着楼上——就像那样。(他自己指着楼上的房间。)我开始走向楼梯,想上去。我从那里走到这里——然后我说,“为什么,他是死于什么?”“他死于脖子上的绳子,”她说,只是继续打褶她的围裙。好吧,我出去叫了哈利。我想我可能——需要帮助。我们上楼,他躺在那里————
Hale: Why, I don’t think she minded — one way or other. She didn’t pay much attention. I said, “How do, Mrs. Wright, it’s cold, ain’t it?” And she said, “Is it?” — and went on kind of pleating at her apron. Well, I was surprised: she didn’t ask me to come up to the stove, or to set down, but just sat there, not even looking at me, so I said, “I want to see John.” And then she — laughed. I guess you would call it a laugh. I thought of Harry and the team outside, so I said a little sharp: “Can’t I see John?” “No,” she says, kind o’ dull like. “Ain’t he home?” says I. “Yes,” says she, “he’s home.” “Then why can’t I see him?” I asked her, out of patience. “’Cause he’s dead,” says she. “Dead?” says I. She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin’ back and forth. “Why — where is he?” says I, not knowing what to say. She just pointed upstairs — like that. (Himself pointing to the room above.) I started for the stairs, with the idea of going up there. I walked from there to here — then I says, “Why, what did he die of?” “He died of a rope round his neck,” says she, and just went on pleatin’ at her apron. Well, I went out and called Harry. I thought I might — need help. We went upstairs and there he was lyin’ ———
县律师:我觉得你最好去楼上,在那里你可以把一切都说清楚。现在就继续讲故事吧。
County Attorney: I think I’d rather have you go into that upstairs, where you can point it all out. Just go on now with the rest of the story.
黑尔:好吧,我第一个念头是把绳子解开。看起来……(停顿:脸抽搐了一下)……但是哈利走到他面前,说:“不,他确实死了,我们最好不要碰任何东西。”于是我们马上下楼。她仍然那样坐着。“有人接到通知了吗?”我问。“没有,”她漠不关心地说道。“是谁干的,赖特太太?”哈利说。他一本正经地说——她停下了围裙的褶皱。“我不知道,”她说。“你不知道吗? ”哈利说。“不知道,”她说。“你不是和他一起睡在床上吗?”哈利说。“是的,”她说,“但我在里面。”“有人用绳子套住他的头勒死了他,你没醒吗?”哈利说。“我没有醒,”她在他身后说道。我们一定一脸茫然,好像我们不明白这是怎么回事,因为过了一会儿她说道:“我睡得很香。”哈利本想问她更多问题,但我说也许我们应该让她先向验尸官或警长讲述她的故事,于是哈利以最快的速度赶往里弗斯的住处,那里有一部电话。
Hale: Well, my first thought was to get that rope off. It looked … (stops: his face twitches) … but Harry, he went up to him, and he said, “No, he’s dead all right, and we’d better not touch anything.” So we went right back downstairs. She was still sitting that same way. “Has anybody been notified?” I asked. “No,” says she, unconcerned. “Who did this, Mrs. Wright?” said Harry. He said it businesslike — and she stopped pleatin’ of her apron. “I don’t know,” she says. “You don’t know?” says Harry. “No,” says she. “Weren’t you sleepin’ in the bed with him?” says Harry. “Yes,” says she, “but I was on the inside.” “Somebody slipped a rope round his head and strangled him and you didn’t wake up?” says Harry. “I didn’t wake up,” she said after him. We must ’a’ looked as if we didn’t see how that could be, for after a minute she said, “I sleep sound.” Harry was going to ask her more questions but I said maybe we ought to let her tell her story first to the coroner, or the sheriff, so Harry went fast as he could to Rivers’ place, where there’s a telephone.
县检察官:当赖特夫人得知您去找验尸官时,她做了什么?
County Attorney: And what did Mrs. Wright do when she knew that you had gone for the coroner?
黑尔:她从摇椅上移到那边的椅子上(指着右下角的一把小椅子),双手合十,低着头坐在那里。我觉得我应该找人聊聊,所以我说我进来是想看看约翰是否想安装电话,听到这话她开始大笑,然后停下来看着我——很害怕。(县检察官拿出笔记本做了记录。)我不知道,也许不是害怕。我不想说是害怕。很快哈利就回来了,然后劳埃德医生来了,还有你,彼得斯先生,所以我想这就是我知道的你不知道的事情。
Hale: She moved from the rocker to that chair over there ( pointing to a small chair in the down right corner) and just sat there with her hands held together and looking down. I got a feeling that I ought to make some conversation, so I said I had come in to see if John wanted to put in a telephone, and at that she started to laugh, and then she stopped and looked at me — scared. (The County Attorney, who has had his notebook out, makes a note.) I dunno, maybe it wasn’t scared. I wouldn’t like to say it was. Soon Harry got back, and then Dr. Lloyd came and you, Mr. Peters, and so I guess that’s all I know that you don’t.
县检察官(站起身环顾四周):我想我们先上楼——然后到谷仓周围看看。(对警长说)你确信这里没有什么重要的东西——没有任何可以指向任何动机的东西?
County Attorney (rising and looking around): I guess we’ll go upstairs first — and then out to the barn and around there. (To the Sheriff.) You’re convinced that there was nothing important here — nothing that would point to any motive?
警长:这里除了厨房用具什么也没有。(县检察官再次环顾厨房后,打开了右墙橱柜的门。他从右边搬来一把小椅子——坐上去,看着架子。把手抽回来,手很粘。)
Sheriff: Nothing here but kitchen things. (The County Attorney, after again looking around the kitchen, opens the door of a cupboard closet in right wall. He brings a small chair from right — gets on it and looks on a shelf. Pulls his hand away, sticky.)
县检察官:这真是一场大混乱。(妇女们走近中心。)
County Attorney: Here’s a nice mess. (The women draw nearer up to center.)
彼得斯太太(对另一个女人说):哦,她的水果冻坏了。(对律师说)天气这么冷,她就担心这个。她说火会灭掉,罐子会破掉。
Mrs. Peters (to the other woman): Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. (To the Lawyer.) She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire’d go out and her jars would break.
警长(站起身):好吧,你能打败这个女人吗?她因谋杀罪被捕,还在担心她的财产。
Sheriff (rises): Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves.
县检察官(从椅子上下来):我想在我们结束之前,她可能会有比果酱更严重的事情要担心。(穿过右中间。)
County Attorney ( getting down from chair): I guess before we’re through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about. (Crosses down right center.)
黑尔:嗯,女人总是为琐事操心。(两个女人靠得更近了一点。)
Hale: Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. (The two women move a little closer together.)
县检察官(带着年轻政客的勇敢):尽管她们有这么多的烦恼,但如果没有女士们,我们该怎么办呢?(女人们没有屈服。他走到中间桌子下面的水槽边,从桶里舀了一勺水,倒进盆里,然后洗手。当他这样做的时候,警长和黑尔走到橱柜前,检查了一下。县检察官开始在滚筒毛巾上擦手,把它转到更干净的地方。)脏毛巾!(用脚踢了踢水槽下面的平底锅。)女士们,你们觉得他不太像一个管家吗?
County Attorney (with the gallantry of a young politician): And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? (The women do not unbend. He goes below the center table to the sink, takes a dipperful of water from the pail, and pouring it into a basin, washes his hands. While he is doing this the Sheriff and Hale cross to cupboard, which they inspect. The County Attorney starts to wipe his hands on the roller towel, turns it for a cleaner place.) Dirty towels! (Kicks his foot against the pans under the sink.) Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?
黑尔夫人(生硬地):农场上有很多工作要做。
Mrs. Hale (stiffly): There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm.
县律师:当然。不过(向她微微鞠躬)我知道有些迪克森县的农舍没有这种滚筒毛巾。(他拉了一下,再次露出了它的全长。)
County Attorney: To be sure. And yet (with a little bow to her) I know there are some Dickson County farmhouses which do not have such roller towels. (He gives it a pull to expose its full-length again.)
黑尔夫人:这些毛巾很快就会变脏。男人的手并不总是那么干净。
Mrs. Hale: Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men’s hands aren’t always clean as they might be.
县检察官:啊,我明白,你对女性很忠诚。但你和赖特太太是邻居。我想你们也是朋友。
County Attorney: Ah, loyal to your sex, I see. But you and Mrs. Wright were neighbors. I suppose you were friends, too.
黑尔夫人(摇头):近几年我很少见到她。我已经一年多没来过这所房子了。
Mrs. Hale (shaking her head): I’ve not seen much of her of late years. I’ve not been in this house — it’s more than a year.
县检察官(走到中间妇女面前): “那为什么呢?你不喜欢她吗?”
County Attorney (crossing to women up center): And why was that? You didn’t like her?
黑尔夫人:我挺喜欢她的。农夫的妻子们忙得不可开交,亨德森先生。然后——
Mrs. Hale: I liked her all well enough. Farmer’s wives have their hands full, Mr. Henderson. And then ——
县检察官:是—— ?
County Attorney: Yes —— ?
黑尔夫人(环顾四周):这看上去从来不是一个令人愉快的地方。
Mrs. Hale (looking about): It never seemed a very cheerful place.
县检察官:不,这并不令人愉快。我不应该说她有家庭主妇的本能。
County Attorney: No — it’s not cheerful. I shouldn’t say she had the homemaking instinct.
黑尔夫人:嗯,我不知道,赖特也不知道。
Mrs. Hale: Well, I don’t know as Wright had, either.
县律师:您的意思是他们相处得不是很好?
County Attorney: You mean that they didn’t get on very well?
黑尔夫人:不,我没别的意思。但我认为,约翰·赖特在的地方不会更令人愉快。
Mrs. Hale: No, I don’t mean anything. But I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it.
县检察官:稍后我想再多谈一下这个问题。我现在想了解一下楼上的情况。(他从妇女身边走过,走到右边,那里有台阶通向楼梯门。)
County Attorney: I’d like to talk more of that a little later. I want to get the lay of things upstairs now. (He goes past the women to up right where the steps lead to a stair door.)
警长:我想彼得斯太太做任何事情都会没问题的。你知道,她要带一些衣服和一些小东西。我们昨天匆匆忙忙地离开了。
Sheriff: I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does’ll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things. We left in such a hurry yesterday.
县律师:是的,但我想看看您带了什么,彼得斯夫人,并留意任何可能对我们有用的东西。
County Attorney: Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs. Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us.
彼得斯夫人:是的,亨德森先生。(男人们从右门上楼梯离开。女人们听着男人们走上楼梯的脚步声,然后环顾厨房。)
Mrs. Peters: Yes, Mr. Henderson. (The men leave by up right door to stairs. The women listen to the men’s steps on the stairs, then look about the kitchen.)
黑尔太太(向左走到水槽):我可不想让男人走进我的厨房,到处打探和批评。(她整理了水槽下面的盘子,律师把它们挪到了别的地方。)
Mrs. Hale (crossing left to sink): I’d hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing. (She arranges the pans under sink which the lawyer had shoved out of place.)
彼得斯夫人:当然,这只是他们的职责。(穿过门来到右边的橱柜。)
Mrs. Peters: Of course it’s no more than their duty. (Crosses to cupboard up right.)
黑尔夫人:职责无可厚非,不过我猜来生火的副警长身上可能沾了点这个。(拉了一下滚筒毛巾。)我真希望早点想到这一点。她这么匆忙离开时没有把东西收拾好,却说她没收拾好,这似乎太刻薄了。(转身走向橱柜旁的彼得斯夫人。)
Mrs. Hale: Duty’s all right, but I guess that deputy sheriff that came out to make the fire might have got a little of this on. (Gives the roller towel a pull.) Wish I’d thought of that sooner. Seems mean to talk about her for not having things slicked up when she had to come away in such a hurry. (Crosses right to Mrs. Peters at cupboard.)
彼得斯太太(一直在翻看橱柜,掀起盖在平底锅上的毛巾的一端):她已经准备好面包了。(站着一动不动。)
Mrs. Peters (who has been looking through cupboard, lifts one end of towel that covers a pan): She had bread set. (Stands still.)
黑尔太太(目光盯着面包箱旁边的一条面包,面包箱放在橱柜的一个矮架子上):她本来要把这个放进去的。(拿起面包,又猛地扔下,像是回到熟悉的事物中一样。)她的水果真可惜。不知道是不是全都吃光了。(站在椅子上看着)我想这里有一些没问题的,彼得斯太太。是的——这儿;(把它拿到窗户边)这也是樱桃。(再看一眼。)我宣布我相信只有这一颗了。(蹲下,手里拿着罐子,走到水槽边,把外面擦干净。)在炎热的天气里辛苦工作后,她会感到非常难过的。我记得去年夏天我把樱桃放起来的那个下午。 (她把罐子放在房间中央的大厨房桌子上。叹了口气,正要坐在摇椅上。坐下之前,她意识到这是一张什么样的椅子;慢慢地看了一眼,后退了一步。她碰过的椅子前后摇晃。彼得斯太太移到中央的桌子旁,他们俩都看着椅子摇晃了一会儿。)
Mrs. Hale (eyes fixed on a loaf of bread beside the breadbox, which is on a low shelf of the cupboard): She was going to put this in there. (Picks up loaf, abruptly drops it. In a manner of returning to familiar things.) It’s a shame about her fruit. I wonder if it’s all gone. (Gets up on chair and looks.) I think there’s some here that’s all right, Mrs. Peters. Yes — here; (holding it toward the window) this is cherries, too. (Looking again.) I declare I believe that’s the only one. (Gets down, jar in hand. Goes to the sink and wipes it off on the outside.) She’ll feel awful bad after all her hard work in the hot weather. I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries last summer. (She puts the jar on the big kitchen table, center of the room. With a sigh, is about to sit down in the rocking chair. Before she is seated realizes what chair it is; with a slow look at it, steps back. The chair which she has touched rocks back and forth. Mrs. Peters moves to center table and they both watch the chair rock for a moment or two.)
彼得斯太太(摆脱了空摇椅引起的情绪。现在她以公事公办的态度说道):好吧,我必须从前屋的壁橱里拿那些东西。(她走向右边的门,但在看了看另一个房间后,又退了回去。)你跟我一起去吗,黑尔太太?你可以帮我拿。(他们走进另一个房间;再次出现,彼得斯太太拿着一件连衣裙、一条衬裙和一条裙子,黑尔太太拿着一双鞋跟在后面。)天哪,里面好冷。(她把衣服放在大桌子上,赶紧走到炉子边。)
Mrs. Peters (shaking off the mood which the empty rocking chair has evoked. Now in a businesslike manner she speaks): Well I must get those things from the front room closet. (She goes to the door at the right but, after looking into the other room, steps back.) You coming with me, Mrs. Hale? You could help me carry them. (They go in the other room; reappear, Mrs. Peters carrying a dress, petticoat, and skirt, Mrs. Hale following with a pair of shoes.) My, it’s cold in there. (She puts the clothes on the big table and hurries to the stove.)
黑尔夫人(桌子中央右侧,正在检查裙子):赖特很亲近。我想也许这就是她为什么总是独来独往的原因。她甚至不属于妇女互助会。我想她觉得自己无法尽到自己的责任,而当你感到寒酸时,你就不会享受生活。我听说她曾经穿着漂亮的衣服,很活泼,那时她还是米妮·福斯特,是镇上唱诗班的女孩之一。但那——哦,那是三十年前的事了。这就是你想要接受的全部吗?
Mrs. Hale (right of center table examining the skirt): Wright was close. I think maybe that’s why she kept so much to herself. She didn’t even belong to the Ladies’ Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn’t do her part, and then you don’t enjoy things when you feel shabby. I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that — oh, that was thirty years ago. This all you want to take in?
彼得斯夫人:她说她想要一条围裙。想得有点奇怪,因为在监狱里没有什么能让你变脏的东西,天知道。但我想这只是为了让她感觉更自然。(走到橱柜前。)她说围裙在橱柜最上面的抽屉里。是的,在这儿。还有她那一直挂在门后的小披肩。(打开楼梯门看了看。)是的,在这儿。(迅速关上通往楼上的门。)
Mrs. Peters: She said she wanted an apron. Funny thing to want, for there isn’t much to get you dirty in jail, goodness knows. But I suppose just to make her feel more natural. (Crosses to cupboard.) She said they was in the top drawer in this cupboard. Yes, here. And then her little shawl that always hung behind the door. (Opens stair door and looks.) Yes, here it is. (Quickly shuts door leading upstairs.)
黑尔夫人(猛地朝她走去): “彼得斯夫人?”
Mrs. Hale (abruptly moving toward her): Mrs. Peters?
彼得斯夫人:是的,黑尔夫人?(在右边的门口。)
Mrs. Peters: Yes, Mrs. Hale? (At up right door.)
黑尔夫人:你认为是她干的吗?
Mrs. Hale: Do you think she did it?
彼得斯夫人(惊恐地说道):噢,我不知道。
Mrs. Peters (in a frightened voice): Oh, I don’t know.
黑尔夫人:嗯,我想她没有。她要了一条围裙和她的小披肩。她担心她的水果。
Mrs. Hale: Well, I don’t think she did. Asking for an apron and her little shawl. Worrying about her fruit.
彼得斯夫人(开始说话,抬头看了一眼,听到楼上房间里传来脚步声。声音低沉):彼得斯先生说她的情况很糟糕。亨德森先生的演讲非常讽刺,他会取笑她说她没有醒来。
Mrs. Peters (starts to speak, glances up, where footsteps are heard in the room above. In a low voice): Mr. Peters says it looks bad for her. Mr. Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech and he’ll make fun of her sayin’ she didn’t wake up.
黑尔夫人:嗯,我想当他们把绳子塞到约翰·赖特脖子下面时,他并没有醒。
Mrs. Hale: Well, I guess John Wright didn’t wake when they was slipping that rope under his neck.
彼得斯太太(慢慢走到桌子旁,把披肩和围裙和其他衣服一起放在桌子上):不,这很奇怪。这肯定是经过精心策划和静默的。他们说这是一种非常——滑稽的杀人方式,把一切都安排得如此完美。
Mrs. Peters (crossing slowly to table and placing shawl and apron on table with other clothing): No, it’s strange. It must have been done awful crafty and still. They say it was such a — funny way to kill a man, rigging it all up like that.
黑尔太太(走到桌边彼得斯太太的左边):黑尔先生就是这么说的。房子里有一把枪。他说他无法理解这一点。
Mrs. Hale (crossing to left of Mrs. Peters at table): That’s just what Mr. Hale said. There was a gun in the house. He says that’s what he can’t understand.
彼得斯女士:亨德森先生说,这个案子需要有一个动机:表现出愤怒,或者——突然的感情。
Mrs. Peters: Mr. Henderson said coming out that what was needed for the case was a motive: something to show anger, or — sudden feeling.
黑尔太太(站在桌旁):嗯,我没看到这里有任何愤怒的迹象。(她把手放在桌上的洗碗巾上,站在那里低头看着桌子,桌子一半干净,另一半凌乱不堪。)这里都擦干净了。(做出一个好像要完成工作的动作,然后转身看着面包箱外面的面包。毛巾掉在地上。语气中带着熟悉的情绪。)不知道他们在楼上找到什么了。(穿过桌子下面走到右下方。)我希望她在那里更生气一点。你知道,这看起来有点鬼鬼祟祟。把她锁在城里,然后跑到这里,试图让她自己的房子与她作对!
Mrs. Hale (who is standing by the table): Well, I don’t see any signs of anger around here. (She puts her hand on the dish towel, which lies on the table, stands looking down at table, one-half of which is clean, the other half messy.) It’s wiped to here. (Makes a move as if to finish work, then turns and looks at loaf of bread outside the breadbox. Drops towel. In that voice of coming back to familiar things.) Wonder how they are finding things upstairs. (Crossing below table to down right.) I hope she had it a little more red-up up there. You know, it seems kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to get her own house to turn against her!
彼得斯夫人:但是,黑尔夫人,法律就是法律。
Mrs. Peters: But, Mrs. Hale, the law is the law.
黑尔太太:我想是的。(解开外套的扣子。)最好把你的衣服松开一点,彼得斯太太。你出门时不会感觉到它们。(彼得斯太太脱下毛皮披肩,把它挂在桌子左边的椅子背上,站在那里看着左下方窗户附近地板上的工作篮。)
Mrs. Hale: I s’pose ’tis. (Unbuttoning her coat.) Better loosen up your things, Mrs. Peters. You won’t feel them when you go out. (Mrs. Peters takes off her fur tippet, goes to hang it on chair back left of table, stands looking at the work basket on floor near down left window.)
彼得斯夫人:她正在缝被子。(她把大针线篮拿到中间的桌子上,她们看着那些色彩鲜艳的被子,黑尔夫人在桌子上方,彼得斯夫人在桌子左边。)
Mrs. Peters: She was piecing a quilt. (She brings the large sewing basket to the center table and they look at the bright pieces, Mrs. Hale above the table and Mrs. Peters left of it.)
黑尔夫人:这是木屋图案。很漂亮,不是吗?我不知道她是要缝被子还是只是打结?(听到脚步声从楼梯上传来。警长进来了,后面跟着黑尔和县检察官。)
Mrs. Hale: It’s a log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn’t it? I wonder if she was goin’ to quilt it or just knot it? (Footsteps have been heard coming down the stairs. The Sheriff enters followed by Hale and the County Attorney.)
警长:他们不知道她是要缝被子还是只是打结!(男人们笑了,女人们看起来很尴尬。)
Sheriff: They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it! (The men laugh, the women look abashed.)
县检察官(用手摩挲着炉子):弗兰克的火没烧到那里,对吧?好吧,我们去谷仓把那东西清理一下。(男人们从左上角的门出去。)
County Attorney (rubbing his hands over the stove): Frank’s fire didn’t do much up there, did it? Well, let’s go out to the barn and get that cleared up. (The men go outside by up left door.)
黑尔夫人(愤愤不平地):我不知道有什么奇怪的,我们在等待他们拿到证据的同时,还在做些小事。(她坐在桌子右边的椅子上,果断地抚平一块木头。)我不觉得这有什么好笑的。
Mrs. Hale (resentfully): I don’t know as there’s anything so strange, our takin’ up our time with little things while we’re waiting for them to get the evidence. (She sits in chair right of table smoothing out a block with decision.) I don’t see as it’s anything to laugh about.
彼得斯夫人(抱歉地):当然,她们心里有非常重要的事情。(拉过一把椅子,和黑尔夫人一起坐在桌子左边。)
Mrs. Peters (apologetically): Of course they’ve got awful important things on their minds. (Pulls up a chair and joins Mrs. Hale at the left of the table.)
黑尔太太(检查另一块布料):彼得斯太太,看看这个。这是她正在做的那块,看看这些针线!其余的都缝得那么整齐。看看这个!到处都是!为什么,看起来她不知道自己在干什么!(她说完后,他们互相看了一眼,然后开始回头看门。过了一会儿,黑尔太太拉开了一个结,把针线拆了。)
Mrs. Hale (examining another block): Mrs. Peters, look at this one. Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It’s all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about! (After she has said this they look at each other, then start to glance back at the door. After an instant Mrs. Hale has pulled at a knot and ripped the sewing.)
彼得斯夫人:噢,您在做什么呢,黑尔夫人?
Mrs. Peters: Oh, what are you doing, Mrs. Hale?
黑尔太太(温和地):只是拔掉一两针缝得不太好的针脚。(穿针引线。 )缝得不好总是让我心烦意乱。
Mrs. Hale (mildly): Just pulling out a stitch or two that’s not sewed very good. (Threading a needle.) Bad sewing always made me fidgety.
彼得斯夫人(紧张地看了一眼门): “我认为我们不应该碰这些东西。”
Mrs. Peters (with a glance at the door, nervously): I don’t think we ought to touch things.
黑尔夫人:我只要把这头做完就行了。(突然停下来,身体前倾。)彼得斯夫人?
Mrs. Hale: I’ll just finish up this end. (Suddenly stopping and leaning forward.) Mrs. Peters?
彼得斯夫人:什么事,黑尔夫人?
Mrs. Peters: Yes, Mrs. Hale?
黑尔夫人:你认为她为什么这么紧张呢?
Mrs. Hale: What do you suppose she was so nervous about?
彼得斯太太:哦——我不知道。我不知道,因为她很紧张。我有时累的时候会缝得很奇怪。(黑尔太太开始说些什么,看着彼得斯太太,然后继续缝。)好吧,我必须把这些东西包起来。它们可能比我们想象的要快。(把围裙和其他东西放在一起。)我想知道在哪里可以找到一张纸和绳子。(站起来。)
Mrs. Peters: Oh — I don’t know. I don’t know as she was nervous. I sometimes sew awful queer when I’m just tired. (Mrs. Hale starts to say something, looks at Mrs. Peters, then goes on sewing.) Well, I must get these things wrapped up. They may be through sooner than we think. (Putting apron and other things together.) I wonder where I can find a piece of paper, and string. (Rises.)
黑尔夫人:也许在那个橱柜里。
Mrs. Hale: In that cupboard, maybe.
彼得斯夫人(穿过右边的视线看向橱柜):哎呀,这里有个鸟笼。(举起它。)她养了鸟吗,黑尔夫人?
Mrs. Peters (crosses right looking in cupboard): Why, here’s a bird-cage. (Holds it up.) Did she have a bird, Mrs. Hale?
黑尔夫人:我不知道她有没有买过——我已经很久没来这里了。去年附近有个男人在低价卖金丝雀,但我不知道她有没有买过一只;也许她买过。她自己以前唱歌也很好听。
Mrs. Hale: Why, I don’t know whether she did or not — I’ve not been here for so long. There was a man around last year selling canaries cheap, but I don’t know as she took one; maybe she did. She used to sing real pretty herself.
彼得斯夫人(环顾四周):想到这里有只鸟,似乎有点奇怪。但她肯定有一只鸟,否则她为什么要有笼子?我想知道它怎么了?
Mrs. Peters ( glancing around): Seems funny to think of a bird here. But she must have had one, or why would she have a cage? I wonder what happened to it?
黑尔夫人:我想也许是被猫抓走了。
Mrs. Hale: I s’pose maybe the cat got it.
彼得斯夫人:不,她没有养猫。她对猫的感觉和有些人一样——害怕猫。我的猫跑进她的房间,她非常沮丧,要求我把它赶出去。
Mrs. Peters: No, she didn’t have a cat. She’s got that feeling some people have about cats — being afraid of them. My cat got in her room and she was real upset and asked me to take it out.
黑尔夫人:我姐姐贝西就是这样的。很奇怪,不是吗?
Mrs. Hale: My sister Bessie was like that. Queer, ain’t it?
彼得斯太太(检查笼子):瞧瞧这扇门。它坏了。一个铰链被拉开了。(向黑尔太太的右边走下一步。)
Mrs. Peters (examining the cage): Why, look at this door. It’s broke. One hinge is pulled apart. (Takes a step down to Mrs. Hale’s right.)
黑尔夫人(也看了看):“看起来好像有人对它很粗暴。”
Mrs. Hale (looking too): Looks as if someone must have been rough with it.
彼得斯夫人:当然可以。(她把笼子拿过来放在桌子上。)
Mrs. Peters: Why, yes. (She brings the cage forward and puts it on the table.)
黑尔夫人(瞥了一眼左上方的门):如果他们要找到任何证据,我希望他们能尽快找到。我不喜欢这个地方。
Mrs. Hale ( glancing toward up left door): I wish if they’re going to find any evidence they’d be about it. I don’t like this place.
彼得斯夫人:不过我很高兴你能和我一起来,黑尔夫人。我一个人坐在这里会很寂寞。
Mrs. Peters: But I’m awful glad you came with me, Mrs. Hale. It would be lonesome for me sitting here alone.
黑尔夫人:会的,不是吗?(放下手中的针线活)但是我告诉你我真心希望,彼得斯夫人。我希望她在这里的时候我能过来。我——(环顾房间)——我希望我能过来。
Mrs. Hale: It would, wouldn’t it? (Dropping her sewing.) But I tell you what I do wish, Mrs. Peters. I wish I had come over sometimes when she was here. I — (looking around the room) — wish I had.
彼得斯夫人:但是当然,您一定非常忙,黑尔夫人——要照顾您的房子和孩子。
Mrs. Peters: But of course you were awful busy, Mrs. Hale — your house and your children.
黑尔夫人(起身向左划十字):我本来可以来的。我没有来,因为这里不愉快——所以我应该来。我——(看着左边的窗户)——我从来都不喜欢这个地方。也许是因为它在山谷里,看不到路。我不知道它是什么,但它是一个孤独的地方,一直都是。我真希望我有时能过来看看米妮·福斯特。我现在明白了——(摇摇头。)
Mrs. Hale (rises and crosses left): I could’ve come. I stayed away because it weren’t cheerful — and that’s why I ought to have come. I — (looking out left window) — I’ve never liked this place. Maybe it’s because it’s down in a hollow and you don’t see the road. I dunno what it is, but it’s a lonesome place and always was. I wish I had come over to see Minnie Foster sometimes. I can see now — (Shakes her head.)
彼得斯夫人(桌子左边和上面):好吧,你不必自责,黑尔夫人。不知何故,我们就是看不到其他人的情况,直到——事情发生了。
Mrs. Peters (left of table and above it): Well, you mustn’t reproach yourself, Mrs. Hale. Somehow we just don’t see how it is with other folks until — something turns up.
黑尔夫人:没有孩子工作少了——但家里就安静了,赖特整天出去工作,他回来时也没有客人。(从窗边转过身来。)彼得斯夫人,你认识约翰·赖特吗?
Mrs. Hale: Not having children makes less work — but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in. (Turning from window.) Did you know John Wright, Mrs. Peters?
彼得斯夫人:不认识他;我在城里见过他。他们说他是个好人。
Mrs. Peters: Not to know him; I’ve seen him in town. They say he was a good man.
黑尔太太:是的——很好;他不喝酒,而且像大多数人一样信守诺言,还清了债务。但他是个冷酷的人,彼得斯太太。和他一起消磨时光——(颤抖。)就像一阵刺骨的寒风。(停顿,她的目光落在笼子上。)我想她会想要一只鸟。但你认为它会有什么结果呢?
Mrs. Hale: Yes — good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him — (Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. (Pauses, her eye falling on the cage.) I should think she would ’a’ wanted a bird. But what do you suppose went with it?
彼得斯夫人:我不知道,除非它生病死了。(她伸手把破门摇了起来,又摇了一次,两个女人都看着。)
Mrs. Peters: I don’t know, unless it got sick and died. (She reaches over and swings the broken door, swings it again, both women watch it.)
黑尔夫人:你不是在这里长大的,对吧?(彼得斯夫人摇摇头)你不认识——她?
Mrs. Hale: You weren’t raised round here, were you? (Mrs. Peters shakes her head.) You didn’t know — her?
彼得斯夫人:直到昨天他们把她带过来才知道。
Mrs. Peters: Not till they brought her yesterday.
黑尔夫人:她——仔细想想,她自己有点像一只鸟——非常甜美漂亮,但有点胆怯和——飘忽不定。她——是如何——改变的。(沉默:然后好像被一个快乐的想法所打动,松了一口气,回到了日常事务中。穿过彼得斯夫人上方的橱柜,把用来站立的小椅子放回原来的位置。)告诉你,彼得斯夫人,你为什么不把被子带进去呢?这可能会让她心烦意乱。
Mrs. Hale: She — come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself — real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and — fluttery. How — she — did — change. (Silence: then as if struck by a happy thought and relieved to get back to everyday things. Crosses right above Mrs. Peters to cupboard, replaces small chair used to stand on to its original place down right.) Tell you what, Mrs. Peters, why don’t you take the quilt in with you? It might take up her mind.
彼得斯夫人:我觉得这是个好主意,黑尔夫人。不可能有人反对吧?现在,我要带什么呢?不知道她的补丁在这儿吗——还有她的东西。(它们在针线篮里。)
Mrs. Peters: Why, I think that’s a real nice idea, Mrs. Hale. There couldn’t possibly be any objection to it could there? Now, just what would I take? I wonder if her patches are in here — and her things. (They look in the sewing basket.)
黑尔太太(走到桌子右边):这是一些红色的东西。我想里面肯定是一些缝纫用品。(拿出一个漂亮的盒子。)多漂亮的盒子啊。看起来像是别人会送给你的礼物。也许她的剪刀就在里面。(打开盒子。突然用手捂住鼻子。)哎呀——(彼得斯太太弯下腰走近,然后扭过脸。)这块丝绸里包着一些东西。
Mrs. Hale (crosses to right of table): Here’s some red. I expect this has got sewing things in it. (Brings out a fancy box.) What a pretty box. Looks like something somebody would give you. Maybe her scissors are in here. (Opens box. Suddenly puts her hand to her nose.) Why ——— (Mrs. Peters bends nearer, then turns her face away.) There’s something wrapped up in this piece of silk.
彼得斯夫人:哎呀,这不是她的剪刀。
Mrs. Peters: Why, this isn’t her scissors.
黑尔夫人(掀起丝绸):噢,彼得斯夫人——这是——(彼得斯夫人弯下腰靠近她。)
Mrs. Hale (lifting the silk): Oh, Mrs. Peters — it’s ——— (Mrs. Peters bends closer.)
彼得斯夫人:是那只鸟。
Mrs. Peters: It’s the bird.
黑尔夫人:但是,彼得斯夫人——看看它!它的脖子!看看它的脖子!它全都——另一侧。
Mrs. Hale: But, Mrs. Peters — look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It’s all — other side to.
彼得斯太太:有人——扭断了——它的——脖子。(两人的目光相遇。一种逐渐领悟的、恐惧的神情。外面传来脚步声。黑尔太太把盒子塞到被子下面,坐进椅子里。警长和县检察官进来。彼得斯太太从左边走下来,站在那里向窗外张望。)
Mrs. Peters: Somebody — wrung — its — neck. (Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror. Steps are heard outside. Mrs. Hale slips box under quilt pieces, and sinks into her chair. Enter Sheriff and County Attorney. Mrs. Peters steps down left and stands looking out of window.)
县检察官(好像从严肃的话题转向一些小玩意儿):好了,女士们,你们决定好她是要缝被子还是要打结了吗?(在桌子上方划十字。)
County Attorney (as one turning from serious things to little pleasantries): Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it? (Crosses to center above table.)
彼得斯夫人:我们认为她要——打结。(警长走到炉子右边,掀起炉盖,看了一眼火,然后站在炉子旁烤火。)
Mrs. Peters: We think she was going to — knot it. (Sheriff crosses to right of stove, lifts stove lid, and glances at fire, then stands warming hands at stove.)
县律师:嗯,那确实很有趣。(看到鸟笼。)鸟飞走了吗?
County Attorney: Well, that’s interesting, I’m sure. (Seeing the bird-cage.) Has the bird flown?
黑尔夫人(把更多的被子碎片放在盒子上):我们认为它被——猫抓走了。
Mrs. Hale ( putting more quilt pieces over the box): We think the — cat got it.
县检察官(心不在焉):有猫吗?(黑尔太太偷偷看了彼得斯太太一眼。)
County Attorney ( preoccupied): Is there a cat? (Mrs. Hale glances in a quick covert way at Mrs. Peters.)
彼得斯太太(从窗户转过身,走了一步):“现在不行。你知道,他们很迷信。他们走了。 ”
Mrs. Peters (turning from window takes a step in): Well, not now. They’re superstitious, you know. They leave.
县检察官(对彼得斯警长说,继续被打断的谈话):没有任何迹象表明有人从外面进来。他们用自己的绳子。现在让我们再上去一点一点地检查一下。(他们开始上楼。)那人一定是知道这件事的人——(彼得斯太太坐在桌子左边。两个女人坐在那里,没有看着对方,而是好像在凝视着什么,同时又在克制自己。现在,当她们说话时,她们就像在陌生的环境中摸索前进,好像害怕她们所说的话,但又好像忍不住要说出来。)
County Attorney (to Sheriff Peters, continuing an interrupted conversation): No sign at all of anyone having come from the outside. Their own rope. Now let’s go up again and go over it piece by piece. (They start upstairs.) It would have to have been someone who knew just the ——— (Mrs. Peters sits down left of table. The two women sit there not looking at one another, but as if peering into something and at the same time holding back. When they talk now it is in the manner of feeling their way over strange ground, as if afraid of what they are saying, but as if they cannot help saying it.)
黑尔夫人(犹豫而低声):“她喜欢这只鸟。她打算把它埋在那个漂亮的盒子里。”
Mrs. Hale (hesitatively and in hushed voice): She liked the bird. She was going to bury it in that pretty box.
彼得斯夫人(低声说):当我还是个小女孩的时候——我的小猫——有个小男孩拿着一把斧头,就在我眼前——在我到达之前——(瞬间捂住了脸)要不是他们拦住我,我就会——(稳住自己,看向楼上传来脚步声的地方,虚弱地颤抖着)——伤害他。
Mrs. Peters (in a whisper): When I was a girl — my kitten — there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes — and before I could get there ——— (Covers her face an instant.) If they hadn’t held me back I would have — (catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters weakly) — hurt him.
黑尔太太(慢慢环顾四周):我很奇怪,如果身边没有孩子,会是什么感觉。(停顿)不,赖特不喜欢鸟——会唱歌的东西。她过去常常唱歌。他也杀了它。
Mrs. Hale (with a slow look around her): I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around. (Pause.) No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird — a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.
彼得斯夫人(不安地动着):我们不知道是谁杀死了那只鸟。
Mrs. Peters (moving uneasily): We don’t know who killed the bird.
黑尔夫人:我认识约翰·赖特。
Mrs. Hale: I knew John Wright.
彼得斯夫人:那天晚上,这所房子里发生了一件可怕的事情,黑尔夫人。趁一个人睡觉时,用绳子勒住他的脖子,让他窒息而死。
Mrs. Peters: It was an awful thing was done in this house that night, Mrs. Hale. Killing a man while he slept, slipping a rope around his neck that choked the life out of him.
黑尔太太:他的脖子。掐死了他。(她把手伸出来,放在鸟笼上。)
Mrs. Hale: His neck. Choked the life out of him. (Her hand goes out and rests on the bird-cage.)
彼得斯夫人(提高声音):我们不知道是谁杀了他。我们不知道。
Mrs. Peters (with rising voice): We don’t know who killed him. We don’t know.
黑尔夫人(她自己的感情没有被打断):如果多年来什么都没有发生过,然后有一只鸟给你唱歌,那将是可怕的——仍然,在鸟儿安静下来之后。
Mrs. Hale (her own feelings not interrupted): If there’d been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful — still, after the bird was still.
彼得斯夫人(她心里在说些什么):我知道什么是宁静。当我们在达科他州定居时,我的第一个孩子死了——在他两岁之后,而我身边没有其他孩子——
Mrs. Peters (something within her speaking): I know what stillness is. When we homesteaded in Dakota, and my first baby died — after he was two years old, and me with no other then ———
黑尔女士(动身):你认为他们多久能找到证据?
Mrs. Hale (moving): How soon do you suppose they’ll be through looking for the evidence?
彼得斯夫人:我知道什么是平静。(重新振作起来)法律必须惩罚犯罪,黑尔夫人。
Mrs. Peters: I know what stillness is. (Pulling herself back.) The law has got to punish crimes, Mrs. Hale.
黑尔夫人(似乎没有回答):我希望你能看看米妮·福斯特,她穿着白色连衣裙,系着蓝色缎带,站在唱诗班里唱歌的样子。(环顾房间。)哦,我希望偶尔能来这里!那是犯罪!那是犯罪!谁来惩罚她?
Mrs. Hale (not as if answering that): I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang. (A look around the room.) Oh, I wish I’d come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s going to punish that?
彼得斯夫人(望向楼上):我们不能——承担。
Mrs. Peters (looking upstairs): We mustn’t — take on.
黑尔太太:我早该知道她需要帮助!我知道女人的处境。我告诉你,彼得斯太太,这很奇怪。我们住得近,又住得远。我们都经历过同样的事情——只是同一件事的不同形式。(擦了擦眼睛,注意到了水果罐,伸手去拿。)如果我是你,我不会告诉她水果不见了。告诉她没事。告诉她没事。把这个拿去给她看。她——她可能永远不知道它有没有坏。
Mrs. Hale: I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be — for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things — it’s all just a different kind of the same thing. (Brushes her eyes, noticing the jar of fruit, reaches out for it.) If I was you I wouldn’t tell her her fruit was gone. Tell her it ain’t. Tell her it’s all right. Take this in to prove it to her. She — she may never know whether it was broke or not.
彼得斯太太(拿起罐子,四处寻找可以包裹它的东西;从另一个房间拿来的衣服中拿出衬裙,非常紧张地开始将它裹在罐子上。用假声说) :天哪,幸好那些男人们听不见我们说话。他们难道不会笑吗!因为一只死金丝雀这样的小事而激动不已。好像那和——和——有什么关系似的,他们难道不会笑吗!(可以听到那些男人们下楼的声音。)
Mrs. Peters (takes the jar, looks about for something to wrap it in; takes petticoat from the clothes brought from the other room, very nervously begins winding this around the jar. In a false voice): My, it’s a good thing the men couldn’t hear us. Wouldn’t they just laugh! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a — dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with — with — wouldn’t they laugh! (The men are heard coming downstairs.)
黑尔夫人(低声说):也许他们会——也许不会。
Mrs. Hale (under her breath): Maybe they would — maybe they wouldn’t.
县检察官:不,彼得斯,一切都很清楚,除了这样做的原因。但你知道陪审团对待女人的态度。如果有什么明确的事情。(慢慢走到桌子上方。警长走到右边。黑尔太太和彼得斯太太仍然坐在桌子的两边。)有些事情可以展示——有些事情可以编造一个故事——有些事情可以与这种奇怪的做事方式联系起来————(女人的目光瞬间相遇。黑尔从外门进来。)
County Attorney: No, Peters, it’s all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. If there was some definite thing. (Crosses slowly to above table. Sheriff crosses down right. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters remain seated at either side of table.) Something to show — something to make a story about — a thing that would connect up with this strange way of doing it ——— (The women’s eyes meet for an instant. Enter Hale from outer door.)
黑尔(留在门口):好了,我已经把队员们都带过来了。外面太冷了。
Hale (remaining by door): Well, I’ve got the team around. Pretty cold out there.
县检察官:我要自己待一会儿。(对警长说)你可以派弗兰克来接我,可以吗?我想把所有事情都过一遍。我们不能做得更好,这让我很不满意。
County Attorney: I’m going to stay awhile by myself. (To the Sheriff.) You can send Frank out for me, can’t you? I want to go over everything. I’m not satisfied that we can’t do better.
警长:你想看看彼得斯太太要带什么东西吗?(律师拿起围裙,笑了。)
Sheriff: Do you want to see what Mrs. Peters is going to take in? (The Lawyer picks up the apron, laughs.)
县检察官:哦,我想女士们挑选的东西不是很危险。(移动一些东西,弄乱了盖在盒子上的被子碎片。后退几步。)不,彼得斯太太不需要监督。就此而言,警长的妻子嫁给了法律。彼得斯太太,你曾经这样想过吗?
County Attorney: Oh, I guess they’re not very dangerous things the ladies have picked out. (Moves a few things about, disturbing the quilt pieces which cover the box. Steps back.) No, Mrs. Peters doesn’t need supervising. For that matter a sheriff’s wife is married to the law. Ever think of it that way, Mrs. Peters?
彼得斯夫人:不——只是那样而已。
Mrs. Peters: Not — just that way.
警长(咯咯笑):嫁给了法律。(走到右门下另一个房间。)乔治,我只想让你进来一下。我们应该看看这些窗户。
Sheriff (chuckling): Married to the law. (Moves to down right door to the other room.) I just want you to come in here a minute, George. We ought to take a look at these windows.
县律师(嘲笑地):“哦,窗户!”
County Attorney (scoffingly): Oh, windows!
治安官:我们马上就出来,黑尔先生。 (黑尔走出去。治安官跟着县检察官走进房间。然后黑尔太太站起来,双手紧握,目不转睛地看着彼得斯太太,彼得斯太太的眼睛慢慢转过来,最后与黑尔太太对视。黑尔太太抱住了她一会儿,然后她自己的眼睛指向藏盒子的地方。突然,彼得斯太太扔掉被子碎片,试图把盒子放进她随身携带的袋子里。盒子太大了。她打开盒子,开始拿出鸟,但摸不到它,盒子碎了,她无助地站在那里。另一个房间里传来转动门把手的声音。黑尔太太抓起盒子放进大衣的口袋里。县检察官和治安官进来,他们留在右边。)
Sheriff: We’ll be right out, Mr. Hale. (Hale goes outside. The Sheriff follows the County Attorney into the room. Then Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hale’s. A moment Mrs. Hale holds her, then her own eyes point the way to where the box is concealed. Suddenly Mrs. Peters throws back quilt pieces and tries to put the box in the bag she is carrying. It is too big. She opens box, starts to take bird out, cannot touch it, goes to pieces, stands there helpless. Sound of a knob turning in the other room. Mrs. Hale snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat. Enter County Attorney and Sheriff, who remains down right.)
县检察官(开玩笑地走到左上门):好吧,亨利,至少我们发现她不打算缝被子。她打算——女士们,你们怎么称呼它?
County Attorney (crosses to up left door facetiously): Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to — what is it you call it, ladies?
黑尔夫人(站在桌子中央,面朝前方,手放在口袋里):我们称之为——打结,亨德森先生。
Mrs. Hale (standing center below table facing front, her hand against her pocket): We call it — knot it, Mr. Henderson.
[1916年]
[1916]
(1911–1983)
[1911–1983]
而你,我的父亲,在那悲伤的高处,
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
我祈求您,现在用您那凶猛的泪水诅咒我、祝福我。
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
不要温和地走进那个良夜,
Do not go gentle into that good night,
愤怒吧,愤怒吧,反抗光明的消逝!
Rage, rage against the dying of the light!
田纳西·威廉斯的制作笔记
Production Notes by Tennessee Williams
布景是密西西比三角洲一所种植园住宅的卧室兼起居室。它位于楼上的走廊上,走廊可能环绕着整个房子;它有两对非常宽的门通向走廊,门外是白色的栏杆,映衬着美丽的夏日天空,随着戏剧的进行,天空逐渐褪为黄昏和黑夜,戏剧正好占据了演出的时间,当然,中场休息的十五分钟除外。
The set is the bed-sitting-room of a plantation home in the Mississippi Delta. It is along an upstairs gallery which probably runs around the entire house; it has two pairs of very wide doors opening onto the gallery, showing white balustrades against a fair summer sky that fades into dusk and night during the course of the play, which occupies precisely the time of its performance, excepting, of course, the fifteen minutes of intermission.
也许,这间房间的风格与三角洲最大的棉花种植园主的家并不相符。它是维多利亚风格的,带有一点远东风格。自从这栋房子的原主人杰克·斯特劳和彼得·奥切罗住在这里以来,这间房子就没有发生过太大的变化。这对老单身汉一生都住在这间房间里。换句话说,这间房间一定能唤起一些幽灵;它被一种关系温柔而诗意地萦绕着,这种关系一定包含着一种不常见的温柔。这可能无关紧要或多余,但我曾看到一张褪色照片的复制品,照片上是罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森在萨摩亚岛上度过晚年的家的阳台,柔和的光线照射在风化的木材上,比如暴露在热带阳光和热带雨水中的竹子和柳条制成的门廊家具,这让我在思考这部戏剧的布景时想起了这一点,也让我想起了光线的优雅和舒适,它在夏日晴朗的午后给人的安慰,无论发生什么,甚至对死亡的恐惧,都会被它温柔地触动和抚慰。因为布景是一部涉及人类极端情感的戏剧的背景,它需要这种柔和的背景。
Perhaps the style of the room is not what you would expect in the home of the Delta’s biggest cotton-planter. It is Victorian with a touch of the Far East. It hasn’t changed much since it was occupied by the original owners of the place, Jack Straw and Peter Ochello, a pair of old bachelors who shared this room all their lives together. In other words, the room must evoke some ghosts; it is gently and poetically haunted by a relationship that must have involved a tenderness which was uncommon. This may be irrelevant or unnecessary, but I once saw a reproduction of a faded photograph of the verandah of Robert Louis Stevenson’s home on that Samoan Island where he spent his last years, and there was a quality of tender light on weathered wood, such as porch furniture made of bamboo and wicker, exposed to tropical suns and tropical rains, which came to mind when I thought about the set for this play, bringing also to mind the grace and comfort of light, the reassurance it gives, on a late and fair afternoon in summer, the way that no matter what, even dread of death, is gently touched and soothed by it. For the set is the background for a play that deals with human extremities of emotion, and it needs that softness behind it.
浴室的门在一侧墙上,只露出淡蓝色的瓷砖和银色的毛巾架;门厅的门在对面墙上。有两件家具需要提及:一张大双人床,舞台布置应尽可能经常将其作为布景的功能性部分,床面应略微倾斜,以便更容易看到上面的人物;舞台后部两扇巨大的双开门之间的墙面空间:一个我们这个时代特有的巨大怪物,一个巨大的控制台组合,集收音机、留声机(带三个扬声器的高保真音响)、电视机和酒柜于一体,上面放着许多玻璃杯和瓶子,它们都是一体的,由柔和的银色调和反光玻璃的乳白色调组成,是室内棕褐色(黄褐色)色调与画廊和天空的冷色调(白色和蓝色)之间的色彩联系。这件家具(?!),这座纪念碑,是一座非常完整和紧凑的小神殿,里面几乎藏有所有的舒适和幻想,我们用这些舒适和幻想来逃避剧中人物所面临的一切……
The bathroom door, showing only pale-blue tile and silver towel racks, is in one side wall; the hall door in the opposite wall. Two articles of furniture need mention: a big double bed which staging should make a functional part of the set as often as suitable, the surface of which should be slightly raked to make figures on it seen more easily; and against the wall space between the two huge double doors upstage: a monumental monstrosity peculiar to our times, a huge console combination of radio-phonograph (hi-fi with three speakers) TV set and liquor cabinet, bearing and containing many glasses and bottles, all in one piece, which is a composition of muted silver tones, and the opalescent tones of reflecting glass, a chromatic link, this thing, between the sepia (tawny gold) tones of the interior and the cool (white and blue) tones of the gallery and sky. This piece of furniture (?!), this monument, is a very complete and compact little shrine to virtually all the comforts and illusions behind which we hide from such things as the characters in the play are faced with….
布景应该远没有我在此描述中暗示的那么真实。我认为天花板下面的墙壁应该神秘地融入空气中;布景应该被天空覆盖;星星和月亮应该被乳白色的痕迹所暗示,就像是通过失焦的望远镜镜头观察到的一样。
The set should be far less realistic than I have so far implied in this description of it. I think the walls below the ceiling should dissolve mysteriously into air; the set should be roofed by the sky; stars and moon suggested by traces of milky pallor, as if they were observed through a telescope lens out of focus.
我还能想到什么?哦,对了,布景中所有门上方都有扇形窗(形状像打开的玻璃扇的横梁),窗玻璃是蓝色和琥珀色的,最重要的是,设计师应该尽量给演员留出自由活动的空间(以展示他们的不安和对突破的热情),就像芭蕾舞的布景一样。
Anything else I can think of? Oh, yes, fanlights (transoms shaped like an open glass fan) above all the doors in the set, with panes of blue and amber, and above all, the designer should take as many pains to give the actors room to move about freely (to show their restlessness, their passion for breaking out) as if it were a set for a ballet.
夏日的一个夜晚。演出连续进行,中间有两次中场休息。
An evening in summer. The action is continuous, with two intermissions.
剧中人物
Characters of the Play
玛格丽特
Margaret
砖
Brick
Mae ,有时也被称为姐妹女人
Mae, sometimes called Sister Woman
大妈妈
Big Mama
迪克西,一个小女孩
Dixie, a little girl
大爸爸
Big Daddy
牧师图克
Reverend Tooker
Gooper ,有时也被称为Brother Man
Gooper, sometimes called Brother Man
D octor Baugh ,发音为“Baw”
Doctor Baugh, pronounced “Baw”
莱西,一名黑人仆人
Lacey, a Negro servant
Sookey ,另一个
Sookey, another
另一个小女孩和两个小男孩
Another little girl and two small boys
(第三幕的剧本中还包括另一个小女孩Trixie,还有仆人 D aisy、 B rightie和 S mall。)
(The playing script of Act III also includes Trixie, another little girl, also Daisy, Brightie and Small, servants.)
窗帘拉开,浴室里有人在洗澡,门半开着。一位面带焦虑的年轻漂亮女子走进卧室,走到浴室门口。
At the rise of the curtain someone is taking a shower in the bathroom, the door of which is half open. A pretty young woman, with anxious lines in her face, enters the bedroom and crosses to the bathroom door.
玛格丽特(在水声中大声喊道):其中一个无脖子怪物用一块热黄油饼干打了我,所以我必须改变!
Margaret (shouting above roar of water): One of those no-neck monsters hit me with a hot buttered biscuit so I have t’ change!
(玛格丽特的声音既急促又拖沓。在她的长篇演讲中,她有牧师在诵读圣歌时的发声技巧,台词几乎是唱出来的,总是超出她的呼吸范围,所以她不得不喘着气再说下去。有时她在台词中穿插一些无词的歌唱,例如“哒-哒-哒!”)
(Margaret’s voice is both rapid and drawling. In her long speeches she has the vocal tricks of a priest delivering a liturgical chant, the lines are almost sung, always continuing a little beyond her breath so she has to gasp for another. Sometimes she intersperses the lines with a little wordless singing, such as “Da-da-daaaa!”)
(水停了,布里克叫了她一声,但仍不见踪影。他和玛格丽特说话时,语气中带着一种礼貌地假装感兴趣、掩饰冷漠甚至更糟的语气。)
(Water turns off and Brick calls out to her, but is still unseen. A tone of politely feigned interest, masking indifference, or worse, is characteristic of his speech with Margaret.)
布里克:你说什么,玛吉?水流太大了,我听不见……
Brick: Wha’d you say, Maggie? Water was on s’ loud I couldn’t hearya….
玛格丽特:嗯,我!——刚才注意到了!——其中一个无脖子怪物弄乱了我漂亮的蕾丝裙,所以我得——改变……
Margaret: Well, I! — just remarked that! — one of th’ no-neck monsters messed up m’ lovely lace dress so I got t’ — cha-a-ange….
(她打开梳妆台的抽屉,然后又踢关上。)
(She opens and kicks shut drawers of the dresser.)
B rick:你为什么把 Gooper 的孩子们称为无脖子怪物?
Brick: Why d’ya call Gooper’s kiddies no-neck monsters?
玛格丽特:因为它们没有脖子!这难道还不够吗?
Margaret: Because they’ve got no necks! Isn’t that a good enough reason?
布里克:它们没有脖子吗?
Brick: Don’t they have any necks?
玛格丽特:一点都看不见。他们的小脑袋和小身体毫无联系。
Margaret: None visible. Their fat little heads are set on their fat little bodies without a bit of connection.
布里克:那太糟糕了。
Brick: That’s too bad.
玛格丽特:是的,这太糟糕了,因为如果他们没有脖子可扭的话,你也无法扭断他们的脖子!不是吗,亲爱的?
Margaret: Yes, it’s too bad because you can’t wring their necks if they’ve got no necks to wring! Isn’t that right, honey?
(她脱下衣服,穿着象牙色缎子和蕾丝的衬裙。)
(She steps out of her dress, stands in a slip of ivory satin and lace.)
是的,他们是无脖子怪物,所有无脖子的人都是怪物……
Yep, they’re no-neck monsters, all no-neck people are monsters …
(楼下孩子们尖叫。)
(Children shriek downstairs.)
听到它们了吗?听到它们尖叫了吗?我不知道它们的声带在哪里,因为它们没有脖子。我告诉你,今晚在那张桌子上我非常紧张,我以为我会仰起头,发出一声尖叫,你能在阿肯色州边境和路易斯安那州和田纳西州的部分地区听到。我对你迷人的嫂子梅说,亲爱的,你不能在一张单独的桌子上用油布罩喂这些珍贵的小东西吗?它们弄得一团糟,蕾丝布看起来很漂亮!她瞪大眼睛看着我,说:“哦,不!在大爸爸的生日那天?为什么,他永远不会原谅我!”好吧,我要你们知道,大爸爸在餐桌前和那五个没脖子的怪物一起吃饭,他们正对着食物流着口水,还没等他坐下来,他就扔下叉子,喊道:“看在上帝的份上,古珀,你为什么不把这些猪放到厨房的食槽里呢?”——好吧,我发誓,我差点就死了!
Hear them? Hear them screaming? I don’t know where their voice boxes are located since they don’t have necks. I tell you I got so nervous at that table tonight I thought I would throw back my head and utter a scream you could hear across the Arkansas border an’ parts of Louisiana an’ Tennessee. I said to your charming sister-in-law, Mae, honey, couldn’t you feed those precious little things at a separate table with an oilcloth cover? They make such a mess an’ the lace cloth looks so pretty! She made enormous eyes at me and said, “Ohhh, noooooo! On Big Daddy’s birthday? Why, he would never forgive me!” Well, I want you to know, Big Daddy hadn’t been at the table two minutes with those five no-neck monsters slobbering and drooling over their food before he threw down his fork an’ shouted, “Fo’ God’s sake, Gooper, why don’t you put them pigs at a trough in th’ kitchen?” — Well, I swear, I simply could have di-ieed!
想想看,布里克,他们已经有五个了,第六个也快要出生了。他们把这些孩子像动物一样带到这里,在县集市上展示。为什么,他们总是让那些孩子玩杂耍!“小家伙,给大爸爸演示一下你是怎么做这个的,给大爸爸演示一下你是怎么做那个的,给大爸爸说说你的小意见,妹妹。露出你的酒窝,甜心。哥哥,给大爸爸演示一下你是怎样倒立的!”——他们一直在说这些,还不断暗示你和我没有生过孩子,完全没有孩子,因此完全没用!——当然,这很滑稽,但也很恶心,因为他们的所作所为太明显了!
Think of it, Brick, they’ve got five of them and number six is coming. They’ve brought the whole bunch down here like animals to display at a county fair. Why, they have those children doin’ tricks all the time! “Junior, show Big Daddy how you do this, show Big Daddy how you do that, say your little piece fo’ Big Daddy, Sister. Show your dimples, Sugar. Brother, show Big Daddy how you stand on your head!” — It goes on all the time, along with constant little remarks and innuendos about the fact that you and I have not produced any children, are totally childless and therefore totally useless! — Of course it’s comical but it’s also disgusting since it’s so obvious what they’re up to!
布里克(不感兴趣):他们在干什么,玛吉?
Brick (without interest): What are they up to, Maggie?
玛格丽特:为什么你知道他们在做什么!
Margaret: Why, you know what they’re up to!
布里克(出现):不,我不知道他们在做什么。
Brick (appearing): No, I don’t know what they’re up to.
(他站在浴室门口,用毛巾擦干头发,因为一只脚踝骨折了,打上了石膏,绑上了绷带,所以他一直抓住毛巾架。他仍然像男孩一样苗条结实。他的酒瘾还没有在外面发作。他身上有一种超然的冷漠气质,这是放弃挣扎的人所具有的魅力。但时不时地,当他受到惊扰时,背后会闪过一些东西,就像晴朗天空中的闪电,这表明在更深的层次上,他远非平静。也许在更强的光线下,他会表现出一些潮解的迹象,但来自画廊的渐弱而依然温暖的光线温柔地对待着他。)
(He stands there in the bathroom doorway drying his hair with a towel and hanging onto the towel rack because one ankle is broken, plastered and bound. He is still slim and firm as a boy. His liquor hasn’t started tearing him down outside. He has the additional charm of that cool air of detachment that people have who have given up the struggle. But now and then, when disturbed, something flashes behind it, like lightning in a fair sky, which shows that at some deeper level he is far from peaceful. Perhaps in a stronger light he would show some signs of deliquescence, but the fading, still warm light from the gallery treats him gently.)
玛格丽特:我来告诉你他们在干什么,我的孩子!——他们想把你从你父亲的遗产中剔除出去,而且——
Margaret: I’ll tell you what they’re up to, boy of mine! — They’re up to cutting you out of your father’s estate, and —
(在说出下一句话之前,她一时愣住了。她的声音低了下来,好像这是一次令她个人感到尴尬的承认。)
(She freezes momentarily before her next remark. Her voice drops as if it were somehow a personally embarrassing admission.)
— 现在我们知道大爸爸因癌症而死……
— Now we know that Big Daddy’s dyin’ of — cancer….
(下面的草坪上传来声音:远处传来长长的呼喊声。玛格丽特举起她美丽的裸露的胳膊,轻轻叹了口气,往腋窝上扑了些粉。)
(There are voices on the lawn below: long-drawn calls across distance. Margaret raises her lovely bare arms and powders her armpits with a light sigh.)
(她调整放大镜的角度,拉直睫毛,然后焦躁地站起来说:)
(She adjusts the angle of a magnifying mirror to straighten an eyelash, then rises fretfully saying:)
房间里光线充足,所以——
There’s so much light in the room it —
布里克(轻声但尖锐地):“我们可以吗?”
Brick (softly but sharply): Do we?
玛格丽特:我们做什么?
Margaret: Do we what?
布里克:知道大爸爸因癌症而死吗?
Brick: Know Big Daddy’s dyin’ of cancer?
玛格丽特:今天收到了报告。
Margaret: Got the report today.
布里克:哦……
Brick: Oh …
玛格丽特(放下竹帘,金色的阴影在房间里投射出长长的影子):“是的,刚刚收到了报告……我并不感到惊讶,宝贝……
Margaret (letting down bamboo blinds which cast long, goldfretted shadows over the room): Yep, got th’ report just now … it didn’t surprise me, Baby….
(她的声音音域宽广,富有音乐感;有时声音低沉得像男孩,让你突然想起她小时候玩男孩的游戏。)
(Her voice has range, and music; sometimes it drops low as a boy’s and you have a sudden image of her playing boy’s games as a child.)
去年春天我们刚到这里,我就意识到了这些症状,我敢打赌,曼兄弟和他的妻子也非常确定这一点。这很可能解释了为什么他们今年夏天放弃了往常去大烟山的凉爽之地的迁徙,而是选择——和他们整个尖叫的部落一起匆匆忙忙地赶到这里!这也是为什么最近有这么多关于彩虹山的暗示。你知道彩虹山是什么吗?在电影里,这个地方因治疗酗酒者和瘾君子而闻名!
I recognized the symptoms soon’s we got here last spring and I’m willin’ to bet you that Brother Man and his wife were pretty sure of it, too. That more than likely explains why their usual summer migration to the coolness of the Great Smokies was passed up this summer in favor of — hustlin’ down here ev’ry whipstitch with their whole screamin’ tribe! And why so many allusions have been made to Rainbow Hill lately. You know what Rainbow Hill is? Place that’s famous for treatin’ alcoholics an’ dope fiends in the movies!
布里克:我不拍电影。
Brick: I’m not in the movies.
玛格丽特:不,你也不吸毒。否则你就是彩虹山的不二人选,宝贝,他们想把你送到那里去——除非我死了!是的,除非我死了,否则他们会把你送到那里,但没有什么比这更让他们高兴的了。然后兄弟曼就可以掌握钱袋,给我们汇款,也许可以拿到授权书,为我们签支票,随时随地切断我们的信用!狗娘养的!——你觉得怎么样,宝贝?——嗯,你一直在尽你所能实现这个目标,你一直在尽你所能帮助他们实施这个计划!辞掉工作,专心喝酒!——昨晚在高中运动场上摔断了脚踝:干什么?跳跨栏?凌晨两三点?太棒了!上了报纸。克拉克斯代尔纪事报刊登了一篇关于它的精彩小报道,这是一篇充满人情味的故事,讲的是一位著名的前运动员昨晚在光荣山高中运动场上举办了一场单人田径比赛,但身体状况不佳,没有跨过第一个障碍!兄弟曼·古珀声称他运用了自己的影响力,阻止了它被 AP 或 UP 或每个该死的“P”淘汰。
Margaret: No, and you don’t take dope. Otherwise you’re a perfect candidate for Rainbow Hill, Baby, and that’s where they aim to ship you — over my dead body! Yep, over my dead body they’ll ship you there, but nothing would please them better. Then Brother Man could get a-hold of the purse strings and dole out remittances to us, maybe get power of attorney and sign checks for us and cut off our credit wherever, whenever he wanted! Son-of-a-bitch! — How’d you like that, Baby? — Well, you’ve been doin’ just about ev’rything in your power to bring it about, you’ve just been doin’ ev’rything you can think of to aid and abet them in this scheme of theirs! Quittin’ work, devoting yourself to the occupation of drinkin’! — Breakin’ your ankle last night on the high school athletic field: doin’ what? Jumpin’ hurdles? At two or three in the morning? Just fantastic! Got in the paper. Clarksdale Register carried a nice little item about it, human interest story about a well-known former athlete stagin’ a one-man track meet on the Glorious Hill High School athletic field last night, but was slightly out of condition and didn’t clear the first hurdle! Brother Man Gooper claims he exercised his influence t’ keep it from goin’ out over AP or UP or every goddam “P.”
但是,布里克?你还有一个很大的优势!
But, Brick? You still have one big advantage!
(在上述滔滔不绝的话语中,布里克悠闲地躺在雪白的床上,小心翼翼地翻身,侧卧或趴下。)
(During the above swift flood of words, Brick has reclined with contrapuntal leisure on the snowy surface of the bed and has rolled over carefully on his side or belly.)
布里克(挖苦地):“你说什么了吗,玛吉?”
Brick (wryly): Did you say something, Maggie?
玛格丽特:老爹很宠你,宝贝。但他无法忍受曼兄弟和曼兄弟的妻子,那个生育能力超强的怪物梅,他简直讨厌她!知道我怎么知道的吗?当那个女人在谈论她喜欢的话题之一时,他脸上闪过一丝表情,比如——她是如何拒绝黄昏睡眠的!——当双胞胎出生时!因为她觉得做母亲是一种女人应该充分体验的体验!——才能充分欣赏它的奇妙和美丽!哈哈!
Margaret: Big Daddy dotes on you, honey. And he can’t stand Brother Man and Brother Man’s wife, that monster of fertility, Mae; she’s downright odious to him! Know how I know? By little expressions that flicker over his face when that woman is holding fo’th on one of her choice topics such as — how she refused twilight sleep! — when the twins were delivered! Because she feels motherhood’s an experience that a woman ought to experience fully! — in order to fully appreciate the wonder and beauty of it! HAH!
(这种响亮的“哈哈!”通常伴随着剧烈的动作,例如猛地关上抽屉。)
(This loud “HAH!” is accompanied by a violent action such as slamming a drawer shut.)
— 以及她如何让曼兄弟进来并站在产房里她的身边,这样他就不会错过它的“奇妙和美丽”!— 生产那些无脖子的怪物……
— and how she made Brother Man come in an’ stand beside her in the delivery room so he would not miss out on the “wonder and beauty” of it either! — producin’ those no-neck monsters….
(除了玛格丽特,几乎所有人的这种演讲都会遭到反感;她让这种演讲变得有趣,因为她的眼睛不停地闪烁,她的声音因笑声而颤抖,这基本上是一种纵容。)
(A speech of this kind would be antipathetic from almost anybody but Margaret; she makes it oddly funny, because her eyes constantly twinkle and her voice shakes with laughter which is basically indulgent.)
— 大爸爸对我俩的态度和我一样!至于我,嗯 — 我时不时逗他笑,他也能容忍我。事实上!— 我有时怀疑大爸爸对我有点无意识的“好色之徒”……
— Big Daddy shares my attitude toward those two! As for me, well — I give him a laugh now and then and he tolerates me. In fact! — I sometimes suspect that Big Daddy harbors a little unconscious “lech” fo’ me….
布里克:玛吉,是什么让你认为大爸爸对你有好感呢?
Brick: What makes you think that Big Daddy has a lech for you, Maggie?
玛格丽特:当我和他说话时,他总是低头看着我的身体,低头看着我的胸部,舔着他的老嘴唇!哈哈!
Margaret: Way he always drops his eyes down my body when I’m talkin’ to him, drops his eyes to my boobs an’ licks his old chops! Ha ha!
布里克:这种言论真令人恶心。
Brick: That kind of talk is disgusting.
玛格丽特:布里克,有没有人告诉过你,你是个清教徒?
Margaret: Did anyone ever tell you that you’re an ass-aching Puritan, Brick?
我认为,那个老家伙,在死亡的门槛上,仍然以应得的赞赏来看待我,这真是太好了!
I think it’s mighty fine that that ole fellow, on the doorstep of death, still takes in my shape with what I think is deserved appreciation!
你还想知道其他事情吗?大爸爸不知道生了多少个小梅斯和小古珀!“你有几个孩子?”他在餐桌旁问道,就好像曼兄弟和他的妻子是他新认识的人一样!大妈妈说他在开玩笑,但那个老男孩不是在开玩笑,天哪,不是!
And you wanta know something else? Big Daddy didn’t know how many little Maes and Goopers had been produced! “How many kids have you got?” he asked at the table, just like Brother Man and his wife were new acquaintances to him! Big Mama said he was jokin’, but that ole boy wasn’t jokin’, Lord, no!
当他们告诉他,他们已经有了五个,并且即将推出第六个!——这个消息似乎有点令人不快……
And when they infawmed him that they had five already and were turning out number six! — the news seemed to come as a sort of unpleasant surprise …
(下面有孩子们的喊叫。)
(Children yell below.)
尖叫吧,怪物!
Scream, monsters!
(突然转向布里克,脸上浮现出快乐而迷人的微笑。当她注意到他并没有看着她,而是带着苦恼的表情看着渐渐消逝的金色太空时,她的微笑便消失了。)
(Turns to Brick with a sudden, gay, charming smile which fades as she notices that he is not looking at her but into fading gold space with a troubled expression.)
(正是不断的拒绝让她的幽默显得“刻薄”。)
(It is constant rejection that makes her humor “bitchy.”)
是的,你应该去那张餐桌,宝贝。
Yes, you should of been at that supper-table, Baby.
(每当她叫他“宝贝”时,这个词就是一种温柔的爱抚。)
(Whenever she calls him “baby” the word is a soft caress.)
你知道,大爸爸,愿上帝保佑他那可爱的老灵魂,他是世界上最可爱的老东西,但他确实弯腰驼背地吃着食物,好像他不想注意其他任何事情。好吧,梅和古珀并排坐在桌子旁,正对着大爸爸,像鹰一样注视着他的脸,一边喋喋不休地谈论着无脖子怪物的可爱和聪明!
Y’know, Big Daddy, bless his ole sweet soul, he’s the dearest ole thing in the world, but he does hunch over his food as if he preferred not to notice anything else. Well, Mae an’ Gooper were side by side at the table, direckly across from Big Daddy, watchin’ his face like hawks while they jawed an’ jabbered about the cuteness an’ brillance of th’ no-neck monsters!
(她咯咯地笑着,一只手抚摸着自己的喉咙和胸部,长长的喉咙拱了起来。)
(She giggles with a hand fluttering at her throat and her breast and her long throat arched.)
(她走到舞台前,用声音和手势重现了当时的场景。)
(She comes downstage and recreates the scene with voice and gesture.)
没有脖子的怪兽排列在桌子周围,有的坐在高脚椅上,有的坐在知识之书上,全都戴着漂亮的小纸帽,为大爸爸的生日庆祝。整个晚餐期间,嗯,我想让你们知道,曼兄弟和他的伙伴一刻也没有停止过互相戳、掐、踢、打手势和发出信号!——为什么,他们就像一对骗子在剥削傻瓜。——就连大妈妈,愿上帝保佑她那可爱的老灵魂,她并不是世界上最敏捷、最聪明的人,她终于注意到了,并对古珀说,“古珀,你和梅为什么要打这些手势?”——我发誓,我差点被鸡肉噎住!
And the no-neck monsters were ranged around the table, some in high chairs and some on th’ Books of Knowledge, all in fancy little paper caps in honor of Big Daddy’s birthday, and all through dinner, well, I want you to know that Brother Man an’ his partner never once, for one moment, stopped exchanging pokes an’ pinches an’ kicks an’ signs an’ signals! — Why, they were like a couple of cardsharps fleecing a sucker. — Even Big Mama, bless her ole sweet soul, she isn’t th’ quickest an’ brightest thing in the world, she finally noticed, at last, an’ said to Gooper, “Gooper, what are you an’ Mae makin’ all these signs at each other about?” — I swear t’ goodness, I nearly choked on my chicken!
(玛格丽特回到梳妆台,仍然没有看到布里克。他用一种不太明确的眼神看着她——好笑?震惊?轻蔑?——一部分是这些,一部分是别的。)
(Margaret, back at the dressing table, still doesn’t see Brick. He is watching her with a look that is not quite definable — Amused? shocked? contemptuous? — part of those and part of something else.)
你知道吗——你的兄弟古珀仍然怀有这样的幻想:当他与孟菲斯弗林家的梅弗林小姐结婚时,他的社会地位就上升了一大步。
Y’know — your brother Gooper still cherishes the illusion he took a giant step up on the social ladder when he married Miss Mae Flynn of the Memphis Flynns.
(玛格丽特一边说话一边在房间里走来走去,在镜子前停下,然后继续走。)
(Margaret moves about the room as she talks, stops before the mirror, moves on.)
但是我有一条西班牙新闻要告诉 Gooper。弗林一家除了钱之外一无所有,他们失去了钱,他们只是相当成功的攀登者。当然,梅·弗林在我首次亮相纳什维尔之前八年就来到了孟菲斯,但我在沃德-贝尔蒙特有一些来自孟菲斯的朋友,他们过去常来看我,我也常在圣诞节和春假去看他们,所以我知道在孟菲斯社会里,谁值得关注,谁不值得关注。你知道老弗林爸爸吗?当他的连锁店倒闭时,他差点因为在股市上进行暗箱操作而被判入狱,至于梅曾是棉花嘉年华女王,正如他们经常提醒我们的那样,以免我们忘记,好吧,这是我不羡慕她的一项荣誉! — 坐在俗气的花车上的黄铜宝座上,沿着大街行驶,向街上所有的垃圾微笑、鞠躬、飞吻 —
But I have a piece of Spanish news for Gooper. The Flynns never had a thing in this world but money and they lost that, they were nothing at all but fairly successful climbers. Of course, Mae Flynn came out in Memphis eight years before I made my debut in Nashville, but I had friends at Ward-Belmont who came from Memphis and they used to come to see me and I used to go to see them for Christmas and spring vacations, and so I know who rates an’ who doesn’t rate in Memphis society. Why, y’know ole Papa Flynn, he barely escaped doing time in the Federal pen for shady manipulations on th’ stock market when his chain stores crashed, and as for Mae having been a cotton carnival queen, as they remind us so often, lest we forget, well, that’s one honor that I don’t envy her for! — Sit on a brass throne on a tacky float an’ ride down Main Street, smilin’, bowin’, and blowin’ kisses to all the trash on the street —
(她挑选了一双镶有宝石的凉鞋并冲到梳妆台。)
(She picks out a pair of jeweled sandals and rushes to the dressing table.)
前年,当苏珊·麦克菲特斯被选为那位女士时,你知道她后来怎么样了吗?你知道可怜的小苏茜·麦克菲特斯后来怎么样了吗?
Why, year before last, when Susan McPheeters was singled out fo’ that honor, y’know what happened to her? Y’know what happened to poor little Susie McPheeters?
布里克(心不在焉地) :没有。小苏西麦克菲特斯怎么了?
Brick (absently): No. What happened to little Susie McPheeters?
玛格丽特:有人往她脸上吐烟草汁。
Margaret: Somebody spit tobacco juice in her face.
B rick(梦幻般):“有人往她脸上吐烟草汁?”
Brick (dreamily): Somebody spit tobacco juice in her face?
玛格丽特:没错,有个老醉鬼从盖约索酒店的窗户探出头来,大喊:“嘿,女王,嘿,嘿,奎妮呀!”可怜的苏茜抬起头来,对他露出灿烂的笑容,他便朝可怜的苏茜的脸上喷射出一股烟草汁。
Margaret: That’s right, some old drunk leaned out of a window in the Hotel Gayoso and yelled, “Hey, Queen, hey, hey, there, Queenie!” Poor Susie looked up and flashed him a radiant smile and he shot out a squirt of tobacco juice right in poor Susie’s face.
布里克:那么,你对此了解多少呢?
Brick: Well, what d’you know about that.
玛格丽特(高兴地):我知道些什么?我当时在场,亲眼看见了!
Margaret (gaily): What do I know about it? I was there, I saw it!
布里克(心不在焉地):一定很有趣。
Brick (absently): Must have been kind of funny.
玛格丽特:苏茜可不这么认为。她歇斯底里。像女妖一样尖叫。他们不得不停止游行,把她从王座上挪下来,继续——
Margaret: Susie didn’t think so. Had hysterics. Screamed like a banshee. They had to stop th’ parade an’ remove her from her throne an’ go on with —
(她在镜子里看见了他,微微喘息,转身面对他。数到十。)
(She catches sight of him in the mirror, gasps slightly, wheels about to face him. Count ten.)
——你为什么用那样的眼神看着我?
— Why are you looking at me like that?
布里克(现在轻轻地吹着口哨): “比如什么,玛吉?”
Brick (whistling softly, now): Like what, Maggie?
玛格丽特(强烈而恐惧地):刚才你在镜子里盯着我,然后你开始吹口哨!我不知道该怎么形容,但我的血液都凝固了!——我发现你最近经常这样看着我。你这样看着我时,在想什么?
Margaret (intensely, fearfully): The way y’ were lookin’ at me just now, befo’ I caught your eye in the mirror and you started t’ whistle! I don’t know how t’ describe it but it froze my blood! — I’ve caught you lookin’ at me like that so often lately. What are you thinkin’ of when you look at me like that?
布里克:玛吉,我没有意识到看着你。
Brick: I wasn’t conscious of lookin’ at you, Maggie.
玛格丽特:嗯,我意识到了!你在想什么?
Margaret: Well, I was conscious of it! What were you thinkin’?
布里克:我不记得想过什么,玛吉。
Brick: I don’t remember thinking of anything, Maggie.
玛格丽特:你不认为我知道——?你不认为——?——你认为我知道——?
Margaret: Don’t you think I know that — ? Don’t you — ? — Think I know that — ?
布里克(冷静地):“知道什么吗,玛吉?”
Brick (coolly): Know what, Maggie?
玛格丽特(努力表达):我经历了这种——可怕的!——转变,变得——坚强!疯狂!
Margaret (struggling for expression): That I’ve gone through this — hideous! — transformation, become — hard! Frantic!
(然后她几乎温柔地补充道:)
(Then she adds, almost tenderly:)
- 残忍的!!
— cruel!!
这就是你最近在我身上观察到的。你怎么能不观察到呢?没关系。我不再敏感了,再也不能敏感了。
That’s what you’ve been observing in me lately. How could y’ help but observe it? That’s all right. I’m not — thin-skinned any more, can’t afford t’ be thin-skinned any more.
(她现在正在恢复力量。)
(She is now recovering her power.)
——但是砖?砖?
— But Brick? Brick?
B rick:你说什么了吗?
Brick: Did you say something?
玛格丽特:我正要说点什么:我感到——孤独。非常孤独!
Margaret: I was goin’ t’ say something: that I get — lonely. Very!
B rick:每个人都会这样……
Brick: Ev’rybody gets that …
玛格丽特:与你爱的人一起生活会比独自生活更孤独! ——如果你爱的人不爱你……
Margaret: Living with someone you love can be lonelier — than living entirely alone! — if the one that y’ love doesn’t love you….
(停顿了一下。布里克一瘸一拐地走到舞台前,看着她问道:)
(There is a pause. Brick hobbles downstage and asks, without looking at her:)
布里克:玛吉,你想一个人住吗?
Brick: Would you like to live alone, Maggie?
(又一次停顿:然后 — — 在她快速、痛苦地喘了一口气之后:)
(Another pause: then — after she has caught a quick, hurt breath:)
玛格丽特:不!——天啊!——我不会!
Margaret: No! — God! — I wouldn’t!
(又是一口气。她强行控制住想要哭出来的冲动。我们看到她故意地,非常强行地,回到了那个可以谈论普通事情的世界。)
(Another gasping breath. She forcibly controls what must have been an impulse to cry out. We see her deliberately, very forcibly, going all the way back to the world in which you can talk about ordinary matters.)
你洗了个舒服的澡吗?
Did you have a nice shower?
布里克:嗯嗯。
Brick: Uh-huh.
玛格丽特:水凉吗?
Margaret: Was the water cool?
布里克:不。
Brick: No.
玛格丽特:但是它让你感觉神清气爽,嗯?
Margaret: But it made y’ feel fresh, huh?
B rick:更新鲜……
Brick: Fresher….
玛格丽特:我知道有一些东西可以让你感觉更清新!
Margaret: I know something would make y’ feel much fresher!
布里克:啥?
Brick: What?
玛格丽特:酒精擦。或者古龙水,用古龙水擦!
Margaret: An alcohol rub. Or cologne, a rub with cologne!
布里克:锻炼后感觉很好,但我一直没锻炼过,玛吉。
Brick: That’s good after a workout but I haven’t been workin’ out, Maggie.
玛格丽特:不过,你的状态一直保持得很好。
Margaret: You’ve kept in good shape, though.
布里克(漠然地):“你这么认为吗,玛吉?”
Brick (indifferently): You think so, Maggie?
玛格丽特:我一直以为喝酒的男人会失去美貌,但我显然错了。
Margaret: I always thought drinkin’ men lost their looks, but I was plainly mistaken.
布里克(挖苦地): “为什么?谢谢你,玛吉。”
Brick (wryly): Why, thanks, Maggie.
玛格丽特:你是我认识的唯一一个喝酒却从未发胖的男人。
Margaret: You’re the only drinkin’ man I know that it never seems t’ put fat on.
布里克:我变得更温柔了,玛吉。
Brick: I’m gettin’ softer, Maggie.
玛格丽特:好吧,迟早它会让你变得温柔。就在它开始让斯基珀变得温柔的时候——
Margaret: Well, sooner or later it’s bound to soften you up. It was just beginning to soften up Skipper when —
(她突然停了下来。)
(She stops short.)
对不起。我总忍不住要碰碰伤口——我希望你不要再那么漂亮了。如果你能做到,圣玛吉的殉难就更能让人忍受一点了。但你没有这么幸运。我真的相信你自从开始酗酒后变得更漂亮了。是的,不认识你的人会认为你从来没有神经紧张或肌肉拉伤过。
I’m sorry. I never could keep my fingers off a sore — I wish you would lose your looks. If you did it would make the martyrdom of Saint Maggie a little more bearable. But no such goddam luck. I actually believe you’ve gotten better looking since you’ve gone on the bottle. Yeah, a person who didn’t know you would think you’d never had a tense nerve in your body or a strained muscle.
(下面的草坪上传来槌球的声音:槌子的咔嗒声、轻柔的声音、近处的和远处的。)
(There are sounds of croquet on the lawn below: the click of mallets, light voices, near and distant.)
当然,你一直有着那种超然的气质,就好像你在玩游戏时根本就不在乎输赢,而现在你输了游戏,不是输了而是不再玩了,你有那种通常只发生在非常老或病入膏肓的人身上的罕见魅力,即失败者的魅力。——你看起来真酷,真酷,真让人羡慕的酷。
Of course, you always had that detached quality as if you were playing a game without much concern over whether you won or lost, and now that you’ve lost the game, not lost but just quit playing, you have that rare sort of charm that usually only happens in very old or hopelessly sick people, the charm of the defeated. — You look so cool, so cool, so enviably cool.
(传来音乐声。)
(Music is heard.)
他们在玩槌球。月亮已经出现了,是白色的,刚开始有点变黄……
They’re playing croquet. The moon has appeared and it’s white, just beginning to turn a little bit yellow….
你是一位出色的情人……
You were a wonderful lover….
和这样一个人上床真是太棒了,我想主要是因为你真的对此漠不关心。不是吗?从来没有对此感到焦虑,一切都很自然、轻松、缓慢,充满信心和完美的平静,更像是为一位女士开门或让她坐在桌边,而不是表达对她的渴望。你的漠不关心让你在做爱时非常出色——很奇怪? ——但这是真的……
Such a wonderful person to go to bed with, and I think mostly because you were really indifferent to it. Isn’t that right? Never had any anxiety about it, did it naturally, easily, slowly, with absolute confidence and perfect calm, more like opening a door for a lady or seating her at a table than giving expression to any longing for her. Your indifference made you wonderful at lovemaking — strange? — but true….
你知道吗,如果我认为你永远、永远、永远不会再和我做爱——我会下楼到厨房,找出一把我能找到的最长、最锋利的刀,直接刺进我的心脏,我发誓我会的!
You know, if I thought you would never, never, never make love to me again — I would go downstairs to the kitchen and pick out the longest and sharpest knife I could find and stick it straight into my heart, I swear that I would!
但有一点我没有,那就是失败者的魅力,我的帽子还在擂台上,我决心要赢!
But one thing I don’t have is the charm of the defeated, my hat is still in the ring, and I am determined to win!
(传来槌球槌击打槌球的声音。)
(There is the sound of croquet mallets hitting croquet balls.)
— 热铁皮屋顶上的猫的胜利是什么? — 我希望我知道……我想,只要她能,就一直待在屋顶上……
— What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? — I wish I knew…. Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can….
(更多槌球声音。)
(More croquet sounds.)
今晚晚些时候我会告诉你我爱你,也许到那时你会醉到相信我。是的,他们在打槌球……
Later tonight I’m going to tell you I love you an’ maybe by that time you’ll be drunk enough to believe me. Yes, they’re playing croquet….
大爸爸因癌症濒临死亡……
Big Daddy is dying of cancer….
当我发现你用那种眼神看着我时,你在想什么?你在想斯基珀吗?
What were you thinking of when I caught you looking at me like that? Were you thinking of Skipper?
(布里克拿起拐杖,站了起来。)
(Brick takes up his crutch, rises.)
噢,对不起,请原谅我,但是沉默法则不管用!不,沉默法则不管用……
Oh, excuse me, forgive me, but laws of silence don’t work! No, laws of silence don’t work….
(布里克走到吧台,快速喝了一杯,并用毛巾擦了擦头。)
(Brick crosses to the bar, takes a quick drink, and rubs his head with a towel.)
沉默的法则不起作用……
Laws of silence don’t work….
当某件事在你的记忆或想象中不断恶化时,沉默法则就不起作用了,这就像关上一扇门,锁上一栋着火的房子,希望忘记房子正在燃烧。但是不面对火并不能扑灭它。对某件事保持沉默只会使它变得更加严重。它在沉默中成长、恶化,变得恶性……
When something is festering in your memory or your imagination, laws of silence don’t work, it’s just like shutting a door and locking it on a house on fire in hope of forgetting that the house is burning. But not facing a fire doesn’t put it out. Silence about a thing just magnifies it. It grows and festers in silence, becomes malignant….
穿好衣服,布里克。
Get dressed, Brick.
(他把拐杖扔在了地上。)
(He drops his crutch.)
布里克:我把拐杖掉了。
Brick: I’ve dropped my crutch.
(他已不再擦干头发,但仍然站在那里,身穿白色毛巾布浴袍,挂在毛巾架上。)
(He has stopped rubbing his hair dry but still stands hanging onto the towel rack in a white towel-cloth robe.)
玛格丽特:靠在我身上。
Margaret: Lean on me.
布里克:不,把我的拐杖给我就行了。
Brick: No, just give me my crutch.
玛格丽特:靠在我的肩膀上。
Margaret: Lean on my shoulder.
Brick :我不想靠在你的肩膀上,我想要我的拐杖!
Brick: I don’t want to lean on your shoulder, I want my crutch!
(这句话听起来就像是突然的闪电。)
(This is spoken like sudden lightning.)
你要给我拐杖吗?还是我要跪在地上——
Are you going to give me my crutch or do I have to get down on my knees on the floor and —
玛格丽特:给,给,拿着,拿着!
Margaret: Here, here, take it, take it!
(她把拐杖推向了他。)
(She has thrust the crutch at him.)
布里克(一瘸一拐地走出来):“谢谢……
Brick (hobbling out): Thanks …
玛格丽特:我们不能互相大喊大叫,这房子有隔墙有耳……
Margaret: We mustn’t scream at each other, the walls in this house have ears….
(他一瘸一拐地直接走到酒柜前去拿一杯新的饮料。)
(He hobbles directly to liquor cabinet to get a new drink.)
— 但这是很长时间以来我第一次听到你提高嗓门说话,布里克。墙上有裂缝?— 镇静吗?
— but that’s the first time I’ve heard you raise your voice in a long time, Brick. A crack in the wall? — Of composure?
— 我认为这是一个好兆头……
— I think that’s a good sign….
防守球员紧张的迹象!
A sign of nerves in a player on the defensive!
(布里克转过身,一边喝着新鲜的饮料,一边冷冷地对她笑着。)
(Brick turns and smiles at her coolly over his fresh drink.)
布里克:只是还没发生,玛吉。
Brick: It just hasn’t happened yet, Maggie.
玛格丽特:什么?
Margaret: What?
布里克:当我受够了这些东西的时候,我脑子里就会发出咔哒声,让我感到平静……
Brick: The click I get in my head when I’ve had enough of this stuff to make me peaceful….
你能帮我一个忙吗?
Will you do me a favor?
玛格丽特:也许我会的。什么忙?
Margaret: Maybe I will. What favor?
B rick:只要,只要你声音小点!
Brick: Just, just keep your voice down!
玛格丽特(嘶哑地低声说):我可以帮你一个忙,我会小声说话,如果不行的话就完全闭嘴,如果你能帮我一个忙,让我在聚会结束前喝完那杯酒。
Margaret (in a hoarse whisper): I’ll do you that favor, I’ll speak in a whisper, if not shut up completely, if you will do me a favor and make that drink your last one till after the party.
Brick :什么派对?
Brick: What party?
玛格丽特:老爹的生日聚会。
Margaret: Big Daddy’s birthday party.
布里克:今天是大爸爸的生日吗?
Brick: Is this Big Daddy’s birthday?
玛格丽特:你知道今天是大爸爸的生日!
Margaret: You know this is Big Daddy’s birthday!
布里克:不,我不知道,我忘了。
Brick: No, I don’t, I forgot it.
玛格丽特:好吧,我帮你记住了……
Margaret: Well, I remembered it for you….
(他们两个都像打架后的孩子一样气喘吁吁地说话,喘着粗气,用力地大口喘气,眼神茫然地看着对方,一起颤抖着喘息,好像他们在一场激烈的斗争中挣脱了一样。)
(They are both speaking as breathlessly as a pair of kids after a fight, drawing deep exhausted breaths and looking at each other with faraway eyes, shaking and panting together as if they had broken apart from a violent struggle.)
布里克:玛吉,你真棒。
Brick: Good for you, Maggie.
玛格丽特:你只要在这张卡片上写几行就行了。
Margaret: You just have to scribble a few lines on this card.
布里克:你乱写了一些东西,玛吉。
Brick: You scribble something, Maggie.
玛格丽特:这一定是你的笔迹,这是你的礼物,我把我的礼物给了他,这一定是你的笔迹!
Margaret: It’s got to be your handwriting; it’s your present, I’ve given him my present; it’s got to be your handwriting!
(他们之间的紧张气氛再度升温,声音也再次变得尖锐起来。)
(The tension between them is building again, the voices becoming shrill once more.)
布里克:我没有给他买礼物。
Brick: I didn’t get him a present.
玛格丽特:我有一个给你。
Margaret: I got one for you.
布里克:好的。那你就写卡片吧。
Brick: All right. You write the card, then.
玛格丽特:让他知道你不记得他的生日了吗?
Margaret: And have him know you didn’t remember his birthday?
布里克:我不记得他的生日。
Brick: I didn’t remember his birthday.
玛格丽特:你不必证明你没有做过!
Margaret: You don’t have to prove you didn’t!
布里克:我不想在这件事上愚弄他。
Brick: I don’t want to fool him about it.
玛格丽特:只要写“爱,砖!”上帝就会——
Margaret: Just write “Love, Brick!” for God’s —
布里克:不。
Brick: No.
玛格丽特:你必须这么做!
Margaret: You’ve got to!
布里克:我没必要做任何我不想做的事。你总是忘记我同意和你一起生活的条件。
Brick: I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. You keep forgetting the conditions on which I agreed to stay on living with you.
玛格丽特(不知不觉就走了):我不跟你住在一起。我们住在同一个笼子里。
Margaret (out before she knows it): I’m not living with you. We occupy the same cage.
布里克:你得记住约定的条件。
Brick: You’ve got to remember the conditions agreed on.
玛格丽特:这简直是不可能的事!
Margaret: They’re impossible conditions!
布里克:那你为什么不——?
Brick: Then why don’t you — ?
玛格丽特:嘘!外面是谁?有人在门口吗?
Margaret: HUSH! Who is out there? Is somebody at the door?
(大厅里有脚步声。)
(There are footsteps in hall.)
M ae(外面):我可以进来一下吗?
Mae (outside): May I enter a moment?
玛格丽特:哦,你!当然可以。进来吧,梅。
Margaret: Oh, you! Sure. Come in, Mae.
(梅走进来,高举着一位年轻女士的弓。)
(Mae enters bearing aloft the bow of a young lady’s archery set.)
M ae: Brick,这个东西是你的吗?
Mae: Brick, is this thing yours?
玛格丽特:哎呀,姐妹,那是我的黛安娜奖杯。我在密西西比大学校园的校际射箭比赛中赢得了它。
Margaret: Why, Sister Woman — that’s my Diana Trophy. Won it at the intercollegiate archery contest on the Ole Miss campus.
M ae:把这些武器暴露在满是血腥暴力儿童的房屋周围是极其危险的事情。
Mae: It’s a mighty dangerous thing to leave exposed round a house full of nawmal rid-blooded children attracted t’weapons.
玛格丽特: “那些被武器吸引的孩子们”应该被教导不要触碰不属于自己的东西。
Margaret: “Nawmal rid-blooded children attracted t’weapons” ought t’be taught to keep their hands off things that don’t belong to them.
M ae:玛吉,亲爱的,如果你有自己的孩子,你就会知道这有多有趣。你能把这个锁起来并把钥匙放在够不着的地方吗?
Mae: Maggie, honey, if you had children of your own you’d know how funny that is. Will you please lock this up and put the key out of reach?
玛格丽特:女人姐姐,没人在密谋毁灭你的孩子。——布里克和我仍然拥有我们的特殊弓箭手执照。狩猎季节一开始,我们就要去月亮湖猎鹿。我喜欢和狗一起在寒冷的树林里奔跑,奔跑,奔跑,跳过障碍物——
Margaret: Sister Woman, nobody is plotting the destruction of your kiddies. — Brick and I still have our special archers’ license. We’re goin’ deer-huntin’ on Moon Lake as soon as the season starts. I love to run with dogs through chilly woods, run, run leap over obstructions —
(她拿着弓走进壁橱。)
(She goes into the closet carrying the bow.)
梅:布里克,脚踝受伤怎么样了?
Mae: How’s the injured ankle, Brick?
布里克:不疼,就是痒。
Brick: Doesn’t hurt. Just itches.
M ae:哦,天哪!布里克——布里克,你吃完晚饭后应该下楼!孩子们表演了一场。波莉弹钢琴,巴斯特和桑尼打鼓,然后他们关掉灯,迪克西和特里克西穿着仙女装,戴着西班牙长棍跳起了脚趾舞!大爸爸笑了!他笑了!
Mae: Oh, my! Brick — Brick, you should’ve been downstairs after supper! Kiddies put on a show. Polly played the piano, Buster an’ Sonny drums, an’ then they turned out the lights an’ Dixie an’ Trixie puhfawmed a toe dance in fairy costume with spahkluhs! Big Daddy just beamed! He just beamed!
玛格丽特(从壁橱里笑出来):哦,我敢打赌。我们错过了,真是太让我心碎了!
Margaret (from the closet with a sharp laugh): Oh, I bet. It breaks my heart that we missed it!
(她重新进来。)
(She reenters.)
但是梅?你为什么给你的孩子都取狗的名字?
But Mae? Why did y’give dawgs’ names to all your kiddies?
M ae:狗的名字?
Mae: Dogs’ names?
(玛格丽特在去拉开竹帘的时候,夕阳的余晖已经消散了,她说道。过马路时,她向布里克眨了眨眼。)
(Margaret has made this observation as she goes to raise the bamboo blinds, since the sunset glare has diminished. In crossing she winks at Brick.)
玛格丽特(甜蜜地):迪克西、特里克西、巴斯特、桑尼、波莉!——听起来就像四只狗和一只鹦鹉……马戏团里的动物表演!
Margaret (sweetly): Dixie, Trixie, Buster, Sonny, Polly! — Sounds like four dogs and a parrot … animal act in a circus!
M ae:玛吉?
Mae: Maggie?
(玛格丽特微笑着转过身。)
(Margaret turns with a smile.)
你干嘛这么刻薄?
Why are you so catty?
玛格丽特:因为我是一只猫!但是为什么你不能开个玩笑,姐妹女人?
Margaret: Cause I’m a cat! But why can’t you take a joke, Sister Woman?
M ae:没有什么比一个有趣的笑话更让我高兴的了。你知道我们孩子的真名。巴斯特的真名是罗伯特。桑尼的真名是桑德斯。特里克西的真名是马琳,迪克西的真名是——
Mae: Nothin’ pleases me more than a joke that’s funny. You know the real names of our kiddies. Buster’s real name is Robert. Sonny’s real name is Saunders. Trixie’s real name is Marlene and Dixie’s —
(楼下有人叫她。“嘿,梅!”——她冲到门口,说:)
(Someone downstairs calls for her. “Hey, Mae!” — She rushes to door, saying:)
中场休息结束!
Intermission is over!
玛格丽特(梅关门时):我想知道迪克西的真名是什么?
Margaret (as Mae closes door): I wonder what Dixie’s real name is?
B rick: Maggie,刻薄对事情没有任何帮助……
Brick: Maggie, being catty doesn’t help things any …
玛格丽特:我知道!为什么! ——我这么刻薄吗?——因为我被嫉妒和渴望吞噬?——布里克,我把你从罗马买来的漂亮山东丝绸套装和一件印有你名字的丝绸衬衫摆出来了。我会把你的袖扣放在里面,那些可爱的星光蓝宝石是我让你很少戴的……
Margaret: I know! WHY! — Am I so catty? — Cause I’m consumed with envy an’ eaten up with longing? — Brick, I’ve laid out your beautiful Shantung silk suit from Rome and one of your monogrammed silk shirts. I’ll put your cuff links in it, those lovely star sapphires I get you to wear so rarely….
布里克:我没法在这个石膏上穿裤子。
Brick: I can’t get trousers on over this plaster cast.
玛格丽特:是的,你可以,我会帮助你。
Margaret: Yes, you can, I’ll help you.
布里克:我不打算穿衣服,玛吉。
Brick: I’m not going to get dressed, Maggie.
玛格丽特:你能穿上一套白色丝绸睡衣吗?
Margaret: Will you just put on a pair of white silk pajamas?
布里克:是的,我会这么做的,玛吉。
Brick: Yes, I’ll do that, Maggie.
玛格丽特:谢谢,非常感谢!
Margaret: Thank you, thank you so much!
布里克:别提了。
Brick: Don’t mention it.
玛格丽特:哦,布里克!这还要持续多久?这种惩罚?我服刑的时间还不够吗?我还没有服满刑期吗?我不能申请——赦免吗?
Margaret: Oh, Brick! How long does it have t’ go on? This punishment? Haven’t I done time enough, haven’t I served my term, can’t I apply for a — pardon?
布里克:玛吉,你把我的酒都喝坏了。最近你的声音听起来就像你跑上楼去警告别人房子着火了!
Brick: Maggie, you’re spoiling my liquor. Lately your voice always sounds like you’d been running upstairs to warn somebody that the house was on fire!
玛格丽特:嗯,难怪,难怪。你知道我感觉如何吗,布里克?
Margaret: Well, no wonder, no wonder. Y’know what I feel like, Brick?
(下面,孩子和成人的声音混合在一起,响亮但不确定地演绎着“我的野爱尔兰玫瑰”。)
(Children’s and grownups’ voices are blended, below, in a loud but uncertain rendition of “My Wild Irish Rose.”)
我始终感觉自己就像热锅上的蚂蚁!
I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof!
B rick:然后从屋顶上跳下来,跳下去,猫可以从屋顶上跳下来并且四只脚落地而不会受伤!
Brick: Then jump off the roof, jump off it, cats can jump off roofs and land on their four feet uninjured!
玛格丽特:噢,是的!
Margaret: Oh, yes!
布里克:行动吧!——看在上帝的份上,行动吧……
Brick: Do it! — fo’ God’s sake, do it …
玛格丽特:做什么?
Margaret: Do what?
Brick :找个情人吧!
Brick: Take a lover!
玛格丽特:除了你,我看不到其他男人!即使我闭上眼睛,我也只能看到你!布里克,你为什么不变丑,为什么不变胖或者变丑或者其他什么,这样我才能忍受?
Margaret: I can’t see a man but you! Even with my eyes closed, I just see you! Why don’t you get ugly, Brick, why don’t you please get fat or ugly or something so I could stand it?
(她冲到门厅门口,打开门,听了听。)
(She rushes to hall door, opens it, listens.)
演唱会还在继续!太棒了,no-necks,太棒了!
The concert is still going on! Bravo, no-necks, bravo!
(她猛地关上门并锁上。)
(She slams and locks door fiercely.)
B rick:你锁门干什么?
Brick: What did you lock the door for?
玛格丽特:让我们暂时有一点隐私。
Margaret: To give us a little privacy for a while.
布里克:你更了解,玛吉。
Brick: You know better, Maggie.
玛格丽特:不,我不知道……
Margaret: No, I don’t know better….
(她冲到画廊门口,拉上玫瑰丝绸窗帘。)
(She rushes to gallery doors, draws the rose-silk drapes across them.)
布里克:别让自己出丑了。
Brick: Don’t make a fool of yourself.
玛格丽特:我不介意为你出丑!
Margaret: I don’t mind makin’ a fool of myself over you!
布里克:我介意,玛吉。我为你感到尴尬。
Brick: I mind, Maggie. I feel embarrassed for you.
玛格丽特:感到很尴尬!但别再折磨我了。在这种情况下,我无法继续活下去。
Margaret: Feel embarrassed! But don’t continue my torture. I can’t live on and on under these circumstances.
Brick :你同意——
Brick: You agreed to —
玛格丽特:我知道,但是——
Margaret: I know but —
布里克: ——接受这个条件!
Brick: — Accept that condition!
玛格丽特:我不能!不能!不能!
Margaret: I CAN’T! CAN’T! CAN’T!
(她抓住他的肩膀。)
(She seizes his shoulder.)
布里克:放手!
Brick: Let go!
(他挣脱开她,抓起闺房里的小椅子,像驯狮人面对马戏团里的大猫一样把它举起来。)
(He breaks away from her and seizes the small boudoir chair and raises it like a lion-tamer facing a big circus cat.)
(数到五。她用拳头捂住嘴,盯着他,然后突然发出尖锐的、几乎是歇斯底里的笑声。他严肃地看了一会儿,然后咧嘴一笑,把椅子放下。
(Count five. She stares at him with her fist pressed to her mouth, then bursts into shrill, almost hysterical laughter. He remains grave for a moment, then grins and puts the chair down.
(大妈妈透过关着的门喊道。)
(Big Mama calls through closed door.)
大妈:儿子?儿子?儿子?
Big Mama: Son? Son? Son?
布里克:怎么了,大妈妈?
Brick: What is it, Big Mama?
大妈妈(在外面):哦,儿子!我们得到了关于大爸爸的最好消息。我得赶快跑过来告诉你——
Big Mama (outside): Oh, son! We got the most wonderful news about Big Daddy. I just had t’ run up an’ tell you right this —
(她摇晃着门把手。)
(She rattles the knob.)
— 这扇门怎么锁上了?你们觉得房子里有强盗吗?
— What’s this door doin’, locked, faw? You all think there’s robbers in the house?
玛格丽特:大妈妈,布里克正在穿衣服,他还没有穿衣服。
Margaret: Big Mama, Brick is dressin’, he’s not dressed yet.
大妈:没事,这又不是我第一次看到布里克没穿衣服。快,把门打开!
Big Mama: That’s all right, it won’t be the first time I’ve seen Brick not dressed. Come on, open this door!
(玛格丽特愁眉苦脸地走过去打开门锁,布里克一瘸一拐地跑到浴室,一脚把门关上。大妈妈已经从门厅里消失了。)
(Margaret, with a grimace, goes to unlock and open the hall door, as Brick hobbles rapidly to the bathroom and kicks the door shut. Big Mama has disappeared from the hall.)
玛格丽特:大妈妈?
Margaret: Big Mama?
(大妈妈出现在玛格丽特身后对面的画廊门口,像一只老斗牛犬一样气喘吁吁。她是一个身材矮胖的女人;六十岁的年龄和一百七十磅的体重让她大部分时间都有些喘不过气来;她总是像拳击手一样紧张,或者更确切地说,像日本摔跤手一样。她的“家庭”可能比大爸爸的优越一点,但也不多。她穿着黑色或银色的蕾丝连衣裙,戴着至少五十万的闪亮宝石。她很真诚。)
(Big Mama appears through the opposite gallery doors behind Margaret, huffing and puffing like an old bulldog. She is a short, stout woman; her sixty years and 170 pounds have left her somewhat breathless most of the time; she’s always tensed like a boxer, or rather, a Japanese wrestler. Her “family” was maybe a little superior to Big Daddy’s, but not much. She wears a black or silver lace dress and at least half a million in flashy gems. She is very sincere.)
大妈妈(大声叫道,吓了玛格丽特一跳):这里——我穿过古珀和梅的走廊门。布里克在哪儿?布里克——快点出来,儿子,我只有一分钟时间,想告诉你大爸爸的消息。——我讨厌家里锁着的门……
Big Mama (loudly, startling Margaret): Here — I come through Gooper’s and Mae’s gall’ry door. Where’s Brick? Brick — Hurry on out of there, son, I just have a second and want to give you the news about Big Daddy. — I hate locked doors in a house….
玛格丽特(装出一副轻松的样子): “大妈妈,我注意到您是这样,但人总得有自己的隐私时刻吧?”
Margaret (with affected lightness): I’ve noticed you do, Big Mama, but people have got to have some moments of privacy, don’t they?
大妈:不,夫人,在我家不行。(不停顿)你脱衣服干什么?我觉得你穿那件小蕾丝裙真好看,宝贝。
Big Mama: No, ma’am, not in my house. (without pause) Whacha took off you’ dress faw? I thought that little lace dress was so sweet on yuh, honey.
玛格丽特:我也认为它穿在我身上很可爱,但是我的一个可爱的小同桌却用它当餐巾,所以——!
Margaret: I thought it looked sweet on me, too, but one of m’ cute little table-partners used it for a napkin so — !
大妈妈(捡起地上的长袜):啥?
Big Mama (picking up stockings on floor): What?
玛格丽特:你知道,大妈妈,梅和古珀对这些孩子很敏感——谢谢你,大妈妈……
Margaret: You know, Big Mama, Mae and Gooper’s so touchy about those children — thanks, Big Mama …
(大妈妈哼了一声,把捡到的长袜塞到玛格丽特手里。)
(Big Mama has thrust the picked-up stockings in Margaret’s hand with a grunt.)
— 你根本不敢说他们的工作还有改进的空间——
— that you just don’t dare to suggest there’s any room for improvement in their —
大妈:布里克,快出去!——哎呀,玛吉,你就是不喜欢孩子。
Big Mama: Brick, hurry out! — Shoot, Maggie, you just don’t like children.
玛格丽特:我非常喜欢孩子!我爱他们!——教养很好!
Margaret: I do SO like children! Adore them! — well brought up!
大妈妈(温柔——慈爱):那你为什么不养一些孩子,好好抚养他们,而不是总是挑剔古珀和梅呢?
Big Mama (gentle — loving): Well, why don’t you have some and bring them up well, then, instead of all the time pickin’ on Gooper’s an’ Mae’s?
古珀(在楼梯上喊道):嘿,嘿,大妈妈,贝琪和休必须走了,等着告诉你!
Gooper (shouting up the stairs): Hey, hey, Big Mama, Betsy an’ Hugh got to go, waitin’ t’ tell yuh g’by!
大妈妈:叫他们抓紧缰绳,我马上就下来!
Big Mama: Tell ’em to hold their hawses, I’ll be right down in a jiffy!
(她转身向浴室门口喊道。)
(She turns to the bathroom door and calls out.)
儿子?你能听见我的声音吗?
Son? Can you hear me in there?
(传来模糊的回答。)
(There is a muffled answer.)
我们刚刚从奥克斯纳诊所的实验室拿到了完整的报告,儿子,完全阴性,一切都是阴性,一直到最后!他没什么问题,只是有点功能性问题,叫做痉挛性结肠。你能听到我说话吗,儿子?
We just got the full report from the laboratory at the Ochsner Clinic, completely negative, son, ev’rything negative, right on down the line! Nothin’ a-tall’s wrong with him but some little functional thing called a spastic colon. Can you hear me, son?
玛格丽特:他能听到你的声音,大妈妈。
Margaret: He can hear you, Big Mama.
大妈:那他为什么不说点什么?全能的上帝啊,这样的新闻应该会让他大喊大叫。我可以告诉你,这让我大喊大叫。我大喊大叫,哭泣着,跪倒在地!——看!
Big Mama: Then why don’t he say something? God Almighty, a piece of news like that should make him shout. It made me shout, I can tell you. I shouted and sobbed and fell right down on my knees! — Look!
(她拉起裙子。)
(She pulls up her skirt.)
看到我膝盖骨受伤的地方了吗?两位医生都把我拉了回来!
See the bruises where I hit my kneecaps? Took both doctors to haul me back on my feet!
(她大笑——她总是自嘲地大笑。)
(She laughs — she always laughs like hell at herself.)
大爸爸对我很生气!但这不是个好消息吗?
Big Daddy was furious with me! But ain’t that wonderful news?
(再次面向浴室,她继续说:)
(Facing bathroom again, she continues:)
我们经历了这么多焦虑,终于在 Big Daddy 生日那天收到这样的报告了?Big Daddy 试图隐藏这个消息让他减轻了多少压力,但我没能骗过他。他自己都快哭了!
After all the anxiety we been through to git a report like that on Big Daddy’s birthday? Big Daddy tried to hide how much of a load that news took off his mind, but didn’t fool me. He was mighty close to crying about it himself!
(楼下传来阵阵告别声,她冲向门口。)
(Goodbyes are shouted downstairs, and she rushes to door.)
把那些人按住,别让他们走! ——现在,穿好衣服,因为你的脚踝,我们都要来这个房间参加大爸爸的生日聚会。——他的脚踝怎么样了,玛吉?
Hold those people down there, don’t let them go! — Now, git dressed, we’re all comin’ up to this room fo’ Big Daddy’s birthday party because of your ankle. — How’s his ankle, Maggie?
玛格丽特:嗯,他把它弄坏了,大妈妈。
Margaret: Well, he broke it, Big Mama.
大妈妈:我知道他把它弄坏了。
Big Mama: I know he broke it.
(大厅里电话铃响了。一个黑人的声音接了电话:“波莉小姐的住所。”)
(A phone is ringing in hall. A Negro voice answers: “Mistuh Polly’s res’dence.”)
我的意思是这还会对他造成很大伤害吗?
I mean does it hurt him much still.
玛格丽特:大妈妈,恐怕我不能告诉你这个消息。你得问问布里克现在还疼不疼。
Margaret: I’m afraid I can’t give you that information, Big Mama. You’ll have to ask Brick if it hurts much still or not.
苏基(在大厅里):我是孟菲斯,波莉小姐,我是孟菲斯的莎莉小姐。
Sookey (in the hall): It’s Memphis, Mizz Polly, it’s Miss Sally in Memphis.
大妈妈:好吧,苏基。
Big Mama: Awright, Sookey.
(大妈妈冲进大厅,在电话里听到她大声喊叫:)
(Big Mama rushes into the hall and is heard shouting on the phone:)
你好,莎莉小姐。你好吗,莎莉小姐?——是的,我正要给你打电话。该死! ——
Hello, Miss Sally. How are you, Miss Sally? — Yes, well, I was just gonna call you about it. Shoot! —
(她提高声音,变成吼叫声。)
(She raises her voice to a bellow.)
萨莉小姐?别从盖约索大堂给我打电话,酒店大堂里说话太多了,难怪你听不到我说话!现在听着,萨莉小姐。大爸爸没什么大问题。我们刚刚收到报告,没什么问题,只是有一种叫做——痉挛!痉挛! ——结肠的东西……
Miss Sally? Don’t ever call me from the Gayoso Lobby, too much talk goes on in that hotel lobby, no wonder you can’t hear me! Now listen, Miss Sally. They’s nothin’ serious wrong with Big Daddy. We got the report just now, they’s nothin’ wrong but a thing called a — spastic! SPASTIC! — colon …
(她出现在大厅门口并叫玛格丽特。)
(She appears at the hall door and calls to Margaret.)
— 玛吉,快出来,和那个傻瓜通电话。我都快喘不过气来了!
— Maggie, come out here and talk to that fool on the phone. I’m shouted breathless!
玛格丽特(走出去,电话那头传来甜美的声音):萨莉小姐?我是布里克的妻子玛吉。很高兴听到你的声音。你能听到我的声音吗?好极了! ——大妈妈只是想让你知道,他们已经收到了奥克斯纳诊所的报告,大爸爸得的是痉挛性结肠。是的。痉挛性结肠,萨莉小姐。没错,痉挛性结肠。再见,萨莉小姐,希望很快能见到你!
Margaret (goes out and is heard sweetly at phone): Miss Sally? This is Brick’s wife, Maggie. So nice to hear your voice. Can you hear mine? Well, good! — Big Mama just wanted you to know that they’ve got the report from the Ochsner Clinic and what Big Daddy has is a spastic colon. Yes. Spastic colon, Miss Sally. That’s right, spastic colon. G’bye, Miss Sally, hope I’ll see you real soon!
(在莎莉小姐可能准备结束谈话之前挂断电话。她从大厅门口返回。)
(Hangs up a little before Miss Sally was probably ready to terminate the talk. She returns through the hall door.)
她听得一清二楚。我发现,对聋哑人说话时,不要对他们大喊大叫,只要发音清晰就行。我那富有的老姑姑 Cornelia 的耳朵聋得跟死人一样,但我只要慢慢地、清晰地、贴近她的耳朵说每个字,她就能听见。我每晚都给她读《商业呼吁报》,甚至给她读里面的分类广告,她从不错过任何一个字。但她真是个卑鄙的小人!知道她死后我得到了什么吗?她未到期的五本杂志订阅、每月一书俱乐部和一个装满所有枯燥书籍的图书馆!其他的都给了她那恶毒的妹妹……甚至比她还要卑鄙!
She heard me perfectly. I’ve discovered with deaf people the thing to do is not shout at them but just enunciate clearly. My rich old Aunt Cornelia was deaf as the dead but I could make her hear me just by sayin’ each word slowly, distinctly, close to her ear. I read her the Commercial Appeal ev’ry night, read her the classified ads in it, even, she never missed a word of it. But was she a mean ole thing! Know what I got when she died? Her unexpired subscriptions to five magazines and the Book-of-the-Month Club and a LIBRARY full of ev’ry dull book ever written! All else went to her hellcat of a sister … meaner than she was, even!
(大妈妈在这次演讲期间一直在整理房间里的东西。)
(Big Mama has been straightening things up in the room during this speech.)
大妈妈(关上衣橱门,扔掉衣服):萨莉小姐真是个典型!大爸爸说她总是想方设法地做点什么。他没有弄错。那个可怜的小家伙总是想方设法地做点什么。我觉得大爸爸没有给她应有的帮助。
Big Mama (closing closet door on discarded clothes): Miss Sally sure is a case! Big Daddy says she’s always got her hand out fo’ something. He’s not mistaken. That poor ole thing always has her hand out fo’ somethin’. I don’t think Big Daddy gives her as much as he should.
(楼下有人喊她,她就喊道:)
(Somebody shouts for her downstairs and she shouts:)
我来了!
I’m comin’!
(她走出去。在门厅门口,转身用食指指着卫生间的门,然后指向酒柜,意思是:“布里克喝酒了吗?”玛格丽特假装听不懂,歪着头,扬起眉毛,好像哑剧表演对她来说完全是谜一样。
(She starts out. At the hall door, turns and jerks a forefinger, first toward the bathroom door, then toward the liquor cabinet, meaning: “Has Brick been drinking?” Margaret pretends not to understand, cocks her head and raises her brows as if the pantomimic performance was completely mystifying to her.
(大妈妈冲回玛格丽特身边:)
(Big Mama rushes back to Margaret:)
开枪!别再装傻了! ——我是说他喝那些东西喝多了没?
Shoot! Stop playin’ so dumb! — I mean has he been drinkin’ that stuff much yet?
玛格丽特(笑了笑):噢!我想他晚饭后喝了一杯威士忌。
Margaret (with a little laugh): Oh! I think he had a highball after supper.
B ig M ama:别笑了!——有些单身男人结婚后就不再喝酒了,而有些则开始喝酒了!布里克在——之前从不沾酒!
Big Mama: Don’t laugh about it! — Some single men stop drinkin’ when they git married and others start! Brick never touched liquor before he — !
玛格丽特(大喊):“这不公平!”
Margaret (crying out): THAT’S NOT FAIR!
B ig M ama:公平与否我想问你一个问题,一个问题:你让布里克在床上感到快乐吗?
Big Mama: Fair or not fair I want to ask you a question, one question: D’you make Brick happy in bed?
玛格丽特:你为什么不问问他在床上是否让我快乐呢?
Margaret: Why don’t you ask if he makes me happy in bed?
大妈:因为我知道——
Big Mama: Because I know that —
玛格丽特:这两种方式都有效!
Margaret: It works both ways!
大妈:有点不对劲!你没有孩子,而我儿子却喝酒!
Big Mama: Something’s not right! You’re childless and my son drinks!
(有人在楼下叫她,她冲到楼上的门口。她在门口转身,指着床。)
(Someone has called her downstairs and she has rushed to the door on the line above. She turns at the door and points at the bed.)
— 当婚姻出现问题时,问题就在那里!
— When a marriage goes on the rocks, the rocks are there, right there!
玛格丽特:那是——
Margaret: That’s —
(大妈妈冲出房间并关上了门。)
(Big Mama has swept out of the room and slammed the door.)
—不—公平……
— not — fair …
(玛格丽特孤身一人,彻底的孤身一人,她自己也感觉到了。她缩起身子,弓起肩膀,握紧拳头,紧闭双眼,就像一个即将被疫苗针刺伤的孩子。当她再次睁开眼睛时,她看到的是一面长长的椭圆形镜子,她直接冲到镜子前,皱着眉头盯着镜子说:“你是谁?”——然后她蹲下身子,用另一种尖细、嘲讽的声音回答自己:“我是猫咪玛姬!”——浴室的门开了一条缝,布里克叫了她,她很快就直起身子。)
(Margaret is alone, completely alone, and she feels it. She draws in, hunches her shoulders, raises her arms with fists clenched, shuts her eyes tight as a child about to be stabbed with a vaccination needle. When she opens her eyes again, what she sees is the long oval mirror and she rushes straight to it, stares into it with a grimace and says: “Who are you?” — Then she crouches a little and answers herself in a different voice which is high, thin, mocking: “I am Maggie the Cat!” — Straightens quickly as bathroom door opens a little and Brick calls out to her.)
布里克:大妈妈走了吗?
Brick: Has Big Mama gone?
玛格丽特:她走了。
Margaret: She’s gone.
(他打开浴室的门,一瘸一拐地走出来,手里拿着空酒杯,径直走向酒柜。他轻轻地吹着口哨。玛格丽特的头绕着她细长的脖子转过来看着他。
(He opens the bathroom door and hobbles out, with his liquor glass now empty, straight to the liquor cabinet. He is whistling softly. Margaret’s head pivots on her long, slender throat to watch him.
(她不确定地举起一只手放在喉咙底部,好像她很难吞咽,然后她才说话:)
(She raises a hand uncertainly to the base of her throat, as if it was difficult for her to swallow, before she speaks:)
你知道,我们的性生活并没有像往常一样逐渐消失,而是在很早以前就结束了,而且会很快恢复,就像那样突然。我对此很有信心。这就是我保持吸引力的原因。等到你再次看到我时,就像其他男人看到我一样。是的,就像其他男人看到我一样。他们仍然看到我,布里克,他们喜欢他们所看到的。嗯。他们中的一些人会给他们的——
You know, our sex life didn’t just peter out in the usual way, it was cut off short, long before the natural time for it to, and it’s going to revive again, just as sudden as that. I’m confident of it. That’s what I’m keeping myself attractive for. For the time when you’ll see me again like other men see me. Yes, like other men see me. They still see me, Brick, and they like what they see. Uh-huh. Some of them would give their —
看,布里克!
Look, Brick!
(她站在长长的椭圆形镜子前,用双手触摸自己的胸部,然后触摸臀部。)
(She stands before the long oval mirror, touches her breast and then her hips with her two hands.)
我的身体保持得多么高啊!——没有任何东西掉在我身上——一点也没有……
How high my body stays on me! — Nothing has fallen on me — not a fraction….
(她的声音轻柔而颤抖:像一个恳求的孩子的声音。此刻,当他转过身看她时——那眼神就像一个球员将球传给另一个球员,第三次进攻,即将进球——她必须紧紧抓住观众,这样她才能将观众的注意力吸引到第一次中场休息,而毫不松懈。)
(Her voice is soft and trembling: a pleading child’s. At this moment as he turns to glance at her — a look which is like a player passing a ball to another player, third down and goal to go — she has to capture the audience in a grip so tight that she can hold it till the first intermission without any lapse of attention.)
其他男人仍然想要我。有时我的脸看起来很紧张,但我保持着身材,就像你保持着身材一样,男人们都羡慕我。我仍然在街上引人注目。为什么,上周在孟菲斯,无论我走到哪里,男人的眼睛都会把我的衣服烫出洞来,在乡村俱乐部、餐馆和百货商店,没有一个我遇到或走过的男人不用眼睛盯着我,当我经过他时,他转过身来回头看我。为什么,在艾丽丝为她的纽约表亲举办的派对上,人群中最帅的男人——跟着我上楼,试图和我一起强行进入化妆间,跟着我到门口,试图强行闯进来!
Other men still want me. My face looks strained, sometimes, but I’ve kept my figure as well as you’ve kept yours, and men admire it. I still turn heads on the street. Why, last week in Memphis everywhere that I went men’s eyes burned holes in my clothes, at the country club and in restaurants and department stores, there wasn’t a man I met or walked by that didn’t just eat me up with his eyes and turn around when I passed him and look back at me. Why, at Alice’s party for her New York cousins, the best-lookin’ man in the crowd — followed me upstairs and tried to force his way in the powder room with me, followed me to the door and tried to force his way in!
布里克:玛吉,你为什么不让他去?
Brick: Why didn’t you let him, Maggie?
玛格丽特:首先,因为我不是那么普通。我差点就被诱惑了。你想知道是谁吗?就是桑尼·博伊·麦克斯韦尔,就是他!
Margaret: Because I’m not that common, for one thing. Not that I wasn’t almost tempted to. You like to know who it was? It was Sonny Boy Maxwell, that’s who!
布里克:哦,是的,桑尼·博伊·麦克斯韦尔,他是一名优秀的终点跑者,但是背部受了点伤,所以不得不退出。
Brick: Oh, yeah, Sonny Boy Maxwell, he was a good end-runner but had a little injury to his back and had to quit.
玛格丽特:他现在没受伤,也没老婆,还对我有好色之徒!
Margaret: He has no injury now and has no wife and still has a lech for me!
布里克:在这种情况下,我认为没有理由把他锁在化妆间外面。
Brick: I see no reason to lock him out of a powder room in that case.
玛格丽特:有人会抓到我吗?我没那么蠢。哦,我可能有时会背着你和别人偷情,因为你如此渴望我这么做!——但如果我这么做了,你完全可以肯定,除了我和那个男人,没有人会知道这件事发生的时间和地点。因为我不会给你任何借口,以我不忠或其他任何理由与我离婚……
Margaret: And have someone catch me at it? I’m not that stupid. Oh, I might sometime cheat on you with someone, since you’re so insultingly eager to have me do it! — But if I do, you can be damned sure it will be in a place and a time where no one but me and the man could possibly know. Because I’m not going to give you any excuse to divorce me for being unfaithful or anything else….
布里克:玛吉,我不会因为你不忠或其他什么而和你离婚。你不知道吗?见鬼。要是知道你找到了爱人,我就会松一口气。
Brick: Maggie, I wouldn’t divorce you for being unfaithful or anything else. Don’t you know that? Hell. I’d be relieved to know that you’d found yourself a lover.
玛格丽特:好吧,我不想冒险。不,我宁愿待在这热铁皮屋顶上。
Margaret: Well, I’m taking no chances. No, I’d rather stay on this hot tin roof.
砖:热的铁皮屋顶让人住得不舒服……
Brick: A hot tin roof’s ’n uncomfo’table place t’ stay on….
(他开始轻轻地吹口哨。)
(He starts to whistle softly.)
玛格丽特(吹着口哨):是的,但我可以一直待在那里,只要有必要。
Margaret (through his whistle): Yeah, but I can stay on it just as long as I have to.
布里克:你可以离开我,玛吉。
Brick: You could leave me, Maggie.
(他又吹口哨。她转过身来怒视着他。)
(He resumes whistle. She wheels about to glare at him.)
玛格丽特:不想,也不会!另外,如果我这么做了,你一分钱也付不起,但你从大爸爸那里得到的,他正死于癌症!
Margaret: Don’t want to and will not! Besides if I did, you don’t have a cent to pay for it but what you get from Big Daddy and he’s dying of cancer!
(布里克第一次明显地意识到了大爸爸的厄运,他看着玛格丽特。)
(For the first time a realization of Big Daddy’s doom seems to penetrate to Brick’s consciousness, visibly, and he looks at Margaret.)
布里克:大妈妈只是说他没有,报告没问题。
Brick: Big Mama just said he wasn’t, that the report was okay.
玛格丽特:她之所以这么想,是因为她听到了他们告诉大爸爸的同样的故事。她和大爸爸一样被骗了,可怜的小家伙……
Margaret: That’s what she thinks because she got the same story that they gave Big Daddy. And was just as taken in by it as he was, poor ole things….
但今晚他们要告诉她真相。等大爸爸上床睡觉时,他们要告诉她,他因癌症而命不久矣。
But tonight they’re going to tell her the truth about it. When Big Daddy goes to bed, they’re going to tell her that he is dying of cancer.
(她“砰”的一声关上了梳妆台的抽屉。)
(She slams the dresser drawer.)
— 它是恶性的,而且是晚期。
— It’s malignant and it’s terminal.
B rick:大爸爸知道吗?
Brick: Does Big Daddy know it?
玛格丽特:见鬼,他们知道吗?没人会说:“你快死了。”你必须欺骗他们。他们必须欺骗自己。
Margaret: Hell, do they ever know it? Nobody says, “You’re dying.” You have to fool them. They have to fool themselves.
布里克:为什么?
Brick: Why?
玛格丽特:为什么?因为人类梦想永生,这就是原因!但大多数人都希望永生在人间,而不是在天堂。
Margaret: Why? Because human beings dream of life everlasting, that’s the reason! But most of them want it on earth and not in heaven.
(他对她的幽默感发出短暂而激烈的笑声。)
(He gives a short, hard laugh at her touch of humor.)
嗯……(她补了补睫毛膏。)不管怎么说,就是这样……(她环顾四周。)我把香烟放哪儿了?我不想把家烧了,至少不想和梅、古珀和他们的五个怪物一起烧了家!
Well…. (She touches up her mascara.) That’s how it is, anyhow…. (She looks about.) Where did I put down my cigarette? Don’t want to burn up the home-place, at least not with Mae and Gooper and their five monsters in it!
(她找到了它,贪婪地吮吸着它。吐出烟雾并继续:)
(She has found it and sucks at it greedily. Blows out smoke and continues:)
所以这是大爸爸的最后一个生日。梅和古珀知道,哦,他们知道,没错。他们从奥克斯纳诊所得到了第一手信息。这就是他们带着无颈怪物赶到这里的原因。因为。你知道吗?大爸爸没有立遗嘱?大爸爸一生中从未立过遗嘱,所以这场运动正在展开,尽可能有力地打动他,告诉他你喝酒,我没有生孩子!
So this is Big Daddy’s last birthday. And Mae and Gooper, they know it, oh, they know it, all right. They got the first information from the Ochsner Clinic. That’s why they rushed down here with their no-neck monsters. Because. Do you know something? Big Daddy’s made no will? Big Daddy’s never made out any will in his life, and so this campaign’s afoot to impress him, forcibly as possible, with the fact that you drink and I’ve borne no children!
(他继续盯着她看了一会儿,然后嘟囔了几句尖锐却听不见的话,在渐渐消逝的、非常消逝的金色灯光下,一瘸一拐地迅速走到长长的走廊上。)
(He continues to stare at her a moment, then mutters something sharp but not audible and hobbles rather rapidly out onto the long gallery in the fading, much faded, gold light.)
玛格丽特(继续吟唱礼拜圣歌):你知道,我喜欢大爸爸,我真心喜欢那个老人,我真的喜欢,你知道……
Margaret (continuing her liturgical chant): Y’know, I’m fond of Big Daddy, I am genuinely fond of that old man, I really am, you know….
布里克(隐约,模糊地): “是的,我知道你是……。”
Brick (faintly, vaguely): Yes, I know you are….
玛格丽特:尽管他粗鲁无礼,满口脏话,但我还是很钦佩他。因为大爸爸就是这样的人,他对此毫不掩饰。他还没有变成绅士农民,他仍然是密西西比的乡巴佬,就像他在老杰克·斯特劳和彼得·奥切罗庄园当监工时一样。但他控制了庄园,把它建成了三角洲地区最大、最好的种植园。——我一直很喜欢大爸爸……
Margaret: I’ve always sort of admired him in spite of his coarseness, his four-letter words and so forth. Because Big Daddy is what he is, and he makes no bones about it. He hasn’t turned gentleman farmer, he’s still a Mississippi redneck, as much of a redneck as he must have been when he was just overseer here on the old Jack Straw and Peter Ochello place. But he got hold of it an’ built it into th’ biggest an’ finest plantation in the Delta. — I’ve always liked Big Daddy….
(她走向舞台前部。)
(She crosses to the proscenium.)
好吧,这是 Big Daddy 的最后一个生日。我很抱歉。但我必须面对现实。照顾一个酒鬼是需要钱的,而这正是我最近被选为的职位。
Well, this is Big Daddy’s last birthday. I’m sorry about it. But I’m facing the facts. It takes money to take care of a drinker and that’s the office that I’ve been elected to lately.
布里克:你不用照顾我。
Brick: You don’t have to take care of me.
玛格丽特:是的,我同意。同病相怜的人必须互相照顾。至少当 Echo Spring 的供应耗尽时,你想要钱来购买更多的 Echo Spring,还是你会满足于一瓶十美分的啤酒?
Margaret: Yes, I do. Two people in the same boat have got to take care of each other. At least you want money to buy more Echo Spring when this supply is exhausted, or will you be satisfied with a ten-cent beer?
梅和古珀计划将我们从大爸爸的遗产中剔除,因为你酗酒,而我没有孩子。但我们可以挫败这个计划。我们一定会挫败这个计划!布里克,你知道,我这一生都穷得要命! ——这是事实,布里克!
Mae an’ Gooper are plannin’ to freeze us out of Big Daddy’s estate because you drink and I’m childless. But we can defeat that plan. We’re going to defeat that plan! Brick, y’know, I’ve been so God damn disgustingly poor all my life! — That’s the truth, Brick!
布里克:我不是说它不是。
Brick: I’m not sayin’ it isn’t.
玛格丽特:我总是不得不讨好那些我看不惯的人,因为他们有钱,而我却一贫如洗。你不知道那是什么感觉。好吧,我告诉你,那感觉就像你远离回声泉千里之外!——而且不得不用那只断了的脚踝回到那里……没有拐杖!
Margaret: Always had to suck up to people I couldn’t stand because they had money and I was poor as Job’s turkey. You don’t know what that’s like. Well, I’ll tell you, it’s like you would feel a thousand miles away from Echo Spring! — And had to get back to it on that broken ankle … without a crutch!
这就是穷得像约伯的火鸡一样的感觉,你不得不讨好你讨厌的亲戚,因为他们有钱,而你只有一堆旧衣服和几张发霉的 3% 政府债券。我爸爸爱他的酒,他爱他的酒就像你爱回声泉一样!——还有我可怜的妈妈,不得不维持一些社会地位,维持面子,靠那些旧政府债券每月 150 美元的收入!
That’s how it feels to be as poor as Job’s turkey and have to suck up to relatives that you hated because they had money and all you had was a bunch of hand-me-down clothes and a few old moldy three-percent government bonds. My daddy loved his liquor, he fell in love with his liquor the way you’ve fallen in love with Echo Spring! — And my poor Mama, having to maintain some semblance of social position, to keep appearances up, on an income of one hundred and fifty dollars a month on those old government bonds!
在我出道那年,也就是我出道那年,我只有两件晚礼服!一件是妈妈按照《Vogue》杂志上的样式给我做的,另一件是我讨厌的那个傲慢的有钱表哥给我的旧衣服!
When I came out, the year that I made my debut, I had just two evening dresses! One Mother made me from a pattern in Vogue, the other a hand-me-down from a snotty rich cousin I hated!
——我娶你时穿的衣服是我祖母的婚纱……
— The dress that I married you in was my grandmother’s weddin’ gown….
这就是为什么我就像热铁皮屋顶上的蚂蚁!
So that’s why I’m like a cat on a hot tin roof!
(布里克仍在画廊里。下面有人用温暖的黑人嗓音叫他,“嗨,布里克先生,你感觉怎么样?”布里克举起酒杯,仿佛这回答了问题。)
(Brick is still on the gallery. Someone below calls up to him in a warm Negro voice, “Hiya, Mistuh Brick, how yuh feelin’?” Brick raises his liquor glass as if that answered the question.)
玛格丽特:没有钱你可以年轻,但没有钱你不会老。你必须有钱才能老,因为没有钱而老太可怕了,你要么年轻,要么有钱,你不能老而没有钱。——这是事实,布里克……
Margaret: You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it. You’ve got to be old with money because to be old without it is just too awful, you’ve got to be one or the other, either young or with money, you can’t be old and without it. — That’s the truth, Brick….
(布里克发出轻柔、模糊的口哨声。)
(Brick whistles softly, vaguely.)
好吧,现在我已经穿好衣服了,我都穿好衣服了,我没有别的事可做了。
Well, now I’m dressed, I’m all dressed, there’s nothing else for me to do.
(绝望地,几乎是恐惧地。)
(Forlornly, almost fearfully.)
我穿好衣服,全部穿戴整齐,没有其他事可做……
I’m dressed, all dressed, nothing else for me to do….
(她焦躁不安、漫无目的地走来走去,还像在自言自语一样说话。)
(She moves about restlessly, aimlessly, and speaks, as if to herself.)
我知道自己何时犯了错误。——我是谁——?哦!——我的手镯……
I know when I made my mistake. — What am I — ? Oh! — my bracelets….
(她一边说话,一边开始将一串手镯戴到手腕上,每只手上大约有六个手镯。)
(She starts working a collection of bracelets over her hands onto her wrists, about six on each, as she talks.)
我对此想了很多,现在我知道我什么时候犯了错误。是的,当我告诉你关于斯基珀的事情的真相时,我犯了错误。我不应该承认,告诉你关于斯基珀的事情是一个致命的错误。
I’ve thought a whole lot about it and now I know when I made my mistake. Yes, I made my mistake when I told you the truth about that thing with Skipper. Never should have confessed it, a fatal error, tellin’ you about that thing with Skipper.
布里克:玛吉,别再提斯基珀的事了。我是认真的,玛吉,你得闭嘴,别再提斯基珀的事了。
Brick: Maggie, shut up about Skipper. I mean it, Maggie; you got to shut up about Skipper.
玛格丽特:你应该明白,斯基珀和我——
Margaret: You ought to understand that Skipper and I —
布里克:你不觉得我是认真的吗,玛吉?我说话这么小声,你被我骗了?听着,玛吉。你正在做的事情很危险。你——你——你——在愚弄一些谁都不应该愚弄的事情。
Brick: You don’t think I’m serious, Maggie? You’re fooled by the fact that I am saying this quiet? Look, Maggie. What you’re doing is a dangerous thing to do. You’re — you’re — you’re — foolin’ with something that — nobody ought to fool with.
玛格丽特:这次我要把要对你说的话说完。斯基珀和我做爱了,如果你能称之为爱的话,因为做爱让我们俩都觉得离你更近了一点。你看,你这个混蛋,你对别人要求太多了,对我,对他,对所有不幸的混蛋,他们恰好爱上了你,而且还有一大群,是的,除了我和斯基珀,还有一大群,你对爱你的人要求太多了,你——高高在上的生物!——你这个神一般的存在!——所以我们做爱,梦见你就是你,我们两个!是的,是的,是的!事实,事实!这有什么可怕的?我喜欢它,我想事实是——是的!我不应该告诉你……
Margaret: This time I’m going to finish what I have to say to you. Skipper and I made love, if love you could call it, because it made both of us feel a little bit closer to you. You see, you son of a bitch, you asked too much of people, of me, of him, of all the unlucky poor damned sons of bitches that happen to love you, and there was a whole pack of them, yes, there was a pack of them besides me and Skipper, you asked too goddam much of people that loved you, you — superior creature! — you godlike being! — And so we made love to each other to dream it was you, both of us! Yes, yes, yes! Truth, truth! What’s so awful about it? I like it, I think the truth is — yeah! I shouldn’t have told you….
布里克(头不自然地一动不动,略微上仰):是斯基珀告诉我的。不是你,玛吉。
Brick (holding his head unnaturally still and uptilted a bit): It was Skipper that told me about it. Not you, Maggie.
玛格丽特:我告诉过你!
Margaret: I told you!
Brick :他告诉我之后!
Brick: After he told me!
玛格丽特:那又怎么样——?
Margaret: What does it matter who — ?
(布里克突然转向画廊并喊道:)
(Brick turns suddenly out upon the gallery and calls:)
布里克:小姑娘!嘿,小姑娘!
Brick: Little girl! Hey, little girl!
小女孩(远处):“什么,布里克叔叔?”
Little Girl (at a distance): What, Uncle Brick?
B rick:叫大家上来!——把大家都带上楼!
Brick: Tell the folks to come up! — Bring everybody upstairs!
玛格丽特:我控制不住自己!如果有必要,我会在他们面前继续告诉你这件事!
Margaret: I can’t stop myself! I’d go on telling you this in front of them all, if I had to!
布里克:小姑娘!快走,快走,行吗?按我说的做,给他们打电话!
Brick: Little girl! Go on, go on, will you? Do what I told you, call them!
玛格丽特:因为这必须要说出来,而你,你!——你从不让我说!
Margaret: Because it’s got to be told and you, you! — you never let me!
(她抽泣起来,然后控制住自己,几乎平静地继续说下去。)
(She sobs, then controls herself, and continues almost calmly.)
这是希腊传说中那些美丽而理想的爱情之一,它不可能是别的,你就是你,这就是它如此悲伤、如此可怕的原因,因为爱情永远无法得到满足,甚至无法直言不讳。布里克,我告诉你,你必须相信我,布里克,我完全理解这一切!我——我认为它是——高尚的!当我说我尊重它时,你难道看不出我是真诚的吗?我唯一的观点,我唯一要说的观点是,即使生命的梦想已经——全部——结束,生活也必须继续……
It was one of those beautiful, ideal things they tell about in the Greek legends, it couldn’t be anything else, you being you, and that’s what made it so sad, that’s what made it so awful, because it was love that never could be carried through to anything satisfying or even talked about plainly. Brick, I tell you, you got to believe me, Brick, I do understand all about it! I — I think it was — noble! Can’t you tell I’m sincere when I say I respect it? My only point, the only point that I’m making, is life has got to be allowed to continue even after the dream of life is — all — over….
(布里克没有拐杖。他靠在家具上,走过去捡起拐杖,而她则继续说着,仿佛被外在的意志所控制:)
(Brick is without his crutch. Leaning on furniture, he crosses to pick it up as she continues as if possessed by a will outside herself:)
我记得大学时我们曾一起约会过,格拉迪斯·菲茨杰拉德和我,你和斯基珀,那更像是你和斯基珀之间的约会。格拉迪斯和我只是跟着你,好像有必要陪伴你一样!——为了给公众留下好印象——
Why I remember when we double-dated at college, Gladys Fitzgerald and I and you and Skipper, it was more like a date between you and Skipper. Gladys and I were just sort of tagging along as if it was necessary to chaperone you! — to make a good public impression —
布里克(转身面对她,半举着拐杖):玛吉,你想让我用这根拐杖打你吗?你不知道我用这根拐杖能打死你吗?
Brick (turns to face her, half lifting his crutch): Maggie, you want me to hit you with this crutch? Don’t you know I could kill you with this crutch?
玛格丽特:老天啊,老兄,你认为我会在意你这么做吗?
Margaret: Good Lord, man, d’ you think I’d care if you did?
B rick:一个人一生中会遇到一件伟大的、真实的事。一件伟大的、真实的事!——我和 Skipper 是朋友。——你说得太下流了!
Brick: One man has one great good true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true! — I had friendship with Skipper. — You are naming it dirty!
玛格丽特:我没有称它为肮脏!我是称它为干净。
Margaret: I’m not naming it dirty! I am naming it clean.
布里克:玛吉,我们之间不是爱情,而是我们与斯基珀之间的友谊,这才是真正伟大的事情,而你却把它说得这么下流!
Brick: Not love with you, Maggie, but friendship with Skipper was that one great true thing, and you are naming it dirty!
玛格丽特:那你就没听,没明白我在说什么!我说的太干净了,以至于杀死了可怜的斯基珀!——你们俩有必须冰封的东西,是的,不可腐蚀,是的!——而死亡是唯一可以保存它的冰箱……
Margaret: Then you haven’t been listenin’, not understood what I’m saying! I’m naming it so damn clean that it killed poor Skipper! — You two had something that had to be kept on ice, yes, incorruptible, yes! — and death was the only icebox where you could keep it….
布里克:我娶了你,玛吉。如果我是——,我为什么要娶你,玛吉?
Brick: I married you, Maggie. Why would I marry you, Maggie, if I was — ?
玛格丽特:布里克,先别想着我,让我把话说完!——我知道,相信我,我知道,只有斯基珀对你们之间不完全纯洁的感情怀有潜意识的欲望!——现在让我跳过一点。那年夏天,你早早地嫁给了我,我们从密西西比大学毕业了,我们很幸福,不是吗?我们很幸福,是的,每次我们喜欢的时候,我们都会一起上天堂!但那年秋天,你和斯基珀拒绝了很多好工作机会,为了继续做足球英雄——职业足球英雄。那年秋天,你们组织了迪克西星队,这样你们就可以永远做队友了!但你们之间有些不对劲!——包括我在内!。斯基珀开始酗酒……你的脊椎受伤了——不能在芝加哥参加感恩节比赛,只能在托莱多的牵引床上看电视。我加入了斯基珀。迪克西星队输了,因为可怜的斯基珀喝醉了。那天晚上,我们在布莱克斯通的酒吧里喝了一整晚,当寒冷的天气降临在湖面上,我们醉醺醺地出来,头晕目眩地看着湖水时,我说:“斯基普!别再爱我的丈夫了,要不就告诉他,他得让你承认!”——不管怎样!
Margaret: Brick, don’t brain me yet, let me finish! — I know, believe me I know, that it was only Skipper that harbored even any unconscious desire for anything not perfectly pure between you two! — Now let me skip a little. You married me early that summer we graduated out of Ole Miss, and we were happy, weren’t we, we were blissful, yes, hit heaven together ev’ry time that we loved! But that fall you an’ Skipper turned down wonderful offers of jobs in order to keep on bein’ football heroes — pro-football heroes. You organized the Dixie Stars that fall, so you could keep on bein’ teammates forever! But somethin’ was not right with it! — Me included! — between you. Skipper began hittin’ the bottle … you got a spinal injury — couldn’t play the Thanksgivin’ game in Chicago, watched it on TV from a traction bed in Toledo. I joined Skipper. The Dixie Stars lost because poor Skipper was drunk. We drank together that night all night in the bar of the Blackstone and when cold day was comin’ up over the Lake an’ we were comin’ out drunk to take a dizzy look at it, I said, “SKIPPER! STOP LOVIN’ MY HUSBAND OR TELL HIM HE’S GOT TO LET YOU ADMIT IT TO HIM!” — one way or another!
他重重地打了我一巴掌!——然后转身就跑,我敢肯定,他没有停下来,一直跑回了布莱克斯通的房间……
HE SLAPPED ME HARD ON THE MOUTH! — then turned and ran without stopping once, I’m sure, all the way back into his room at the Blackstone….
— 那天晚上,当我来到他的房间时,他的门上有一只像害羞的小老鼠一样的小抓痕,他可怜又无力地试图证明我说的话不是真的……
— When I came to his room that night, with a little scratch like a shy little mouse at his door, he made that pitiful, ineffectual little attempt to prove that what I had said wasn’t true….
(砖头用拐杖向她打来,这一击把桌上的宝石灯打碎了。)
(Brick strikes at her with crutch, a blow that shatters the gemlike lamp on the table.)
— 我就这样毁了他,通过告诉他真相,而这个真相是他和他出生和成长的世界,你的和他的世界,都告诉他不能说的?
— In this way, I destroyed him, by telling him truth that he and his world which he was born and raised in, yours and his world, had told him could not be told?
—从那时起,斯基珀就变成了一个酒精和毒品的容器……
— From then on Skipper was nothing at all but a receptacle for liquor and drugs….
—谁射杀了知更鸟?我用我的—
— Who shot cock robin? I with my —
(她仰起头,紧闭双眼。)
(She throws back her head with tight shut eyes.)
——仁慈之箭!
— merciful arrow!
(砖头向她击中,但没有击中。)
(Brick strikes at her; misses.)
错过了我!——对不起,——我没想粉饰我的行为,天啊,不!布里克,我并不好。我不知道为什么人们要假装好,没有人是好的。富人或富裕的人可以尊重道德模式,传统的道德模式,但我永远都做不到,是的,但是——我是诚实的!请给我一点信任,好吗? ——生于贫寒,长于贫寒,除非我能从大爸爸死于癌症后留下的东西中得到一些东西,否则我死时也会一贫如洗!但是布里克?!——斯基珀死了!我还活着!猫咪玛吉是——
Missed me! — Sorry, — I’m not tryin’ to whitewash my behavior, Christ, no! Brick, I’m not good. I don’t know why people have to pretend to be good, nobody’s good. The rich or the well-to-do can afford to respect moral patterns, conventional moral patterns, but I could never afford to, yeah, but — I’m honest! Give me credit for just that, will you please? — Born poor, raised poor, expect to die poor unless I manage to get us something out of what Big Daddy leaves when he dies of cancer! But Brick?! — Skipper is dead! I’m alive! Maggie the cat is —
(布里克笨拙地向前跳去,用拐杖再次击打她。)
(Brick hops awkwardly forward and strikes at her again with his crutch.)
——活着!我还活着,活着!我还……
— alive! I am alive, alive! I am …
(他隔着她躲在后面的床,把拐杖扔向她,当她说完话时,他向前倒在地上。)
(He hurls the crutch at her, across the bed she took refuge behind, and pitches forward on the floor as she completes her speech.)
—活着!
— alive!
(一个名叫迪克西的小女孩冲进房间,她戴着印第安战帽,用玩具手枪向玛格丽特射击,并大喊:“砰,砰,砰!”
(A little girl, Dixie, bursts into the room, wearing an Indian war bonnet and firing a cap pistol at Margaret and shouting: “Bang, bang, bang!”
(楼下传来一阵笑声,从敞开的门厅里传来。玛格丽特蹲在床上,一看见孩子进来就喘着粗气。这时她站起来,冷冷地怒气冲冲地说:)
(Laughter downstairs floats through the open hall door. Margaret had crouched gasping to bed at child’s entrance. She now rises and says with cool fury:)
小女孩,你的妈妈或其他人应该教你——(喘气)——进房间前先敲门。否则人们可能会认为你——缺乏——良好的教养……
Little girl, your mother or someone should teach you — (gasping) — to knock at a door before you come into a room. Otherwise people might think that you — lack — good breeding….
迪克西:嗯,嗯,嗯,布里克叔叔在地板上干什么?
Dixie: Yanh, yanh, yanh, what is Uncle Brick doin’ on th’ floor?
布里克:我试图杀死你的玛吉阿姨,但我失败了——我摔倒了。小姑娘,把我的拐杖给我,这样我就可以从地板上站起来了。
Brick: I tried to kill your Aunt Maggie, but I failed — and I fell. Little girl, give me my crutch so I can get up off th’ floor.
玛格丽特:是的,给你叔叔一根拐杖,他是一个跛子,亲爱的,昨晚他在中学运动场上跳跨栏时摔断了脚踝!
Margaret: Yes, give your uncle his crutch, he’s a cripple, honey, he broke his ankle last night jumping hurdles on the high school athletic field!
迪克西:布里克叔叔,你为什么要跳跨栏?
Dixie: What were you jumping hurdles for, Uncle Brick?
布里克:因为我以前常常跳过它们,而且人们喜欢做他们以前做的事情,即使他们已经不能再做了……
Brick: Because I used to jump them, and people like to do what they used to do, even after they’ve stopped being able to do it….
玛格丽特:没错,这就是你的答案,现在走开吧,小姑娘。
Margaret: That’s right, that’s your answer, now go away, little girl.
(迪克西向玛格丽特发射了三次玩具手枪。)
(Dixie fires cap pistol at Margaret three times.)
停!你住手,怪物!你这个没有脖子的小怪物!
Stop, you stop that, monster! You little no-neck monster!
(她抓起玩具手枪,把它扔出了画廊的门。)
(She seizes the cap pistol and hurls it through gallery doors.)
迪克西(对最残忍的事情有着早熟的直觉):你嫉妒! ——你只是因为不能生孩子而嫉妒!
Dixie (with a precocious instinct for the cruelest thing): You’re jealous! — You’re just jealous because you can’t have babies!
(她一边朝玛格丽特吐舌头,一边挺着肚子从她身边走过,走向画廊。玛格丽特砰地关上画廊的门,气喘吁吁地靠在门上。一阵沉默。布里克把洒出来的饮料放回原处,坐在远处的大四柱床上。)
(She sticks out her tongue at Margaret as she sashays past her with her stomach stuck out, to the gallery. Margaret slams the gallery doors and leans panting against them. There is a pause. Brick has replaced his spilt drink and sits, faraway, on the great four-poster bed.)
玛格丽特:你明白了吗?——他们幸灾乐祸地说我们没有孩子,甚至在他们五个没有脖子的小怪物面前!
Margaret: You see? — they gloat over us being childless, even in front of their five little no-neck monsters!
(暂停。楼梯上传来声音。)
(Pause. Voices approach on the stairs.)
布里克?——我去过孟菲斯的一位医生那里,一位妇科医生……
Brick? — I’ve been to a doctor in Memphis, a — a gynecologist….
我已经做了全面检查,没有理由说我们不能随时生孩子。从日历上看,这是我怀孕的时间。你在听我说话吗?你在听吗?你在听我说话吗!
I’ve been completely examined, and there is no reason why we can’t have a child whenever we want one. And this is my time by the calendar to conceive. Are you listening to me? Are you? Are you LISTENING TO ME!
布里克:是的。我明白你的意思,玛吉。
Brick: Yes. I hear you, Maggie.
(他的注意力又回到她发炎的脸上。)
(His attention returns to her inflamed face.)
——但你究竟怎么会想象——你会和一个无法忍受你的男人生孩子?
— But how in hell on earth do you imagine — that you’re going to have a child by a man that can’t stand you?
玛格丽特:这是我必须要解决的问题。
Margaret: That’s a problem that I will have to work out.
(她转身面向大厅门口。)
(She wheels about to face the hall door.)
他们来了!
Here they come!
(灯光暗了。)
(The lights dim.)
窗帘
CURTAIN
时间没有流逝。玛格丽特和布里克的姿势与第一幕结束时的姿势相同。
There is no lapse of time. Margaret and Brick are in the same positions they held at the end of Act I.
玛格丽特(在门口):他们来了!
Margaret (at door): Here they come!
(大爸爸首先出现,他是一个高个子的男人,目光凶狠,焦虑不安,动作小心翼翼,不让自己暴露自己的弱点,尤其是不让自己暴露给自己。)
(Big Daddy appears first, a tall man with a fierce, anxious look, moving carefully not to betray his weakness even, or especially, to himself.)
大爸爸:好吧,布里克。
Big Daddy: Well, Brick.
布里克:你好,大爸爸。——恭喜你!
Brick: Hello, Big Daddy. — Congratulations!
大爸爸: ——废话……
Big Daddy: — Crap….
(一些人穿过大厅走来,另一些人沿着画廊走来:声音来自两个方向。古珀和图克牧师出现在画廊门外,他们的声音清晰可辨。
(Some of the people are approaching through the hall, others along the gallery: voices from both directions. Gooper and Reverend Tooker become visible outside gallery doors, and their voices come in clearly.
(他们在外面停下来,因为 Gooper 点燃了一支雪茄。)
(They pause outside as Gooper lights a cigar.)
牧师图克(活泼地):哦,但是格林纳达的圣保罗大教堂有三扇纪念窗,最新的一扇是蒂芙尼彩色玻璃窗,价值两千五百美元,上面画着善良的牧羊人基督怀抱羔羊的画像。
Reverend Tooker (vivaciously): Oh, but St. Paul’s in Grenada has three memorial windows, and the latest one is a Tiffany stained-glass window that cost twenty-five hundred dollars, a picture of Christ the Good Shepherd with a Lamb in His arms.
古珀:谁给了那个窗户,布道?
Gooper: Who give that window, Preach?
牧师图克:克莱德·弗莱彻的遗孀。还向圣保罗大教堂赠送了洗礼盆。
Reverend Tooker: Clyde Fletcher’s widow. Also presented St. Paul’s with a baptismal font.
古珀:你知道有人应该给你的教堂提供一个冷却系统吗,布道。
Gooper: Y’know what somebody ought t’ give your church is a coolin’ system, Preach.
牧师图克:是的,鲍勃先生!你知道格斯·哈马的家人为了纪念他,给双河教堂送了什么吗?一栋全新的石砌教区房屋,地下室有一个篮球场,还有——
Reverend Tooker: Yes, siree, Bob! And y’know what Gus Hamma’s family gave in his memory to the church at Two Rivers? A complete new stone parish-house with a basketball court in the basement and a —
大爸爸(发出一声响亮的狂笑,但远非真正欢快):嘿,普里奇!你为什么总在谈论纪念碑,普里奇?你觉得有人要在这里开战吗?是吗?
Big Daddy (uttering a loud barking laugh which is far from truly mirthful): Hey, Preach! What’s all this talk about memorials, Preach? Y’ think somebody’s about t’ kick off around here? ’S that it?
(图克牧师被这句插话吓了一跳,决定尽可能大声地笑出声来。)
(Startled by this interjection, Reverend Tooker decides to laugh at the question almost as loud as he can.)
(我们永远无法知道他将如何回答这个问题,因为当古珀的妻子梅与家庭医生“Doc”鲍夫一起从门厅门口出现时,他听到了她高亢清晰的声音,免除了他的尴尬。)
(How he would answer the question we’ll never know, as he’s spared that embarrassment by the voice of Gooper’s wife, Mae, rising high and clear as she appears with “Doc” Baugh, the family doctor, through the hall door.)
M ae(几乎虔诚地):——现在让我们看看,他们已经接种了白喉疫苗、破伤风疫苗、白喉疫苗、肝炎疫苗和脊髓灰质炎疫苗,他们从五月到九月每个月都接种了这些疫苗,而且——Gooper?嘿!Gooper!——孩子们都接种了什么疫苗?
Mae (almost religiously): — Let’s see now, they’ve had their tyyyphoid shots, and their tetanus shots, their diphtheria shots and their hepatitis shots and their polio shots, they got those shots every month from May through September, and — Gooper? Hey! Gooper! — What all have the kiddies been shot faw?
玛格丽特(有点重叠):打开音响,布里克!让我们放点音乐来开始派对吧!
Margaret (overlapping a bit): Turn on the hi-fi, Brick! Let’s have some music t’ start off th’ party with!
(谈话变得如此广泛,房间里听起来就像一个鸟儿叽叽喳喳的巨大鸟舍。只有布里克无所事事,靠在酒柜上,脸上挂着茫然的微笑,不时用纸巾里的冰块擦额头。他没有回应玛格丽特的命令。她跳上前去,弯腰看着控制台的仪表板。)
(The talk becomes so general that the room sounds like a great aviary of chattering birds. Only Brick remains unengaged, leaning upon the liquor cabinet with his faraway smile, an ice cube in a paper napkin with which he now and then rubs his forehead. He doesn’t respond to Margaret’s command. She bounds forward and stoops over the instrument panel of the console.)
Gooper :我们把这个东西作为三周年纪念礼物送给了他们,里面有三个扬声器。
Gooper: We gave ’em that thing for a third anniversary present, got three speakers in it.
(房间里突然响起瓦格纳歌剧或贝多芬交响乐的高潮。)
(The room is suddenly blasted by the climax of a Wagnerian opera or a Beethoven symphony.)
大爸爸:把那该死的东西关掉!
Big Daddy: Turn that dam thing off!
(几乎瞬间的寂静,几乎立刻被大妈妈的叫喊声打破,她像一头冲锋的犀牛一样从大厅门口冲进来。)
(Almost instant silence, almost instantly broken by the shouting charge of Big Mama, entering through hall door like a charging rhino.)
B ig M ama:我的砖头是什么,我的宝贝是什么!!
Big Mama: Wha’s my Brick, wha’s mah precious baby!!
大爸爸:抱歉!请重新打开!
Big Daddy: Sorry! Turn it back on!
(每个人都笑得很大声。大爸爸以拿大妈妈开玩笑而闻名,没有人比大妈妈自己对这些笑话笑得更大声,尽管有时这些笑话很残忍,大妈妈必须拿起或忙着做些什么来掩盖大笑无法完全掩盖的伤害。)
(Everyone laughs very loud. Big Daddy is famous for his jokes at Big Mama’s expense, and nobody laughs louder at these jokes than Big Mama herself, though sometimes they’re pretty cruel and Big Mama has to pick up or fuss with something to cover the hurt that the loud laugh doesn’t quite cover.)
(这一次,是个快乐的时刻,因为她心中的恐惧也被大爸爸病情的虚假报道所驱散,她朝着大爸爸的方向,咯咯地笑着,动作怪诞、腼腆,然后向布里克扑去,动作非常敏捷、生动。)
(On this occasion, a happy occasion because the dread in her heart has also been lifted by the false report on Big Daddy’s condition, she giggles, grotesquely, coyly, in Big Daddy’s direction and bears down upon Brick, all very quick and alive.)
大妈:他来了,这是我的宝贝!你手里拿的是什么?儿子,你把酒放下,你的手天生就适合拿比那更好的东西!
Big Mama: Here he is, here’s my precious baby! What’s that you’ve got in your hand? You put that liquor down, son, your hand was made fo’ holdin’ somethin’ better than that!
Gooper :看看 Brick 把它放下!
Gooper: Look at Brick put it down!
(布里克听从了大妈妈的话,喝干了杯子里的酒,然后把杯子递给了她。大家又笑了起来,有的笑得高亢,有的笑得低沉。)
(Brick has obeyed Big Mama by draining the glass and handing it to her. Again everyone laughs, some high, some low.)
大妈妈:哦,你这个坏孩子,你,你是我的坏孩子。亲亲大妈妈,你这个坏孩子!——看他躲起来好吗?布里克从不喜欢被人亲吻或被人小题大做,我想是因为他总是受不了这种事!
Big Mama: Oh, you bad boy, you, you’re my bad little boy. Give Big Mama a kiss, you bad boy, you! — Look at him shy away, will you? Brick never liked bein’ kissed or made a fuss over, I guess because he’s always had too much of it!
儿子,你把那个东西关掉!
Son, you turn that thing off!
(布里克打开了电视机。)
(Brick has switched on the TV set.)
我受不了电视,收音机已经够糟糕了,但电视更糟糕,我的意思是——(扑通一声倒在椅子上喘息)——更糟糕,哈哈!现在我坐在这里干什么?我想坐在我爱人的旁边,和他手牵手,爱他一点!
I can’t stand TV, radio was bad enough but TV has gone it one better, I mean — ( plops wheezing in chair) — one worse, ha ha! Now what’m I sittin’ down here faw? I want t’ sit next to my sweetheart on the sofa, hold hands with him and love him up a little!
(大妈妈穿着黑白花纹的雪纺裙。那些大而无比的花纹,就像某种巨型动物的斑纹,她佩戴的大钻石和珍珠的光泽,她银框眼镜上的璀璨钻石,她放荡不羁的嗓音,爽朗的笑声,从她进来起就主宰着整个房间。大爸爸则一直用一种长期恼怒的表情看着她。)
(Big Mama has on a black and white figured chiffon. The large irregular patterns, like the markings of some massive animal, the luster of her great diamonds and many pearls, the brilliants set in the silver frames of her glasses, her riotous voice, booming laugh, have dominated the room since she entered. Big Daddy has been regarding her with a steady grimace of chronic annoyance.)
大妈妈(声音更大了): “牧师,牧师,嘿,牧师!伸出你的手来,把我从椅子上扶起来!”
Big Mama (still louder): Preacher, Preacher, hey, Preach! Give me you’ hand an’ help me up from this chair!
牧师图克:大妈妈,你别耍什么花招!
Reverend Tooker: None of your tricks, Big Mama!
大妈:什么花招?你伸出你的手,让我站起来——
Big Mama: What tricks? You give me you’ hand so I can get up an’ —
(图克牧师向她伸出了手。她握住他的手,把他拉到自己的腿上,发出一声尖厉的笑声,笑声跨越了两个音符,音调高了一个八度。)
(Reverend Tooker extends her his hand. She grabs it and pulls him into her lap with a shrill laugh that spans an octave in two notes.)
见过牧师坐在胖女人腿上吗?嘿,嘿,大家!见过牧师坐在胖女人腿上吗?
Ever seen a preacher in a fat lady’s lap? Hey, hey, folks! Ever seen a preacher in a fat lady’s lap?
(大妈妈因这种粗俗的恶作剧在整个三角洲地区臭名昭著。玛格丽特一边带着纵容的幽默看着,一边啜饮着“加冰”的杜本内葡萄酒,看着布里克,但梅和古珀却对这些滑稽动作露出了毫无笑意的焦虑表情,梅认为这种行为可能是他们未能与孟菲斯最聪明的年轻已婚人士打成一片的原因。其中一个黑人,莱西或苏基,偷偷往里偷看,咯咯地笑着。他们在等着拿蛋糕和香槟的信号。但是大爸爸并不觉得好笑。他不明白为什么尽管医生的报告让他精神上得到了无限的放松,但他的肚子里仍然长着同样的狐狸牙齿。“这种痉挛的东西真是太厉害了,”他自言自语道,但又大声对大妈妈吼叫道:)
(Big Mama is notorious throughout the Delta for this sort of inelegant horseplay. Margaret looks on with indulgent humor, sipping Dubonnet “on the rocks” and watching Brick, but Mae and Gooper exchange signs of humorless anxiety over these antics, the sort of behavior which Mae thinks may account for their failure to quite get in with the smartest young married set in Memphis, despite all. One of the Negroes, Lacy or Sookey, peeks in, cackling. They are waiting for a sign to bring in the cake and champagne. But Big Daddy’s not amused. He doesn’t understand why, in spite of the infinite mental relief he’s received from the doctor’s report, he still has these same old fox teeth in his guts. “This spastic thing sure is something,” he says to himself, but aloud he roars at Big Mama:)
大爸爸:大妈妈,你能戒掉马术吗?——你太老了,太胖了,不适合做这种疯狂的小孩子的事情,而且还有一个血压和你一样的女人——去年春天她的血压高达 200!——你这样胡闹会有中风的危险……
Big Daddy: BIG MAMA, WILL YOU QUIT HORSIN’? — You’re too old an’ too fat fo’ that sort of crazy kid stuff an’ besides a woman with your blood pressure — she had two hundred last spring! — is riskin’ a stroke when you mess around like that….
B ig M ama:大爸爸的生日到了!
Big Mama: Here comes Big Daddy’s birthday!
(穿着白色夹克的黑人带着一个巨大的生日蛋糕进来,蛋糕上插满了蜡烛,他们还提着一桶桶香槟,瓶颈上系着缎带。)
(Negroes in white jackets enter with an enormous birthday cake ablaze with candles and carrying buckets of champagne with satin ribbons about the bottle necks.)
(梅和古珀开始唱歌,包括黑人和儿童在内的每个人都加入进来。只有布里克保持冷漠。)
(Mae and Gooper strike up song, and everybody, including the Negroes and Children, joins in. Only Brick remains aloof.)
大家:祝你生日快乐。
Everyone: Happy birthday to you.
祝你生日快乐。
Happy birthday to you.
生日快乐,大爸爸——
Happy birthday, Big Daddy —
(有的唱:“亲爱的大爸爸!”)
(Some sing: “Dear, Big Daddy!”)
祝你生日快乐。
Happy birthday to you.
(有的唱:“你多大了?”)
(Some sing: “How old are you?”)
(梅已经走到中心,正在组织她的孩子们像合唱团一样。她对他们说了一声几乎听不见的“一、二、三!”,他们就开始唱新的曲调。)
(Mae has come down center and is organizing her children like a chorus. She gives them a barely audible: “One, two, three!” and they are off in the new tune.)
儿童: Skinamarinka — 丁卡 — 丁克
Children: Skinamarinka — dinka — dink
Skinamarinka — 做
Skinamarinka — do
我们爱你。
We love you.
Skinamarinka — 丁卡 — 丁克
Skinamarinka — dinka — dink
Skinamarinka — 做。
Skinamarinka — do.
(他们一起转向大爸爸。)
(All together, they turn to Big Daddy.)
大爸爸你呀!
Big Daddy, you!
(他们转回前面,就像音乐喜剧合唱团一样。)
(They turn back front, like a musical comedy chorus.)
早上我们爱你;
We love you in the morning;
我们在夜晚爱你。
We love you in the night.
当我们和你在一起时我们爱你,
We love you when we’re with you,
我们也爱你,无论何时何地。
And we love you out of sight.
Skinamarinka — 丁卡 — 丁克
Skinamarinka — dinka — dink
Skinamarinka — 做。
Skinamarinka — do.
(梅转向大妈妈。)
(Mae turns to Big Mama.)
还有大妈妈!
Big Mama, too!
(大妈妈泪流满面。黑人们离开了。)
(Big Mama bursts into tears. The Negroes leave.)
大爸爸:艾达,你到底是怎么了?
Big Daddy: Now Ida, what the hell is the matter with you?
Mae :她真的太高兴了。
Mae: She’s just so happy.
B ig M ama:我实在是太高兴了,大爸爸,我都要哭出来或者做些什么了。
Big Mama: I’m just so happy, Big Daddy, I have to cry or something.
(寂静中突然响起:)
(Sudden and loud in the hush:)
布里克,你知道鲍医生从诊所得知了关于大爸爸的好消息吗?大爸爸百分之百康复!
Brick, do you know the wonderful news that Doc Baugh got from the clinic about Big Daddy? Big Daddy’s one hundred per cent!
玛格丽特:这不是很棒吗?
Margaret: Isn’t that wonderful?
大妈妈:他完全康复了。检查结果非常理想。现在我们知道大爸爸除了结肠痉挛外没有其他问题,我可以告诉你一些事情。我担心得要命,几乎疯了,生怕大爸爸会得这种病——
Big Mama: He’s just one hundred per cent. Passed the examination with flying colors. Now that we know there’s nothing wrong with Big Daddy but a spastic colon, I can tell you something. I was worried sick, half out of my mind, for fear that Big Daddy might have a thing like —
(玛格丽特打断了她的讲话,跳了起来,尖声叫道:)
(Margaret cuts through this speech, jumping up and exclaiming shrilly:)
玛格丽特:布里克,亲爱的,你不打算给大爸爸送生日礼物吗?
Margaret: Brick, honey, aren’t you going to give Big Daddy his birthday present?
(当她从他身边走过时,她从他手中夺走了他的酒杯。)
(Passing by him, she snatches his liquor glass from him.)
(她拿起一个包装精美的包裹。)
(She picks up a fancily wrapped package.)
就是这个,大爸爸,这是来自 Brick 的!
Here it is, Big Daddy, this is from Brick!
大妈妈:这是大爸爸过的最盛大的生日,有上百份礼物和成堆的电报来自——
Big Mama: This is the biggest birthday Big Daddy’s ever had, a hundred presents and bushels of telegrams from —
Mae (同时) :怎么了,Brick ?
Mae (at same time): What is it, Brick?
Gooper :我以 500 比 50 的比率打赌,Brick 不知道那是什么。
Gooper: I bet 500 to 50 that Brick don’t know what it is.
大妈:礼物的乐趣在于,直到打开包装才知道是什么。打开你的礼物吧,大爸爸。
Big Mama: The fun of presents is not knowing what they are till you open the package. Open your present, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:你自己打开吧。我想问布里克一些事情!过来,布里克。
Big Daddy: Open it you’self. I want to ask Brick somethin’! Come here, Brick.
玛格丽特:大爸爸在叫你,布里克。
Margaret: Big Daddy’s callin’ you, Brick.
(她正在打开包裹。)
(She is opening the package.)
布里克:告诉大爸爸我残废了。
Brick: Tell Big Daddy I’m crippled.
大爸爸:我看你是残废了。我想知道你是怎么残废的。
Big Daddy: I see you’re crippled. I want to know how you got crippled.
玛格丽特(声东击西):“哦,快看,哦,快看,这是一件羊绒长袍!”
Margaret (making diversionary tactics): Oh, look, oh, look, why, it’s a cashmere robe!
(她举起长袍让所有人都能看到。)
(She holds the robe up for all to see.)
M ae:你听起来很惊讶,Maggie。
Mae: You sound surprised, Maggie.
玛格丽特:我以前从来没见过。
Margaret: I never saw one before.
M ae:真有趣。——哈哈!
Mae: That’s funny. — Hah!
玛格丽特(转过身来,脸上露出灿烂的笑容): “这有什么好笑的?我的家人只有家人——而像羊绒长袍这样的奢侈品仍然让我感到惊讶!”
Margaret (turning on her fiercely, with a brilliant smile): Why is it funny? All my family ever had was family — and luxuries such as cashmere robes still surprise me!
大爸爸(不祥地):“安静!”
Big Daddy (ominously): Quiet!
梅(怒不可遏):我不明白你上周六在孟菲斯的 Loewenstein's 买下它时怎么会这么惊讶。你知道我怎么知道的吗?
Mae (heedless in her fury): I don’t see how you could be so surprised when you bought it yourself at Loewenstein’s in Memphis last Saturday. You know how I know?
大爸爸:我说了,安静!
Big Daddy: I said, Quiet!
M ae: ——我知道,因为卖给你的那个女售货员在等着我,然后对我说,哦,波利特夫人,你嫂子刚刚为你丈夫的父亲买了一件羊绒长袍!
Mae: — I know because the salesgirl that sold it to you waited on me and said, Oh, Mrs. Pollitt, your sister-in-law just bought a cashmere robe for your husband’s father!
玛格丽特:姐妹!你当家庭主妇和母亲的才能被浪费了,你真的应该去联邦调查局或者——
Margaret: Sister Woman! Your talents are wasted as a housewife and mother, you really ought to be with the FBI or —
大爸爸:安静!
Big Daddy: QUIET!
(图克牧师的反应比其他人慢。他在吼叫之后完成了一句话。)
(Reverend Tooker’s reflexes are slower than the others’. He finishes a sentence after the bellow.)
牧师图克(对 Doc Baugh 说):——鹳鸟和死神正在并驾齐驱!
Reverend Tooker (to Doc Baugh): — the Stork and the Reaper are running neck and neck!
(当他注意到周围的寂静和大爸爸的怒视时,他开始开心地大笑。但他的笑声却消失了。)
(He starts to laugh gaily when he notices the silence and Big Daddy’s glare. His laugh dies falsely.)
大爸爸:牧师,我希望我没有打扰到大家关于纪念彩色玻璃窗的讨论,是吗,牧师?
Big Daddy: Preacher, I hope I’m not butting in on more talk about memorial stained-glass windows, am I, Preacher?
(图克牧师微微一笑,然后在尴尬的沉默中干咳了几声。)
(Reverend Tooker laughs feebly, then coughs dryly in the embarrassed silence.)
牧师?
Preacher?
大妈妈:现在,大爸爸,你别再欺负传教士了!
Big Mama: Now, Big Daddy, don’t you pick on Preacher!
大爸爸(提高嗓门):你听说过“只打不吐痰”这句话吗?你那轻微的干咳就让人想起了这句话,“只打不吐痰” ……
Big Daddy (raising his voice): You ever hear that expression all hawk and no spit? You bring that expression to mind with that little dry cough of yours, all hawk an’ no spit….
(暂停被玛格丽特的一声短促的惊笑打破,她是在场唯一一个意识到这一怪诞事件并被其逗乐的人。)
(The pause is broken only by a short startled laugh from Margaret, the only one there who is conscious of and amused by the grotesque.)
M ae(举起手臂,手镯叮当作响):“不知道今晚蚊子活跃吗?”
Mae (raising her arms and jangling her bracelets): I wonder if the mosquitoes are active tonight?
大爸爸:那是什么,小妈妈?你说什么了吗?
Big Daddy: What’s that, Little Mama? Did you make some remark?
Mae :是的,我说我想知道如果我们在画廊外面待一会儿,蚊子是否会把我们活活吃掉。
Mae: Yes, I said I wondered if the mosquitoes would eat us alive if we went out on the gallery for a while.
大爸爸:如果他们这么做,我就把你的骨头磨碎做肥料!
Big Daddy: Well, if they do, I’ll have your bones pulverized for fertilizer!
B ig M ama(很快):上周我们派了一架飞机对这个地方进行喷洒,我认为它起到了一定作用,至少我还没有——
Big Mama (quickly): Last week we had an airplane spraying the place and I think it done some good, at least I haven’t had a —
大爸爸(打断了她的讲话):布里克,他们告诉我,如果他们说的是真的,你昨晚在高中运动场上跳跃了?
Big Daddy (cutting her speech): Brick, they tell me, if what they tell me is true, that you done some jumping last night on the high school athletic field?
大妈妈:布里克,儿子,大爸爸在跟你说话。
Big Mama: Brick, Big Daddy is talking to you, son.
布里克(一边喝着饮料一边微笑): “大爸爸,那是什么?”
Brick (smiling vaguely over his drink): What was that, Big Daddy?
B ig Daddy :他们说你昨晚在高中田径场上跳跃了一些。
Big Daddy: They said you done some jumping on the high school track field last night.
布里克:他们也是这么告诉我的。
Brick: That’s what they told me, too.
大爸爸:你当时在那儿干什么?是跳还是撞?凌晨三点钟你干什么?把一个女人放在煤渣路上?
Big Daddy: Was it jumping or humping that you were doing out there? What were you doing out there at three a.m., layin’ a woman on that cinder track?
大妈妈:大爸爸,现在你已经不再是病人了,我不会原谅你这么说——
Big Mama: Big Daddy, you are off the sick-list, now, and I’m not going to excuse you for talkin’ so —
大爸爸:安静!
Big Daddy: Quiet!
大妈妈:——在传教士面前表现得很恶劣——
Big Mama: — nasty in front of Preacher and —
大爸爸:安静! ——我问你,布里克,昨晚你是不是在那条煤渣路上给自己切了一块土豆泥?我以为你也许在那条路上追土豆泥,追得太急,被什么东西绊倒了——是吗?
Big Daddy: QUIET! — I ast you, Brick, if you was cuttin’ you’self a piece o’ poon-tang last night on that cinder track? I thought maybe you were chasin’ poon-tang on that track an’ tripped over something in the heat of the chase — ’sthat it?
(古珀大笑,声音响亮,但很假,其他人也紧张地跟着笑。大妈妈跺了跺脚,撅起嘴唇,走到梅身边,对她低声说了几句话。布里克在酒帘后面,迎上父亲坚定、专注、咧嘴笑的目光,脸上慢慢浮现出一丝淡淡的微笑。)
(Gooper laughs, loud and false, others nervously following suit. Big Mama stamps her foot, and purses her lips, crossing to Mae and whispering something to her as Brick meets his father’s hard, intent, grinning stare with a slow, vague smile that he offers all situations from behind the screen of his liquor.)
布里克:不,先生,我不这么认为……
Brick: No, sir, I don’t think so….
梅(同时,温柔地):图克牧师,让我们和你一起沿着寡妇小径散步吧。
Mae (at the same time, sweetly): Reverend Tooker, let’s you and I take a stroll on the widow’s walk.
(她和牧师走到走廊上,大爸爸说道:)
(She and the preacher go out on the gallery as Big Daddy says:)
大爸爸:那你凌晨三点在外面干什么呢?
Big Daddy: Then what the hell were you doing out there at three o’clock in the morning?
布里克:跳栏,大爸爸,一边跑一边跳栏,但是现在那些高栏对我来说太高了。
Brick: Jumping the hurdles, Big Daddy, runnin’ and jumpin’ the hurdles, but those high hurdles have gotten too high for me, now.
大爸爸:因为你喝醉了?
Big Daddy: Cause you was drunk?
布里克(他那模糊的微笑渐渐消失了):“清醒的话,我就不会试图跳那些低的了……
Brick (his vague smile fading a little): Sober I wouldn’t have tried to jump the low ones….
大妈妈(很快地):大爸爸,吹灭你生日蛋糕上的蜡烛吧!
Big Mama (quickly): Big Daddy, blow out the candles on your birthday cake!
玛格丽特(同时):我想提议为大爸爸波利特干杯,庆祝他六十五岁生日,他是——最大的棉花种植园主。
Margaret (at the same time): I want to propose a toast to Big Daddy Pollitt on his sixty-fifth birthday, the biggest cotton planter in —
大爸爸(愤怒而厌恶地吼叫):“我告诉过你别再这样做了,现在就别再这样做了,别再这样做——!”
Big Daddy (bellowing with fury and disgust): I told you to stop it, now stop it, quit this — !
大妈妈(拿着蛋糕来到大爸爸面前):大爸爸,我不会允许你这样说话,即使是在你生日那天,我——
Big Mama (coming in front of Big Daddy with the cake): Big Daddy, I will not allow you to talk that way, not even on your birthday, I —
大爸爸:艾达,我会在我生日那天,或者一年中任何其他的日子里,随心所欲地说话,任何不喜欢我的人都知道他们会做什么!
Big Daddy: I’ll talk like I want to on my birthday, Ida, or any other goddam day of the year and anybody here that don’t like it knows what they can do!
大妈:你不是这个意思!
Big Mama: You don’t mean that!
大爸爸:你怎么知道我不是真心的?
Big Daddy: What makes you think I don’t mean it?
(与此同时,双方交换了各种谨慎的信号,并且 Gooper 也走出了画廊。)
(Meanwhile various discreet signals have been exchanged and Gooper has also gone out on the gallery.)
大妈:我就是知道你不是故意的。
Big Mama: I just know you don’t mean it.
大爸爸:你根本就不知道任何事,你从来就不知道!
Big Daddy: You don’t know a goddam thing and you never did!
大妈妈:大爸爸,你不是这个意思。
Big Mama: Big Daddy, you don’t mean that.
大爸爸:哦,是的,我承认,哦,是的,我承认,我是认真的!我忍受了这里一大堆废话,因为我以为我快死了。而你以为我快死了,你开始接管,好吧,你现在可以停止接管了,艾达,因为我不会死,你现在可以停止接管了,因为你不会接管,因为我不会死,我经过了实验室和该死的探查手术,我除了结肠痉挛外没有其他问题。而且我没有死于癌症,而你以为我快死了。不是吗?艾达,你不认为我死于癌症吗?
Big Daddy: Oh, yes, I do, oh, yes, I do, I mean it! I put up with a whole lot of crap around here because I thought I was dying. And you thought I was dying and you started taking over, well, you can stop taking over now, Ida, because I’m not gonna die, you can just stop now this business of taking over because you’re not taking over because I’m not dying, I went through the laboratory and the goddam exploratory operation and there’s nothing wrong with me but a spastic colon. And I’m not dying of cancer which you thought I was dying of. Ain’t that so? Didn’t you think that I was dying of cancer, Ida?
(几乎所有人都站在画廊里,只有那两位老人隔着熊熊燃烧的蛋糕互相怒视着。)
(Almost everybody is out on the gallery but the two old people glaring at each other across the blazing cake.)
(大妈妈的胸口起伏着,她用一只肥胖的拳头捂住嘴。
(Big Mama’s chest heaves and she presses a fat fist to her mouth.
(大爸爸嘶哑地继续说道:)
(Big Daddy continues, hoarsely:)
是不是这样,艾达?难道你不知道我快要死于癌症,而现在你就可以控制这个地方和这里的一切吗?我有这种感觉,我似乎有这种感觉。你到处大声喧哗,你那肥胖的身躯到处乱闯!
Ain’t that so, Ida? Didn’t you have an idea I was dying of cancer and now you could take control of this place and everything on it? I got that impression, I seemed to get that impression. Your loud voice everywhere, your fat old body butting in here and there!
大妈妈:嘘!传教士!
Big Mama: Hush! The Preacher!
大爸爸:该死的传教士!
Big Daddy: Rut the goddam preacher!
(大妈妈大声喘着气,坐在对她来说太小的沙发上。)
(Big Mama gasps loudly and sits down on the sofa which is almost too small for her.)
你听见我说的话了吗?我说的是该死的传教士!
Did you hear what I said? I said rut the goddam preacher!
(正当烟花绽放、孩子们兴奋的哭喊声响起时,有人从外面关上了画廊的门。)
(Somebody closes the gallery doors from outside just as there is a burst of fireworks and excited cries from the children.)
B ig M ama:我从来没见过你这样,我真不知道你心里在想什么!
Big Mama: I never seen you act like this before and I can’t think what’s got in you!
大爸爸:我经历了所有的实验室和手术,只是为了知道你还是我才是这里的老板!现在,事实证明我是,你不是——这是我的生日礼物——也是我的蛋糕和香槟!——因为三年来,你一直在逐渐接管。发号施令。说话。在我创建的地方大摇大摆地走来走去!我创建了这个地方!我是这里的监工!我是老斯特劳和奥切罗种植园的监工。我十岁辍学!我十岁辍学,像黑鬼一样在田里干活。我升职成为斯特劳和奥切罗种植园的监工。老斯特劳死了,我成了奥切罗的合伙人,种植园变得越来越大!这些都是我自己做的,没有你的帮助,现在你以为你就要接管了。好吧,我正要告诉你,你不是要接管一切,你不是要接管任何该死的东西。你明白了吗,艾达?现在你明白了吗?你完全明白了吗?我从头到尾都检查过实验室。我做过该死的探查手术,除了结肠痉挛外,我什么问题都没有——我猜是因为厌恶!因为我不得不忍受所有该死的谎言和骗子,以及我们一起生活了四十年的所有该死的虚伪!
Big Daddy: I went through all that laboratory and operation and all just so I would know if you or me was boss here! Well, now it turns out that I am and you ain’t — and that’s my birthday present — and my cake and champagne! — because for three years now you been gradually taking over. Bossing. Talking. Sashaying your fat old body around the place I made! I made this place! I was overseer on it! I was the overseer on the old Straw and Ochello plantation. I quit school at ten! I quit school at ten years old and went to work like a nigger in the fields. And I rose to be overseer of the Straw and Ochello plantation. And old Straw died and I was Ochello’s partner and the place got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger! I did all that myself with no goddam help from you, and now you think you’re just about to take over. Well, I am just about to tell you that you are not just about to take over, you are not just about to take over a God damn thing. Is that clear to you, Ida? Is that very plain to you, now? Is that understood completely? I been through the laboratory from A to Z. I’ve had the goddam exploratory operation, and nothing is wrong with me but a spastic colon — made spastic, I guess, by disgust! By all the goddam lies and liars that I have had to put up with, and all the goddam hypocrisy that I lived with all these forty years that we been livin’ together!
嘿!艾达!!吹灭生日蛋糕上的蜡烛!撅起嘴唇,深吸一口气,吹灭蛋糕上的蜡烛!
Hey! Ida!! Blow out the candles on the birthday cake! Purse up your lips and draw a deep breath and blow out the goddam candles on the cake!
大妈妈:哦,大爸爸,哦,哦,哦,大爸爸!
Big Mama: Oh, Big Daddy, oh, oh, oh, Big Daddy!
大爸爸:你怎么了?
Big Daddy: What’s the matter with you?
B ig M ama:这么多年你从来不相信我爱你吗?
Big Mama: In all these years you never believed that I loved you??
大爸爸:啊?
Big Daddy: Huh?
大妈妈:我确实爱你,我爱你很多! ——我甚至爱你的仇恨和你的坚强,大爸爸!
Big Mama: And I did, I did so much, I did love you! — I even loved your hate and your hardness, Big Daddy!
(她抽泣着,尴尬地冲到画廊。)
(She sobs and rushes awkwardly out onto the gallery.)
大爸爸(自言自语):如果这是真的,那不是很有趣吗……
Big Daddy (to himself): Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true….
(稍停后,天空中烟花突然爆发出光芒。)
(A pause is followed by a burst of light in the sky from the fireworks.)
砖!嘿,砖!
BRICK! HEY, BRICK!
(他站在熊熊燃烧的生日蛋糕上。)
(He stands over his blazing birthday cake.)
(过了一会儿,布里克拄着拐杖,手里拿着玻璃杯,一瘸一拐地走了进来。
(After some moments, Brick hobbles in on his crutch, holding his glass.
(玛格丽特带着灿烂而焦虑的微笑跟在他身后。)
(Margaret follows him with a bright, anxious smile.)
我没有给你打电话,玛吉。我给布里克打电话了。
I didn’t call you, Maggie. I called Brick.
玛格丽特:我只是把他交给你。
Margaret: I’m just delivering him to you.
(她亲吻了布里克的嘴唇,布里克立刻用手背擦去。她像个少女一样飞奔出去。布里克和他的父亲单独在一起。)
(She kisses Brick on the mouth which he immediately wipes with the back of his hand. She flies girlishly back out. Brick and his father are alone.)
大爸爸:你为什么这么做?
Big Daddy: Why did you do that?
布里克:做什么呢,大爸爸?
Brick: Do what, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:把她的吻从你的嘴上擦掉,就像她向你吐口水一样。
Big Daddy: Wipe her kiss off your mouth like she’d spit on you.
布里克:我不知道。我没有意识到这一点。
Brick: I don’t know. I wasn’t conscious of it.
B ig Daddy :你那个女人的身材比 Gooper 的要好,但不知何故,她们看起来却一样。
Big Daddy: That woman of yours has a better shape on her than Gooper’s but somehow or other they got the same look about them.
布里克:那是什么样的表情,大爸爸?
Brick: What sort of look is that, Big Daddy?
B ig Daddy :我不知道如何形容,但是看起来是一样的。
Big Daddy: I don’t know how to describe it but it’s the same look.
B rick:他们看上去不太平静,是吗?
Brick: They don’t look peaceful, do they?
大爸爸:不,他们肯定不会这么做。
Big Daddy: No, they sure in hell don’t.
B rick:它们看起来像猫一样紧张?
Brick: They look nervous as cats?
大爸爸:没错,它们看起来像猫一样紧张。
Big Daddy: That’s right, they look nervous as cats.
B rick:紧张得像热铁皮屋顶上的一对猫吗?
Brick: Nervous as a couple of cats on a hot tin roof?
B ig Daddy :没错,小伙子,他们看起来就像热锅上的蚂蚁。你和 Gooper 如此不同,却会选择同一种类型的女人,这很有趣。
Big Daddy: That’s right, boy, they look like a couple of cats on a hot tin roof. It’s funny that you and Gooper being so different would pick out the same type of woman.
布里克:我们俩都是嫁入上流社会的,大爸爸。
Brick: Both of us married into society, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:糟糕……我很奇怪是什么让他们俩露出这样的表情?
Big Daddy: Crap … I wonder what gives them both that look?
布里克:嗯。他们正坐在一大块土地的中央,老爸,两万八千英亩是一块相当大的土地,所以他们就在那里争斗,双方都决心在你放手的时候砍掉比对方更大的一块。
Brick: Well. They’re sittin’ in the middle of a big piece of land, Big Daddy, twenty-eight thousand acres is a pretty big piece of land and so they’re squaring off on it, each determined to knock off a bigger piece of it than the other whenever you let it go.
大爸爸:我为这些女人准备了一个惊喜。如果她们在等这个,我不会让她们等太久。
Big Daddy: I got a surprise for those women. I’m not gonna let it go for a long time yet if that’s what they’re waiting for.
B rick:没错,老爸。你就坐等他们互相挖眼吧……
Brick: That’s right, Big Daddy. You just sit tight and let them scratch each other’s eyes out….
大爸爸:你敢打赌我会坐在那里,让那些狗杂种挖出他们的眼睛,哈哈哈……
Big Daddy: You bet your life I’m going to sit tight on it and let those sons of bitches scratch their eyes out, ha ha ha….
但 Gooper 的妻子是个好种马,你得承认她种马的能力。天哪,今晚吃晚饭时,她把所有的马都端上了桌,他们不得不在桌子上多放几片叶子来给它们腾出地方,现在她已经有五颗马了,还有一颗马上就要长出来了。
But Gooper’s wife’s a good breeder, you got to admit she’s fertile. Hell, at supper tonight she had them all at the table and they had to put a couple of extra leafs in the table to make room for them, she’s got five head of them, now, and another one’s comin’.
B rick:是的,第六个即将到来......
Brick: Yep, number six is comin’….
大爸爸:布里克,你知道吗,我向上帝发誓,我不知道事情是怎么发生的?
Big Daddy: Brick, you know, I swear to God, I don’t know the way it happens?
布里克:那接下来会发生什么呢,大爸爸?
Brick: The way what happens, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:你不择手段得到了一块土地,然后上面开始生长东西,堆积东西,然后你发现它已经完全失控了,完全失控了!
Big Daddy: You git you a piece of land, by hook or crook, an’ things start growin’ on it, things accumulate on it, and the first thing you know it’s completely out of hand, completely out of hand!
布里克:嗯,他们说大自然讨厌真空,大爸爸。
Brick: Well, they say nature hates a vacuum, Big Daddy.
B ig Daddy :他们这么说,但有时我认为真空比自然界用来替代它的一些东西要好得多。
Big Daddy: That’s what they say, but sometimes I think that a vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with.
门外有人吗?
Is someone out there by that door?
布里克:是的。
Brick: Yep.
大爸爸:谁?
Big Daddy: Who?
(他降低了声音。)
(He has lowered his voice.)
布里克:有人对我们彼此说的话感兴趣。
Brick: Someone int’rested in what we say to each other.
大爸爸: Gooper?—— GOOPER !
Big Daddy: Gooper? — GOOPER!
(经过一段谨慎的停顿后,梅出现在画廊门口。)
(After a discreet pause, Mae appears in the gallery door.)
M ae:你叫 Gooper 大爸爸了吗?
Mae: Did you call Gooper, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:噢,是你啊。
Big Daddy: Aw, it was you.
M ae:大爸爸,你想要 Gooper 吗?
Mae: Do you want Gooper, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:不,我不需要你。我想在这里保持点隐私,因为我正在和我的儿子布里克进行一次秘密谈话。现在这里太热了,没法关上门,但如果我必须关上那些破门才能和我的儿子布里克进行一次私人谈话,只要告诉我,我就会关上它们。因为我讨厌偷听者,我不喜欢任何形式的偷窥和监视。
Big Daddy: No, and I don’t want you. I want some privacy here, while I’m having a confidential talk with my son Brick. Now it’s too hot in here to close them doors, but if I have to close those rutten doors in order to have a private talk with my son Brick, just let me know and I’ll close ’em. Because I hate eavesdroppers, I don’t like any kind of sneakin’ an’ spyin’.
M ae:为什么,大爸爸——
Mae: Why, Big Daddy —
大爸爸:你站在月亮的错误一侧,它投射出了你的影子!
Big Daddy: You stood on the wrong side of the moon, it threw your shadow!
Mae :我只是——
Mae: I was just —
大爸爸:你只不过是在进行间谍活动,你知道这一点!
Big Daddy: You was just nothing but spyin’ an’ you know it!
M ae(开始抽泣) :哦,大爸爸,不知为何,你对那些真正爱你的人太不友善了!
Mae (begins to sniff and sob): Oh, Big Daddy, you’re so unkind for some reason to those that really love you!
大爸爸:闭嘴,闭嘴,闭嘴!我要把你和 Gooper 搬出隔壁的那个房间!布里克和玛吉晚上在这里干什么,这他妈的不关你的事。你晚上像一对偷窥的间谍一样偷听,然后去把听到的告诉大妈妈,她来找我,说他们听到布里克和玛吉之间发生的事情是这样的,天啊,这让我恶心。我要把你和 Gooper 搬出那个房间,我受不了偷偷摸摸,这让我恶心……
Big Daddy: Shut up, shut up, shut up! I’m going to move you and Gooper out of that room next to this! It’s none of your goddam business what goes on in here at night between Brick an’ Maggie. You listen at night like a couple of rutten peekhole spies and go and give a report on what you hear to Big Mama an’ she comes to me and says they say such and such and so and so about what they heard goin’ on between Brick an’ Maggie, and Jesus, it makes me sick. I’m goin’ to move you an’ Gooper out of that room, I can’t stand sneakin’ an’ spyin’, it makes me sick….
(梅仰起头,翻了个白眼,伸出双臂,仿佛在祈求上帝怜悯这场不公正的殉难;然后她用手帕捂住鼻子,随着裙子的嗖嗖声飞出了房间。)
(Mae throws back her head and rolls her eyes heavenward and extends her arms as if invoking God’s pity for this unjust martyrdom; then she presses a handkerchief to her nose and flies from the room with a loud swish of skirts.)
布里克(现在在酒柜旁): “他们听见了吗?”
Brick (now at the liquor cabinet): They listen, do they?
大爸爸:是的。他们听着并向大妈妈汇报你和玛吉之间的事。他们说——
Big Daddy: Yeah. They listen and give reports to Big Mama on what goes on in here between you and Maggie. They say that —
(他好像很尴尬似的停了下来。)
(He stops as if embarrassed.)
— 你不会和她一起睡,你睡在沙发上。这是真的还是假的?如果你不喜欢玛吉,就把玛吉赶走!— 你现在在那里干什么?
— You won’t sleep with her, that you sleep on the sofa. Is that true or not true? If you don’t like Maggie, get rid of Maggie! — What are you doin’ there now?
B rick:给我来点新鲜的饮料。
Brick: Fresh’nin’ up my drink.
大爸爸:儿子,你知道你有酗酒问题吗?
Big Daddy: Son, you know you got a real liquor problem?
布里克:是的,先生,是的,我知道。
Brick: Yes, sir, yes, I know.
大爸爸:这就是你不再播报体育节目的原因吗,因为酗酒问题?
Big Daddy: Is that why you quit sports-announcing, because of this liquor problem?
布里克:是的,先生,是的,先生,我想是的。
Brick: Yes, sir, yes, sir, I guess so.
(他一边喝着续来的饮料,一边向父亲露出和蔼可亲的微笑。)
(He smiles vaguely and amiably at his father across his replenished drink.)
大爸爸:儿子,别猜了,这太重要了。
Big Daddy: Son, don’t guess about it, it’s too important.
布里克(含糊其辞地):是的,先生。
Brick (vaguely): Yes, sir.
大爸爸:听我说,别看那该死的吊灯……
Big Daddy: And listen to me, don’t look at the damn chandelier….
(停顿。大爸爸的声音很沙哑。)
(Pause. Big Daddy’s voice is husky.)
— 我们在欧洲的大型清仓大甩卖中买了其他东西。
— Somethin’ else we picked up at th’ big fire sale in Europe.
(又一次停顿。)
(Another pause.)
生命很重要。没有别的东西可以依靠。喝酒的人是在浪费生命。别这么做,好好把握你的生命。没有别的东西可以依靠……
Life is important. There’s nothing else to hold onto. A man that drinks is throwing his life away. Don’t do it, hold onto your life. There’s nothing else to hold onto….
坐在这边,这样我们就不用大声说话了,这里是隔墙有耳。
Sit down over here so we don’t have to raise our voices, the walls have ears in this place.
布里克(一瘸一拐地走过去,坐在他身边的沙发上): “好的,大爸爸。”
Brick (hobbling over to sit on the sofa beside him): All right, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:辞职! ——怎么会这样?有点失望?
Big Daddy: Quit! — how’d that come about? Some disappointment?
布里克:我不知道。你知道吗?
Brick: I don’t know. Do you?
大爸爸:我问你呢,该死的!如果你不问,我怎么会知道呢?
Big Daddy: I’m askin’ you, God damn it! How in hell would I know if you don’t?
布里克:我刚出场就发现嘴里塞满了棉花。我总是比场上的情况慢两三拍,所以我——
Brick: I just got out there and found that I had a mouth full of cotton. I was always two or three beats behind what was goin’ on on the field and so I —
大爸爸:退出!
Big Daddy: Quit!
布里克(和蔼地):“是的,辞职。”
Brick (amiably): Yes, quit.
大爸爸:儿子?
Big Daddy: Son?
布里克:嗯?
Brick: Huh?
BI G Daddy (大声深深地吸了一口雪茄;然后突然稍微向前弯下腰,大声呼出一口气,并举起一只手放在额头上):——呼!——哈哈!——我吸了太多烟,有点头晕……
BIG Daddy (inhales loudly and deeply from his cigar; then bends suddenly a little forward, exhaling loudly and raising a hand to his forehead): — Whew! — ha ha! — I took in too much smoke, it made me a little lightheaded….
(壁炉钟响了。)
(The mantel clock chimes.)
人们为什么说话这么困难?
Why is it so damn hard for people to talk?
Brick :是的……
Brick: Yeah….
(时钟继续悦耳地鸣响,直到敲响十点。)
(The clock goes on sweetly chiming till it has completed the stroke of ten.)
— 美妙而平静的钟声,我喜欢整晚听它……
— Nice peaceful-soundin’ clock, I like to hear it all night….
(他在沙发上舒服地低着身子;大爸爸则笔直地坐着,表情僵硬,脸上流露出某种未说出口的焦虑。他说话时,所有的手势都紧张而生硬。他紧张地讲话时,气喘吁吁,喘着粗气,不时地迅速而害羞地瞥一眼儿子。)
(He slides low and comfortable on the sofa; Big Daddy sits up straight and rigid with some unspoken anxiety. All his gestures are tense and jerky as he talks. He wheezes and pants and sniffs through his nervous speech, glancing quickly, shyly, from time to time, at his son.)
大爸爸:我们去欧洲的那个夏天买了那个钟,我和大妈妈参加了那个该死的厨师之旅,我这辈子从来没有经历过这么糟糕的时光,我告诉你,儿子,那边的那些越南人,他们在豪华酒店里挖出你的眼球。大妈妈买的东西比你用几节货车拉的还多,这可不是胡扯。在这次旋风之旅中,她到处买,买,买。为什么,她买的东西有一半还装在箱子里放在地窖里,去年春天被水淹没了!
Big Daddy: We got that clock the summer we wint to Europe, me an’ Big Mama on that damn Cook’s Tour, never had such an awful time in my life, I’m tellin’ you, son, those gooks over there, they gouge your eyeballs out in their grand hotels. And Big Mama bought more stuff than you could haul in a couple of boxcars, that’s no crap. Everywhere she wint on this whirlwind tour, she bought, bought, bought. Why, half that stuff she bought is still crated up in the cellar, under water last spring!
(他大笑起来。)
(He laughs.)
欧洲在地球上只不过是一场大型拍卖会,就是这样,那一堆破旧的地方,只是一场大甩卖,整个都是破烂的东西,大妈妈在里面疯狂,为什么,你连用骡子挽具都牵不住那个女人!买,买,买!——幸运的是我是个有钱人,是的,鲍勃,这些东西有一半都在地下室发霉了。幸运的是我是个有钱人,这真是幸运,嗯,我是个有钱人,布里克,是的,我是个超级有钱人。
That Europe is nothin’ on earth but a great big auction, that’s all it is, that bunch of old worn-out places, it’s just a big fire-sale, the whole rutten thing, an’ Big Mama wint wild in it, why, you couldn’t hold that woman with a mule’s harness! Bought, bought, bought! — lucky I’m a rich man, yes siree, Bob, an’ half that stuff is mildewin’ in th’ basement. It’s lucky I’m a rich man, it sure is lucky, well, I’m a rich man, Brick, yep, I’m a mighty rich man.
(他的眼睛一下子亮了起来。)
(His eyes light up for a moment.)
你知道我值多少钱吗?猜猜看,布里克!猜猜我值多少钱!
Y’know how much I’m worth? Guess, Brick! Guess how much I’m worth!
(布里克一边喝酒一边露出淡淡的微笑。)
(Brick smiles vaguely over his drink.)
请注意,外面还有尼罗河谷这边最肥沃的两万八千英亩土地,还有近一千万现金和蓝筹股!
Close on ten million in cash an’ blue-chip stocks, outside, mind you, of twenty-eight thousand acres of the richest land this side of the valley Nile!
(一阵噗噗声和噼啪声之后,夜空中绽放出诡异的绿光。孩子们在画廊里尖叫。)
(A puff and crackle and the night sky blooms with an eerie greenish glow. Children shriek on the gallery.)
但是一个人不能用它来买他的生命,当他的生命已经耗尽时,他也不能用它来赎回他的生命,这是在欧洲的廉价出售中,或在美国市场或地球上的任何市场上都无法提供的,一个人不能用它来买他的生命,当他的生命已经耗尽时,他也不能用它来赎回他的生命……
But a man can’t buy his life with it, he can’t buy back his life with it when his life has been spent, that’s one thing not offered in the Europe fire-sale or in the American markets or any markets on earth, a man can’t buy his life with it, he can’t buy back his life when his life is finished….
这是一个发人深省的想法,一个非常发人深省的想法,这个想法在我脑海里反复思考,直到今天……
That’s a sobering thought, a very sobering thought, and that’s a thought that I was turning over in my head, over and over and over — until today….
布里克,我刚刚经历的这段经历让我更加明智,也更加悲伤。这是我在欧洲记得的另一件事。
I’m wiser and sadder, Brick, for this experience which I just gone through. They’s one thing else that I remember in Europe.
布里克:那是什么,大爸爸?
Brick: What is that, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:西班牙巴塞罗那周围的山丘,孩子们赤身裸体地跑过光秃秃的山丘,像饿狗一样乞讨,嚎叫着,尖叫着,巴塞罗那街头的牧师多胖啊,人数多,又胖又可爱,哈哈!——你知道我可以养活那个国家吗?我有足够的钱来养活那个该死的国家,但人类是一种自私的野兽,我不认为我给巴塞罗那周围山丘上那些嚎叫着的孩子们的钱足以给这个房间里的一把椅子装上装饰物,我的意思是给这把椅子换个新椅套!
Big Daddy: The hills around Barcelona in the country of Spain and the children running over those bare hills in their bare skins beggin’ like starvin’ dogs with howls and screeches, and how fat the priests are on the streets of Barcelona, so many of them and so fat and so pleasant, ha ha! — Y’know I could feed that country? I got money enough to feed that goddam country, but the human animal is a selfish beast and I don’t reckon the money I passed out there to those howling children in the hills around Barcelona would more than upholster one of the chairs in this room, I mean pay to put a new cover on this chair!
天哪,我把钱扔给他们,就像你撒玉米喂鸡一样,我把钱扔给他们,只是为了摆脱他们,然后爬回车里,开走……
Hell, I threw them money like you’d scatter feed corn for chickens, I threw money at them just to get rid of them long enough to climb back into th’ car and — drive away….
然后在摩洛哥,那些阿拉伯人,为什么,卖淫从四五岁就开始了,这不是夸张,为什么,我记得有一天在马拉喀什,那个古老的阿拉伯城墙城市,我坐在一堵破墙上抽雪茄,那里热得可怕,这个阿拉伯女人站在路上看着我,直到我感到尴尬,她一动不动地站在尘土飞扬的炎热道路上看着我,直到我感到尴尬。但听听这个。她带着一个赤身裸体的孩子,一个赤身裸体的小女孩,几乎不会走路,过了一会儿,她把这个孩子放在地上,推了推她,对她低声说了几句话。
And then in Morocco, them Arabs, why, prostitution begins at four or five, that’s no exaggeration, why, I remember one day in Marrakech, that old walled Arab city, I set on a broken-down wall to have a cigar, it was fearful hot there and this Arab woman stood in the road and looked at me till I was embarrassed, she stood stock still in the dusty hot road and looked at me till I was embarrassed. But listen to this. She had a naked child with her, a little naked girl with her, barely able to toddle, and after a while she set this child on the ground and give her a push and whispered something to her.
这个孩子朝我走来,几乎无法走路,蹒跚地走到我面前——
This child come toward me, barely able t’ walk, come toddling up to me and —
天啊,想起这样的事你就感到恶心!
Jesus, it makes you sick t’ remember a thing like this!
它伸出手,试图解开我的裤子!
It stuck out its hand and tried to unbutton my trousers!
那孩子还不到五岁!你能相信我吗?还是你认为我在编造?我回到酒店,对大妈妈说,收拾行李!我们要离开这个国家……
That child was not yet five! Can you believe me? Or do you think that I am making this up? I wint back to the hotel and said to Big Mama, Git packed! We’re clearing out of this country….
布里克:大爸爸,你今晚说话可真多啊。
Brick: Big Daddy, you’re on a talkin’ jag tonight.
大爸爸(无视这句话):是的,先生,就是这样,人类动物是会死的野兽,但死亡的事实不会让他怜悯别人,不,先生,它——
Big Daddy (ignoring this remark): Yes, sir, that’s how it is, the human animal is a beast that dies but the fact that he’s dying don’t give him pity for others, no, sir, it —
——你说什么了吗?
— Did you say something?
布里克:是的。
Brick: Yes.
大爸爸:啥?
Big Daddy: What?
布里克:把拐杖递给我,这样我就能站起来了。
Brick: Hand me over that crutch so I can get up.
大爸爸:你要去哪儿?
Big Daddy: Where you goin’?
B rick:我要去回声泉 (Echo Spring) 进行短途旅行。
Brick: I’m takin’ a little short trip to Echo Spring.
大爸爸:去哪儿?
Big Daddy: To where?
B rick:酒柜……
Brick: Liquor cabinet….
大爸爸:是的,先生,孩子——
Big Daddy: Yes, sir, boy —
(他把拐杖递给布里克。)
(He hands Brick the crutch.)
— 人类是一种会死的野兽,如果有钱,他就会买买买,我认为他买下一切可以买的东西的原因是,在他的内心深处,他疯狂地希望他的购买之一能带来永生! — 但这是永远不可能实现的……人类是一种会死的野兽 —
— the human animal is a beast that dies and if he’s got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting! — Which it never can be…. The human animal is a beast that —
布里克(在酒柜旁): “大爸爸,你今晚真是在闲聊啊。”
Brick (at the liquor cabinet): Big Daddy, you sure are shootin’ th’ breeze here tonight.
(一阵沉默,外面传来说话声。)
(There is a pause and voices are heard outside.)
B ig Daddy :我最近一直很安静,一句话也没说,只是坐着凝视着太空。我心里有很重的事情,但今晚这个负担减轻了。这就是我说话的原因。——天空在我看来不一样了……
Big Daddy: I been quiet here lately, spoke not a word, just sat and stared into space. I had something heavy weighing on my mind but tonight that load was took off me. That’s why I’m talking. — The sky looks diff’rent to me….
布里克:你知道我最喜欢听什么吗?
Brick: You know what I like to hear most?
大爸爸:啥?
Big Daddy: What?
B rick:非常安静。完美无缺的安静。
Brick: Solid quiet. Perfect unbroken quiet.
大爸爸:为什么?
Big Daddy: Why?
布里克:因为那里更加安静。
Brick: Because it’s more peaceful.
大爸爸:伙计,你在坟墓里还会听到很多这样的话。
Big Daddy: Man, you’ll hear a lot of that in the grave.
(他愉快地笑了。)
(He chuckles agreeably.)
布里克:你跟我说完了吗?
Brick: Are you through talkin’ to me?
大爸爸:你这么急着让我闭嘴干什么?
Big Daddy: Why are you so anxious to shut me up?
布里克:先生,您经常对我说,布里克,我想和您谈谈,但我们谈话时,总是谈不成。什么都没说。您坐在椅子上,喋喋不休地说着这说着那,而我却像是在听。我试着装作在听,但我并没有听,听得不多。沟通——人与人之间非常困难,而且——不知何故,你我之间,就是不——
Brick: Well, sir, ever so often you say to me, Brick, I want to have a talk with you, but when we talk, it never materializes. Nothing is said. You sit in a chair and gas about this and that and I look like I listen. I try to look like I listen, but I don’t listen, not much. Communication is — awful hard between people an’ — somehow between you and me, it just don’t —
大爸爸:你害怕过吗?我的意思是你有没有对某事感到彻头彻尾的恐惧?
Big Daddy: Have you ever been scared? I mean have you ever felt downright terror of something?
(他站了起来。)
(He gets up.)
请稍等。我要关上这些门……
Just one moment. I’m going to close these doors….
(他关上画廊的门,好像他要说出一个重要的秘密。)
(He closes doors on gallery as if he were going to tell an important secret.)
布里克:啥?
Brick: What?
大爸爸:砖头?
Big Daddy: Brick?
布里克:嗯?
Brick: Huh?
大爸爸:儿子,我想我已经得到它了!
Big Daddy: Son, I thought I had it!
布里克:吃了什么?吃了什么,大爸爸?
Brick: Had what? Had what, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:癌症!
Big Daddy: Cancer!
布里克:哦……
Brick: Oh …
大爸爸:我以为那个骨头做成的老人把他冰冷而沉重的手放在了我的肩膀上!
Big Daddy: I thought the old man made out of bones had laid his cold and heavy hand on my shoulder!
布里克:好吧,大爸爸,你对此事守口如瓶。
Brick: Well, Big Daddy, you kept a tight mouth about it.
大爸爸:猪叫了。男人对此守口如瓶,尽管他没有猪的优势。
Big Daddy: A pig squeals. A man keeps a tight mouth about it, in spite of a man not having a pig’s advantage.
Brick :那有什么好处呢?
Brick: What advantage is that?
大爸爸:对死亡的无知是一种安慰。人没有这种安慰,他是唯一能想到死亡、知道死亡是什么的生物。其他人不知道任何生物应该走哪条路,不知道,对此一无所知,然而猪却尖叫,但一个人有时可以对此守口如瓶。有时他——
Big Daddy: Ignorance — of mortality — is a comfort. A man don’t have that comfort, he’s the only living thing that conceives of death, that knows what it is. The others go without knowing which is the way that anything living should go, go without knowing, without any knowledge of it, and yet a pig squeals, but a man sometimes, he can keep a tight mouth about it. Sometimes he —
(老人心里有一种深沉的、熊熊的凶猛。)
(There is a deep, smoldering ferocity in the old man.)
— 可以对此保持沉默。我想知道 —
— can keep a tight mouth about it. I wonder if —
布里克:什么,大爸爸?
Brick: What, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:一杯威士忌高球会损害这种痉挛状态吗?
Big Daddy: A whiskey highball would injure this spastic condition?
布里克:不,先生,这样可能会有好处。
Brick: No, sir, it might do it good.
大爸爸(突然咧嘴一笑,像个狼):“天啊,我没法告诉你!天开了!天啊,天又开了!天开了,孩子,天开了!”
Big Daddy (grins suddenly, wolfishly): Jesus, I can’t tell you! The sky is open! Christ, it’s open again! It’s open, boy, it’s open!
(布里克低头看着他的饮料。)
(Brick looks down at his drink.)
布里克:你感觉好些了吗,大爸爸?
Brick: You feel better, Big Daddy?
大爸爸:好些了吗?天哪!我能呼吸了!——我这一生都像一只紧握的拳头……
Big Daddy: Better? Hell! I can breathe! — All of my life I been like a doubled-up fist….
(他倒了一杯饮料。)
(He pours a drink.)
——捶打、砸碎、驾驶!——现在我要松开这双手,用它们轻松地触摸东西……
— Poundin’, smashin’, drivin’! — now I’m going to loosen these doubled-up hands and touch things easy with them….
(他张开双手,仿佛在抚摸空气。)
(He spreads his hands as if caressing the air.)
你知道我在考虑什么吗?
You know what I’m contemplating?
布里克(含糊地):不,先生。您在想什么呢?
Brick (vaguely): No, sir. What are you contemplating?
大爸爸:哈哈!——快乐! ——和女人在一起很快乐!
Big Daddy: Ha ha! — Pleasure! — pleasure with women!
(布里克的笑容稍稍收敛,但仍残留。)
(Brick’s smile fades a little but lingers.)
砖头,这东西烫伤了我!—
Brick, this stuff burns me! —
— 是的,孩子。我告诉你一些你可能想不到的事情。我仍然对女人有欲望,这是我 65 岁生日。
— Yes, boy. I’ll tell you something that you might not guess. I still have desire for women and this is my sixty-fifth birthday.
布里克:我认为这真是太了不起了,大爸爸。
Brick: I think that’s mighty remarkable, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:了不起吗?
Big Daddy: Remarkable?
布里克:真令人敬佩,大爸爸。
Brick: Admirable, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:你说得对,这真是太棒了,既了不起又令人钦佩。我现在意识到我从来没有满足过。我因为顾虑、顾虑、惯例而错失了很多机会——废话……所有这些都是胡说八道!——直到死亡的阴影才让我明白这一点。现在阴影已经消失,我要放开自己,去享受,他们怎么称呼它,去享受——一场球赛!
Big Daddy: You’re damn right it is, remarkable and admirable both. I realize now that I never had me enough. I let many chances slip by because of scruples about it, scruples, convention — crap…. All that stuff is bull, bull, bull! — It took the shadow of death to make me see it. Now that shadow’s lifted, I’m going to cut loose and have, what is it they call it, have me a — ball!
布里克:一个球,嗯?
Brick: A ball, huh?
大爸爸:没错,一个球,一个球!见鬼!——我跟大妈妈睡在一起,直到,让我想想,五年前,直到我六十岁,她五十八岁,我从来没有喜欢过她,从来没有!
Big Daddy: That’s right, a ball, a ball! Hell! — I slept with Big Mama till, let’s see, five years ago, till I was sixty and she was fifty-eight, and never even liked her, never did!
(走廊那头的电话一直响着。大妈妈走进来,惊呼道:)
(The phone has been ringing down the hall. Big Mama enters, exclaiming:)
大妈:你们没听见电话铃响吗?我在走廊上就听见了。
Big Mama: Don’t you men hear that phone ring? I heard it way out on the gall’ry.
大爸爸:前廊外有五间房间可以穿过。你为什么要穿过这间呢?
Big Daddy: There’s five rooms off this front gall’ry that you could go through. Why do you go through this one?
(大妈妈一边忙着走出门厅,一边露出顽皮的表情。)
(Big Mama makes a playful face as she bustles out the hall door.)
嗯!——为什么,当大妈妈走出房间时,我就记不起那个女人长什么样子,但是当大妈妈回到房间时,天哪,我就能看见她长什么样子,我希望我没有看见!
Hunh! — Why, when Big Mama goes out of a room, I can’t remember what that woman looks like, but when Big Mama comes back into the room, boy, then I see what she looks like, and I wish I didn’t!
(他因为这个笑话而弯腰大笑,笑得肚子疼,然后他直起身子,脸上露出一丝痛苦的表情。他有点不信任地把酒杯放到桌子上,笑声渐渐减弱,变成了咯咯的笑声。)
(Bends over laughing at this joke till it hurts his guts and he straightens with a grimace. The laugh subsides to a chuckle as he puts the liquor glass a little distrustfully down on the table.)
(布里克站起身,一瘸一拐地走向画廊门口。)
(Brick has risen and hobbled to the gallery doors.)
嘿!你要去哪儿?
Hey! Where you goin’?
布里克:出去喘口气。
Brick: Out for a breather.
大爸爸:你还没准备好。留在这里,直到我们谈完,年轻人。
Big Daddy: Not yet you ain’t. Stay here till this talk is finished, young fellow.
布里克:我以为它已经完成了,大爸爸。
Brick: I thought it was finished, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:一切还没有开始。
Big Daddy: It ain’t even begun.
B rick:我的错。抱歉。我只是想感受一下河风。
Brick: My mistake. Excuse me. I just wanted to feel that river breeze.
大爸爸:打开吊扇然后坐回椅子上。
Big Daddy: Turn on the ceiling fan and set back down in that chair.
(大妈妈的声音响起,传遍了整个大厅。)
(Big Mama’s voice rises, carrying down the hall.)
大妈:萨莉小姐,你真是个麻烦!萨莉小姐,你真是个麻烦。你为什么不给我一个机会向你解释呢?
Big Mama: Miss Sally, you’re a case! You’re a caution, Miss Sally. Why didn’t you give me a chance to explain it to you?
大爸爸:天啊,她又在和我那个老处女姐姐说话了。
Big Daddy: Jesus, she’s talking to my old maid sister again.
大妈妈:好了,再见了,萨莉小姐。你快点来吧,大爸爸快要见到你了!再见,萨莉小姐……
Big Mama: Well, goodbye, now, Miss Sally. You come down real soon, Big Daddy’s dying to see you! Yaisss, goodbye, Miss Sally….
(她挂断电话,高兴地大叫起来。她走近时,大爸爸呻吟着捂住了耳朵。)
(She hangs up and bellows with mirth. Big Daddy groans and covers his ears as she approaches.)
(闯入:)
(Bursting in:)
大爸爸,又是萨莉小姐从孟菲斯打来的电话!大爸爸,你知道她做了什么吗?她打电话给孟菲斯的医生,让他告诉她痉挛是怎么回事!哈哈哈! ——然后她回电话告诉我她有多欣慰——嘿!让我进去!
Big Daddy, that was Miss Sally callin’ from Memphis again! You know what she done, Big Daddy? She called her doctor in Memphis to git him to tell her what that spastic thing is! Ha-HAAAA! — And called back to tell me how relieved she was that — Hey! Let me in!
(大爸爸一直把门半关着,不让她进来。)
(Big Daddy has been holding the door half closed against her.)
大爸爸:不,我不会。我告诉过你不要经过这个房间。你只要退出去,然后经过另外五个房间就行了。
Big Daddy: Naw I ain’t. I told you not to come and go through this room. You just back out and go through those five other rooms.
大妈:大爸爸?大爸爸?噢,大爸爸!——你不是有意跟我说这些话的吧?
Big Mama: Big Daddy? Big Daddy? Oh, Big Daddy! — You didn’t mean those things you said to me, did you?
(他紧紧关上门,但她仍呼唤他。)
(He shuts door firmly against her but she still calls.)
甜心?甜心?老爸?你不是故意对我说那些可怕的话的?——我知道你不是故意的。我知道你心里不是故意的……
Sweetheart? Sweetheart? Big Daddy? You didn’t mean those awful things you said to me? — I know you didn’t. I know you didn’t mean those things in your heart….
(孩子般的声音随着一声抽泣渐渐消失,她沉重的脚步声沿着走廊消失。布里克拄着拐杖再次站了起来,向画廊走去。)
(The childlike voice fades with a sob and her heavy footsteps retreat down the hall. Brick has risen once more on his crutches and starts for the gallery again.)
大爸爸:我对那女人的唯一要求就是别来打扰我。但她就是不肯承认自己让我恶心。那是因为我跟她睡了太多年。早该放弃的,但那老女人从来没睡够——而我在床上表现得很好……我不应该在她身上浪费这么多……他们说你只有这么多,而且每一个都是有限的。好吧,我还剩下几个,几个,我要挑一个好的花在她身上!我要挑一个,不管她值多少钱,我要把她闷死——貂皮!哈哈!我要把她脱光,用貂皮闷死她,用钻石勒死她!哈哈!我要把她脱光,用钻石勒死她,用貂皮闷死她,把她从地狱里赶到早餐。哈哈哈哈!
Big Daddy: All I ask of that woman is that she leave me alone. But she can’t admit to herself that she makes me sick. That comes of having slept with her too many years. Should of quit much sooner but that old woman she never got enough of it — and I was good in bed … I never should of wasted so much of it on her…. They say you got just so many and each one is numbered. Well, I got a few left in me, a few, and I’m going to pick me a good one to spend ’em on! I’m going to pick me a choice one, I don’t care how much she costs, I’ll smother her in — minks! Ha ha! I’ll strip her naked and smother her in minks and choke her with diamonds! Ha ha! I’ll strip her naked and choke her with diamonds and smother her with minks and hump her from hell to breakfast. Ha aha ha ha ha!
梅(在门口高兴地):是谁在里面笑?
Mae (gaily at door): Who’s that laughin’ in there?
Gooper : Big Daddy 在里面笑吗?
Gooper: Is Big Daddy laughin’ in there?
大爸爸:糟糕!——他们两个——滴水……
Big Daddy: Crap! — them two — drips….
(他走过去,触摸布里克的肩膀。)
(He goes over and touches Brick’s shoulder.)
是的,儿子。砖头,孩子。——我——很开心!我很开心,儿子,我很开心!
Yes, son. Brick, boy. — I’m — happy! I’m happy, son, I’m happy!
(他有点哽咽,咬着下唇,迅速地、害羞地把头靠在儿子的头上,然后尴尬地咳嗽着,犹豫地回到桌子旁,放下杯子。他喝酒,肚子疼得厉害,脸上露出痛苦的表情。布里克叹了口气,费力地站了起来。)
(He chokes a little and bites his under lip, pressing his head quickly, shyly against his son’s head and then, coughing with embarrassment, goes uncertainly back to the table where he set down the glass. He drinks and makes a grimace as it burns his guts. Brick sighs and rises with effort.)
是什么让你如此焦躁不安?你是不是心里很焦躁?
What makes you so restless? Have you got ants in your britches?
布里克:是的,先生……
Brick: Yes, sir …
大爸爸:为什么?
Big Daddy: Why?
布里克: ——有些事——没有——发生……
Brick: — Something — hasn’t — happened….
大爸爸:是啊?那是什么!
Big Daddy: Yeah? What is that!
布里克(悲伤地): “ ——咔哒”一声……
Brick (sadly): — the click….
大爸爸:您说的是点击吗?
Big Daddy: Did you say click?
Brick :是的,点击。
Brick: Yes, click.
大爸爸:什么点击?
Big Daddy: What click?
布里克:我头脑中响起的一声令下,我感到很平静。
Brick: A click that I get in my head that makes me peaceful.
B ig Daddy :我肯定不知道你在说什么,但它让我很困扰。
Big Daddy: I sure in hell don’t know what you’re talking about, but it disturbs me.
布里克:这只是一个机械现象。
Brick: It’s just a mechanical thing.
大爸爸:什么是机械的东西?
Big Daddy: What is a mechanical thing?
Brick :我脑子里响起的这种声音让我感到平静。我必须喝到我明白为止。这只是一个机械的东西,就像一个——就像一个——
Brick: This click that I get in my head that makes me peaceful. I got to drink till I get it. It’s just a mechanical thing, something like a — like a — like a —
B ig Daddy :就像一个——
Big Daddy: Like a —
B rick:我脑子里的开关咔哒咔哒响,关掉热灯,打开凉爽的夜晚,然后——
Brick: Switch clicking off in my head, turning the hot light off and the cool night on and —
(他抬起头,悲伤地微笑。)
(He looks up, smiling sadly.)
——突然间——一片宁静!
— all of a sudden there’s — peace!
大爸爸(惊讶地轻轻吹了一声口哨,走回布里克身边,抓住儿子的双肩):天呐!我不知道你的情况已经这么糟糕了。孩子,你竟然是个酒鬼!
Big Daddy (whistles long and soft with astonishment; he goes back to Brick and clasps his son’s two shoulders): Jesus! I didn’t know it had gotten that bad with you. Why, boy, you’re — alcoholic!
布里克:老爸,说真的,我是个酒鬼。
Brick: That’s the truth, Big Daddy. I’m alcoholic.
B ig Daddy :这表明我如何——放手!
Big Daddy: This shows how I — let things go!
Brick :我必须听到脑子里那个让我平静的咔哒声。通常我会比这更早听到,有时早在中午,但——
Brick: I have to hear that little click in my head that makes me peaceful. Usually I hear it sooner than this, sometimes as early as — noon, but —
— 今天是 — 拖延……
— Today it’s — dilatory….
— 我的血液中的酒精含量还没有达到合适的水平!
— I just haven’t got the right level of alcohol in my bloodstream yet!
(他一边喝着饮料,一边充满活力地说出了最后这句话。)
(This last statement is made with energy as he freshens his drink.)
大爸爸:呃——嗯。期待死亡让我盲目。我根本不知道我的儿子在我眼皮底下变成了一个酒鬼。
Big Daddy: Uh — huh. Expecting death made me blind. I didn’t have no idea that a son of mine was turning into a drunkard under my nose.
布里克(轻轻地):好吧,现在你知道了,大爸爸,消息已经传开了。
Brick (gently): Well, now you do, Big Daddy, the news has penetrated.
B ig Daddy :嗯,是的,现在我知道了,新闻已经渗透到……
Big Daddy: UH-huh, yes, now I do, the news has — penetrated….
Brick :所以请你原谅我——
Brick: And so if you’ll excuse me —
大爸爸:不,我不会原谅你。
Big Daddy: No, I won’t excuse you.
B rick: ——我最好自己坐着,直到我听到脑袋里发出咔哒声,这只是机械的动作,但除非我独自一人或没人说话时,否则不会发生这种情况……
Brick: — I’d better sit by myself till I hear that click in my head, it’s just a mechanical thing but it don’t happen except when I’m alone or talking to no one….
大爸爸:孩子,你得坐下来好好休息,别跟任何人说话,现在你跟我说话了。至少我在跟你说话。你坐在那儿听着,直到我告诉你谈话结束了!
Big Daddy: You got a long, long time to sit still, boy, and talk to no one, but now you’re talkin’ to me. At least I’m talking to you. And you set there and listen until I tell you the conversation is over!
布里克:但这次谈话就像我们一生中一起进行过的其他谈话一样!毫无意义,毫无意义!——这——这很痛苦,大爸爸……
Brick: But this talk is like all the others we’ve ever had together in our lives! It’s nowhere, nowhere! — it’s — it’s painful, Big Daddy….
大爸爸:好吧,那就让它痛苦吧,但是你别从椅子上动起来!——我要把那根拐杖拿掉……
Big Daddy: All right, then let it be painful, but don’t you move from that chair! — I’m going to remove that crutch….
(他抓起拐杖并将其扔到房间的另一边。)
(He seizes the crutch and tosses it across room.)
布里克:我能够单脚跳,而且如果我摔倒了,我还能爬行!
Brick: I can hop on one foot, and if I fall, I can crawl!
大爸爸:如果你不小心的话你就会爬出这个种植园,然后,天啊,你就得沿着贫民窟挤着喝饮料了!
Big Daddy: If you ain’t careful you’re gonna crawl off this plantation and then, by Jesus, you’ll have to hustle your drinks along Skid Row!
布里克:一切都会好起来的,大爸爸。
Brick: That’ll come, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:不会的。你是我儿子,我要纠正你;现在我纠正了,我还要纠正你!
Big Daddy: Naw, it won’t. You’re my son and I’m going to straighten you out; now that I’m straightened out, I’m going to straighten out you!
B rick:是吗?
Brick: Yeah?
大爸爸:今天奥克斯纳诊所的报告来了。你知道他们告诉我什么吗?
Big Daddy: Today the report come in from Ochsner Clinic. Y’know what they told me?
(他的脸上洋溢着胜利的喜悦。)
(His face glows with triumph.)
他们用那家大医院里所有的科学仪器唯一能检测到的就是结肠痉挛!所有为此担心的人都把神经撕成了碎片。
The only thing that they could detect with all the instruments of science in that great hospital is a little spastic condition of the colon! And nerves torn to pieces by all that worry about it.
(一个小女孩冲进房间,双手紧握着一根烟花棒,像发疯的猴子一样跳跃和尖叫,当大爸爸向她打来时,她又冲了出来。
(A little girl bursts into room with a sparkler clutched in each fist, hops and shrieks like a monkey gone mad and rushes back out again as Big Daddy strikes at her.
(沉默。两个男人互相注视着。外面一个女人开心地笑着。)
(Silence. The two men stare at each other. A woman laughs gaily outside.)
我想让你知道,我松了一口气,这种感觉几乎和维克斯堡的龙卷风一样强烈!
I want you to know I breathed a sigh of relief almost as powerful as the Vicksburg tornado!
布里克:你还没准备好出发吗?
Brick: You weren’t ready to go?
大爸爸:去哪儿? ——废话……
Big Daddy: GO WHERE? — crap….
— 当你离开这里,孩子,你早就消失了,去不了任何地方了!人类机器与动物机器、鱼类机器、鸟类机器、爬行动物机器或昆虫机器没有什么不同!它只是比人类机器复杂得多,因此维护起来也更麻烦。是的。我以为我做到了。大地在我脚下震动,天空像水壶的黑色盖子一样落下,我无法呼吸!——今天!!——盖子被打开了,我第一次自由地呼吸——多少年来?——天哪!——三年……
— When you are gone from here, boy, you are long gone and no where! The human machine is not no different from the animal machine or the fish machine or the bird machine or the reptile machine or the insect machine! It’s just a whole God damn lot more complicated and consequently more trouble to keep together. Yep. I thought I had it. The earth shook under my foot, the sky come down like the black lid of a kettle and I couldn’t breathe! — Today!! — that lid was lifted, I drew my first free breath in — how many years? — God! — three….
(外面有笑声、奔跑的脚步声、还有火箭爆炸的柔和、豪华的声音和灯光。)
(There is laughter outside, running footsteps, the soft, plushy sound and light of exploding rockets.)
(布里克严肃地盯着他看了许久,然后从鼻孔里发出一声受惊的声音,单脚跳起,跳到房间另一边去抓拐杖,摇晃着家具支撑身体。他抓起拐杖,惊恐地逃向观众席。他父亲抓住了他白色丝绸睡衣的袖子。)
(Brick stares at him soberly for a long moment; then makes a sort of startled sound in his nostrils and springs up on one foot and hops across the room to grab his crutch, swinging on the furniture for support. He gets the crutch and flees as if in horror for the gallery. His father seizes him by the sleeve of his white silk pajamas.)
待在这儿,你这个狗娘养的!——直到我说走!
Stay here, you son of a bitch! — till I say go!
Brick :我不能
Brick: I can’t
大爸爸:你肯定会这么做的,该死的。
Big Daddy: You sure in hell will, God damn it.
布里克:不,我不能。我们说话,你说话,兜圈子!我们一无所获,一无所获!总是一样,你说你想跟我说话,却对我说不出任何话来!
Brick: No, I can’t. We talk, you talk, in — circles! We get no where, no where! It’s always the same, you say you want to talk to me and don’t have a ruttin’ thing to say to me!
大爸爸:当我以为自己快要死了的时候,我却告诉你我将活下去,你什么也没说?!
Big Daddy: Nothin’ to say when I’m tellin’ you I’m going to live when I thought I was dying?!
布里克:哦——那! ——这就是你要对我说的吗?
Brick: Oh — that! — Is that what you have to say to me?
大爸爸:你这个混蛋!这难道不重要吗?这难道不重要吗?
Big Daddy: Why, you son of a bitch! Ain’t that, ain’t that — important?!
布里克:好吧,你这么说,那就这么说吧,现在我——
Brick: Well, you said that, that’s said, and now I —
大爸爸:现在你坐回去。
Big Daddy: Now you set back down.
Brick :你太狼狈了,你——
Brick: You’re all balled up, you —
大爸爸:我还没准备好!
Big Daddy: I ain’t balled up!
布里克:你真是的,你太混乱了!
Brick: You are, you’re all balled up!
大爸爸:别告诉我我是什么,你这个醉鬼!如果你不坐下,我就要把这件外套的袖子撕下来!
Big Daddy: Don’t tell me what I am, you drunken whelp! I’m going to tear this coat sleeve off if you don’t set down!
Brick :大爸爸——
Brick: Big Daddy —
大爸爸:按我说的做!我现在是这里的老板!我要你知道,现在我又回到了驾驶座上!
Big Daddy: Do what I tell you! I’m the boss here, now! I want you to know I’m back in the driver’s seat now!
(大妈妈捂住她那起伏的胸部,冲了进来。)
(Big Mama rushes in, clutching her great heaving bosom.)
大妈妈,你到底想来这儿干什么?
What in hell do you want in here, Big Mama?
大妈:哦,大爸爸!你为什么这么喊?我就是不能弄脏它……
Big Mama: Oh, Big Daddy! Why are you shouting like that? I just cain’t stainnnnnnnd — it….
大爸爸(将手背举过头顶):“滚! ——出去。”
Big Daddy (raising the back of his hand above his head): GIT! — outa here.
(她哭着冲了出去。)
(She rushes back out, sobbing.)
布里克(轻声地,悲伤地):“基督……”
Brick (softly, sadly): Christ….
大爸爸(凶狠地) :是啊!天啊! ——说得对……
Big Daddy (fiercely): Yeah! Christ! — is right …
(砖头脱落,一瘸一拐地走向画廊。)
(Brick breaks loose and hobbles toward the gallery.)
(大爸爸猛地从布里克身下抽出拐杖,让他用受伤的脚踝迈步。他发出一声痛苦的嘶嘶叫,抓起一把椅子,把它拉到地上压在自己身上。)
(Big Daddy jerks his crutch from under Brick so he steps with the injured ankle. He utters a hissing cry of anguish, clutches a chair and pulls it over on top of him on the floor.)
一桶猪油……
Son of a — tub of — hog fat….
布里克:大爸爸!把我的拐杖给我。
Brick: Big Daddy! Give me my crutch.
(大爸爸把拐杖扔到够不着的地方。)
(Big Daddy throws the crutch out of reach.)
把那根拐杖给我,大爸爸。
Give me that crutch, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:你为什么喝酒?
Big Daddy: Why do you drink?
布里克:不知道,把我的拐杖给我!
Brick: Don’t know, give me my crutch!
B ig Daddy :你最好想想你为什么喝酒或者戒酒!
Big Daddy: You better think why you drink or give up drinking!
布里克:你能给我拐杖让我从地板上站起来吗?
Brick: Will you please give me my crutch so I can get up off this floor?
大爸爸:首先你回答我的问题。你为什么喝酒?孩子,你为什么要浪费生命,就像在街上捡到的恶心东西一样?
Big Daddy: First you answer my question. Why do you drink? Why are you throwing your life away, boy, like somethin’ disgusting you picked up on the street?
布里克(跪下):“大爸爸,我很痛,我踩到那只脚了。”
Brick (getting onto his knees): Big Daddy, I’m in pain, I stepped on that foot.
大爸爸:太好了!我很高兴你没有因为酒精而麻木到感觉不到疼痛!
Big Daddy: Good! I’m glad you’re not too numb with the liquor in you to feel some pain!
B rick:你把我的饮料洒了……
Brick: You — spilled my — drink …
大爸爸:我跟你做个交易,你告诉我你为什么喝酒,我就给你一杯,我会亲自给你倒酒,然后递给你。
Big Daddy: I’ll make a bargain with you. You tell me why you drink and I’ll hand you one. I’ll pour you the liquor myself and hand it to you.
Brick :我为什么要喝酒?
Brick: Why do I drink?
大爸爸:是啊!为什么?
Big Daddy: Yea! Why?
布里克:给我一杯饮料我就告诉你。
Brick: Give me a drink and I’ll tell you.
大爸爸:你先告诉我吧!
Big Daddy: Tell me first!
布里克:我用一个词告诉你。
Brick: I’ll tell you in one word.
大爸爸:什么词?
Big Daddy: What word?
布里克:厌恶!
Brick: DISGUST!
(钟声轻轻地、悦耳地响起。大爸爸愤怒地看了它一眼。)
(The clock chimes softly, sweetly. Big Daddy gives it a short, outraged glance.)
那么,那杯饮料怎么样?
Now how about that drink?
大爸爸:你讨厌什么?你得先告诉我。否则厌恶就毫无意义了!
Big Daddy: What are you disgusted with? You got to tell me that, first. Otherwise being disgusted don’t make no sense!
布里克:把我的拐杖给我。
Brick: Give me my crutch.
大爸爸:你听见了吗,你得先告诉我我问你什么。
Big Daddy: You heard me, you got to tell me what I asked you first.
布里克:我跟你说了,我说过要消灭我的厌恶!
Brick: I told you, I said to kill my disgust!
大爸爸:厌恶什么!
Big Daddy: DISGUST WITH WHAT!
布里克:你达成了一笔很艰难的协议。
Brick: You strike a hard bargain.
大爸爸:你讨厌什么?——我会把酒递给你。
Big Daddy: What are you disgusted with? — an’ I’ll pass you the liquor.
布里克:我能够单脚跳,而且如果我摔倒了,我能够爬行。
Brick: I can hop on one foot, and if I fall, I can crawl.
大爸爸:你这么想喝酒吗?
Big Daddy: You want liquor that bad?
布里克(拖着身子站起来,抓住床架):是的,我非常想要它。
Brick (dragging himself up, clinging to bedstead): Yeah, I want it that bad.
大爸爸:如果我给你一杯饮料,你能告诉我你讨厌什么吗,布里克?
Big Daddy: If I give you a drink, will you tell me what it is you’re disgusted with, Brick?
布里克:是的,先生,我会尽力的。
Brick: Yes, sir, I will try to.
(老人 给他倒了一杯酒 并 郑重其事 地 递给 他.
(The old man pours him a drink and solemnly passes it to him.
(布里克喝酒时,四周一片寂静。)
(There is silence as Brick drinks.)
你听说过“谎言”这个词吗?
Have you ever heard the word “mendacity”?
大爸爸:当然了。谎言是那些卑鄙的政客们互相抛出的廉价词汇之一。
Big Daddy: Sure. Mendacity is one of them five dollar words that cheap politicians throw back and forth at each other.
布里克:你知道这意味着什么吗?
Brick: You know what it means?
B ig Daddy :这难道不意味着撒谎和骗子吗?
Big Daddy: Don’t it mean lying and liars?
布里克:是的,先生,撒谎和骗子。
Brick: Yes, sir, lying and liars.
大爸爸:有人骗你吗?
Big Daddy: Has someone been lying to you?
孩子们:(在台下齐声高唱):我们要大爸爸!我们要大爸爸!
Children: (chanting in chorus offstage): We want Big Dad-dee! We want Big Dad-dee!
(古珀出现在画廊门口。)
(Gooper appears in the gallery door.)
古珀:大爸爸,孩子们在外面喊你呢。
Gooper: Big Daddy, the kiddies are shouting for you out there.
大爸爸(凶狠地) :别过来,古珀!
Big Daddy (fiercely): Keep out, Gooper!
Gooper : “对不起!”
Gooper: ’Scuse me!
(大爸爸追赶 Gooper 时关上了门。)
(Big Daddy slams the doors after Gooper.)
大爸爸:谁在骗你?玛格丽特在骗你吗?你的妻子在某件事上在骗你吗?布里克?
Big Daddy: Who’s been lying to you, has Margaret been lying to you, has your wife been lying to you about something, Brick?
布里克:不是她。那没关系。
Brick: Not her. That wouldn’t matter.
大爸爸:那到底是谁骗了你,骗什么呢?
Big Daddy: Then who’s been lying to you, and what about?
布里克:没有一个人、没有人撒谎……
Brick: No one single person and no one lie….
大爸爸:那怎么办,那怎么办,看在上帝的份上?
Big Daddy: Then what, what then, for Christ’s sake?
布里克:——全部,全部——的事情……
Brick: — The whole, the whole — thing….
大爸爸:你揉头干什么?头疼吗?
Big Daddy: Why are you rubbing your head? You got a headache?
Brick :不,我正在尝试——
Brick: No, I’m tryin’ to —
大爸爸: ——集中注意力,但你做不到,因为你的脑子里全是酒精,这就是问题所在吗?脑子里全是酒精!
Big Daddy: — Concentrate, but you can’t because your brain’s all soaked with liquor, is that the trouble? Wet brain!
(他从布里克手中夺过玻璃杯。)
(He snatches the glass from Brick’s hand.)
您对撒谎这件事了解多少?见鬼!我可以就此写一本书!您不知道吗?我可以就此写一本书,但仍然没有涉及这个主题?好吧,我可以,我可以就此写一本该死的书,但仍然没有涉及这个主题!!——想想我得忍受多少谎言!——伪装!那不是撒谎吗?必须假装一些您没有想过、感觉不到或根本不知道的东西?例如,假装我关心大妈妈!——四十年来,我一直无法忍受看到、听到或闻到那个女人的气味!——即使我和她躺下的时候!——像活塞一样规律……
What do you know about this mendacity thing? Hell! I could write a book on it! Don’t you know that? I could write a book on it and still not cover the subject? Well, I could, I could write a goddam book on it and still not cover the subject anywhere near enough!! — Think of all the lies I got to put up with! — Pretenses! Ain’t that mendacity? Having to pretend stuff you don’t think or feel or have any idea of? Having for instance to act like I care for Big Mama! — I haven’t been able to stand the sight, sound, or smell of that woman for forty years now! — even when I laid her! — regular as a piston….
假装爱那个混蛋 Gooper 和他的妻子 Mae 以及那五个像丛林里的鹦鹉一样尖叫的人?天呐!无法忍受看着他们!
Pretend to love that son of a bitch of a Gooper and his wife Mae and those five same screechers out there like parrots in a jungle? Jesus! Can’t stand to look at ’em!
教堂!——虽然我无聊透顶,但我还是去了!——我去了那里,坐在那里听那个愚蠢的传教士讲道!
Church! — it bores the bejesus out of me but I go! — I go an’ sit there and listen to the fool preacher!
俱乐部!——麋鹿会!共济会!扶轮社!——废话!
Clubs! — Elks! Masons! Rotary! — crap!
(一阵疼痛使他捂住了腹部。他瘫坐在椅子上,声音变得更轻更嘶哑。)
(A spasm of pain makes him clutch his belly. He sinks into a chair and his voice is softer and hoarser.)
出于某种原因,我确实喜欢你,总是对你有某种真正的感觉——感情——尊重——是的,总是……
You I do like for some reason, did always have some kind of real feeling for — affection — respect — yes, always….
我一生中唯一的梦想就是您和成为一名成功的种植者!——这是事实……
You and being a success as a planter is all I ever had any devotion to in my whole life! — and that’s the truth….
我不知道为什么,但事实就是如此!
I don’t know why, but it is!
我已经和谎言共存了!——你为什么不能忍受它?见鬼,你必须忍受它,除了谎言,没有别的办法了,不是吗?
I’ve lived with mendacity! — Why can’t you live with it? Hell, you got to live with it, there’s nothing else to live with except mendacity, is there?
布里克:是的,先生。是的,先生,还有其他事情您可以忍受!
Brick: Yes, sir. Yes, sir there is something else that you can live with!
大爸爸:啥?
Big Daddy: What?
布里克(举起酒杯):这个!——酒……
Brick (lifting his glass): This! — Liquor….
大爸爸:那不是生活,那是在逃避生活。
Big Daddy: That’s not living, that’s dodging away from life.
布里克:我想躲开它。
Brick: I want to dodge away from it.
大爸爸:那你为什么不自杀呢,老兄?
Big Daddy: Then why don’t you kill yourself, man?
B rick:我喜欢喝酒……
Brick: I like to drink….
大爸爸:哦,天哪,我不能跟你说话……
Big Daddy: Oh, God, I can’t talk to you….
布里克:对不起,大爸爸。
Brick: I’m sorry, Big Daddy.
B ig Daddy :我并不像你那么抱歉。我告诉你一件事。不久前,当我以为我的号码已经满了的时候——
Big Daddy: Not as sorry as I am. I’ll tell you something. A little while back when I thought my number was up —
(本次演讲应语速要快,气势要磅礴。)
(This speech should have torrential pace and fury.)
— 后来我才发现这只是这个 — 痉挛 — 结肠的问题。我想到你。如果事情败露,我走的时候该不该把这个地方让给你 — 因为我讨厌 Gooper 和 Mae,也知道他们也讨厌我,而且这五只猴子都是小 Mae 和 Gooper。——我想,不!——然后我想,是的!——我拿不定主意。我讨厌 Gooper 和他那五只猴子,还有那个婊子 Mae!我为什么要把尼罗河谷这边最肥沃的两万八千英亩土地交给不是我的同类人?——但另一方面,Brick,我为什么要资助一个该死的傻瓜喝酒?——喜欢也好不喜欢也好,好吧,甚至可能 —被爱也好! ——我为什么要这么做?——资助毫无价值的行为?腐烂?腐败?
— before I found out it was just this — spastic — colon. I thought about you. Should I or should I not, if the jig was up, give you this place when I go — since I hate Gooper an’ Mae an’ know that they hate me, and since all five same monkeys are little Maes an’ Goopers. — And I thought, No! — Then I thought, Yes! — I couldn’t make up my mind. I hate Gooper and his five same monkeys and that bitch Mae! Why should I turn over twenty-eight thousand acres of the richest land this side of the valley Nile to not my kind? — But why in hell, on the other hand, Brick — should I subsidize a goddam fool on the bottle? — Liked or not liked, well, maybe even — loved! — Why should I do that? — Subsidize worthless behavior? Rot? Corruption?
布里克(微笑):我明白。
Brick (smiling): I understand.
大爸爸:好吧,如果你愿意,那你比我聪明,该死的,因为我不明白。我会坦率地告诉你。我根本没对这个问题下定决心,直到今天我还没有立下遗嘱!——好吧,现在我不需要了。压力已经消失了。我可以等着看你是否会振作起来。
Big Daddy: Well, if you do, you’re smarter than I am, God damn it, because I don’t understand. And this I will tell you frankly. I didn’t make up my mind at all on that question and still to this day I ain’t made out no will! — Well, now I don’t have to. The pressure is gone. I can just wait and see if you pull yourself together or if you don’t.
布里克:没错,大爸爸。
Brick: That’s right, Big Daddy.
B ig Daddy :听上去你好像以为我在开玩笑。
Big Daddy: You sound like you thought I was kidding.
布里克(起身):不,先生,我知道您不是在开玩笑。
Brick (rising): No, sir, I know you’re not kidding.
大爸爸:但你不在乎——?
Big Daddy: But you don’t care — ?
布里克(一瘸一拐地走向画廊门口): “不,先生,我不在乎……
Brick (hobbling toward the gallery door): No, sir, I don’t care….
现在,看看你的生日烟花,感受一下河上的凉爽微风,怎么样?
Now how about taking a look at your birthday fireworks and getting some of that cool breeze off the river?
(他站在画廊门口,夜空随着连续的闪光变成了粉色、绿色和金色。)
(He stands in the gallery doorway as the night sky turns pink and green and gold with successive flashes of light.)
大爸爸:等一下! ——砖……
Big Daddy: WAIT! — Brick….
(他的声音低了下来。突然,他克制的姿势中流露出一种害羞,几乎是温柔的神情。)
(His voice drops. Suddenly there is something shy, almost tender, in his restraining gesture.)
不要让我们 — — 就这样结束吧,就像我们进行过的其他谈话一样,我们总是 — — 回避一些事情,我们 — — 只是因为一些奇怪的原因而回避一些事情,我不知道是什么,总是好像有些事情没有说出来,有些事情被回避了,因为我们双方都对对方不够诚实……
Don’t let’s — leave it like this, like them other talks we’ve had, we’ve always — talked around things, we’ve — just talked around things for some rutten reason, I don’t know what, it’s always like something was left not spoken, something avoided because neither of us was honest enough with the — other….
布里克:我从没骗过你,大爸爸。
Brick: I never lied to you, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:我对你做过什么吗?
Big Daddy: Did I ever to you?
布里克:不,先生……
Brick: No, sir….
B ig Daddy :那么至少有两个人从来没有互相撒过谎。
Big Daddy: Then there is at least two people that never lied to each other.
布里克:但我们从来没有交谈过。
Brick: But we’ve never talked to each other.
大爸爸:现在我们可以了。
Big Daddy: We can now.
B rick:大爸爸,好像没有什么好说的。
Brick: Big Daddy, there don’t seem to be anything much to say.
大爸爸:你说你喝酒是为了消除对说谎的厌恶。
Big Daddy: You say that you drink to kill your disgust with lying.
布里克:你说过要给你一个理由。
Brick: You said to give you a reason.
大爸爸:难道只有酒才能消除这种厌恶吗?
Big Daddy: Is liquor the only thing that’ll kill this disgust?
Brick :现在。是的。
Brick: Now. Yes.
大爸爸:但一次也没有,是吧?
Big Daddy: But not once, huh?
布里克:当我还年轻,并且充满信仰时,我不会喝酒。喝酒的人是想忘记自己已经不再年轻,不再充满信仰的人。
Brick: Not when I was still young an’ believing. A drinking man’s someone who wants to forget he isn’t still young an’ believing.
大爸爸:相信什么?
Big Daddy: Believing what?
Brick :相信……
Brick: Believing….
大爸爸:相信什么?
Big Daddy: Believing what?
布里克(固执地回避):“相信……
Brick (stubbornly evasive): Believing….
B ig Daddy :我不知道你说的相信到底是什么意思,我也不认为你知道你所说的相信是什么意思,但如果你的血液里仍然流淌着体育的血液,那就回去播音吧——
Big Daddy: I don’t know what the hell you mean by believing and I don’t think you know what you mean by believing, but if you still got sports in your blood, go back to sports announcing and —
B rick:坐在玻璃箱里观看我不会玩的游戏?描述我不能做什么,而玩家却能做到?在我不擅长的比赛中,发泄他们的厌恶和困惑?喝一杯可乐,半杯波旁威士忌,这样我就能忍受?这已经不是什么好事了,没有帮助——时间比我快,大爸爸——先到了那里……
Brick: Sit in a glass box watching games I can’t play? Describing what I can’t do while players do it? Sweating out their disgust and confusion in contests I’m not fit for? Drinkin’ a coke, half bourbon, so I can stand it? That’s no goddam good any more, no help — time just outran me, Big Daddy — got there first …
大爸爸:我觉得你是在推卸责任。
Big Daddy: I think you’re passing the buck.
B rick:你认识很多喝酒的男人吗?
Brick: You know many drinkin’ men?
大爸爸(带着一丝迷人的微笑): “我知道相当多的那个物种。”
Big Daddy (with a slight, charming smile): I have known a fair number of that species.
布里克:他们中有谁能告诉你他为什么喝酒吗?
Brick: Could any of them tell you why he drank?
B ig Daddy :是的,你把责任推卸给诸如时间和对“谎言”的厌恶之类的事情——废话!——如果你必须使用这样的语言来描述一件事,那就是九十度的胡说,我不会相信。
Big Daddy: Yep, you’re passin’ the buck to things like time and disgust with “mendacity” and — crap! — if you got to use that kind of language about a thing, it’s ninety-proof bull, and I’m not buying any.
B rick:我必须给你一个喝酒的理由!
Brick: I had to give you a reason to get a drink!
B ig Daddy :当你的朋友 Skipper 去世后,你就开始喝酒了。
Big Daddy: You started drinkin’ when your friend Skipper died.
(沉默五拍。然后布里克做出一个吃惊的动作,伸手去拿拐杖。)
(Silence for five beats. Then Brick makes a startled movement, reaching for his crutch.)
B rick:你有什么建议?
Brick: What are you suggesting?
B ig Daddy :我没什么建议。
Big Daddy: I’m suggesting nothing.
(布里克拖着脚步,马蹄踏步地快速走开,摆脱了父亲坚定而严肃的注视。)
(The shuffle and clop of Brick’s rapid hobble away from his father’s steady, grave attention.)
— 但 Gooper 和 Mae 认为你的身上肯定有些不对劲 —
— But Gooper an’ Mae suggested that there was something not right exactly in your —
布里克(像被逼到墙角一样突然停下) :“不对吗?”
Brick (stopping short downstage as if backed to a wall): “Not right”?
B ig Daddy :你和……的友谊并不那么正常。
Big Daddy: Not, well, exactly normal in your friendship with —
布里克:他们也这么建议?我以为那是玛吉的建议。
Brick: They suggested that, too? I thought that was Maggie’s suggestion.
(布里克的超脱终于被打破了。他的心跳加速,额头冒着汗珠,呼吸急促,声音嘶哑。他们正在讨论的事情,大爸爸那边胆怯而痛苦,布里克那边激烈而激烈,是斯基珀为了在他们之间否认而拼死要否认的不可接受的事情。如果这件事存在,就必须否认,以便在他们生活的世界中“保住面子”,这一事实可能是布里克喝酒以消除厌恶的“谎言”的核心。这也许是他崩溃的根源。或者,也许这只是谎言的一种表现,甚至不是最重要的表现。我希望用这部戏的网捉住的鸟不是一个人的心理问题的解决办法。我试图捕捉一群人的经历的真正品质,那种阴云密布、闪烁不定、转瞬即逝——充满激烈的能量!——活生生的人类在一个共同的雷雨云中的相互作用危机。剧中人物的揭示应该留下一些神秘之处,就像生活中人物的揭示总是留下许多神秘之处一样,甚至一个人自己的性格也是如此。这并不免除剧作家尽可能清晰和深入地观察和探究的责任:但它应该引导他远离“现成的”结论,肤浅的定义,这些结论使戏剧只是一出戏剧,而不是人类经验真理的陷阱。)
(Brick’s detachment is at last broken through. His heart is accelerated; his forehead sweat-beaded; his breath becomes more rapid and his voice hoarse. The thing they’re discussing, timidly and painfully on the side of Big Daddy, fiercely, violently on Brick’s side, is the inadmissible thing that Skipper died to disavow between them. The fact that if it existed it had to be disavowed to “keep face” in the world they lived in, may be at the heart of the “mendacity” that Brick drinks to kill his disgust with. It may be the root of his collapse. Or maybe it is only a single manifestation of it, not even the most important. The bird that I hope to catch in the net of this play is not the solution of one man’s psychological problem. I’m trying to catch the true quality of experience in a group of people, that cloudy, flickering, evanescent — fiercely charged! — interplay of live human beings in the thundercloud of a common crisis. Some mystery should be left in the revelation of character in a play, just as a great deal of mystery is always left in the revelation of character in life, even in one’s own character to himself. This does not absolve the playwright of his duty to observe and probe as clearly and deeply as he legitimately can: but it should steer him away from “pat” conclusions, facile definitions which make a play just a play, not a snare for the truth of human experience.)
(接下来的场景需要全神贯注地演绎,大部分的力量都被控制住,但未说出口的部分却显而易见。)
(The following scene should be played with great concentration, with most of the power leashed but palpable in what is left unspoken.)
这是谁的建议?是你的建议吗?有多少人认为我和斯基珀是——
Who else’s suggestion is it, is it yours? How many others thought that Skipper and I were —
大爸爸(轻轻地):现在,等一下,等一下,儿子。——我已经到处敲门了。
Big Daddy (gently): Now, hold on, hold on a minute, son. — I knocked around in my time.
Brick :那和什么有关——
Brick: What’s that got to do with —
B ig Daddy :我说“坚持住!”——我很沮丧,我沮丧这个国家,直到我——
Big Daddy: I said “Hold on!” — I bummed, I bummed this country till I was —
Brick :谁的建议,还有谁的建议?
Brick: Whose suggestion, who else’s suggestion is it?
B ig Daddy :在我出生前,我曾在各个城市的流浪汉丛林、铁路青年旅舍和廉价旅馆里睡过。
Big Daddy: Slept in hobo jungles and railroad Y’s and flophouses in all cities before I —
布里克:哦,你也这么想,你把我称为你的儿子和同性恋。哦!也许这就是为什么你把玛吉和我放在这个房间里,那是杰克·斯特劳和彼得·奥切罗的房间,那对老姐妹睡在一张双人床上,他们俩都死了!
Brick: Oh, you think so, too, you call me your son and a queer. Oh! Maybe that’s why you put Maggie and me in this room that was Jack Straw’s and Peter Ochello’s, in which that pair of old sisters slept in a double bed where both of ’em died!
B ig Daddy :现在别再扔石头了——
Big Daddy: Now just don’t go throwing rocks at —
(突然,图克牧师出现在画廊门口,他的头微微地、顽皮地、愚笨地歪着,脸上挂着老练的牧师般的微笑,真诚得像猎人吹出的鸟鸣,是虔诚的、传统的谎言的活生生的体现。)
(Suddenly Reverend Tooker appears in the gallery doors, his head slightly, playfully, fatuously cocked, with a practised clergyman’s smile, sincere as a bird call blown on a hunter’s whistle, the living embodiment of the pious, conventional lie.)
(大爸爸看到这个时机完美,却又不协调的幽灵,不禁倒吸了一口凉气。)
(Big Daddy gasps a little at this perfectly timed, but incongruous, apparition.)
— 您在找什么,传教士?
— What’re you lookin’ for, Preacher?
牧师图克:男士盥洗室,哈哈!——哈,哈……
Reverend Tooker: The gentleman’s lavatory, ha ha! — heh, heh …
大爸爸(不自然地说道):——回去吧,走到画廊的另一端,图克牧师,使用与我卧室相连的卫生间,如果你找不到的话,就问他们在哪里!
Big Daddy (with strained courtesy): — Go back out and walk down to the other end of the gallery, Reverend Tooker, and use the bathroom connected with my bedroom, and if you can’t find it, ask them where it is!
牧师图克:啊,谢谢。
Reverend Tooker: Ah, thanks.
(他带着鄙夷的笑意走了出去。)
(He goes out with a deprecatory chuckle.)
B ig Daddy :在这个地方说话很困难……
Big Daddy: It’s hard to talk in this place …
布里克:混蛋——!
Brick: Son of a — !
老爸(留下很多话没有说) :——我见多识广,理解很多事情,直到 1910 年。天啊,那一年——我的鞋子磨破了,我的腿被绊倒了——我从半英里外的路上的一辆黄狗货车上跳下来,睡在轧棉机外面的一辆棉花车里——杰克·斯特劳和彼得·奥切罗收留了我。雇我管理这个地方,后来就成了现在的样子。——杰克·斯特劳死后——为什么老彼得·奥切罗不再像狗一样在主人死后吃东西,他也死了!
Big Daddy (leaving a lot unspoken): — I seen all things and understood a lot of them, till 1910. Christ, the year that — I had worn my shoes through, hocked my — I hopped off a yellow dog freight car half a mile down the road, slept in a wagon of cotton outside the gin — Jack Straw an’ Peter Ochello took me in. Hired me to manage this place which grew into this one. — When Jack Straw died — why, old Peter Ochello quit eatin’ like a dog does when its master’s dead, and died, too!
布里克:天啊!
Brick: Christ!
B ig Daddy :我只是说我理解这样的——
Big Daddy: I’m just saying I understand such —
布里克(暴怒地):斯基普死了。我还没戒掉吃的呢!
Brick (violently): Skipper is dead. I have not quit eating!
大爸爸:没有,但是你开始喝酒了。
Big Daddy: No, but you started drinking.
(布里克拄着拐杖,把玻璃杯扔向房间另一边并大喊。)
(Brick wheels on his crutch and hurls his glass across the room shouting.)
布里克:你也这么认为吗?
Brick: YOU THINK SO, TOO?
大爸爸:嘘!
Big Daddy: Shhh!
(走廊上传来脚步声。有女人的呼喊声。)
(Footsteps run on the gallery. There are women’s calls.)
(大爸爸朝门口走去。)
(Big Daddy goes toward the door.)
走吧!——刚刚打破了一个玻璃杯……
Go way! — Just broke a glass….
(砖块发生了变化,就像一座安静的山峰突然爆发出火山火焰。)
(Brick is transformed, as if a quiet mountain blew suddenly up in volcanic flame.)
布里克:你也这么认为?你也这么认为?你认为我和斯基珀一起犯了鸡奸罪吗?
Brick: You think so, too? You think so, too? You think me an’ Skipper did, did, did! — sodomy! — together?
大爸爸:坚持住—— !
Big Daddy: Hold — !
Brick :这就是你——
Brick: That what you —
大爸爸:——开——等一下!
Big Daddy: — ON — a minute!
布里克:你认为我们之间做了肮脏的事情,斯基普和——
Brick: You think we did dirty things between us, Skipper an’ —
大爸爸:你为什么这么喊?你为什么——
Big Daddy: Why are you shouting like that? Why are you —
Brick : ——我,你对 Skipper 的看法是这样的吗?——
Brick: — Me, is that what you think of Skipper, is that —
大爸爸: ——这么激动?我不认为什么。我什么都不知道。我只是告诉你——
Big Daddy: — so excited? I don’t think nothing. I don’t know nothing. I’m simply telling you what —
布里克:你认为斯基珀和我是一对下流的老男人吗?
Brick: You think that Skipper and me were a pair of dirty old men?
B ig Daddy :现在那是——
Big Daddy: Now that’s —
B rick:稻草?Ochello?几根——
Brick: Straw? Ochello? A couple of —
B ig Daddy :现在只需 —
Big Daddy: Now just —
B rick: ——胆小鬼?同性恋?这就是你——
Brick: — ducking sissies? Queers? Is that what you —
大爸爸:嘘。
Big Daddy: Shhh.
Brick : ——觉得呢?
Brick: — think?
(他失去平衡,跪倒在地,没有感觉到疼痛。他抓住床,拖着自己站了起来。)
(He loses his balance and pitches to his knees without noticing the pain. He grabs the bed and drags himself up.)
大爸爸:天啊! ——呼……抓住我的手!
Big Daddy: Jesus! — Whew…. Grab my hand!
布里克:不,我不要你的手……
Brick: Naw, I don’t want your hand….
大爸爸:好吧,我想要你的。快起来!
Big Daddy: Well, I want yours. Git up!
(他把他拉起来,关切而深情地搂着他。)
(He draws him up, keeps an arm about him with concern and affection.)
你大汗淋漓!你气喘吁吁,就像刚参加完一场比赛一样——
You broken out in a sweat! You’re panting like you’d run a race with —
布里克(挣脱了父亲的束缚):大爸爸,你吓到我了,大爸爸,你,你——吓到我了!说话这么——
Brick (freeing himself from his father’s hold): Big Daddy, you shock me, Big Daddy, you, you — shock me! Talkin’ so —
(他背弃了他的父亲。)
(He turns away from his father.)
— 随便! — 关于 — 这样的事……
— casually! — about a — thing like that …
— 你不知道人们对这样的事情有什么感受吗?他们对这样的事情有多反感?为什么在密西西比大学,当发现我们兄弟会(斯基珀和我的兄弟会)的成员做了一件、试图做一件、不自然的事情时——
— Don’t you know how people feel about things like that? How, how disgusted they are by things like that? Why, at Ole Miss when it was discovered a pledge to our fraternity, Skipper’s and mine, did a, attempted to do a, unnatural thing with —
我们不仅把他像一块滚烫的石头一样扔了下去!——我们叫他离开校园,他照做了,他得到了!——一路——
We not only dropped him like a hot rock! — We told him to git off the campus, and he did, he got! — All the way to —
(他停了下来,气喘吁吁。)
(He halts, breathless.)
大爸爸:——在哪里?
Big Daddy: — Where?
B rick: ——我听说是北非!
Brick: — North Africa, last I heard!
大爸爸:是的,我从更远的地方回来了,儿子,我刚刚从月球的另一边回来,那里是死亡之国,这里的任何事情都不会让我感到震惊。
Big Daddy: Well, I have come back from further away than that, I have just now returned from the other side of the moon, death’s country, son, and I’m not easy to shock by anything here.
(他走到舞台前面,面向外面。)
(He comes downstage and faces out.)
无论如何,我身边总是有太多空间,以至于无法被其他人的想法所感染。在广阔的地方,有一样东西比棉花更重要!——那就是宽容! ——我培育了它。
Always, anyhow, lived with too much space around me to be infected by ideas of other people. One thing you can grow on a big place more important than cotton! — is tolerance! — I grown it.
(他转身朝布里克走去。)
(He returns toward Brick.)
B rick:为什么两个人之间特殊的友谊,真正的、真正的、深厚的友谊!不能被尊重为干净、体面的事情,而不被认为是——
Brick: Why can’t exceptional friendship, real, real, deep, deep friendship! between two men be respected as something clean and decent without being thought of as —
大爸爸:看在上帝的份上,这是可以的。
Big Daddy: It can, it is, for God’s sake.
B rick: ——仙女……
Brick: — Fairies….
(从他说出这句话中,我们可以衡量出他从世间获得的传统习俗的广泛而深刻的影响,这些习俗为他早期赢得了桂冠。)
(In his utterance of this word, we gauge the wide and profound reach of the conventional mores he got from the world that crowned him with early laurel.)
大爸爸:我告诉梅和古珀——
Big Daddy: I told Mae an’ Gooper —
B rick:去他妈的 Mae 和 Gooper,去他妈的肮脏的谎言和骗子!——Skipper 和我之间有着纯洁、真诚的关系!——我们之间有着纯洁的友谊,几乎一辈子都是如此,直到 Maggie 明白了你在说什么。正常吗?不!——这太罕见了,不可能是正常的,两个人之间任何真诚的事情都太罕见了,不可能是正常的。哦,偶尔他会把手放在我的肩膀上,或者我会把手放在他的肩膀上,哦,也许,当我们在全国巡回职业足球赛和共用酒店房间时,我们会把手伸过两张床之间的空间,握手道晚安,是的,有一两次我们——
Brick: Frig Mae and Gooper, frig all dirty lies and liars! — Skipper and me had a clean, true thing between us! — had a clean friendship, practically all our lives, till Maggie got the idea you’re talking about. Normal? No! — It was too rare to be normal, any true thing between two people is too rare to be normal. Oh, once in a while he put his hand on my shoulder or I’d put mine on his, oh, maybe even, when we were touring the country in pro-football an’ shared hotel-rooms we’d reach across the space between the two beds and shake hands to say goodnight, yeah, one or two times we —
大爸爸:砖头,没人觉得那不正常吗!
Big Daddy: Brick, nobody thinks that that’s not normal!
布里克:嗯,他们搞错了,是的!那是一件纯粹而真实的事情,这不正常。
Brick: Well, they’re mistaken, it was! It was a pure an’ true thing an’ that’s not normal.
(他们两人久久地直视着对方。紧张的气氛消失了,两人都好像很累似的转过头去。)
(They both stare straight at each other for a long moment. The tension breaks and both turn away as if tired.)
大爸爸:是啊,说话很——困难……
Big Daddy: Yeah, it’s — hard t’ — talk….
布里克:好吧,那么,让我们——放手吧……
Brick: All right, then, let’s — let it go….
大爸爸:斯基珀为什么会笑起来?你为什么会笑呢?
Big Daddy: Why did Skipper crack up? Why have you?
(布里克再次回头看着父亲。他已经决定,尽管他不知道自己已经做出了这个决定,他要告诉父亲,他因癌症而快要死了。只有这样才能让他们之间的恩怨扯平:一件不可接受的事情换来另一件不可接受的事情。)
(Brick looks back at his father again. He has already decided, without knowing that he has made this decision, that he is going to tell his father that he is dying of cancer. Only this could even the score between them: one inadmissible thing in return for another.)
布里克(不祥地):好吧。这是你自找的,老爹。我们终于可以进行你想要的那场真正的谈话了。现在阻止已经太晚了,我们必须坚持下去,涵盖所有主题。
Brick (ominously): All right. You’re asking for it, Big Daddy. We’re finally going to have that real true talk you wanted. It’s too late to stop it, now, we got to carry it through and cover every subject.
(他一瘸一拐地走回酒柜。)
(He hobbles back to the liquor cabinet.)
嗯嗯。
Uh-huh.
(他打开冰桶,拿起银钳,慢慢地欣赏着它们冰冷的光泽。)
(He opens the ice bucket and picks up the silver tongs with slow admiration of their frosty brightness.)
玛吉说,斯基珀和我离开密西西比大学后开始从事职业足球,因为我们害怕长大……
Maggie declares that Skipper and I went into pro-football after we left “Ole Miss” because we were scared to grow up …
(他像一个拄着拐杖的瘸子一样,拖着脚步走到舞台前面。当玛格丽特的演讲变成“宣叙调”时,他向屋子里望去,用他直视、专注的目光吸引着大家的注意——一个残缺的、“悲剧般优雅”的人物,简单地讲述着他所知道的“真相”:)
(He moves downstage with the shuffle and clop of a cripple on a crutch. As Margaret did when her speech became “recitative,” he looks out into the house, commanding its attention by his direct, concentrated gaze — a broken, “tragically elegant” figure telling simply as much as he knows of “the Truth”:)
— 想要 — 继续投掷 — 那些长传! — 高传! — 那些传球 — 除了时间之外,没有人能够拦截,那种让我们成名的空中进攻!所以我们做到了,我们做到了,我们坚持了一个赛季,那种空中进攻,我们把它举得很高! — 是的,但是 —
— Wanted to — keep on tossing — those long, long! — high, high! — passes that — couldn’t be intercepted except by time, the aerial attack that made us famous! And so we did, we did, we kept it up for one season, that aerial attack, we held it high! — Yeah, but —
— 那个夏天,玛吉,她对我严词谴责,说,现在或永远不再娶玛吉,所以我娶了玛吉……
— that summer, Maggie, she laid the law down to me, said, Now or never, and so I married Maggie….
大爸爸:玛吉在床上怎么样?
Big Daddy: How was Maggie in bed?
布里克(苦笑):“太棒了!最棒的!”
Brick (wryly): Great! the greatest!
(大爸爸点头表示他是这样认为的。)
(Big Daddy nods as if he thought so.)
那年秋天,她和 Dixie Stars 乐队一起上路了。哦,她大张旗鼓地展现了自己是世界上最棒的运动员。她戴了一顶——戴了一顶——高高的熊皮帽!他们称之为军帽,一件染色的鼹鼠皮大衣,一件染成红色的鼹鼠皮大衣!——疯狂地剪裁!租用酒店宴会厅庆祝胜利,结果失败后也不会取消……
She went on the road that fall with the Dixie Stars. Oh, she made a great show of being the world’s best sport. She wore a — wore a — tall bearskin cap! A shako, they call it, a dyed moleskin coat, a moleskin coat dyed red! — Cut up crazy! Rented hotel ballrooms for victory celebrations, wouldn’t cancel them when it — turned out — defeat….
玛吉猫!哈哈!
MAGGIE THE CAT! Ha ha!
(大爸爸点头。)
(Big Daddy nods.)
— 但是 Skipper 又开始发烧了,医生无法解释原因,而我也受了伤 — 结果只是 X 光板上的阴影 — 还得了轻微的滑囊炎……
— But Skipper, he had some fever which came back on him which doctors couldn’t explain and I got that injury — turned out to be just a shadow on the X-ray plate — and a touch of bursitis….
我躺在医院的病床上,在电视上看我们的比赛,看到玛吉坐在斯基珀旁边的板凳上,当时斯基珀因为失手被拖出比赛!——她搂着他胳膊的样子让我很生气!——你知道,我觉得玛吉一直有点被冷落的感觉,因为她和我之间的关系从来没有像两个人躺在床上一样亲密,也不比两只猫在篱笆上蹭蹭亲密多少……
I lay in a hospital bed, watched our games on TV, saw Maggie on the bench next to Skipper when he was hauled out of a game for stumbles, fumbles! — Burned me up the way she hung on his arm! — Y’know, I think that Maggie had always felt sort of left out because she and me never got any closer together than two people just get in bed, which is not much closer than two cats on a — fence humping….
所以!她花时间来教育可怜的愚蠢的斯基珀。他是密西西比大学的一名不及格的学生,你知道的,不是吗?!——在他的脑海里灌输了一个肮脏、错误的想法,认为我们,他和我,是住在这个房间里的那对老姐妹杰克·斯特劳和彼得·奥切罗的失败案例!——他,可怜的斯基珀,为了证明这不是真的,和玛吉上床了,当事情没有成功时,他以为这是真的!——斯基珀像一根烂棍子一样断成了两截——从来没有人这么快就变成了酒鬼——或者这么快就死于酒鬼……
So! She took this time to work on poor dumb Skipper. He was a less than average student at Ole Miss, you know that, don’t you?! — Poured in his mind the dirty, false idea that what we were, him and me, was a frustrated case of that ole pair of sisters that lived in this room, Jack Straw and Peter Ochello! — He, poor Skipper, went to bed with Maggie to prove it wasn’t true, and when it didn’t work out, he thought it was true! — Skipper broke in two like a rotten stick — nobody ever turned so fast to a lush — or died of it so quick….
——现在你满意了吗?
— Now are you satisfied?
(大爸爸听了这个故事,去芜存菁了。现在他看着他的儿子。)
(Big Daddy has listened to this story, dividing the grain from the chaff. Now he looks at his son.)
大爸爸:您满意吗?
Big Daddy: Are you satisfied?
Brick :用什么?
Brick: With what?
大爸爸:这个故事太烂了!
Big Daddy: That half-ass story!
B rick:这有什么不周全的呢?
Brick: What’s half-ass about it?
大爸爸:这个故事里有些东西被遗漏了。你遗漏了什么?
Big Daddy: Something’s left out of that story. What did you leave out?
(大厅里的电话铃响了。布里克仿佛想起了什么,突然朝声音来源处看了一眼,说道:)
(The phone has started ringing in the hall. As if it reminded him of something, Brick glances suddenly toward the sound and says:)
布里克:是的!——我记下了斯基珀打给我的一通长途电话,在电话里他向我坦白了自己喝醉酒的事,然后我就挂断了电话!——这是我们一生中最后一次通话……
Brick: Yes! — I left out a long-distance call which I had from Skipper, in which he made a drunken confession to me and on which I hung up! — last time we spoke to each other in our lives….
(静音铃声停止了,大厅里有人用柔和、模糊的声音接了电话。)
(Muted ring stops as someone answers phone in a soft, indistinct voice in hall.)
大爸爸:你挂电话了吗?
Big Daddy: You hung up?
Brick :挂了。天啊!好吧——
Brick: Hung up. Jesus! Well —
大爸爸:不管怎样!——我们已经找到了让你厌恶的谎言,而你正在喝酒来消除厌恶,布里克。你一直在推卸责任。这种对谎言的厌恶就是对你自己厌恶。
Big Daddy: Anyhow now! — we have tracked down the lie with which you’re disgusted and which you are drinking to kill your disgust with, Brick. You been passing the buck. This disgust with mendacity is disgust with yourself.
你! ——挖了你朋友的坟墓并把他踢进去!——然后你才敢和他面对真相!
You! — dug the grave of your friend and kicked him in it! — before you’d face truth with him!
Brick :他的真相,不是我的!
Brick: His truth, not mine!
大爸爸:他的真心话,好吧!但你不会和他一起面对!
Big Daddy: His truth, okay! But you wouldn’t face it with him!
布里克:谁能面对真相?你能吗?
Brick: Who can face truth? Can you?
大爸爸:现在别再开始推卸责任了,小子!
Big Daddy: Now don’t start passin’ the rotten buck again, boy!
B rick:这些生日祝贺,这些许多许多的生日快乐,除了你之外每个人都知道不会有任何祝福了!
Brick: How about these birthday congratulations, these many, many happy returns of the day, when ev’rybody but you knows there won’t be any!
(接了门厅电话的人发出一声尖锐的高笑,声音变得清晰可闻:“不,不,你全搞错了!完全颠倒了!你疯了吗?”
(Whoever has answered the hall phone lets out a high, shrill laugh; the voice becomes audible saying: “No, no, you got it all wrong! Upside down! Are you crazy?”
(布里克突然屏住呼吸,意识到自己说出了令人震惊的事情。他一瘸一拐地走了几步,然后僵住了,没有看父亲震惊的脸,而是说道:)
(Brick suddenly catches his breath as he realized that he has made a shocking disclosure. He hobbles a few paces, then freezes, and without looking at his father’s shocked face, says:)
我们现在就出去,然后——
Let’s, let’s — go out, now, and —
(大爸爸突然上前抓住男孩的拐杖,就像抓住一件他们正在争夺的武器一样。)
(Big Daddy moves suddenly forward and grabs hold of the boy’s crutch like it was a weapon for which they were fighting for possession.)
大爸爸:哦,不,不!谁都别出去!你刚才说什么了?
Big Daddy: Oh, no, no! No one’s going out! What did you start to say?
布里克:我不记得了。
Brick: I don’t remember.
B ig Daddy : “当他们知道不会有任何生日时,却有很多快乐归来”?
Big Daddy: “Many happy returns when they know there won’t be any”?
布里克:哎呀,老爸,算了吧。到画廊里来看看他们为你生日燃放的烟花吧……
Brick: Aw, hell, Big Daddy, forget it. Come on out on the gallery and look at the fireworks they’re shooting off for your birthday….
B ig Daddy :你先把刚才说的话说完。“明知不会有幸福的回归,却总是会有很多幸福的回归”?——你刚才不是这么说的吗?
Big Daddy: First you finish that remark you were makin’ before you cut off. “Many happy returns when they know there won’t be any”? — Ain’t that what you just said?
B rick:现在看。如果有必要,我可以不用拐杖走动,但如果我不必像泰山那样摇晃着走动,搬运家具和玻璃器皿会容易得多——
Brick: Look, now. I can get around without that crutch if I have to but it would be a lot easier on the furniture an’ glassware if I didn’ have to go swinging along like Tarzan of th’ —
大爸爸:结束吧!你刚才说什么!
Big Daddy: FINISH! WHAT YOU WAS SAYIN’!
(他身后的天空中出现了一道诡异的绿光。)
(An eerie green glow shows in sky behind him.)
布里克(吮吸着杯子里的冰块,声音变得粗哑):把这个位置留给古珀和梅,还有他们的五只小猴子。我想要的只是——
Brick (sucking the ice in his glass, speech becoming thick): Leave th’ place to Gooper and Mae an’ their five little same little monkeys. All I want is —
大爸爸: “离开这个地方”,你是这么说吗?
Big Daddy: “LEAVE TH’ PLACE,” did you say?
砖(模糊地):尼罗河谷这边最肥沃的土地有两万八千英亩。
Brick (vaguely): All twenty-eight thousand acres of the richest land this side of the valley Nile.
老爹:谁说我要“离开这个地方”给古珀或任何人?这是我 65 岁生日!我还能活 15 年或 20 年!我会比你活得长久!我会埋葬你,还要付你的棺材钱!
Big Daddy: Who said I was “leaving the place” to Gooper or anybody? This is my sixty-fifth birthday! I got fifteen years or twenty years left in me! I’ll outlive you! I’ll bury you an’ have to pay for your coffin!
B rick:当然。生日快乐。现在我们去看烟花吧,来吧,我们——
Brick: Sure. Many happy returns. Now let’s go watch the fireworks, come on, let’s —
大爸爸:撒谎,他们撒谎了吗?关于诊所的报告?他们有没有发现什么?——癌症。也许吧?
Big Daddy: Lying, have they been lying? About the report from th’ — clinic? Did they, did they — find something? — Cancer. Maybe?
布里克:谎言是我们生活的环境。酒是解脱的一种方式,而死亡是另一种方式……
Brick: Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out an’ death’s the other….
(他从大爸爸松开的手里拿过拐杖,荡到楼道里,门开着。)
(He takes the crutch from Big Daddy’s loose grip and swings out on the gallery leaving the doors open.)
(听到一首歌曲“摘一包棉花”。)
(A song, “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” is heard.)
梅(出现在门口):噢,大爸爸,农场里的工人正在为你唱歌!
Mae (appearing in door): Oh, Big Daddy, the field hands are singin’ fo’ you!
大爸爸(嘶哑地喊道):“砖!砖!”
Big Daddy (shouting hoarsely): BRICK! BRICK!
M ae:大爸爸,他在外面喝酒。
Mae: He’s outside drinkin’, Big Daddy.
大爸爸:砖!
Big Daddy: BRICK!
(梅退了一步,被他充满激情的声音所震慑。孩子们用嘲笑大爸爸的语气叫着布里克。他的脸像破碎的黄色石膏一样崩塌,即将化为尘土。)
(Mae retreats, awed by the passion of his voice. Children call Brick in tones mocking Big Daddy. His face crumbles like broken yellow plaster about to fall into dust.)
(天空中闪着光。布里克缓慢、严肃、镇定地从门里走出来。)
(There is a glow in the sky. Brick swings back through the doors, slowly, gravely, quite soberly.)
布里克:对不起,老爹。我的脑子已经不能用了,我很难理解为什么有人会关心他是生是死,是快要死了,还是除了酒瓶里是否还剩酒之外什么都不关心,所以我不假思索地说了那些话。在某些方面,我并不比其他人好,在某些方面,我更糟糕,因为我没有那么有活力。也许活着让他们撒谎,而几乎不活着让我有点不小心说了实话——我不知道,但——无论如何——我们是朋友……
Brick: I’m sorry, Big Daddy. My head don’t work any more and it’s hard for me to understand how anybody could care if he lived or died or was dying or cared about anything but whether or not there was liquor left in the bottle and so I said what I said without thinking. In some ways I’m no better than the others, in some ways worse because I’m less alive. Maybe it’s being alive that makes them lie, and being almost not alive makes me sort of accidentally truthful — I don’t know but — anyway — we’ve been friends …
— 朋友就是互相说实话……
— And being friends is telling each other the truth….
(停顿。)
(There is a pause.)
你告诉我的!我告诉你的!
You told me! I told you!
(一个小孩冲进房间,抓起一把鞭炮然后又跑了出来。)
(A child rushes into the room and grabs a fistful of firecrackers and runs out again.)
C小孩(尖叫):砰,砰,砰,砰,砰,砰,砰,砰,砰!
Child (screaming): Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
大爸爸(缓慢而激动地):基督——该死的——所有——撒谎的婊子养的——撒谎的婊子!
Big Daddy (slowly and passionately): CHRIST — DAMN — ALL — LYING SONS OF — LYING BITCHES!
(他终于直起身子,走向内门。在门口,他转过身,回头望去,仿佛心中有什么无法用言语表达的迫切问题。然后,他若有所思地点点头,用嘶哑的声音说道:)
(He straightens at last and crosses to the inside door. At the door he turns and looks back as if he had some desperate question he couldn’t put into words. Then he nods reflectively and says in a hoarse voice:)
是的,全是骗子,全是骗子,全是撒谎要死的骗子!
Yes, all liars, all liars, all lying dying liars!
(他慢慢地、慢慢地说道,语气中带着强烈的厌恶。他走了出去。)
(This is said slowly, slowly, with a fierce revulsion. He goes on out.)
——撒谎!垂死!骗子!
— Lying! Dying! Liars!
(他的话音渐渐消失。传来一个小孩被打耳光的声音。他一边大声哭喊,一边冲过房间,冲出门厅。
(His voice dies out. There is the sound of a child being slapped. It rushes, hideously bawling, through room and out the hall door.
(灯光渐暗,帷幕落下,布里克一动不动。)
(Brick remains motionless as the lights dim out and the curtain falls.)
窗帘
CURTAIN
时间没有流逝。梅和图克牧师一起进来。
There is no lapse of time. Mae enters with Reverend Tooker.
M ae:大爸爸在哪儿!大爸爸?
Mae: Where is Big Daddy! Big Daddy?
大妈妈(进入):烟花的味道太浓了,让我感觉胃有点不舒服。——大爸爸在哪儿?
Big Mama (entering): Too much smell of burnt fireworks makes me feel a little bit sick at my stomach. — Where is Big Daddy?
M ae:这正是我想知道的,大爸爸去哪儿了?
Mae: That’s what I want to know, where has Big Daddy gone?
大妈:他肯定是投降了,我估计他是去诱捕了……
Big Mama: He must have turned in, I reckon he went to baid….
(古珀进场。)
(Gooper enters.)
古珀:大爸爸在哪儿?
Gooper: Where is Big Daddy?
M ae:我们不知道他在哪里!
Mae: We don’t know where he is!
大妈妈:我估计他去钓鱼了。
Big Mama: I reckon he’s gone to baid.
古珀:那么,现在我们可以谈谈了。
Gooper: Well, then, now we can talk.
B ig M ama:这是什么话,什么话?
Big Mama: What is this talk, what talk?
(玛格丽特出现在画廊,与鲍博士交谈。)
(Margaret appears on gallery, talking to Dr. Baugh.)
玛格丽特(音乐):我的家人在废奴主义十年前释放了他们的奴隶,我的曾曾祖父在南北战争开始五年前给予了他的奴隶自由!
Margaret (musically): My family freed their slaves ten years before abolition, my great-great-grandfather gave his slaves their freedom five years before the war between the States started!
梅:哦,看在上帝的份上!玛吉又回到了她的家谱上!
Mae: Oh, for God’s sake! Maggie’s climbed back up in her family tree!
玛格丽特(甜蜜地):怎么了,梅?——噢,大爸爸在哪儿?!
Margaret (sweetly): What, Mae? — Oh, where’s Big Daddy?!
(节奏一定要快。伟大的南方动画。)
(The pace must be very quick. Great Southern animation.)
大妈妈(对所有人说):我觉得大爸爸只是累坏了。他爱他的家人,他喜欢家人在他身边,但这让他的神经紧张。他今晚表现得不太正常,大爸爸也不太正常,我看得出来他很激动。
Big Mama (addressing them all): I think Big Daddy was just worn out. He loves his family, he loves to have them around him, but it’s a strain on his nerves. He wasn’t himself tonight, Big Daddy wasn’t himself, I could tell he was all worked up.
牧师图克:我认为他非常了不起。
Reverend Tooker: I think he’s remarkable.
大妈:耶!太不可思议了。你们注意到他在那张桌子上吃的食物了吗?你们注意到他收拾的晚餐了吗?他吃得好极了!
Big Mama: Yaisss! Just remarkable. Did you all notice the food he ate at that table? Did you all notice the supper he put away? Why, he ate like a hawss!
Gooper :我希望他不会后悔。
Gooper: I hope he doesn’t regret it.
大妈:哎呀,那个男人——吃了一大块上面有糖蜜的面包!两次把面包倒进马桶里。
Big Mama: Why, that man — ate a huge piece of cawn-bread with molasses on it! Helped himself twice to hoppin’ john.
玛格丽特:大爸爸喜欢霍平约翰。——我们吃了一顿真正的乡村晚餐。
Margaret: Big Daddy loves hoppin’ john. — We had a real country dinner.
大妈妈(玛格丽特):是啊,他简直爱死它了!还有蜜饯山药?那人在那张桌子上放了足够多的食物,足以填饱一个黑鬼的肚子!
Big Mama (overlapping Margaret): Yais, he simply adores it! An’ candied yams? That man put away enough food at that table to stuff a nigger field hand!
古珀(冷酷地):我希望他以后不必为此付出代价……
Gooper (with grim relish): I hope he don’t have to pay for it later on….
大妈妈(凶狠地):那是什么,古珀?
Big Mama (fiercely): What’s that, Gooper?
M ae: Gooper 说他希望 Big Daddy 今晚不会受苦。
Mae: Gooper says he hopes Big Daddy doesn’t suffer tonight.
大妈:哦,该死,古珀说,古珀说!大爸爸为什么要因为满足正常的食欲而受苦?这个人除了神经质之外没什么问题,他很健康!现在他知道他很健康,所以他吃了这么一顿晚餐。他心里松了一口气,知道自己不会像他以为的那样注定要遭受这样的命运……
Big Mama: Oh, shoot, Gooper says, Gooper says! Why should Big Daddy suffer for satisfying a normal appetite? There’s nothin’ wrong with that man but nerves, he’s sound as a dollar! And now he knows he is an’ that’s why he ate such a supper. He had a big load off his mind, knowin’ he wasn’t doomed t’ — what he thought he was doomed to….
玛格丽特(悲伤而又甜蜜地) :祝福他那颗年老而甜蜜的灵魂……
Margaret (sadly and sweetly): Bless his old sweet soul….
大妈妈(含糊地):耶斯,上帝保佑他,布里克在哪儿?
Big Mama (vaguely): Yais, bless his heart, where’s Brick?
M ae:在外面。
Mae: Outside.
Gooper : — 喝酒……
Gooper: — Drinkin’ …
B ig M ama:我知道他在喝酒。你们不必一直告诉我布里克在喝酒。难道你们不一直告诉我那个男孩在喝酒,我难道看不出来他在喝酒吗?
Big Mama: I know he’s drinkin’. You all don’t have to keep tellin’ me Brick is drinkin’. Cain’t I see he’s drinkin’ without you continually tellin’ me that boy’s drinkin’?
玛格丽特:大妈妈,你真棒!
Margaret: Good for you, Big Mama!
(她鼓掌。)
(She applauds.)
大妈妈:其他人喝酒,已经喝过,并且还会继续喝,只要他们制作了那些东西并将其装进瓶子里。
Big Mama: Other people drink and have drunk an’ will drink, as long as they make that stuff an’ put it in bottles.
玛格丽特:那是事实。我从不相信不喝酒的男人。
Margaret: That’s the truth. I never trusted a man that didn’t drink.
M ae: Gooper 从不喝酒。你不信任 Gooper 吗?
Mae: Gooper never drinks. Don’t you trust Gooper?
玛格丽特:为什么,古珀,你不喝酒?如果我知道你不喝酒,我就不会这么说了——
Margaret: Why, Gooper don’t you drink? If I’d known you didn’t drink, I wouldn’t of made that remark —
大妈:砖?
Big Mama: Brick?
玛格丽特: ——至少在你面前不行。
Margaret: — at least not in your presence.
(她甜甜地笑着。)
(She laughs sweetly.)
大妈:砖啊!
Big Mama: Brick!
玛格丽特:他还在画廊里。我去把他带进来,我们好好谈谈。
Margaret: He’s still on the gall’ry. I’ll go bring him in so we can talk.
大妈妈(担忧地):我不知道这次神秘的家庭会议到底是为了什么。
Big Mama (worriedly): I don’t know what this mysterious family conference is about.
(尴尬的沉默。大妈妈看着一张张脸,然后轻轻地打了个嗝,嘟囔道:“不好意思……”她打开挂在脖子上的一把装饰扇子,这是一把与她的黑色蕾丝长袍相配的黑色蕾丝扇子,扇动着她那枯萎的胸花,紧张地抽着鼻子,看着一张张脸,在令人不舒服的沉默中,玛格丽特叫着“布里克?”,布里克在画廊里对着月亮唱歌。)
(Awkward silence. Big Mama looks from face to face, then belches slightly and mutters, “Excuse me….” She opens an ornamental fan suspended about her throat, a black lace fan to go with her black lace gown and fans her wilting corsage, sniffing nervously and looking from face to face in the uncomfortable silence as Margaret calls “Brick?” and Brick sings to the moon on the gallery.)
我不知道这里出了什么问题,你们都板着脸!请打开走廊上的门,让空气流通一下,好吗,古珀?
I don’t know what’s wrong here, you all have such long faces! Open that door on the hall and let some air circulate through here, will you please, Gooper?
M ae:大妈妈,我想我们最好把那扇门关上,等谈话结束再说。
Mae: I think we’d better leave that door closed, Big Mama, till after the talk.
B ig M ama:图克牧师,您可以打开那扇门吗?!
Big Mama: Reveren’ Tooker, will you please open that door?!
牧师图克:我一定会的,大妈妈。
Reverend Tooker: I sure will, Big Mama.
M ae:我只是认为我们不应该冒险让大爸爸听到这次讨论的任何内容。
Mae: I just didn’t think we ought t’ take any chance of Big Daddy hearin’ a word of this discussion.
大妈妈:我同意!大爸爸家里什么话都说,只要他想听就听!
Big Mama: I swan! Nothing’s going to be said in Big Daddy’s house that he cain’t hear if he wants to!
Gooper :好吧,Big Mama,这是——
Gooper: Well, Big Mama, it’s —
(梅迅速用力戳了他一下,让他闭嘴。他狠狠地瞪着她,而她则像一个滑稽的芭蕾舞演员一样在他面前转圈,把她瘦削的裸露的胳膊举过头顶,手镯叮当作响,大声喊道:)
(Mae gives him a quick, hard poke to shut him up. He glares at her fiercely as she circles before him like a burlesque ballerina, raising her skinny bare arms over her head, jangling her bracelets, exclaiming:)
Mae :微风!微风!
Mae: A breeze! A breeze!
牧师图克:我认为这所房子是三角洲地区最酷的房子。——你们都知道吗,哈尔西·班克斯的遗孀为了纪念哈尔西,在弗赖尔角的教堂和牧师住宅里安装了空调?
Reverend Tooker: I think this house is the coolest house in the Delta. — Did you all know that Halsey Banks’ widow put air-conditioning units in the church and rectory at Friar’s Point in memory of Halsey?
(大家又开始谈话了;大家都在聊天,舞台上的声音听起来就像一个大鸟笼。)
(General conversation has resumed; everybody is chatting so that the stage sounds like a big bird-cage.)
古珀:可惜没人帮你给教堂降温。我敢打赌,这些炎热的星期天,你在讲台上一定汗流浃背,图克牧师。
Gooper: Too bad nobody cools your church off for you. I bet you sweat in that pulpit these hot Sundays, Reverend Tooker.
牧师图克:是的,我的法衣都湿透了。
Reverend Tooker: Yes, my vestments are drenched.
M ae(同时对 Baugh 医生说):Baugh 医生,您认为维生素 B12 注射剂真有那么好的作用吗?
Mae (at the same time to Dr. Baugh): You think those vitamin B12 injections are what they’re cracked up t’ be, Doc Baugh?
鲍博士:好吧,如果你想被什么东西困住,我想它们和其他任何东西一样好被困住。
Doctor Baugh: Well, if you want to be stuck with something I guess they’re as good to be stuck with as anything else.
大妈妈(在画廊门口) :玛吉,玛吉,你不和布里克一起来吗?
Big Mama (at gallery door): Maggie, Maggie, aren’t you comin’ with Brick?
M ae(突然大声说,引起一片寂静):“我有一种奇怪的感觉,我有一种奇特的感觉!”
Mae (suddenly and loudly, creating a silence): I have a strange feeling, I have a peculiar feeling!
大妈妈(从观众席转过身来): “什么感觉?”
Big Mama (turning from gallery): What feeling?
梅:布里克对大爸爸说了一些不该说的话。
Mae: That Brick said somethin’ he shouldn’t of said t’ Big Daddy.
B ig M ama:那么,Brick 到底能对 Big Daddy 说些什么不该说的话呢?
Big Mama: Now what on earth could Brick of said t’ Big Daddy that he shouldn’t say?
Gooper :大妈妈,有件事——
Gooper: Big Mama, there’s somethin’ —
M ae:现在,等待!
Mae: NOW, WAIT!
(她冲到大妈妈面前,给了她一个拥抱和亲吻。大妈妈不耐烦地把她推开,牧师图克的声音在一片寂静中平静地响起:)
(She rushes up to Big Mama and gives her a quick hug and kiss. Big Mama pushes her impatiently off as the Reverend Tooker’s voice rises serenely in a little pocket of silence:)
牧师图克:是的,上个星期天,我祭披上的金色褪成了紫色……
Reverend Tooker: Yes, last Sunday the gold in my chasuble faded into th’ purple….
古珀:牧师,您上个星期天肯定在宣扬地狱之火!
Gooper: Reveren’ you must of been preachin’ hell’s fire last Sunday!
(他对这句俏皮话哈哈大笑,但牧师却不是真心觉得好笑。与此同时,大妈妈走到鲍博士身边,对他说:)
(He guffaws at this witticism but the Reverend is not sincerely amused. At the same time Big Mama has crossed over to Dr. Baugh and is saying to him:)
大妈妈(她气喘吁吁的声音高亢地高过其他人的声音):在我那个年代,他们有一种叫做 Keeley 的治疗酗酒的方法。但现在我明白了,他们只是服用某种药片,他们称之为“安妮丰胸”药片。但布里克不需要服用任何东西。
Big Mama (her breathless voice rising high-pitched above the others): In my day they had what they call the Keeley cure for heavy drinkers. But now I understand they just take some kind of tablets, they call them “Annie Bust” tablets. But Brick don’t need to take nothin’.
(布里克出现在画廊门口,玛格丽特跟在他身后。)
(Brick appears in gallery doors with Margaret behind him.)
大妈妈(没有意识到他在她身后):斯基珀的死让那个男孩伤心欲绝。你知道斯基珀死得有多可怜。他们在家里给他注射了一大剂量的戊巴比妥钠,然后他们叫了救护车,在医院又给他注射了一大剂量的戊巴比妥钠,再加上他体内数月来一直喝的酒精,他的心脏承受不住……我怕针!我更怕针,而不是刀……我想被针刺死的人比——
Big Mama (unaware of his presence behind her): That boy is just broken up over Skipper’s death. You know how poor Skipper died. They gave him a big, big dose of that sodium amytal stuff at his home and then they called the ambulance and give him another big, big dose of it at the hospital and that and all of the alcohol in his system fo’ months an’ months an’ months just proved too much for his heart…. I’m scared of needles! I’m more scared of a needle than the knife…. I think more people have been needled out of this world than —
(她突然停下并转过身。)
(She stops short and wheels about.)
噢! ——布里克来了!我的宝贝——
OH! — here’s Brick! My precious baby —
(她转身面向布里克,伸出又短又胖的胳膊,同时发出一声短促而响亮的哭泣,既滑稽又感人。
(She turns upon Brick with short, fat arms extended, at the same time uttering a loud, short sob, which is both comic and touching.
(布里克微笑着,微微鞠躬,做出一个滑稽的殷勤姿势,示意玛吉从他面前走进房间。然后,他拄着拐杖,一瘸一拐地走到酒柜前,屋内一片寂静,大家都看着布里克,就像往常一样,布里克说话、移动或出现时,大家都看着他。他把冰块一块块地扔进玻璃杯,然后突然,但不快地,回头一看,露出一个狡黠而迷人的微笑,说:)
(Brick smiles and bows slightly, making a burlesque gesture of gallantry for Maggie to pass before him into the room. Then he hobbles on his crutch directly to the liquor cabinet and there is absolute silence, with everybody looking at Brick as everybody has always looked at Brick when he spoke or moved or appeared. One by one he drops ice cubes in his glass, then suddenly, but not quickly, looks back over his shoulder with a wry, charming smile, and says:)
B rick:对不起!还有其他人吗?
Brick: I’m sorry! Anyone else?
大妈妈(伤心地):不,儿子。我希望你不要这么做!
Big Mama (sadly): No, son. I wish you wouldn’t!
B rick:我希望我不用这样做,大妈妈,但是我还在等待头脑中的那个咔哒声让一切顺利起来!
Brick: I wish I didn’t have to, Big Mama, but I’m still waiting for that click in my head which makes it all smooth out!
大妈妈:噢,布里克,你 — — 伤我的心了!
Big Mama: Aw, Brick, you — BREAK MY HEART!
玛格丽特(同时):布里克,去和大妈妈坐在一起!
Margaret (at the same time): Brick, go sit with Big Mama!
B ig M ama:我就是停不下来——它……
Big Mama: I just cain’t staiiiiiiiii-nnnnnd — it….
(她抽泣起来。)
(She sobs.)
Mae :现在我们都到齐了——
Mae: Now that we’re all assembled —
Gooper :我们可以谈谈……
Gooper: We kin talk….
B ig M ama:让我心碎……
Big Mama: Breaks my heart….
玛格丽特:布里克,和大妈妈坐在一起,握住她的手。
Margaret: Sit with Big Mama, Brick, and hold her hand.
(大妈妈大声吸了三口气,就像在寂静的角落里敲了三下鼓一样。)
(Big Mama sniffs very loudly three times, almost like three drum beats in the pocket of silence.)
布里克:你这样做吧,玛吉。我是个不安分的残疾人。我必须拄着拐杖。
Brick: You do that, Maggie. I’m a restless cripple. I got to stay on my crutch.
(布里克一瘸一拐地走到画廊门口;靠在那里仿佛在等待。)
(Brick hobbles to the gallery door; leans there as if waiting.)
(梅坐在大妈妈旁边,古珀走到前面,坐在沙发的一端,面对着她。图克牧师紧张地走到他们中间;在另一边,鲍博士站在那里,目光茫然地点燃了一支雪茄。玛格丽特转过身去。)
(Mae sits beside Big Mama, while Gooper moves in front and sits on the end of the couch, facing her. Reverend Tooker moves nervously into the space between them; on the other side, Dr. Baugh stands looking at nothing in particular and lights a cigar. Margaret turns away.)
大妈:你们为什么这样围着我?你们为什么这样盯着我,还互相比划手势?
Big Mama: Why’re you all surroundin’ me — like this? Why’re you all starin’ at me like this an’ makin’ signs at each other?
(图克牧师吃惊地后退了几步。)
(Reverend Tooker steps back startled.)
M ae:冷静点,大妈妈。
Mae: Calm yourself, Big Mama.
大妈:冷静点,冷静点,姐妹。当所有人都盯着我看,好像我的脸上冒出了大滴的血时,我怎么能冷静下来呢?这到底是怎么回事,啊!什么?
Big Mama: Calm you’self, you’self, Sister Woman. How could I calm myself with everyone starin’ at me as if big drops of blood had broken out on m’face? What’s this all about, annh! What?
(古珀咳嗽并走到中间位置。)
(Gooper coughs and takes a center position.)
Gooper :现在,Doc Baugh。
Gooper: Now, Doc Baugh.
M ae: Doc Baugh?
Mae: Doc Baugh?
布里克(突然):嘘!——
Brick (suddenly): SHHH! —
(然后他笑了笑并遗憾地摇了摇头。)
(Then he grins and chuckles and shakes his head regretfully.)
— 不!— 那不是点击。
— Naw! — that wasn’t th’ click.
古珀:布里克,闭嘴,不然就呆在画廊里喝酒!我们要谈一件严肃的事。大妈妈想知道我们今天从奥克斯纳诊所得到的报告的全部真相。
Gooper: Brick, shut up or stay out there on the gallery with your liquor! We got to talk about a serious matter. Big Mama wants to know the complete truth about the report we got today from the Ochsner Clinic.
M ae (热切地) :——询问大爸爸的情况!
Mae (eagerly): — on Big Daddy’s condition!
Gooper :是的,鉴于 Big Daddy 的情况,我们必须面对它。
Gooper: Yais, on Big Daddy’s condition, we got to face it.
鲍医生:嗯……
Doctor Baugh: Well….
大妈妈(惊恐地站起身):有什么事吗?有什么我?不知道的事吗?
Big Mama (terrified, rising): Is there? Something? Something that I? Don’t — Know?
(大妈妈就用这几个字,这个吃惊的、非常轻柔的问题,回顾了她和大爸爸在一起的四十五年的历史,她对大爸爸那伟大的、几乎令人尴尬的真诚和单纯的忠诚,大爸爸一定拥有布里克所拥有的东西,他用“简单的权宜之计”让自己深受爱戴,即不爱得太多而打扰他迷人的超然,也曾像布里克一样,伴随着阳刚之气。)
(In these few words, this startled, very soft, question, Big Mama reviews the history of her forty-five years with Big Daddy, her great, almost embarrassingly true-hearted and simple-minded devotion to Big Daddy, who must have had something Brick has, who made himself loved so much by the “simple expedient” of not loving enough to disturb his charming detachment, also once coupled, like Brick’s, with virile beauty.)
(大妈妈此时有尊严:她几乎不再肥胖了。)
(Big Mama has a dignity at this moment: she almost stops being fat.)
鲍医生(停顿了一下,有些不自在):怎么了?——嗯——
Doctor Baugh (after a pause, uncomfortably): Yes? — Well —
B ig M ama:我!!!——想——知道……
Big Mama: I!!! — want to — knowwwwwww….
(她立即用拳头捂住嘴,似乎否认了这一说法。)
(Immediately she thrusts her fist to her mouth as if to deny that statement.)
(然后,出于某种奇怪的原因,她从胸前抓起枯萎的胸花,把它扔在地上,用她又短又胖的脚踩在上面。)
(Then, for some curious reason, she snatches the withered corsage from her breast and hurls it on the floor and steps on it with her short, fat feet.)
—一定有人在撒谎!— 我想知道!
— Somebody must be lyin’! — I want to know!
M ae:坐下,大妈妈,坐在这张沙发上。
Mae: Sit down, Big Mama, sit down on this sofa.
玛格丽特(很快地) :布里克,去和大妈妈坐在一起。
Margaret (quickly): Brick, go sit with Big Mama.
大妈:啥事,啥事?
Big Mama: What is it, what is it?
鲍医生:我在奥克斯纳诊所接受的所有检查中,从未见过比 Big Daddy Pollitt 接受的更彻底的检查。
Doctor Baugh: I never have seen a more thorough examination than Big Daddy Pollitt was given in all my experience with the Ochsner Clinic.
Gooper :它是全国最好的之一。
Gooper: It’s one of the best in the country.
M ae:这是全国最好的——没有之一!
Mae: It’s THE best in the country — bar none!
(不知为何,当她走过 Gooper 身边时,他猛烈地戳了他一下。Gooper 拍了拍她的手,眼睛却始终没有从母亲的脸上移开。)
(For some reason she gives Gooper a violent poke as she goes past him. He slaps at her hand without removing his eyes from his mother’s face.)
鲍博士:当然,他们在开始之前就已经有百分之九十九点九的确定性了。
Doctor Baugh: Of course they were ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent sure before they even started.
大妈:确定什么,确定什么,确定——什么?——什么!
Big Mama: Sure of what, sure of what, sure of — what? — what!
(她惊恐地抽泣着,屏住呼吸。梅迅速地吻了她。她猛地把梅推开,盯着医生。)
(She catches her breath in a startled sob. Mae kisses her quickly. She thrusts Mae fiercely away from her, staring at the doctor.)
M ae:妈妈,做个勇敢的女孩!
Mae: Mommy, be a brave girl!
布里克(在门口,轻声说):“借着光,借着光,
Brick (in the doorway, softly): “By the light, by the light,
“银色的月光……”
Of the sil-ve-ry mo-ooo-n …”
Gooper :闭嘴!——Brick。
Gooper: Shut up! — Brick.
B rick: ——对不起……
Brick: — Sorry….
(他漫步走到画廊。)
(He wanders out on the gallery.)
鲍医生:但是现在,大妈妈,你看,他们从这个肿块上切下一块,这是组织样本,而且——
Doctor Baugh: But now, you see, Big Mama, they cut a piece off this growth, a specimen of the tissue and —
B ig M ama:增长?你告诉过 Big Daddy —
Big Mama: Growth? You told Big Daddy —
鲍医生:现在等一下。
Doctor Baugh: Now wait.
大妈妈(凶狠地):你告诉我和大爸爸他没什么问题,但是——
Big Mama (fiercely): You told me and Big Daddy there wasn’t a thing wrong with him but —
M ae:大妈妈,他们总是——
Mae: Big Mama, they always —
Gooper :让 Doc Baugh 讲,好吗?
Gooper: Let Doc Baugh talk, will yuh?
B ig M ama: — 轻微痉挛状态 —
Big Mama: — little spastic condition of —
(她抽泣着,喘不过气来。)
(Her breath gives out in a sob.)
鲍医生:是的,我们就是这么告诉大爸爸的。但我们把这块组织送去化验,很遗憾,化验结果呈阳性。它是——嗯——恶性的……
Doctor Baugh: Yes, that’s what we told Big Daddy. But we had this bit of tissue run through the laboratory and I’m sorry to say the test was positive on it. It’s — well — malignant….
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
B ig M ama: —— 癌症?!癌症?!
Big Mama: — Cancer?! Cancer?!
(鲍博士严肃地点点头。
(Dr. Baugh nods gravely.
大妈妈发出一声长长的喘息声。 )
Big Mama gives a long gasping cry.)
M ae 和Gooper :现在,现在,现在,大妈妈,你必须知道......
Mae and Gooper: Now, now, now, Big Mama, you had to know….
B ig M ama:为什么他们不把他切除? HANH? HANH?
Big Mama: WHY DIDN’T THEY CUT IT OUT OF HIM? HANH? HANH?
鲍医生:伤势太严重了,大妈妈,太多器官受到影响。
Doctor Baugh: Involved too much, Big Mama, too many organs affected.
M ae:大妈妈,肝脏和肾脏都感染了!已经严重到他们所说的——
Mae: Big Mama, the liver’s affected and so’s the kidneys, both! It’s gone way past what they call a —
Gooper :手术有风险。
Gooper: A surgical risk.
M ae: ——嗯嗯……
Mae: — Uh-huh….
(大妈妈奄奄一息地吸了一口气。)
(Big Mama draws a breath like a dying gasp.)
牧师图克:啧,啧,啧,啧,啧!
Reverend Tooker: Tch, tch, tch, tch, tch!
鲍医生:是的,手术后伤口已经愈合了。
Doctor Baugh: Yes, it’s gone past the knife.
M ae:这就是他变黄的原因,妈妈!
Mae: That’s why he’s turned yellow, Mommy!
大妈妈:离我远点,离我远点,梅!
Big Mama: Git away from me, git away from me, Mae!
(她猛然站起身。)
(She rises abruptly.)
我要布里克!布里克在哪?我唯一的儿子在哪?
I want Brick! Where’s Brick? Where is my only son?
M ae:妈妈!她说“独生子”了吗?
Mae: Mama! Did she say “only son”?
Gooper :那我是什么?
Gooper: What does that make me?
M ae:一个冷静、负责任的男人,有五个宝贝孩子!——六个!
Mae: A sober responsible man with five precious children! — Six!
B ig M ama:我要 Brick 告诉我!Brick!Brick!
Big Mama: I want Brick to tell me! Brick! Brick!
玛格丽特(从角落里的沉思中站起身):布里克太难过了,他又出去了。
Margaret (rising from her reflections in a corner): Brick was so upset he went back out.
大妈:砖啊!
Big Mama: Brick!
玛格丽特:妈妈,让我告诉你!
Margaret: Mama, let me tell you!
大妈妈:不,不,别管我,你不是我的骨肉!
Big Mama: No, no, leave me alone, you’re not my blood!
古珀:妈妈,我是你儿子!听我说!
Gooper: Mama, I’m your son! Listen to me!
M ae:妈妈,Gooper 是你的儿子,他是你的第一个孩子!
Mae: Gooper’s your son, Mama, he’s your first-born!
大妈妈:古珀从来就不喜欢爸爸。
Big Mama: Gooper never liked Daddy.
Mae (好像非常震惊):“那不是真的!”
Mae (as if terribly shocked): That’s not TRUE!
(停顿片刻。牧师咳嗽并站起身。)
(There is a pause. The minister coughs and rises.)
图克牧师(对梅说):我觉得我最好现在就离开。
Reverend Tooker (to Mae): I think I’d better slip away at this point.
M ae(甜蜜而悲伤地) :是的,Tooker 医生,您去吧。
Mae (sweetly and sadly): Yes, Doctor Tooker, you go.
牧师图克(谨慎地):晚安,晚安,各位,上帝保佑你们……在这个地方……
Reverend Tooker (discreetly): Goodnight, goodnight, everybody, and God bless you all … on this place….
(他溜了出去。)
(He slips out.)
鲍博士:这个人是个好人,但不够圆滑。说到人们设立纪念窗——如果他提到一个纪念窗,他肯定会说有十几个,还会说有人死时没有留下遗嘱是多么可怕,法律纠纷等等。
Doctor Baugh: That man is a good man but lacking in tact. Talking about people giving memorial windows — if he mentioned one memorial window, he must have spoke of a dozen, and saying how awful it was when somebody died intestate, the legal wrangles, and so forth.
(梅咳嗽并指着大妈妈。)
(Mae coughs, and points at Big Mama.)
鲍医生:嗯,大妈妈……
Doctor Baugh: Well, Big Mama….
(他叹了口气。)
(He sighs.)
大妈妈:这一切都是一个错误,我知道这只是一场噩梦。
Big Mama: It’s all a mistake, I know it’s just a bad dream.
鲍医生:我们会尽量让大爸爸舒服一点。
Doctor Baugh: We’re gonna keep Big Daddy as comfortable as we can.
大妈妈:是的,这只是一个噩梦,仅此而已,这只是一个可怕的梦。
Big Mama: Yes, it’s just a bad dream, that’s all it is, it’s just an awful dream.
Gooper :在我看来,Big Daddy 确实感到痛苦,但他不会承认。
Gooper: In my opinion Big Daddy is having some pain but won’t admit that he has it.
大妈妈:只是一场梦,一场噩梦。
Big Mama: Just a dream, a bad dream.
鲍医生:很多人都是这么做的,他们认为只要不承认自己有痛苦,就能逃避现实。
Doctor Baugh: That’s what lots of them do, they think if they don’t admit they’re having the pain they can sort of escape the fact of it.
古珀(津津有味地):是的,他们对此很狡猾,他们对此真的很狡猾。
Gooper (with relish): Yes, they get sly about it, they get real sly about it.
M ae: Gooper 和我认为——
Mae: Gooper and I think —
古珀:闭嘴,梅!——大爸爸应该开始注射吗啡。
Gooper: Shut up, Mae! — Big Daddy ought to be started on morphine.
大妈妈:没人会给大爸爸注射吗啡。
Big Mama: Nobody’s going to give Big Daddy morphine.
鲍医生:现在,大妈妈,当疼痛袭来时,它会非常剧烈,大爸爸需要用针来忍受它。
Doctor Baugh: Now, Big Mama, when that pain strikes it’s going to strike mighty hard and Big Daddy’s going to need the needle to bear it.
大妈妈:我告诉你,没人会给他吗啡。
Big Mama: I tell you, nobody’s going to give him morphine.
M ae:大妈妈,你不想看到大爸爸受苦,你知道你——
Mae: Big Mama, you don’t want to see Big Daddy suffer, you know you —
(站在她旁边的古珀狠狠地戳了她一下。)
(Gooper standing beside her gives her a savage poke.)
鲍医生(把一个包裹放在桌子上) : “我把这些东西留在这里,这样,如果突然发生袭击,你们就不用派人出去取了。”
Doctor Baugh (placing a package on the table): I’m leaving this stuff here, so if there’s a sudden attack you all won’t have to send out for it.
M ae:我知道如何进行假设分析。
Mae: I know how to give a hypo.
Gooper :梅在战争期间参加了护理课程。
Gooper: Mae took a course in nursing during the war.
玛格丽特:不管怎样,我觉得大爸爸不会希望梅给他打针。
Margaret: Somehow I don’t think Big Daddy would want Mae to give him a hypo.
M ae:你认为他希望你这么做吗?
Mae: You think he’d want you to do it?
(鲍博士起立。)
(Dr. Baugh rises.)
Gooper : Baugh 医生要走了。
Gooper: Doctor Baugh is goin’.
鲍医生:是的,我得走了。好吧,大妈妈,打起精神来。
Doctor Baugh: Yes, I got to be goin’. Well, keep your chin up, Big Mama.
古珀(开玩笑地):她会抬起双下巴的,不是吗,大妈妈?
Gooper (with jocularity): She’s gonna keep both chins up, aren’t you Big Mama?
(大妈妈抽泣着。)
(Big Mama sobs.)
现在别再这样做了,大妈妈。
Now stop that, Big Mama.
M ae:大妈妈,和我一起坐下。
Mae: Sit down with me, Big Mama.
古珀(在门口,与鲍博士在一起):好吧,医生,我们真的很感激你所做的一切。我告诉你,我们真的很感激你——
Gooper (at door with Dr. Baugh): Well, Doc, we sure do appreciate all you done. I’m telling you, we’re surely obligated to you for —
(鲍博士看都没看他一眼就出去了。)
(Dr. Baugh has gone out without a glance at him.)
Gooper : ——我猜那位医生心里有很多想法,但如果他表现得更人性化一点,也不会有什么坏处……
Gooper: — I guess that doctor has got a lot on his mind but it wouldn’t hurt him to act a little more human….
(大妈妈抽泣着。)
(Big Mama sobs.)
现在做个勇敢的女孩吧,妈妈。
Now be a brave girl, Mommy.
大妈:这不是真的,我知道这不是真的!
Big Mama: It’s not true, I know that it’s just not true!
Gooper :妈妈,这些测试是绝对可靠的!
Gooper: Mama, those tests are infallible!
大妈妈:你为什么这么执着地要见你爸爸呢?
Big Mama: Why are you so determined to see your father daid?
M ae:大妈妈!
Mae: Big Mama!
玛格丽特(温柔地): “我知道大妈妈的意思。”
Margaret (gently): I know what Big Mama means.
M ae (凶狠地) :哦,是吗?
Mae (fiercely): Oh, do you?
玛格丽特(平静而悲伤地): “是的,我想我知道。”
Margaret (quietly and very sadly): Yes, I think I do.
M ae:作为家庭新人,您确实表现出很多理解。
Mae: For a newcomer in the family you sure do show a lot of understanding.
玛格丽特:这个地方需要理解。
Margaret: Understanding is needed on this place.
M ae:玛吉,我猜你的家庭一定非常需要它,因为你父亲有酗酒问题,现在你又有了布里克,他也一样!
Mae: I guess you must have needed a lot of it in your family, Maggie, with your father’s liquor problem and now you’ve got Brick with his!
玛格丽特:布里克一点也不酗酒。布里克对大爸爸忠心耿耿。这件事对他来说是个可怕的负担。
Margaret: Brick does not have a liquor problem at all. Brick is devoted to Big Daddy. This thing is a terrible strain on him.
大妈:布里克是大爸爸的儿子,但他酗酒,这让我和大爸爸都很担心。玛格丽特,你得和我们合作,你得和大爸爸和我合作,让布里克改过自新。因为如果布里克不振作起来,控制局面,大爸爸会伤心的。
Big Mama: Brick is Big Daddy’s boy, but he drinks too much and it worries me and Big Daddy, and, Margaret, you’ve got to cooperate with us, you’ve got to cooperate with Big Daddy and me in getting Brick straightened out. Because it will break Big Daddy’s heart if Brick don’t pull himself together and take hold of things.
M ae:抓住什么东西了,Big Mama?
Mae: Take hold of what things, Big Mama?
B ig M ama:这个地方。
Big Mama: The place.
(梅和古珀之间迅速闪过一丝暴力的目光。)
(There is a quick violent look between Mae and Gooper.)
古珀:大妈妈,你受惊了。
Gooper: Big Mama, you’ve had a shock.
M ae: Yais,我们都感到很震惊,但是……
Mae: Yais, we’ve all had a shock, but …
Gooper :让我们现实一点吧——
Gooper: Let’s be realistic —
M ae: ——老爸永远不会愚蠢到——
Mae: — Big Daddy would never, would never, be foolish enough to —
Gooper : ——把这个地方交给不负责任的人!
Gooper: — put this place in irresponsible hands!
大妈妈:大爸爸不会把这个地方交给任何人;大爸爸不会死。我希望你们所有人都记住这一点!
Big Mama: Big Daddy ain’t going to leave the place in anybody’s hands; Big Daddy is not going to die. I want you to get that in your heads, all of you!
M ae:妈妈,妈妈,大妈妈,我们和你们一样对大爸爸的前景充满希望和乐观,我们对祈祷充满信心——但尽管如此,有些事情必须讨论和处理,否则——
Mae: Mommy, Mommy, Big Mama, we’re just as hopeful an’ optimistic as you are about Big Daddy’s prospects, we have faith in prayer — but nevertheless there are certain matters that have to be discussed an’ dealt with, because otherwise —
Gooper :必须考虑各种可能发生的情况,现在是时候了……Mae,你能把我的公文包从我们房间里拿出来吗?
Gooper: Eventualities have to be considered and now’s the time…. Mae, will you please get my briefcase out of our room?
M ae:是的,亲爱的。
Mae: Yes, honey.
(她站起身,从门厅走出去。)
(She rises and goes out through the hall door.)
古珀(站在大妈妈身边):大妈妈,你刚才说的话一点儿也不对,你知道的。我一直以自己安静的方式爱着大爸爸。我从来没有表现出来,我知道大爸爸也一直以一种安静的方式爱着我,他也从来没有表现出来。
Gooper (standing over Big Mama): Now Big Mom. What you said just now was not at all true and you know it. I’ve always loved Big Daddy in my own quiet way. I never made a show of it, and I know that Big Daddy has always been fond of me in a quiet way, too, and he never made a show of it neither.
(梅带着古珀的公文包回来了。)
(Mae returns with Gooper’s briefcase.)
M ae:这是你的公文包,Gooper,亲爱的。
Mae: Here’s your briefcase, Gooper, honey.
古珀(把公文包还给她):谢谢……当然,我和大爸爸的关系和布里克不一样。
Gooper (handing the briefcase back to her): Thank you…. Of ca’use, my relationship with Big Daddy is different from Brick’s.
梅:你比布里克大八岁,而且你总是要承担比布里克更大的责任。他一生中从未带过任何东西,除了一个足球或一杯威士忌。
Mae: You’re eight years older’n Brick an’ always had t’carry a bigger load of th’ responsibilities than Brick ever had t’carry. He never carried a thing in his life but a football or a highball.
Gooper : Mae,你能让我谈谈吗?
Gooper: Mae, will y’ let me talk, please?
M ae:是的,亲爱的。
Mae: Yes, honey.
古珀:现在,经营一个两万八千英亩的种植园是一件大事。
Gooper: Now, a twenty-eight thousand acre plantation’s a mighty big thing t’run.
M ae:几乎是单枪匹马。
Mae: Almost singlehanded.
(玛格丽特已经走到走廊上,我们可以听到她轻声呼唤布里克。)
(Margaret has gone out onto the gallery, and can be heard calling softly to Brick.)
大妈:你从来没必要管理这个地方!你在说什么?好像大爸爸死了,进了坟墓,你还得管理它?你只是帮他处理了一些业务细节,同时还在孟菲斯开办了律师事务所!
Big Mama: You never had to run this place! What are you talking about? As if Big Daddy was dead and in his grave, you had to run it? Why, you just helped him out with a few business details and had your law practice at the same time in Memphis!
M ae:哦,妈妈,妈妈,大妈妈!让我们公平点!自从大爸爸的健康状况开始恶化以来,Gooper 在过去五年里一直全身心地投入到维持这个地方。Gooper 不会说,Gooper 从未认为这是一项责任,他只是这么做。而 Brick 做了什么?Brick 继续享受大学时光的辉煌!27 岁了,仍然是一名足球运动员!
Mae: Oh, Mommy, Mommy, Big Mommy! Let’s be fair! Why, Gooper has given himself body and soul to keeping this place up for the past five years since Big Daddy’s health started failing. Gooper won’t say it, Gooper never thought of it as a duty, he just did it. And what did Brick do? Brick kept living in his past glory at college! Still a football player at twenty-seven!
玛格丽特(独自返回):你现在在谈论谁?布里克?足球运动员?他不是足球运动员,你知道的。布里克是电视上的体育播音员,也是全国最有名的播音员之一!
Margaret (returning alone): Who are you talking about, now? Brick? A football player? He isn’t a football player and you know it. Brick is a sport’s announcer on TV and one of the best-known ones in the country!
Mae :我在谈论他是什么样的人。
Mae: I’m talking about what he was.
玛格丽特:好吧,我希望你不要再谈论我的丈夫了。
Margaret: Well, I wish you would just stop talking about my husband.
古珀:我有权和我家人中不包括你的人讨论我弟弟的事。你为什么不出去和布里克一起喝酒呢?
Gooper: I’ve got a right to discuss my brother with other members of MY OWN family which don’t include you. Why don’t you go out there and drink with Brick?
玛格丽特:我从未见过对兄弟如此怀有恶意的人。
Margaret: I’ve never seen such malice toward a brother.
古珀:那他呢?他受不了和我待在同一个房间里!
Gooper: How about his for me? Why, he can’t stand to be in the same room with me!
玛格丽特:这是一场蓄意诽谤的活动,其动机是世界上最令人厌恶和最卑鄙的,我知道它是什么!这是贪婪,贪婪,贪婪,贪婪!
Margaret: This is a deliberate campaign of vilification for the most disgusting and sordid reason on earth, and I know what it is! It’s avarice, avarice, greed, greed!
大妈:哦,我要尖叫了!如果这一切不停止,我马上就会尖叫!
Big Mama: Oh, I’ll scream! I will scream in a moment unless this stops!
(古珀大步走到玛格丽特面前,握紧拳头,好像要打她。玛格丽特背后,梅再次扭动着脸,露出可怕的鬼脸。)
(Gooper has stalked up to Margaret with clenched fists at his sides as if he would strike her. Mae distorts her face again into a hideous grimace behind Margaret’s back.)
玛格丽特:我们之所以留在这里,是因为大妈和大爹地。如果他们说的关于大爹地的事情是真的,我们一结束就离开这里。一刻也不想迟。
Margaret: We only remain on the place because of Big Mom and Big Daddy. If it is true what they say about Big Daddy we are going to leave here just as soon as it’s over. Not a moment later.
大妈妈(抽泣) :玛格丽特。孩子。过来。坐在大妈妈旁边。
Big Mama (sobs): Margaret. Child. Come here. Sit next to Big Mama.
玛格丽特:亲爱的妈妈。对不起,真的很抱歉,我——!
Margaret: Precious Mommy. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I — !
(她弯下优雅的长脖子,将额头贴在大妈妈黑色雪纺下鼓起的肩膀上。)
(She bends her long graceful neck to press her forehead to Big Mama’s bulging shoulder under its black chiffon.)
Gooper :这种忠诚的表现多么美丽、多么感人!
Gooper: How beautiful, how touching, this display of devotion!
M ae:你知道她为什么没有孩子吗?她没有孩子是因为她那个英俊的运动员丈夫不肯和她上床!
Mae: Do you know why she’s childless? She’s childless because that big beautiful athlete husband of hers won’t go to bed with her!
Gooper :你不会让我用好的方式做这件事,是吗?好吧——梅和我有五个孩子,还有一个即将出生!我不在乎大爸爸是喜欢我还是不喜欢我,过去喜欢还是过去不喜欢,将来喜欢还是将来永远不喜欢!我只是呼吁基本的礼仪和公平竞争。我告诉你实话。自从布里克出生以来,我就一直憎恨大爸爸对布里克的偏爱,他对待我的方式就像我只能勉强够资格被人唾弃,有时甚至连唾弃都不够资格。大爸爸快要死于癌症了,癌症已经扩散到他全身,已经侵袭了他所有的重要器官,包括肾脏,现在他正陷入尿毒症,你们都知道尿毒症是什么,它是由于身体无法排除毒素而导致的整个系统的中毒。
Gooper: You jest won’t let me do this in a nice way, will yah? Awright — Mae and I have five kids with another one coming! I don’t give a goddam if Big Daddy likes me or don’t like me or did or never did or will or will never! I’m just appealing to a sense of common decency and fair play. I’ll tell you the truth. I’ve resented Big Daddy’s partiality to Brick ever since Brick was born, and the way I’ve been treated like I was just barely good enough to spit on and sometimes not even good enough for that. Big Daddy is dying of cancer, and it’s spread all through him and it’s attacked all his vital organs including the kidneys and right now he is sinking into uremia, and you all know what uremia is, it’s poisoning of the whole system due to the failure of the body to eliminate its poisons.
玛格丽特(在舞台前方自言自语,嘶嘶地):毒药,毒药!恶毒的思想和言语!在人心和思想里!——那是毒药!
Margaret (to herself, downstage, hissingly): Poisons, poisons! Venomous thoughts and words! In hearts and minds! — That’s poisons!
古珀(与她重叠):我要求公平交易,我希望得到公平交易。但如果我得不到公平交易,如果在我背后或当着我的面发生任何奇怪的恶作剧,那么,我并不是白当公司律师,我知道如何保护自己的利益。——哦!来晚了!
Gooper (overlapping her): I am asking for a square deal, and I expect to get one. But if I don’t get one, if there’s any peculiar shenanigans going on around here behind my back, or before me, well, I’m not a corporation lawyer for nothing, I know how to protect my own interests. — OH! A late arrival!
(布里克从画廊走进来,脸上带着平静而迷离的微笑,手里拿着一只空杯子。)
(Brick enters from the gallery with a tranquil, blurred smile, carrying an empty glass with him.)
M ae:看哪,胜利的英雄来了!
Mae: Behold the conquering hero comes!
Gooper :神奇的布里克·波利特!还记得他吗?——谁会忘记他呢!
Gooper: The fabulous Brick Pollitt! Remember him? — Who could forget him!
M ae:他看上去像是在比赛中受伤了!
Mae: He looks like he’s been injured in a game!
古珀:是的,恐怕今年你只能在糖碗比赛中坐冷板凳了,布里克!
Gooper: Yep, I’m afraid you’ll have to warm the bench at the Sugar Bowl this year, Brick!
(梅尖声笑道。)
(Mae laughs shrilly.)
或者是他在玫瑰碗比赛中的那次著名表现?
Or was it the Rose Bowl that he made that famous run in?
M ae:潘趣酒碗,亲爱的。它就在潘趣酒碗里,玻璃潘趣酒碗里!
Mae: The punch bowl, honey. It was in the punch bowl, the cut-glass punch bowl!
Gooper :哦,对了,我把碗弄混了!
Gooper: Oh, that’s right, I’m getting the bowls mixed up!
玛格丽特:你为什么不停止向一个生病的男孩发泄你的恶意和嫉妒呢?
Margaret: Why don’t you stop venting your malice and envy on a sick boy?
大妈妈:现在你们两个安静点,我是说真的,安静点,你们两个都安静点!
Big Mama: Now you two hush, I mean it, hush, all of you, hush!
古珀:好吧,大妈妈。家庭危机会让每个成员的最好和最坏的一面显露出来。
Gooper: All right, Big Mama. A family crisis brings out the best and the worst in every member of it.
Mae :确实如此。
Mae: That’s the truth.
玛格丽特:阿门!
Margaret: Amen!
大妈:我说了,闭嘴!我再也容忍不了家里有人说坏话了。
Big Mama: I said, hush! I won’t tolerate any more catty talk in my house.
(梅给了古珀一个表示公文包的标志。)
(Mae gives Gooper a sign indicating briefcase.)
(布里克的笑容更加灿烂,也更加朦胧。他一边调着饮料,一边轻声地唱着歌:)
(Brick’s smile has grown both brighter and vaguer. As he prepares a drink, he sings softly:)
砖家:告诉我回家的路,
Brick: Show me the way to go home,
我累了,想睡觉,
I’m tired and I wanta go to bed,
大约一小时前我喝了一点酒——
I had a little drink about an hour ago —
古珀(同时) :大妈妈,你知道我明天早上必须回孟菲斯代表帕克庄园打一场官司。
Gooper (at the same time): Big Mama, you know it’s necessary for me t’go back to Memphis in th’ mornin’ t’represent the Parker estate in a lawsuit.
(梅坐在床上,整理从公文包中拿出的文件。)
(Mae sits on the bed and arranges papers she has taken from the briefcase.)
布里克(继续唱歌):无论我走到哪里,
Brick (continuing the song): Wherever I may roam,
在陆地上、海上或泡沫上。
On land or sea or foam.
大妈妈:是吗,gooper?
Big Mama: Is it, gooper?
M ae:是的。
Mae: Yaiss.
Gooper :这就是为什么我不得不提出一个问题——
Gooper: That’s why I’m forced to — to bring up a problem that —
Mae :有些事情太重要了,不能推迟!
Mae: Somethin’ that’s too important t’ be put off!
古珀:如果布里克清醒的话,他应该参与此事。
Gooper: If Brick was sober, he ought to be in on this.
玛格丽特:砖块在,我们就在。
Margaret: Brick is present; we’re here.
古珀:好,很好。我现在将我和合伙人汤姆·布利特起草的这份大纲交给你——一种虚假的托管制度。
Gooper: Well, good. I will now give you this outline my partner, Tom Bullitt, an’ me have drawn up — a sort of dummy — trusteeship.
玛格丽特:哦,就是这样!你来负责发放汇款,好吗?
Margaret: Oh, that’s it! You’ll be in charge an’ dole out remittances, will you?
Gooper :我们一收到 Ochsner 实验室关于 Big Daddy 的报告就这么做了。我们做了这件事,我的意思是,我们在孟菲斯南方 Plantahs 银行和信托公司董事会主席 CC Bellowes 的建议和帮助下起草了这个假大纲,C Bellowes 是负责管理西田纳西州和三角洲所有显赫家族遗产的人。
Gooper: This we did as soon as we got the report on Big Daddy from th’ Ochsner Laboratories. We did this thing, I mean we drew up this dummy outline with the advice and assistance of the Chairman of the Boa’d of Directors of th’ Southern Plantahs Bank and Trust Company in Memphis, C. C. Bellowes, a man who handles estates for all th’ prominent fam’lies in West Tennessee and th’ Delta.
B ig M ama: Gooper?
Big Mama: Gooper?
古珀(蹲在 Big Mama 面前):现在这还不是——不是最终的,或者类似的东西。这只是一个初步的提纲。但它确实提供了一个基础——一个设计——一个——可能的、可行的——计划!
Gooper (crouching in front of Big Mama): Now this is not — not final, or anything like it. This is just a preliminary outline. But it does provide a basis — a design — a — possible, feasible — plan!
玛格丽特:是的,我敢打赌。
Margaret: Yes, I’ll bet.
Mae :这是一项保护三角洲最大庄园免遭不负责任行为的计划——
Mae: It’s a plan to protect the biggest estate in the Delta from irresponsibility an’ —
大妈:现在你们都听我说,你们都听我说!在我家里,不会再有这种恶毒的谈话了!还有,古珀,你把那东西收起来,不然我就从你手里把它抢走,把它撕碎!我不知道里面到底是什么,我也不想知道里面到底是什么。我现在在用大爸爸的语言说话;我是他的妻子,不是他的遗孀,我仍然是他的妻子!我用他的语言跟你说话,而且——
Big Mama: Now you listen to me, all of you, you listen here! They’s not goin’ to be any more catty talk in my house! And Gooper, you put that away before I grab it out of your hand and tear it right up! I don’t know what the hell’s in it, and I don’t want to know what the hell’s in it. I’m talkin’ in Big Daddy’s language now; I’m his wife, not his widow, I’m still his wife! And I’m talkin’ to you in his language an’ —
Gooper :大妈妈,我这里有——
Gooper: Big Mama, what I have here is —
M ae: Gooper 解释说这只是一个计划……
Mae: Gooper explained that it’s just a plan….
大妈:我不在乎你在那里得到了什么。只要把它放回原处,别让我再看到它,甚至连它的外壳都别让我看到!明白了吗?基础!计划!初步!设计!我说——大爸爸在厌恶的时候总是说什么?
Big Mama: I don’t care what you got there. Just put it back where it came from, an’ don’t let me see it again, not even the outside of the envelope of it! Is that understood? Basis! Plan! Preliminary! Design! I say — what is it Big Daddy always says when he’s disgusted?
布里克(来自酒吧):大爸爸感到恶心的时候就会说“废话” 。
Brick (from the bar): Big Daddy says “crap” when he’s disgusted.
B ig M ama(站起来):没错——废话!我也说废话,就像 Big Daddy 一样!
Big Mama (rising): That’s right — CRAP! I say CRAP too, like Big Daddy!
Mae :粗俗的语言似乎不适合这种场合——
Mae: Coarse language doesn’t seem called for in this —
Gooper :听到你这样说话,我心里非常愤怒。
Gooper: Somethin’ in me is deeply outraged by hearin’ you talk like this.
大妈妈:没人会拿走任何东西! ——直到大爸爸放手,也许,只是可能,不会——即使到那时也不会!不,即使到那时也不会!
Big Mama: Nobody’s goin’ to take nothin’! — till Big Daddy lets go of it, and maybe, just possibly, not — not even then! No, not even then!
Brick :你总是可以听到我唱这首歌,
Brick: You can always hear me singin’ this song,
告诉我回家的路。
Show me the way to go home.
B ig M ama:今晚,布里克看起来就像他小时候一样,就像他玩疯狂的游戏,回家时满头大汗、脸颊红润、睡眼惺忪、红色卷发闪闪发光……
Big Mama: Tonight Brick looks like he used to look when he was a little boy, just like he did when he played wild games and used to come home all sweaty and pink-cheeked and sleepy, with his — red curls shining….
(她走到他身边,用颤抖的肥胖手抚摸着他的头发。他避开一切身体接触,低声继续唱歌,打开冰桶,把冰块一块一块地扔进去,仿佛在混合某种重要的化学公式。)
(She comes over to him and runs her fat shaky hand through his hair. He draws aside as he does from all physical contact and continues the song in a whisper, opening the ice bucket and dropping in the ice cubes one by one as if he were mixing some important chemical formula.)
大妈妈(继续):时间过得真快。没有什么能超越它。死亡来得太早了——几乎在你对生命还一知半解的时候——你就遇到了另一个……
Big Mama (continuing): Time goes by so fast. Nothin’ can outrun it. Death commences too early — almost before you’re half acquainted with life — you meet with the other….
哦,你知道,我们必须彼此相爱,呆在一起,我们所有人,尽可能地亲密,尤其是现在这样一个黑色的东西未经邀请就来到了这个地方。
Oh, you know we just got to love each other an’ stay together, all of us, just as close as we can, especially now that such a black thing has come and moved into this place without invitation.
(她尴尬地拥抱了布里克,将头靠在他的肩膀上。)
(Awkwardly embracing Brick, she presses her head to his shoulder.)
(古珀一直在将文件归还给梅,梅带着备受考验的耐心将它们放回公文包中。)
(Gooper has been returning papers to Mae who has restored them to briefcase with an air of severely tried patience.)
Gooper :大妈妈?大妈妈?
Gooper: Big Mama? Big Mama?
(他站在她身后,因对兄弟姐妹的嫉妒而感到紧张。)
(He stands behind her, tense with sibling envy.)
大妈妈(没有注意到古珀) :布里克,你听见我说话了吗?
Big Mama (oblivious of Gooper): Brick, you hear me, don’t you?
玛格丽特:布里克听到了你的声音,大妈妈,他明白你在说什么。
Margaret: Brick hears you, Big Mama, he understands what you’re saying.
大妈:哦,布里克,大爸爸的儿子!大爸爸真的很爱你!你知道他最大的梦想是什么吗?如果在他去世之前,如果大爸爸必须去世,你给他一个孩子,一个像他儿子一样的孙子,就像他儿子像大爸爸一样!
Big Mama: Oh, Brick, son of Big Daddy! Big Daddy does so love you! Y’know what would be his fondest dream come true? If before he passed on, if Big Daddy has to pass on, you gave him a child of yours, a grandson as much like his son as his son is like Big Daddy!
M ae(拉上公文包的拉链:不协调的声音):可惜 Maggie 和 Brick 不能帮忙!
Mae (zipping briefcase shut: an incongruous sound): Such a pity that Maggie an’ Brick can’t oblige!
玛格丽特(突然、轻声但有力地): “大家都听着。”
Margaret (suddenly and quietly but forcefully): Everybody listen.
(她走到房间中央,双手紧紧地握在一起。)
(She crosses to the center of the room, holding her hands rigidly together.)
M ae:听什么,玛吉?
Mae: Listen to what, Maggie?
玛格丽特:我要宣布一件事。
Margaret: I have an announcement to make.
Gooper :玛吉,有体育新闻吗?
Gooper: A sports announcement, Maggie?
玛格丽特:布里克和我要——要有一个孩子了!
Margaret: Brick and I are going to — have a child!
(大妈妈大声喘气,屏住呼吸。)
(Big Mama catches her breath in a loud gasp.)
(暂停。大妈妈站起来。)
(Pause. Big Mama rises.)
B ig M ama:玛吉!布里克!这太好了,难以置信!
Big Mama: Maggie! Brick! This is too good to believe!
Mae :没错,好得令人难以置信。
Mae: That’s right, too good to believe.
大妈:哦,天哪!这是大爸爸的梦想,他的梦想成真了!我现在就告诉他,不然他——
Big Mama: Oh, my, my! This is Big Daddy’s dream, his dream come true! I’m going to tell him right now before he —
玛格丽特:我们明天早上再告诉他。现在别打扰他。
Margaret: We’ll tell him in the morning. Don’t disturb him now.
B ig M ama:我想在他睡觉前告诉他,我要告诉他他的梦想现在就实现了!还有 Brick!一个孩子会让你振作起来,戒掉这种酒瘾!
Big Mama: I want to tell him before he goes to sleep, I’m going to tell him his dream’s come true this minute! And Brick! A child will make you pull yourself together and quit this drinking!
(她从他手中夺过玻璃杯。)
(She seizes the glass from his hand.)
父亲的责任是——
The responsibilities of a father will —
(她面部表情扭曲,做出激动的手势;她放声大哭,哭着冲了出去。)
(Her face contorts and she makes an excited gesture; bursting into sobs, she rushes out, crying.)
我马上就要告诉大爸爸!
I’m going to tell Big Daddy right this minute!
(她的声音在走廊里渐渐消失。)
(Her voice fades out down the hall.)
(布里克微微耸耸肩,把一块冰块扔进另一个杯子里。玛格丽特快步走到他身边,低声说了些什么,然后给她倒了酒,抬头几乎凶狠地盯着他的脸。)
(Brick shrugs slightly and drops an ice cube into another glass. Margaret crosses quickly to his side, saying something under her breath, and she pours the liquor for him, staring up almost fiercely into his face.)
布里克(冷静地):谢谢你,玛吉,你真是一个不错的大人物。
Brick (coolly): Thank you, Maggie, that’s a nice big shot.
(梅加入了 Gooper 的行列,她猛戳了他一下,发出低沉的嘶嘶声和愤怒的表情。)
(Mae has joined Gooper and she gives him a fierce poke, making a low hissing sound and a grimace of fury.)
古珀(把她推到一边):布里克,你能给我一点那种酒吗?
Gooper (pushing her aside): Brick, could you possibly spare me one small shot of that liquor?
布里克:怎么了,自便吧,Gooper 男孩。
Brick: Why, help yourself, Gooper boy.
古珀:我会的。
Gooper: I will.
梅(尖声):我们当然知道这是——
Mae (shrilly): Of course we know that this is —
古珀:安静点,梅!
Gooper: Be still, Mae!
梅:我不会安静的!我知道这是她编造的!
Mae: I won’t be still! I know she’s made this up!
Gooper :该死的,我叫他闭嘴!
Gooper: God damn it, I said to shut up!
玛格丽特:天哪!我没想到我的小小声明会引起如此大的风波!
Margaret: Gracious! I didn’t know that my little announcement was going to provoke such a storm!
Mae :那个女人没有怀孕!
Mae: That woman isn’t pregnant!
古珀:谁说她是这样?
Gooper: Who said she was?
M ae:她确实这么做了。
Mae: She did.
古珀:医生没有。Doc Baugh 也没有。
Gooper: The doctor didn’t. Doc Baugh didn’t.
玛格丽特:我还没去过 Doc Baugh。
Margaret: I haven’t gone to Doc Baugh.
古珀:那么你去找谁了,玛吉?
Gooper: Then who’d you go to, Maggie?
玛格丽特:南方最好的妇科医生之一。
Margaret: One of the best gynecologists in the South.
Gooper :嗯嗯,嗯嗯!——我明白了……
Gooper: Uh huh, uh huh! — I see….
(他拿出铅笔和笔记本。)
(He takes out pencil and notebook.)
— 请问他叫什么名字?
— May we have his name, please?
玛格丽特:不,你不能这么做,检察官先生!
Margaret: No, you may not, Mister Prosecuting Attorney!
M ae:他没有名字,他不存在!
Mae: He doesn’t have any name, he doesn’t exist!
玛格丽特:噢,他确实存在,还有我的孩子,布里克的孩子!
Margaret: Oh, he exists all right, and so does my child, Brick’s baby!
M ae:你不可能和一个不跟你睡觉的男人生孩子,除非你认为你——
Mae: You can’t conceive a child by a man that won’t sleep with you unless you think you’re —
(布里克打开了留声机。一阵拟声歌声打断了梅的讲话。)
(Brick has turned on the phonograph. A scat song cuts Mae’s speech.)
Gooper :把它关掉!
Gooper: Turn that off!
Mae :我们知道这是个谎言,因为我们听见了你在这里说的话;他不会和你睡觉,我们听见了!所以别以为你会耍花招,用一个——来愚弄一个垂死的人
Mae: We know it’s a lie because we hear you in here; he won’t sleep with you, we hear you! So don’t imagine you’re going to put a trick over on us, to fool a dying man with a —
(痛苦和愤怒的长哭声响彻整个房子。玛格丽特把留声机的声音调低到耳语声。)
(A long drawn cry of agony and rage fills the house. Margaret turns phonograph down to a whisper.)
(哭声再次响起。)
(The cry is repeated.)
M ae(敬畏):“你听到了吗,Gooper,你听到了吗?”
Mae (awed): Did you hear that, Gooper, did you hear that?
Gooper :听起来好像疼痛已经开始了。
Gooper: Sounds like the pain has struck.
M ae:去看看吧,Gooper!
Mae: Go see, Gooper!
Gooper :快来吧,让这对爱情鸟一起呆在窝里!
Gooper: Come along and leave these lovebirds together in their nest!
(他先进去。梅跟在后面,但在门口转过身,扭曲着脸,对玛格丽特发出嘶嘶声。)
(He goes out first. Mae follows but turns at the door, contorting her face and hissing at Margaret.)
Mae :骗子!
Mae: Liar!
(她砰地关上了门。)
(She slams the door.)
(玛格丽特松了一口气,有点摇摇晃晃地移动身子,抓住了布里克的手臂。)
(Margaret exhales with relief and moves a little unsteadily to catch hold of Brick’s arm.)
玛格丽特:谢谢你——保持冷静……
Margaret: Thank you for — keeping still …
布里克:好的,玛吉。
Brick: OK, Maggie.
玛格丽特:你太勇敢了,为我挽回了面子!
Margaret: It was gallant of you to save my face!
B rick: ——还没有发生。
Brick: — It hasn’t happened yet.
玛格丽特:什么?
Margaret: What?
B rick:咔哒一声……
Brick: The click….
玛格丽特: ——你头脑中的咔哒声让你感到平静,亲爱的?
Margaret: — the click in your head that makes you peaceful, honey?
B rick:嗯嗯。还没发生……我得让它发生后才能睡觉……
Brick: Uh-huh. It hasn’t happened…. I’ve got to make it happen before I can sleep….
玛格丽特: ——我——知道你——的意思……
Margaret: — I — know what you — mean….
布里克:玛吉,把大椅子上的那个枕头给我。
Brick: Give me that pillow in the big chair, Maggie.
玛格丽特:我会把它放到床上给你。
Margaret: I’ll put it on the bed for you.
布里克:不,把它放在沙发上,我睡觉的地方。
Brick: No, put it on the sofa, where I sleep.
玛格丽特:今晚不行,布里克。
Margaret: Not tonight, Brick.
布里克:我想把它放在沙发上。那是我睡觉的地方。
Brick: I want it on the sofa. That’s where I sleep.
(他一瘸一拐地走到酒柜前,接连倒下三杯酒,然后默默地站着等待。突然,他转过身来,微笑着说:)
(He has hobbled to the liquor cabinet. He now pours down three shots in quick succession and stands waiting, silent. All at once he turns with a smile and says:)
那里!
There!
玛格丽特:什么?
Margaret: What?
B rick:咔哒一声……
Brick: The click….
(当他端着饮料一瘸一拐地走到画廊时,他的感激之情似乎无穷无尽。我们听见他拄着拐杖消失在视线中。然后,在远处,他开始自言自语唱起一首平静的歌。)
(His gratitude seems almost infinite as he hobbles out on the gallery with a drink. We hear his crutch as he swings out of sight. Then, at some distance, he begins singing to himself a peaceful song.)
(玛格丽特绝望地抱着大枕头,仿佛它是她唯一的伴侣,片刻之后,她把它扔在床上。她冲到酒柜前,把所有的酒瓶都抱在怀里,犹豫不决地转过身,然后带着它们跑出房间,昏暗的黄色走廊的门半开着。可以听到布里克一瘸一拐地沿着走廊走回来,唱着他那首平静的歌。他回来时,看到床上的枕头,轻轻地、悲伤地笑了笑,捡起了枕头。玛格丽特回到房间时,他把枕头夹在胳膊下。玛格丽特轻轻地关上门,靠在门上,对布里克轻轻地笑着。)
(Margaret holds the big pillow forlornly as if it were her only companion, for a few moments, then throws it on the bed. She rushes to the liquor cabinet, gathers all the bottles in her arms, turns about undecidedly, then runs out of the room with them, leaving the door ajar on the dim yellow hall. Brick is heard hobbling back along the gallery, singing his peaceful song. He comes back in, sees the pillow on the bed, laughs lightly, sadly, picks it up. He has it under his arm as Margaret returns to the room. Margaret softly shuts the door and leans against it, smiling softly at Brick.)
玛格丽特:布里克,我以前总觉得你比我强大,我不想被你打败。但现在,既然你开始酗酒——你知道吗?——我想这很糟糕,但现在我比你强大,我可以更真诚地爱你!
Margaret: Brick, I used to think that you were stronger than me and I didn’t want to be overpowered by you. But now, since you’ve taken to liquor — you know what? — I guess it’s bad, but now I’m stronger than you and I can love you more truly!
不要移动那个枕头。如果你移动的话我就把它移回去!
Don’t move that pillow. I’ll move it right back if you do!
—砖?
— Brick?
(她关掉所有的灯,只留下床边一盏玫瑰丝绸灯罩的灯。)
(She turns out all the lamps but a single rose-silk-shaded one by the bed.)
我确实去看过医生,我知道该怎么做,而且——布里克?——从日历上看,这是我怀孕的时间!
I really have been to a doctor and I know what to do and — Brick? — this is my time by the calendar to conceive!
布里克:是的,我明白,玛吉。但是你怎么能和一个爱喝酒的男人怀上孩子呢?
Brick: Yes, I understand, Maggie. But how are you going to conceive a child by a man in love with his liquor?
玛格丽特:把他的酒锁起来,然后让他满足我的欲望,然后我才能打开它!
Margaret: By locking his liquor up and making him satisfy my desire before I unlock it!
布里克:这就是你所做的事情吗,玛吉?
Brick: Is that what you’ve done, Maggie?
玛格丽特:你看吧。这个柜子比以前空多了!
Margaret: Look and see. That cabinet’s mighty empty compared to before!
布里克:好吧,我会成为一个——的儿子
Brick: Well, I’ll be a son of a —
(他伸手去拿拐杖,但她抢先一步冲到走廊,把拐杖扔过栏杆,然后气喘吁吁地跑回来。
(He reaches for his crutch but she beats him to it and rushes out on the gallery, hurls the crutch over the rail and comes back in, panting.
传来奔跑的脚步声。大妈妈冲进房间,脸色阴沉,气喘吁吁,结结巴巴。)
There are running footsteps. Big Mama bursts into the room, her face all awry, gasping, stammering.)
大妈:噢,天哪,噢,天哪,噢,天哪,它在哪里?
Big Mama: Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, where is it?
玛格丽特:这就是你想要的吗,大妈妈?
Margaret: Is this what you want, Big Mama?
(玛格丽特把医生留下的包裹递给她。)
(Margaret hands her the package left by the doctor.)
大妈:我受不了了,天啊!哦,布里克!布里克,宝贝!
Big Mama: I can’t bear it, oh, God! Oh, Brick! Brick, baby!
(她冲向他。他别过脸去,不去接受她抽泣的吻。玛格丽特面带微笑地看着他。)
(She rushes at him. He averts his face from her sobbing kisses. Margaret watches with a tight smile.)
我的儿子,大爸爸的儿子!小爸爸!
My son, Big Daddy’s boy! Little Father!
(再次听到痛苦的哭声。她抽泣着跑了出去。)
(The groaning cry is heard again. She runs out, sobbing.)
玛格丽特:所以今晚我们要把谎言变成现实,完成后,我会把酒带回来,我们一起喝个痛快,就在这里,今晚,在这个死亡降临的地方……
Margaret: And so tonight we’re going to make the lie true, and when that’s done, I’ll bring the liquor back here and we’ll get drunk together, here, tonight, in this place that death has come into….
- 你怎么说?
— What do you say?
Brick :我什么也没说。我想没什么可说的。
Brick: I don’t say anything. I guess there’s nothing to say.
玛格丽特:哦,你们这些软弱的人,你们这些软弱而美丽的人!——你们放弃了。——你们想要的是有人——
Margaret: Oh, you weak people, you weak, beautiful people! — who give up. — What you want is someone to —
(她关掉玫瑰丝绸灯。)
(She turns out the rose-silk lamp.)
——抓住你。——温柔地,温柔地,带着爱!还有——
— take hold of you. — Gently, gently, with love! And —
(帷幕开始缓缓落下。)
(The curtain begins to fall slowly.)
我确实爱你,布里克,我真的爱你!
I do love you, Brick, I do!
布里克(带着迷人的悲伤微笑):如果这是真的,那不是很有趣吗?
Brick (smiling with charming sadness): Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?
帷幕落下
THE CURTAIN COMES DOWN
结束
THE END
[1955年]
[1955]
(1945–2005)
[1945–2005]
人物
Characters
特洛伊·马克森
Troy Maxson
吉姆·波诺,特洛伊的朋友
Jim Bono, Troy’s friend
罗斯,特洛伊的妻子
Rose, Troy’s wife
莱昂斯,特洛伊与前妻所生的长子
Lyons, Troy’s oldest son by previous marriage
加布里埃尔,特洛伊的兄弟
Gabriel, Troy’s brother
Cory ,Troy 和 Rose 的儿子
Cory, Troy and Rose’s son
雷内尔,特洛伊的女儿
Raynell, Troy’s daughter
背景:故事背景是麦克森家唯一的入口,这是一栋古老的两层砖房,坐落在大城市街区的一条小巷子里。房子的入口有两三级台阶,通往一个急需油漆的木制门廊。
Setting: The setting is the yard which fronts the only entrance to the Maxson household, an ancient two-story brick house set back off a small alley in a big-city neighborhood. The entrance to the house is gained by two or three steps leading to a wooden porch badly in need of paint.
门廊是房子里最近才加建的,宽度与房子的宽度相当,因此缺乏协调性。这是一个坚固的门廊,屋顶是平的。一两把价值不菲的椅子放在厨房窗户通向门廊的一端。一个老式冰箱静静地守卫在另一端。
A relatively recent addition to the house and running its full width, the porch lacks congruence. It is a sturdy porch with a flat roof. One or two chairs of dubious value sit at one end where the kitchen window opens onto the porch. An old-fashioned icebox stands silent guard at the opposite end.
院子是一个小小的泥地院子,除了最后一幕外,部分院子被栅栏围起来,旁边放着一个木锯木架、一堆木材和其他栅栏建造设备。对面是一棵树,树上挂着一个用碎布做成的球。一根棒球棒靠在树上。两个油桶用作垃圾桶,放在右边的房子附近,使布景更加完整。
The yard is a small dirt yard, partially fenced, except for the last scene, with a wooden sawhorse, a pile of lumber, and other fence-building equipment set off to the side. Opposite is a tree from which hangs a ball made of rags. A baseball bat leans against the tree. Two oil drums serve as garbage receptacles and sit near the house at right to complete the setting.
剧情:世纪之交,欧洲的穷困潦倒者带着一个诚实而坚定的梦想,用顽强的爪子袭击了这座城市。这座城市吞噬了他们。他们让这座城市的肚子膨胀起来,直到它爆裂成一千座熔炉和缝纫机、一千个肉店和面包师的烤炉、一千座教堂、医院、殡仪馆和放债人。这座城市成长起来。它滋养着自己,为每个人提供伙伴关系,而每个人的条件只取决于他们的才能、狡猾程度以及他们努力工作的意愿和能力。对于欧洲的移民来说,一个敢于梦想并最终实现的梦想。
The Play: Near the turn of the century, the destitute of Europe sprang on the city with tenacious claws and an honest and solid dream. The city devoured them. They swelled its belly until it burst into a thousand furnaces and sewing machines, a thousand butcher shops and bakers’ ovens, a thousand churches and hospitals and funeral parlors and money-lenders. The city grew. It nourished itself and offered each man a partnership limited only by his talent, his guile, and his willingness and capacity for hard work. For the immigrants of Europe, a dream dared and won true.
非洲奴隶的后裔没有受到这样的欢迎和参与。他们来自卡罗莱纳州、弗吉尼亚州、乔治亚州、阿拉巴马州、密西西比州和田纳西州。他们强壮、热切、寻找着来到这里。城市拒绝了他们,他们逃走,在河岸边和桥下用木棍和油毡纸搭建的简陋、摇摇欲坠的房子里定居下来。他们收集破布和木材。他们出卖自己的肌肉和身体。他们打扫房子、洗衣服、擦鞋,在绝望和复仇的骄傲中,他们偷窃,追求自己的梦想。他们终于可以自由呼吸,用尊严的力量和心灵所能召唤的任何雄辩来面对生活。
The descendants of African slaves were offered no such welcome or participation. They came from places called the Carolinas and the Virginias, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. They came strong, eager, searching. The city rejected them and they fled and settled along the riverbanks and under bridges in shallow, ramshackle houses made of sticks and tarpaper. They collected rags and wood. They sold the use of their muscles and their bodies. They cleaned houses and washed clothes, they shined shoes, and in quiet desperation and vengeful pride, they stole, and lived in pursuit of their own dream. That they could breathe free, finally, and stand to meet life with the force of dignity and whatever eloquence the heart could call upon.
到 1957 年,欧洲移民来之不易的胜利巩固了美国的工业实力。人们用忠诚和爱国主义作为燃料,用新能量对抗并赢得了战争。生活丰富、充实、繁荣。密尔沃基勇士队赢得了世界大赛冠军,而将使 60 年代成为一个动荡、激烈、危险和充满挑衅的十年的变革之风尚未开始完全吹拂。
By 1957, the hard-won victories of the European immigrants had solidified the industrial might of America. War had been confronted and won with new energies that used loyalty and patriotism as its fuel. Life was rich, full, and flourishing. The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series, and the hot winds of change that would make the sixties a turbulent, racing, dangerous, and provocative decade had not yet begun to blow full.
(1957 年,特洛伊和博诺走进院子,正在交谈。特洛伊 53 岁,身材魁梧,手掌厚实。他努力填补和适应这种魁梧的身材。他的魁梧身材与他的黑人皮肤一起影响着他的情感和他在生活中做出的选择。)
(It is 1957. Troy and Bono enter the yard, engaged in conversation. Troy is fifty-three years old, a large man with thick, heavy hands; it is this largeness that he strives to fill out and make an accommodation with. Together with his blackness, his largeness informs his sensibilities and the choices he has made in his life.)
(在这两个人中,博诺显然是追随者。他对他们三十多年的友谊的承诺源于他对特洛伊的诚实、勤奋和力量的钦佩,博诺试图效仿他。)
(Of the two men, Bono is obviously the follower. His commitment to their friendship of thirty-odd years is rooted in his admiration of Troy’s honesty, capacity for hard work, and his strength, which Bono seeks to emulate.)
(这是星期五的晚上,是发薪日,也是一周中这两个人进行聊天和喝酒仪式的唯一一晚。特洛伊通常是最健谈的,有时他可能会粗鲁甚至粗俗,尽管他能够达到深刻的表达高度。这两个人带着午餐桶,穿着或带着粗麻布围裙,穿着适合他们垃圾收集员工作的衣服。)
(It is Friday night, payday, and the one night of the week the two men engage in a ritual of talk and drink. Troy is usually the most talkative and at times he can be crude and almost vulgar, though he is capable of rising to profound heights of expression. The men carry lunch buckets and wear or carry burlap aprons and are dressed in clothes suitable to their jobs as garbage collectors.)
B ono:特洛伊,你应该停止撒谎!
Bono: Troy, you ought to stop that lying!
特洛伊:我没撒谎!这个黑鬼吃了这么大的西瓜。
Troy: I ain’t lying! The nigger had a watermelon this big.
(他用手示意。)
(He indicates with his hands.)
说到……“什么西瓜,兰德先生?”我喜欢掉出来!
Talking about … “What watermelon, Mr. Rand?” I liked to fell out!
“什么西瓜,兰德先生?”……它真的大得像真人一样。
“What watermelon, Mr. Rand?” … And it sitting there big as life.
B ono:兰德先生说了什么?
Bono: What did Mr. Rand say?
特洛伊:什么都没说。如果那个黑鬼太笨了,不知道自己背着西瓜,那他就没法再说下去了。他想把那个大西瓜藏在外套下面。害怕让白人看到他背着西瓜回家。
Troy: Ain’t said nothing. Figure if the nigger too dumb to know he carrying a watermelon, he wasn’t gonna get much sense out of him. Trying to hide that great big old watermelon under his coat. Afraid to let the white man see him carry it home.
B ono:我和你一样……我没时间和他们在一起。
Bono: I’m like you … I ain’t got no time for them kind of people.
特洛伊:现在他看起来是不是因为看到工会的人和兰德先生谈话而生气了?
Troy: Now what he look like getting mad cause he see the man from the union talking to Mr. Rand?
B ono:他来找我谈论……“马克森会让我们被解雇。”我告诉他别再跟我提这件事了。他转身就走,骂你是麻烦制造者。兰德先生怎么说?
Bono: He come to me talking about … “Maxson gonna get us fired.” I told him to get away from me with that. He walked away from me calling you a troublemaker. What Mr. Rand say?
特洛伊:什么也没说。他让我下周五去专员办公室。他们叫我去那里见他们。
Troy: Ain’t said nothing. He told me to go down the Commissioner’s office next Friday. They called me down there to see them.
B ono:嗯,只要你提出投诉,他们就不能解雇你。这是其中一个白人告诉我的。
Bono: Well, as long as you got your complaint filed, they can’t fire you. That’s what one of them white fellows tell me.
特洛伊:我并不担心他们会解雇我。他们会因为我问了一个问题就解雇我吗?这就是我所做的一切。我去找兰德先生,问他:“为什么?为什么你们让白人开车,让有色人种抬车?”我对他说:“怎么回事,我不算数吗?你以为只有白人才有足够的理智去开卡车。那可不是纸上谈兵!见鬼,任何人都可以开卡车。为什么你们让白人开车,让有色人种抬车?”他告诉我“把这件事交给工会。”好吧,见鬼,这就是我所做的!现在他们想编造这一套谎言。
Troy: I ain’t worried about them firing me. They gonna fire me cause I asked a question? That’s all I did. I went to Mr. Rand and asked him, “Why? Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?” Told him, “what’s the matter, don’t I count? You think only white fellows got sense enough to drive a truck. That ain’t no paper job! Hell, anybody can drive a truck. How come you got all whites driving and the colored lifting?” He told me “take it to the union.” Well, hell, that’s what I done! Now they wanna come up with this pack of lies.
B ono:我告诉布朗尼,如果那个人来问他任何问题……就实话实说!他们不会做任何事,只是因为你投诉了他们,所以他们捏造了你的事情。
Bono: I told Brownie if the man come and ask him any questions … just tell the truth! It ain’t nothing but something they done trumped up on you cause you filed a complaint on them.
特洛伊:布朗尼什么都不懂。我只想让他们改变工作职责。让每个人都有机会驾驶这辆卡车。布朗尼不明白这一点。他没有那么多的理智。
Troy: Brownie don’t understand nothing. All I want them to do is change the job description. Give everybody a chance to drive the truck. Brownie can’t see that. He ain’t got that much sense.
B ono:你怎么知道他一直和那个在泰勒学院的女孩……那个艾伯塔女孩在一起?
Bono: How you figure he be making out with that gal be up at Taylors’ all the time … that Alberta gal?
特洛伊:你和我一样。得到的和我们一样多。也就是说什么也没有。
Troy: Same as you and me. Getting just as much as we is. Which is to say nothing.
B ono:是啊,对吧?我觉得你比我做得好一点……我可没说我在做什么。
Bono: It is, huh? I figure you doing a little better than me … and I ain’t saying what I’m doing.
特洛伊:哎呀,黑鬼,听我说……我了解你。如果你靠近那女孩,二十分钟后你就会想告诉别人。而你要告诉的第一个人……你想吹嘘的人……就是我。
Troy: Aw, nigger, look here … I know you. If you had got anywhere near that gal, twenty minutes later you be looking to tell somebody. And the first one you gonna tell … that you gonna want to brag to … is gonna be me.
B ono:我没这么说。我知道你在盯着她看。
Bono: I ain’t saying that. I see where you be eyeing her.
特洛伊:我盯着所有的女人。我什么都不放过。别让任何人告诉你特洛伊·马克森不要盯着女人看。
Troy: I eye all the women. I don’t miss nothing. Don’t never let nobody tell you Troy Maxson don’t eye the women.
B ono:你不只是盯着她看。你还请她喝了一两杯。
Bono: You been doing more than eyeing her. You done bought her a drink or two.
特洛伊:当然,我请她喝了一杯!那是什么意思?我也请你喝了一杯。我请她喝了一杯,那是什么意思?我只是出于礼貌。
Troy: Hell yeah, I bought her a drink! What that mean? I bought you one, too. What that mean cause I buy her a drink? I’m just being polite.
B ono:给她买一杯酒是可以的。这就是所谓的礼貌。但当你想买两三杯酒时……这就是所谓的盯着她看。
Bono: It’s all right to buy her one drink. That’s what you call being polite. But when you wanna be buying two or three … that’s what you call eyeing her.
特洛伊:听我说,自从你认识我以来……你曾知道我会追女人吗?
Troy: Look here, as long as you known me … you ever known me to chase after women?
B ono:当然!我认识你很久了。你忘了我什么时候认识你的。
Bono: Hell yeah! Long as I done known you. You forgetting I knew you when.
特洛伊:不,我说的是自从我和罗斯结婚以来?
Troy: Naw, I’m talking about since I been married to Rose?
B ono:噢,自从你和 Rose 结婚后就没再见过面了。好吧,这确实是事实。我可以这么说。
Bono: Oh, not since you been married to Rose. Now, that’s the truth, there. I can say that.
特洛伊:那好吧!案子结了。
Troy: All right then! Case closed.
B ono:我看到你正沿着 Alberta 的房子走。你应该在 Taylors 那里,你正沿着那里走。
Bono: I see you be walking up around Alberta’s house. You supposed to be at Taylors’ and you be walking up around there.
特洛伊:你干嘛要看我往哪儿走?我又没在看你。
Troy: What you watching where I’m walking for? I ain’t watching after you.
B ono:我不止一次看见你在那里走来走去。
Bono: I seen you walking around there more than once.
特洛伊:见鬼,你很可能看到我到处走动!那并不意味着什么,因为你看到我在那里走来走去。
Troy: Hell, you liable to see me walking anywhere! That don’t mean nothing cause you see me walking around there.
B ono:她到底从哪里来的?她突然就出现了。
Bono: Where she come from anyway? She just kinda showed up one day.
特洛伊:塔拉哈西。你只要看看她就知道她是佛罗里达女孩。那里有很多身材高大、健康的女人。她们从地里长出来。她身上有一点印第安人的血统。佛罗里达的大多数黑人身上都有印第安人的血统。
Troy: Tallahassee. You can look at her and tell she one of them Florida gals. They got some big healthy women down there. Grow them right up out the ground. Got a little bit of Indian in her. Most of them niggers down in Florida got some Indian in them.
B ono:我不知道那个印第安人的身体。但她肯定又大又健康。女人穿大袜子。她们的腿又大又粗,臀部像密西西比河一样宽。
Bono: I don’t know about that Indian part. But she damn sure big and healthy. Woman wear some big stockings. Got them great big old legs and hips as wide as the Mississippi River.
T roy:腿不是无用的。你什么也不用做,只是把它们推开。但臀部可以缓冲骑行!
Troy: Legs don’t mean nothing. You don’t do nothing but push them out of the way. But them hips cushion the ride!
B ono:特洛伊,你真是不懂事。
Bono: Troy, you ain’t got no sense.
T roy:这是事实!就像你骑着固特异轮胎一样!
Troy: It’s the truth! Like you riding on Goodyears!
(罗斯从屋里走了进来。她比特洛伊小十岁,她对他的爱慕源于她认识到没有他,她的生活将变得一团糟:一连串虐待他们的孩子的男人,一辈子都在街上狂欢、流浪、去教堂,或者孤独一人,忍受随之而来的痛苦和沮丧。她认为特洛伊的精神是善良而有启发性的,她要么忽视要么原谅他的缺点,她只承认其中的一些。虽然她不喝酒,但她的存在是周五晚上仪式中不可或缺的一部分。她在门廊和厨房之间来回走动,厨房里正在准备晚餐。)
(Rose enters from the house. She is ten years younger than Troy, her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibilities of her life without him: a succession of abusive men and their babies, a life of partying and running the streets, the Church, or aloneness with its attendant pain and frustration. She recognizes Troy’s spirit as a fine and illuminating one and she either ignores or forgives his faults, only some of which she recognizes. Though she doesn’t drink, her presence is an integral part of the Friday night rituals. She alternates between the porch and the kitchen, where supper preparations are under way.)
罗斯:你们来这儿干什么呢?
Rose: What you all out here getting into?
特洛伊:你担心我们会陷入什么境地吗?这是男人的谈话,女人。
Troy: What you worried about what we getting into for? This is men talk, woman.
罗斯:我关心你们在说什么?波诺,你要留下来吃晚饭吗?
Rose: What I care what you all talking about? Bono, you gonna stay for supper?
博诺:不,谢谢你,罗斯。但是露西尔说她正在煮一锅猪蹄。
Bono: No, I thank you, Rose. But Lucille say she cooking up a pot of pigfeet.
特洛伊:猪脚!见鬼,我要跟你回家!如果你有猪脚,我甚至可能留下来过夜。你有什么比猪脚更棒的吗,罗斯?
Troy: Pigfeet! Hell, I’m going home with you! Might even stay the night if you got some pigfeet. You got something in there to top them pigfeet, Rose?
罗斯:我正在煮鸡肉。我买了一些鸡肉和羽衣甘蓝。
Rose: I’m cooking up some chicken. I got some chicken and collard greens.
特洛伊:好吧,回屋去,让我和波诺把刚才的话题说完。这是男人的话题。我稍后会给你讲一些话题。你知道我指的是什么话题。你继续说吧,继续说。
Troy: Well, go on back in the house and let me and Bono finish what we was talking about. This is men talk. I got some talk for you later. You know what kind of talk I mean. You go on and powder it up.
罗斯:特洛伊·麦克森,你现在不要开始这样做!
Rose: Troy Maxson, don’t you start that now!
特洛伊(用手臂搂住她):噢,女人……过来。看这里,博诺……当我遇见这个女人时……我走出那个地方,说,“套上我的小马,给我的母马备上鞍……那里有一个女人在等着我。我看了看这里。看了看那里。看到了罗斯,就依偎在她身边。”我依偎在她身边,告诉她——我要告诉你实话——我告诉她,“宝贝,我不想结婚,我只想做你的男人。”罗斯告诉我……告诉他你告诉我的话,罗斯。
Troy (puts his arm around her): Aw, woman … come here. Look here, Bono … when I met this woman … I got out that place, say, “Hitch up my pony, saddle up my mare … there’s a woman out there for me somewhere. I looked here. Looked there. Saw Rose and latched on to her.” I latched on to her and told her — I’m gonna tell you the truth — I told her, “Baby, I don’t wanna marry, I just wanna be your man.” Rose told me … tell him what you told me, Rose.
罗斯:我告诉他,如果他不适合结婚,就搬走,这样适合结婚的人就能找到我了。
Rose: I told him if he wasn’t the marrying kind, then move out the way so the marrying kind could find me.
特洛伊:她就是这么告诉我的。“黑鬼,你挡着我的路了。你挡住了我的视线!让开,这样我就能找到一个丈夫。”我想了两三天。回来——
Troy: That’s what she told me. “Nigger, you in my way. You blocking the view! Move out the way so I can find me a husband.” I thought it over two or three days. Come back —
罗斯:不是两三天的事。你当天晚上就回来了。
Rose: Ain’t no two or three days nothing. You was back the same night.
特洛伊:回来吧,她告诉她……“好的,宝贝……但是我要给我自己买一只矮脚公鸡,把它放在后院……当它看到陌生人来的时候,它会拍打翅膀并啼叫……”听我说,波诺,我可以自己看着前门……我担心的是后门。
Troy: Come back, told her … “Okay, baby … but I’m gonna buy me a banty rooster and put him out there in the backyard … and when he see a stranger come, he’ll flap his wings and crow …” Look here, Bono, I could watch the front door by myself … it was that back door I was worried about.
罗斯:特洛伊,你不该这么说。特洛伊除了撒谎什么也没做。
Rose: Troy, you ought not talk like that. Troy ain’t doing nothing but telling a lie.
特洛伊:唯一的问题是……当我们刚结婚时……忘记公鸡吧……我们没有院子!
Troy: Only thing is … when we first got married … forget the rooster … we ain’t had no yard!
B ono:我听你说的。我和 Lucille 住在洛根街那边。我们有两个房间,后面有一个厕所。我并不介意厕所。但是冬天那该死的风吹过那里的时候……这就是我要说的!直到今天,我还在想我为什么在那里呆了六年。但是,你看,我不知道我还能做得更好。我以为只有白人才有室内厕所之类的东西。
Bono: I hear you tell it. Me and Lucille was staying down there on Logan Street. Had two rooms with the outhouse in the back. I ain’t mind the outhouse none. But when that goddamn wind blow through there in the winter … that’s what I’m talking about! To this day I wonder why in the hell I ever stayed down there for six long years. But see, I didn’t know I could do no better. I thought only white folks had inside toilets and things.
罗斯:很多人不知道他们现在做得已经不够好了。这是你必须要学习的东西。很多人仍然在 Bella's 购物。
Rose: There’s a lot of people don’t know they can do no better than they doing now. That’s just something you got to learn. A lot of folks still shop at Bella’s.
特洛伊:在 Bella's 购物没什么不好。她买到了新鲜的食物。
Troy: Ain’t nothing wrong with shopping at Bella’s. She got fresh food.
罗斯:我没说她有没有新鲜食物。我说的是她收费多少。她的收费比 A&P 高 10 美分。
Rose: I ain’t said nothing about if she got fresh food. I’m talking about what she charge. She charge ten cents more than the A&P.
特洛伊: A&P 从来没有为我做过什么。我把钱花在了对我好的地方。我去找贝拉,说:“我需要一条面包,我星期五会付钱给你。”她给了我。当我有钱去别的地方花,而忽视了对我好的人时,这有什么意义呢?圣经里没有这么说。
Troy: The A&P ain’t never done nothing for me. I spends my money where I’m treated right. I go down to Bella, say, “I need a loaf of bread, I’ll pay you Friday.” She give it to me. What sense that make when I got money to go and spend it somewhere else and ignore the person who done right by me? That ain’t in the Bible.
罗斯:我们不是讨论《圣经》里的内容。她收费过高,去那里购物还有什么意义?
Rose: We ain’t talking about what’s in the Bible. What sense it make to shop there when she overcharge?
T roy:你想去哪里购物就去哪里购物。我会去那些对我好的人那里购物。
Troy: You shop where you want to. I’ll do my shopping where the people been good to me.
罗斯:嗯,我认为她不应该多收钱。我只是这么说。
Rose: Well, I don’t think it’s right for her to overcharge. That’s all I was saying.
B ono:听我说……我得走了。Lucille 会大吵大闹的。
Bono: Look here … I got to get on. Lucille going be raising all kind of hell.
特洛伊:你要去哪儿,黑鬼?我们还没喝完这一品脱。过来,喝完这一品脱。
Troy: Where you going, nigger? We ain’t finished this pint. Come here, finish this pint.
B ono:好吧,我是......如果你把瓶子松开的话。
Bono: Well, hell, I am … if you ever turn the bottle loose.
特洛伊(把瓶子递给他):关于 A&P,我唯一想说的是,我很高兴科里在那里找到了工作。帮他整理校服和东西。加布搬出去了,这里的情况越来越紧张。他找到了那份工作……他可以开始照顾自己了。
Troy (hands him the bottle): The only thing I say about the A&P is I’m glad Cory got that job down there. Help him take care of his school clothes and things. Gabe done moved out and things getting tight around here. He got that job…. He can start to look out for himself.
罗斯:科里已经加入了一支大学橄榄球队。
Rose: Cory done went and got recruited by a college football team.
特洛伊:我跟那个男孩讲过足球的事。白人不会让他靠足球一事无成的。他第一次来找我的时候我就告诉过他。现在你告诉我他已经对足球更加痴迷了。他应该去找个修理汽车的或者其他能谋生的行业。
Troy: I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football. I told him when he first come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done went and got more tied up in it. He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living.
罗斯:他不是说踢足球不赚钱。这只是学校里男孩子做的事。他们会派招聘人员来找你谈话。他会告诉你他不是说踢足球不赚钱。被招募是一种荣誉。
Rose: He ain’t talking about making no living playing football. It’s just something the boys in school do. They gonna send a recruiter by to talk to you. He’ll tell you he ain’t talking about making no living playing football. It’s a honor to be recruited.
特罗伊:这不会给他带来任何好处。波诺会告诉你的。
Troy: It ain’t gonna get him nowhere. Bono’ll tell you that.
B ono:如果他在运动方面和你一样……他会没事的。只有两个人打棒球比你好。那就是贝比·鲁斯和乔什·吉布森。他们是唯一两个打出本垒打比你多的人。
Bono: If he be like you in the sports … he’s gonna be all right. Ain’t but two men ever played baseball as good as you. That’s Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson.a Them’s the only two men ever hit more home runs than you.
特洛伊:这能给我带来什么?我又没有尿壶可以往里扔,也没有窗户可以往外扔。
Troy: What it ever get me? Ain’t got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.
罗斯:特洛伊,自从你开始打棒球以来,时代已经变了。那是在战争之前。从那以后,时代已经发生了很大变化。
Rose: Times have changed since you was playing baseball, Troy. That was before the war. Times have changed a lot since then.
特洛伊:他们到底是怎么改变的?
Troy: How in hell they done changed?
罗斯:现在有很多有色男孩在打球。棒球和足球。
Rose: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football.
B ono:你说得对,Rose。时代变了,Troy。你来得太早了。
Bono: You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early.
特洛伊:时间不应该太早!现在你拿那个家伙来说吧……那个当时在洋基队打右外野的家伙是谁?你知道我在说谁,波诺。他曾经在洋基队打右外野。
Troy: There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow … what’s that fellow they had playing right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I’m talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees.
罗斯:塞尔柯克?
Rose: Selkirk?
特洛伊:塞尔柯克!就是这个!击球率 0.269,明白吗?0.269。这是什么意思?我的击球率是 0.432,打了 37 个本垒打!击球率 0.269,在洋基队打右外野!我昨天见到了乔希·吉布森的女儿。她穿着破烂的鞋子到处走。现在我敢打赌塞尔柯克的女儿不会穿着破烂的鞋子到处走!我敢打赌!
Troy: Selkirk! That’s it! Man batting .269, understand? .269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting .432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting .269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson’s daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk’s daughter ain’t walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!
罗斯:他们现在有很多黑人棒球运动员。杰基·罗宾逊是第一位黑人棒球运动员。人们不得不等待杰基·罗宾逊。
Rose: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson.
特洛伊:我见过一百个黑人打棒球比杰基·罗宾逊好。见鬼,我知道有些球队杰基·罗宾逊根本进不了!你在说什么杰基·罗宾逊。杰基·罗宾逊不是无名小卒。我说的是如果你能打球,他们就应该让你打球。不管你是什么肤色。来告诉我我来得太早了。如果你能打球……他们就应该让你打球。
Troy: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn’t even make! What you talking about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson wasn’t nobody. I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were. Come telling me I come along too early. If you could play … then they ought to have let you play.
(特洛伊喝了一大口酒。)
(Troy takes a long drink from the bottle.)
罗斯:你会喝醉的。你没必要喝得这么厉害。
Rose: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don’t need to be drinking like that.
特洛伊:死亡不算什么。我见过他。和他搏斗过。你不能告诉我任何有关死亡的事情。死亡不过是外角的一颗快速球。你知道我会怎么做!听我说,博诺……我在撒谎吗?你投出一颗快速球,大约到腰部高,越过本垒板的外角,你可以用球棒击中它……天哪!你可以和它告别了。现在,我在撒谎吗?
Troy: Death ain’t nothing. I done seen him. Done wrassled with him. You can’t tell me nothing about death. Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I’ll do to that! Lookee here, Bono … am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist high, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it … and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?
B ono:不,你说的是实话。我亲眼看见你这么做的。
Bono: Naw, you telling the truth there. I seen you do it.
特洛伊:如果我撒谎了...那 450 英尺的谎话!
Troy: If I’m lying … that 450 feet worth of lying!
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
对我来说,这就是死亡。外角的快速球。
That’s all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.
罗斯:我不知道你为什么要继续谈论死亡。
Rose: I don’t know why you want to get on talking about death.
特洛伊:谈论死亡没什么错。这是生活的一部分。每个人都会死。你会死,我也会死。波诺也会死。见鬼,我们都会死。
Troy: Ain’t nothing wrong with talking about death. That’s part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I’m gonna die. Bono’s gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die.
罗斯:但你不必谈论它。我不喜欢谈论它。
Rose: But you ain’t got to talk about it. I don’t like to talk about it.
T roy:是你提起的。我和 Bono 正在谈论棒球……你说我会酗酒至死。是吗,Bono?你知道我每周只喝一晚。那是星期五晚上。我喝到可以控制的量。然后我就会放纵自己。我不会再管它。所以你不用担心我会酗酒至死。因为我不担心死神。我见过他。我和他搏斗过。
Troy: You the one brought it up. Me and Bono was talking about baseball … you tell me I’m gonna drink myself to death. Ain’t that right, Bono? You know I don’t drink this but one night out of the week. That’s Friday night. I’m gonna drink just enough to where I can handle it. Then I cuts it loose. I leave it alone. So don’t you worry about me drinking myself to death. ’Cause I ain’t worried about Death. I done seen him. I done wrestled with him.
看这里,波诺……有一天我抬头一看,死神径直朝我走来。就像阅兵式上的士兵!死神大军径直朝我走来。那是 1941 年 7 月中旬。天气变得非常冷,就像冬天一样。好像死神自己伸出手来触摸我的肩膀。他触摸我就像我触摸你一样。我冷得像冰一样,死神站在那里对我咧嘴笑。
Look here, Bono … I looked up one day and Death was marching straight at me. Like Soldiers on Parade! The Army of Death was marching straight at me. The middle of July, 1941. It got real cold just like it be winter. It seem like Death himself reached out and touched me on the shoulder. He touch me just like I touch you. I got cold as ice and Death standing there grinning at me.
罗斯:特洛伊,你为什么不闭嘴呢?
Rose: Troy, why don’t you hush that talk.
特洛伊:我说……你想要什么,死神先生?你想要我吗?你带了军队来抓我吗?我直视着他的眼睛。我什么都不怕。我准备好了。就像我现在准备好了一样。圣经说要时刻保持警惕。这就是为什么我不会喝得那么醉。我必须保持警惕。
Troy: I say … What you want, Mr. Death? You be wanting me? You done brought your army to be getting me? I looked him dead in the eye. I wasn’t fearing nothing. I was ready to tangle. Just like I’m ready to tangle now. The Bible say be ever vigilant. That’s why I don’t get but so drunk. I got to keep watch.
罗斯:特洛伊当时就在仁慈医院。你记得他得了肺炎吗?他躺在那里,发烧,说话胡言乱语。
Rose: Troy was right down there in Mercy Hospital. You remember he had pneumonia? Laying there with a fever talking plumb out of his head.
特洛伊:死神站在那里盯着我……手里拿着镰刀。最后他说,“你还想再被关一年?”看,就这样……“你还想再被关一年?”我告诉他,“关在地狱里!我们现在就解决吧!”
Troy: Death standing there staring at me … carrying that sickle in his hand. Finally he say, “You want bound over for another year?” See, just like that … “You want bound over for another year?” I told him, “Bound over hell! Let’s settle this now!”
当我说完这句话时,他似乎有点退缩了,我身上所有的寒冷都消失了。我伸手抓住那把镰刀,尽可能地把它扔得更远……然后我和他开始扭打起来。
It seem like he kinda fell back when I said that, and all the cold went out of me. I reached down and grabbed that sickle and threw it just as far as I could throw it … and me and him commenced to wrestling.
我们搏斗了三天三夜。我说不出我的力量来自哪里。每次他似乎要打败我时,我都会深入内心,找到力量来打败他。
We wrestled for three days and three nights. I can’t say where I found the strength from. Every time it seemed like he was gonna get the best of me, I’d reach way down deep inside myself and find the strength to do him one better.
罗斯:特洛伊每次讲这个故事时,他都会用不同的方式来讲述它。他会编造不同的东西。
Rose: Every time Troy tell that story he find different ways to tell it. Different things to make up about it.
特洛伊:我可没胡编乱造。我只是在告诉你事情的真相。我和死神搏斗了三天三夜,现在站在这里告诉你这件事。
Troy: I ain’t making up nothing. I’m telling you the facts of what happened. I wrestled with Death for three days and three nights and I’m standing here to tell you about it.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
好吧。第三天晚上,我们彼此都虚弱到几乎无法动弹。死神站了起来,披上长袍……他穿着一件带兜帽的白袍。他披上那件长袍,出门去找镰刀。说:“我会回来的。”就这样。“我会回来的。”我告诉他,“是的,但是……你必须找到我!”我不是傻瓜。我不会去找他。死神不是玩物。我知道他会抓到我的。我知道我必须加入他的军队……他的随军人员。但只要我保持力量,看到他来了……只要我保持警惕……他就必须战斗才能抓到我。我不会轻易放过他的。
All right. At the end of the third night we done weakened each other to where we can’t hardly move. Death stood up, throwed on his robe … had him a white robe with a hood on it. He throwed on that robe and went off to look for his sickle. Say, “I’ll be back.” Just like that. “I’ll be back.” I told him, say, “Yeah, but … you gonna have to find me!”I wasn’t no fool. I wasn’t going looking for him. Death ain’t nothing to play with. And I know he’s gonna get me. I know I got to join his army … his camp followers. But as long as I keep my strength and see him coming … as long as I keep up my vigilance … he’s gonna have to fight to get me. I ain’t going easy.
B ono:好吧,听我说,既然你必须保持警惕......把瓶子给我。
Bono: Well, look here, since you got to keep up your vigilance … let me have the bottle.
特洛伊:哎呀,我不应该告诉你那部分。我应该省略那部分。
Troy: Aw hell, I shouldn’t have told you that part. I should have left out that part.
罗斯:特洛伊在谈论那些东西,但有一半的时间甚至都不知道自己在说什么。
Rose: Troy be talking that stuff and half the time don’t even know what he be talking about.
特洛伊:博诺比我更了解我。
Troy: Bono know me better than that.
B ono:没错。我了解你。我知道你的血液里流淌着雷木斯叔叔的血液。你的故事比魔鬼的罪人还多。
Bono: That’s right. I know you. I know you got some Uncle Remusb in your blood. You got more stories than the devil got sinners.
特洛伊:哎呀,我也见过他!他和魔鬼谈过话。
Troy: Aw hell, I done seen him too! Done talked with the devil.
罗斯:特洛伊,没人想听这些事情。
Rose: Troy, don’t nobody wanna be hearing all that stuff.
(莱昂斯从街上走进院子。三十四岁的他是特洛伊和前妻所生的儿子,留着修剪整齐的山羊胡,身穿运动外套和白衬衫,没有打领带,衣领扣子扣得严严实实。虽然他自诩为音乐家,但他更沉迷于成为音乐家的仪式和“想法”,而不是实际的音乐实践。他来向特洛伊借钱,虽然他知道自己会成功,但他不确定他的生活方式会在多大程度上受到审视和嘲笑。)
(Lyons enters the yard from the street. Thirty-four years old, Troy’s son by a previous marriage, he sports a neatly trimmed goatee, sport coat, white shirt, tieless and buttoned at the collar. Though he fancies himself a musician, he is more caught up in the rituals and “idea” of being a musician than in the actual practice of the music. He has come to borrow money from Troy, and while he knows he will be successful, he is uncertain as to what extent his lifestyle will be held up to scrutiny and ridicule.)
莱昂斯:嘿,爸爸。
Lyons: Hey, Pop.
特洛伊:你为什么来跟我说“嘿,打我”?
Troy: What you come “Hey, Popping” me for?
L yons:你好吗,Rose?
Lyons: How you doing, Rose?
(他亲吻她。)
(He kisses her.)
博诺先生。你好吗?
Mr. Bono. How you doing?
B ono:嘿,Lyons…你过得怎么样?
Bono: Hey, Lyons … how you been?
特洛伊:他肯定过得很好。上周我没在这附近见过他。
Troy: He must have been doing all right. I ain’t seen him around here last week.
罗斯:特洛伊,别管你儿子了。他来看你,你却想挑起这些事。
Rose: Troy, leave your boy alone. He come by to see you and you wanna start all that nonsense.
特洛伊:我不会打扰莱昂斯。
Troy: I ain’t bothering Lyons.
(把酒瓶递给他。)
(Offers him the bottle.)
来……给你一杯饮料。我们达成了共识。我知道他为什么来看我,他也知道我知道。
Here … get you a drink. We got an understanding. I know why he come by to see me and he know I know.
L yons:来吧,爸爸……我只是过来打个招呼……看看你怎么样了。
Lyons: Come on, Pop … I just stopped by to say hi … see how you was doing.
特洛伊:你昨天没有来过。
Troy: You ain’t stopped by yesterday.
罗斯:莱昂斯,你要留下来吃晚饭吗?我烤箱里正在烤鸡肉。
Rose: You gonna stay for supper, Lyons? I got some chicken cooking in the oven.
L yons:不用了,Rose……谢谢。我刚好在附近,想过来坐一会儿。
Lyons: No, Rose … thanks. I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by for a minute.
特洛伊:你当时确实在附近,黑鬼。你说的是实话。你当时在附近是因为今天是我的发薪日。
Troy: You was in the neighborhood all right, nigger. You telling the truth there. You was in the neighborhood cause it’s my payday.
L yons:好吧,既然你提到了这一点......就给我十美元吧。
Lyons: Well, hell, since you mentioned it … let me have ten dollars.
特洛伊:我真该死!我宁愿死,下地狱,和魔鬼玩二十一点,也不愿给你十美元。
Troy: I’ll be damned! I’ll die and go to hell and play blackjack with the devil before I give you ten dollars.
B ono:这就是我想知道的……你见过的那个魔鬼。
Bono: That’s what I wanna know about … that devil you done seen.
L yons:什么……老爸见过魔鬼吗?你太过分了,老爸。
Lyons: What … Pop done seen the devil? You too much, Pops.
特洛伊:是的,我见过他。还和他聊过天!
Troy: Yeah, I done seen him. Talked to him too!
罗斯:你没见过魔鬼。我告诉过你,人与魔鬼毫无关系。任何你无法理解的东西,你都想称之为魔鬼。
Rose: You ain’t seen no devil. I done told you that man ain’t had nothing to do with the devil. Anything you can’t understand, you want to call it the devil.
特罗伊:听我说,博诺……我去找赫茨伯格谈家具的事。三间房,两毛九十八。收音机里就是这么说的。“三间房……两毛九十八。”甚至还为此编了一首小歌。去那儿……老兄告诉我,我不能得到任何信贷。我每天都在工作,却得不到任何信贷。该怎么办?我的房子空了,里面有一些破烂的家具。科里没有床。他睡在地上的一堆破布上。每天都在工作,却得不到任何信贷。回来——罗斯会告诉你——比地狱还要气愤。坐下来……试着想想我要做什么。有人敲门。我才在这里住了三天。谁知道我在这里?开门……魔鬼站在那里,比生命还要大。白人……穿着得体,什么都好。站在那里,手里拿着一个剪贴板。我什么也不用说。他脱口而出的第一句话是……“我知道你需要一些家具,但不能贷款。”我差点儿摔倒。他说,“我会给你所有你想要的贷款,但你得付利息。”我告诉他,“给我三个房间的钱,你想收多少就收多少。”第二天,一辆卡车停在这里,两个人卸下了三个房间。开卡车的人给我一本簿子。说每个月的第一天寄十美元到簿子上的地址,一切都会好起来的。如果我错过付款,魔鬼就会回来,我会付出惨痛的代价。那是十五年前的事了。直到今天……我每月的第一天都会寄出十美元,罗斯会告诉你的。
Troy: Look here, Bono … I went down to see Hertzberger about some furniture. Got three rooms for two-ninety-eight. That what it say on the radio. “Three rooms … two-ninety-eight.” Even made up a little song about it. Go down there … man tell me I can’t get no credit. I’m working every day and can’t get no credit. What to do? I got an empty house with some raggedy furniture in it. Cory ain’t got no bed. He’s sleeping on a pile of rags on the floor. Working every day and can’t get no credit. Come back here — Rose’ll tell you — madder than hell. Sit down … try to figure what I’m gonna do. Come a knock on the door. Ain’t been living here but three days. Who know I’m here? Open the door … devil standing there bigger than life. White fellow … got on good clothes and everything. Standing there with a clipboard in his hand. I ain’t had to say nothing. First words come out of his mouth was … “I understand you need some furniture and can’t get no credit.” I liked to fell over. He say, “I’ll give you all the credit you want, but you got to pay the interest on it.” I told him, “Give me three rooms worth and charge whatever you want.” Next day a truck pulled up here and two men unloaded them three rooms. Man what drove the truck give me a book. Say send ten dollars, first of every month to the address in the book and everything will be all right. Say if I miss a payment the devil was coming back and it’ll be hell to pay. That was fifteen years ago. To this day … the first of the month I send my ten dollars, Rose’ll tell you.
罗斯:特洛伊在说谎。
Rose: Troy lying.
特洛伊:从那以后我再也没见过那个人。现在你告诉我,除了魔鬼,那个人还能是谁?我没出卖灵魂之类的,你明白吗。不,我不会为了这种事跟魔鬼打交道。我买了家具,每月一号准时付了十美元。
Troy: I ain’t never seen that man since. Now you tell me who else that could have been but the devil? I ain’t sold my soul or nothing like that, you understand. Naw, I wouldn’t have truck with the devil about nothing like that. I got my furniture and pays my ten dollars the first of the month just like clockwork.
B ono:你说你每个月付这十美元多久了?
Bono: How long you say you been paying this ten dollars a month?
特洛伊:十五年!
Troy: Fifteen years!
B ono:哎呀,你还没付完钱吗?那个人收了你多少钱?
Bono: Hell, ain’t you finished paying for it yet? How much the man done charged you?
特洛伊:哎呀,我已经付过钱了。我已经付了十倍了!事实上,我害怕停止付钱。
Troy: Ah hell, I done paid for it. I done paid for it ten times over! The fact is I’m scared to stop paying it.
罗斯:特洛伊在撒谎。我们从格利克曼先生那里得到了这些家具。他不会每月付给任何人十美元。
Rose: Troy lying. We got that furniture from Mr. Glickman. He ain’t paying no ten dollars a month to nobody.
特洛伊:哎呀,女人。波诺知道我还没那么傻。
Troy: Aw hell, woman. Bono know I ain’t that big a fool.
L yons:我正准备说……我知道哪里有一座桥要卖。
Lyons: I was just getting ready to say … I know where there’s a bridge for sale.
特洛伊:听我说,我告诉你……他是不是魔鬼对我来说无所谓。魔鬼是否给予信任也无所谓。总得有人给予信任。
Troy: Look here, I’ll tell you this … it don’t matter to me if he was the devil. It don’t matter if the devil give credit. Somebody has got to give it.
罗斯:这应该很重要。你到处说要和魔鬼打交道……你必须向上帝负责。他将接受审判。
Rose: It ought to matter. You going around talking about having truck with the devil … God’s the one you gonna have to answer to. He’s the one gonna be at the Judgment.
L yons:是的,好吧,听我说,爸爸……把那十美元给我吧。我会还给你的。Bonnie 在医院找到了一份工作。
Lyons: Yeah, well, look here, Pop … let me have that ten dollars. I’ll give it back to you. Bonnie got a job working at the hospital.
特洛伊:我告诉你吧,波诺?我唯一一次见到这个黑鬼就是在他想要什么东西的时候。那是我唯一一次见到他。
Troy: What I tell you, Bono? The only time I see this nigger is when he wants something. That’s the only time I see him.
莱昂斯:拜托,爸爸,博诺先生不想听这些。把这十美元给我。我告诉过你,邦妮在工作。
Lyons: Come on, Pop, Mr. Bono don’t want to hear all that. Let me have the ten dollars. I told you Bonnie working.
特洛伊:那对我来说意味着什么?“邦妮在工作。”我不在乎她是否在工作。如果她在工作,就去问她要十美元。谈论“邦妮在工作。”你为什么不工作?
Troy: What that mean to me? “Bonnie working.” I don’t care if she working. Go ask her for the ten dollars if she working. Talking about “Bonnie working.” Why ain’t you working?
L yons:哎呀,爸爸,你知道我找不到体面的工作。我上哪儿去找工作呢?你知道我找不到工作。
Lyons: Aw, Pop, you know I can’t find no decent job. Where am I gonna get a job at? You know I can’t get no job.
特洛伊:我告诉过你我认识那里的一些人。如果你想工作的话我可以帮你清理垃圾。上次你来这里找我帮忙的时候我就告诉过你了。
Troy: I told you I know some people down there. I can get you on the rubbish if you want to work. I told you that the last time you came by here asking me for something.
L yons:不,爸爸……谢谢。那不适合我。我不想为别人搬运垃圾。我不想打卡别人的上班时间。
Lyons: Naw, Pop … thanks. That ain’t for me. I don’t wanna be carrying nobody’s rubbish. I don’t wanna be punching nobody’s time clock.
特洛伊:怎么了,你太善良了,不愿意帮别人搬垃圾?你认为你说的那 10 美元是从哪里来的?我本该帮别人搬垃圾,然后把钱给你,因为你太懒了。你太懒了,还想知道为什么你得不到我得到的东西。
Troy: What’s the matter, you too good to carry people’s rubbish? Where you think that ten dollars you talking about come from? I’m just supposed to haul people’s rubbish and give my money to you cause you too lazy to work. You too lazy to work and wanna know why you ain’t got what I got.
罗斯:邦妮在哪家医院工作?Mercy?
Rose: What hospital Bonnie working at? Mercy?
L yons:她在 Passavant 的洗衣店工作。
Lyons: She’s down at Passavant working in the laundry.
特洛伊:我现在什么都没有。我给你十美元,然后这周剩下的时间我都要吃豆子。不……你在这里拿不到十美元。
Troy: I ain’t got nothing as it is. I give you that ten dollars and I got to eat beans the rest of the week. Naw … you ain’t getting no ten dollars here.
L yons:你不应该吃豆子。我不知道你为什么要这么说。
Lyons: You ain’t got to be eating no beans. I don’t know why you wanna say that.
特洛伊:我没有多余的钱。加布已经搬到珀尔小姐那里去付房租了,这里的情况变得很紧张。我没钱每天给你发工资。
Troy: I ain’t got no extra money. Gabe done moved over to Miss Pearl’s paying her the rent and things done got tight around here. I can’t afford to be giving you every payday.
莱昂斯:我没要求你给我任何东西。我要求你借给我十美元。我知道你有十美元。
Lyons: I ain’t asked you to give me nothing. I asked you to loan me ten dollars. I know you got ten dollars.
T roy:是的,我懂。你知道我为什么懂吗?因为我不会把钱浪费在街上。你过着快节奏的生活……想成为一名音乐家……在俱乐部和其他地方跑来跑去……然后,你要学会照顾好自己。你不会发现我到处乱跑,不向任何人索要任何东西。我已经很多年没有钱了。
Troy: Yeah, I got it. You know why I got it? Cause I don’t throw my money away out there in the streets. You living the fast life … wanna be a musician … running around in them clubs and things … then, you learn to take care of yourself. You ain’t gonna find me going and asking nobody for nothing. I done spent too many years without.
莱昂斯:爸爸,你和我是不同的两个人。
Lyons: You and me is two different people, Pop.
特洛伊:我已经认识到了自己的错误,也学会了如何做正确的事。你还在试图不劳而获。生活不欠你什么。你欠你自己。问问波诺。他会告诉你我是对的。
Troy: I done learned my mistake and learned to do what’s right by it. You still trying to get something for nothing. Life don’t owe you nothing. You owe it to yourself. Ask Bono. He’ll tell you I’m right.
莱昂斯:你有你对待世界的方式……我有我的方式。对我来说唯一重要的事情就是音乐。
Lyons: You got your way of dealing with the world … I got mine. The only thing that matters to me is the music.
特洛伊:是的,我明白!不管你吃什么……你的下一美元从哪里来并不重要。你说的是实话。
Troy: Yeah, I can see that! It don’t matter how you gonna eat … where your next dollar is coming from. You telling the truth there.
L yons:我知道我得吃饭。但我也得活下去。我需要一些能让我早上起床的东西。让我感觉自己属于这个世界。我不会打扰任何人。我只专注于我的音乐,因为这是我能找到的唯一活在世上的方式。否则我不知道我会做什么。现在我不会来批评你和你的生活方式。我只是来向你要十美元。我不想听那些关于我生活方式的谈论。
Lyons: I know I got to eat. But I got to live too. I need something that gonna help me to get out of the bed in the morning. Make me feel like I belong in the world. I don’t bother nobody. I just stay with my music cause that’s the only way I can find to live in the world. Otherwise there ain’t no telling what I might do. Now I don’t come criticizing you and how you live. I just come by to ask you for ten dollars. I don’t wanna hear all that about how I live.
特洛伊:孩子,你的妈妈把你养大真是辛苦了。
Troy: Boy, your mamma did a hell of a job raising you.
L yons:你无法改变我,爸爸。我已经 34 岁了。如果你想改变我,你应该在我长大的时候在场。我来看你……要十美元,你却想谈谈我是如何长大的。你对我的成长经历一无所知。
Lyons: You can’t change me, Pop. I’m thirty-four years old. If you wanted to change me, you should have been there when I was growing up. I come by to see you … ask for ten dollars and you want to talk about how I was raised. You don’t know nothing about how I was raised.
罗斯:特洛伊,给这个男孩十美元。
Rose: Let the boy have ten dollars, Troy.
特洛伊(对莱昂斯说):你干嘛看着我?我身上没有十美元。你知道我怎么花这些钱的。
Troy (to Lyons): What the hell you looking at me for? I ain’t got no ten dollars. You know what I do with my money.
(对罗斯说。)
(To Rose.)
如果你想让他得到它,就给他十美元。
Give him ten dollars if you want him to have it.
罗斯:我会的。只要你一放手。
Rose: I will. Just as soon as you turn it loose.
特洛伊(把钱递给罗斯):就是这个。七十六美元四十二美分。你看到了吗,波诺?现在,我最多只能拿回六美元。
Troy (handing Rose the money): There it is. Seventy-six dollars and forty-two cents. You see this, Bono? Now, I ain’t gonna get but six of that back.
罗斯:你不该再撒谎。拿来,莱昂斯。(她把钱递给他。)
Rose: You ought to stop telling that lie. Here, Lyons. (She hands him the money.)
L yons:谢谢,Rose。听着……我得走了……待会儿见。
Lyons: Thanks, Rose. Look … I got to run … I’ll see you later.
特洛伊:等一下。你要说“谢谢,罗斯”,却不看看她从哪儿弄来的那十美元?看看他们是怎么对待我的,波诺?
Troy: Wait a minute. You gonna say, “thanks, Rose” and ain’t gonna look to see where she got that ten dollars from? See how they do me, Bono?
L yons:我知道她是从你那儿拿来的,爸爸。谢谢。我会还给你的。
Lyons: I know she got it from you, Pop. Thanks. I’ll give it back to you.
特洛伊:他又在撒谎。等我看到那十美元……他就欠我三十美元了。
Troy: There he go telling another lie. Time I see that ten dollars … he’ll be owing me thirty more.
莱昂斯:再见,博诺先生。
Lyons: See you, Mr. Bono.
B ono:保重,Lyons!
Bono: Take care, Lyons!
L yons:谢谢,爸爸。我们会再见面的。
Lyons: Thanks, Pop. I’ll see you again.
(莱昂斯退出院子。)
(Lyons exits the yard.)
特洛伊:我不知道他为什么不去找一份体面的工作然后照顾好他那个女人。
Troy: I don’t know why he don’t go and get him a decent job and take care of that woman he got.
博诺:他会没事的,特洛伊。这孩子还小。
Bono: He’ll be all right, Troy. The boy is still young.
特洛伊:这个男孩三十四岁了。
Troy: The boy is thirty-four years old.
罗斯:我们别再谈论这些了。
Rose: Let’s not get off into all that.
B ono:听我说……我得走了。我得上车了。露西尔会等着我的。
Bono: Look here … I got to be going. I got to be getting on. Lucille gonna be waiting.
特洛伊(用手臂搂住罗斯):看到这个女人了吗,波诺?我爱这个女人。我爱得心痛。我爱她爱得深沉……我已经没有办法爱她了。所以我得回归本源。星期一早上你别来我家说要上班了……因为我还要抚摸你!
Troy (puts his arm around Rose): See this woman, Bono? I love this woman. I love this woman so much it hurts. I love her so much … I done run out of ways of loving her. So I got to go back to basics. Don’t you come by my house Monday morning talking about time to go to work … ’cause I’m still gonna be stroking!
罗斯:特洛伊!快停下来!
Rose: Troy! Stop it now!
博诺:罗斯,我才不理他呢。那只是空谈而已。继续吧,特洛伊。星期一见。
Bono: I ain’t paying him no mind, Rose. That ain’t nothing but gin-talk. Go on, Troy. I’ll see you Monday.
特洛伊:别来我家,黑鬼!我告诉过你我要做什么。
Troy: Don’t you come by my house, nigger! I done told you what I’m gonna be doing.
(灯光转黑。)
(The lights go down to black.)
乔什·吉布森: (1911-1947),20 世纪 30 年代著名棒球运动员,被认为是黑人联盟的贝比·鲁斯。
aJosh Gibson: (1911–1947), notable 1930s baseball player, considered the Babe Ruth of the Negro leagues.
b雷姆斯大叔:乔尔·钱德勒·哈里斯改编的黑人民间故事集里的虚构黑人叙述者。
bUncle Remus: Fictional black narrator in the collection of black folktales adapted by Joel Chandler Harris.
(灯亮了,Rose 正在晾衣服。她轻轻地哼着歌。这是第二天早上。)
(The lights come up on Rose hanging up clothes. She hums and sings softly to herself. It is the following morning.)
罗斯(唱):耶稣,每天在我周围筑起一道篱笆
Rose (sings): Jesus, be a fence all around me every day
耶稣,我希望你在我前行的路上保护我。
Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way.
耶稣,请每天在我周围筑起一道篱笆。
Jesus, be a fence all around me every day.
(特洛伊从屋里进来。)
(Troy enters from the house.)
耶稣,我希望你保护我
Jesus, I want you to protect me
当我在旅途中。
As I travel on my way.
(对特洛伊说)“早上好。你准备好吃早餐了吗?我挂完衣服后很快就能搞定。”
(To Troy.) ’Morning. You ready for breakfast? I can fix it soon as I finish hanging up these clothes.
特洛伊:我喝了咖啡。没关系。我今天早上就喝一点。
Troy: I got the coffee on. That’ll be all right. I’ll just drink some of that this morning.
罗斯:昨天有 651 号电话。这是本月第二次了。珀尔小姐打了 1 美元电话……似乎那些最不需要的人总是幸运的。穷人不可能什么都得不到。
Rose: That 651 hit yesterday. That’s the second time this month. Miss Pearl hit for a dollar … seem like those that need the least always get lucky. Poor folks can’t get nothing.
特洛伊:这些数字谁也不认识。我不知道你为什么要愚弄他们。你和莱昂斯都是。
Troy: Them numbers don’t know nobody. I don’t know why you fool with them. You and Lyons both.
罗斯:这是要做的一件事。
Rose: It’s something to do.
特洛伊:你什么也没做,只是在浪费钱。
Troy: You ain’t doing nothing but throwing your money away.
罗斯:特洛伊,你知道我玩牌从不傻。我只是这儿赌一分钱,那儿赌一分钱。
Rose: Troy, you know I don’t play foolishly. I just play a nickel here and a nickel there.
特洛伊:你真是把两枚镍币扔掉了。
Troy: That’s two nickels you done thrown away.
罗斯:现在我有时会打……这弥补了这一点。当我打球时,它总是派得上用场。我没听到你抱怨。
Rose: Now I hit sometimes … that makes up for it. It always comes in handy when I do hit. I don’t hear you complaining then.
特洛伊:我现在没有抱怨。我只是说这很愚蠢。试图从六百种方式中猜测数字会以哪种方式出现。如果我有这些黑鬼们花在数字上的所有钱——仅仅一周——我就会成为一个富人。
Troy: I ain’t complaining now. I just say it’s foolish. Trying to guess out of six hundred ways which way the number gonna come. If I had all the money niggers, these Negroes, throw away on numbers for one week — just one week — I’d be a rich man.
罗斯:好吧,你的愿望和愚蠢并不能阻止人们玩数字游戏。这是肯定的。此外……玩数字游戏会带来一些好处。看看波普是如何用数字买下那家餐馆的。
Rose: Well, you wishing and calling it foolish ain’t gonna stop folks from playing numbers. That’s one thing for sure. Besides … some good things come from playing numbers. Look where Pope done bought him that restaurant off of numbers.
特洛伊:我受不了这样的黑鬼。他连两毛钱都没有。他到处走,鞋子都踩烂了,到处乞讨钱买香烟。好吧。运气不错,中了大奖……
Troy: I can’t stand niggers like that. Man ain’t had two dimes to rub together. He walking around with his shoes all run over bumming money for cigarettes. All right. Got lucky there and hit the numbers …
罗斯:特洛伊,我全都知道。
Rose: Troy, I know all about it.
特洛伊:我替他这么说,他很有见识。他从不乱花钱。我见过黑鬼在四天内花掉两千美元。那个男人买下了那家餐馆……把它装修得漂漂亮亮……然后又不想让任何人进来!一个黑人进去,得不到任何服务。我见过一个白人进去点了一碗炖菜。波普把锅里的所有肉都挑出来给他。那个人除了一碗肉什么也没得到!黑人跟在他后面,除了土豆和胡萝卜什么也没得到。说到数字对人的作用,你选了一个错误的例子。他什么也没做,只是让他比以前更傻。
Troy: Had good sense, I’ll say that for him. He ain’t throwed his money away. I seen niggers hit the numbers and go through two thousand dollars in four days. Man bought him that restaurant down there … fixed it up real nice … and then didn’t want nobody to come in it! A Negro go in there and can’t get no kind of service. I seen a white fellow come in there and order a bowl of stew. Pope picked all the meat out the pot for him. Man ain’t had nothing but a bowl of meat! Negro come behind him and ain’t got nothing but the potatoes and carrots. Talking about what numbers do for people, you picked a wrong example. Ain’t done nothing but make a worser fool out of him than he was before.
罗斯:特洛伊,你不应该再担心昨天工作上发生的事情。
Rose: Troy, you ought to stop worrying about what happened at work yesterday.
特洛伊:我不担心。只是让我星期五去专员办公室。每个人都认为他们会解雇我。我并不担心他们会解雇我。你不必担心这个。
Troy: I ain’t worried. Just told me to be down there at the Commissioner’s office on Friday. Everybody think they gonna fire me. I ain’t worried about them firing me. You ain’t got to worry about that.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
科里在哪儿?科里在家吗?(呼叫。)科里?
Where’s Cory? Cory in the house? (Calls.) Cory?
罗斯:他出去了。
Rose: He gone out.
特洛伊:出去了,嗯?他出去是因为他知道我想让他帮我修建这个栅栏。我知道他是个什么人。那孩子害怕工作。
Troy: Out, huh? He gone out ’cause he know I want him to help me with this fence. I know how he is. That boy scared of work.
(加布里埃尔进来了。他走到小巷一半时,听到特洛伊的声音,便停了下来。)
(Gabriel enters. He comes halfway down the alley and, hearing Troy’s voice, stops.)
特洛伊(继续说):他一生中没做过什么工作。
Troy (continues): He ain’t done a lick of work in his life.
罗斯:他必须去参加足球训练。教练希望他们在赛季开始前多加练习一下。
Rose: He had to go to football practice. Coach wanted them to get in a little extra practice before the season start.
特洛伊:我让他练习一下……在他做完家务之前跑出去。
Troy: I got his practice … running out of here before he get his chores done.
罗斯:特洛伊,你今天早上怎么了?你是不是哪里不对劲。回去睡觉吧……从另一边起来。
Rose: Troy, what is wrong with you this morning? Don’t nothing set right with you. Go on back in there and go to bed … get up on the other side.
特洛伊:我怎么会出问题呢?我又没说我有问题。
Troy: Why something got to be wrong with me? I ain’t said nothing wrong with me.
罗斯:你对每件事都有话要说。首先是数字……然后是这个人经营餐厅的方式……然后你对科里说了什么。接下来会是什么?看看那里的天气是否适合你……或者你会如何搭起篱笆,把衣服挂在院子里。
Rose: You got something to say about everything. First it’s the numbers … then it’s the way the man runs his restaurant … then you done got on Cory. What’s it gonna be next? Take a look up there and see if the weather suits you … or is it gonna be how you gonna put up the fence with the clothes hanging in the yard.
特洛伊:那你说得太对了。
Troy: You hit the nail on the head then.
罗斯:我对你了如指掌。去那儿给你倒杯咖啡……看看这能不能让你清醒一点。因为你今天早上精神不太好。
Rose: I know you like I know the back of my hand. Go on in there and get you some coffee … see if that straighten you up. ’Cause you ain’t right this morning.
(特洛伊走进屋子,看到了加百列。加百列开始唱歌。特洛伊的弟弟,他比特洛伊小七岁。他在第二次世界大战中受伤,头上有一块金属板。他腰上系着一把旧喇叭,全身心地相信自己是大天使加百列。他提着一个破旧的篮子,里面装满了他在脱衣区捡到的各种废弃水果和蔬菜,他试图卖掉它们。)
(Troy starts into the house and sees Gabriel. Gabriel starts singing. Troy’s brother, he is seven years younger than Troy. Injured in World War II, he has a metal plate in his head. He carries an old trumpet tied around his waist and believes with every fiber of his being that he is the Archangel Gabriel. He carries a chipped basket with an assortment of discarded fruits and vegetables he has picked up in the strip district and which he attempts to sell.)
加布里埃尔(唱):是的,夫人,我买了李子
Gabriel (singing): Yes, ma’am, I got plums
你问我怎么卖它们
You ask me how I sell them
哦每人十美分
Oh ten cents apiece
每季度三次
Three for a quarter
立即购买
Come and buy now
因为我今天在这里
’Cause I’m here today
明天我就走了
And tomorrow I’ll be gone
(加布里埃尔进来。)
(Gabriel enters.)
嘿,罗斯!
Hey, Rose!
罗斯:你好吗,加布?
Rose: How you doing, Gabe?
加布里埃尔:那是特洛伊......嘿,特洛伊!
Gabriel: There’s Troy … Hey, Troy!
特洛伊:嘿,加布。
Troy: Hey, Gabe.
(退出,进入厨房。)
(Exit into kitchen.)
罗斯(对加布里埃尔说):你拿到了什么?
Rose (to Gabriel): What you got there?
加布里埃尔:你知道我买了什么吗,罗斯。我买了水果和蔬菜。
Gabriel: You know what I got, Rose. I got fruits and vegetables.
罗斯(看着篮子): “你说的那些李子都在哪儿?”
Rose (looking in basket): Where’s all these plums you talking about?
加布里埃尔:罗斯,我今天没有李子。我刚才还在唱这首歌。明天给我拿点。给我订一大笔李子。明天给圣彼得和大家买足够的李子。
Gabriel: I ain’t got no plums today, Rose. I was just singing that. Have some tomorrow. Put me in a big order for plums. Have enough plums tomorrow for St. Peter and everybody.
(特洛伊从厨房重新进入,穿过台阶。)
(Troy reenters from kitchen, crosses to steps.)
(对罗斯说。)
(To Rose.)
特洛伊对我很生气。
Troy’s mad at me.
特洛伊:我没有生你的气。我为什么生你的气?你没有对我做什么。
Troy: I ain’t mad at you. What I got to be mad at you about? You ain’t done nothing to me.
加布里埃尔:我只是搬到了珀尔小姐那里,以免妨碍你。我这样做不是有意要伤害你。
Gabriel: I just moved over to Miss Pearl’s to keep out from in your way. I ain’t mean no harm by it.
特洛伊:谁说过这个?我没说过这个。
Troy: Who said anything about that? I ain’t said anything about that.
加布里埃尔:你没有生我的气吧?
Gabriel: You ain’t mad at me, is you?
特洛伊:不……我没有生你的气,加布。如果我生你的气,我会告诉你的。
Troy: Naw … I ain’t mad at you, Gabe. If I was mad at you I’d tell you about it.
加布里埃尔:给我两个房间。在地下室。还有我自己的门。想看看我的钥匙吗?
Gabriel: Got me two rooms. In the basement. Got my own door too. Wanna see my key?
(他举起一把钥匙。)
(He holds up a key.)
那是我自己的钥匙!别人都没有这样的钥匙。那是我的钥匙!我的两个房间!
That’s my own key! Ain’t nobody else got a key like that. That’s my key! My two rooms!
特洛伊:嗯,那太好了,加布。你有自己的钥匙了……太好了。
Troy: Well, that’s good, Gabe. You got your own key … that’s good.
罗斯:你饿了吗,加布?我正准备给特洛伊做早餐。
Rose: You hungry, Gabe? I was just fixing to cook Troy his breakfast.
加布里埃尔:我要一些饼干。你有饼干吗?你知道当我在天堂的时候……每天早上我和圣彼得都会坐在门边吃一些大饼干吗?哦,是的!我们玩得很开心。我们会坐在那里吃饼干,然后圣彼得就会去睡觉,并告诉我在打开大门进行审判的时候叫醒他。
Gabriel: I’ll take some biscuits. You got some biscuits? Did you know when I was in heaven … every morning me and St. Peter would sit down by the gate and eat some big fat biscuits? Oh, yeah! We had us a good time. We’d sit there and eat us them biscuits and then St. Peter would go off to sleep and tell me to wake him up when it’s time to open the gates for the judgment.
罗斯:好吧,来吧......我会做一批饼干。
Rose: Well, come on … I’ll make up a batch of biscuits.
(罗斯退出屋子。)
(Rose exits into the house.)
加布里埃尔:特洛伊……圣彼得在书里提到了你的名字。我看见了。上面写着……特洛伊·马克森。我说……我认识他!他的名字和我一样。那是我兄弟!
Gabriel: Troy … St. Peter got your name in the book. I seen it. It say … Troy Maxson. I say … I know him! He got the same name like what I got. That’s my brother!
特洛伊:加布,你要告诉我多少次?
Troy: How many times you gonna tell me that, Gabe?
加布里埃尔:书里没有我的名字。不必写我的名字。我死了,去了天堂。但他写了你的名字。一天早上,圣彼得正在看他的书……为审判做标记……他让我看了你的名字。写在了 M 之下。写了罗斯的名字……我没见过像你的名字那样的名字……但我知道它就在里面。他有一本很大的书。写了所有人的名字,所有出生的人。他就是这么告诉我的。但我看到了你的名字。亲眼看到的。
Gabriel: Ain’t got my name in the book. Don’t have to have my name.I done died and went to heaven. He got your name though. One morning St. Peter was looking at his book … marking it up for the judgment … and he let me see your name. Got it in there under M. Got Rose’s name … I ain’t seen it like I seen yours … but I know it’s in there. He got a great big book. Got everybody’s name what was ever been born. That’s what he told me. But I seen your name. Seen it with my own eyes.
特洛伊:去屋里吧。罗斯要给你做点吃的。
Troy: Go on in the house there. Rose going to fix you something to eat.
加布里埃尔:哦,我不饿。我和杰米玛阿姨一起吃过早餐了。她过来给我做了一大堆烙饼。还记得我们以前吃烙饼吗?
Gabriel: Oh, I ain’t hungry. I done had breakfast with Aunt Jemimah. She come by and cooked me up a whole mess of flapjacks. Remember how we used to eat them flapjacks?
特洛伊:现在就进屋去弄点吃的。
Troy: Go on in the house and get you something to eat now.
G abriel:我得去卖我的李子了。我卖了一些西红柿。我得到了两个 25 美分硬币。想看看吗?
Gabriel: I got to go sell my plums. I done sold some tomatoes. Got me two quarters. Wanna see?
(他向特洛伊展示他的住处。)
(He shows Troy his quarters.)
我要把它们救下来,然后给我自己买一个新喇叭,这样当开门的时候圣彼得就能听到我的声音。
I’m gonna save them and buy me a new horn so St. Peter can hear me when it’s time to open the gates.
(加布里埃尔突然停下来,听着。)
(Gabriel stops suddenly. Listens.)
听见了吗?那是地狱猎犬。我得把它们赶出去。快出去!快出去!
Hear that? That’s the hellhounds. I got to chase them out of here. Go on get out of here! Get out!
(加布里埃尔唱完歌退场。)
(Gabriel exits singing.)
最好做好接受审判的准备
Better get ready for the judgment
最好做好接受审判的准备
Better get ready for the judgment
我主降临
My Lord is coming down
(罗斯从屋里进来。)
(Rose enters from the house.)
特洛伊:他去别处了。
Troy: He gone off somewhere.
加布里埃尔(幕后):最好做好接受审判的准备
Gabriel (offstage): Better get ready for the judgment
最好为审判日的早晨做好准备
Better get ready for the judgment morning
最好做好接受审判的准备
Better get ready for the judgment
我的上帝即将降临
My God is coming down
罗斯:他吃得不健康。珀尔小姐说她没法让他什么都不吃。
Rose: He ain’t eating right. Miss Pearl say she can’t get him to eat nothing.
特洛伊:罗斯,你想让我做什么?我已经为他做了我能做的一切。但我没法让他好起来。他的半个头都被炸掉了……你还指望什么?
Troy: What you want me to do about it, Rose? I done did everything I can for the man. I can’t make him get well. Man got half his head blown away … what you expect?
罗斯:看来应该做点什么来帮助他。
Rose: Seem like something ought to be done to help him.
特洛伊:伙计,别打扰任何人。他只是因为脑袋里装了一块金属板而精神错乱了。他没有必要再回到医院。
Troy: Man don’t bother nobody. He just mixed up from that metal plate he got in his head. Ain’t no sense for him to go back into the hospital.
罗斯:至少他要吃得好。他们可以帮助他照顾自己。
Rose: Least he be eating right. They can help him take care of himself.
特洛伊:没人想被关起来,罗斯。你为什么要把他关起来?他去那边打仗……和日本人混在一起,脑袋被炸掉一半……他们只给他三千美元。我不得不突然袭击他。
Troy: Don’t nobody wanna be locked up, Rose. What you wanna lock him up for? Man go over there and fight the war … messin’ around with them Japs, get half his head blown off … and they give him a lousy three thousand dollars. And I had to swoop down on that.
罗斯:你又准备谈论那件事了吗?
Rose: Is you fixing to go into that again?
特洛伊:因为有那块金属板,我才有地方栖身......
Troy: That’s the only way I got a roof over my head … cause of that metal plate.
罗斯:你没必要自责。加布没有能力管理这些钱。你对他做了正确的事。没人能说你对他没有做正确的事。看看你照顾他多久……直到他想要有自己的住处,和珀尔小姐一起搬到那里。
Rose: Ain’t no sense you blaming yourself for nothing. Gabe wasn’t in no condition to manage that money. You done what was right by him. Can’t nobody say you ain’t done what was right by him. Look how long you took care of him … till he wanted to have his own place and moved over there with Miss Pearl.
特洛伊:我可没这么说,女人!我只是陈述事实。如果我哥哥头上没有那块金属板……我就没有尿壶可以撒尿,也没有窗户可以扔尿。我今年 53 岁了。现在你看你能不能理解这一点!
Troy: That ain’t what I’m saying, woman! I’m just stating the facts. If my brother didn’t have that metal plate in his head … I wouldn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. And I’m fifty-three years old. Now see if you can understand that!
(特洛伊从门廊起身,开始走出院子。)
(Troy gets up from the porch and starts to exit the yard.)
罗斯:你要去哪儿?几个星期以来,你每个星期六都从这里跑出去。我以为你要去修理这个篱笆呢?
Rose: Where you going off to? You been running out of here every Saturday for weeks. I thought you was gonna work on this fence?
特洛伊:我要去泰勒家。听听球赛。我一会儿就回来。回来后我会继续努力。
Troy: I’m gonna walk down to Taylors’. Listen to the ball game. I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll work on it when I get back.
(他走出院子。灯光变黑。)
(He exits the yard. The lights go to black.)
(院子里的灯亮了。四个小时后。罗斯正在从绳子上取衣服。科里拿着他的足球装备走了进来。)
(The lights come up on the yard. It is four hours later. Rose is taking down the clothes from the line. Cory enters carrying his football equipment.)
罗斯:你爸爸看到你今天早上不做家务就跑出去,一定很生气。
Rose: Your daddy like to had a fit with you running out of here this morning without doing your chores.
科里:我告诉过你我必须去练习。
Cory: I told you I had to go to practice.
罗斯:他说你应该帮他修建这道篱笆。
Rose: He say you were supposed to help him with this fence.
科里:他最近四五个星期六都这么说,然后他就什么都不做,只是去泰勒学院。你跟他说过招聘人员的事吗?
Cory: He been saying that the last four or five Saturdays, and then he don’t never do nothing but go down to Taylors’. Did you tell him about the recruiter?
罗斯:是的,我告诉了他。
Rose: Yeah, I told him.
Cory :他说什么?
Cory: What he say?
罗斯:他没说太多。你进去,在他回来之前开始做家务。在他回来大喊大叫、喋喋不休之前,去把台阶擦干净。
Rose: He ain’t said nothing too much. You get in there and get started on your chores before he gets back. Go on and scrub down them steps before he gets back here hollering and carrying on.
科里:我饿了。妈妈,你吃什么呢?
Cory: I’m hungry. What you got to eat, Mama?
罗斯:快去做你的家务吧。我放了些肉饼。快去给你做个三明治吧……别把里面弄得乱七八糟。
Rose: Go on and get started on your chores. I got some meat loaf in there. Go on and make you a sandwich … and don’t leave no mess in there.
(科里走进屋子。罗斯继续脱衣服。特洛伊走进院子,偷偷溜走并从后面抓住了她。)
(Cory exits into the house. Rose continues to take down the clothes. Troy enters the yard and sneaks up and grabs her from behind.)
特洛伊!现在继续说。你总是把我吓得半死。比赛的比分是多少?露西尔让我打电话,我跟不上。
Troy! Go on, now. You liked to scared me to death. What was the score of the game? Lucille had me on the phone and I couldn’t keep up with it.
特洛伊:我关心比赛干什么?过来,女人。(他试图亲吻她。)
Troy: What I care about the game? Come here, woman. (He tries to kiss her.)
罗斯:我以为你去泰勒俱乐部听比赛了。快说,特洛伊!你应该去搭这个栅栏。
Rose: I thought you went down Taylors’ to listen to the game. Go on, Troy! You supposed to be putting up this fence.
特洛伊(再次试图亲吻她): “等我处理完手头的事情,我就把它挂起来。”
Troy (attempting to kiss her again): I’ll put it up when I finish with what is at hand.
罗斯:说吧,特洛伊。我没在研究你。
Rose: Go on, Troy. I ain’t studying you.
特洛伊(追上她):我正在研究你……准备做我的作业!
Troy (chasing after her): I’m studying you … fixing to do my homework!
罗斯:特洛伊,你最好别再打扰我。
Rose: Troy, you better leave me alone.
特洛伊:科里在哪?那小子已经回家了吗?
Troy: Where’s Cory? That boy brought his butt home yet?
罗斯:他正在屋里做家务。
Rose: He’s in the house doing his chores.
特洛伊(喊道):科里!小子,快过来!
Troy (calling): Cory! Get your butt out here, boy!
(罗斯拿着洗好的衣服走进屋子。特洛伊走到木柴堆旁,拿起一块木板开始锯。科里从屋子里进来。)
(Rose exits into the house with the laundry. Troy goes over to the pile of wood, picks up a board, and starts sawing. Cory enters from the house.)
特洛伊:你早上刚离开,现在才回来吗?
Troy: You just now coming in here from leaving this morning?
Cory :是的,我必须去参加足球练习。
Cory: Yeah, I had to go to football practice.
特洛伊:是啊,什么?
Troy: Yeah, what?
Cory :是的,先生。
Cory: Yessir.
特洛伊:我跟你差不了两秒。垃圾堆在那里,已经满了……你什么家务都没做……然后你就跑到这里说“是啊”。
Troy: I ain’t but two seconds off you noway. The garbage sitting in there overflowing … you ain’t done none of your chores … and you come in here talking about “Yeah.”
Cory :爸爸,我正准备做家务呢……
Cory: I was just getting ready to do my chores now, Pop …
特洛伊:你的第一个任务是星期六帮我修好这个栅栏。其他的都是之后的事。现在拿锯子来锯木板吧。
Troy: Your first chore is to help me with this fence on Saturday. Everything else come after that. Now get that saw and cut them boards.
(科里拿起锯子开始切割木板。特洛伊继续工作。长时间的沉默。)
(Cory takes the saw and begins cutting the boards. Troy continues working. There is a long pause.)
科里:嘿,爸爸...你为什么不买一台电视呢?
Cory: Hey, Pop … why don’t you buy a TV?
T roy:我要电视干什么?我要电视干什么?
Troy: What I want with a TV? What I want one of them for?
Cory :每个人都有。Earl、Ba Bra……Jesse!
Cory: Everybody got one. Earl, Ba Bra … Jesse!
特洛伊:我没问你谁有。我说的是我想要什么?
Troy: I ain’t asked you who had one. I say what I want with one?
Cory :所以你可以看。电视上有很多节目。棒球比赛什么的。我们可以看世界职业棒球大赛。
Cory: So you can watch it. They got lots of things on TV. Baseball games and everything. We could watch the World Series.
特罗伊:是的……这台电视多少钱?
Troy: Yeah … and how much this TV cost?
Cory :我不知道。他们以大约 200 美元的价格出售它们。
Cory: I don’t know. They got them on sale for around two hundred dollars.
特洛伊:两百美元,嗯?
Troy: Two hundred dollars, huh?
科里:那不算什么,爸爸。
Cory: That ain’t that much, Pop.
特洛伊:不,只要 200 美元。看到你晚上头顶上的屋顶了吗?让我告诉你一些关于屋顶的事情。自从上次给屋顶涂沥青以来已经过去了 10 多年。现在看……今年冬天下雪了,积雪像现在这样堆积在屋顶上……而且会渗入屋顶。只是一点点……几乎察觉不到。然后你知道的下一件事就是,它会漏到整个房子里。然后木头会因为积水而腐烂,你需要一个全新的屋顶。现在,你认为给屋顶涂沥青要花多少钱?
Troy: Naw, it’s just two hundred dollars. See that roof you got over your head at night? Let me tell you something about that roof. It’s been over ten years since that roof was last tarred. See now … the snow come this winter and sit up there on that roof like it is … and it’s gonna seep inside. It’s just gonna be a little bit … ain’t gonna hardly notice it. Then the next thing you know, it’s gonna be leaking all over the house. Then the wood rot from all that water and you gonna need a whole new roof. Now, how much you think it cost to get that roof tarred?
科里:我不知道。
Cory: I don’t know.
特洛伊: 264 美元……现金。当你想着买电视的时候,我却在想屋顶……以及这里其他出问题的地方。现在,如果你有 200 美元,你会做什么……修屋顶还是买电视?
Troy: Two hundred and sixty-four dollars … cash money. While you thinking about a TV, I got to be thinking about the roof … and whatever else go wrong around here. Now if you had two hundred dollars, what would you do … fix the roof or buy a TV?
Cory :我会买一台电视。然后当屋顶开始漏水……需要修理时……我会修好它。
Cory: I’d buy a TV. Then when the roof started to leak … when it needed fixing … I’d fix it.
特洛伊:你从哪儿弄钱?你已经把钱花在买电视上了。你现在要坐起来看着水流到你崭新的电视上。
Troy: Where you gonna get the money from? You done spent it for a TV. You gonna sit up and watch the water run all over your brand new TV.
科里:噢,爸爸。你有钱。我知道你有。
Cory: Aw, Pop. You got money. I know you do.
特洛伊:我在哪儿找到它的,嗯?
Troy: Where I got it at, huh?
Cory :你把它存入银行了。
Cory: You got it in the bank.
特洛伊:你想看我的存折吗?你想看我存在那里的七十三美元二十二美分吗?
Troy: You wanna see my bankbook? You wanna see that seventy-three dollars and twenty-two cents I got sitting up in there.
Cory :你不必一次性付清所有款项。你可以先付首付,然后把钱带回家。
Cory: You ain’t got to pay for it all at one time. You can put a down payment on it and carry it on home with you.
特洛伊:我不会欠任何人的,只要我能做到。如果你拖欠了,他们就会来把你的房子抢走。那你怎么办?现在,只要我赚到两百美元,我就会买一台电视机。现在,只要我赚到两百六十四美元,我就会把屋顶铺上沥青。
Troy: Not me. I ain’t gonna owe nobody nothing if I can help it. Miss a payment and they come and snatch it right out your house. Then what you got? Now, soon as I get two hundred dollars clear, then I’ll buy a TV. Right now, as soon as I get two hundred and sixty-four dollars, I’m gonna have this roof tarred.
Cory :噢…爸爸!
Cory: Aw … Pop!
特洛伊:如果你想要的话,你就去拿两百美元买一个吧。我有更好的事情要做。
Troy: You go on and get you two hundred dollars and buy one if ya want it. I got better things to do with my money.
科里:我拿不到两百美元。我从来没见过两百美元。
Cory: I can’t get no two hundred dollars. I ain’t never seen two hundred dollars.
特洛伊:我告诉你吧……你先拿一百美元,然后我会把另外一百美元跟你放在一起。
Troy: I’ll tell you what … you get you a hundred dollars and I’ll put the other hundred with it.
Cory :好的,我会告诉你的。
Cory: All right, I’m gonna show you.
特罗伊:你现在就给我演示一下怎样切割木板吧。
Troy: You gonna show me how you can cut them boards right now.
(科里开始切割木板。长时间的沉默。)
(Cory begins to cut the boards. There is a long pause.)
科里:海盗队今天赢了。他们已经五连胜了。
Cory: The Pirates won today. That makes five in a row.
特洛伊:我没想过海盗队。他们全是白人。他们有那个男孩……那个波多黎各男孩……克莱门特。别让他上场一半。如果他们给他机会,那男孩可能会有一番作为。今天让他上场,明天就让他坐板凳。
Troy: I ain’t thinking about the Pirates. Got an all-white team. Got that boy … that Puerto Rican boy … Clemente. Don’t even half-play him. That boy could be something if they give him a chance. Play him one day and sit him on the bench the next.
Cory :他获得了很多上场机会。
Cory: He gets a lot of chances to play.
特洛伊:我说的是经常打球。每天都打球,这样你就能掌握自己的节奏。这就是我所说的。
Troy: I’m talking about playing regular. Playing every day so you can get your timing. That’s what I’m talking about.
科里:他们队里有一些白人球员,他们不是每天都上场。你不可能让所有人同时上场。
Cory: They got some white guys on the team that don’t play every day. You can’t play everybody at the same time.
T roy:如果他们让一个白人坐在替补席上……你敢打赌他肯定打不了比赛!有色人种必须比他们优秀一倍才能加入球队。这就是为什么我不希望你沉迷于这些运动。球队里有色人种,他能得到什么?球队里有色人种,却不用他们。和没有他们一样。所有球队都一样。
Troy: If they got a white fellow sitting on the bench … you can bet your last dollar he can’t play! The colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That’s why I don’t want you to get all tied up in them sports. Man on the team and what it get him? They got colored on the team and don’t use them. Same as not having them. All them teams the same.
科里:勇士队有汉克·阿伦和韦斯·科文顿。汉克·阿伦今天打出两支本垒打。总共四十三支。
Cory: The Braves got Hank Aaron and Wes Covington. Hank Aaron hit two home runs today. That makes forty-three.
特洛伊:汉克·阿伦不是无名小卒。这就是你应该做的。这就是你应该玩的游戏方式。没什么大不了的。这只是一个时间问题……做出正确的后续动作。见鬼,我现在可以打出四十三个本垒打!
Troy: Hank Aaron ain’t nobody. That’s what you supposed to do. That’s how you supposed to play the game. Ain’t nothing to it. It’s just a matter of timing … getting the right follow-through. Hell, I can hit forty-three home runs right now!
科里:没有大联盟投手,你做不到。
Cory: Not off no major-league pitching, you couldn’t.
特洛伊:我们在黑人联盟的投手表现更好。我从萨奇·佩吉手中打出了七个本垒打。a你不可能比这更好了!
Troy: We had better pitching in the Negro leagues. I hit seven home runs off of Satchel Paige.a You can’t get no better than that!
科里:桑迪·库法克斯。他是联盟三振出局最多的人。
Cory: Sandy Koufax. He’s leading the league in strikeouts.
特洛伊:我没有想过桑迪·库法克斯。
Troy: I ain’t thinking of no Sandy Koufax.
科里:你有沃伦·斯潘和卢·伯德特。我敢打赌你不可能从沃伦·斯潘手中打出本垒打。
Cory: You got Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. I bet you couldn’t hit no home runs off of Warren Spahn.
特洛伊:我现在已经完成了。你继续切木板吧。
Troy: I’m through with it now. You go on and cut them boards.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
你妈妈告诉我你被大学橄榄球队招募了?是吗?
Your mama tell me you done got recruited by a college football team? Is that right?
Cory :是的。教练 Zellman 说招聘人员会过来和你谈谈。让你签署许可文件。
Cory: Yeah. Coach Zellman say the recruiter gonna be coming by to talk to you. Get you to sign the permission papers.
特洛伊:我以为你应该在 A&P 那儿工作。你不是应该放学后去那儿工作吗?
Troy: I thought you supposed to be working down there at the A&P. Ain’t you suppose to be working down there after school?
科里:斯塔维奇先生说他会为我保留工作直到足球赛季结束。他说从下周开始我可以在周末工作。
Cory: Mr. Stawicki say he gonna hold my job for me until after the football season. Say starting next week I can work weekends.
特洛伊:我以为我们对足球这件事情已经达成了共识?你应该继续做你的家务,保住 A&P 的工作。星期六一整天都不在这里。你的家务活都没做完……现在你告诉我你已经辞职了。
Troy: I thought we had an understanding about this football stuff? You suppose to keep up with your chores and hold that job down at the A&P. Ain’t been around here all day on a Saturday. Ain’t none of your chores done … and now you telling me you done quit your job.
Cory :我周末要工作。
Cory: I’m gonna be working weekends.
特洛伊:你说得对!而且也没必要有人来这里跟我谈什么都不签。
Troy: You damn right you are! And ain’t no need for nobody coming around here to talk to me about signing nothing.
科里:嘿,老爸……你不能这么做。他可是从北卡罗来纳州远道而来。
Cory: Hey, Pop … you can’t do that. He’s coming all the way from North Carolina.
T roy:我不在乎他来自哪里。白人绝对不会让你在足球方面有所成就。你继续学习书本知识,这样你就可以在 A&P 工作,或者学习如何修车、建房或做点别的,找一门手艺。这样你就有了一些别人夺不走的东西。你继续学习如何让你的手有用处。除了拖运人们的垃圾。
Troy: I don’t care where he coming from. The white man ain’t gonna let you get nowhere with that football noway. You go on and get your book-learning so you can work yourself up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can’t nobody take away from you. You go on and learn how to put your hands to some good use. Besides hauling people’s garbage.
科里:我的成绩很好,爸爸。这就是招聘人员想和你谈话的原因。你必须保持好成绩才能被录用。这样我就可以上大学了。我会有机会……
Cory: I get good grades, Pop. That’s why the recruiter wants to talk with you. You got to keep up your grades to get recruited. This way I’ll be going to college. I’ll get a chance …
特洛伊:首先你得去 A&P 公司重新拿回你的工作。
Troy: First you gonna get your butt down there to the A&P and get your job back.
科里:斯塔维奇先生已经雇用了其他人,因为我告诉他我在踢足球。
Cory: Mr. Stawicki done already hired somebody else ’cause I told him I was playing football.
特洛伊:你比我想象的还要傻……为了让你踢足球而让别人抢走你的工作。你从哪里弄钱去带女朋友出去玩之类的?让别人抢走你的工作是多傻啊?
Troy: You a bigger fool than I thought … to let somebody take away your job so you can play some football. Where you gonna get your money to take out your girlfriend and whatnot? What kind of foolishness is that to let somebody take away your job?
Cory :我周末还是会工作。
Cory: I’m still gonna be working weekends.
特洛伊:不……不。你赶紧离开这里,再找一份工作。
Troy: Naw … naw. You getting your butt out of here and finding you another job.
科里:拜托,爸爸!我得去训练。我不能放学后一边工作一边踢足球。球队需要我。这是泽尔曼教练说的……
Cory: Come on, Pop! I got to practice. I can’t work after school and play football too. The team needs me. That’s what Coach Zellman say …
特洛伊:我不在乎别人说什么。我是老板……你明白吗?我是这里的老板。我只说最重要的话。
Troy: I don’t care what nobody else say. I’m the boss … you understand? I’m the boss around here. I do the only saying what counts.
Cory :来吧,爸爸!
Cory: Come on, Pop!
特洛伊:我问你……你明白了吗?
Troy: I asked you … did you understand?
Cory :是的……
Cory: Yeah …
特洛伊:啥?!
Troy: What?!
Cory :是的,先生。
Cory: Yessir.
特洛伊:你去那家 A&P 看看能不能找回工作。如果不能两全其美……那你就退出足球队吧。你必须接受正直的人和坏人。
Troy: You go on down there to that A&P and see if you can get your job back. If you can’t do both … then you quit the football team. You’ve got to take the crookeds with the straights.
Cory :是的,先生。
Cory: Yessir.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
我可以问你一个问题吗?
Can I ask you a question?
特洛伊:你到底想问我什么?你问的是斯塔维奇先生。
Troy: What the hell you wanna ask me? Mr. Stawicki the one you got the questions for.
Cory :你怎么从来就不喜欢我呢?
Cory: How come you ain’t never liked me?
特洛伊:喜欢你?谁说我必须喜欢你?有什么法律规定我必须喜欢你?想当着我的面问这种愚蠢的问题吗?谈论喜欢某人。过来,小子,当我跟你说话的时候。
Troy: Liked you? Who the hell say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Wanna stand up in my face and ask a damn fool-ass question like that. Talking about liking somebody. Come here, boy, when I talk to you.
(科里走到特洛伊工作的地方。他懒散地站着,特洛伊把他推到肩上。)
(Cory comes over to where Troy is working. He stands slouched over and Troy shoves him on his shoulder.)
振作起来,该死的!我问你一个问题……有什么法律规定我必须喜欢你?
Straighten up, goddammit! I asked you a question … what law is there say I got to like you?
Cory :没有。
Cory: None.
特洛伊:好吧!你不是每天都吃饭吗?
Troy: Well, all right then! Don’t you eat every day?
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
我跟你说话你回答我!你不是天天吃饭吗?
Answer me when I talk to you! Don’t you eat every day?
Cory :是的。
Cory: Yeah.
特洛伊:黑鬼,只要你在我家,你跟我说话的时候就把那位先生放在首位!
Troy: Nigger, as long as you in my house, you put that sir on the end of it when you talk to me!
科里:是的……先生。
Cory: Yes … sir.
特洛伊:你每天都吃饭。
Troy: You eat every day.
Cory :是的,先生!
Cory: Yessir!
特洛伊:有个栖身之所。
Troy: Got a roof over your head.
Cory :是的,先生!
Cory: Yessir!
特洛伊:你身上有衣服。
Troy: Got clothes on your back.
Cory :是的,先生。
Cory: Yessir.
特洛伊:你认为原因何在?
Troy: Why you think that is?
Cory :都是因为你。
Cory: Cause of you.
特洛伊:啊,我知道这是因为我……但你认为这是为什么呢?
Troy: Ah, hell I know it’s ’cause of me … but why do you think that is?
Cory (犹豫): “因为你喜欢我。”
Cory (hesitant): Cause you like me.
特洛伊:喜欢你吗?我每天早上都从这里出去……拼命工作……忍受那些白人……因为我喜欢你?你是我见过的最大的傻瓜。
Troy: Like you? I go out of here every morning … bust my butt … putting up with them crackersb every day … cause I like you? You about the biggest fool I ever saw.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
这是我的工作。这是我的责任!你明白吗?男人必须照顾好他的家人。你住在我的房子里……睡在我的床单上……用我的食物填饱你的肚子……因为你是我的儿子。你是我的骨肉。不是因为我喜欢你!因为照顾你是我的义务。我对你负有责任!让我们先把这件事说清楚……在事情进一步发展之前……我不必喜欢你。兰德先生发薪日不给我钱,因为他喜欢我。他给我钱是因为他欠我。我已经给了你我能给你的一切。我给了你生命!我和你妈妈已经解决了这个问题。喜欢你的黑屁股可不是交易的一部分。你难道不要一辈子都担心别人是否喜欢你吗?你最好确保他们对你好。你明白我的意思吗,孩子?
It’s my job. It’s my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house … sleep you behind on my bedclothes … fill you belly up with my food … cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not cause I like you! Cause it’s my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! Let’s get this straight right here …before it go along any further … I ain’t got to like you. Mr. Rand don’t give me my money come payday cause he likes me. He gives me cause he owe me. I done give you everything I had to give you. I gave you your life! Me and your mama worked that out between us. And liking your black ass wasn’t part of the bargain. Don’t you try and go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not. You best be making sure they doing right by you. You understand what I’m saying, boy?
Cory :是的,先生。
Cory: Yessir.
特洛伊:那你就从我面前滚开,快去 A&P 吧。
Troy: Then get the hell out of my face, and get on down to that A&P.
(在大部分场景中,罗斯一直站在纱门后面。科里退出时,她才进入。)
(Rose has been standing behind the screen door for much of the scene. She enters as Cory exits.)
罗斯:特洛伊,你为什么不让这孩子继续踢足球呢?那也没什么坏处。他只是想在运动方面像你一样。
Rose: Why don’t you let the boy go ahead and play football, Troy? Ain’t no harm in that. He’s just trying to be like you with the sports.
特洛伊:我不想让他像我一样!我希望他离我的生活越远越好。你是我一生中唯一一件体面的事。我希望他能这样。但我不希望他离开我的人生。十七年前,我就决定,那个男孩再也不参加任何体育运动了。在他们在体育运动中对我所做的一切之后,我再也不参加任何体育运动了。
Troy: I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get. You the only decent thing that ever happened to me. I wish him that. But I don’t wish him a thing else from my life. I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasn’t getting involved in no sports. Not after what they did to me in the sports.
罗斯:特洛伊,你为什么不承认自己年纪太大,不适合在大联盟打球?就这一次……你为什么不承认呢?
Rose: Troy, why don’t you admit you was too old to play in the major leagues? For once … why don’t you admit that?
特洛伊:什么叫太老?别跟我说我太老了。我只是肤色不对。见鬼,我 53 岁了,现在比塞尔柯克的 .269 还厉害!
Troy: What do you mean too old? Don’t come telling me I was too old. I just wasn’t the right color. Hell, I’m fifty-three years old and can do better than Selkirk’s .269 right now!
罗斯:你过了四十岁还怎么打球?有时我真搞不懂你的意思。
Rose: How’s was you gonna play ball when you were over forty? Sometimes I can’t get no sense out of you.
特洛伊:我很明智,女人。我很明智,不会让我的儿子因为不运动而受伤。你对那个男孩太溺爱了。担心人们是否喜欢他。
Troy: I got good sense, woman. I got sense enough not to let my boy get hurt over playing no sports. You been mothering that boy too much. Worried about if people like him.
罗斯:那个男孩所做的一切……都是为了你。他想让你说“干得好,儿子。”仅此而已。
Rose: Everything that boy do … he do for you. He wants you to say “Good job, son.” That’s all.
特洛伊:罗斯,我没时间做这些。他还活着。他很健康。他必须走自己的路。我已经走完了自己的路。当他走出那个世界时,没有人会牵着他的手。
Troy: Rose, I ain’t got time for that. He’s alive. He’s healthy. He’s got to make his own way. I made mine. Ain’t nobody gonna hold his hand when he get out there in that world.
罗斯:特洛伊,时代已经变了,和你小时候不一样了。人也变了。你身边的世界在变化,而你却浑然不知。
Rose: Times have changed from when you was young, Troy. People change. The world’s changing around you and you can’t even see it.
特洛伊(慢条斯理):女人……我尽我所能。我每个星期五都来这里。我带着一袋土豆和一桶猪油。你们都伸出双手在门口排成一排。我把口袋里的棉绒给你们。我把汗水和鲜血献给你们。我没有眼泪。我已经流干了。晚上我们上楼到那个房间……我扑倒在你们身上,试图炸出一个永远的洞。我星期一早上起床……发现我的午餐在桌子上。我走出去。走自己的路。找到我的力量,让我撑到下一个星期五。
Troy (slow, methodical): Woman … I do the best I can do. I come in here every Friday. I carry a sack of potatoes and a bucket of lard. You all line up at the door with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood. I ain’t got no tears. I done spent them. We go upstairs in that room at night … and I fall down on you and try to blast a hole into forever. I get up Monday morning … find my lunch on the table. I go out. Make my way. Find my strength to carry me through to the next Friday.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
这就是我的所有,罗斯。这就是我能给出的所有。我不能再给出别的了。
That’s all I got, Rose. That’s all I got to give. I can’t give nothing else.
(特洛伊走进屋子。灯光转暗。)
(Troy exits into the house. The lights go down to black.)
萨切尔·佩吉 (Satchel Paige):( 1906?-1982),黑人联盟和美国职业棒球大联盟著名的黑人投手。
aSatchel Paige: (1906?–1982), renowned black pitcher in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball.
b饼干:指白人,常常用来贬低弱势的白人。
bcrackers: Reference to white people, often used to belittle underprivileged whites.
(两周后,星期五。科里带着他的足球装备出门。电话响了。)
(It is Friday. Two weeks later. Cory starts out of the house with his football equipment. The phone rings.)
Cory (呼叫):我明白了!
Cory (calling): I got it!
(他接了电话,站在纱门前说话。)
(He answers the phone and stands in the screen door talking.)
你好?嘿,杰西。没……我正准备离开呢。
Hello? Hey, Jesse. Naw … I was just getting ready to leave now.
罗斯(呼唤):“科里!”
Rose (calling): Cory!
科里:我告诉过你,伙计,那些钉子都破了。你想用它们就用它们,但它们没什么用。厄尔有一些钉子。
Cory: I told you, man, them spikes is all tore up. You can use them if you want, but they ain’t no good. Earl got some spikes.
罗斯(呼唤):“科里!”
Rose (calling): Cory!
科里(呼唤罗斯):妈妈?我在跟杰西说话。
Cory (calling to Rose): Mam? I’m talking to Jesse.
(接通電話。)
(Into phone.)
当她说那句话的时候?(停顿)噢,你撒谎了,伙计。我要告诉她你这么说。
When she say that? (Pause.) Aw, you lying, man. I’m gonna tell her you said that.
罗斯(喊道):科里,你哪儿也别去!
Rose (calling): Cory, don’t you go nowhere!
Cory :妈妈,我得去看比赛了!
Cory: I got to go to the game, Ma!
(对着电话。)
(Into the phone.)
是的,嘿,听着,我待会儿再跟你聊。是的,我会在厄尔家见你。待会儿。再见,妈妈。
Yeah, hey, look, I’ll talk to you later. Yeah, I’ll meet you over Earl’s house. Later. Bye, Ma.
(科里走出房子,走向院子。)
(Cory exits the house and starts out the yard.)
罗斯:科里,你要去哪儿?你把那些东西都拿出来扔到房间里各处。
Rose: Cory, where you going off to? You got that stuff all pulled out and thrown all over your room.
科里(在院子里):我在找我的钉鞋。杰西想借我的钉鞋。
Cory (in the yard): I was looking for my spikes. Jesse wanted to borrow my spikes.
罗斯:在你爸爸回来之前,赶快上去把那里清理干净。
Rose: Get up there and get that cleaned up before your daddy get back in here.
Cory :我得去看比赛了!回来后我会收拾干净的。
Cory: I got to go to the game! I’ll clean it up when I get back.
(科里退场。)
(Cory exits.)
罗斯:他只需看到那个房间乱糟糟的就行了。
Rose: That’s all he need to do is see that room all messed up.
(罗斯走进屋子。特洛伊和博诺进入院子。特洛伊穿着的工作服以外的衣服。)
(Rose exits into the house. Troy and Bono enter the yard. Troy is dressed in clothes other than his work clothes.)
B ono:他跟你说的和他说的一样。把这件事交给工会。
Bono: He told him the same thing he told you. Take it to the union.
特洛伊:布朗尼没那么聪明。他什么都没想。等我和他当面对质……他就会哭诉自己的资历。
Troy: Brownie ain’t got that much sense. Man wasn’t thinking about nothing. He wait until I confront them on it … then he wanna come crying seniority.
(呼叫。)
(Calls.)
嘿,罗斯!
Hey, Rose!
B ono:我希望能看到兰德先生告诉你这件事时他的表情。
Bono: I wish I could have seen Mr. Rand’s face when he told you.
特洛伊:他总是忍不住说了出来!喜欢咬自己的舌头!当他们把我叫到局长办公室时……他以为他们会解雇我。就像其他人一样。
Troy: He couldn’t get it out of his mouth! Liked to bit his tongue! When they called me down there to the Commissioner’s office … he thought they was gonna fire me. Like everybody else.
B ono:我没想到他们会解雇你。我以为他们会把你列入警告名单。
Bono: I didn’t think they was gonna fire you. I thought they was gonna put you on the warning paper.
特洛伊:嘿,罗斯!
Troy: Hey, Rose!
(对波诺说。)
(To Bono.)
是的,兰德先生喜欢咬自己的舌头。
Yeah, Mr. Rand like to bit his tongue.
(特洛伊打开瓶子的封条,喝了一口,然后递给波诺。)
(Troy breaks the seal on the bottle, takes a drink, and hands it to Bono.)
B ono:我看到你直接跑到泰勒百货商店去告诉那位阿尔伯塔女孩。
Bono: I see you run right down to Taylors’ and told that Alberta gal.
特洛伊(打电话):嘿,罗斯!(对波诺说。 )我告诉了所有人。嘿,罗斯!我去那儿兑现我的支票了。
Troy (calling): Hey, Rose! (To Bono.) I told everybody. Hey, Rose! I went down there to cash my check.
罗斯(从屋子里进来):别再叫了,老兄!我认识你。局长办公室那边的人说了什么?
Rose (entering from the house): Hush all that hollering, man! I know you out here. What they say down there at the Commissioner’s office?
特洛伊:女人,我叫你的时候你应该过来。波诺会告诉你的。
Troy: You supposed to come when I call you, woman. Bono’ll tell you that.
(对波诺说。)
(To Bono.)
当你呼唤露西尔时她不来吗?
Don’t Lucille come when you call her?
罗斯:伙计,闭嘴。我又不是狗……说什么“叫我我就来。”
Rose: Man, hush your mouth. I ain’t no dog … talk about “come when you call me.”
特洛伊(用手臂搂住罗斯):你听见了吗,波诺?我养了一只老狗,它以前总是这样傲慢。你说,“过来,布鲁!”……它就躺在那儿看着你。最后你拿起一根棍子把它赶走,想让它过来。
Troy ( puts his arm around Rose): You hear this Bono? I had me an old dog used to get uppity like that. You say, “C’mere, Blue!” … and he just lay there and look at you. End up getting a stick and chasing him away trying to make him come.
罗斯:我没有研究你和你的狗。我记得你曾经唱过那首老歌。
Rose: I ain’t studying you and your dog. I remember you used to sing that old song.
特洛伊(他唱道):听见它响了!听见它响了!我有一只狗,它的名字叫布鲁。
Troy (he sings): Hear it ring! Hear it ring! I had a dog his name was Blue.
罗斯:没人想听你唱那首老歌。
Rose: Don’t nobody wanna hear you sing that old song.
特洛伊(唱):你知道蓝色是十分真实的。
Troy (sings): You know Blue was mighty true.
罗斯:科里曾经在这里跑来跑去唱这首歌。
Rose: Used to have Cory running around here singing that song.
B ono:哎呀,我自己也记得那首歌。
Bono: Hell, I remember that song myself.
特洛伊(唱):你知道布鲁是一只善良的老狗。
Troy (sings): You know Blue was a good old dog.
布鲁把一只负鼠困在一根空心原木里。
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log.
那是我爸爸的歌。我爸爸编了这首歌。
That was my daddy’s song. My daddy made up that song.
罗斯:我不在乎是谁创作的。没有人想听你唱这首歌。
Rose: I don’t care who made it up. Don’t nobody wanna hear you sing it.
特洛伊(像呼唤狗一样唱歌):“过来,女人。”
Troy (makes a song like calling a dog): Come here, woman.
罗斯:你来这里还喋喋不休,我想他们还没解雇你。局长办公室那边的人怎么说?
Rose: You come in here carrying on, I reckon they ain’t fired you. What they say down there at the Commissioner’s office?
特洛伊:听我说,罗斯……今天我刚和下面的人谈完话回来,兰德先生就把我叫到他的办公室……消息是从上面来的……他把我叫进去,告诉我他们要让我当司机。
Troy: Look here, Rose … Mr. Rand called me into his office today when I got back from talking to them people down there … it come from up top … he called me in and told me they was making me a driver.
罗斯:特洛伊,你开玩笑吧!
Rose: Troy, you kidding!
特洛伊:不,我不是。你去问波诺吧。
Troy: No I ain’t. Ask Bono.
罗斯:好吧,太好了,特洛伊。现在你不用再去打扰他们了。
Rose: Well, that’s great, Troy. Now you don’t have to hassle them people no more.
(莱昂斯从街上进来。)
(Lyons enters from the street.)
特洛伊:哎呀,我今天本来不想见你的。我以为你在监狱里。《信使报》头版上全是他们突袭塞弗斯住所的报道……你和那些暴徒混在一起。
Troy: Aw hell, I wasn’t looking to see you today. I thought you was in jail. Got it all over the front page of the Courier about them raiding Sefus’ place … where you be hanging out with all them thugs.
L yons:嘿,老爸……那跟我没关系。我去那儿不是为了赌博。我去那儿是为了和乐队一起坐坐。我跟赌博没关系。他们那儿的音乐不错。
Lyons: Hey, Pop … that ain’t got nothing to do with me. I don’t go down there gambling. I go down there to sit in with the band. I ain’t got nothing to do with the gambling part. They got some good music down there.
特洛伊:他们抓到了一些流氓......这就是他们抓到的。
Troy: They got some rogues … is what they got.
L yons:您好吗,Bono 先生?嗨,Rose。
Lyons: How you been, Mr. Bono? Hi, Rose.
B ono:我看到你今晚在克劳福德烧烤店玩。
Bono: I see where you playing down at the Crawford Grill tonight.
罗斯:你为什么不像我告诉你的那样把邦妮带过来。你应该把邦妮带过来,她已经一个月没有来过周日了。
Rose: How come you ain’t brought Bonnie like I told you. You should have brought Bonnie with you, she ain’t been over in a month of Sundays.
L yons:我刚刚就在附近……想顺便过来一下。
Lyons: I was just in the neighborhood … thought I’d stop by.
特洛伊:他来了……
Troy: Here he come …
B ono:你爸爸在垃圾车上升职了。他将成为第一位有色人种司机。不用做其他事,只要像那些白人一样坐在那里读报纸就行了。
Bono: Your daddy got a promotion on the rubbish. He’s gonna be the first colored driver. Ain’t got to do nothing but sit up there and read the paper like them white fellows.
L yons:嘿,爸爸……如果你懂得读书的话你就没事了。
Lyons: Hey, Pop … if you knew how to read you’d be all right.
B ono:不……不……你的意思是如果黑鬼会开车就没事了。一直在和那些人争吵驾驶问题,甚至没有驾照。兰德先生知道你没有驾照吗?
Bono: Naw … naw … you mean if the nigger knew how to drive he’d be all right. Been fighting with them people about driving and ain’t even got a license. Mr. Rand know you ain’t got no driver’s license?
特洛伊:驾驶不算什么。你只需要把卡车开到你想去的地方。驾驶不算什么。
Troy: Driving ain’t nothing. All you do is point the truck where you want it to go. Driving ain’t nothing.
B ono:兰德先生知道您没有驾照吗?这就是我要说的。我不是问开车是否容易。我是问兰德先生是否知道您没有驾照。
Bono: Do Mr. Rand know you ain’t got no driver’s license? That’s what I’m talking about. I ain’t asked if driving was easy. I asked if Mr. Rand know you ain’t got no driver’s license.
特洛伊:他没必要知道。这个人没必要知道我的事。等他知道了,我还有两三张驾照。
Troy: He ain’t got to know. The man ain’t got to know my business. Time he find out, I have two or three driver’s licenses.
莱昂斯(伸手进口袋): “喂,你看这儿,爸爸……”
Lyons ( going into his pocket): Say, look here, Pop …
特洛伊:我就知道会这样。我没告诉你吗,波诺?我知道那是什么“看这里,老爸”。黑鬼要来向我要钱。今天是星期五晚上。这是我发工资的日子。大街上所有的流氓……那些没有进监狱的……莱昂斯正准备和他们一起去那里。
Troy: I knew it was coming. Didn’t I tell you, Bono? I know what kind of “Look here, Pop” that was. The nigger fixing to ask me for some money. It’s Friday night. It’s my payday. All them rogues down there on the avenue … the ones that ain’t in jail … and Lyons is hopping in his shoes to get down there with them.
L yons:瞧,爸爸……如果你给别人一个说话的机会,你就会明白我正准备按照我说的还你那 10 美元。喂……我说过,等邦妮拿到工资后我就会还你钱。
Lyons: See, Pop … if you give somebody else a chance to talk sometime, you’d see that I was fixing to pay you back your ten dollars like I told you. Here … I told you I’d pay you when Bonnie got paid.
特洛伊:不……你先把那十美元留着。把它存入银行。下次你想过来向我要东西时……你就去那里拿吧。
Troy: Naw … you go ahead and keep that ten dollars. Put it in the bank. The next time you feel like you wanna come by here and ask me for something … you go on down there and get that.
莱昂斯:爸爸,这是你的十美元。我说过我不想你给我任何东西。我只是想借十美元。
Lyons: Here’s your ten dollars, Pop. I told you I don’t want you to give me nothing. I just wanted to borrow ten dollars.
特洛伊:不……你继续吧,下次问我的时候再问吧。
Troy: Naw … you go on and keep that for the next time you want to ask me.
L yons:来吧,爸爸……这是你的十美元。
Lyons: Come on, Pop … here go your ten dollars.
罗斯:特洛伊,你为什么不继续让那男孩偿还你呢?
Rose: Why don’t you go on and let the boy pay you back, Troy?
L yons:给你,Rose。如果你不接受的话,我接下来的六个月就得听你唠叨了。
Lyons: Here you go, Rose. If you don’t take it I’m gonna have to hear about it for the next six months.
(他把钱递给她。)
(He hands her the money.)
罗斯:特洛伊,你也可以把你的交给我。
Rose: You can hand yours over here too, Troy.
特洛伊:你看到了,波诺。你看到他们是怎么对待我的。
Troy: You see this, Bono. You see how they do me.
B ono:是的,Lucille 也对我一样。
Bono: Yeah, Lucille do me the same way.
(听到加布里埃尔在舞台外唱歌。他进入舞台。)
(Gabriel is heard singing offstage. He enters.)
加布里埃尔:最好为审判做好准备!最好为……嘿!……嘿!……那是特洛伊的儿子!
Gabriel: Better get ready for the Judgment! Better get ready for … Hey! … Hey! … There’s Troy’s boy!
L yons:您好吗,加布叔叔?
Lyons: How are you doing, Uncle Gabe?
加布里埃尔:莱昂斯……丛林之王!罗斯……嘿,罗斯。给你一朵花。
Gabriel: Lyons … The King of the Jungle! Rose … hey, Rose. Got a flower for you.
(他从口袋里掏出一朵玫瑰。)
(He takes a rose from his pocket.)
我自己摘的。跟你那朵玫瑰一模一样!
Picked it myself. That’s the same rose like you is!
罗斯:你真是太好了,加布。
Rose: That’s right nice of you, Gabe.
L yons:您在做什么呢,Gabe 叔叔?
Lyons: What you been doing, Uncle Gabe?
加布里埃尔:哦,我一直在追逐地狱犬,等待时机告诉圣彼得打开大门。
Gabriel: Oh, I been chasing hellhounds and waiting on the time to tell St. Peter to open the gates.
L yons:你一直在追赶地狱犬,嗯?好吧……你做得对,Gabe 叔叔。总得有人去追赶它们。
Lyons: You been chasing hellhounds, huh? Well … you doing the right thing, Uncle Gabe. Somebody got to chase them.
加布里埃尔:哦,是的……我知道。魔鬼很强大。魔鬼不是软弱的人。地狱猎犬会咬断每个人的脚后跟。但我拿着喇叭等待审判之时。
Gabriel: Oh, yeah … I know it. The devil’s strong. The devil ain’t no pushover. Hellhounds snipping at everybody’s heels. But I got my trumpet waiting on the judgment time.
L yons:等待哈米吉多顿战役,嗯?
Lyons: Waiting on the Battle of Armageddon, huh?
加布里埃尔:当上帝挥舞审判之剑时,战斗不会太激烈。但如果天堂之门不开,人们将很难进入天堂。
Gabriel: Ain’t gonna be too much of a battle when God get to waving that Judgment sword. But the people’s gonna have a hell of a time trying to get into heaven if them gates ain’t open.
莱昂斯(搂住加布里埃尔):爸爸,你听见了吗?加布里埃尔叔叔,你没事吧!
Lyons (putting his arm around Gabriel): You hear this, Pop. Uncle Gabe, you all right!
加布里埃尔(和莱昂斯一起笑):“莱昂斯!丛林之王。”
Gabriel (laughing with Lyons): Lyons! King of the Jungle.
罗斯:你要留下来吃晚饭,加布。要我给你做盘菜吗?
Rose: You gonna stay for supper, Gabe. Want me to fix you a plate?
加布里埃尔:我要一个三明治,罗斯。不要盘子。只想用手吃。我要一个三明治。
Gabriel: I’ll take a sandwich, Rose. Don’t want no plate. Just wanna eat with my hands. I’ll take a sandwich.
罗斯:你呢,莱昂斯?你留下来吗?我煮了些牛小排。
Rose: How about you, Lyons? You staying? Got some short ribs cooking.
L yons:不,在我们打完比赛之前我不会吃任何东西。
Lyons: Naw, I won’t eat nothing till after we finished playing.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
爸爸,你应该下来听我演奏。
You ought to come down and listen to me play, Pop.
特洛伊:我不喜欢那种中国音乐。太吵了。
Troy: I don’t like that Chinese music. All that noise.
罗斯:加布,进屋去洗漱一下……我去给你做个三明治。
Rose: Go on in the house and wash up, Gabe … I’ll fix you a sandwich.
加布里埃尔(向离开的莱昂斯说):特洛伊对我很生气。
Gabriel (to Lyons, as he exits): Troy’s mad at me.
莱昂斯:爸爸,你为什么对加布叔叔生气呢?
Lyons: What you mad at Uncle Gabe for, Pop.
罗斯:他认为特洛伊对他生气是因为他搬到了珀尔小姐那里。
Rose: He thinks Troy’s mad at him cause he moved over to Miss Pearl’s.
特洛伊:我没生他的气。他可以住在他想住的地方。
Troy: I ain’t mad at the man. He can live where he want to live at.
L yons:他为什么搬到那里去? Pearl 小姐不喜欢任何人。
Lyons: What he move over there for? Miss Pearl don’t like nobody.
罗斯:她一点也不介意他。她对他很好。她只是不允许他唱歌。
Rose: She don’t mind him none. She treats him real nice. She just don’t allow all that singing.
特洛伊:她不介意他付房租……这就是她不介意的。
Troy: She don’t mind that rent he be paying … that’s what she don’t mind.
罗斯:特洛伊,我不想再和你谈这些了。他去那边是因为他想有自己的住处。他想来就来,想走就走。
Rose: Troy, I ain’t going through that with you no more. He’s over there cause he want to have his own place. He can come and go as he please.
特洛伊:见鬼,他想来就来,想走就走。我没阻止他。我也没给他设限。
Troy: Hell, he could come and go as he please here. I wasn’t stopping him. I ain’t put no rules on him.
罗斯:这完全是两码事,特洛伊。你知道的。
Rose: It ain’t the same thing, Troy. And you know it.
(加布里埃尔来到门口。)
(Gabriel comes to the door.)
现在,这是我最后一次听到这件事了。我不想再听到关于加布和珀尔小姐的任何消息。下周……
Now, that’s the last I wanna hear about that. I don’t wanna hear nothing else about Gabe and Miss Pearl. And next week …
加布里埃尔:我准备好吃三明治了,罗斯。
Gabriel: I’m ready for my sandwich, Rose.
罗斯:下周……当学校的招聘人员来找我时……我要你签署那份文件,让科里继续踢足球。那将是最后一次听到这件事了。
Rose: And next week … when that recruiter come from that school … I want you to sign that paper and go on and let Cory play football. Then that’ll be the last I have to hear about that.
特洛伊(对走进屋子的罗斯说): “我什么也没想着科里。”
Troy (to Rose as she exits into the house): I ain’t thinking about Cory nothing.
L yons:什么……Cory 被招募了?他去哪所学校了?
Lyons: What … Cory got recruited? What school he going to?
特洛伊:那个男孩在这里四处走动,闻着自己的尿味……以为自己长大了。以为不管我说什么,他都会做自己想做的事。听我说,博诺……我离开了专员办公室,去了 A&P……那个男孩不在那里工作。他骗了我。告诉我他找回了工作……告诉我他周末还要工作……告诉我他放学后还要工作……斯塔维茨基先生告诉我他根本不在那里工作!
Troy: That boy walking around here smelling his piss … thinking he’s grown. Thinking he’s gonna do what he want, irrespective of what I say. Look here, Bono … I left the Commissioner’s office and went down to the A&P … that boy ain’t working down there. He lying to me. Telling me he got his job back … telling me he working weekends … telling me he working after school … Mr. Stawicki tell me he ain’t working down there at all!
L yons:科里刚刚长大。他正在拼命努力地想要取代你。
Lyons: Cory just growing up. He’s just busting at the seams trying to fill out your shoes.
特洛伊:我不在乎他在做什么。当他到了想要违抗我的地步时……他就该继续前进了。波诺会告诉你这一点。我敢打赌,他从来都不会违抗他爸爸而不付出代价。
Troy: I don’t care what he’s doing. When he get to the point where he wanna disobey me … then it’s time for him to move on. Bono’ll tell you that. I bet he ain’t never disobeyed his daddy without paying the consequences.
B ono:我从来没机会。我爸爸来过……但我从来没见过他……也不知道他在想什么,也不知道他去了哪里。只是继续前行。寻找新大陆。那是老人们的叫法。看到一个人从一个地方到另一个地方……从一个女人到另一个女人……称之为寻找新大陆。我不知道他是否找到了。我来过,不想要孩子。不知道我是否能在一个地方待得足够久,以便把他们当成他们的父亲。我想我也要去寻找。结果发现我和露西尔在一起的时间差不多和你爸爸和罗斯在一起的时间一样长。快十六年了。
Bono: I ain’t never had a chance. My daddy came on through … but I ain’t never knew him to see him … or what he had on his mind or where he went. Just moving on through. Searching out the New Land. That’s what the old folks used to call it. See a fellow moving around from place to place … woman to woman … called it searching out the New Land. I can’t say if he ever found it. I come along, didn’t want no kids. Didn’t know if I was gonna be in one place long enough to fix on them right as their daddy. I figured I was going searching too. As it turned out I been hooked up with Lucille near about as long as your daddy been with Rose. Going on sixteen years.
特洛伊:有时候我真希望自己没认识我爸爸。他一点儿也不关心孩子。对他来说,孩子不算什么。他只希望你学会走路,这样他就可以让你开始工作了。到了吃饭时间……他先吃。如果有剩余,就给你吃。男人会坐下来吃两只鸡,然后把鸡翅给你。
Troy: Sometimes I wish I hadn’t known my daddy. He ain’t cared nothing about no kids. A kid to him wasn’t nothing. All he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you to working. When it come time for eating … he ate first. If there was anything left over, that’s what you got. Man would sit down and eat two chickens and give you the wing.
L yons:爸爸,你应该停止这种行为。每个人都要给孩子吃东西。无论生活多么艰难……每个人都要关心自己的孩子。确保他们有东西吃。
Lyons: You ought to stop that, Pop. Everybody feed their kids. No matter how hard times is … everybody care about their kids. Make sure they have something to eat.
特洛伊:我爸爸唯一关心的事情就是把棉花包送到鲁宾先生手中。这是他唯一关心的事情。有时我常常想知道他为什么活着。想知道魔鬼为什么没有来抓他。“把棉花包送到鲁宾先生手中”,然后发现他欠他钱……
Troy: The only thing my daddy cared about was getting them bales of cotton in to Mr. Lubin. That’s the only thing that mattered to him. Sometimes I used to wonder why he was living. Wonder why the devil hadn’t come and got him. “Get them bales of cotton in to Mr. Lubin” and find out he owe him money …
莱昂斯:他应该在发现无法前进时就离开。我本来会这么做的。
Lyons: He should have just went on and left when he saw he couldn’t get nowhere. That’s what I would have done.
特洛伊:他要怎么带着 11 个孩子离开?他要去哪里?他除了种地什么都不会做。不,他被困住了,我想他知道这一点。但我要替他说……他觉得对我们有责任。也许他没有像我认为的那样对待我们……但如果没有这种责任感,他本可以一走了之,抛下我们……走自己的路。
Troy: How he gonna leave with eleven kids? And where he gonna go? He ain’t knew how to do nothing but farm. No, he was trapped and I think he knew it. But I’ll say this for him … he felt a responsibility toward us. Maybe he ain’t treated us the way I felt he should have … but without that responsibility he could have walked off and left us … made his own way.
B ono:很多人都这么做。在那个年代,你谈到的……他们走出家门,就选择一条路或另一条路,一直走下去。
Bono: A lot of them did. Back in those days what you talking about … they walk out their front door and just take on down one road or another and keep on walking.
L yons:你看!这就是我要说的。
Lyons: There you go! That’s what I’m talking about.
B ono:一直走,直到你遇到别的东西。你没听说过有人会感到走路不稳吗?好吧,当你就这样出发时,你就会这样称呼它。
Bono: Just keep on walking till you come to something else. Ain’t you never heard of nobody having the walking blues? Well, that’s what you call it when you just take off like that.
特洛伊:我爸爸从不忧郁!你在说什么?他一直和家人在一起。但他就是那么邪恶。我妈妈受不了他。受不了他那种邪恶。我八岁左右的时候她就跑了。一天晚上,在他睡着后,她偷偷溜走了。告诉我她会回来找我。我再也没见过她。他所有的女人都跑了,离开了他。他对任何人都不好。
Troy: My daddy ain’t had them walking blues! What you talking about? He stayed right there with his family. But he was just as evil as he could be. My mama couldn’t stand him. Couldn’t stand that evilness. She run off when I was about eight. She sneaked off one night after he had gone to sleep. Told me she was coming back for me. I ain’t never seen her no more. All his women run off and left him. He wasn’t good for nobody.
轮到我出门时,我十四岁,开始在乔·坎威尔的女儿身边打听。我们有一头老骡子,我们叫它格雷博伊。我爸爸让我出去耕地,我把格雷博伊拴起来,和乔·坎威尔的女儿一起玩耍。我们找到了一个好地方,彼此相处得很融洽。她大约十三岁,我们觉得我们已经长大了……所以我们在那里玩得很开心……什么也没想。我们不知道格雷博伊已经挣脱了,走回了屋子,我爸爸在找我。我们在小溪边玩得很开心,这时我爸爸走了过来。让我们很惊讶。他把皮带从骡子上取下来,开始抽我,好像没有明天一样。我跳了起来,又生气又尴尬。我害怕我爸爸。当他开始抽我的时候……我很自然地跑开躲开了。
When my turn come to head out, I was fourteen and got to sniffing around Joe Canewell’s daughter. Had us an old mule we called Greyboy. My daddy sent me out to do some plowing and I tied up Greyboy and went to fooling around with Joe Canewell’s daughter. We done found us a nice little spot, got real cozy with each other. She about thirteen and we done figured we was grown anyway … so we down there enjoying ourselves … ain’t thinking about nothing. We didn’t know Greyboy had got loose and wandered back to the house and my daddy was looking for me. We down there by the creek enjoying ourselves when my daddy come up on us. Surprised us. He had them leather straps off the mule and commenced to whupping me like there was no tomorrow. I jumped up, mad and embarrassed. I was scared of my daddy. When he commenced to whupping on me … quite naturally I run to get out of the way.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
现在我以为他疯了,因为我没有完成我的工作。但我明白他把我赶走是为了自己占有那个女孩。当我明白事情的真相时,我对爸爸的恐惧就消失了。就在那时,我成为了一个男人……十四岁。
Now I thought he was mad cause I ain’t done my work. But I see where he was chasing me off so he could have the gal for himself. When I see what the matter of it was, I lost all fear of my daddy. Right there is where I become a man … at fourteen years of age.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
现在轮到我把他赶走了。我拿起他用在我身上的那根缰绳。我拿起缰绳,开始鞭打他。那女孩跳起来跑开了……当我爸爸转过身来面对我时,我明白了为什么魔鬼从来没有来抓他……因为他就是魔鬼本人。我不知道发生了什么。当我醒来时,我正躺在小溪边,我们养的这只老狗布鲁……正在舔我的脸。我以为我瞎了。我什么也看不见。我的两只眼睛都肿得睁不开。我躺在那里哭了起来。我不知道我该怎么办。我唯一知道的是,我离开爸爸家的时候到了。就在那时,世界突然变大了。过了很长时间,我才把它缩小到我能应付的程度。
Now it was my turn to run him off. I picked up them same reins that he had used on me. I picked up them reins and commenced to whupping on him. The gal jumped up and run off … and when my daddy turned to face me, I could see why the devil had never come to get him … cause he was the devil himself. I don’t know what happened. When I woke up, I was laying right there by the creek, and Blue … this old dog we had … was licking my face. I thought I was blind. I couldn’t see nothing. Both my eyes were swollen shut. I layed there and cried. I didn’t know what I was gonna do. The only thing I knew was the time had come for me to leave my daddy’s house. And right there the world suddenly got big. And it was a long time before I could cut it down to where I could handle it.
这种割舍的部分原因是,当我到达那个地方,我能感觉到他在我的血液中踢动,并且知道我们之间唯一的隔阂就是几年的时间。
Part of that cutting down was when I got to the place where I could feel him kicking in my blood and knew that the only thing that separated us was the matter of a few years.
(加布里埃尔拿着三明治从屋里进来。)
(Gabriel enters from the house with a sandwich.)
L yons:加布叔叔,你得到了什么?
Lyons: What you got there, Uncle Gabe?
加布里埃尔:给我拿了一个火腿三明治。罗斯给了我一个火腿三明治。
Gabriel: Got me a ham sandwich. Rose gave me a ham sandwich.
特洛伊:我不知道他发生了什么事。除了加布里埃尔,我和其他人都失去了联系。但我希望他死了。我希望他能找到一些安宁。
Troy: I don’t know what happened to him. I done lost touch with everybody except Gabriel. But I hope he’s dead. I hope he found some peace.
莱昂斯:爸爸,这可真是个沉重的故事。我不知道你十四岁就离家了。
Lyons: That’s a heavy story, Pop. I didn’t know you left home when you was fourteen.
特洛伊:我什么都不知道。我唯一知道的世界就是鲁宾先生的 42 英亩土地。这就是我对生活的全部了解。
Troy: And didn’t know nothing. The only part of the world I knew was the forty-two acres of Mr. Lubin’s land. That’s all I knew about life.
L yons:十四岁还太小,不适合独自生活。(电话铃响了。)我甚至不认为十四岁时我准备好独自生活。我不知道我会做什么。
Lyons: Fourteen’s kinda young to be out on your own. (Phone rings.) I don’t even think I was ready to be out on my own at fourteen. I don’t know what I would have done.
特洛伊:我从小溪边起身,步行到莫比尔。我已经不再务农了。我想我在城里能过得更好。所以我步行了 200 英里到莫比尔。
Troy: I got up from the creek and walked on down to Mobile. I was through with farming. Figured I could do better in the city. So I walked the two hundred miles to Mobile.
L yons:等一下……你还没走完两百英里,老爸。没人会走完两百英里。你说的是走路。
Lyons: Wait a minute … you ain’t walked no two hundred miles, Pop. Ain’t nobody gonna walk no two hundred miles. You talking about some walking there.
B ono:那是在那个年代唯一能到达任何地方的办法。
Bono: That’s the only way you got anywhere back in them days.
L yons:嘘。要是我不搭别人的车就好了!
Lyons: Shhh. Damn if I wouldn’t have hitched a ride with somebody!
特洛伊:你要搭谁的车?他们没有现在这样的车和东西。我们说的是 1918 年。
Troy: Who you gonna hitch it with? They ain’t had no cars and things like they got now. We talking about 1918.
罗斯(进入):你们来这里是为了什么?
Rose (entering): What you all out here getting into?
特洛伊(对罗斯说):我告诉莱昂斯他过得有多好。他对我说的这些事一无所知。
Troy (to Rose): I’m telling Lyons how good he got it. He don’t know nothing about this I’m talking.
罗斯:莱昂斯,刚才是邦妮打来的电话。她说你应该去接她。
Rose: Lyons, that was Bonnie on the phone. She say you supposed to pick her up.
L yons:好的,Rose。
Lyons: Yeah, okay, Rose.
特洛伊:我继续步行到莫比尔,搭上了一些往这边来的家伙。到了这里才发现……不仅找不到工作,而且找不到住的地方。我以为我自由了。嘘。有色人种住在河岸边,随便找个地方住。就在布雷迪街大桥下面。住在用木棍和油毡纸搭成的棚屋里。在那里混日子,日子越来越糟。开始偷东西。一开始是偷食物。然后我想,该死,如果我偷钱,我可以给自己买点吃的。也可以给我买双鞋!一件事接着另一件事。遇见了你的妈妈。我还年轻,渴望成为一个男人。遇见了你的妈妈,有了你。我这么做是为了什么?现在我得担心养活你和她。得偷三倍的东西。有一天出去找人抢劫……这就是我,一个强盗。我告诉你实话。今天我为此感到羞愧。但这是事实。我去抢劫那个家伙……拔出我的刀……他拔出一把枪。他朝我的胸口开了一枪。感觉就像有人拿着烧红的烙铁放在我身上一样。当他开枪打我时,我拿着刀向他扑去。他们告诉我我杀了他,他们把我关进了监狱,关了十五年。在那里我遇到了波诺。在那里我学会了打棒球。离开那个地方后,你的妈妈带走了你,继续过着没有我的生活。十五年对她来说是一段漫长的等待。但那十五年治好了我抢劫的毛病。罗斯会告诉你的。我遇到她时,她问我是否已经摆脱了所有愚蠢的行为。我告诉她,“宝贝,对我来说,你和棒球才是最重要的。”你听见了吗,波诺?我是认真的。她说:“哪个先来?”我告诉她:“宝贝,毫无疑问是棒球……但你要坚持和我一起变老,我们都会比棒球活得更久。”我说得对吗,罗斯?这是真的。
Troy: I walked on down to Mobile and hitched up with some of them fellows that was heading this way. Got up here and found out … not only couldn’t you get a job … you couldn’t find no place to live. I thought I was in freedom. Shhh. Colored folks living down there on the riverbanks in whatever kind of shelter they could find for themselves. Right down there under the Brady Street Bridge. Living in shacks made of sticks and tarpaper. Messed around there and went from bad to worse. Started stealing. First it was food. Then I figured, hell, if I steal money I can buy me some food. Buy me some shoes too! One thing led to another. Met your mama. I was young and anxious to be a man. Met your mama and had you. What I do that for? Now I got to worry about feeding you and her. Got to steal three times as much. Went out one day looking for somebody to rob … that’s what I was, a robber. I’ll tell you the truth. I’m ashamed of it today. But it’s the truth. Went to rob this fellow … pulled out my knife … and he pulled out a gun. Shot me in the chest. It felt just like somebody had taken a hot branding iron and laid it on me. When he shot me I jumped at him with my knife. They told me I killed him and they put me in the penitentiary and locked me up for fifteen years. That’s where I met Bono. That’s where I learned how to play baseball. Got out that place and your mama had taken you and went on to make life without me. Fifteen years was a long time for her to wait. But that fifteen years cured me of that robbing stuff. Rose’ll tell you. She asked me when I met her if I had gotten all that foolishness out of my system. And I told her, “Baby, it’s you and baseball all what count with me.” You hear me, Bono? I meant it too. She say, “Which one comes first?” I told her, “Baby, ain’t no doubt it’s baseball … but you stick and get old with me and we’ll both outlive this baseball.” Am I right, Rose? And it’s true.
罗斯:老兄,闭嘴吧。你没说过这样的话。你说的是“宝贝,你知道你永远是我心中的第一”。这就是你说的。
Rose: Man, hush your mouth. You ain’t said no such thing. Talking about, “Baby, you know you’ll always be number one with me.” That’s what you was talking.
特洛伊:你听见了吗,波诺。这就是我爱她的原因。
Troy: You hear that, Bono. That’s why I love her.
B ono: Rose 会让你保持正直。如果你偏离轨道,她会让你恢复正直。
Bono: Rose’ll keep you straight. You get off the track, she’ll straighten you up.
罗斯:莱昂斯,你最好快点去叫邦妮。她在等你。
Rose: Lyons, you better get on up and get Bonnie. She waiting on you.
L yons(起身离开):嘿,爸爸,你为什么不到 Grill 来听我演奏呢?
Lyons ( gets up to go): Hey, Pop, why don’t you come on down to the Grill and hear me play?
特洛伊:我不会去那里。我太老了,不适合在俱乐部里闲坐。
Troy: I ain’t going down there. I’m too old to be sitting around in them clubs.
B ono:你得表现得好才能在 Grill 玩得开心。
Bono: You got to be good to play down at the Grill.
L yons:来吧,爸爸……
Lyons: Come on, Pop …
特罗伊:我早上得起床。
Troy: I got to get up in the morning.
莱昂斯:你不必待太久。
Lyons: You ain’t got to stay long.
特罗伊:不,我要吃完晚饭就去睡觉了。
Troy: Naw, I’m gonna get my supper and go on to bed.
L yons:好了,我得走了。下次再见。
Lyons: Well, I got to go. I’ll see you again.
特罗伊:我发薪日那天你别来我家。
Troy: Don’t you come around my house on my payday.
罗斯:拿起电话,通知别人你要来。带上邦妮。你知道我总是很高兴见到她。
Rose: Pick up the phone and let somebody know you coming. And bring Bonnie with you. You know I’m always glad to see her.
莱昂斯:好的,我会这么做的,罗斯。你现在要小心了。再见,爸爸。再见,博诺先生。再见,加布叔叔。
Lyons: Yeah, I’ll do that, Rose. You take care now. See you, Pop. See you, Mr. Bono. See you, Uncle Gabe.
加布里埃尔:莱昂斯!丛林之王!
Gabriel: Lyons! King of the Jungle!
(莱昂斯退场。)
(Lyons exits.)
特洛伊:晚饭准备好了吗,女士?我和你还有一些事情要处理。我也要把它撕碎。
Troy: Is supper ready, woman? Me and you got some business to take care of. I’m gonna tear it up too.
罗斯:特洛伊,我现在已经告诉你了!
Rose: Troy, I done told you now!
特洛伊(搂住博诺):哎呀,女人……我是博诺。博诺就像家人一样。我认识这个黑鬼……我认识你有多久了?
Troy (puts his arm around Bono): Aw hell, woman … this is Bono. Bono like family. I done known this nigger since … how long I done know you?
B ono:好久不见了。
Bono: It’s been a long time.
特洛伊:我从斯基皮还是个孩子的时候就认识这个黑鬼了。我和他一起经历过一些事情。
Troy: I done known this nigger since Skippy was a pup. Me and him done been through some times.
B ono:你说得确实对。
Bono: You sure right about that.
特洛伊:见鬼,我认识他的时间比认识你的时间还长。我们仍然并肩站在一起。嘿,听我说,波诺……男人不能要求更多了。
Troy: Hell, I done know him longer than I known you. And we still standing shoulder to shoulder. Hey, look here, Bono … a man can’t ask for no more than that.
(向他敬酒。)
(Drinks to him.)
我爱你,黑鬼。
I love you, nigger.
B ono:天哪,我也爱你……但我得回家见我的女人。你把你的女人拿在手里了。我得去找我的女人。
Bono: Hell, I love you too … but I got to get home see my woman. You got yours in hand. I got to go get mine.
(当身着足球服的科里走进球场时,博诺正要退场。他用严厉、不妥协的目光看着特洛伊。)
(Bono starts to exit as Cory enters the yard, dressed in his football uniform. He gives Troy a hard, uncompromising look.)
科里:爸爸,你这么做是为了什么?
Cory: What you do that for, Pop?
(他朝特洛伊方向扔下了头盔。)
(He throws his helmet down in the direction of Troy.)
罗斯:怎么了?科里……怎么了?
Rose: What’s the matter? Cory … what’s the matter?
科里:爸爸去了学校,告诉泽尔曼教练我不能再踢足球了。他甚至不让我上场比赛。他让他告诉招募人员不要来。
Cory: Papa done went up to the school and told Coach Zellman I can’t play football no more. Wouldn’t even let me play the game. Told him to tell the recruiter not to come.
罗斯:特洛伊……
Rose: Troy …
特洛伊:你为什么这样对待我?是的,我做到了。而且孩子知道我为什么这么做。
Troy: What you Troying me for. Yeah, I did it. And the boy know why I did it.
科里:你为什么要这样对我?这是我唯一的机会。
Cory: Why you wanna do that to me? That was the one chance I had.
罗斯:科里踢足球没什么问题,特洛伊。
Rose: Ain’t nothing wrong with Cory playing football, Troy.
特洛伊:这小子骗了我。我告诉这黑鬼,如果他想踢足球……就继续做家务,保住 A&P 的那份工作。这就是条件。我停下来见了斯塔维奇先生……
Troy: The boy lied to me. I told the nigger if he wanna play football … to keep up his chores and hold down that job at the A&P. That was the conditions. Stopped down there to see Mr. Stawicki …
科里:足球赛季期间,我不能放学后工作,爸爸!我试图告诉你,斯塔维奇先生为我保留了我的工作。你永远不想听任何人的话。然后你却想对我这样做!
Cory: I can’t work after school during the football season, Pop! I tried to tell you that Mr. Stawicki’s holding my job for me. You don’t never want to listen to nobody. And then you wanna go and do this to me!
特洛伊:我没有对你做什么。是你自己害了自己。
Troy: I ain’t done nothing to you. You done it to yourself.
Cory :只是因为你没有机会!你只是害怕我会比你更好,仅此而已。
Cory: Just cause you didn’t have a chance! You just scared I’m gonna be better than you, that’s all.
特洛伊:过来。
Troy: Come here.
罗斯:特洛伊……
Rose: Troy …
(科里不情愿地走向特洛伊。)
(Cory reluctantly crosses over to Troy.)
特洛伊:好吧!看吧。你犯了一个错误。
Troy: All right! See. You done made a mistake.
Cory :我根本就什么都没做!
Cory: I didn’t even do nothing!
特罗伊:我要告诉你你的错误是什么。你看……你挥棒击球,但没击中。这是一击。你看,你现在在击球区。你挥棒但没击中。这是一击。你可别三振出局!
Troy: I’m gonna tell you what your mistake was. See … you swung at the ball and didn’t hit it. That’s strike one. See, you in the batter’s box now. You swung and you missed. That’s strike one. Don’t you strike out!
(灯光渐渐变黑。)
(Lights fade to black.)
(第二天早上。科里在树下用球棒击球。他试图模仿特洛伊,但他的挥棒动作很笨拙,不太有把握。罗斯从屋里走了进来。)
(The following morning. Cory is at the tree hitting the ball with the bat. He tries to mimic Troy, but his swing is awkward, less sure. Rose enters from the house.)
罗斯:科里,我想让你帮我整理这个橱柜。
Rose: Cory, I want you to help me with this cupboard.
科里:我不会退队。我不在乎爸爸说什么。
Cory: I ain’t quitting the team. I don’t care what Poppa say.
罗斯:等他回来我会跟他谈谈。他得去看看你叔叔盖博。警察已经逮捕了他。说他扰乱治安。他马上就回来。进来帮我把这个橱柜的顶部清理一下。
Rose: I’ll talk to him when he gets back. He had to go see about your Uncle Gabe. The police done arrested him. Say he was disturbing the peace. He’ll be back directly. Come on in here and help me clean out the top of this cupboard.
(科里走进屋子。罗斯看到特洛伊和波诺从小巷里走来。)
(Cory exits into the house. Rose sees Troy and Bono coming down the alley.)
特洛伊……他们在那里说什么?
Troy … what they say down there?
特洛伊:什么也没说。我给了他们五十美元,他们就放了他。我会跟你谈谈这件事的。科里在哪儿?
Troy: Ain’t said nothing. I give them fifty dollars and they let him go. I’ll talk to you about it. Where’s Cory?
罗斯:他在那儿帮我清理这些橱柜。
Rose: He’s in there helping me clean out these cupboards.
特洛伊:叫他别再来这儿了。
Troy: Tell him to get his butt out here.
(特洛伊和博诺走到木堆旁。博诺拿起锯子开始锯。)
(Troy and Bono go over to the pile of wood. Bono picks up the saw and begins sawing.)
特洛伊(对波诺说):他们想要的只是钱。我已经六七次去那里抓他了。看到我来,他们就伸出手来。
Troy (to Bono): All they want is the money. That makes six or seven times I done went down there and got him. See me coming they stick out their hands.
B ono:是的。我明白你的意思。他们只关心钱。他们不关心什么是对的。
Bono: Yeah. I know what you mean. That’s all they care about … that money. They don’t care about what’s right.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
黑鬼,你为什么非要去找硬木呢?你除了建一道小篱笆什么也没做。去弄点软松木吧。这就是你所需要的。
Nigger, why you got to go and get some hard wood? You ain’t doing nothing but building a little old fence. Get you some soft pine wood. That’s all you need.
特洛伊:我知道我在做什么。这是室外木材。你把松木放在屋内。松木是室内木材。这是室外木材。现在你告诉我栅栏要放在哪里?
Troy: I know what I’m doing. This is outside wood. You put pine wood inside the house. Pine wood is inside wood. This here is outside wood. Now you tell me where the fence is gonna be?
B ono:你不需要这些木头。你可以用松木把它搭起来,只要你还在这里看着它,它就会屹立不倒。
Bono: You don’t need this wood. You can put it up with pine wood and it’ll stand as long as you gonna be here looking at it.
特洛伊:你怎么知道我会在这里待多久,黑鬼?见鬼,我可能永远活下去。比老霍斯利活得还久。
Troy: How you know how long I’m gonna be here, nigger? Hell, I might just live forever. Live longer than old man Horsely.
B ono:这是麦吉曾经说过的话。
Bono: That’s what Magee used to say.
特洛伊:马吉真是个傻瓜。现在你告诉我你听说过谁会用一把生锈的钳子拔自己的牙。
Troy: Magee’s a damn fool. Now you tell me who you ever heard of gonna pull their own teeth with a pair of rusty pliers.
B ono:老人们……我爷爷以前用钳子拔牙。那时候没有牙医为有色人种服务。
Bono: The old folks … my granddaddy used to pull his teeth with pliers. They ain’t had no dentists for the colored folks back then.
特洛伊:拿干净的钳子!明白吗?干净的钳子!给它们消毒!再说,我们可不是活在那个年代。麦吉只需走到戈德布鲁姆医生那里就行了。
Troy: Get clean pliers! You understand? Clean pliers! Sterilize them! Besides we ain’t living back then. All Magee had to do was walk over to Doc Goldblum’s.
B ono:我知道你和那个塔拉哈西女孩……那个艾伯塔……我知道你们之间的关系很紧张。
Bono: I see where you and that Tallahassee gal … that Alberta … I see where you all done got tight.
T roy:你指的是“变得紧张”吗?
Troy: What you mean “got tight”?
B ono:我看到你一直在和她一起笑着开玩笑。
Bono: I see where you be laughing and joking with her all the time.
特洛伊:我和他们每个人都开怀大笑,开着玩笑,波诺。你了解我。
Troy: I laughs and jokes with all of them, Bono. You know me.
B ono:我可不是在开玩笑。
Bono: That ain’t the kind of laughing and joking I’m talking about.
(科里从屋里进来。)
(Cory enters from the house.)
Cory :您好吗,Bono先生?
Cory: How you doing, Mr. Bono?
特洛伊:科里?从波诺那里拿把锯子来锯木头。他说木头太难锯了。吉姆,你往后站,让那个小男孩给你演示一下怎么做。
Troy: Cory? Get that saw from Bono and cut some wood. He talking about the wood’s too hard to cut. Stand back there, Jim, and let that young boy show you how it’s done.
B ono:他当然会欢迎这一点。
Bono: He’s sure welcome to it.
(科里拿起锯子开始锯木头。)
(Cory takes the saw and begins to cut the wood.)
呼呼!看那。又大又强壮的男孩。看起来像乔·路易斯。见鬼,我看着那男孩在树林里飞奔,一定是老了。
Whew-e-e! Look at that. Big old strong boy. Look like Joe Louis. Hell, must be getting old the way I’m watching that boy whip through that wood.
科里:我不明白为什么妈妈要在院子周围建篱笆。
Cory: I don’t see why Mama want a fence around the yard noways.
特洛伊:我真不知道。她到底在隐瞒什么?她什么都没有,没人想要。
Troy: Damn if I know either. What the hell she keeping out with it? She ain’t got nothing nobody want.
B ono:有些人修建围栏是为了将人们挡在外面……而其他人修建围栏是为了将人们关在里面。Rose 想留住你们所有人。她爱你们。
Bono: Some people build fences to keep people out … and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you.
特洛伊:见鬼,黑鬼,我不需要任何人告诉我我老婆爱我。科里……进屋看看你能不能找到那把锯子。
Troy: Hell, nigger, I don’t need nobody to tell me my wife loves me. Cory … go on in the house and see if you can find that other saw.
Cory :它在哪儿?
Cory: Where’s it at?
T roy:我说找到它!一直寻找,直到找到它为止!
Troy: I said find it! Look for it till you find it!
(科里走进屋子。)
(Cory exits into the house.)
这是什么意思?想让我们留下来吗?
What’s that supposed to mean? Wanna keep us in?
B ono:特洛伊……我几乎一辈子都认识你。你和罗斯。我认识你们两个很久了。我记得你遇到罗斯的时候。当时你在公园里打棒球。当时很多老姑娘都在追逐你。你是所有女孩中最好的。当你选中罗斯时,我为你感到高兴。那是我第一次知道你有点理智。我说……我哥们特洛伊知道他在做什么……我要跟着这个黑鬼……他可能会带我去某个地方。我也一直在跟踪你。看着你,我学到了很多关于生活的东西。我学会了如何分辨好坏。如何区分好坏。你教会了我很多东西。你告诉我如何避免犯同样的错误……接受生活,继续迈出新的一步。
Bono: Troy … I done known you seem like damn near my whole life. You and Rose both. I done know both of you all for a long time. I remember when you met Rose. When you was hitting them baseball out the park. A lot of them old gals was after you then. You had the pick of the litter. When you picked Rose, I was happy for you. That was the first time I knew you had any sense. I said … My man Troy knows what he’s doing … I’m gonna follow this nigger … he might take me somewhere. I been following you too. I done learned a whole heap of things about life watching you. I done learned how to tell where the shit lies. How to tell it from the alfalfa. You done learned me a lot of things. You showed me how to not make the same mistakes … to take life as it comes along and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
罗斯是个好女人,特洛伊。
Rose a good woman, Troy.
特洛伊:见鬼,黑鬼,我知道她是个好女人。我和她结婚十八年了。你在想什么,波诺?
Troy: Hell, nigger, I know she a good woman. I been married to her for eighteen years. What you got on your mind, Bono?
B ono:我只是说她是个好女人。就像我说其他话一样。我心里没别的想法。
Bono: I just say she a good woman. Just like I say anything. I ain’t got to have nothing on my mind.
T roy:你只是说她是个好女人,然后就这么搁置了?你为什么跟我说她是个好女人?
Troy: You just gonna say she a good woman and leave it hanging out there like that? Why you telling me she a good woman?
博诺:她爱你,特洛伊。罗斯也爱你。
Bono: She loves you, Troy. Rose loves you.
特洛伊:你说我不够格。这就是你想说的。我不够格是因为我正在和另一个女孩约会。我知道你想说什么。
Troy: You saying I don’t measure up. That’s what you trying to say.I don’t measure up cause I’m seeing this other gal. I know what you trying to say.
B ono:我知道 Rose 对你意味着什么,Troy。我只是想说我不想看到你陷入困境。
Bono: I know what Rose means to you, Troy. I’m just trying to say I don’t want to see you mess up.
特洛伊:是的,我很感激,博诺。如果你在玩弄露西尔,我也会告诉你同样的事情。
Troy: Yeah, I appreciate that, Bono. If you was messing around on Lucille I’d be telling you the same thing.
B ono:好吧,我要说的就这些。我这么说只是因为我爱你们俩。
Bono: Well, that’s all I got to say. I just say that because I love you both.
特洛伊:见鬼,你了解我……我并不是无所事事地去寻找的。你找不到比罗斯更好的女人了。我知道。但似乎这个女人已经粘在我身上,我无法摆脱她。我努力挣扎,试图把她从我身上甩开……但她却粘得更紧了。现在她已经粘得永远了。
Troy: Hell, you know me … I wasn’t out there looking for nothing. You can’t find a better woman than Rose. I know that. But seems like this woman just stuck onto me where I can’t shake her loose. I done wrestled with it, tried to throw her off me … but she just stuck on tighter. Now she’s stuck on for good.
B ono:一切由你掌控……你一直都是这么说的。你要对自己的行为负责。
Bono: You’s in control … that’s what you tell me all the time. You responsible for what you do.
特洛伊:我不会逃避责任。只要它让我心安理得……那我就没事了。因为这就是我所听从的。它每次都会告诉我是非对错。我不是说要对罗斯做坏事。我爱罗斯。她曾帮助我走过许多路,我因此爱她、尊重她。
Troy: I ain’t ducking the responsibility of it. As long as it sets right in my heart … then I’m okay. Cause that’s all I listen to. It’ll tell me right from wrong every time. And I ain’t talking about doing Rose no bad turn. I love Rose. She done carried me a long ways and I love and respect her for that.
B ono:我知道你会的。这就是为什么我不想看到你伤害她。但是当她发现后你会怎么做?那时你得到了什么?如果你试图同时兼顾他们两个……迟早你会失去其中一个。这是常识。
Bono: I know you do. That’s why I don’t want to see you hurt her. But what you gonna do when she find out? What you got then? If you try and juggle both of them … sooner or later you gonna drop one of them. That’s common sense.
特洛伊:是的,我明白你的意思,波诺。我一直在想办法解决这个问题。
Troy: Yeah, I hear what you saying, Bono. I been trying to figure a way to work it out.
B ono: Troy,把事情处理好。我不想插手你和 Rose 的事情……但要处理好,让事情有个好结果。
Bono: Work it out right, Troy. I don’t want to be getting all up between you and Rose’s business … but work it so it come out right.
特罗伊:哎呀,我完全被你和露西尔的生意牵扯进来了。你什么时候才能给那个女人弄到她一直想要的那台冰箱?别告诉我你现在没钱了。我知道你的银行家是谁。梅隆银行不像露西尔那样需要钱。我告诉你吧。
Troy: Ah hell, I get all up between you and Lucille’s business. When you gonna get that woman that refrigerator she been wanting? Don’t tell me you ain’t got no money now. I know who your banker is. Mellon don’t need that money bad as Lucille want that refrigerator. I’ll tell you that.
B ono:告诉你我会做什么……当你为Rose建完这道篱笆后……我会给Lucille买那台冰箱。
Bono: Tell you what I’ll do … when you finish building this fence for Rose … I’ll buy Lucille that refrigerator.
特洛伊:你现在真是说错话了!
Troy: You done stuck your foot in your mouth now!
(特洛伊抓起一块木板开始锯。博诺开始走出院子。)
(Troy grabs up a board and begins to saw. Bono starts to walk out the yard.)
嘿,黑鬼...你要去哪儿?
Hey, nigger … where you going?
B ono:我要回家了。我知道你现在不指望我帮你。我要保护我的钱。我想看你一个人把栅栏建起来。这就是我想看到的。没有我,你还要在这里待六个月。
Bono: I’m going home. I know you don’t expect me to help you now. I’m protecting my money. I wanna see you put that fence up by yourself. That’s what I want to see. You’ll be here another six months without me.
特洛伊:黑鬼,你不对劲。
Troy: Nigger, you ain’t right.
B ono:说到我的钱......我就像七月四日的烟花一样。
Bono: When it comes to my money … I’m right as fireworks on the Fourth of July.
特洛伊:好吧,我们现在就去看看。你最好拿出你的存折。
Troy: All right, we gonna see now. You better get out your bankbook.
(博诺退场,特洛伊继续工作。罗斯从屋里进来。)
(Bono exits, and Troy continues to work. Rose enters from the house.)
罗斯:他们在下面说什么?加布怎么样了?
Rose: What they say down there? What’s happening with Gabe?
特洛伊:我去了那里,把他救了出来。花了我五十美元。他说他扰乱了治安。法官安排了三周的听证会。他说要说明他为什么不应该再次入狱。
Troy: I went down there and got him out. Cost me fifty dollars. Say he was disturbing the peace. Judge set up a hearing for him in three weeks. Say to show cause why he shouldn’t be recommitted.
罗斯:他做了什么事导致他们逮捕他?
Rose: What was he doing that cause them to arrest him?
特洛伊:一些孩子在戏弄他,他把他们赶回家。据说他当时正在嚎叫并发脾气。一些人看到他并报了警。就是这样。
Troy: Some kids was teasing him and he run them off home. Say he was howling and carrying on. Some folks seen him and called the police. That’s all it was.
罗斯:好吧,你说什么?你跟法官说了什么?
Rose: Well, what’s you say? What’d you tell the judge?
特洛伊:告诉他我会照顾他。再把这个人送回去是没有意义的。他伸出他那油腻腻的大手掌,让我给他五十美元,然后把他带回家。
Troy: Told him I’d look after him. It didn’t make no sense to recommit the man. He stuck out his big greasy palm and told me to give him fifty dollars and take him on home.
罗斯:他现在在哪儿?他去哪儿了?
Rose: Where’s he at now? Where’d he go off to?
特洛伊:他已经忙完了自己的事。他不需要任何人扶着他。
Troy: He’s gone on about his business. He don’t need nobody to hold his hand.
罗斯:嗯,我不知道。如果他们真的把他送进医院,那似乎是对他最好的去处。我知道你要说什么。但我认为这是最好的。
Rose: Well, I don’t know. Seem like that would be the best place for him if they did put him into the hospital. I know what you’re gonna say. But that’s what I think would be best.
特洛伊:这个人一生都在为之奋斗,为什么?他们想把他抓起来关起来。让他自由吧。他不会打扰任何人。
Troy: The man done had his life ruined fighting for what? And they wanna take and lock him up. Let him be free. He don’t bother nobody.
罗斯:嗯,我想每个人都有自己的看法。快去吃午饭吧。我烤箱里放了一碗青豆和一些玉米面包。快去吃点东西吧。你没必要为加布担心。
Rose: Well, everybody got their own way of looking at it I guess. Come on and get your lunch. I got a bowl of lima beans and some cornbread in the oven. Come on get something to eat. Ain’t no sense you fretting over Gabe.
(罗斯转身走进屋子。)
(Rose turns to go into the house.)
特洛伊:罗斯……有事要告诉你。
Troy: Rose … got something to tell you.
罗斯:好吧,来吧......等我把食物端上桌子。
Rose: Well, come on … wait till I get this food on the table.
特洛伊:罗斯!
Troy: Rose!
(她停下脚步并转过身。)
(She stops and turns around.)
我不知道该怎么说。
I don’t know how to say this.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
我无法解释。它会慢慢地在你身上生长,直到无法控制。一开始它只是一小丛灌木……然后你就会发现它变成了一整片森林。
I can’t explain it none. It just sort of grows on you till it gets out of hand. It starts out like a little bush … and the next thing you know it’s a whole forest.
罗斯:特洛伊……你在说什么?
Rose: Troy … what is you talking about?
特洛伊:我在说话,女人,让我说吧。我想找个方式告诉你……我要当爸爸了。我要成为某人的爸爸了。
Troy: I’m talking, woman, let me talk. I’m trying to find a way to tell you … I’m gonna be a daddy. I’m gonna be somebody’s daddy.
罗斯:特洛伊……你不会告诉我这些吧?你会……什么?
Rose: Troy … you’re not telling me this? You’re gonna be … what?
特洛伊:罗斯……现在……看看……
Troy: Rose … now … see …
罗斯:你告诉我你会成为某人的爸爸?你跟你妻子这么说?
Rose: You telling me you gonna be somebody’s daddy? You telling your wife this?
(加布里埃尔从街上走进来。他手里拿着一朵玫瑰。)
(Gabriel enters from the street. He carries a rose in his hand.)
加布里埃尔:嘿,特洛伊!嘿,罗斯!
Gabriel: Hey, Troy! Hey, Rose!
罗斯:我得等十八年才能听到这样的事情。
Rose: I have to wait eighteen years to hear something like this.
加布里埃尔:嘿,罗斯......我给你带了一朵花。
Gabriel: Hey, Rose … I got a flower for you.
(他把它递给她。)
(He hands it to her.)
那是一朵玫瑰。和你一样的玫瑰。
That’s a rose. Same rose like you is.
罗斯:谢谢,加布。
Rose: Thanks, Gabe.
加布里埃尔:特洛伊,你不会生我的气吧?那些坏人来抓我。你不会生我的气吧?
Gabriel: Troy, you ain’t mad at me is you? Them bad mens come and put me away. You ain’t mad at me is you?
特洛伊:不,加布,我没有生你的气。
Troy: Naw, Gabe, I ain’t mad at you.
罗斯:十八年了,你还想来这个。
Rose: Eighteen years and you wanna come with this.
加布里埃尔(从口袋里掏出一枚 25 美分硬币):看我拿到了什么?拿到了一枚崭新的 25 美分硬币。
Gabriel (takes a quarter out of his pocket): See what I got? Got a brand new quarter.
特洛伊:罗斯……只是……
Troy: Rose … it’s just …
罗斯:特洛伊,你什么也说不出来。这没办法解释。
Rose: Ain’t nothing you can say, Troy. Ain’t no way of explaining that.
G abriel:给我这个季度的人真是一团糟。我会一直保留这个季度,直到它不再闪耀。
Gabriel: Fellow that give me this quarter had a whole mess of them. I’m gonna keep this quarter till it stop shining.
罗斯:盖布,去屋里看看。我的冰箱里有西瓜。去给你拿一块。
Rose: Gabe, go on in the house there. I got some watermelon in the frigidaire. Go on and get you a piece.
加布里埃尔:罗斯,你知道我在追赶地狱犬,那些坏人来抓我,把我带走。特洛伊帮助了我。他来到这里,告诉他们,他们最好在我被打之前放了我。是的,他做到了!
Gabriel: Say, Rose … you know I was chasing hellhounds and them bad mens come and get me and take me away. Troy helped me. He come down there and told them they better let me go before he beat them up. Yeah, he did!
罗斯:你去拿块西瓜给你自己吧,盖比。那些坏人现在已经走了。
Rose: You go on and get you a piece of watermelon, Gabe. Them bad mens is gone now.
加布里埃尔:好的,罗斯……我要买些西瓜给我。有条纹的那种。
Gabriel: Okay, Rose … gonna get me some watermelon. The kind with the stripes on it.
(加布里埃尔走进屋子。)
(Gabriel exits into the house.)
罗斯:为什么,特洛伊?为什么?这么多年过去了,现在才想起这件事。你这个年纪,这根本说不通。十年或十五年前我就能预料到这种情况,但现在不行了。
Rose: Why, Troy? Why? After all these years to come dragging this in to me now. It don’t make no sense at your age. I could have expected this ten or fifteen years ago, but not now.
特洛伊:这与年龄没有关系,罗斯。
Troy: Age ain’t got nothing to do with it, Rose.
罗斯:我尽力做到了妻子应该做到的一切。妻子可以做到的一切。结婚 18 年了,我终于看到你告诉我你和另一个女人约会,并且和她生了一个孩子。你知道,我从来不希望我的家庭里没有任何东西。我的整个家庭都是一半。每个人都有不同的父亲和母亲……我的两个姐姐和我的兄弟。几乎分不清谁是谁。永远不能坐下来谈论爸爸和妈妈。有你的爸爸和你的妈妈,还有我的爸爸和我的妈妈……
Rose: I done tried to be everything a wife should be. Everything a wife could be. Been married eighteen years and I got to live to see the day you tell me you been seeing another woman and done fathered a child by her. And you know I ain’t never wanted no half nothing in my family. My whole family is half. Everybody got different fathers and mothers … my two sisters and my brother. Can’t hardly tell who’s who. Can’t never sit down and talk about Papa and Mama. It’s your papa and your mama and my papa and my mama …
特洛伊:罗斯……现在就停下来。
Troy: Rose … stop it now.
罗斯:我从来都不希望我的任何一个孩子经历这种事。现在你却想拖着后腿来跟我说这种事。
Rose: I ain’t never wanted that for none of my children. And now you wanna drag your behind in here and tell me something like this.
特洛伊:你应该知道。现在是时候让你知道了。
Troy: You ought to know. It’s time for you to know.
罗斯:好吧,该死的,我根本不想知道!
Rose: Well, I don’t want to know, goddamn it!
特洛伊:我不能让它就此消失。事情已经发生了。我不能希望这件事就这样消失。
Troy: I can’t just make it go away. It’s done now. I can’t wish the circumstance of the thing away.
罗斯:你也不想。也许你想让我和我儿子离开。也许这就是你想要的?好吧,你不能让我们离开。我把生命中的十八年都花在你身上。你应该待在楼上我的床上,那是你该待的地方。
Rose: And you don’t want to either. Maybe you want to wish me and my boy away. Maybe that’s what you want? Well, you can’t wish us away. I’ve got eighteen years of my life invested in you. You ought to have stayed upstairs in my bed where you belong.
特洛伊:罗斯……现在听我说……我们可以解决这个问题。我们可以讨论这个问题……达成谅解。
Troy: Rose … now listen to me … we can get a handle on this thing. We can talk this out … come to an understanding.
罗斯:突然间就变成了“我们”。你在那里和一个该死的女人鬼混的时候,“我们”在哪里?在你开始出丑之前,“我们”应该达成谅解。你跟我达成谅解的时间太晚了,而且钱不够。
Rose: All of a sudden it’s “we.” Where was “we” at when you was down there rolling around with some godforsaken woman? “We” should have come to an understanding before you started making a damn fool of yourself. You’re a day late and a dollar short when it comes to an understanding with me.
特洛伊:只是……她给了我一个不同的想法……对我自己的不同理解。我可以走出这所房子,摆脱压力和问题……成为一个不同的人。我不用再担心如何支付账单或修理屋顶。我可以做自己从未做过的一部分。
Troy: It’s just … She gives me a different idea … a different understanding about myself. I can step out of this house and get away from the pressures and problems … be a different man. I ain’t got to wonder how I’m gonna pay the bills or get the roof fixed. I can just be a part of myself that I ain’t never been.
罗斯:我想知道的是……你是否打算继续和她约会。这就是你能告诉我的全部。
Rose: What I want to know … is do you plan to continue seeing her. That’s all you can say to me.
特洛伊:我可以坐在她家里大笑。你明白我的意思吗?我可以放声大笑……而且感觉很好。笑声一直延伸到我的鞋底。
Troy: I can sit up in her house and laugh. Do you understand what I’m saying. I can laugh out loud … and it feels good. It reaches all the way down to the bottom of my shoes.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
罗斯,我不能放弃。
Rose, I can’t give that up.
罗斯:也许你应该继续和她呆在那里……如果她比我优秀的话。
Rose: Maybe you ought to go on and stay down there with her … if she’s a better woman than me.
特洛伊:这不是因为没有人比你更好,或者什么都没有。罗斯,这不是你的错。一个男人不能要求没有女人比你更好。这是我的责任。我把自己困在一种模式中,试图照顾你,却忘记了自己。
Troy: It ain’t about nobody being a better woman or nothing. Rose, you ain’t the blame. A man couldn’t ask for no woman to be a better wife than you’ve been. I’m responsible for it. I done locked myself into a pattern trying to take care of you all that I forgot about myself.
罗斯:我到底来这儿干什么?那是我的工作,不是别人的。
Rose: What the hell was I there for? That was my job, not somebody else’s.
特罗伊:罗斯,我一生都在努力活得体面……过着干净……努力……有用的生活。我努力做你的好丈夫。尽我所能。也许我出生时就倒着来,我不知道。但是……你出生时在击球前就有两个好球。你必须密切关注……总是在内角寻找曲线球。你不能让任何人越过你。你不能承受好球。如果你倒下……你挥棒落空。一切都在与你作对。你该怎么办?我骗过了他们,罗斯。我打短打。当我找到你和科里,还有一份还算不错的工作时……我安全了。什么都不能伤害到我。我不会再被三振出局了。我不会再回到监狱。我不会拿着一瓶酒躺在街上。我很安全。我有一个家庭。一份工作。我不会得到那最后一击。我首先想找一个男孩来敲我,送我回家。
Troy: Rose, I done tried all my life to live decent … to live a clean … hard … useful life. I tried to be a good husband to you. In every way I knew how. Maybe I come into the world backwards, I don’t know.But … you born with two strikes on you before you come to the plate. You got to guard it closely … always looking for the curve ball on the inside corner. You can’t afford to let none get past you. You can’t afford a call strike. If you going down … you going down swinging. Everything lined up against you. What you gonna do. I fooled them, Rose.I bunted. When I found you and Cory and a halfway decent job … I was safe. Couldn’t nothing touch me. I wasn’t gonna strike out no more. I wasn’t going back to the penitentiary. I wasn’t gonna lay in the streets with a bottle of wine. I was safe. I had me a family. A job.I wasn’t gonna get that last strike. I was on first looking for one of them boys to knock me in. To get me home.
罗斯:你应该呆在我的床上,特洛伊。
Rose: You should have stayed in my bed, Troy.
特洛伊:然后当我看到那个女孩时……她坚定了我的信念。我开始想,如果我努力……我也许能偷到第二名。你明白吗,十八年后我想偷第二名。
Troy: Then when I saw that gal … she firmed up my backbone. And I got to thinking that if I tried … I just might be able to steal second. Do you understand after eighteen years I wanted to steal second.
罗斯:你应该紧紧抱住我。你应该抓住我,紧紧抱住我。
Rose: You should have held me tight. You should have grabbed me and held on.
特洛伊:我在一垒站了十八年,我想......好吧,该死的......继续努力吧!
Troy: I stood on first base for eighteen years and I thought … well, goddamn it … go on for it!
罗斯:我们不是在谈论棒球!我们在谈论你去和另一个女人上床……然后把这件事带回家给我。这就是我们在谈论的。我们不是在谈论棒球。
Rose: We’re not talking about baseball! We’re talking about you going off to lay in bed with another woman … and then bring it home to me. That’s what we’re talking about. We ain’t talking about no baseball.
特洛伊:罗斯,你没听我说话。我正在尽力向你解释。承认自己在同一个地方站了十八年,对我来说并不容易。
Troy: Rose, you’re not listening to me. I’m trying the best I can to explain it to you. It’s not easy for me to admit that I been standing in the same place for eighteen years.
罗斯:我一直和你站在一起!我一直和你在一起,特洛伊。我也有自己的生活。我花了十八年的时间和你站在同一位置。你认为我从未想过其他东西吗?你认为我从未有过梦想和希望吗?我的生活呢?我呢?你认为我从未想过想要认识其他男人吗?我想在某个地方躺下,忘记我的责任吗?我想有人逗我笑,让我感觉良好吗?你不是唯一一个有欲望和需求的人。但我抓住了你,特洛伊。我把我所有的感情、欲望和需求、梦想……都埋在你的心里。我种下一颗种子,看着它,为它祈祷。我把自己种在你心里,等待它开花。不到十八年,我就发现土壤坚硬多石,它永远不会开花。
Rose: I been standing with you! I been right here with you, Troy. I got a life too. I gave eighteen years of my life to stand in the same spot with you. Don’t you think I ever wanted other things? Don’t you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me. Don’t you think it ever crossed my mind to want to know other men? That I wanted to lay up somewhere and forget about my responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make me laugh so I could feel good? You not the only one who’s got wants and needs. But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams … and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn’t take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn’t never gonna bloom.
但是我紧紧地抱着你,特洛伊。我把你抱得更紧了。你是我的丈夫。我欠你的一切。我把我身上的每一部分都给了你。在楼上的那个房间里……黑暗笼罩着我……我付出了一切,试图消除你不是世界上最好的男人的疑虑。无论你去哪里……我都想和你在一起。因为你是我的丈夫。因为作为你的妻子,这是我活下去的唯一方式。你总是谈论你付出了什么……以及你不必付出什么。但你也索取。你索取……甚至不知道没有人付出!
But I held on to you, Troy. I held you tighter. You was my husband.I owed you everything I had. Every part of me I could find to give you. And upstairs in that room … with the darkness falling in on me … I gave everything I had to try and erase the doubt that you wasn’t the finest man in the world. And wherever you was going … I wanted to be there with you. Cause you was my husband. Cause that’s the only way I was gonna survive as your wife. You always talking about what you give … and what you don’t have to give. But you take too. You take … and don’t even know nobody’s giving!
(罗斯转身走进屋子;特洛伊抓住她的手臂。)
(Rose turns to exit into the house; Troy grabs her arm.)
特洛伊:你说我只索取,不给予!
Troy: You say I take and don’t give!
罗斯:特洛伊!你弄痛我了!
Rose: Troy! You’re hurting me!
特洛伊:你说我只索取,不给予。
Troy: You say I take and don’t give.
罗斯:特洛伊……你弄痛了我的胳膊!放手!
Rose: Troy … you’re hurting my arm! Let go!
特洛伊:我已经把我拥有的一切都给了你。你别再骗我了。
Troy: I done give you everything I got. Don’t you tell that lie on me.
罗斯:特洛伊!
Rose: Troy!
特洛伊:你别对我撒谎!
Troy: Don’t you tell that lie on me!
(科里从屋里进来。)
(Cory enters from the house.)
科里:妈妈!
Cory: Mama!
罗斯:特洛伊。你弄疼我了。
Rose: Troy. You’re hurting me.
特洛伊:你别跟我说不索取也不给予。
Troy: Don’t you tell me about no taking and giving.
(科里 (Cory) 走到特洛伊 (Troy) 身后,抓住了他。特洛伊 (Troy) 大吃一惊,失去了平衡,但科里 (Cory) 却向他胸部轻轻一击,将他击倒在地。特洛伊 (Troy) 和科里 (Cory) 都惊呆了。)
(Cory comes up behind Troy and grabs him. Troy, surprised, is thrown off balance just as Cory throws a glancing blow that catches him on the chest and knocks him down. Troy is stunned, as is Cory.)
罗斯:特洛伊。特洛伊。不!
Rose: Troy. Troy. No!
(特洛伊站起身,朝科里发起攻击。)
(Troy gets to his feet and starts at Cory.)
特洛伊……不。求你了!特洛伊!
Troy … no. Please! Troy!
(罗斯拉住特洛伊,想把他拉回来。特洛伊停了下来。)
(Rose pulls on Troy to hold him back. Troy stops himself.)
特洛伊(对科里):好吧。这是二击。小子,你离我远点。别出局。你满球数了。别出局。
Troy (to Cory): All right. That’s strike two. You stay away from around me, boy. Don’t you strike out. You living with a full count. Don’t you strike out.
(灯光暗下,特洛伊走出院子。)
(Troy exits out the yard as the lights go down.)
(六个月后的一天下午早些时候,特洛伊从屋子里走进来,正要走出院子。罗斯也从屋子里走了出来。)
(It is six months later, early afternoon. Troy enters from the house and starts to exit the yard. Rose enters from the house.)
罗斯:特洛伊,我想跟你谈谈。
Rose: Troy, I want to talk to you.
特洛伊:这么长时间过去了,你突然想跟我说话了,是吧?几个月来你都不想跟我说话了。昨晚你不想跟我说话。那时你根本不想跟我有任何瓜葛。你现在想跟我谈什么?
Troy: All of a sudden, after all this time, you want to talk to me, huh? You ain’t wanted to talk to me for months. You ain’t wanted to talk to me last night. You ain’t wanted no part of me then. What you wanna talk to me about now?
罗斯:明天是星期五。
Rose: Tomorrow’s Friday.
特洛伊:我知道明天是星期几。你以为我不知道明天是星期五吗?我这一生除了盼望星期五的到来什么都没做,而你却告诉我今天是星期五。
Troy: I know what day tomorrow is. You think I don’t know tomorrow’s Friday? My whole life I ain’t done nothing but look to see Friday coming and you got to tell me it’s Friday.
罗斯:我想知道你是否回家。
Rose: I want to know if you’re coming home.
特洛伊:我总是回家,罗斯。你知道的。我从来没有一个晚上不回家。
Troy: I always come home, Rose. You know that. There ain’t never been a night I ain’t come home.
罗斯:我不是这个意思……你知道的。我想知道你下班后是不是直接回家。
Rose: That ain’t what I mean … and you know it. I want to know if you’re coming straight home after work.
特洛伊:我想我会兑现我的支票……和孩子们一起去泰勒学院玩……也许玩一局跳棋……
Troy: I figure I’d cash my check … hang out at Taylors’ with the boys … maybe play a game of checkers …
罗斯:特洛伊,我不能这样生活。我不要这样生活。你和我在一起的时间太少了。你已经六个月没回家了。
Rose: Troy, I can’t live like this. I won’t live like this. You livin’ on borrowed time with me. It’s been going on six months now you ain’t been coming home.
特洛伊:我每晚都在这里。一年四季都在这里。一年 365 天。
Troy: I be here every night. Every night of the year. That’s 365 days.
罗斯:我希望你明天下班后回家。
Rose: I want you to come home tomorrow after work.
特洛伊:罗斯……我不会乱花钱。你现在知道了。我拿走我的工资,然后把它交给你。我没有钱,只有你给我的钱。我只想有一点时间给自己……一点时间享受生活。
Troy: Rose … I don’t mess up my pay. You know that now. I take my pay and I give it to you. I don’t have no money but what you give me back. I just want to have a little time to myself … a little time to enjoy life.
罗斯:那我呢?我什么时候才能享受生活呢?
Rose: What about me? When’s my time to enjoy life?
特洛伊:我不知道该告诉你什么,罗斯。我已尽我所能。
Troy: I don’t know what to tell you, Rose. I’m doing the best I can.
罗斯:你还没下班回家,但有足够的时间换衣服然后跑出去……你想说这是你能做的最好的事情吗?
Rose: You ain’t been home from work but time enough to change your clothes and run out … and you wanna call that the best you can do?
特洛伊:我要去医院看望艾伯塔。她今天下午住院了。看起来她可能早产了。我不会离开太久。
Troy: I’m going over to the hospital to see Alberta. She went into the hospital this afternoon. Look like she might have the baby early. I won’t be gone long.
罗斯:嗯,你应该知道。他们今天去了珀尔小姐那里,抓到了加布。她说是你让他们去把他关起来的。
Rose: Well, you ought to know. They went over to Miss Pearl’s and got Gabe today. She said you told them to go ahead and lock him up.
特洛伊:我没说过这样的话。不管是谁告诉你的,都是在撒谎。珀尔什么也没做,只是在撒一个弥天大谎。
Troy: I ain’t said no such thing. Whoever told you that is telling a lie. Pearl ain’t doing nothing but telling a big fat lie.
罗斯:她没必要告诉我。我在报纸上读到的。
Rose: She ain’t had to tell me. I read it on the papers.
特洛伊:我没有告诉他们这些事情。
Troy: I ain’t told them nothing of the kind.
罗斯:我在报纸上就看到了。
Rose: I saw it right there on the papers.
特洛伊:它说什么呢,嗯?
Troy: What it say, huh?
罗斯:上面说你叫他们把他带走。
Rose: It said you told them to take him.
特洛伊:然后他们就把事情搞砸了,就像他们把所有事情都搞砸了一样。我并不担心他们在报纸上写了什么。
Troy: Then they screwed that up, just the way they screw up everything. I ain’t worried about what they got on the paper.
罗斯:假设政府将他的支票的一部分寄给医院,另一部分寄给你。
Rose: Say the government send part of his check to the hospital and the other part to you.
特洛伊:如果事情就是这样,那我跟它就没关系了。我并没有制定关于它如何运作的规则。
Troy: I ain’t got nothing to do with that if that’s the way it works. I ain’t made up the rules about how it work.
罗斯:你对待加布就像对待科里一样。你不会为科里签字……但你为加布签了字。你签了那份文件。
Rose: You did Gabe just like you did Cory. You wouldn’t sign the paper for Cory … but you signed for Gabe. You signed that paper.
(屋内传来电话铃声。)
(The telephone is heard ringing inside the house.)
特洛伊:我告诉过你我什么都没签,女人!我唯一签的就是释放表。见鬼,我不识字,我不知道那张纸上写了什么!我没有签署任何关于送走加布的协议。
Troy: I told you I ain’t signed nothing, woman! The only thing I signed was the release form. Hell, I can’t read, I don’t know what they had on that paper! I ain’t signed nothing about sending Gabe away.
罗斯:我说送他去医院……你说让他自由……现在你却去了医院,只花了他一半的钱。你背叛了自己,特洛伊。你必须为此负责。
Rose: I said send him to the hospital … you said let him be free … now you done went down there and signed him to the hospital for half his money. You went back on yourself, Troy. You gonna have to answer for that.
特洛伊:瞧……你在那边跟珀尔小姐谈过。她因为拿不到加布的房租而生气了。就是这样。她什么话都敢说。
Troy: See now … you been over there talking to Miss Pearl. She done got mad cause she ain’t getting Gabe’s rent money. That’s all it is. She’s liable to say anything.
罗斯:特洛伊,我看到你签署文件的地方了。
Rose: Troy, I seen where you signed the paper.
特洛伊:你没看到我签的任何文件。她到底拿到了我哥哥的文件?珀尔小姐撒了弥天大谎。我也会告诉她!你没看到我签的任何文件。说……你没看到我签的任何文件。
Troy: You ain’t seen nothing I signed. What she doing got papers on my brother anyway? Miss Pearl telling a big fat lie. And I’m gonna tell her about it too! You ain’t seen nothing I signed. Say … you ain’t seen nothing I signed.
(罗斯走进屋子接电话。不久她就回来了。)
(Rose exits into the house to answer the telephone. Presently she returns.)
罗斯:特洛伊……那是医院。艾伯塔生下了孩子。
Rose: Troy … that was the hospital. Alberta had the baby.
T roy:她有什么?是什么?
Troy: What she have? What is it?
罗斯:是个女孩。
Rose: It’s a girl.
特洛伊:我最好赶紧去医院看望她。
Troy: I better get on down to the hospital to see her.
罗斯:特洛伊……
Rose: Troy …
特洛伊:罗斯……我现在得去看她。这样才对……怎么了……孩子没事吧?
Troy: Rose … I got to go see her now. That’s only right … what’s the matter … the baby’s all right, ain’t it?
罗斯:艾伯塔在生下这个孩子时就去世了。
Rose: Alberta died having the baby.
特洛伊:死了……你说她死了?艾伯塔死了?
Troy: Died … you say she’s dead? Alberta’s dead?
罗斯:他们说他们已经尽了一切努力。他们无法为她做任何事。
Rose: They said they done all they could. They couldn’t do nothing for her.
特洛伊:孩子?孩子怎么样了?
Troy: The baby? How’s the baby?
罗斯:他们说这样有益健康。不知道谁会埋葬她。
Rose: They say it’s healthy. I wonder who’s gonna bury her.
特洛伊:罗斯,她有家人。她并不是一个人生活在这个世界上。
Troy: She had family, Rose. She wasn’t living in the world by herself.
罗斯:我知道她并不是一个人生活在这个世界上。
Rose: I know she wasn’t living in the world by herself.
特洛伊:接下来你想知道她是否有保险。
Troy: Next thing you gonna want to know if she had any insurance.
罗斯:特洛伊,你没必要这么说。
Rose: Troy, you ain’t got to talk like that.
特洛伊:这是你脱口而出的第一句话。“谁来埋葬她?”就好像我准备亲自承担这个任务一样。
Troy: That’s the first thing that jumped out your mouth. “Who’s gonna bury her?” Like I’m fixing to take on that task for myself.
罗斯:我是你的妻子。别把我推开。
Rose: I am your wife. Don’t push me away.
特洛伊:我不会推开任何人。只要给我一点空间。就这样。只要给我一点喘息的空间。
Troy: I ain’t pushing nobody away. Just give me some space. That’s all. Just give me some room to breathe.
(罗斯走进屋子。特洛伊在院子里散步。)
(Rose exits into the house. Troy walks about the yard.)
特洛伊(平静的怒火几乎要吞噬他):好吧……死神先生。现在……我告诉你我要做什么。我要在院子周围建一道篱笆。明白了吗?我要在我所有的东西周围建一道篱笆。然后我要你待在另一边。明白了吗?你待在那儿直到你准备好对付我。然后你过来。带上你的军队。带上你的镰刀。带上你的摔跤服。这次我不会放松警惕了。你再也不会偷袭我了。当你准备好对付我时……当你名单上最上面的人说特洛伊·马克森时……那就是你过来的时候。你过来敲前门。其他人与此无关。这是我们俩之间的事。男人对男人。你待在篱笆的另一边直到你准备好对付我。然后你过来敲前门。你想什么时候来都可以。我会为你做好准备。
Troy (with a quiet rage that threatens to consume him): All right …Mr. Death. See now … I’m gonna tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? I’m gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side. See? You stay over there until you’re ready for me. Then you come on. Bring your army. Bring your sickle. Bring your wrestling clothes. I ain’t gonna fall down on my vigilance this time. You ain’t gonna sneak up on me no more. When you ready for me … when the top of your list say Troy Maxson … that’s when you come around here. You come up and knock on the front door. Ain’t nobody else got nothing to do with this. This is between you and me. Man to man. You stay on the other side of that fence until you ready for me. Then you come up and knock on the front door. Anytime you want. I’ll be ready for you.
(灯光转黑。)
(The lights go down to black.)
(门廊上的灯亮了起来。三天后的傍晚。罗斯坐在那里听着球赛,等待特洛伊。比赛结束了,罗斯关掉了收音机。特洛伊抱着一个裹着毯子的婴儿走进院子。他站在屋后,喊道。)
(The lights come up on the porch. It is late evening three days later. Rose sits listening to the ball game waiting for Troy. The final out of the game is made and Rose switches off the radio. Troy enters the yard carrying an infant wrapped in blankets. He stands back from the house and calls.)
(罗斯走进来,站在门廊上。一阵漫长而尴尬的沉默,每一秒的沉默都愈发沉重。)
(Rose enters and stands on the porch. There is a long, awkward silence, the weight of which grows heavier with each passing second.)
特洛伊:罗斯……我站在这里,怀里抱着我的女儿。她只是个小老头。她对大人的事一无所知。她很天真……而且她没有妈妈。
Troy: Rose … I’m standing here with my daughter in my arms. She ain’t but a wee bittie little old thing. She don’t know nothing about grownups’ business. She innocent … and she ain’t got no mama.
罗斯:特洛伊,你跟我说什么?
Rose: What you telling me for, Troy?
(她转身走进屋子。)
(She turns and exits into the house.)
特洛伊:好吧……我想我们就坐在门廊上吧。
Troy: Well … I guess we’ll just sit out here on the porch.
(他坐在门廊上。他抱着婴儿的样子显得有些笨拙和粗鲁。他那魁梧的身躯似乎要将婴儿吞没。他大声说话,罗斯听得见。)
(He sits down on the porch. There is an awkward indelicateness about the way he handles the baby. His largeness engulfs and seems to swallow it. He speaks loud enough for Rose to hear.)
人总得做对自己有利的事。我并不后悔我所做的一切。我心里觉得这是对的。
A man’s got to do what’s right for him. I ain’t sorry for nothing I done. It felt right in my heart.
(对宝宝说。)
(To the baby.)
你笑什么?你爸爸是个大男人。有一双又大又老的手。但有时他会害怕。而现在你爸爸很害怕,因为我们坐在这里,没有家。哦,我以前无家可归。我身边没有小宝宝。但我曾经无家可归。你孤零零地走在路上,看到一列火车驶来,你就像这样……
What you smiling at? Your daddy’s a big man. Got these great big old hands. But sometimes he’s scared. And right now your daddy’s scared cause we sitting out here and ain’t got no home. Oh, I been homeless before. I ain’t had no little baby with me. But I been homeless. You just be out on the road by your lonesome and you see one of them trains coming and you just kinda go like this …
(他唱得像一首摇篮曲。)
(He sings as a lullaby.)
工程师先生,请让一个人骑这条线
Please, Mr. Engineer let a man ride the line
工程师先生,请让一个人骑这条线
Please, Mr. Engineer let a man ride the line
我没有票,请让我坐到百叶窗上
I ain’t got no ticket please let me ride the blinds
(罗斯从屋子里进来。特洛伊听到她身后的脚步声,站起来面对她。)
(Rose enters from the house. Troy hearing her steps behind him, stands and faces her.)
她是我的女儿,罗斯。我的亲生骨肉。我不能拒绝她,就像我不能拒绝那些男孩一样。
She’s my daughter, Rose. My own flesh and blood. I can’t deny her no more than I can deny them boys.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
你和他们两个孩子就是我的家人。你和他们,还有这个孩子就是我在这个世界上拥有的一切。所以我想我要说的是……如果你能帮我照顾她,我会非常感激。
You and them boys is my family. You and them and this child is all I got in the world. So I guess what I’m saying is … I’d appreciate it if you’d help me take care of her.
罗斯:好吧,特洛伊……你说得对。我会帮你照顾好你的孩子……因为……就像你说的……她是无辜的……你不能让孩子承担父亲的罪孽。没有母亲的孩子会过得很艰难。
Rose: Okay, Troy … you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for you … cause … like you say … she’s innocent … and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time.
(她从他手中抱走了孩子。)
(She takes the baby from him.)
从现在起……这孩子有妈妈了。而你却是个没有女人的男人。
From right now … this child got a mother. But you a womanless man.
(罗斯转身抱着婴儿走进屋子。灯光变黑。)
(Rose turns and exits into the house with the baby. Lights go down to black.)
(两个月后,莱昂斯从街上进来。他敲门并喊话。)
(It is two months later. Lyons enters from the street. He knocks on the door and calls.)
里昂斯:嘿,罗斯! (停顿。)玫瑰!
Lyons: Hey, Rose! (Pause.) Rose!
罗斯(在屋内):别再大喊大叫了。你会吵醒雷内尔的。我刚哄她睡觉。
Rose (from inside the house): Stop that yelling. You gonna wake up Raynell. I just got her to sleep.
L yons:我刚刚来还爸爸我欠他的二十美元。爸爸在哪儿?
Lyons: I just stopped by to pay Papa this twenty dollars I owe him. Where’s Papa at?
罗斯:他马上就到。我正准备去教堂。坐下来等他。
Rose: He should be here in a minute. I’m getting ready to go down to the church. Sit down and wait on him.
L yons:我得去邦妮妈妈家接她。
Lyons: I got to go pick up Bonnie over her mother’s house.
罗斯:好吧,把它放在桌子上。他会拿到的。
Rose: Well, sit it down there on the table. He’ll get it.
莱昂斯(走进屋子,把钱放在桌子上):告诉爸爸,我向他道谢了。我会再见到你的。
Lyons (enters the house and sets the money on the table): Tell Papa I said thanks. I’ll see you again.
罗斯:好的,莱昂斯。我们会再见的。
Rose: All right, Lyons. We’ll see you.
(科里进来时莱昂斯开始出去。)
(Lyons starts to exit as Cory enters.)
Cory :嘿,Lyons。
Cory: Hey, Lyons.
L yons:发生了什么事,Cory。伙计,我很抱歉错过了你的毕业典礼。你知道我有演出,没法抽身。否则,我就会去那里了,伙计。你在做什么?
Lyons: What’s happening, Cory. Say man, I’m sorry I missed your graduation. You know I had a gig and couldn’t get away. Otherwise, I would have been there, man. So what you doing?
Cory :我正在找工作。
Cory: I’m trying to find a job.
L yons:是的,我知道那会是怎样的。这里的生活很艰苦。工作机会很少。
Lyons: Yeah I know how that go, man. It’s rough out here. Jobs are scarce.
Cory :是的,我知道。
Cory: Yeah, I know.
L yons:听我说,我得走了。和爸爸谈谈……他认识一些人。他能帮你找份工作。和他谈谈……看看他怎么说。
Lyons: Look here, I got to run. Talk to Papa … he know some people. He’ll be able to help get you a job. Talk to him … see what he say.
科里 (Cory):是的……好的,莱昂斯 (Lyons)。
Cory: Yeah … all right, Lyons.
L yons:你保重。我很快就会和你谈谈。我们会找时间谈谈。
Lyons: You take care. I’ll talk to you soon. We’ll find some time to talk.
(莱昂斯走出院子。科里走到树下,拿起球棒,摆出击球姿势。他研究了一下假想的投手,然后挥棒。他对结果不满意,又试了一次。特洛伊进来了。他们互相看了一眼。科里放下球棒,走出院子。特洛伊走进屋子,罗斯和雷内尔一起走了出去。她手里拿着一个蛋糕。)
(Lyons exits the yard. Cory wanders over to the tree, picks up the bat, and assumes a batting stance. He studies an imaginary pitcher and swings. Dissatisfied with the result, he tries again. Troy enters. They eye each other for a beat. Cory puts the bat down and exits the yard. Troy starts into the house as Rose exits with Raynell. She is carrying a cake.)
特洛伊:我进来了,大家都出去了。
Troy: I’m coming in and everybody’s going out.
罗斯:我要把这个蛋糕带到教堂去义卖。莱昂斯来看过你。他顺便过来付了你二十美元。它就放在桌子上。
Rose: I’m taking this cake down to the church for the bake sale. Lyons was by to see you. He stopped by to pay you your twenty dollars. It’s laying in there on the table.
特洛伊(伸手摸口袋):好吧……这是钱。
Troy ( going into his pocket): Well … here go this money.
罗斯:把它放到桌子上,特洛伊。我去拿。
Rose: Put it in there on the table, Troy. I’ll get it.
T roy:你什么时候回来?
Troy: What time you coming back?
罗斯:你研究我也没用。不管我什么时候回来。
Rose: Ain’t no use in you studying me. It don’t matter what time I come back.
特洛伊:我刚才问了你一个问题,女士。怎么了……我不能问你一个问题吗?
Troy: I just asked you a question, woman. What’s the matter … can’t I ask you a question?
罗斯:特洛伊,我不想多说。你的晚餐就在炉子上。你只需要加热一下。你别把里面的蛋糕都吃光了。我会回来拿的。明天我们在教堂举行义卖活动。
Rose: Troy, I don’t want to go into it. Your dinner’s in there on the stove. All you got to do is heat it up. And don’t you be eating the rest of them cakes in there. I’m coming back for them. We having a bake sale at the church tomorrow.
(罗斯走出院子。特洛伊坐在台阶上,从口袋里掏出一品脱瓶啤酒,打开,喝了起来。他开始唱歌。)
(Rose exits the yard. Troy sits down on the steps, takes a pint bottle from his pocket, opens it, and drinks. He begins to sing.)
特洛伊:听见它响了!听见它响了!
Troy: Hear it ring! Hear it ring!
有一只老狗,名字叫蓝色
Had an old dog his name was Blue
你知道蓝色是真的
You know Blue was mighty true
你知道布鲁是一只好老狗
You know Blue was a good old dog
蓝色的树,一只在空心圆木里的负鼠
Blue trees a possum in a hollow log
你知道他是一只好老狗
You know from that he was a good old dog
(波诺走进院子。)
(Bono enters the yard.)
B ono:嘿,特洛伊。
Bono: Hey, Troy.
特洛伊:嘿,发生什么事了,波诺?
Troy: Hey, what’s happening, Bono?
B ono:我只是想顺便来看看你。
Bono: I just thought I’d stop by to see you.
特洛伊:你为什么会来找我?你一个月都没有来过。见鬼,我肯定欠你钱什么的。
Troy: What you stop by and see me for? You ain’t stopped by in a month of Sundays. Hell, I must owe you money or something.
B ono:自从你升职之后我就跟不上你了。以前每天都能看到你。现在我甚至不知道你在哪条路线上工作。
Bono: Since you got your promotion I can’t keep up with you. Used to see you every day. Now I don’t even know what route you working.
特洛伊:他们一直在调换我。现在我被调到格林特里……运送白人的垃圾。
Troy: They keep switching me around. Got me out in Greentree now … hauling white folks’ garbage.
B ono: Greentree,嗯?你真幸运,至少你不用举起那些桶。它们越来越重了,真是该死。我要干两年就此罢休。
Bono: Greentree, huh? You lucky, at least you ain’t got to be lifting them barrels. Damn if they ain’t getting heavier. I’m gonna put in my two years and call it quits.
特洛伊:我正在考虑退休。
Troy: I’m thinking about retiring myself.
B ono:你很轻松。你还可以再开五年车。
Bono: You got it easy. You can drive for another five years.
特洛伊:这不一样,博诺。这不像是在卡车后面工作。没有人可以交谈……感觉就像你一个人在工作。不,我在考虑退休。露西尔怎么样了?
Troy: It ain’t the same, Bono. It ain’t like working the back of the truck. Ain’t got nobody to talk to … feel like you working by yourself. Naw, I’m thinking about retiring. How’s Lucille?
B ono:她还好。她的关节炎有时会发作。我进来时看见了 Rose。她要去教堂,是吗?
Bono: She all right. Her arthritis get to acting up on her sometime. Saw Rose on my way in. She going down to the church, huh?
特洛伊:是的,她开始去那里。所有的传教士都在寻找可以让他们发财的人。
Troy: Yeah, she took up going down there. All them preachers looking for somebody to fatten their pockets.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
这里有一些杜松子酒。
Got some gin here.
B ono:不,谢谢。我只是顺便过来打个招呼。
Bono: Naw, thanks. I just stopped by to say hello.
特洛伊:见鬼,黑鬼……你可以喝一杯。我从来没见过你拒绝喝酒。你明天不用上班。
Troy: Hell, nigger … you can take a drink. I ain’t never known you to say no to a drink. You ain’t got to work tomorrow.
B ono:我刚刚路过。我准备去 Skinner 家。我们每周五都会去他家玩多米诺骨牌游戏。
Bono: I just stopped by. I’m fixing to go over to Skinner’s. We got us a domino game going over his house every Friday.
特洛伊:黑鬼,你不会玩多米诺骨牌。我以前五局里有四局都能打败你。
Troy: Nigger, you can’t play no dominoes. I used to whup you four games out of five.
B ono:嗯,这让我学到了很多东西。我正在进步。
Bono: Well, that learned me. I’m getting better.
特洛伊:是吗?好吧,没关系。
Troy: Yeah? Well, that’s all right.
B ono:看这里……我得走了。有时间过来一下,嗯?
Bono: Look here … I got to be getting on. Stop by sometime, huh?
特洛伊:好的,我会这么做的,博诺。露西尔告诉罗斯你给她买了一台新冰箱。
Troy: Yeah, I’ll do that, Bono. Lucille told Rose you bought her a new refrigerator.
B ono:是的,Rose 告诉 Lucille 你终于建好了篱笆……所以我想我们扯平了。
Bono: Yeah, Rose told Lucille you had finally built your fence … so I figured we’d call it even.
特洛伊:我就知道你会的。
Troy: I knew you would.
B ono:是的……好的。我会和你谈谈的。
Bono: Yeah … okay. I’ll be talking to you.
特罗伊:是的,保重,博诺。很高兴见到你。我要过来。
Troy: Yeah, take care, Bono. Good to see you. I’m gonna stop over.
B ono:是的。好的,Troy。
Bono: Yeah. Okay, Troy.
(博诺退场。特洛伊直接喝瓶中的酒。)
(Bono exits. Troy drinks from the bottle.)
特洛伊:老蓝死了,我挖了他的坟墓
Troy: Old Blue died and I dig his grave
用金链子把他放下
Let him down with a golden chain
每天晚上当我听到老蓝树的吠叫
Every night when I hear old Blue bark
我知道布鲁在诺亚方舟里把一只负鼠困在树上了。
I know Blue treed a possum in Noah’s Ark.
听见它响了!听见它响了!
Hear it ring! Hear it ring!
(科里走进院子。他们对视了一会。特洛伊坐在台阶中间。科里走了过去。)
(Cory enters the yard. They eye each other for a beat. Troy is sitting in the middle of the steps. Cory walks over.)
Cory :我得赶过去。
Cory: I got to get by.
特洛伊:说什么?你说什么?
Troy: Say what? What’s you say?
科里:你挡着我的路了。我得赶快过去。
Cory: You in my way. I got to get by.
特洛伊:你得去哪里?这是我的房子。买下并付清了。全额付款。我花了十五年时间。如果你想进我家,而我正坐在台阶上……你就说对不起。就像你妈妈教你的一样。
Troy: You got to get by where? This is my house. Bought and paid for. In full. Took me fifteen years. And if you wanna go in my house and I’m sitting on the steps … you say excuse me. Like your mama taught you.
科里:来吧,爸爸......我得赶快过去。
Cory: Come on, Pop … I got to get by.
(科里开始从特洛伊身边挤过去。特洛伊抓住他的腿,把他推回去。)
(Cory starts to maneuver his way past Troy. Troy grabs his leg and shoves him back.)
特洛伊:你就打算从我身上跨过去吗?
Troy: You just gonna walk over top of me?
Cory :我也住在这里!
Cory: I live here too!
特洛伊(向他走去): “你就想从我家里跨过去吗?”
Troy (advancing toward him): You just gonna walk over top of me in my own house?
科里:我并不怕你。
Cory: I ain’t scared of you.
特洛伊:我没问你怕不怕我。我问你是不是要从我家里踩过去?这才是问题。你不打算说对不起吗?你打算从我身上踩过去吗?
Troy: I ain’t asked if you was scared of me. I asked you if you was fixing to walk over top of me in my own house? That’s the question. You ain’t gonna say excuse me? You just gonna walk over top of me?
Cory :如果你想这样说的话。
Cory: If you wanna put it like that.
特洛伊:我还能怎么说呢?
Troy: How else am I gonna put it?
Cory :我正从你身边走过,准备进屋,因为你喝醉了,坐在台阶上,自顾自地唱歌。你可以这么说。
Cory: I was walking by you to go into the house cause you sitting on the steps drunk, singing to yourself. You can put it like that.
特洛伊:不说对不起吗???
Troy: Without saying excuse me???
(科里没有回应。)
(Cory doesn’t respond.)
我问你问题了,却不说对不起???
I asked you a question. Without saying excuse me???
科里:我没必要对你说对不起。你在这里已经不重要了。
Cory: I ain’t got to say excuse me to you. You don’t count around here no more.
特洛伊:哦,我明白了……我不再是这里的贵人了。你不必跟你爸爸说对不起。突然间,你已经长大了,你爸爸不再是这里的贵人了……他用自己的汗水换来了他自己的房子和院子。你已经长大到可以接管一切的地步了。你要接管我的房子。是吗?你要穿我的裤子。你要进去躺在我的床上。你不必跟我说对不起,因为我不再是这里的贵人了。是吗?
Troy: Oh, I see … I don’t count around here no more. You ain’t got to say excuse me to your daddy. All of a sudden you done got so grown that your daddy don’t count around here no more … Around here in his own house and yard that he done paid for with the sweat of his brow. You done got so grown to where you gonna take over. You gonna take over my house. Is that right? You gonna wear my pants. You gonna go in there and stretch out on my bed. You ain’t got to say excuse me cause I don’t count around here no more. Is that right?
科里:没错。你总是说这些蠢话。现在,你为什么不走开呢。
Cory: That’s right. You always talking this dumb stuff. Now, why don’t you just get out my way.
特洛伊:我想你应该有个地方睡觉,肚子里有东西可以放。你明白了吧?你明白了吧?这就是你所需要的。你明白了吧?
Troy: I guess you got someplace to sleep and something to put in your belly. You got that, huh? You got that? That’s what you need. You got that, huh?
科里:你不知道我得到了什么。你不必担心我得到了什么。
Cory: You don’t know what I got. You ain’t got to worry about what I got.
特洛伊:你说得对!你百分之百正确!我花了十七年的时间担心你得到了什么。现在轮到你了,明白吗?我会告诉你该怎么做。你长大了……我们已经确定了这一点。你是个男人。现在,让我们看看你表现得像个男人。转过身,走出这个院子。当你走出小巷时……你可以忘掉这所房子。明白了吗?因为这是我的房子。你继续做个男人,拥有自己的房子。你可以忘掉这件事。因为这是我的。你继续去拿你的房子,因为我已经不再为你做了。
Troy: You right! You one hundred percent right! I done spent the last seventeen years worrying about what you got. Now it’s your turn, see? I’ll tell you what to do. You grown … we done established that. You a man. Now, let’s see you act like one. Turn your behind around and walk out this yard. And when you get out there in the alley … you can forget about this house. See? ’Cause this is my house. You go on and be a man and get your own house. You can forget about this. Cause this is mine. You go on and get yours ’cause I’m through with doing for you.
Cory :你说你为我做了什么……你给过我什么吗?
Cory: You talking about what you did for me … what’d you ever give me?
特洛伊:那些脚和骨头!那颗跳动的心脏,黑鬼!我给你的比任何人都多。
Troy: Them feet and bones! That pumping heart, nigger! I give you more than anybody else is ever gonna give you.
Cory :你从来没给过我任何东西!你从来没做过什么,只是阻碍我。害怕我会比你更好。你所做的就是试图让我害怕你。每次你叫我的名字,我都会颤抖。每次我听到你在屋里的脚步声。我一直在想……如果我这样做,爸爸会怎么说?……如果我那样做,他会怎么说?……如果我打开收音机,爸爸会怎么说?还有妈妈,她也试过……但她害怕你。
Cory: You ain’t never gave me nothing! You ain’t never done nothing but hold me back. Afraid I was gonna be better than you. All you ever did was try and make me scared of you. I used to tremble every time you called my name. Every time I heard your footsteps in the house. Wondering all the time … what’s Papa gonna say if I do this? … What’s he gonna say if I do that? … What’s Papa gonna say if I turn on the radio? And Mama, too … she tries … but she’s scared of you.
特洛伊:你别管你妈妈了。她跟这事儿一点关系都没有。
Troy: You leave your mama out of this. She ain’t got nothing to do with this.
科里:我不知道在你对她做了那些事之后她怎么能忍受你。
Cory: I don’t know how she stand you … after what you did to her.
特洛伊:我告诉过你别让你妈妈参与这件事!
Troy: I told you to leave your mama out of this!
(他向科里走去。)
(He advances toward Cory.)
科里:你要做什么……揍我?你不能再揍我了。你太老了。你只是个老头子。
Cory: What you gonna do … give me a whupping? You can’t whup me no more. You’re too old. You just an old man.
特洛伊(把他推到自己的肩膀上):黑鬼!你就是黑鬼。在我眼里,你不过是街上的另一个黑鬼罢了!
Troy (shoves him on his shoulder): Nigger! That’s what you are. You just another nigger on the street to me!
Cory :你疯了!你知道吗?
Cory: You crazy! You know that?
特洛伊:快走吧!你心里有魔鬼。离我远点!
Troy: Go on now! You got the devil in you. Get on away from me!
科里:你就是一个疯狂的老头子……说到我心里就有魔鬼。
Cory: You just a crazy old man … talking about I got the devil in me.
特洛伊:是的,我疯了!如果你不从院子的另一边走过去……我就要让你看看我有多疯!走吧……滚出我的院子。
Troy: Yeah, I’m crazy! If you don’t get on the other side of that yard … I’m gonna show you how crazy I am! Go on … get the hell out of my yard.
科里:这不是你的院子。你用加布叔叔从军队得到的钱买了这栋房子,然后又把他赶了出去。
Cory: It ain’t your yard. You took Uncle Gabe’s money he got from the army to buy this house and then you put him out.
特洛伊(特洛伊向科里走去):“你这个黑屁股,从我的院子里出去!”
Troy (Troy advances on Cory): Get your black ass out of my yard!
(特洛伊的前进将科里逼到了树上。科里抓起了球棒。)
(Troy’s advance backs Cory up against the tree. Cory grabs up the bat.)
科里:我哪儿也不去!来吧……把我放出去!我不怕你。
Cory: I ain’t going nowhere! Come on … put me out! I ain’t scared of you.
特洛伊:那是我的球棒!
Troy: That’s my bat!
Cory :来吧!
Cory: Come on!
特洛伊:把我的球棒放下!
Troy: Put my bat down!
Cory :来吧,把我放出去。
Cory: Come on, put me out.
(科里向特洛伊挥拳,特洛伊退到院子对面。)
(Cory swings at Troy, who backs across the yard.)
怎么了?你太坏了……把我放出去!
What’s the matter? You so bad … put me out!
(特洛伊向科里走去。)
(Troy advances toward Cory.)
C ory(后退):“来吧!来吧!”
Cory (backing up): Come on! Come on!
T roy:你得用它!你想用球棒攻击我……你就得用它。
Troy: You’re gonna have to use it! You wanna draw that bat back on me … you’re gonna have to use it.
Cory :来吧!……来吧!
Cory: Come on! … Come on!
(科里第二次向特洛伊挥棒,但未击中,特洛伊继续向他逼近。)
(Cory swings the bat at Troy a second time. He misses. Troy continues to advance toward him.)
特罗伊:你得杀了我!你想把球棒还给我。你得杀了我。
Troy: You’re gonna have to kill me! You wanna draw that bat back on me. You’re gonna have to kill me.
(科里被逼到了树下,再也走不了了。特洛伊嘲弄他。他探出头,给他一个目标。)
(Cory, backed up against the tree, can go no farther. Troy taunts him. He sticks out his head and offers him a target.)
加油!加油!
Come on! Come on!
(科里无法挥动球棒。特洛伊抓住了它。)
(Cory is unable to swing the bat. Troy grabs it.)
特洛伊:那我就演示给你看。
Troy: Then I’ll show you.
(科里和特洛伊争夺球棒。争斗非常激烈,双方都投入了战斗。最终特洛伊占了上风,他从科里手中接过球棒,站在他面前准备挥棒。但他停了下来。)
(Cory and Troy struggle over the bat. The struggle is fierce and fully engaged. Troy ultimately is the stronger and takes the bat from Cory and stands over him ready to swing. He stops himself.)
继续前行并远离我的房子。
Go on and get away from around my house.
(科里被失败深深地刺痛了,他站起身,慢慢地走出院子,走上小巷。)
(Cory, stung by his defeat, picks himself up, walks slowly out of the yard and up the alley.)
科里:告诉妈妈我会回来取我的东西。
Cory: Tell Mama I’ll be back for my things.
特洛伊:他们会在栅栏的另一边。
Troy: They’ll be on the other side of that fence.
(科里退场。)
(Cory exits.)
特洛伊:我什么都尝不出来。天哪!我再也尝不出什么了。(特洛伊摆出击球姿势,开始嘲弄外角的快速球“死神”。)来吧!现在就你我之间的事情了!来吧!你想什么时候来就什么时候来!来吧!我会为你做好准备……但我不会轻易放过你。
Troy: I can’t taste nothing. Helluljah! I can’t taste nothing no more. (Troy assumes a batting posture and begins to taunt Death, the fastball on the outside corner.) Come on! It’s between you and me now! Come on! Anytime you want! Come on! I be ready for you … but I ain’t gonna be easy.
(现场灯光暗下。)
(The lights go down on the scene.)
(时间是 1965 年。院子里的灯亮了起来。这是特洛伊葬礼的早晨。门边挂着一块带灯的葬礼牌匾。旁边有一小块花园。罗斯、加布里埃尔和博诺聚集在房子里,屋里一片喧闹。门开了,七岁的雷内尔穿着法兰绒睡衣走了进来。她穿过花园,用一根棍子四处乱戳。罗斯在屋里喊道。)
(The time is 1965. The lights come up in the yard. It is the morning of Troy’s funeral. A funeral plaque with a light hangs beside the door. There is a small garden plot off to the side. There is noise and activity in the house as Rose, Gabriel, and Bono have gathered. The door opens and Raynell, seven years old, enters dressed in a flannel nightgown. She crosses to the garden and pokes around with a stick. Rose calls from the house.)
罗斯:雷内尔!
Rose: Raynell!
雷内尔:妈妈?
Raynell: Mam?
罗斯:你在外面干什么?
Rose: What you doing out there?
雷内尔:没什么。
Raynell: Nothing.
(罗斯来到门口。)
(Rose comes to the door.)
罗斯:姑娘,快进来穿好衣服。你在干什么?
Rose: Girl, get in here and get dressed. What you doing?
雷内尔:看看我的花园是否生长了。
Raynell: Seeing if my garden growed.
罗斯:我告诉过你它不会一夜之间就长大。你得等着。
Rose: I told you it ain’t gonna grow overnight. You got to wait.
雷奈尔:看起来它不会再长大了。该死!
Raynell: It don’t look like it never gonna grow. Dag!
罗斯:我告诉过你,心急吃不了热豆腐。快进来穿好衣服。
Rose: I told you a watched pot never boils. Get in here and get dressed.
雷内尔:妈妈,这根本就不是锅。
Raynell: This ain’t even no pot, Mama.
罗斯:你只要给它一个机会。它会长大的。现在你来按我说的做。我们必须做好准备。今天早上可不是玩的时候。你听见了吗?
Rose: You just have to give it a chance. It’ll grow. Now you come on and do what I told you. We got to be getting ready. This ain’t no morning to be playing around. You hear me?
雷内尔:是的,女士。
Raynell: Yes, mam.
(罗斯走进屋子。雷内尔继续用棍子戳她的花园。科里走了进来。他穿着海军陆战队下士的制服,背着行李袋。他的姿势像个军人,说话时带着一种简洁而严厉的声音。)
(Rose exits into the house. Raynell continues to poke at her garden with a stick. Cory enters. He is dressed in a Marine corporal’s uniform, and carries a duffel bag. His posture is that of a military man, and his speech has a clipped sternness.)
Cory (对 Raynell 说):嗨。
Cory (to Raynell): Hi.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
我敢打赌你的名字是 Raynell。
I bet your name is Raynell.
雷内尔:嗯嗯。
Raynell: Uh huh.
Cory :你妈妈在家吗?
Cory: Is your mama home?
(雷内尔跑上门廊,透过纱门喊道。)
(Raynell runs up on the porch and calls through the screen door.)
雷内尔:妈妈……这里有个男人。妈妈?
Raynell: Mama … there’s some man out here. Mama?
(罗斯来到门口。)
(Rose comes to the door.)
罗斯:科里?上帝啊,饶恕我吧!大家看这里!
Rose: Cory? Lord have mercy! Look here, you all!
(当博诺和莱昂斯穿着丧服从屋里走进来时,罗斯和科里含泪拥抱在一起。)
(Rose and Cory embrace in a tearful reunion as Bono and Lyons enter from the house dressed in funeral clothes.)
B ono:噢,看这里……
Bono: Aw, looka here …
R ose:长大啦!
Rose: Done got all grown up!
科里:别哭,妈妈。你为什么哭呢?
Cory: Don’t cry, Mama. What you crying about?
罗斯:我非常高兴你来了。
Rose: I’m just so glad you made it.
Cory :嗨,Lyons。你好吗,Bono 先生。
Cory: Hey Lyons. How you doing, Mr. Bono.
(莱昂斯走上前去拥抱科里。)
(Lyons goes to embrace Cory.)
莱昂斯:看看你,伙计。看看你。他看起来真不错,罗斯。他获得了下士勋章。
Lyons: Look at you, man. Look at you. Don’t he look good, Rose. Got them Corporal stripes.
罗斯:你怎么这么久才回来?
Rose: What took you so long.
科里:妈妈,你知道海军陆战队是什么样的人。他们必须先把所有文件办妥,然后才允许你做任何事情。
Cory: You know how the Marines are, Mama. They got to get all their paperwork straight before they let you do anything.
罗斯:嗯,我很高兴你来了。他们让莱昂斯来了。你的加布叔叔还在医院。他们不知道是否会让他出院。我刚刚和他们谈过。
Rose: Well, I’m sure glad you made it. They let Lyons come. Your Uncle Gabe’s still in the hospital. They don’t know if they gonna let him out or not. I just talked to them a little while ago.
莱昂斯:美国海军陆战队的一名下士。
Lyons: A Corporal in the United States Marines.
B ono:你爸爸知道你有这个能力。他以前经常跟我说这个。
Bono: Your daddy knew you had it in you. He used to tell me all the time.
L yons:博诺先生,他看上去难道不不错吗?
Lyons: Don’t he look good, Mr. Bono?
B ono:是的,当我第一次见到他时,他就让我想起了特洛伊。
Bono: Yeah, he remind me of Troy when I first met him.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
喂,罗斯,露西尔和唱诗班在教堂。我要去把抬棺人排好。我会回来接你们所有人。
Say, Rose, Lucille’s down at the church with the choir. I’m gonna go down and get the pallbearers lined up. I’ll be back to get you all.
罗斯:谢谢,吉姆。
Rose: Thanks, Jim.
Cory :再见,博诺先生。
Cory: See you, Mr. Bono.
莱昂斯(用手臂搂住雷内尔):科里……看看雷内尔。她不是很珍贵吗?她会让很多人心碎。
Lyons (with his arm around Raynell): Cory … look at Raynell. Ain’t she precious? She gonna break a whole lot of hearts.
罗斯:雷内尔,过来跟你哥哥打个招呼。我是你哥哥科里。你记得科里。
Rose: Raynell, come and say hello to your brother. This is your brother Cory. You remember Cory.
雷内尔:没有,女士。
Raynell: No, Mam.
科里:妈妈,她不记得我了。
Cory: She don’t remember me, Mama.
罗斯:好吧,我们谈论你。她听到我们谈论你。(对雷内尔说。)我是你哥哥科里。来打个招呼吧。
Rose: Well, we talk about you. She heard us talk about you. (To Raynell.) This is your brother Cory. Come on and say hello.
雷内尔:嗨。
Raynell: Hi.
科里:嗨。原来你是雷内尔。妈妈跟我讲了很多关于你的事情。
Cory: Hi. So you’re Raynell. Mama told me a lot about you.
罗斯:你们都进屋来,我给你们做点早餐。保持体力。
Rose: You all come on into the house and let me fix you some breakfast. Keep up your strength.
科里:妈妈,我不饿。
Cory: I ain’t hungry, Mama.
莱昂斯:罗斯,你可以帮我解决一些事情。我马上就去。
Lyons: You can fix me something, Rose. I’ll be in there in a minute.
罗斯:科里,你确定你什么都不想要吗?我知道他们没有好好喂你。
Rose: Cory, you sure you don’t want nothing. I know they ain’t feeding you right.
科里:不用了,妈妈……谢谢。我不想吃东西。我待会儿再去弄点东西。
Cory: No, Mama … thanks. I don’t feel like eating. I’ll get something later.
罗斯:雷内尔……上楼去穿上那件衣服,就像我告诉你的那样。
Rose: Raynell … get on upstairs and get that dress on like I told you.
(罗斯和雷内尔走进屋子。)
(Rose and Raynell exit into the house.)
L yons:那么...我听说你在考虑结婚。
Lyons: So … I hear you thinking about getting married.
科里:是的,我找到了正确的人,莱昂斯。是时候了。
Cory: Yeah, I done found the right one, Lyons. It’s about time.
L yons:我和 Bonnie 已经分手四年了。大约是在爸爸退休的时候。我想她可能已经厌倦了我给她带来的这些变化。
Lyons: Me and Bonnie been split up about four years now. About the time Papa retired. I guess she just got tired of all them changes I was putting her through.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
我一直知道你会有所成就。你的思路总是正确的。所以……你会留下来……把它当成一份事业……投入你的二十年?
I always knew you was gonna make something out yourself. Your head was always in the right direction. So … you gonna stay in … make it a career … put in your twenty years?
Cory :我不知道。我已经有六个了,我想够了。
Cory: I don’t know. I got six already, I think that’s enough.
L yons:听山姆大叔的话,早点退休吧。这里没什么。我想 Rose 告诉你发生在我身上的事了。他们把我送进了济贫院。我以为我骗取别人的支票。
Lyons: Stick with Uncle Sam and retire early. Ain’t nothing out here. I guess Rose told you what happened with me. They got me down the workhouse. I thought I was being slick cashing other people’s checks.
C ory:你做了多少时间?
Cory: How much time you doing?
莱昂斯:他们给了我三年的刑期。现在我被打败了。我只有九个月的时间了。这还不算太糟。你要学会像对待其他事情一样对待它。你必须用直球和弯球来应对。这就是爸爸曾经说过的话。他曾经在三振出局时这么说。我看见他连续三次三振出局……下一次上场时,他把球打到了看台上。就在 Homestead 球场。他不满足于击球在座位上……他想把球打到任何东西上!比赛结束后,有两百人站在他身边等着和他握手。你必须用直球和弯球来应对。是的,爸爸就是与众不同。
Lyons: They give me three years. I got that beat now. I ain’t got but nine more months. It ain’t so bad. You learn to deal with it like anything else. You got to take the crookeds with the straights. That’s what Papa used to say. He used to say that when he struck out. I seen him strike out three times in a row … and the next time up he hit the ball over the grandstand. Right out there in Homestead Field. He wasn’t satisfied hitting in the seats … he want to hit it over everything! After the game he had two hundred people standing around waiting to shake his hand. You got to take the crookeds with the straights. Yeah, Papa was something else.
C ory:你还在玩吗?
Cory: You still playing?
L yons:科里……你知道我会这么做的。我们那边有几个人组成了一支乐队……我们会努力在退伍后继续在一起……但是,是的,我还在演奏。它仍然能帮助我早上起床。只要能做到这一点,我就会一直演奏,并努力从中找出一些道理。
Lyons: Cory … you know I’m gonna do that. There’s some fellows down there we got us a band … we gonna try and stay together when we get out … but yeah, I’m still playing. It still helps me to get out of bed in the morning. As long as it do that I’m gonna be right there playing and trying to make some sense out of it.
罗斯(呼叫):“莱昂斯,我把这些鸡蛋放到锅里了。”
Rose (calling): Lyons, I got these eggs in the pan.
L yons:哥们,让我去把这些鸡蛋拿来。准备去埋葬爸爸吧。
Lyons: Let me go on and get these eggs, man. Get ready to go bury Papa.
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
你好嗎?你还好吗?
How you doing? You doing all right?
(科里点点头。莱昂斯拍拍他的肩膀,两人一起默默悲伤了一会儿。莱昂斯走进屋子。科里在院子里徘徊。雷内尔走了进来。)
(Cory nods. Lyons touches him on the shoulder and they share a moment of silent grief. Lyons exits into the house. Cory wanders about the yard. Raynell enters.)
雷内尔:嗨。
Raynell: Hi.
Cory :嗨。
Cory: Hi.
雷内尔:你以前在我的房间里睡过吗?
Raynell: Did you used to sleep in my room?
Cory :是的……那曾经是我的房间。
Cory: Yeah … that used to be my room.
雷内尔:爸爸就是这么叫它的。“科里的房间。”你的足球就放在壁橱里。
Raynell: That’s what Papa call it. “Cory’s room.” It got your football in the closet.
(罗斯来到门口。)
(Rose comes to the door.)
罗斯:雷内尔,快进去,穿上好鞋。
Rose: Raynell, get in there and get them good shoes on.
雷内尔:妈妈,我不能穿这双吗?另一双伤到我的脚了。
Raynell: Mama, can’t I wear these. Them other one hurt my feet.
罗斯:嗯,它们只是会让你的脚疼一阵子而已。你去商店买的时候没说过它们会伤到你的脚吧。
Rose: Well, they just gonna have to hurt your feet for a while. You ain’t said they hurt your feet when you went down to the store and got them.
雷内尔:那时它们不疼。我的脚只是变大了。
Raynell: They didn’t hurt then. My feet done got bigger.
罗斯:现在别跟我顶嘴。你进去把鞋子穿上。
Rose: Don’t you give me no backtalk now. You get in there and get them shoes on.
(雷内尔走进屋子。)
(Raynell exits into the house.)
没什么变化。他仍然把那块破布绑在那棵树上。他在这里挥舞着球棒。我正准备回家。他挥动球棒,然后就倒下了。好像他挥动球棒,脸上带着笑容站在那里……然后就倒下了。他们把他抬到医院,但我知道没有必要……你为什么不进屋呢?
Ain’t too much changed. He still got that piece of rag tied to that tree. He was out here swinging that bat. I was just ready to go back in the house. He swung that bat and then he just fell over. Seem like he swung it and stood there with this grin on his face … and then he just fell over. They carried him on down to the hospital, but I knew there wasn’t no need … why don’t you come on in the house?
科里:妈妈……我有事要告诉你。我不知道该怎么告诉你……但我必须告诉你……我不会去参加爸爸的葬礼。
Cory: Mama … I got something to tell you. I don’t know how to tell you this … but I’ve got to tell you … I’m not going to Papa’s funeral.
罗斯:孩子,闭嘴。你在说你爸爸。我不想在今天早上听到这种话。我把你养大,让你来这里?你站在那里,健康而成熟,却说你不去参加你爸爸的葬礼?
Rose: Boy, hush your mouth. That’s your daddy you talking about. I don’t want hear that kind of talk this morning. I done raised you to come to this? You standing there all healthy and grown talking about you ain’t going to your daddy’s funeral?
科里:妈妈……听着……
Cory: Mama … listen …
罗斯:我不想听,科里。你赶紧把这个想法赶走吧。
Rose: I don’t want to hear it, Cory. You just get that thought out of your head.
科里:我不能到处都带着爸爸。我必须对他说不。我这一生必须说一次不。
Cory: I can’t drag Papa with me everywhere I go. I’ve got to say no to him. One time in my life I’ve got to say no.
罗斯:别让任何人听你那样的话。我知道你和你爸爸意见不合,但我今天早上不想听你那样的谈话。无论你和你爸爸之间发生了什么……现在是时候把它放在一边了。把它放在架子上,忘掉它。不尊重你的爸爸不会让你成为一个男人,科里。你必须自己想办法做到这一点。不参加你爸爸的葬礼不会让你成为一个男人。
Rose: Don’t nobody have to listen to nothing like that. I know you and your daddy ain’t seen eye to eye, but I ain’t got to listen to that kind of talk this morning. Whatever was between you and your daddy … the time has come to put it aside. Just take it and set it over there on the shelf and forget about it. Disrespecting your daddy ain’t gonna make you a man, Cory. You got to find a way to come to that on your own. Not going to your daddy’s funeral ain’t gonna make you a man.
科里:在我成长的整个过程中……住在他家……爸爸就像一个影子,到处跟着你。它压在你身上,沉入你的肉体。它会缠绕着你,躺在那里,直到你再也分不清哪一个是你。那个影子在你的肉体里挖洞。试图爬进去。试图通过你生存。无论我朝哪里看,特洛伊·马克森都在盯着我……躲在床底下……在壁橱里。我只是说我必须想办法摆脱那个影子,妈妈。
Cory: The whole time I was growing up … living in his house … Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere. It weighed on you and sunk into your flesh. It would wrap around you and lay there until you couldn’t tell which one was you anymore. That shadow digging in your flesh. Trying to crawl in. Trying to live through you. Everywhere I looked, Troy Maxson was staring back at me … hiding under the bed … in the closet. I’m just saying I’ve got to find a way to get rid of that shadow, Mama.
罗斯:你就是喜欢他。你对他很有好感。
Rose: You just like him. You got him in you good.
科里:妈妈,别告诉我这个。
Cory: Don’t tell me that, Mama.
罗斯:你又像特洛伊·麦克森一样。
Rose: You Troy Maxson all over again.
科里:我不想成为特洛伊·马克森。我想做我自己。
Cory: I don’t want to be Troy Maxson. I want to be me.
罗斯:你只能做你自己,科里。那个阴影不是别的,而是你成长为你自己的过程。你要么适应它,要么把它剪下来以适应你自己。但这就是你生活的全部。这就是你衡量自己与外面世界的标准。你爸爸希望你成为他所不是的一切……同时,他也试图把你变成他所是的一切。我不知道他是对是错……但我知道他想做的好事比想做的坏事多。他并不总是对的。有时他碰我的时候会伤痕累累。有时他把我抱在怀里时会割伤我。
Rose: You can’t be nobody but who you are, Cory. That shadow wasn’t nothing but you growing into yourself. You either got to grow into it or cut it down to fit you. But that’s all you got to make life with. That’s all you got to measure yourself against that world out there. Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t … and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. I don’t know if he was right or wrong … but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm. He wasn’t always right. Sometimes when he touched he bruised. And sometimes when he took me in his arms he cut.
我第一次见到你爸爸时,我想……这个男人可以让我和他上床,然后生个孩子。这是我见到他时想到的第一件事。我当时三十岁了,见过的男人已经够多了。但当他走到我面前说:“我会跳华尔兹,让你眼花缭乱。”我想,罗斯·李,这个男人可以让你敞开心扉,让你心满意足。这个男人可以填补你所有被边缘化的空白。其中一个空白就是成为某人的母亲。
When I first met your daddy I thought … Here is a man I can lay down with and make a baby. That’s the first thing I thought when I seen him. I was thirty years old and had done seen my share of men. But when he walked up to me and said, “I can dance a waltz that’ll make you dizzy,” I thought, Rose Lee, here is a man that you can open yourself up to and be filled to bursting. Here is a man that can fill all them empty spaces you been tipping around the edges of. One of them empty spaces was being somebody’s mother.
我嫁给了你爸爸,安定下来为他做晚饭,为他铺干净的床单。你爸爸走过房子的时候,他已经长得很高大了,把房子都塞满了。这是我犯的第一个错误。没有让他给我留点地方。为了我应尽的责任。但那时我想要那个。我想要一栋可以唱歌的房子。这就是你爸爸给我的。我不知道要保持他的力量,就必须放弃我自己的一小部分。我做到了。我把他的生活当成我自己的生活,把这些碎片混在一起,这样你几乎就分不清哪个是哪个了。这是我的选择。这是我的生活,我不必那样过下去。但这就是生活以做女人的方式提供给我的,我接受了。我用双手抓住了它。
I married your daddy and settled down to cooking his supper and keeping clean sheets on the bed. When your daddy walked through the house he was so big he filled it up. That was my first mistake. Not to make him leave some room for me. For my part in the matter. But at that time I wanted that. I wanted a house that I could sing in. And that’s what your daddy gave me. I didn’t know to keep up his strength I had to give up little pieces of mine. I did that. I took on his life as mine and mixed up the pieces so that you couldn’t hardly tell which was which anymore. It was my choice. It was my life and I didn’t have to live it like that. But that’s what life offered me in the way of being a woman and I took it. I grabbed hold of it with both hands.
等到雷内尔来到这个家时,我和你爸爸已经断绝了联系。我不想把自己的祝福建立在别人的不幸之上……但我把雷内尔当成了所有我想要但从未拥有过的孩子。
By the time Raynell came into the house, me and your daddy had done lost touch with one another. I didn’t want to make my blessing off of nobody’s misfortune … but I took on to Raynell like she was all them babies I had wanted and never had.
(电话铃响了。)
(The phone rings.)
就像我有幸重温了人生中的一部分。如果上帝认为有必要让我保持力量……我会像你爸爸对待你一样对待她……我会尽我所能给她最好的一切。
Like I’d been blessed to relive a part of my life. And if the Lord see fit to keep up my strength … I’m gonna do her just like your daddy did you … I’m gonna give her the best of what’s in me.
雷奈尔(走进来,仍然穿着她的旧鞋):妈妈……托利维尔牧师来电话了。
Raynell (entering, still with her old shoes): Mama … Reverend Tollivier on the phone.
(罗斯退出屋子。)
(Rose exits into the house.)
雷内尔:嗨。
Raynell: Hi.
Cory :嗨。
Cory: Hi.
雷内尔:您在陆军还是海军陆战队服役?
Raynell: You in the Army or the Marines?
Cory :海军陆战队。
Cory: Marines.
雷内尔:爸爸说是陆军。你认识布鲁吗?
Raynell: Papa said it was the Army. Did you know Blue?
Cory :蓝色?蓝色是谁?
Cory: Blue? Who’s Blue?
雷内尔:爸爸的狗就是他经常唱的歌。
Raynell: Papa’s dog what he sing about all the time.
科里(唱歌):听见它响了!听见它响了!
Cory (singing): Hear it ring! Hear it ring!
我有一只狗,它的名字叫蓝色
I had a dog his name was Blue
你知道蓝色是真的
You know Blue was mighty true
你知道布鲁是一只好老狗
You know Blue was a good old dog
Blue 将负鼠困在空心圆木中
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log
从这一点你就知道他是一只好老狗。
You know from that he was a good old dog.
听见它响了!听见它响了!
Hear it ring! Hear it ring!
(雷内尔加入唱歌。)
(Raynell joins in singing.)
Cory和 Raynell: Blue 把负鼠赶到树上
Cory and Raynell: Blue treed a possum out on a limb
蓝色看着我,我看着他
Blue looked at me and I looked at him
抓住那只负鼠,把它装进袋子里
Grabbed that possum and put him in a sack
蓝色一直呆在那里直到我回来
Blue stayed there till I came back
老蓝的脚又大又圆
Old Blue’s feets was big and round
绝不允许负鼠接触地面。
Never allowed a possum to touch the ground.
老蓝死了,我挖了他的坟墓
Old Blue died and I dug his grave
我用银铲挖了他的坟墓
I dug his grave with a silver spade
用金链子把他放下
Let him down with a golden chain
每天晚上我都会呼唤他的名字
And every night I call his name
继续吧,蓝色,你这个好狗
Go on Blue, you good dog you
继续吧,蓝色,你这个好狗
Go on Blue, you good dog you
雷内尔:布鲁倒下并像个男人一样死去
Raynell: Blue laid down and died like a man
蓝色倒地而死……
Blue laid down and died …
两人: 蓝色倒下,像个男人一样死去
Both: Blue laid down and died like a man
现在他在应许之地把负鼠赶上树
Now he’s treeing possums in the Promised Land
我要告诉你这个,让你知道
I’m gonna tell you this to let you know
蓝色去了好狗去的地方
Blue’s gone where the good dogs go
当我听到老蓝树的叫声
When I hear old Blue bark
当我听到老蓝树的叫声
When I hear old Blue bark
蓝色在诺亚方舟上困住了一只负鼠
Blue treed a possum in Noah’s Ark
蓝色将一只负鼠困在诺亚方舟里。
Blue treed a possum in Noah’s Ark.
(罗斯来到纱门前。)
(Rose comes to the screen door.)
罗斯:科里,我们马上就准备出发。
Rose: Cory, we gonna be ready to go in a minute.
科里(对雷内尔说):你进屋去换鞋,就像妈妈告诉你的那样,这样我们就可以去参加爸爸的葬礼了。
Cory (to Raynell): You go on in the house and change them shoes like Mama told you so we can go to Papa’s funeral.
雷内尔:好的,我会回来的。
Raynell: Okay, I’ll be back.
(雷内尔走进屋子。科里站起来,走到树下。罗斯站在纱门边看着他。加布里埃尔从小巷里进来。)
(Raynell exits into the house. Cory gets up and crosses over to the tree. Rose stands in the screen door watching him. Gabriel enters from the alley.)
加布里埃尔(呼叫):“嘿,罗斯!”
Gabriel (calling): Hey, Rose!
罗斯:加布?
Rose: Gabe?
加布里埃尔:我来了,罗斯。嘿罗斯,我来了!
Gabriel: I’m here, Rose. Hey Rose, I’m here!
(罗斯从屋里进来。)
(Rose enters from the house.)
罗斯:上帝……看这里,莱昂斯!
Rose: Lord … Look here, Lyons!
莱昂斯:瞧,我告诉过你,罗斯……我告诉过你他们会让他来的。
Lyons: See, I told you, Rose … I told you they’d let him come.
Cory :你好吗,Gabe 叔叔?
Cory: How you doing, Uncle Gabe?
L yons:你好吗,Gabe 叔叔?
Lyons: How you doing, Uncle Gabe?
加布里埃尔:嘿,罗斯。是时候了。是时候告诉圣彼得打开大门了。特洛伊,你准备好了吗?你准备好了,特洛伊。我要告诉圣彼得打开大门。你现在就准备好。
Gabriel: Hey, Rose. It’s time. It’s time to tell St. Peter to open the gates. Troy, you ready? You ready, Troy. I’m gonna tell St. Peter to open the gates. You get ready now.
(加布里埃尔在巨大的号声中做好吹奏的准备。喇叭没有吹口。他把喇叭口放进嘴里,用力吹奏,就像一个等待这一刻已经二十多年的人。喇叭里没有声音。他做好吹奏的准备,再次吹奏,结果还是一样。他吹了第三次。一种难以形容的重量落下,让他赤身裸体,暴露在可怕的现实面前。这是一个理智正常的心灵无法承受的创伤。他开始跳舞。一种缓慢、奇怪的舞蹈,阴森而又赋予生命。一种具有返祖特征和仪式感的舞蹈。莱昂斯试图拥抱他。加布里埃尔推开了莱昂斯。他开始嚎叫,试图唱歌,或者也许是一首回到歌曲本身以试图说话。他结束了舞蹈,天堂之门敞开着,就像上帝的密室一样。)
(Gabriel, with great fanfare, braces himself to blow. The trumpet is without a mouthpiece. He puts the end of it into his mouth and blows with great force, like a man who has been waiting some twenty-odd years for this single moment. No sound comes out of the trumpet. He braces himself and blows again with the same result. A third time he blows. There is a weight of impossible description that falls away and leaves him bare and exposed to a frightful realization. It is a trauma that a sane and normal mind would be unable to withstand. He begins to dance. A slow, strange dance, eerie and life-giving. A dance of atavistic signature and ritual. Lyons attempts to embrace him. Gabriel pushes Lyons away. He begins to howl in what is an attempt at song, or perhaps a song turning back into itself in an attempt at speech. He finishes his dance and the gates of heaven stand open as wide as God’s closet.)
就是这样!
That’s the way that go!
[1987年]
[1987]
[生于 1960 年]
[b. 1960]
人物
Characters
santiago,雪茄工厂老板,五十多岁
santiago, Owner of a cigar factory, late fifties
cheché,他的同父异母兄弟;一半古巴血统,一半美国人血统,四十出头
cheché, His half-brother; half-Cuban, half-American, early forties
奥菲莉亚,圣地亚哥的妻子,五十多岁
ofelia, Santiago’s wife, fifties
玛雷拉,奥菲莉亚和圣地亚哥的女儿,22 岁
marela, Ofelia and Santiago’s daughter, twenty-two
onchita,她的妹妹,三十二岁
onchita, Her sister, thirty-two
alomo,她的丈夫,41岁
alomo, Her husband, forty-one
胡安·朱利安,《宣读士》,三十八岁
Juan Julian, The lector, thirty-eight
Eliades,当地赌徒,经营斗鸡,四十多岁
Eliades, Local gamester, runs cockfights, forties
时间和地点:1929 年。佛罗里达州坦帕市。一个名为伊博城的小镇。
Time and Place: 1929. Tampa, Florida. A small town called Ybor City.
场景:一座旧仓库。
Set: An old warehouse.
服装:这些工人总是衣着讲究。他们使用大量白色和米色亚麻布,衣服总是熨烫整齐。
Costumes: These workers are always well dressed. They use a lot of white and beige linen and their clothes are always well pressed and starched.
剧作家注:1931 年后,工厂撤走了读经员,剩下的雪茄卷制工人都是操作机器的低薪美国工人。传统终结了。
Playwright’s Note: After 1931, the lectors were removed from the factories, and what remained of the cigar rollers consisted of low-paid American workers who operated machines. The end of a tradition.
斗鸡场里传来人群的声音。圣地亚哥和切切正在斗鸡场下注。他们喝了酒,但没醉。他们穿着典型的长袖白色亚麻衬衫(guayabera)、白色裤子和双色鞋。埃利亚德斯负责收钱和监督这个地方的所有运营。
Sounds of a crowd at a cockfight. Santiago and Cheché are betting their money on cockfights. They’ve been drinking, but are not drunk. They wear typical, long-sleeve, white linen shirts (guayabera), white pants and two-tone shoes. Eliades collects the money and oversees all the operations of this place.
E liades:斗鸡!看这些长着翅膀的美女在空中打斗!斗鸡!我愿意在 Picarubio 上押 5、10、15、20 美元。在 Espuela de Oro 上押 5、10、20 美元。Picarubio 对阵 Espuela de Oro。Espuela de Oro 对阵 Picarubio。
Eliades: Cockfights! See the winged beauties fighting in midair! Cockfights! I’ll take five, ten, fifteen, twenty dollars on Picarubio. Five, ten, twenty on Espuela de Oro. Picarubio against Espuela de Oro. Espuela de Oro against Picarubio.
圣地亚哥:我愿意在Picarubio 上押一百美元。
Santiago: I’ll bet a hundred on Picarubio.
E liades:Picarubio 上有一百个。
Eliades: A hundred on Picarubio.
C heché:埃斯普埃拉·德·奥罗 (Espuela de Oro) 八十。
Cheché: Eighty on Espuela de Oro.
埃利亚德斯:埃斯普埃拉德奥罗八十号。
Eliades: Eighty on Espuela de Oro.
圣地亚哥:关于 Picarubio的另外 10 条信息。
Santiago: Ten more on Picarubio.
E liades:关于皮卡鲁比奥的还有十个。 Espuela de Oro 还有十个?
Eliades: Ten more on Picarubio. Ten more on Espuela de Oro?
C heché:不,够了。
Cheché: No, that’s enough.
埃利亚兹:我要五块、十块、二十块。皮卡鲁比奥对阵埃斯普埃拉德奥罗。埃斯普埃拉·德·奥罗 (Espuela de Oro) 对阵皮卡鲁比奥 (Picarubio)。
Eliades: I’ll take five, ten, twenty dollars. Picarubio against Espuela de Oro. Espuela de Oro against Picarubio.
(船靠近港口的声音。玛瑞拉、康奇塔和她们的母亲奥菲莉亚站在海港边。她们手里拿着白手帕,等待船的到来。)
(Sound of a ship approaching the harbor. Marela, Conchita and their mother Ofelia are standing by the seaport. They are holding white handkerchiefs and are waiting for a ship to arrive.)
M arela:那是远处正在靠近的船吗?
Marela: Is that the ship approaching in the distance?
康奇塔:我认为是的。
Conchita: I think it is.
O felia:这是唯一一艘预计在这个时候到达的船。
Ofelia: It’s the only ship that’s supposed to arrive around this time.
M arela:那肯定是这样的。哦,我太激动了!妈妈,让我再看看照片。
Marela: Then that must be it. Oh, I’m so excited! Let me look at the picture again, Mamá.
O felia:你要看它多少次?
Ofelia: How many times are you going to look at it?
马雷拉:很多次。我们必须确保知道他长什么样。
Marela: Many times. We have to make sure we know what he looks like.
C onchita:你只是喜欢看着他的脸。
Conchita: You just like looking at his face.
M arela:我认为他很优雅,也很帅气。
Marela: I think he is elegant and good looking.
(奥菲莉亚打开一封信,取出一张照片。)
(Ofelia opens a letter and takes out a photograph.)
O felia:是的。但最重要的是他有良好的声带、深厚的肺活量和洪亮的声音。
Ofelia: That he is. But what’s essential is that he has good vocal chords, deep lungs and a strong voice.
Conchita :更重要的是他读书的时候措辞要正确。
Conchita: What’s more important is that he has good diction when he reads.
马雷拉:只要他读得有感情、有兴致,我就满足了。(看着照片)看他的脸和他签名的样子。
Marela: As long as he reads with feeling and gusto, I’m content. (Looks at the photo) Look at his face and the way he signs his name.
(斗鸡人群的声音。)
(Sounds of a crowd at a cockfight.)
Eliades :我们赢了!我们有赢家了!埃斯普埃拉·德·奥罗 (Espuela de Oro) 获胜!黄金之埃斯普埃拉!
Eliades: We have a winner! We have a winner! Espuela de Oro is the winner! Espuela de Oro!
C heché: 这里是赢家。
Cheché: Winner here.
E liades(数钱):十,二十,三十,四十,五十,六十。
Eliades (Counting money): Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty.
圣地亚哥:你真是一个幸运的人。
Santiago: You’re a lucky man.
E liades:下一场战斗!我会花五、十、十五、二十美元……Cuello de Jaca 对阵 Uñaroja。乌纳罗亚对阵库埃洛德哈卡。
Eliades: Next fight! I’ll take five, ten, fifteen, twenty dollars … Cuello de Jaca against Uñaroja. Uñaroja against Cuello de Jaca.
圣地亚哥:哈卡库埃洛 (Cuello de Jaca) 八十。
Santiago: Eighty on Cuello de Jaca.
埃利亚德斯:哈卡库埃洛八十号。
Eliades: Eighty on Cuello de Jaca.
C heché:在乌纳罗贾 (Uñaroja) 八十。
Cheché: Eighty on Uñaroja.
埃利亚德斯:乌纳罗亚八十号。(对观众)乌纳罗亚对阵库埃洛德哈卡!哈卡库埃洛对阵乌纳罗亚!
Eliades: Eighty on Uñaroja. (To the audience) Uñaroja against Cuello de Jaca! Cuello de Jaca against Uñaroja!
(船靠近港口的声音。)
(Sound of a ship approaching the harbor.)
哦felia:别告诉你父亲,但是我从保险箱里拿了一些钱来支付讲师的旅行费用。
Ofelia: Don’t tell your father, but I took some money from the safe to pay for the lector’s trip.
C onchita:您做得很好,妈妈。
Conchita: You did well, Mamá.
奥菲莉亚:哦,我一点也不觉得内疚。你父亲不是把钱花在赌博上吗?那我就随心所欲地花我的钱吧。我会把钱花在我们能找到的最好的宣读师身上。推荐他的那位先生说他是哈瓦那以西最好的宣读师。
Ofelia: Oh, I don’t feel a bit guilty. Doesn’t your father spend his money gambling? Then I’ll do as I wish with my money. I’ll spend my money on the best lector we can get. The gentleman who recommended him says that he is the best lector west of Havana.
Marela :嗯,我很高兴,因为可怜的老特奥多罗给我们读书时吐得有点多。有时感觉就像雨点从他嘴里喷出来。
Marela: Well, I’m glad, because poor old Teodoro used to spit a little too much when he read to us. Sometimes it felt like sprinkles of rain were coming out of his mouth.
哦,菲莉亚:玛雷拉!这个可怜的人已经八十岁了。
Ofelia: Marela! The poor man was eighty years old.
M arela:他就是!
Marela: That he was!
O felia:多尊重一点——他三个月前就去世了。
Ofelia: Have more respect — he died three months ago.
M arela:哦,我尊重他,但是说实话。
Marela: Oh, I respect him, but let the truth be told.
奥菲莉亚:这个可怜的家伙,十年来他一直给我们读书。
Ofelia: The poor fellow, for ten years he read to us.
马雷拉(带讽刺):哦,我爱他……我爱他,就像爱叔叔、爱祖父一样。愿他安息!但他早就该放弃做讲师了。他的心无法承受爱情故事。他无法承受小说中的诗歌和悲剧。有时,读完一段深刻而浪漫的文字后,他不得不坐下来。
Marela (With satire): Oh, I loved him … I loved him, like an uncle, like a grandfather. May he rest in peace! But he should’ve given up being a lector a long time ago. His heart couldn’t take the love stories. He couldn’t take the poetry and tragedy in the novels. Sometimes he had to sit down after reading a profound and romantic passage.
康奇塔:噢,这就是我喜欢他的原因,因为我知道他用心给我们读书。
Conchita: Oh, that’s why I liked him, because I knew that he read to us with his heart.
马雷拉:但这太过分了。他花了三个月的时间才把最后一本小说读给我们听。
Marela: But it was too much. It took him three months to read the last novel to us.
奥菲莉亚:啊!但这是《呼啸山庄》,我们谁都不希望它结束,包括你。
Ofelia: Ah! But it was Wuthering Heights, and none of us wanted it to end, including you.
C onchita:好吧,我希望这位新宣读士能像 Teodoro 一样出色,因为取代他的那位宣读士没能坚持下去……
Conchita: Well, I hope this new lector turns out to be as good as Teodoro, because the one who replaced him didn’t last …
Marela :看,船越来越近了。哦,我太激动了,我只想让他下船,让他一劳永逸地来到这里。
Marela: Look, the ship is getting closer. Oh, I’m so excited, I just want him to disembark and have him here once and for all.
康奇塔(望向远方):他可能会从阿根廷、西班牙和法国带来很多新书,因为很多船只都会在古巴停靠。
Conchita (Looking into the distance): He’s probably going to bring a lot of new books from Argentina and Spain and France, because so many ships make stops in Cuba.
(斗鸡人群的声音。)
(Sounds of a crowd at a cockfight.)
E liades : 我们有赢家!我们有赢家!Uñaroja!Uñaroja 是赢家!
Eliades: We have a winner! We have a winner! Uñaroja! Uñaroja is the winner!
C heché:这里是赢家。乌纳罗贾。
Cheché: Winner here. Uñaroja.
(埃利亚德斯向 Cheché 付钱,然后继续宣布下一场比赛。)
(Eliades pays Cheché, then continues announcing the next fight.)
利亚德斯:二十、四十、六十、八十、一百……二十、四十六十……为下一场比赛做好准备!我们有科拉布拉瓦对阵法尔康德阿塞罗。我愿意出五、十、十五、二十美元……科拉布拉瓦对阵法尔康德阿塞罗……(继续宣布)
Eliades: Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, one hundred … Twenty, forty sixty … Ready for the next fight! We have Colabrava against Falcón de Acero. I’ll take five, ten, fifteen, twenty dollars … Colabrava against Falcón de Acero … (Continuing his announcement)
年代安提亚戈:借我点钱吧,切切。
Santiago: Lend me some money, Cheché.
问:多少钱?
Cheché: How much?
圣地亚哥:二百。
Santiago: Two hundred.
正确答案: 我赌博的时候不借钱给别人,我喝酒的时候也不借钱给别人。
Cheché: I don’t lend any money when I’m gambling, and I don’t lend any money when I’m drinking.
S antiago:你要让我步行回家去取更多的钱吗?
Santiago: Are you going to make me walk home to get more money?
C heché:啊,放弃吧!
Cheché: Ah, just give it up!
S antiago:你要让我走回家吗?
Santiago: Are you going to make me walk back to my house?
C heché:这对你来说不是一个好夜晚!你失去了所有的钱。
Cheché: It’s not a good night for you! You’ve lost all your money.
圣地亚哥:借我点钱吧,切切。我会还你的。
Santiago: Lend me some money, Cheché. I’ll pay you back.
C heché:你喝醉了,圣地亚哥。
Cheché: You’re drunk, Santiago.
圣地亚哥:给我一些钱,我就让你看看我的运气。
Santiago: Give me some money and I’ll show you my luck.
来吧,你有压岁钱了!有了你的压岁钱,我会向你展示我能做什么。
Come on, you’ve got the lucky money! With your lucky money I’ll show you what I can do.
C heché:那你什么时候还我钱?
Cheché: And when are you going to pay me back?
圣地亚哥:我向你保证,我会还清你的。
Santiago: I guarantee you that I’ll pay you back.
C heché:你得向我保证。
Cheché: You got to give me your word.
圣地亚哥:我向你保证。给我一张纸。我会签一张纸。你有纸吗?
Santiago: I’ll give you my word. Give me a paper. I’ll sign a paper. You got paper?
问:不,我没有任何纸。
Cheché: No, I don’t have any paper.
S antiago:然后抬起你的脚。
Santiago: Then lift up your foot.
C heché:你说什么,把我的脚抬起来?
Cheché: What do you mean lift up my foot?
S antiago(抓住 Cheché 的腿):“抬起你的脚,老兄!”
Santiago (Grabbing Cheché’s leg): Lift up your foot, hombre!
C heché:这到底是怎么回事?……
Cheché: What the hell? …
圣地亚哥:把你的鞋底给我吧。
Santiago: Let me have the sole of your shoe.
(圣地亚哥拿出一把刀。)
(Santiago takes out a knife.)
C heché:你要做什么?(抬起脚)
Cheché: What are you going to do? (Lifting up his foot)
圣地亚哥:我正在你的鞋底上签名。
Santiago: I’m signing my name on the sole of your shoe.
(圣地亚哥在切切的鞋子上刻上了他的名字。)
(Santiago carves his name on Cheché’s shoe.)
问:为什么?
Cheché: What for?
圣地亚哥:证据。证明我会还你。请看这里:
Santiago: Proof. Testament that I’ll pay you back. See here:
“S” 代表圣地亚哥。你打算借给我多少钱?
“S” for Santiago. How much are you going to lend me?
正确答案:二十。
Cheché: Twenty.
Santiago :二十?小气鬼。我要写一百。
Santiago: Twenty? Cheapskate. I’m writing a hundred.
问:一百?
Cheché: A hundred?
圣地亚哥:一百。就是这样。
Santiago: A hundred. There you go.
问:一百?
Cheché: A hundred?
圣地亚哥:一百。这就是我写的。
Santiago: A hundred. That’s what I wrote.
问:您是……吗?
Cheché: Are you …?
圣地亚哥:我会报答你的。看在上帝的份上,我是你兄弟!
Santiago: I’ll pay you back. I’m your brother, for God’s sake!
(船靠近港口的声音。)
(Sound of a ship approaching the harbor.)
哦felia:船就在那儿。挥挥你的手帕。
Ofelia: There is the ship. Wave your handkerchief.
M arela:你看到他了吗?
Marela: Do you see him?
C onchita:所有戴着帽子的男人看上去都一样。
Conchita: All the men look the same with their hats.
O felia:哦,为什么我每次看到船就会这么激动?
Ofelia: Oh, why do I get so emotional every time I see a ship?
M arela:妈妈,别生我的气,但是我把宣读员的名字写在一张纸上,并把它放在一杯加了红糖和肉桂的水中。
Marela: Don’t get mad at me, Mamá, but I wrote the lector’s name on a piece of paper and placed it in a glass of water with brown sugar and cinnamon.
O felia:为什么?
Ofelia: What for?
M arela:手相师卡梅拉 (Carmela) 告诉我,如果我把他的名字说得更甜美一些,这位手相师就会来找我们。
Marela: Carmela, the palm reader, told me that if I sweeten his name, the reader would come our way.
O felia:这就像对他施了魔法一样。
Ofelia: That’s like casting a spell on him.
M arela:只需要糖和肉桂。而且很有效。
Marela: It’s only sugar and cinnamon. And it worked.
奥菲莉亚:我告诉过你不要玩弄咒语。这是不对的,玛瑞拉。一个人永远不应该改变别人的命运。
Ofelia: I told you about playing with spells. It’s not right, Marela. One should never alter other people’s destiny.
Marela :我没有改变他的命运。我只是给他的命运加了点糖分。
Marela: I didn’t alter his destiny. With a little sugar I sweetened his fate.
康奇塔:女巫就是这样开始的——用红糖。然后她们开始玩火。看看罗萨里奥的遭遇,她对她的情人施了咒语,结果那个男人死了。她不仅失去了她的男人;她自己也下地狱了。
Conchita: That’s how witches get started — with brown sugar. Then they begin to play with fire. Look at what happened to Rosario, she put a spell on her lover and the man died. And not only did she lose her man; she’s gone to hell herself.
O felia(对 Marela 说):你听到了吗?
Ofelia (To Marela): Did you hear that?
康奇塔:据说她的爱人死后,她哭个不停。她的脸变成了泪海,她的父亲不得不把她带回古巴,看看她是否会好起来。但女孩晚上会发烧。据说她会赤身裸体地跑到海边。她会跑到那里去见死去的爱人。
Conchita: They say she couldn’t stop crying after her lover’s death. That her whole face became an ocean of tears, and the father had to take her back to Cuba, to see if she would get better. But a fever would possess the girl at night. They say she’d run to the sea naked. She’d run there to meet the dead lover.
M arela:现在你让我感觉很糟糕。
Marela: Now you’re making me feel awful.
(斗鸡人群的声音。)
(Sounds of a crowd at a cockfight.)
E liades : Kikiriki……为下一场比赛做好准备!我们有 Diamante Negro 对阵 Crestafuerte……我愿意出五、十、十五、二十美元……Diamante Negro 对阵 Crestafuerte。Crestafuerte 对阵 Diamante Negro。
Eliades: Kikiriki … Ready for the next fight! We have Diamante Negro against Crestafuerte … I’ll take five, ten, fifteen, twenty dollars … Diamante Negro against Crestafuerte. Crestafuerte against Diamante Negro.
S antiago:再抬起你的脚。
Santiago: Lift up your foot again.
问:为什么?
Cheché: What for?
圣地亚哥:抬起你的脚,让我看看你的鞋底。
Santiago: Lift up your foot and let me see the sole of your shoe.
问:为什么?
Cheché: What for?
(圣地亚哥在 Cheché 的鞋底上刻了一些东西。)
(Santiago carves something on the sole of Cheché’s shoe.)
圣地亚哥:我再借两百。
Santiago: I’m borrowing two hundred more.
C heché:不,你不能。你今晚会倒霉的。
Cheché: No. You can’t. You’re jinxed tonight.
Santiago :我会还你的。这已经写在你的鞋子上了。
Santiago: I’ll pay you back. It’s written on your shoe already.
C heché:然后将其划掉。
Cheché: Then cross it out.
圣地亚哥:我不能划掉它。我的总数在那里。
Santiago: I can’t cross it out. I’ve got my totals there.
如果我不付钱给你,工厂的一部分就是你的。
If I don’t pay you, part of the factory is yours.
(Cheché 立刻脱掉了鞋子。)
(Immediately Cheché takes off his shoe.)
C heché:那就写下来。写下来。我想要书面的。
Cheché: Then write it down. Write it down. I want it in writing.
圣地亚哥:我会把它写下来。(拿起刀子刻下他的承诺)就这样。
Santiago: I’ll write it down. (Takes the knife and carves out his promise) There you go.
(切切看着他的鞋底。他给了圣地亚哥更多的钱。)
(Cheché looks at the sole of his shoe. He gives Santiago more money.)
C heché:给。我们走吧。
Cheché: Here. Let’s go.
圣地亚哥:好吧,穿上你的鞋子,老兄!
Santiago: Well, put on your shoe, hombre!
C heché:不,我没有戴它。
Cheché: No, I’m not putting it on.
圣地亚哥:为什么不呢?
Santiago: Why not?
C heché:因为这是我们的合同,我不想将其抹去。
Cheché: Because this here is our contract, and I don’t want it erased.
圣地亚哥:你只穿一只鞋走路。
Santiago: And you’re going to walk with just one shoe.
是的!
Cheché: Yes!
圣地亚哥:你这个混蛋!
Santiago: You bastard!
(船只靠近的声音。)
(Sound of a ship approaching.)
奥菲莉亚:嗯,没有他的踪影。让我们看看你是否透露了消息。
Ofelia: Well, there’s no sign of him. Let’s see if you spoiled it for us.
M arela:啊,不要这么说!
Marela: Ah, don’t say that!
我太紧张了,感觉要尿到自己身上了。
I’m so nervous I think I’m going to pee-pee on myself.
康奇塔:那个挥动帽子的男人就是他吗?
Conchita: Is he that man waving his hat?
O felia:是吗?从这里我看不太清楚。
Ofelia: Is it? I can’t see very well from here.
康奇塔:不,他肯定更年轻一些。
Conchita: No. He’s got to be younger.
M arela:他怎么会认出我们呢?
Marela: How is he going to recognize us?
O felia:我告诉他我要戴一顶白帽子。
Ofelia: I told him that I was going to wear a white hat.
玛瑞拉:天啊!有五十多个女人戴着白帽子。
Marela: Oh Lord! There are more than fifty women with white hats.
奥菲莉亚:但是我告诉他我的帽子上会有一朵栀子花。
Ofelia: But I told him that my hat would have a gardenia.
康奇塔:是那个穿蓝色西装的男人吗?
Conchita: Is it the man with the blue suit?
Marela :不,太胖了。
Marela: No, too fat.
O felia:当你到家时,把他的名字从那甜水中取出来。
Ofelia: When you get home take his name out of that sweet water.
马雷拉:天啊,我感觉糟透了。他不见了。我要回家。我要回家。我把一切都毁了。(开始离开)
Marela: Oh Lord, I feel awful. He’s nowhere to be found. I’m going home. I’m going home. I’ve ruined it. (Starts to exit)
噢,菲莉亚:玛雷拉!
Ofelia: Marela!
Marela :不,我把它毁了。
Marela: No. I’ve ruined it.
奥菲莉亚:回来吧。一点糖不会有什么坏处。
Ofelia: Come back here. A little bit of sugar can’t do any harm.
(宣读员胡安·朱利安走了进来。他戴着一顶巴拿马草帽,穿着白色亚麻西装。)
(The lector, Juan Julian, enters. He is wearing a Panama hat and a white linen suit.)
M arela:我不想破坏它。
Marela: I don’t want to spoil it.
O felia:玛瑞拉,别傻了。
Ofelia: Marela, don’t be foolish.
胡安·朱利安:奥菲莉亚女士?
Juan Julian: Señora Ofelia?
奥菲莉亚(转身望去):是的……
Ofelia (Turning to look): Yes …
胡安·朱利安:您帽子上的栀子花对吗?奥菲莉亚夫人。
Juan Julian: The gardenia on your hat, am I correct? Señora Ofelia.
(胡安·朱利安脱下帽子。)
(Juan Julian takes off his hat.)
O felia(目瞪口呆):哦!
Ofelia (Dumbstruck): Oh!
C onchita:答应吧,妈妈!
Conchita: Say yes, Mamá!
奥菲利亚:啊,是的!我是奥菲莉亚。
Ofelia: Ah, yes! I’m Ofelia.
J uan Julian:胡安·朱利安·里奥斯,为您服务!
Juan Julian: Juan Julian Rios, at your service!
奥菲利亚:啊!奥菲莉亚……奥菲莉亚·阿尔卡拉。多么荣幸啊!
Ofelia: Ah! Ofelia … Ofelia Alcalar. What an honor!
(我们听到玛雷拉因为紧张而尿裤子了。出现了尴尬的停顿。所有人都注意到了。)
(We hear Marela pee on herself from nervousness. There is an awkward pause. All of them notice.)
(假装)哦!胡安·朱利安先生,您东西都带齐了吗?您的行李带齐了吗?
(Dissimulating) Oh! Do you have everything, Señor Juan Julian? Do you have your luggage?
胡安·朱利安:我得告诉乘务员我找到你了。
Juan Julian: I’ll have to tell the steward that I found you.
O felia:去找他......我们就在这里等。
Ofelia: Go find him … We’ll wait here.
(胡安·朱利安跑开了。)
(Juan Julian runs off.)
(转向玛瑞拉)玛瑞拉,发生什么事了?
(Turning to Marela) Marela, what happened?
Marela (目瞪口呆):我不知道。
Marela (Dumbstruck): I don’t know.
噢,菲莉亚:噢,亲爱的!但是你尿裤子了,像个孩子一样。
Ofelia: Oh dear! But you’ve wet yourself, like a child.
M arela:妈妈,我忍不住了。
Marela: I couldn’t hold it in, Mamá.
(音乐响起。灯光变换。)
(Music plays. Lights change.)
雪茄工厂。胡安·朱利安拿着几本书,书上系着皮带。切切走了进来。他穿着一只鞋,手里拿着另一只鞋。
The cigar factory. Juan Julian is holding a few books strapped with a belt. Cheché enters. He wears one shoe and holds the other in his hand.
C heché:您来见某人吗?
Cheché: Are you here to see someone?
胡安·朱利安:我来见奥菲莉亚。
Juan Julian: I’m here to see Ofelia.
C heché:奥菲莉亚还没来。有什么可以帮您的吗?
Cheché: Ofelia hasn’t come yet. Can I help you?
胡安·朱利安:她告诉我她这个时候会来这儿。
Juan Julian: She told me she’d be here around this time.
C heché:她应该很快就到了。我能帮上什么忙吗?
Cheché: She should be getting here soon. Can I be of any service?
胡安·朱利安:不,谢谢。我会等。
Juan Julian: No, thank you. I’ll wait.
问:您是什么人?讲师吗?
Cheché: What are you, a lector?
J uan Julian:是的。我刚从岛上回来。今天是我第一天……
Juan Julian: Yes, I am. I just arrived from the island. Today is my first day …
注意:如果您正在找工作,我们不会招聘……
Cheché: If you’re looking for a job, we’re not hiring …
胡安·朱利安:不,我是……我是新来的宣读员。多娜·奥菲莉亚——
Juan Julian: No, I’m … I’m the new lector. Doña Ofelia —
C heché:我听说了。你刚到,我告诉你我们不招人了……
Cheché: I heard. You just arrived and I’m telling you we’re not hiring …
J uan Julian:嗯,我想您不招人是因为 Señora Ofelia……
Juan Julian: Well, I imagine you are not hiring because Señora Ofelia …
(奥菲莉亚和她的女儿们进来。)
(Ofelia and her daughters enter.)
碳heché:奥菲莉亚,先生……这位先生来见您。我告诉他我们不招人……
Cheché: Ofelia, the señor … this gentleman is here to see you. I told him we’re not hiring …
奥菲莉亚(坚定地): “他被我雇用了,切斯特。”
Ofelia (With conviction): He’s been hired by me, Chester.
C heché:哦,我明白了。我明白了。(停顿)哦,好吧。
Cheché: Oh, I see. I see. (Pause) Oh, well.
(切切退场。)
(Cheché exits.)
O felia:欢迎你,Juan Julian。前面的一些卷烟师告诉我他们已经见过你了。你来这里令他们非常兴奋。
Ofelia: Welcome, Juan Julian. Some of the cigar rollers who work in front told me they already met you. They’re very exited that you’re here.
胡安·朱利安:哦,是的。我刚才和坐在最右边的那位戴软呢帽的先生谈话了。
Juan Julian: Ah yes. I was talking to the gentleman wearing the fedora who sits all the way to the right.
O felia:Peppino Mellini。他是我们最好的作家。他来自那不勒斯。他对爱情故事情有独钟。
Ofelia: Peppino Mellini. He’s the best buncher we have. He is from Napoli. He has a soft spot for the love stories.
他就是那个在一天结束时唱那不勒斯歌曲的人。
He is the one that sings Neapolitan songs at the end of the day.
胡安·朱利安:我还见到了帕洛莫,那位戴巴拿马草帽的绅士。
Juan Julian: And I also met Palomo, the gentleman with the Panama hat.
C onchita:我的丈夫。他跟我们一样是个滚轴手。
Conchita: My husband. He is a roller like us.
O felia:你见到马诺拉了吗?
Ofelia: And did you meet Manola?
胡安·朱利安:她是桌子上挂着瓦伦蒂诺照片的那位女士吗?
Juan Julian: Is she the lady with the picture of Valentino on top of her table?
奥菲莉亚:是的,她负责填充。哦,她很高兴你在这里。有时她听故事时会泪流满面。
Ofelia: Yes, she does the stuffing. Oh, she’s delighted that you are here. Sometimes she’s a sea of tears when she listens to the stories.
胡安·朱利安:那位脖子上围着手帕的先生呢?
Juan Julian: And the gentleman with the handkerchief around his neck?
O felia:啊,那是来自西班牙的 Pascual Torino。他负责包装。他内心怀旧,想回到自己的祖国,在格拉纳达去世。
Ofelia: Ah, that’s Pascual Torino from Spain. He does the wrapping. A nostalgic at heart, wants to go back to his country and die in Granada.
胡安·朱利安:刚才来的那位先生呢?
Juan Julian: And the gentleman that was just here?
M arela:切斯特是一个小丑。
Marela: Chester is a clown.
(康奇塔和玛瑞拉笑了。)
(Conchita and Marela laugh.)
O felia:Marela!我们叫他 Cheché。他是我丈夫的同父异母兄弟。我们不知道他是我们家的一员,但有一天他拿着出生证明来到工厂,说他是我岳父的儿子。所以我们收留了他,从那以后,他就成了我们家的一员。但他实际上来自北方的一个小镇。(笑)我岳父四处奔波。
Ofelia: Marela! We call him Cheché. He is my husband’s half-brother. We didn’t know he was part of the family, but one day he showed up at the factory with a birth certificate and said he was my father-in-law’s son. So we took him in, and ever since, he’s been part of the family. But he is really from a town up north. (Laughs) My father-in-law got around.
胡安·朱利安:我觉得我的存在冒犯了他。
Juan Julian: I think that my presence offends him.
马雷拉:噢,不可能。别理他。
Marela: Oh, that can’t be. Don’t pay him any mind.
J uan Julian:今天早上我进工厂的时候,他就转身背对着我,然后他……
Juan Julian: When I entered the factory this morning he turned his back on me and then he …
Marela :Cheché 认为他是这家工厂的老板。(大笑)
Marela: Cheché thinks he owns the factory. (Breaks into laughter)
O felia:我的丈夫给了他太多权力。
Ofelia: My husband has given him a little too much power.
但真正管理工厂的是我的丈夫。
But it’s my husband who really runs the factory.
C onchita:别介意他。Cheché 很擅长把最小的事件变成一场喧闹而悲惨的事件。
Conchita: Don’t mind him. Cheché has a knack for turning the smallest incident into a loud and tragic event.
胡安·朱利安:但我没有对那个男人做任何事。
Juan Julian: But I didn’t do anything to the man.
米arela:他不喜欢讲师。
Marela: He doesn’t like lectors.
O felia:他不明白让你这样的人给工人们读故事有什么意义。
Ofelia: He doesn’t understand the purpose of having someone like you read stories to the workers.
J uan Julian:但是这一直是传统。
Juan Julian: But that has always been the tradition.
康奇塔:他来自另一种文化。
Conchita: He’s from another culture.
马雷拉:他认为,煽动麻烦的人是宣读员。
Marela: He thinks that lectors are the ones who cause trouble.
胡安·朱利安:为什么?因为我们给工人读小说,因为我们教育他们,告诉他们信息?
Juan Julian: Why? Because we read novels to the workers, because we educate them and inform them?
马雷拉:不。事情比这更复杂。他的妻子和一个讲师离家出走了。
Marela: No. It’s more complicated than that. His wife ran away from home with a lector.
O felia:Marela!他不需要知道这些事情!
Ofelia: Marela! He doesn’t need to know these things!
Marela :但这是真的。有一天她和在这里工作的宣读员一起失踪了。她是来自亚特兰大的南方美女,而他来自瓜纳巴科阿。她的皮肤像百合一样白皙,而他则是藏红花的颜色。
Marela: But it’s true. She disappeared one day with the lector that was working here. She was a southern belle from Atlanta and he was from Guanabacoa. Her skin was pale like a lily and he was the color of saffron.
当然,现在 Cheché 反对所有的宣读员和他们所读的爱情故事。
And of course, now Cheché is against all lectors and the love stories they read.
J uan Julian:但是他不能责怪……
Juan Julian: But he can’t put the blame …
M arela:Cheché 认为这些爱情故事让她很感动。
Marela: Cheché thinks the love stories got under her skin.
这就是她离开他的原因。
That’s why she left him.
哦,菲莉亚:够了,玛瑞拉!当这一切发生时,这个可怜的人绝望、愤怒和悲伤。他无法接受现实,所以他把他的不幸归咎于读经者和爱情故事。
Ofelia: That’s enough, Marela! When all this happened the poor man was desperate, angry and sad. He couldn’t accept reality, so he blamed the lectors and the love stories for his misfortune.
康奇塔:如果他对你无礼,你就应该和我们的父亲谈谈。
Conchita: If he’s ever disrespectful you should talk to our father.
奥菲莉亚:别担心。我会照顾他的。
Ofelia: Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of him.
M arela:你打算给我们读什么?
Marela: What are you planning to read to us?
胡安·朱利安:一、托尔斯泰,《安娜·卡列尼娜》。
Juan Julian: First, Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
M arela:《安娜卡列尼娜》。我已经喜欢上这个标题了。它浪漫吗?
Marela: Anna Karenina. I already like the title. Is it romantic?
J uan Julian:是的。非常浪漫。
Juan Julian: Yes. Quite romantic.
M arela:啊,安娜卡列尼娜会直入切切的内心。
Marela: Ah, Anna Karenina will go right to Cheché’s heart.
这个可怜的人。他承受不起。
The poor man. He won’t be able to take it.
胡安·朱利安:我可以选其他书。我带了很多。
Juan Julian: I could pick another book. I’ve brought many.
康奇塔:不,如果你选了这本书,那就读《安娜卡列尼娜》吧。
Conchita: No, read Anna Karenina if that’s the book that you chose.
M arela:他需要听另一个爱情故事,让那些话语在他的头发里筑巢,这样他就能找到另一个女人。
Marela: He needs to listen to another love story and let the words make nests in his hair, so he can find another woman.
O felia:胡安·朱利安,到目前为止,你喜欢坦帕吗?
Ofelia: And how do you like Tampa so far, Juan Julian?
J uan Julian:嗯,我……我……这非常……看起来就像是一座正在形成中的城市。
Juan Julian: Well, I … I … It’s very … It seems like it’s a city in the making.
O felia:是的。我们仍在努力建造一座与我们在岛上留下的那些城市相似的小城市。
Ofelia: That it is. We are still trying to create a little city that resembles the ones we left back in the island.
J uan Julian:很奇怪,这里没有山峰,也没有丘陵。我注意到天空很大……还有云……我见过的最大的云,好像它们已经吞没了整个大海。四周都是平坦的。这就是为什么这里的天空看起来更大、无边无际。比我家乡的天空更大。而且光线充足。似乎没有可以躲藏的地方。
Juan Julian: It’s curious, there are no mountains or hills here. Lots of sky I have noticed … And clouds … The largest clouds I’ve ever seen, as if they had soaked up the whole sea. It’s all so flat all around. That’s why the sky seems so much bigger here and infinite. Bigger than the sky I know back home. And there’s so much light. There doesn’t seem to be a place where one could hide.
M arela:人们总能在公园里找到阴凉处。总能找到一个藏身之处,如果没有,人们总能躲在光亮后面。
Marela: One can always find shade in the park. There’s always a hiding place to be found, and if not, one can always hide behind light.
胡安·朱利安:真的。那么人如何才能躲在光后面呢?
Juan Julian: Really. And how does one hide behind light?
(女人们紧张地笑着。)
(The women laugh nervously.)
M arela:这取决于你在躲避什么。
Marela: Depends what you are hiding from.
J uan Julian:也许就是光本身。
Juan Julian: Perhaps light itself.
M arela:嗯,光有很多种。火光。星光。河流反射的光。穿透裂缝的光。还有一种光从皮肤反射。哪一种?
Marela: Well, there are many kinds of light. The light of fires. The light of stars. The light that reflects off rivers. Light that penetrates through cracks. Then there’s the type of light that reflects off the skin. Which one?
J uan Julian:也许是从皮肤上反射出来的类型。
Juan Julian: Perhaps the type that reflects off the skin.
M arela:这是最难逃脱的。
Marela: That’s the most difficult one to escape.
(女人笑了。切切进来了。他手里仍拿着那只鞋。)
(The women laugh. Cheché enters. He is still holding the shoe in his hand.)
问:奥菲莉亚,圣地亚哥今天为什么没来上班?
Cheché: Ofelia, why didn’t Santiago come to work today?
O felia:他去了 Camacho 家。有什么问题吗,Cheché?
Ofelia: He went to Camacho’s house. Is there a problem, Cheché?
C heché:不,我只是想谈谈......他稍后会来吗?
Cheché: No, I’d just like to talk about … Will he come by later?
O felia:我不知道。你的脚怎么了?
Ofelia: I don’t know. What’s wrong with your foot?
C heché:哦,说来话长。你看……我……
Cheché: Oh, it’s a long story. You see … I …
O felia:你摔倒了吗?你受伤了吗?
Ofelia: Did you fall? Did you hurt yourself?
C heché:不,我…没什么。
Cheché: No. I … It’s nothing.
O felia:我知道我的脚一天比一天糟糕。如果不是拇囊炎疼痛,那就是指甲长进。
Ofelia: I know my feet are worse each day. If it isn’t a bunion hurting, it’s an ingrown nail.
C heché:不,奥菲莉亚。根本不是那样。
Cheché: No, Ofelia. Nothing of the sort.
O felia:那你为什么要走路……?
Ofelia: Then why are you walking …?
C heché:嗯,你看……我的工作鞋……我……我昨天把它们带到鞋匠那里,但今天还没准备好。
Cheché: Well, you see … My shoes for work … I … I took them to the shoemaker yesterday and they weren’t ready today.
O felia:所以,这是新鞋,它们会伤你的脚。
Ofelia: So, these are new shoes and they hurt your feet.
C heché:不,你看……我的意思是……昨晚圣地亚哥和我……我们……你看,我们去看斗鸡。
Cheché: No, you see … I mean … Last night Santiago and I … We … You see, we went to the cockfights.
O felia:哈!这解释得通。你丢了所有的钱和鞋子。
Ofelia: Ha! That explains it. You lost all your money and your shoes.
切切:不,我没有丢钱。你丈夫丢掉了他所有的钱,还有我的一些钱。
Cheché: No, I didn’t lose my money. Your husband lost all his money and some of mine.
(奥菲莉亚大笑。)
(Ofelia laughs.)
O felia:所以你给我这只鞋是为了让我把它扔向他并打破他的头吗?
Ofelia: So are you giving me this shoe so I can throw it at him and break his head?
(女人笑了。)
(The women laugh.)
C heché:不,奥菲莉亚……我……
Cheché: No, Ofelia … I …
O felia:那鞋子是怎么回事?你是在乞讨吗?
Ofelia: So what’s with the shoe? Are you collecting alms?
你传递的不是水桶或者帽子,而是鞋子吗?
Instead of passing the bucket or the hat are you passing the shoe?
C heché:好吧,我正在把它传给你。
Cheché: Well, I’m sort of passing it to you.
O felia:我没有钱,Cheché。
Ofelia: I don’t have any money, Cheché.
C heché:我没向你要钱。
Cheché: I’m not asking you for money.
(胡安·朱利安和姐妹们退场。)
(Juan Julian and the sisters exit.)
O felia:那你为什么拿这个东西对着我?
Ofelia: Then why are you pointing this thing at me?
C heché:你看这里。就在这里,在我的鞋底上,圣地亚哥写下了他欠我多少钱。
Cheché: You see here. Right here, on the sole of my shoe, Santiago wrote how much he owes me.
奥菲莉亚:他欠你多少钱?
Ofelia: And how much does he owe you?
C heché:总数在这里。
Cheché: The total is here.
(奥菲莉亚看着那只鞋。)
(Ofelia looks at the shoe.)
O felia:这可是一大笔钱啊。
Ofelia: That’s a lot of money.
C heché:这就是他欠我的。
Cheché: That’s how much he owes me.
O felia:你从哪里弄来的这么多钱?
Ofelia: Where did you get so much money?
C heché:我赢了。
Cheché: I was winning.
哦,菲莉亚:你喝酒,并把所有酒都喝光了。
Ofelia: And you drank and gave it all away.
C heché:不。我……嗯,他想继续玩。他不想走回家拿更多的钱,所以我把我所有的钱借给他。他告诉我他会在我的鞋子上签名并写下总数。我相信他会还给我的。
Cheché: No. I … Well, he wanted to continue playing. He didn’t want to walk home to get more money, so I lent him what I had. And he told me he’d sign my shoe and write the totals. And I trust that he’ll pay me back.
O felia:那么你想让我做什么?
Ofelia: So what do you want me to do?
C heché:嗯,这是一张账单。一份文件。
Cheché: Well, this here is a bill. A document.
O felia:你不是认真的!
Ofelia: You’re not serious!
C heché:不。这是一份协议。如果他不付钱给我……你看这里。你看他的姓名首字母……他签了字!他签了字!他告诉我,如果他不付钱给我,工厂的另一股股份就归我了。
Cheché: No. This here is an agreement. If he doesn’t pay me … You see here. You see his initials … He signed this! He signed it! He told me that if he didn’t pay me, another share of the factory would be mine.
O felia:把这个东西从我的视线里拿开。
Ofelia: Get this thing out of my sight.
C heché:但是 Ofelia ......
Cheché: But Ofelia …
O felia:我说,把它从我的视线里拿开。
Ofelia: Get it out my sight, I said.
C heché:但是 Ofelia ......
Cheché: But Ofelia …
奥菲莉亚:我不知道你和你哥哥之间发生了什么,但我跟这事没关系。你最好去找鞋匠把你的鞋修好。
Ofelia: I don’t know what went on between you and your brother, but I don’t have anything to do with it. And you better go to a shoemaker and get your shoes mended.
(音乐响起。灯光变换。)
(Music plays. Lights change.)
胡安·朱利安大步走在雪茄工人身边,朗读托尔斯泰的《安娜·卡列宁娜》。他读得激情四射、热血沸腾。雪茄工人一边卷烟,一边完全沉浸在故事中。
Juan Julian strides around the cigar workers reading from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. He reads with passion and fervor. The cigar workers roll, but are completely immersed in the story.
胡安·朱利安(雷丁):
Juan Julian (Reading):
安娜·卡列尼娜看着他,感到一种肉体的羞辱,再也说不出话来。她心爱的人感受到了杀手看着被他剥夺了生命的身体时所感受到的。被他剥夺了生命的身体是他们的爱情,是他们爱情的开始。回忆起这可怕的耻辱代价,她感到一种可怕和令人厌恶的东西。安娜从他们精神上的赤裸中感受到的耻辱摧毁了她,也影响了他。但是,尽管杀手面对受害者的尸体时感到恐惧,但他必须把尸体切成碎片并藏起来,他必须利用他犯罪所得到的东西。杀手扑向尸体,拖拽并切割尸体,他以同样的狂怒和激情,用吻覆盖了她的脸和肩膀。“是的,这些吻——这些吻是我用耻辱换来的。”
Looking at him, Anna Karenina felt a physical humiliation and could not say another word. Her beloved felt what a killer must feel when he looks at the body he has deprived of life. The body he had deprived of life was their love, the beginning of their love. There was something dreadful and revolting in the recollection of what had been paid for by this awful price of shame. The shame Anna sensed from their spiritual nakedness destroyed her and affected him. But in spite of the killer’s horror when he faces the body of his victim, the killer must cut the body to pieces and conceal it, and he must make use of what he has gained by his crime. And with the same fury and passion as the killer throws himself upon the body and drags it and cuts it, he covered her face and shoulders with kisses. “Yes, these kisses — these kisses are what have been bought by my shame.”
(胡安·朱利安合上了书。)
(Juan Julian closes the book.)
这就是今天《安娜卡列尼娜》的全部内容。
That’s all for today from Anna Karenina.
(工人们鼓掌。)
(The workers applaud.)
M arela(仍然被故事迷住):为什么他总是在讲到精彩部分时就结束?
Marela (Still enraptured by the story): Why does he always end when he gets to the good part?
O felia:让我们一直悬着。
Ofelia: To keep us in suspense.
C onchita:让我们想要更多。
Conchita: To keep us wanting more.
Marela :他确实是一位优秀的讲师。
Marela: He’s really a fine lector.
O felia:这就是为什么他被称为波斯金丝雀,因为当他读书时就像听到一只鸟在唱歌一样。
Ofelia: That’s why he’s called the Persian Canary, because it’s like hearing a bird sing when he reads.
M arela:每次他擦额头时,你能闻到他手帕上的古龙水味吗?香味像烟雾一样包裹着这些文字。
Marela: And can you smell the cologne from his handkerchief every time he dries his forehead? The fragrance wraps itself around the words like smoke.
C heché(对 Palomo 说):哦天哪!完全符合我的预期。现在他们会叹息并聊上几个小时的爱情故事。
Cheché (To Palomo): Oh Lord! Exactly what I expected. Now they’ll sigh and chat about the love story for hours.
M arela:我听说了,Cheché。
Marela: I heard that, Cheché.
C heché:哦,但这是我最喜欢的部分,当你开始讨论事情的时候。不知为何,我从来没有像你一样听这个故事。
Cheché: Oh, but this is the part I like the most, when you start discussing things. For some reason I never hear the story the same way that you do.
帕罗莫:我也不太清楚,不过也许是因为我们都是男人吧。
Palomo: Neither do I, but maybe that’s because we’re men.
米arela:你太愤世嫉俗了。
Marela: You’re being cynical.
康奇塔:不用理会他们。
Conchita: Don’t pay them any mind.
帕罗莫:不,我想听听你的意见。
Palomo: No. I’d like to hear what you have to say.
C onchita:妈妈,您派人去接他,做得很好。
Conchita: Mamá, you did well in sending for him.
O felia:只有傻瓜才会不懂得在我们工作时让读经者为我们朗读的重要性。
Ofelia: Only a fool can fail to understand the importance of having a lector read to us while we work.
M arela:嗯,Cheché 对他不是很满意。
Marela: Well, Cheché is not very happy with him.
O felia:那是因为 Cheché 是个傻瓜。
Ofelia: That’s because Cheché is a fool.
C heché:现在我还没有说——
Cheché: Now I haven’t said —
O felia:我听到了你今天早上告诉 Palomo 的话,我们不会废除讲师。
Ofelia: I heard what you told Palomo this morning and we’re not going to do away with the lector.
C heché:我所说的只是——
Cheché: All I said —
O felia:我住在哈瓦那的时候,从没见过没有讲经员的烟草厂。我记得小时候坐在后面听讲经员讲故事。这一直是我们的骄傲。我们一些雪茄工人可能不会读写,但我们可以背诵《堂吉诃德》或《简爱》中的台词。
Ofelia: When I lived in Havana I don’t remember ever seeing a tobacco factory without a lector. As a child I remember sitting in the back and listening to the stories. That has always been our pride. Some of us cigar workers might not be able to read or write, but we can recite lines from Don Quixote or Jane Eyre.
C heché:我只是说,我担心我们又要经历一个悲剧性的爱情故事了。
Cheché: All I said was that I’m afraid we’re in for another tragic love story.
P alomo:我喜欢爱情故事。
Palomo: I like love stories.
M arela:我也是。
Marela: Me, too.
C heché:我更喜欢侦探故事。
Cheché: I would’ve preferred a detective story.
玛雷拉:它们不太有文学气息,切斯特。
Marela: They’re not very literary, Chester.
康奇塔:嗯。我不知道你是怎么想的,但自从他开始读《安娜卡列尼娜》后,我的思绪就飘到了俄罗斯。
Conchita: Well. I don’t know about you, but ever since he started reading Anna Karenina my mind wanders to Russia.
M arela:我也是。我做了一个梦,梦里满是白雪,安娜·卡列尼娜和沃伦斯基跳着华尔兹。然后我看到他们在一个小房间里,所有的雪都被他们身体和皮肤的热量融化了。我只想从我的朋友 Cookie Salazar 那里借一件皮大衣,去俄罗斯。
Marela: Me, too. I have dreams and they are full of white snow, and Anna Karenina is dancing waltzes with Vronsky. Then I see them in a little room, and all the snow melts from the heat of their bodies and their skin. And I just want to borrow a fur coat from my friend Cookie Salazar and go to Russia.
O felia:他选对了书。没有什么比在盛夏读一本冬天的书更舒服的了。这就像身边有一台风扇或一个冰箱来缓解炎热和热量的夜晚。
Ofelia: He chose the right book. There is nothing like reading a winter book in the middle of summer. It’s like having a fan or an icebox by your side to relieve the heat and the caloric nights.
C heché(对 Palomo 说):帮我搬箱子。
Cheché (To Palomo): Help me with the boxes.
(男人们退场。)
(The men exit.)
M arela:最后那句话是什么?“凶手在愤怒和激情的驱使下,扑向……”
Marela: What was that last line? “And, as with fury and passion the killer throws himself upon … ”
康奇塔:“他在她的尸体上拖拽、切割,并在她的脸上和肩膀上吻遍了她的脸和肩膀。”
Conchita: “Upon the body,” he said, “And drags it and cuts it, he covered her face and shoulders with kisses.”
M arela:这是否意味着当你恋爱时你的身体就会被从生命中夺走?
Marela: Does it mean that when you’re in love your body is stolen from life?
碳onchita:不。被夺去生命的躯体是他们的爱。安娜和她心爱的人的爱。
Conchita: No. The body robbed of life was their love. The love of Anna and her beloved.
奥菲莉亚:那样的生活一定很糟糕。
Ofelia: It must be terrible living that way.
M arela:为什么?
Marela: Why?
哦,菲莉亚:他们三个人怎么生活啊!安娜、丈夫和情人。这一定是一场噩梦。
Ofelia: How the three of them live! Anna, the husband and the lover. It must be a nightmare.
M arela:当然不是!
Marela: Of course not!
(康奇塔不仅提到了这个故事,还提到了她自己的生活。)
(Conchita refers to the story, but also to her own life.)
康奇塔:是的。安娜自己说的。她说,这就像一个诅咒。最后她谈到了这一点,她说他的吻是用她的羞耻换来的。她一定很痛苦。
Conchita: Yes. Anna said it herself. It’s like a curse, she said. She was talking about it at the end, when she said that his kisses have been bought by her shame. She’s got to be miserable.
M arela:痛苦吗?也许是欣喜若狂。
Marela: Miserable? Enraptured maybe.
O felia:你不听这个故事,玛雷拉。
Ofelia: You don’t listen to the story, Marela.
M arela:我当然听这个故事。
Marela: Of course I listen to the story.
康奇塔:那你应该知道这对她来说是一种痛苦。对安娜的丈夫和情人来说,这都是纯粹的痛苦。如果不是因为某种希望,他们可能再也忍受不了了。
Conchita: Then you ought to know that it is misery for her. It’s pure agony for Anna’s husband and for the lover, too. They probably couldn’t endure it any longer, if it weren’t for some kind of hope.
M arela:那她为什么还要找情人呢?
Marela: Then why would she take on a lover?
奥菲莉亚:她别无选择。这是她无法逃避的事情。这就是为什么作家把爱情描述成小偷。小偷就是诗人们多年来一直在研究的神秘热病。记住安娜·卡列尼娜的遗言。
Ofelia: She has no choice. It’s something she can’t escape. That’s why the writer describes love as a thief. The thief is the mysterious fever that poets have been studying for years. Remember Anna Karenina’s last words.
康奇塔:她从来不记得任何事。
Conchita: She never remembers anything.
M arela:是的。我只是不会像你那样执着于每个字眼。我不会试图理解他们说的每句话。我让自己沉浸其中。当 Juan Julian 开始阅读时,故事进入了我的身体,我成为了角色的第二层皮肤。
Marela: I do. I just don’t cling to every word the way you do. I don’t try to understand everything they say. I let myself be taken. When Juan Julian starts reading, the story enters my body and I become the second skin of the characters.
O felia:别傻了。
Ofelia: Don’t be silly.
Marela :我们总是可以拥有梦想。
Marela: We can always dream.
O felia:是的。但是我们必须拿一把尺子来衡量我们的梦想。
Ofelia: Ah yes. But we have to take a yardstick and measure our dreams.
M arela:那我就需要一根很长的尺子。那种可以测量天空的尺子。
Marela: Then I will need a very long yardstick. The kind that could measure the sky.
康奇塔:玛雷拉,你太蠢了!
Conchita: How foolish you are, Marela!
玛瑞拉(对康奇塔说):不,生活中的一切都在做梦。一辆自行车梦见自己变成一个男孩,一把伞梦见自己变成雨,一颗珍珠梦见自己变成一个女人,一把椅子梦见自己变成一只瞪羚,跑回森林。
Marela (To Conchita): No, everything in life dreams. A bicycle dreams of becoming a boy, an umbrella dreams of becoming the rain, a pearl dreams of becoming a woman, and a chair dreams of becoming a gazelle and running back to the forest.
O felia:但是,我的孩子,像我们这样的人……我们必须记住脚踏实地,生活在自己的鞋子里,不要有崇高的幻想。
Ofelia: But, my child, people like us … We have to remember to keep our feet on the ground and stay living inside our shoes and not have lofty illusions.
(铃声响起。帕洛莫进来。)
(A bell rings. Palomo enters.)
啊,工作日结束了。太好了。今天我卷了两百多根雪茄。
Ah, workday has come to an end. Good. I rolled more than two hundred cigars today.
Marela :我已经主持过一千多个婚礼了。这就是我喜欢在雪茄上系上丝带的原因。这就像在没有真正见到他们的情况下就主持了所有这些男人的婚礼。
Marela: And I’ve wedded more than a thousand. That’s what I like about putting the bands around the cigars. It’s like marrying all these men without actually seeing them.
哦,菲莉亚:亲爱的,男人娶雪茄为妻,而白烟则成为新娘的面纱。我妈妈常说:“男人结婚时,娶了两个女人,新娘和雪茄。”你来吗,康奇塔?
Ofelia: Men marry their cigars, my dear, and the white smoke becomes the veil of their brides. My mother used to say, “When a man marries, he marries two women, his bride and his cigar.” Are you coming, Conchita?
C onchita:不。Palomo 和我要工作到很晚。
Conchita: No. Palomo and I are working till late.
O felia:晚饭后见。再见。
Ofelia: We’ll see you for dinner. Adios.
康奇塔:再见。
Conchita: Adios.
O felia: 再见,帕洛莫。
Ofelia: Till later, Palomo.
P alomo:再见。
Palomo: Adios.
M arela:再见。
Marela: Adios.
帕罗莫:你父亲又遇到麻烦了,这是为什么……?
Palomo: Is your father in trouble again and that’s why …?
康奇塔:是的。
Conchita: He is.
P alomo:他这次损失了多少?
Palomo: How much did he lose this time?
康奇塔:很多。
Conchita: Plenty.
P alomo:Plenty 意味着很多钱。
Palomo: Plenty can be a lot of money.
康奇塔:是的,你说得对。我不知道他失去这些钱能得到什么好处。
Conchita: Yes, you’re right. And I don’t know what good he gets from losing all that money.
帕罗莫:噢,那是我们永远无法知道的事情。(开始滚动)
Palomo: Oh, that’s something we’ll never know. (Beginning to roll)
C onchita:您喜欢胡安·朱利安给我们读的那本小说吗?
Conchita: And how do you like the novel that Juan Julian is reading to us?
P alomo:我非常喜欢它。
Palomo: I like it very much.
C onchita:这不让你感到不舒服吗?
Conchita: Doesn’t it make you uncomfortable?
P alomo:为什么这会让我不舒服?
Palomo: Why would it make me uncomfortable?
C onchita:关于情人的部分。
Conchita: The part about the lover.
P alomo:好像每一部小说里总会有一段爱情故事。
Palomo: It seems like in every novel there’s always a love affair.
康奇塔:那你有没有想过安娜卡列尼娜和她丈夫之间发生的一切?
Conchita: And do you ever think about everything that’s happening between Anna Karenina and her husband?
P alomo:我知道……但我……
Palomo: I do … But I …
C onchita:那么当你听这个故事的时候,你想到了什么?
Conchita: So what goes through your mind when you listen to the story?
帕罗莫:我想到的是这些人拥有的金钱。
Palomo: I think of the money all those people have.
C onchita:你会这么说。
Conchita: You would say something like that.
P alomo:为什么?因为我喜欢钱?
Palomo: Why? Because I like money?
康奇塔:我谈文学,你谈金钱。
Conchita: I’m talking about literature and you talk about money.
帕罗莫:你想让我说什么?
Palomo: And what do you want me to say?
C onchita:我希望你谈谈这个故事、人物……
Conchita: I want you to talk about the story, the characters …
P alomo:你难道不想拥有他们所有的钱吗?这样你就不用整天卷雪茄,也不用加班加点地工作,这样我们就可以省钱,做自己的生意了。
Palomo: Wouldn’t you like to have all the money they have? So you don’t have to spend the whole day rolling cigars and working after hours so we can save money and have our own business.
碳onchita:我不介意卷雪茄。
Conchita: I don’t mind rolling cigars.
Palomo :那么卷雪茄有什么好处呢?
Palomo: And what’s so good about rolling cigars?
康奇塔:我的思绪飘到了别的地方。
Conchita: My mind wanders to other places.
P alomo:什么地方?
Palomo: What places?
C onchita:金钱买不到的地方和事物。
Conchita: Places and things money can’t buy.
P alomo:金钱可以买来一切。
Palomo: Money can buy everything.
康奇塔:不是我心中去过的地方。
Conchita: Not the places I go to in my mind.
P alomo:那你说的是什么样的地方呢?
Palomo: And what kind of places are you talking about?
C onchita:梦想之地。
Conchita: Places made of dreams.
帕罗莫(笑;变得顽皮):你真是个奇怪的人,康奇塔。我不知道为什么我要嫁给你。
Palomo (Laughs; becoming playful): You’re a strange creature, Conchita. I don’t know why I married you.
C onchita:你嫁给我,是因为你们遇见我的那天,我给了你一支特意为你卷的雪茄,当你抽上它的时候,你告诉我,我就像一个采珠人一样溜进了你的嘴里。
Conchita: You married me because the day you met me, I gave you a cigar I had rolled especially for you and when you smoked it, you told me I had slipped into your mouth like a pearl diver.
帕罗莫:我告诉过你吗?
Palomo: I told you that?
C onchita:是的,你做到了。你从嘴里吐出一圈蓝色的烟雾。这些话像齐柏林飞艇一样在空中盘旋,我心想,我可能会爱上这张嘴。
Conchita: Yes, you did. After blowing a blue ring of smoke out of your mouth. And the words lingered in the air like a zeppelin and I thought to myself, I could fall in love with that mouth.
帕罗莫:据我所记得,我嫁给你是因为我无法解开你父亲掐着我脖子的手。
Palomo: As far as I can remember, I married you because I couldn’t untie your father’s hands from around my neck.
康奇塔:啊,真相大白了。这解释了一切。你从来没有真正关心过我。
Conchita: Ah, the truth comes out. That explains everything. You never really cared for me.
帕罗莫:你是想挑起争端吗?
Palomo: Are you trying to start a fight?
康奇塔:不。我问了你一个关于爱情故事的简单问题,你却犯傻。
Conchita: No. I asked you a simple question about a love story and you’re being foolish.
帕罗莫:没关系。
Palomo: Never mind.
C onchita:你什么都不在乎,对吧?胡安·朱利安可能正在读何塞·马蒂或莎士比亚的书,所有事情他都左耳进右耳出。
Conchita: You don’t care about anything, do you? Juan Julian could be reading a book by José Martí or Shakespeare and everything goes in one ear and out the other.
P alomo:我关注他读什么。
Palomo: I pay attention to what he reads.
我只是不会像你一样把所有事情都放在心上。
I just don’t take everything to heart the way you do.
康奇塔:嗯,你应该知道。你还记得书中安娜·卡列宁娜的丈夫怀疑她和沃伦斯基有染的那一部分吗?记得他像迷路的动物一样在房间里走来走去。
Conchita: Well, you should. Do you remember that part of the book in which Anna Karenina’s husband is suspicious of her having an affair with Vronsky? Remember when he paces the room, like a lost animal.
帕罗莫:我知道你的意思。
Palomo: I know what you’re getting at.
C onchita:我只想进行文明的对话。就像小说中人物之间的对话一样。我从这本书中学到了很多东西。
Conchita: I just want to have a civilized conversation. The same way the characters speak to each other in the novel. I’ve learned many things from this book.
P alomo:比如?
Palomo: Such as?
Conchita :嫉妒。对安娜的丈夫来说,嫉妒是卑鄙的,几乎是兽性的。他是对的。他永远不想让安娜认为他有如此卑鄙和可耻的情感。
Conchita: Jealousy. For Anna’s husband jealousy is base and almost animalistic. And he’s right. He would never want Anna to think that he’s capable of such vile and shameful emotions.
帕罗莫:但你就是忍不住嫉妒。这是你的天性。
Palomo: But you can’t help being jealous. It’s part of your nature.
碳onchita:现在不再是这样了。
Conchita: Not anymore.
帕罗莫:嗯,这是一个变化。
Palomo: Well, that’s a change.
康奇塔:哦,我在小说中能清楚地看到丈夫的形象。他的想法是如何形成的,就像我的想法一样。我的意思是,不一样……不,不……不一样,因为他是一个受过教育的人,周围都是文化和财富,而我只是工厂里的雪茄卷烟工。他很有教养,很老练。我的生活勉强过得去。
Conchita: Oh, I could see the husband so clear in the novel. How the thoughts would take shape in his mind, as they have in my own mind. I mean, not the same … No, no … Not the same, because he’s an educated man, surrounded by culture and wealth, and I’m just a cigar roller in a factory. He is well bred and sophisticated. I barely get by in life.
但读了这本书,我以全新的眼光看待一切。小说中发生的事情也发生在我们身上。
But with this book I’m seeing everything through new eyes. What is happening in the novel has been happening to us.
不。别那样看着我。你可能不想承认,但安娜和她的丈夫让我想起了我们。只不过我更像她的丈夫。
No. Don’t look at me that way. You might not want to admit it, but Anna and her husband remind me of us. Except I’m more like the husband.
帕罗莫:那么,安娜卡列尼娜,我算什么?
Palomo: So what does that make me then, Anna Karenina?
康奇塔:你才是暗恋的人,不是我。
Conchita: You are the one who has the secret love, not me.
帕罗莫:哦,算了。太晚了。我们回家吧。这样我没法工作。
Palomo: Oh, come on. It’s late. Let’s go home. I can’t work like this.
C onchita:当丈夫质问安娜关于情人的事时,安娜就是这么说的:“很晚了。我们去睡觉吧。”
Conchita: That’s exactly what Anna said when the husband confronted her about the lover: “It’s late. Let’s go to sleep.”
帕罗莫:我觉得你说得有点过分了。
Palomo: I think you’re taking this a little too far.
康奇塔:是吗?你听过聋人的声音吗?那声音粗糙而古老,因为它没有方向感和位置感,因为它听不见自己,也不知道世界上是否有其他人听到它。有时我想和你长谈,就像这样。像一个聋子一样。好像我听不见你或我自己。但我只是不停地说,说出我想说的一切,就像贝壳用大海的声音呼喊,它不在乎是否有人听到它。这就是我想和你说话,问你事情的方式。
Conchita: Am I? Have you ever heard the voice of someone who’s deaf? The voice is crude and ancient, because it has no sense of direction or place, because it doesn’t hear itself and it doesn’t know if anybody else in the world hears it. Sometimes I want to have a long conversation with you, like this. Like a deaf person. As if I couldn’t hear you or myself. But I would just talk and talk, and say everything that comes to my mind, like a shell that shouts with the voice of the sea and it doesn’t care if anybody ever hears it. That’s how I want to speak to you, and ask you things.
帕罗莫:你这样说还有什么用?你想问我什么事?
Palomo: And what’s the use of talking like this? What sort of things do you want to ask me?
C onchita:有些事你不愿告诉我,因为你怕我无法理解。
Conchita: Things that you wouldn’t tell me, afraid that I might not understand.
P alomo:比如什么?
Palomo: Like what?
康奇塔:我想知道她是什么样的人。她做了什么让你开心?
Conchita: I’d like to know what she’s like. And what does she do to make you happy?
帕罗莫:啊,我们回家吧。
Palomo: Ah, let’s go home.
康奇塔:为什么?
Conchita: Why?
P alomo(突然):因为我不想谈论这些事情!
Palomo (Abruptly): Because I don’t want to talk about these things!
(停顿。)
(A pause.)
康奇塔:那么我们会怎么样呢,帕洛莫?
Conchita: So what’s going to happen to us, Palomo?
帕罗莫:我不知道。你想离婚吗?我们可以去雷诺,六周内离婚。但你的家人会反对,我的家人也会反对。所以离婚是不可能的。
Palomo: I don’t know. Do you want a divorce? We could travel to Reno and be divorced in six weeks. But your family will be opposed to it, and the same with mine. So divorce is out of the question.
碳onchita:如果我告诉你我想剪掉头发、改变穿衣风格并找一个情人。
Conchita: And if I tell you that I want to cut my hair, change the way I dress and take on a lover.
帕罗莫:再说一遍?
Palomo: Say that again?
C onchita:我刚才说了。
Conchita: What I just said.
P alomo:你想要有个情人吗?
Palomo: You want to have a lover?
C onchita:是的,就像你一样。
Conchita: Yes, like you do.
帕洛莫:万福玛丽亚普里斯玛!
Palomo: Ave Maria purissima!
C onchita:我和你拥有同样的权利。
Conchita: I have the same right as you do.
帕罗莫:这本书将会终结我们。
Palomo: This book will be the end of us.
康奇塔:你不觉得我们已经走到尽头了吗?
Conchita: Don’t you think we’ve already come to the end?
帕罗莫:不……我……
Palomo: No … I …
康奇塔:你不再像以前那样和我做爱了。
Conchita: You don’t make love to me like you used to.
帕罗莫:嗯,我们……你和我……我们……
Palomo: Well, we … You and I … We …
康奇塔:没事的,帕洛莫。没事的。(她抚摸他的手臂)安娜·卡列尼娜说过一句话,我一直对自己重复这句话: “如果有多少种头脑就有多少种思想,那么有多少种心就有多少种爱。”我可以尝试用不同的方式爱你。我可以做到。你也应该尝试这样做。
Conchita: It’s all right, Palomo. It’s all right. (She touches his arm) There’s something that Anna Karenina said and I keep repeating it to myself: “If there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” I can try to love you in a different way. I can do that. And you should try to do the same.
(音乐响起。灯光变换。)
(Music plays. Lights change.)
地板上的方形灯光暗示着这个家庭的室内。奥菲莉亚和圣地亚哥没有说话。她坐在房间的一侧,他坐在另一侧。马雷拉站在圣地亚哥旁边。对话进行得很快。马雷拉像沟通者一样来回奔跑。
A square of light on the floor suggests the interior of the family’s house. Ofelia and Santiago are not on speaking terms. She sits on one side of the room, he sits on the other. Marela stands by Santiago. The dialogue moves fast. Marela runs back and forth as a communicator.
圣地亚哥:向你妈妈要钱给我买包烟。她不跟我说话。
Santiago: Ask your mother for some money to buy me a pack of cigarettes. She’s not talking to me.
M arela:爸爸想要钱买一包香烟。
Marela: Papá wants money for a pack of cigarettes.
O felia:问他什么时候回去工作。
Ofelia: Ask him when is he going back to work.
M arela:她想知道你什么时候回去工作。
Marela: She wants to know when you’re going back to work.
圣地亚哥:告诉她,只要我从卡马乔那里拿到钱,就把钱付给切切。
Santiago: Tell her as soon as I get money from Camacho to pay Cheché.
M arela:他说,只要从卡马乔那里拿到钱,他就会把钱付给 Cheché。
Marela: He says as soon as he gets money from Camacho to pay Cheché.
O felia:告诉他到那时就戒烟,我不会给他任何钱。
Ofelia: Tell him to give up smoking till then, that I’m not giving him any money.
圣地亚哥:她说了什么?
Santiago: What did she say?
Marela :她说——
Marela: She says —
圣地亚哥:我听见了。(大声对奥菲莉亚说)告诉她,她疯了!
Santiago: I heard her. (In loud voice, to Ofelia) Tell her that she’s insane!
Marela :他说你疯了。
Marela: He says you’re insane.
奥菲莉亚:告诉他,他是个酒鬼、小偷、一无是处的赌徒。
Ofelia: And tell him he’s a drunk, a thief and a-good-for-nothing gambler.
Marela :她说——
Marela: She says —
圣地亚哥:我听说了。
Santiago: I heard.
米arela:他听到了你的声音,妈妈。
Marela: He heard you, Mamá.
O felia:很好!
Ofelia: Good!
M arela:“很好。”她说。
Marela: Good, she says.
Santiago :你是个疯女人!疯女人!
Santiago: You’re a crazy woman! Crazy woman!
O felia:告诉他我没听到。我告诉他我不想让他跟我说话。
Ofelia: Tell him I didn’t hear that. I told him I don’t want him to talk to me.
圣地亚哥:啊,她听到我的话了!
Santiago: Ah, she heard me!
O felia:告诉他我不想听到他的野蛮行径。
Ofelia: Tell him I don’t want to hear his barbarism.
玛瑞拉:爸爸,你听到了吗?她不想听你的野蛮行径。
Marela: Did you hear that, Papá? She doesn’t want to hear your barbarism.
圣地亚哥:告诉她……
Santiago: Tell her …
(玛瑞拉开始向她的父亲走去。)
(Marela starts to walk toward her father.)
奥菲利亚(愤怒):过来,玛雷拉……
Ofelia (Infuriated): Come here, Marela …
(玛瑞拉朝她的母亲走去。)
(Marela walks toward her mother.)
圣地亚哥:玛雷拉,过来……
Santiago: Marela, come here …
M arela:等一下!还没轮到你,妈妈。
Marela: Wait! It’s not your turn, Mamá.
O felia: 玛雷拉……
Ofelia: Marela …
M arela:停!我不能同时在这里和那里!
Marela: Stop! I can’t be here and there at the same time!
(沉默。奥菲莉亚和圣地亚哥摇了摇头,好像放弃了整件事。)
(Silence. Ofelia and Santiago shake their heads as if giving up on the whole thing.)
哦,费莉亚和圣地亚哥:这太疯狂了!
Ofelia and santiago: This is insane!
Marela :好吧,你们俩都听到了。
Marela: Well, you both heard that.
(玛瑞拉试图插话,但他们没有给她机会。)
(Marela tries to put in a word, but they don’t give her a chance.)
圣地亚哥:告诉她我要去当铺卖我的结婚戒指。
Santiago: Tell her I’m going to a pawnshop to sell my wedding ring.
O felia:告诉他他早就应该这么做了。
Ofelia: Tell him he should’ve done that a long time ago.
圣地亚哥:她说得对,我早就应该这么做了。
Santiago: She’s right, I should’ve done it a long time ago.
O felia:是的,在他的手指麻木之前。
Ofelia: Yes, before his finger got numb.
圣地亚哥:她说得对,我的手指麻木了。
Santiago: She’s right, my finger got numb.
O felia:你看,我是对的。麻木,就像其他一切一样。
Ofelia: You see, I was right. Numb, like everything else.
Santiago :她错了。和其他事情不一样。
Santiago: She’s wrong. Not like everything else.
O felia:他的身体一点用都没有。他那烂牙只能用来咬钱。
Ofelia: Nothing works on his body. Just his rotten teeth to chew away money.
玛瑞拉:我要走了。
Marela: I’m leaving.
噢,菲莉亚:玛雷拉!
Ofelia: Marela!
圣地亚哥:玛雷拉!
Santiago: Marela!
M arela:没有我你也能战斗!
Marela: You can fight without me!
(玛瑞拉走出房间。 一片寂静。
(Marela walks out of the room. Silence.
然后,奥菲莉亚和圣地亚哥开始互相说话,但是彼此没有看着对方。 )
Then, Ofelia and Santiago begin to speak to each other without looking at each other.)
年代圣地亚哥:我一直在听这里的新宣讲员讲话。
Santiago: I’ve been listening to the new lector from up here.
O felia: 你有吗?
Ofelia: You have?
圣地亚哥:他很棒。他的声音很有感染力,我喜欢他正在读的那本小说。
Santiago: He’s good. He has a solid voice and I like the novel that he’s reading.
O felia:是的,他的声音很浑厚,我也喜欢这部小说。
Ofelia: Yes, a solid voice he has and I like the novel, too.
圣地亚哥:我特别喜欢住在乡村的人物。
Santiago: I ’specially like the character that lives in the countryside.
O felia(高兴地):是的。
Ofelia (With delight): Yes.
圣地亚哥:是的,就是他。
Santiago: Yes, him.
O felia:有农场的那家?
Ofelia: The one that has the farm?
圣地亚哥:是的。拥有农场的那个。他叫什么名字?
Santiago: Yes. The one that has the farm. What is his name?
奥菲莉亚:他的名字叫列文。
Ofelia: His name is Levin.
圣地亚哥:没错,莱文。
Santiago: That’s right, Levin.
O felia:住在被树木环绕的森林里的生物。
Ofelia: The one that lives in the forest surrounded by trees.
圣地亚哥:莱文让我想起小时候父亲离开我去经营工厂的情景。莱文似乎把他的一生都奉献给了他的农场。
Santiago: That Levin reminds me of when I was young and my father left me to run the factory. It seems as if Levin has dedicated his whole life to his farm.
O felia:是的,他是一个专注的人。
Ofelia: Yes, he’s a dedicated man.
圣地亚哥:我曾经像他一样。
Santiago: I used to be like him.
O felia:是的,你曾经像他一样。
Ofelia: Yes, you used to be like him.
圣地亚哥:我喜欢这本书的部分内容:安娜的兄弟准备出售列文房产旁边的庄园,而列文劝他不要出售。
Santiago: I like the part of the book when Anna’s brother is going to sell the estate next to Levin’s property and Levin counsels him not to sell it.
O felia:是的,那部分很好。我简直不敢相信你差点把工厂的另一部分股份给了 Cheché。
Ofelia: Yes, that’s a good part. And I can’t believe that you almost gave another share of the factory to Cheché.
Santiago :你说得对,我疯了。我不应该喝酒。
Santiago: You’re right, I lost my mind. I shouldn’t drink.
O felia:没错,你不应该喝酒。这是愚蠢的做法,把另一部分业务分给别人。Cheché 不知道自己在做什么。他就像个稻草人。他一直在说要引进机器,替换一些工人。你需要回到工厂去。
Ofelia: That’s right, drink you shouldn’t. That’s an idiotic thing to do, give away another share of the business. Cheché doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s like a scarecrow. He’s been talking about bringing machines and replacing some of the workers. You need to go back to the factory.
Santiago :是的,你说得对。我需要回工厂去。
Santiago: Yes, you’re right. To the factory I need to go back.
(奥菲莉亚看着他。)
(Ofelia looks at him.)
O felia:圣地亚哥,你怎么了?你还没去上班。你没吃饭。你睡得也不好。
Ofelia: Santiago, what’s eating you? You haven’t gone to work. You don’t eat. You don’t sleep well.
Santiago :我表现得像个傻瓜,奥菲莉亚。我为自己感到羞耻,我又气又苦。我无法摆脱这该死的痛苦!
Santiago: I’ve acted like a fool, Ofelia. I’m ashamed of myself and I’m angry and bitter. And I can’t shake off this damn agony!
O felia:要我叫医生吗?
Ofelia: Do you want me to call a doctor?
圣地亚哥:不,我不需要医生。
Santiago: No. I don’t need a doctor.
奥菲莉亚:但你不能再这样下去了。迟早你得回去面对工人们。
Ofelia: But you can’t go on like this. Sooner or later you have to go back and face the workers.
Santiago :我会的。等我有钱了,我就可以面对 Cheché 了。
Santiago: I will. When I get the money and I can face Cheché.
O felia:那你要一直呆在这里直到那时吗?
Ofelia: And are you going to stay here until then?
圣地亚哥:是的。
Santiago: Yes.
哦felia:这太傻了。
Ofelia: That’s silly.
圣地亚哥:我就是这样的一个人。
Santiago: That’s the way I am.
O felia:好吧,我要睡觉了。
Ofelia: Well, I’m going to bed.
(奥菲莉亚开始退场。)
(Ofelia starts to exit.)
圣地亚哥:奥菲莉亚。
Santiago: Ofelia.
O felia:是的。
Ofelia: Yes.
圣地亚哥:再熬一会儿。
Santiago: Stay up a while longer.
O felia:我累了。你今天没有像我一样努力。
Ofelia: I’m tired. You didn’t work like I did today.
圣地亚哥:跟我谈谈小说吧。我在这里听不太清楚。这个家伙,莱文……我崇拜的这个人物……他就是故事中爱上那个年轻女孩的人,不是吗?
Santiago: Talk to me about the novel. I can’t always hear very well from up here. This fellow, Levin … This character that I admire … He’s the one who is in love with the young girl in the story, isn’t he?
奥菲莉亚(一阵活力):啊,是的!他爱上了基蒂。列文爱上了基蒂,基蒂爱上了沃伦斯基。沃伦斯基爱上了安娜·卡列宁娜。安娜·卡列宁娜虽然结婚了,但她爱上了沃伦斯基。是的,这本书里的每个人都爱上了她!
Ofelia (A burst of energy): Ah yes! He’s in love with Kitty. Levin is in love with Kitty, and Kitty is in love with Vronsky. And Vronsky is in love with Anna Karenina. And Anna Karenina is married, but she’s in love with Vronsky. Ay, everybody is in love in this book!
圣地亚哥:但是对于列文来说......对于列文来说只有一个女人。
Santiago: But for Levin … For Levin there’s only one woman.
O felia:是的,对他来说只有一个女人。
Ofelia: Yes, for him there’s only one woman.
圣地亚哥(满怀爱意地看着她):奥菲莉亚。
Santiago (Full of love, he looks at her): Ofelia.
O felia:是的。
Ofelia: Yes.
(圣地亚哥咽下了满腔的爱意。)
(Santiago swallows the gulp of love.)
圣地亚哥:不,没什么。
Santiago: No. Nothing.
奥菲莉亚:(扇着扇子):啊,夜风又吹过来了。没有什么能比得上坦帕的微风,这种时候总是准时来访。
Ofelia: (Fanning herself): Ah, the night breeze is making its way to us again. There’s nothing like this Tampa breeze, always a punctual visitor around this time.
Santiago :你知道,奥菲莉亚,当我赌博时,我会尝试重复相同的动作……我会尝试重复我赢钱那天所做的一切。当我输钱时,我会尝试反思我做错了什么。我会自问,我是不是先用左脚起床的?我是不是忘了擦鞋?我是不是把家弄得乱七八糟?我是不是对某人不友善,所以才没有好运?最近,我一直处于迷茫之中,不知道该做些什么。
Santiago: You know, Ofelia, when I gamble I try to repeat the same motions … I try to repeat everything I did the day I won. And when I lose I try to take inventory of what I did wrong. I think to myself, Did I get up from bed with my left foot first? Did I forget to polish my shoes? Did I leave the house in a state of disorder? Was I unkind to someone and that’s why luck didn’t come my way? Lately, I’ve been in a fog and I don’t know what to do.
每次我输了,我都觉得有什么东西从我身上被夺走了。比金钱更重要的东西。我看到一排小蚂蚁背着面包屑。但他们拿走的面包屑是我的骄傲和自尊。我的尊严。(再次看着她)我也失去了你吗,奥菲莉亚?我失去了你吗?
Every time I lose, I feel that something has been taken from me. Something bigger than money. And I see a line of little ants carrying breadcrumbs on their backs. But the crumbs they are taking away are my pride and my self-respect. My dignity. (Looks at her again) Have I lost you too, Ofelia? Have I lost you?
奥菲莉亚:如果你失去了我,我就不会在这里。如果你失去了我,我就不会在你身边。你怎么能说你失去了我!(她拥抱了他)
Ofelia: If you had lost me, I wouldn’t be here. If you had lost me, I wouldn’t be by your side. How can you say that you’ve lost me! (She hugs him)
(音乐响起。灯光变换。)
(Music plays. Lights change.)
胡安·朱利安、马雷拉和孔奇塔在工厂。
Juan Julian, Marela and Conchita at the factory.
胡安·朱利安:我不太喜欢城市。在乡村,人有自由。在城市里,我感到窒息。我感到肺部收缩。空气又厚又稠密,好像建筑物在呼吸并夺走了氧气。正如我父亲曾经说过的,住在城市里就像住在鳄鱼的嘴里,周围的建筑物就像牙齿。文化的牙齿,文明的嘴和舌头。这是一个愚蠢的比喻,但对我来说很有意义。
Juan Julian: I don’t really like cities. In the country one has freedom. When I’m in a city I feel asphyxiated. I feel constriction in my lungs. The air feels thick and dense, as if the buildings breathe and steal away the oxygen. As my father used to say, living in a city is like living inside the mouth of a crocodile, buildings all around you like teeth. The teeth of culture, the mouth and tongue of civilization. It’s a silly comparison, but it makes sense to me.
每次去公园,我都会想起我们总是回归自然。我们修建街道和建筑物。我们每周工作五到六天,修建和铺设道路,倒下的树木和鸟巢,整个昆虫天堂。而这一切都是为了什么?周日,我们回到公园,在那里我们仍然可以找到绿色植物。大自然的青翠。
Every time I go to a park, I’m reminded of how we always go back to nature. We build streets and buildings. We work five to six days a week, building and cementing our paths and down come tumbling trees and nests, a whole paradise of insects. And all for what? On Sundays we return to a park where we could still find greenery. The verdure of nature.
C onchita:你说得对。我不知道如果没有去公园散步我会做什么。你为什么选择读托尔斯泰的作品?
Conchita: You’re right. I don’t know what I would do without my walks to the park. Why did you choose to read Tolstoy?
J uan Julian:因为托尔斯泰对人性的理解比其他作家都要深刻。
Juan Julian: Because Tolstoy understands humanity like no other writer does.
康奇塔:这已经是一个足够阅读他作品的理由了。
Conchita: That’s a good enough reason to read him.
J uan Julian:有人告诉我,在他生命的最后,当他知道自己将要死去时,他抛弃了自己的家,后来人们发现他死在火车站。就像……
Juan Julian: Someone told me that at the end of his life, when he knew he was going to die, he abandoned his house and he was found dead at a train station. The same as …
哦,也许我不应该告诉你这个。
Oh, perhaps I shouldn’t tell you this.
康奇塔:他可能正在去拜访上帝的路上。
Conchita: He was probably on his way to visit God.
胡安·朱利安:我一直有这个怀疑。
Juan Julian: That has always been my suspicion.
Marela :对不起,我得走了。(她退场)
Marela: Pardon me, but I must go. (She exits)
(胡安·朱利安和康奇塔目送玛雷拉离开,场面一度尴尬。)
(There is an awkward pause as Juan Julian and Conchita watch Marela leave.)
康奇塔:您是怎样成为一名讲师的?
Conchita: How did you become a lector?
胡安·朱利安:有一年夏天,我发现了书籍。我父亲欠债权人很多钱,我们不得不把自己关在家里躲了一段时间。对于我的家人来说,保持面子很重要。我们不得不假装外出旅行。我们告诉邻居,我母亲病了,她不得不在别处休养。我们在那间封闭的房子里呆了两个多月,而我父亲在国外工作。我记得天气很热,所有的窗户都关着。热得让人无法忍受。女佣是唯一一个出去买杂货的人。当我们被关在家里的时候,我母亲给家人读书。从那时起,我就成了一个倾听者,学会了欣赏故事和文字的声音。(微笑)你去过新英格兰吗?
Juan Julian: I discovered books one summer. My father owed a lot of money to a creditor and we had to close ourselves up in our house and hide for a while. For my family, keeping up appearances was important. We had to pretend that we had gone away on a trip. We told neighbors that my mother was ill and she had to recuperate somewhere else. We stayed in that closed-up house for more than two months, while my father worked abroad. I remember it was hot and all the windows were kept closed. The heat was unbearable. The maid was the only one who went out to buy groceries. And while being closed up in our own home my mother read books to the family. And that’s when I became a listener and I learned to appreciate stories and the sound of words. (Smiles) Have you ever been to New England?
碳onchita:不。
Conchita: No.
胡安·朱利安:我一直想去那里。我很好奇新英格兰人是什么样的。在这里我遇到了来自世界其他地方的工人,但我还没有遇到过来自北方的人。
Juan Julian: I always wanted to go there. I wonder what New Englanders are like. Here I have met workers from other parts of the world, but I haven’t met anybody from up North.
C onchita: Cheché 来自北方。
Conchita: Cheché is from up North.
J uan Julian: Cheché 来自他自己的世界。
Juan Julian: Cheché is from a world of his own.
康奇塔:我认识一个来自新伦敦的男孩。他谦虚内敛。这个男孩很害羞,当他表达任何感情时,他都会原谅自己。(笑)有一天,我把我剪下来的辫子给了他,让他把它埋在一棵树下。我向他解释说,在岛上,大多数妇女每年 2 月 2 日剪一次头发,这天是修剪植物和树木的日子,以庆祝圣坎德拉里亚节。我告诉他,妇女们是如何将头发献给土地和树木的,以换取所有的绿植和果实。我把我的小辫子放在一个盒子里给了他,让他在公园里选一棵树。
Conchita: I knew a fellow from New London. He was modest and reserved. So shy was this boy, that when he expressed any sort of feeling, he would excuse himself. (Laughs) One day I gave him a braid that I’d cut from my hair and told him to bury it under a tree. I explained to him that back in the island most women cut their hair once a year on the 2nd of February, when plants and trees are pruned, for the feast of Saint Candelaria. I told him how women offer their hair to the earth and the trees, for all the greenery and fruits to come. And I gave him my little braid in a box and told him to choose a tree in the park.
然后那个男孩用一种奇怪的表情看着我,说他如果在公园中央当着众人的面挖坑,会感到很尴尬。就在那时,我从他手里拿回了我的辫子,拿起一把铲子,挖了一个坑,让他感到羞愧。从那以后,他再也没有和我说话。所以,他是我见过的唯一一个来自新英格兰的人。
And the boy looked at me with a strange face and said that he would feel embarrassed digging a hole in the middle of the park, in front of everybody. And that’s when I took my braid back from him, took a shovel, dug a hole and put him to shame. From then on he never talked to me again. So he’s the only person from New England that I’ve met.
(帕洛莫进来了。他从远处观看。)
(Palomo enters. He watches from a distance.)
J uan Julian(笑):那你每年 2 月 2 号还会剪头发吗?
Juan Julian (Laughs): And do you still cut your hair every 2nd of February?
康奇塔:是的。我父亲总是给我这个荣幸,把它埋了。
Conchita: Yes. My father always does me the honor of burying it.
胡安·朱利安:你的父亲!为什么不是你的丈夫?这对任何男人来说都是一种荣誉……如果我是你的丈夫,我会找一棵古老、睿智的榕树,把你的头发连根埋起来,我相信它会像雨水一样接受这份祭品。
Juan Julian: Your father! And why not your husband? It should be an honor for any man … If I were your husband I would find an old, wise, banyan tree and I would bury your hair by its roots, and I’m sure it would accept the offering like rainwater.
C onchita:好吧,我要像克拉拉·博一样把头发剪短,仪式就到此结束了。
Conchita: Well, I’m cutting my hair short like Clara Bow and that will be the end of the ritual.
胡安·朱利安:我建议你找一棵看上去很结实的树。但如果不在 2 月 2 日举行仪式,仪式就不算数。
Juan Julian: I would offer to find a strong-looking tree. But the ritual won’t count if it’s not done on February 2nd.
C onchita:我相信,只要你有信念,一切都会好起来。
Conchita: I believe everything counts if you have faith.
J uan Julian:所以你是说我应该选一棵看起来强壮的树吗?
Juan Julian: So are you telling me that I should pick a strong-looking tree?
康奇塔:是的,如果你愿意的话。
Conchita: Yes, if you wish.
胡安·朱利安:为什么是我?
Juan Julian: And why me?
康奇塔:因为你愿意。你是爱情故事的读者,任何一生致力于读书的人都相信,读书可以拯救被遗忘的事物。
Conchita: Because you offer to. And you are the reader of the love stories, and anybody who dedicates his life to reading books believes in rescuing things from oblivion.
J uan Julian:那么你的头发里有一个故事吗?
Juan Julian: So is there a story in your hair?
C onchita:总有一天我会把它剪掉,这个故事也会结束。
Conchita: There will be the day I cut it, and that story will come to an end.
J uan Julian:那么我们怎样解读你的头发的故事呢?
Juan Julian: And how does one read the story of your hair?
碳onchita:就像人们读一张脸或一本书一样。
Conchita: The same way one reads a face or a book.
胡安·朱利安:那我们就不应该把你的头发埋在树下。
Juan Julian: Then we shouldn’t bury your hair under a tree.
我们应该把它放在手稿里。就像维多利亚时代的女性把花朵或一缕头发夹在书页之间一样。
We should place it inside a manuscript. The same way Victorian women used to press flowers or a lock of hair between the pages of a book.
C onchita:那我就让你自己选择书了。
Conchita: Then I would leave it to you to choose the book.
J uan Julian:这个怎么样?
Juan Julian: How about this one?
康奇塔:我的头发和安娜卡列尼娜很相配。
Conchita: My hair will be in good company with Anna Karenina.
J uan Julian:然后闭上眼睛,选择一页。
Juan Julian: Then close your eyes and choose a page.
(康奇塔闭上眼睛。她打开书,选择其中一页。胡安·朱利安读道:)
(Conchita closes her eyes. She opens the book and chooses a page. Juan Julian reads:)
起初安娜真心实意地以为她生气是因为他坚持追求她;但是她从莫斯科回来后不久,参加一个晚会,她以为会见到他,但他却没有参加,她从压倒一切的悲伤中意识到,她在欺骗自己。
At first Anna sincerely thought that she was annoyed because he insisted on pursuing her; but very soon after her return from Moscow, when she went to an evening party where she expected to see him, but which he did not attend, she came to the realization by the sadness that overwhelmed her, that she was deceiving herself.
C onchita:那好,给我剪头发吧。
Conchita: Then here, cut my hair.
(康奇塔把剪刀递给他。她松开头发,背对着他。他用手指梳理她的头发。他亲吻她的肩膀。然后她转过身来回吻他。)
(Conchita hands him the scissors. She loosens her hair and turns her back to him. He combs her hair with his fingers. He kisses her shoulder. She then turns around to return his kiss.)
黑暗。音乐。
Darkness. Music.
当灯光亮起时,我们听到了讲师的录音声音,他正在讲述《安娜卡列尼娜》的一段话。
As the lights start to come up, we hear the recorded voice of the lector narrating a passage from Anna Karenina.
胡安·朱利安(录音):
Juan Julian (Recorded voice):
安娜·卡列尼娜步入了新的生活,她无法用语言表达她的羞耻、狂喜和恐惧,她也不想谈论它,不想用简单的语言来亵渎这种感觉。而时间一天天过去,她仍然找不到合适的词语来表达她复杂的心情,甚至找不到可以反思灵魂深处的思绪。
Anna Karenina had stepped into a new life and she could not convey through words her sense of shame, rapture and horror, and she did not want to talk about it and profane this feeling through simple words. And as time passed by, the next day and the next, she still could not find the proper words to express the complexity of her feelings, and could not even find thoughts with which to reflect on all that was in her soul.
(胡安·朱利安和康奇塔在工厂里做爱。她半裸着躺在桌子上,裙子卷起来。他站在她两腿之间,赤裸着上身,满身大汗。他们已经超越了身体的极限,现在他温柔地吻着她。)
(Juan Julian and Conchita are at the factory making love. She is lying on top of a table, half naked, her skirt tucked up. He is there between her legs, shirtless and full of sweat. They have transgressed the limits of their bodies, and he now kisses her gently.)
我不想再在这里见到你。
I’d like to stop seeing you here.
C onchita:你想在哪儿见面?
Conchita: And where do you want to meet?
J uan Julian:在我的房间里,我们可以——
Juan Julian: In my room where we could be —
康奇塔:那是不可能的。
Conchita: That would be impossible.
(他们开始穿衣服。)
(They start dressing.)
J uan Julian:那我们应该在酒店见面。
Juan Julian: Then we should meet in a hotel.
C onchita:酒店就像医院一样冷冰冰的,没有人情味。
Conchita: Hotels are cold and impersonal like hospitals.
J uan Julian:像医院一样?
Juan Julian: Like hospitals?
C onchita:是的。每位客人都在寻求一种解脱,无论是暂时逃离尘世,还是暂时休息。
Conchita: Yes. Every guest is looking for a remedy, whether it’s a temporary relief from the world or a temporary rest from life.
胡安·朱利安(顽皮地抚摸她的脸):那我们应该在医院见面,因为有时我们做爱之后,我会从你的眼中看出悲伤的树木。
Juan Julian (Touching her face playfully): Then we should meet in a hospital, because sometimes I detect sad trees in your eyes after we make love.
康奇塔:那我一定是得了重病。
Conchita: Then I must have a terrible malady.
胡安·朱利安:是的,我建议你买一只金丝雀,每天听它唱五分钟歌……(他开始亲吻她的脖子)
Juan Julian: Yes, and I recommend that you buy a canary and hear it sing five minutes a day … (He starts kissing her neck)
C onchita:如果我找不到金丝雀怎么办?
Conchita: And what if I can’t find a canary?
J uan Julian:那你一定要在我洗澡的时候来听我唱歌。
Juan Julian: Then you must come hear me sing when I take a shower.
(我们听到外面有人的声音。)
(We hear people outside.)
康奇塔:走吧……走吧……有人来了……走吧……
Conchita: Go … Go … Someone’s coming … Go …
(我们听到切切在争吵。胡安·朱利安脱下衬衫冲了出去。康奇塔整理了一下衣服和头发,然后跑去坐在她的桌子旁。)
(We hear Cheché in an argument. Juan Julian takes his shirt and rushes out. Conchita fixes her dress and her hair, then runs to sit at her table.)
C heché:等一下……等一下……你不让我说完!!!你不让我说完!!!这是我们面临的问题之一,我拥有这家工厂的股份,而现在你的丈夫……
Cheché: Wait … wait … You don’t let me finish!!! You don’t let me finish!!! That’s one of the problems that we have, I own shares in this factory and now that your husband …
(雪茄工人们进来并围在 Cheché 身边。他旁边是一台用纸包裹的大型机器。
(The cigar workers enter and gather around Cheché. Next to him is a large machine wrapped in paper.
这台机器引起了激烈的争论。我们听到工人们在抱怨。 )
There is a heated controversy over the machine. We hear the workers complaining.)
O felia:我是工厂的老板,我有最终决定权……
Ofelia: I’m the owner of the factory and I have the last word …
C heché:但是 Ofelia ......
Cheché: But Ofelia …
O felia:快上楼去叫圣地亚哥!
Ofelia: Someone go upstairs and call Santiago!
切赫: Ofelia ……我想说的是,所有这些其他公司都取得了成功……
Cheché: Ofelia … All I’m trying to say is that all these other companies are succeeding …
P alomo:但是,Cheché,这与机器无关……
Palomo: But, Cheché, that has nothing to do with machines ….
O felia:我不想听这些。他不是这家工厂的老板。谁能给我丈夫打电话!
Ofelia: I don’t want to listen to this. He’s not the owner of this factory. Will someone call my husband!
(Cheché 站在椅子上,向人群讲话:)
(Cheché stands up on a chair and addresses the crowd:)
C heché:让我说话!我们回到这里吧!我想表达一个观点,但你不让我说话……
Cheché: Just let me talk!!! Let’s back up here! I’m trying to make a point, and you don’t let me speak …
米阿雷拉:妈妈,让这个男人说话吧!
Marela: Let the man talk, Mamá!
嗨:Ofelia……Ofelia……所有这些其他雪茄公司都有线索。我可以说出他们的名字:Caprichos、Entreactos、Petit Bouquet、Regalia de Salón、Coquetas、Conchas Finas……他们都有线索……
Cheché: Ofelia … Ofelia … All these other cigar companies have the leads. I can name them all: Caprichos, Entreactos, Petit Bouquet, Regalia de Salón, Coquetas, Conchas Finas … They all have the leads …
O felia:呸!他们不像我们一样卷雪茄。
Ofelia: Bah! They don’t roll cigars like we do.
C heché:他们如何卷雪茄并不重要。这就是我想告诉你的。
Cheché: It doesn’t matter how they roll their cigars. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.
O felia:这对我们很重要。
Ofelia: It matters to us.
C heché:那我们将一事无成。
Cheché: Then we’re never going to get anywhere.
奥菲莉亚:谁急着要去哪儿?你要去哪儿,康奇塔?
Ofelia: And who’s in a hurry to get anywhere? Are you going somewhere, Conchita?
康奇塔:不。
Conchita: No.
O felia:你要去哪儿,帕洛莫?
Ofelia: Are you going somewhere, Palomo?
P alomo:我不介意去加那利群岛看望我的奶奶……
Palomo: I wouldn’t mind going to the Canary Islands to see my grandma …
(人群笑声。)
(Laughter from the crowd.)
O felia:这样的话我想去西班牙……
Ofelia: In that case I want to go to Spain …
Marela :我想去俄罗斯……
Marela: And I’d like to go to Russia …
(人群笑声。胡安·朱利安入场。)
(Laughter from the crowd. Juan Julian enters.)
C heché:我不是开玩笑,同事们。我说的是现代世界。现代性。进步。发展。
Cheché: I’m not joking, fellow workers. I’m talking about the modern world. Modernity. Progress. Advancement.
O felia:如果使用机器意味着现代化,那么我们对现代世界就不感兴趣。
Ofelia: If working with machines means being modern then we’re not interested in the modern world.
(工人们鼓掌。)
(Applause from the workers.)
C onchita:太棒了!
Conchita: Bravo!
C heché : 您想查看我们的销售记录吗? 您想查看我们的记录吗?
Cheché: Do you want to see our sales records? Do you want to see our records?
O felia:我不需要看销售记录。我知道我们的销量是多少,而且我们的业绩还不错。
Ofelia: I don’t have to see the sales records. I know how much we sell and we’re not doing that badly.
问:我们不得不解雇两名员工,怎么能做得好呢?
Cheché: How can we be doing well when we had to let go of two employees?
M arela:一名员工,Cheché。另一名是你的妻子,她是自己离开的。
Marela: One employee, Cheché. The other one was your wife and she left on her own accord.
(工人们笑声。)
(Laughter from the workers.)
C heché:我的观点是机器……
Cheché: My point is that machines …
Palomo :机器正在抢走我们的工作。
Palomo: Machines are stealing our jobs.
Marela :没错。
Marela: That’s right.
(人群开始焦急起来。)
(The crowd is getting anxious.)
碳heché:我得到了这家工厂更多的股份。我——(他被打断)等一下。从现在起,我要把事情说清楚。(又一次打断)等等!你想知道我们工厂的问题吗?你想知道吗?我们被困在了时间里。为什么我们被困在了时间里?我们的运作方式和二十年、三十年、五十年前一样……(又一次打断)等等……等等……为什么我们被困在了时间里?我们被困在了时间里,因为我们不是新世纪的一部分。因为我们仍然在用几百年前印第安人卷雪茄的方式。我的意思是,我们还不如戴上羽毛,半裸着走路,鼻子里塞着骨头。有些机器可以以光速进行烟草填充:捆扎机、剥皮机……
Cheché: I’ve been given more shares in this factory. I’m — (He is interrupted) Wait a second. And from now on I’m going to set things straight. (Another interruption) Hold on! Do you want to know the problems we have with our factory? Do you want to know? We are stuck in time. And why are we stuck in time? We are operating in the same manner that we were twenty, thirty, fifty years ago … (Another interruption) Hold on … Hold on … And why are we stuck? We are stuck because we are not part of the new century. Because we are still rolling cigars the same way that Indians rolled them hundreds of years ago. I mean, we might as well wear feathers and walk half naked with bones in our noses. There are machines that do tobacco stuffing at the speed of light: bunching machines, stripping machines …
O felia:那么,有了这么多机器,他们还有工人吗?
Ofelia: And with all those machines, do they have any workers left?
C heché:你在跟我开玩笑吗!工人们操作机器。工人们运行机器。
Cheché: Are you kidding me! The workers operate the machines. The workers run the machines.
帕洛莫:莱昂纳多在奥罗拉工厂说……
Palomo: Leonardo over at the Aurora factory says …
问:啊,莱昂纳多是一名讲师!他对机器了解多少?
Cheché: Ah, Leonardo is a lector! What does he know about machines?
帕罗莫:他不像你那样谈论机器。但我可以告诉你他说了什么。他总是谈论保持我们的方式。我们的方法。我们使用的旧流程。我们从岛上带来的东西。(举起双手)我们带这些东西来卷雪茄,所以我们不需要设备或随便你怎么称呼它……
Palomo: He doesn’t talk about machines like you do. But I can tell you what he says. He’s always talking about maintaining our ways. Our methods. The old process we use. What we brought with us from the island. (Raises his hands) We brought these to roll our cigars, so we don’t need an apparatus or whatever you want to call it …
(人群中传来自信的评论。)
(Assertive comments from the crowd.)
C heché:莱昂纳多是一名诵经员。这就是他不重视机器的原因。所有工厂都在解雇诵经员,因为没有人能听到他们在机器的噪音中朗读。这是我想谈的另一件事。我不知道你们其他人怎么想,但我不想再从我的口袋里、从我的工资中拿出钱来听一个诵经员给我读浪漫小说。
Cheché: Leonardo is a lector. That’s why he doesn’t value machines. The lectors are being fired from all the factories, because nobody can hear them read over the sound of the machines. And that’s another thing I wanted to talk about. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not interested in giving any more money from my pocket, from my wages to listen to a lector read me romantic novels.
Conchita :这是文学,Cheché。
Conchita: It’s literature, Cheché.
(帕洛莫看着他的妻子,然后转身看着胡安·朱利安。)
(Palomo looks at his wife, then turns to look at Juan Julian.)
文学、言情小说……对我来说都一样……
Cheché: Literature, romance novels … It’s all the same to me …
马雷拉:不,不一样。我们学到了一些东西。他读的文字就像一阵微风,打破了工厂的单调。
Marela: No. It’s not the same. We learn things. And the words he reads are like a breeze that breaks the monotony of this factory.
问:嗯,其中一些公司已经取消了……
Cheché: Well, some of these companies have done away …
胡安·朱利安:切斯特先生,请允许我说几句话。我父亲曾经说过,工厂里有朗诵者的传统可以追溯到泰诺印第安人。他曾经说过,烟叶会低声诉说天空的语言。那是因为印第安人过去常常通过雪茄烟雾的语言与神灵交流。显然我不是印第安人,但作为一名朗诵者,我是 Cacique(印第安酋长)的远亲,他过去常常翻译神的圣言。工人们是朗诵者。他们安静地聆听,就像泰诺印第安人过去聆听的方式一样。而这正是您试图用机器摧毁的传统。与其推广和普及机器,为什么不宣传我们的雪茄呢?还是您是在为机器行业工作?
Juan Julian: Señor Chester, allow me to say something. My father used to say that the tradition of having readers in the factories goes back to the Taino Indians. He used to say that tobacco leaves whisper the language of the sky. And that’s because through the language of cigar smoke the Indians used to communicate to the gods. Obviously I’m not an Indian, but as a lector I am a distant relative of the Cacique, the Chief Indian, who used to translate the sacred words of the deities. The workers are the oidores. The ones who listen quietly, the same way Taino Indians used to listen. And this is the tradition that you’re trying to destroy with your machine. Instead of promoting and popularizing machines, why don’t you advertise our cigars? Or are you working for the machine industry?
奥菲莉亚:他说得对。我们需要更多的广告,这样我们才能卖出更多的雪茄。
Ofelia: He’s right. We need more advertising, so we can sell more cigars.
J uan Julian:让我们面对现实吧,Chester,工人,雪茄不再流行了。现在的电影明星都在抽烟:Valentino、Douglas Fairbanks……他们都在抽小烟,而不是抽雪茄。你可以去好莱坞,把我们的雪茄卖给制片人。
Juan Julian: Let’s face it, Chester, workers, cigars aren’t popular anymore. Moving pictures now feature their stars smoking cigarettes: Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks … They are all smoking little fags and not cigars. You can go to Hollywood and offer our cigars to producers.
C heché:你太愤世嫉俗了……
Cheché: You’re being cynical …
胡安·朱利安:不,我警告你。这种充斥着机器和汽车的快节奏生活影响了雪茄消费。你想知道为什么吗,切斯特先生?因为人们喜欢快速抽烟,就像香烟一样。事实是,机器、汽车阻碍了我们散步和坐在公园长椅上,慢慢地、平静地抽雪茄。这才是应该抽雪茄的方式。所以你看,切斯特,你想要现代化,而现代化实际上正在摧毁我们自己的行业。抽雪茄的行为本身。
Juan Julian: No, I’m warning you. This fast mode of living with machines and moving cars affects cigar consumption. And do you want to know why, Señor Chester? Because people prefer a quick smoke, the kind you get from a cigarette. The truth is that machines, cars, are keeping us from taking walks and sitting on park benches, smoking a cigar slowly and calmly. The way they should be smoked. So you see, Chester, you want modernity, and modernity is actually destroying our very own industry. The very act of smoking a cigar.
(除了 Cheché 和 Palomo 以外,全体工人鼓掌。)
(All the workers applaud except for Cheché and Palomo.)
O felia:好极了!
Ofelia: Bravo!
胡安·朱利安:如果你们想进行投票的话,我当然可以走出房间。
Juan Julian: I can certainly step out of the room if you want to take a vote.
(胡安·朱利安戴上帽子,准备退出。)
(Juan Julian puts his hat on and starts to exit.)
O felia:你不必走出房间。很明显我们希望你留下来。
Ofelia: You don’t have to go out of the room. It’s obvious that we want you to stay.
胡安·朱利安:不,让我们用民主的方式做这件事。我们在美国。我会走出房间,你们来投票。去吧
Juan Julian: No, let’s do it the democratic way. We are in America. I’ll step out of the room and you vote. Go
前面是切斯特。
ahead, Chester.
(圣地亚哥进来。)
(Santiago enters.)
圣地亚哥:这里发生什么事了?
Santiago: What’s going on here?
O felia:啊,太好了!很高兴你在这里。我们即将进行投票。
Ofelia: Ah, good! I’m glad you’re here. We are about to take a vote.
圣地亚哥:您投票支持什么?
Santiago: What are you voting for?
O felia:机器。Cheché 带来了一台填充机。
Ofelia: Machines. Cheché brought a stuffing machine.
S antiago:那么工人们需要机器吗?
Santiago: And do the workers want machines?
工人们(异口同声):没有。
Workers (In unison): No.
圣地亚哥:那么您投票支持什么呢?
Santiago: So what are you voting for?
O felia:按照美国方式去做。
Ofelia: To do it the American way.
圣地亚哥:如果每个人都说“不” ,那美国方式又是什么呢?
Santiago: And what’s the American way if everybody said no?
O felia:你跟 Cheché 谈谈。他已经把一切都想冲昏了头脑。他还想除掉讲师。
Ofelia: You talk to Cheché. Everything has gone up to his head. He also wants to get rid of the lector.
碳heché:等一下……
Cheché: Wait a minute …
圣地亚哥:是这样吗,切切?
Santiago: Is that true, Cheché?
切切:我问工人是否愿意继续支付读经员的费用。我所做的就是这些。
Cheché: I asked the workers if they wanted to continue to pay for the lector. That’s all I did.
J uan Julian:我正要出去,以便工人们可以投票。
Juan Julian: And I was about to go out, so the workers could vote.
圣地亚哥:你不用去任何地方。你就待在这里。很高兴认识你。我是圣地亚哥。
Santiago: You don’t have to go anywhere. You stay here. I am glad to meet you. I am Santiago.
J uan Julian : Juan Julian Rios,为您服务
Juan Julian: Juan Julian Rios, at your service
圣地亚哥(对工人说):我听说很多工厂都在取消讲师。但这是我们想要的吗,工人们?如果这是我们想要的,就举手吧。
Santiago (To the workers): I’ve heard that many factories are getting rid of their lectors. But is this what we want, workers? Let’s raise our hands if this is what we want.
(只有 Cheché 和 Palomo 举手。Conchita 对 Palomo 的决定感到震惊。)
(Cheché and Palomo are the only ones who raise their hands. Conchita is shocked to see Palomo’s decision.)
两票。那么答案就是如此。我们不会解雇胡安·朱利安。我有个好消息,工人们。我们正在推出一个新的雪茄品牌,它将被称为安娜·卡列尼娜。
Two votes. Then that’s the answer. We are not getting rid of Juan Julian. And I have good news, workers. We are coming up with a new cigar brand and it will be called Anna Karenina.
O felia:好极了!
Ofelia: Bravo!
圣地亚哥:玛雷拉,如果您愿意给我们这个荣幸的话,我想让您在标签上扮演安娜卡列尼娜。
Santiago: And Marela, if you will do us the honor, I would like you to pose as Anna Karenina for the label.
M arela:我?
Marela: Me?
圣地亚哥:如果你喜欢的话。
Santiago: If you like.
M arela:当然了!
Marela: Of course!
S antiago:这里有一些衣服给你穿。
Santiago: Here are some clothes for you to wear.
(圣地亚哥给了她一个盒子。她打开盒子,里面有一件带有毛皮饰边的优雅冬大衣和一顶漂亮的皮帽。)
(Santiago gives her a box. She opens the box, which contains an elegant winter coat with fur trimming and a fancy fur hat.)
M arela:我要去试穿一下。(她退场)
Marela: I’ll go try them on. (She exits)
(圣地亚哥向工人们发表讲话:)
(Santiago addresses the workers:)
Santiago :明天我们将开始制定生产计划。工人们,我们还有很多工作要做。但我保证,我们都会从我们的工作成果中受益。我很高兴回来。
Santiago: Tomorrow we will start making plans for production. We have much work ahead of us, workers. But I promise that we will all benefit from the fruit of our work. I’m glad to be back.
(工人们鼓掌。他们退场。切切把圣地亚哥拉到一边。圣地亚哥递给他一封信封。)
(Applause from the workers. They exit. Cheché pulls Santiago aside. Santiago hands him an envelope.)
这是给你的,Cheché。这是你的钱。
This is for you, Cheché. Here’s your money.
问:圣地亚哥,你说的这个新雪茄品牌是什么?我们没有钱……
Cheché: Santiago, what is this new cigar brand that you’re talking about? We don’t have the money …
圣地亚哥:那您带到我们工厂的是什么设备呢?
Santiago: And what is this apparatus that you’ve brought to our factory?
C heché:圣地亚哥,销量下降了。你没来过这里……来自古巴的烟草价格高得离谱……
Cheché: Santiago, the sales are down. You haven’t been here … The price of tobacco coming from Cuba is sky high …
年代antiago:那么我们应该花钱购买机器吗?
Santiago: Should we spend our money buying machines then?
C heché:我们可以受益……
Cheché: We can benefit …
圣地亚哥:这不可能。把那个装置送回你买它的工厂。然后给我拿一本日历。
Santiago: It’s out of the question. Return that apparatus to the factory where you got it from. And get me a calendar.
C heché:但是圣地亚哥……
Cheché: But Santiago …
圣地亚哥:我贷款了,切切。这次我把钱押在工厂上。“给我拿个日历,”我说。
Santiago: I got a loan, Cheché. This time I’m betting my money on the factory. Get me a calendar, I said.
(切切跑去拿日历。他把它递给圣地亚哥。)
(Cheché runs to get a calendar. He hands it to Santiago.)
今天是星期几?
What’s today’s date?
C heché:第二十一。
Cheché: The twenty-first.
圣地亚哥:既然日历上已经把二十一号划掉了,那怎么还会是二十一号呢?
Santiago: How can it be the twenty-first when you’ve already crossed out the twenty-first on the calendar?
C heché:我就是这么做的。
Cheché: That’s how I do it.
S antiago:您已经划掉今天的日期!
Santiago: You’ve already crossed out today’s date!
C heché:我知道。
Cheché: I know.
圣地亚哥:你可能有问题了,Cheché。
Santiago: You might have a problem, Cheché.
问:您认为我可能遇到什么问题?
Cheché: And what kind of problem do you think I might have?
S antiago:在开始新的一天之前,你就已经划掉了新的一天。
Santiago: You are crossing out the new day before you start taking part in it.
C heché:如果这个地方什么都没有改变,那还有什么用呢?
Cheché: What’s the use anyway when nothing changes in this place?
圣地亚哥:这不是一个好的态度。
Santiago: That’s not a good attitude.
问:那你想让我做什么?
Cheché: Then what do you want me to do?
Santiago :首先,把这些垃圾扔掉。你为什么不买我这种日历?那种可以撕掉书页的。
Santiago: For one thing, get rid of this crap. Why don’t you get the kind of calendar I have? The kind that you tear off the pages.
问:您认为日历的一页能够改变一个人的一生吗?
Cheché: And do you think the page of a calendar can make a difference in one’s life?
Santiago :当然。在开始之前划掉你的日子这种简单的事情也会对你的思想产生影响。它可能会导致忧虑、焦虑甚至绝望。
Santiago: Of course. Something as simple as crossing out your days before you live them can have an effect on the mind. It can cause apprehension, anxiety and even despair.
C heché:那我就直接下地狱了,因为这里的一切感觉都一样。今天感觉就像昨天和前天一样。
Cheché: Then I’m going straight to hell, ’cause everything here feels the same. Today feels like yesterday and the day before that.
圣地亚哥:你到底怎么了,切切?
Santiago: What in the world is wrong with you, Cheché?
C heché:这个工厂。我受不了。在这里工作就像撞墙一样……我试图做出改变,让这个地方现代化。但每次我尝试做某事时,就像面对一堵混凝土墙。
Cheché: This factory. I can’t stand it. Working here is like hitting my head against a wall … I try to make changes, modernize this place. But it’s like facing a wall of concrete every time I try to do something.
圣地亚哥:是这样的吗,切斯特?
Santiago: Is that what it is, Chester?
碳heché:嗯,还有米尔德里德。自从她离开我之后,我就变了。我好像少了点什么。你见过蜥蜴被切断的尾巴吗?尾巴像从土壤中挖出的虫子一样扭动着,左右摆动。它自己动了,就像一根还活着的神经,在寻找被砍掉的身体的其他部分。我有时就是这种感觉。晚上我在床上翻来覆去。
Cheché: Well, then there’s Mildred. Ever since she left me I’m not the same. Something is missing. Have you ever seen the tail of a lizard when it’s been cut off? The tail twists and moves from side to side like a worm that’s been removed from the soil. The thing moves on its own, like a nerve that still has life and it’s looking for the rest of the body that’s been slashed away. That’s how I feel sometimes. I turn from side to side on my bed at night.
早上醒来时,我在厨房里寻找她,以为她正在煮咖啡。我在花园里寻找她。然后当我来到这里时,这个白痴每天都在读同一个故事来提醒我她。
I wake up in the morning looking for her in the kitchen, thinking that she’s there making coffee. I look for her in the garden. And then when I come here there’s this moron reading the same story every day to remind me of her.
我讨厌这样!我讨厌他!这就像没有尽头一样,我只想……
And I hate it! I hate him! It’s like there’s no end to it and I just want to …
(玛瑞拉身穿雅致的外套,头戴皮帽,走进来。她转过身,感受着外套光滑的材质,享受着它带来的温暖。)
(Marela enters wearing the elegant coat and fur hat. She does a turn, feeling the smooth material of the coat, enjoying the warmth it provides.)
M arela:爸爸,我看起来怎么样?
Marela: How do I look, Papá?
圣地亚哥:你会成为伟大的安娜。但你必须在头发上戴一朵花,让她看起来像我们的一个女人。我会给你一朵花,亲爱的。
Santiago: You’ll make a great Anna. But you have to wear a flower in your hair and make her look like one of our women. I’ll get you a flower, my dear.
我们稍后再谈,切斯特。我们需要谈谈。
We’ll talk later, Chester. We need to talk.
(圣地亚哥退场。切切转向玛瑞拉。他凝视着她的美貌。玛瑞拉看着自己的衣服,然后转身,仿佛在跳华尔兹舞。)
(Santiago exits. Cheché turns to Marela. He contemplates her beauty. Marela looks at her clothes and then she does a turn, as if she were dancing a waltz.)
M arela:那么,你认为我可以为该品牌摆姿势吗?
Marela: Well, do you think I can pose for the label?
C heché:你看上去很漂亮。
Cheché: You look beautiful.
(胡安·朱利安进场。)
(Juan Julian enters.)
J uan Julian:啊,这位俄罗斯女士是谁?
Juan Julian: Ah, who is this Russian lady?
M arela:我通过考试了吗?
Marela: Do I pass the test?
胡安·朱利安:你看上去棒极了。你父亲选择你是对的。这张照片一定会很棒。
Juan Julian: You look wonderful. Your father is right in choosing you. It’s going to be a great picture.
我在找我的书。我想我把它放在这儿了。
I’m looking for my book. I think I left it here.
Marela :我没看到。
Marela: I didn’t see it.
胡安·朱利安(环顾四周):不,它不在这里。我一定是把它放在外面了。(他走了出去)
Juan Julian (Looking around): No. It’s not here. I must’ve left it outside. (He exits)
Marela (自言自语):我希望你能用你的眼睛给我拍张照片。
Marela (To herself): I wish you would take a picture of me with your eyes.
(马瑞拉脱下外套和帽子。然后她拿出一个盒子,开始在工作台上粘贴杂志剪报。)
(Marela takes off the coat and hat. Then she takes out a box and starts pasting magazine cutouts on her work table.)
C heché:您今天晚上要待到很晚吗?
Cheché: Are you staying until late tonight?
Marela :是的。
Marela: I am.
C heché:我正在检查账簿。你呢?
Cheché: I’m going over the books. And you?
M arela:我用我喜欢的图片装饰我的桌子。电影明星的照片,还有这张莫斯科街道的照片,这样我就能想象小说里的人物走过这条街的情景。
Marela: I’m decorating my table with pictures I like. Photographs of movie stars, and this of a street in Moscow, so I can picture the people in the novel walking through it.
问:你确实对这本书很着迷。
Cheché: You’re really obsessed with this book.
Marela :是的。
Marela: I am.
碳heché:只是书还是讲师?
Cheché: Just the book or the lector?
玛雷拉:这不关你的事。
Marela: That’s none of your business.
C heché:但确实如此。我一直在观察你工作的情况。
Cheché: But it is. I’ve been watching you while you work.
M arela:当我工作的时候你看着我干什么?
Marela: And what are you doing looking at me when I work?
C heché:你必须少关注读者,多关注你正在做的事情。
Cheché: You have to pay less attention to the reader and more attention to what you’re doing.
Marela :哦,你只是在找借口开除宣读员。接下来,你会告诉我父亲,他分散了所有工人的注意力。
Marela: Oh, you’re just trying to find any excuse to get rid of the lector. Next thing, you’ll tell my father that he’s distracting all the workers.
C heché:事实上他确实在这么做。他分散了你的注意力。你今天卷的几支雪茄有问题,你会和其他人一样倒霉。
Cheché: As a matter of fact he is. He is distracting you. Some of the cigars you rolled today were faulty, and you’re going to get the same dickens that everyone gets.
玛瑞拉:是的。新讲师将为您带来《安娜卡列尼娜》。
Marela: Yes. The new lector is getting to you with Anna Karenina.
C heché:我不会让任何书籍或讲师影响我。
Cheché: I don’t let any book or lector get to me.
Marela :当然了。每次他读到一页,你大概都会想起你的妻子。
Marela: Sure. You probably remember your wife every time he reads a page.
C heché:对我而言,我的妻子已经死了。
Cheché: My wife’s dead to me.
M arela:你的眼睛后面是死寂的,所以无论你看向何处,你都能看到她。
Marela: Dead behind your eyes, so everywhere you look you see her.
C heché:你想看看你毁掉的所有雪茄吗?
Cheché: Do you want to see all the cigars you’ve ruined?
Marela :给我看看。我为自己的工作感到自豪。我是这里最快的滚轴手之一。
Marela: Show me. I pride myself in my work. I’m one of the fastest rollers in this whole place.
(Cheché 拿出一袋雪茄。)
(Cheché pulls out a bag of cigars.)
C heché:但是快并不总是好的,Marela。
Cheché: But fast isn’t always good, Marela.
Marela :没什么问题。
Marela: Nothing’s wrong with it.
C heché:这里。摸摸它。空心的。柔软的地方。
Cheché: Here. Feel it. Hollow. A soft spot.
M arela:谢谢你,Chester。还有什么吗?我可以开始粘贴吗……?
Marela: Thank you, Chester. Is there anything else? Can I start pasting …?
C heché:事实上,还有别的事情……
Cheché: As a matter of fact there’s something else …
Marela :什么,切斯特?
Marela: What, Chester?
C heché:有时您会被俄罗斯故事分散注意力,我见过您在滚动时走捷径。
Cheché: Sometimes you get so distracted by the Russian story that I’ve seen you take shortcuts when you’re rolling.
M arela:什么样的捷径?
Marela: What kind of shortcuts?
C heché:有时,您会将雪茄放到嘴边并咬住雪茄末端,而不是伸手去拿刀。
Cheché: Sometimes you bring a cigar to your mouth and you bite the end of it, instead of reaching for the knife.
M arela:你看见我这样做了吗?
Marela: You’ve seen me do that?
C heché:是的,我见过你这样做,甚至还做过更多事情。
Cheché: Yes, I’ve seen you do that and a lot more.
M arela:真的吗?
Marela: Really?
C heché:是的。当你的思绪从工作中飘散,远去到你自己的小俄罗斯时。你忘记了锡膏罐,舔着最后一片烟叶,就像在给情人封信或玩弄俄罗斯男人的胡子一样。小马雷拉,你是不是在脑子里和某个男人玩耍,忘记了你正把雪茄放到嘴边舔它,而不是在给它涂锡膏?
Cheché: Yes. When your mind wanders away from your work and you go far to your own little Russia. You forget the paste jar and you lick the last tobacco leaf, as if you were sealing a letter to a lover or playing with the mustache of a Russian man. Is that what it is, little Marela, you’re playing with some man in your mind and you forget that you’re bringing a cigar to your mouth and licking it, instead of pasting it?
Marela (笑):哦,切斯特……
Marela (Laughs): Oh, Chester …
碳heché:你难道忘了你是在一家小工厂里工作,那里夏天非常炎热,我们必须弄湿烟叶,因为它们会被高温吹干,而它们需要水分,就像你舌头上的湿舔一样。
Cheché: Do you actually forget that you are working in a little factory where it gets real hot in the summer, and we have to wet the tobacco leaves, because they get dry from the heat and they need moisture, like the wet lick of your tongue.
玛雷拉:别用那种眼神看着我,切斯特。
Marela: Don’t look at me that way, Chester.
C heché(抚摸她的头发):你想让我怎么看待你?
Cheché (Touching her hair): And how do you want me to look at you?
玛瑞拉:别碰我。
Marela: Don’t touch me.
(她走开了。他跟着她。)
(She moves away. He follows her.)
问:为什么不呢?
Cheché: Why not?
M arela:因为我不喜欢它。
Marela: Because I don’t like it.
C heché:但我确实如此。每次听这个故事,我都会看到我的妻子……
Cheché: But I do. Every time I listen to that story I do see my wife …
(他向她走近了一些。)
(He moves closer to her.)
M arela:离我远点!
Marela: Get away from me!
(他试图亲吻她。她挣扎着想摆脱他。)
(He tries to kiss her. She struggles to get away from him.)
C heché:Marela,求你了。靠近点……你不知道……
Cheché: Marela, please. Come close … You don’t know …
M arela:离我远点!离我远点!
Marela: Get away from me! Get away from me!
(她把他推开。他摔倒在地。)
(She pushes him away. He falls to the floor.)
别再碰我!
Don’t you ever touch me again!
(马雷拉退场。切切仍躺在地板上。音乐响起。灯光变换。)
(Marela exits. Cheché remains on the floor. Music plays. Lights change.)
聚光灯打在坐在椅子上的胡安·朱利安身上。他开始背诵《安娜·卡列尼娜》中的一段话。他与场景中的情节保持着距离。
Spotlight on Juan Julian sitting on a chair. He begins to recite a passage from Anna Karenina. He remains isolated from the action of the scene.
胡安·朱利安:
Juan Julian:
安娜·卡列宁娜的丈夫并不觉得妻子和沃伦斯基坐在一张单独的桌子旁,与他热烈交谈有什么不妥或不恰当的;但他注意到客厅里坐着的其他人认为这很奇怪和不恰当,所以他也觉得不恰当。他决定必须和妻子谈谈这件事。
Anna Karenina’s husband did not see anything peculiar or improper in his wife’s sitting together with Vronsky at a separate table and having a lively conversation with him; but he noticed that the others sitting in the drawing room considered it peculiar and improper, and so it seemed improper to him, too. He decided that he must have a conversation with his wife about it.
(康奇塔走进来。她走到自己的桌旁,开始卷雪茄。帕洛莫走进来。他像一只迷路的动物。胡安·朱利安继续默默地读书。)
(Conchita enters. She goes to her table and begins to roll cigars. Palomo enters. He is like a lost animal. Juan Julian continues to read in silence.)
P alomo:你什么时候和你的爱人见面?
Palomo: At what time do you meet your lover?
C onchita:按照约定的时间。
Conchita: At the agreed time.
帕罗莫:那现在几点了?
Palomo: And what time is that?
碳onchita:它像月亮一样变化。
Conchita: It changes like the moon.
P alomo:除了这个地方,你们还在哪里见面?
Palomo: Where do you meet besides this place?
康奇塔:我不能告诉你这些事情。
Conchita: I can’t tell you these things.
帕罗莫:为什么不呢?
Palomo: Why not?
康奇塔:因为事实就是这样。
Conchita: Because that’s the way it is.
帕罗莫:他给你读书吗?
Palomo: Does he read to you?
C onchita:有时他说我看起来很伤心。
Conchita: Sometimes when he says that I look sad.
帕罗莫:你会伤心。
Palomo: You get sad.
康奇塔:这不是悲伤。有时我感到害怕。
Conchita: It’s not sadness. Sometimes I feel frightened.
P alomo:害怕什么?
Palomo: Frightened of what?
C onchita:害怕一些我从来没有感受过或者做过的事情。
Conchita: Frightened of something I have never felt or done before.
P alomo:但是这不正是你想要的吗?
Palomo: But isn’t this what you wanted?
康奇塔:是的。但有时我还是忍不住感到内疚。
Conchita: Yes. But sometimes I can’t help the guilt.
帕罗莫:当你告诉他这件事时他有什么反应?
Palomo: And how does he respond when you tell him this?
康奇塔:他告诉我,我们必须重新做爱。我必须习惯这一切。习惯他。习惯他的身体。
Conchita: He tells me that we have to make love all over again. That I have to get used to it. To him. To his body.
帕罗莫:他还跟你说了什么?
Palomo: And what else does he say to you?
康奇塔:他说的话是女人喜欢听的。
Conchita: He says things a woman likes to hear.
P alomo:比如什么?
Palomo: Like what?
C onchita:我的味道甜美而神秘,就像隐藏在水果里的水一样,我们的爱情将像烟草花一样洁白而纯洁。它会在夜间生长,就像烟草植物在夜间生长一样。
Conchita: That I taste sweet and mysterious like the water hidden inside fruits and that our love will be white and pure like tobacco flowers. And it will grow at night, the same way that tobacco plants grow at night.
帕罗莫:他还告诉你了什么?
Palomo: And what else does he tell you?
C onchita:私人的事情。
Conchita: Private things.
P alomo:比如什么?
Palomo: Like what?
C onchita:淫秽内容。
Conchita: Obscenities.
帕罗莫:你喜欢吗?
Palomo: And you like that?
C onchita:他知道何时、以及如何说这些话。
Conchita: He knows when and how to say them.
帕罗莫:他什么时候这样跟你说话?
Palomo: And when does he talk to you this way?
C onchita:当我们都深深地进入对方体内,几乎要屈服于死亡。当他在我体内猛烈地撞击,仿佛要杀死我。仿佛要把我从溺水的地方、从他带我去的那个深处救活。
Conchita: When we’re both deep inside each other and we could almost surrender to death. When he pounds so hard inside me as if to kill me. As if to revive me from that drowning place, from that deep place where he takes me.
帕罗莫:我明白了。
Palomo: I see.
康奇塔:帕洛莫,你为什么这么好奇?
Conchita: Why so curious, Palomo?
帕罗莫:因为我不知道……因为……你看起来不一样了。你变了。
Palomo: Because I don’t know … Because … You seem different. You’ve changed.
C onchita:当情侣们做他们应该做的事时就会发生这种情况。
Conchita: It happens when lovers do what they are supposed to do.
帕罗莫:你曾经跟他谈论过我吗?
Palomo: Do you ever talk to him about me?
康奇塔:是的。他想知道你为什么不再爱我了。
Conchita: Yes. He wanted to know why you stopped loving me.
帕罗莫:那你告诉他什么了?
Palomo: And what did you tell him?
碳onchita:我告诉他,这件事只是有一天发生的,就像生活中的其他事情一样。
Conchita: I told him that it just happened one day, like everything else in life.
帕罗莫:他怎么回答的?
Palomo: And what was his response?
康奇塔:他想知道我的感受,我告诉了他实情。我告诉他,我同样渴望你,爱你。
Conchita: He wanted to know what I felt and I told him the truth. I told him that I desire and love you just the same.
帕罗莫:他对此满意吗?
Palomo: And was he fine with that?
康奇塔:他让我向他表明我有多爱你。通过他的身体向他表明。
Conchita: He told me to show him how I love you. To show him on his body.
帕罗莫:那你做了什么?
Palomo: And what did you do?
康奇塔:太可怕了。
Conchita: It was terrifying.
P alomo:什么事情很可怕?
Palomo: What was terrifying?
康奇塔:我以为这是不可能的。没有人能占据我内心的那个位置。但他做到了。他做到了。一切都那么清晰可辨,好像他一直都认识我。他的房间变成了剧院,他的床变成了舞台,我们就像戏剧中的演员。然后我让他扮演我的角色,假装是我,我给他穿上我的衣服。他很顺从。这就像我在和自己做爱,因为他知道该做什么,去哪里,带我去哪里。
Conchita: I thought it would be impossible. That nobody could occupy that space in me. But he did. He did. And everything seemed so recognizable, as if he had known me all along. His room became a theatre and his bed a stage, and we became like actors in a play. Then I asked him to play my role, to pretend to be me and I dressed him in my clothes. And he was compliant. It was as if I was making love to myself, because he knew what to do, where to go and where to take me.
帕罗莫:给我看看。
Palomo: Show me.
C onchita:给你看什么?
Conchita: Show you what?
P alomo:让我看看……他对你做了什么,以及他是怎么做的。
Palomo: Show me … Show me what he did to you and how he did it.
康奇塔:你必须像演员那样去做。
Conchita: You would have to do as actors do.
帕罗莫:那是什么?
Palomo: And what is that?
C onchita:演员们投降了。他们不再扮演自己,而是屈服了。你必须放弃自我,进入另一个人的生活,在这种情况下,这个人就是我。
Conchita: Actors surrender. They stop playing themselves and they give in. You would have to let go of yourself and enter the life of another human being, and in this case it would be me.
P alomo:那就教我吧。
Palomo: Teach me then.
康奇塔: 这里,在工厂里吗?
Conchita: Here, in the factory?
帕罗莫:是的,就在那儿,你在那里遇见他。
Palomo: Yes, back there, where you meet him.
(轻柔的音乐响起。康奇塔用手抚摸着帕洛莫的脖子和肩膀。他领着她走出房间。灯光变了。胡安·朱利安合上书。轻柔的音乐渐渐消失。)
(Soft music plays. Conchita traces Palomo’s neck and shoulders with her hand. He leads her out of the room. Lights change. Juan Julian closes the book. The soft music fades.)
一首 danzón 音乐响起。这是新雪茄品牌的揭幕仪式。有一场派对。工人们开始鱼贯而入,穿着他们最好的衣服。圣地亚哥和奥菲莉亚拿着两瓶朗姆酒和酒杯进来了。
A danzón plays. It’s the inauguration of the new cigar brand. There’s a party. The workers start filing in, dressed in their best clothes. Santiago and Ofelia enter with two bottles of rum and glasses.
O felia:圣地亚哥,你喝够朗姆酒了吗?
Ofelia: Did you get enough rum, Santiago?
圣地亚哥:我拿的朗姆酒够吗?告诉她我拿了多少朗姆酒,胡安·朱利安。
Santiago: Did I get enough rum? Tell her how much rum I got, Juan Julian.
胡安·朱利安:他喝的朗姆酒足以灌醉一头大象。
Juan Julian: He’s got enough rum to get an elephant drunk.
哦felia:那么在别人来之前给我一些,这样我就能平静下来。
Ofelia: Then give me some before anybody gets here, so I can calm my nerves.
S antiago:你紧张什么?
Santiago: What are you nervous about?
O felia:哦,我有一颗海豹般的心,当我兴奋的时候,它就想从我的胸膛里游出来。
Ofelia: Oh, I have the heart of a seal and when I get excited it wants to swim out of my chest.
(圣地亚哥给她一杯饮料。)
(Santiago gives her a drink.)
圣地亚哥:我们三个人喝一杯吧。在别人来之前,我们应该私下干杯。
Santiago: Let’s have a drink, the three of us. We ought to have a private toast before anybody gets here.
(圣地亚哥提供饮料。)
(Santiago serves drinks.)
今年我们的业绩确实不算太差。上个月销售额有所下降,但我们仍能维持收支平衡。
We really haven’t done that badly this year. Sales were down last month but we’re still staying above water.
奥菲莉亚:我们会做得很好的,圣地亚哥。人们需要吐出烟雾并发泄一下。
Ofelia: We’ll do well, Santiago. People need to blow out smoke and vent themselves.
Santiago (举杯祝酒):对了,祝你健康!
Santiago (Toasting): That’s right, salud!
O felia: 祝你健康。
Ofelia: Salud.
胡安·朱利安:祝你健康。
Juan Julian: Salud.
O felia:我们把灯笼拿出来吧。
Ofelia: Let’s bring out the lanterns.
(三人退场。Cheché 和 Palomo 都衣着考究,手持棕榈叶走进工厂,准备装饰工厂。他们正在交谈。)
(The three of them exit. Cheché and Palomo, both elegantly dressed, enter with palm leaves to decorate the factory. They are engaged in conversation.)
P alomo:有时候我会想……我一直在想他们是否还在一起,是否还见过面。我能感觉到。或者只是我。我的脑海里。晚上我睡不着。我躺在那里,醒着思考,想象着他们两个在一起的情景。我仍然能闻到她皮肤上、衣服上和手帕上他的味道。我能从她的脸上和眼睛上看到他,我不知道该怎么办……
Palomo: Sometimes I think … I keep wondering if they’re still together, if they see each other. I can feel it. Or it’s just me. My mind. At night I can’t sleep. I lie there awake thinking, imagining the two of them together. I can still smell him on her skin, her clothes and her handkerchief. I can see him on her face and her eyes, and I don’t know what to do …
C heché:你应该搬到北方的特伦顿去开始新生活。带她离开这里。这就是我想和米尔德里德做的事。我想我们可以住在北方。我们两个可以在雪茄工厂工作。特伦顿有很多这样的工厂。而且没有讲师,也没有一无是处的爱情故事,这些故事会让女人的脑袋里充满想法,让她们坐立不安……
Cheché: You should move up North to Trenton and start a new life. Take her away from here. That’s what I wanted to do with Mildred. I’d figure we could live up North. The two of us could work in a cigar factory. There are plenty of them in Trenton. And there are no lectors and no good-for-nothing love stories, which put ideas into women’s heads and ants inside their pants …
(胡安·朱利安手持中国灯笼花环入场。)
(Juan Julian enters with a garland of Chinese lanterns.)
胡安·朱利安:你能帮我提灯笼吗?
Juan Julian: Would you give me a hand with the lanterns?
帕罗莫:啊,我们刚才在谈论爱情故事。
Palomo: Ah, we were just talking about the love stories.
J uan J ulian:很明显,你不太关心他们。
Juan Julian: It’s obvious that you don’t care much for them.
前几天你差点让我丢掉工作。
You almost made me lose my job the other day.
帕罗莫:哦,我很好奇这个故事的结局。
Palomo: Oh, I’m curious as to how the story ends.
Cheché: Yeah! Does the husband ever think of killing the lover? (Laughs) I would’ve killed the bastard a long time ago.
J uan Julian:丈夫很可能会选择决斗,而不是冷血地杀死情人。
Juan Julian: The husband would probably choose a duel, instead of killing the lover in cold blood.
C heché:我早就枪毙这个狗娘养的了。
Cheché: I would’ve shot the son of a bitch a long time ago.
胡安·朱利安:但是当时事情并不是那样做的。
Juan Julian: But that’s not the way things were done in those days.
C heché:那么这个丈夫就是一个懦夫,一个臭鼬。
Cheché: Then the husband is a coward and a stinker.
帕罗莫:哦,我不认为丈夫是个懦夫。他可能比我们三个人都聪明。你不这么认为吗,胡安·朱利安?
Palomo: Oh, I don’t see the husband as a coward. He might be more clever than the three of us. Wouldn’t you say so, Juan Julian?
胡安·朱利安:嗯,丈夫的行为符合他的地位。他是一个有权势的人。他在政府中担任最重要的职位之一。我们谈论的是圣彼得堡社会——每个人都互相认识,他不想让安娜的婚外情演变成一桩大丑闻。
Juan Julian: Well, the husband is acting according to his status. He is a man of power. He has one of the most important positions in the ministry. And we’re talking about Saint Petersburg society — everyone knows each other and he doesn’t want Anna’s affair to turn into a big scandal.
C heché:如果你问我,我认为你的丈夫是个娘娘腔。
Cheché: The husband is a pansy if you ask me.
P alomo:那么您认同小说中的哪个人物呢?
Palomo: So what character do you identify with in the novel?
J uan Julian:我喜欢他们所有人。我从他们身上学到了很多东西。
Juan Julian: I like them all. I learn things from all of them.
P alomo:那你从安娜的情人身上学到了什么呢?
Palomo: And what have you learned from Anna’s lover?
J uan Julian:哦,我不知道……我……
Juan Julian: Oh, I don’t know … I …
帕罗莫:我很好奇他为什么会对她感兴趣。
Palomo: I’m intrigued as to how he became interested in her.
(胡安·朱利安知道帕洛莫想通过这件事达到什么目的。)
(Juan Julian knows where Palomo is trying to go with this.)
胡安·朱利安:嗯,小说里很明显。
Juan Julian: Well, it’s very obvious in the novel.
P alomo:那么您个人的看法是什么?
Palomo: And what’s your personal opinion?
J uan Julian:她来找他是因为她认为他能帮助她。
Juan Julian: She came to him because she thought that he could help her.
P alomo:怎么帮助她?
Palomo: Help her how?
胡安·朱利安:帮助她重新去爱。帮助她重新认识到自己是一个女人。她可能只认识一个男人,那就是丈夫。和情人在一起,她学会了一种新的爱的方式。正是这种新的爱的方式让她一次又一次地回到情人的身边。但这是我的解释。
Juan Julian: Help her to love again. Help her to recognize herself as a woman all over again. She had probably known only one man and that was the husband. With the lover she learns a new way of loving. And it’s this new way of loving that makes her go back to the lover over and over again. But that’s my interpretation.
(圣地亚哥和奥菲莉亚入场。)
(Santiago and Ofelia enter.)
Santiago :太好了!你们都来了。今天我们整天都在庆祝。我们再喝一杯吧。
Santiago: Good! You are all here. We are celebrating the whole day today. Let’s have another drink.
O felia:记住你还要发表演讲。
Ofelia: Remember you have a speech to make.
圣地亚哥(举起瓶子):这会给我启发。
Santiago (Lifting the bottle): This will inspire me.
O felia:照这样下去,聚会还没开始我们就会喝醉了。
Ofelia: At the rate we’re going we’ll be drunk before the party gets started.
圣地亚哥(笑):玩得开心就好。今天我是世界上最幸福的人。
Santiago (Laughs): Enjoy yourself. Today I’m the happiest man on earth.
(康奇塔进来了。她穿着雪纺佩斯利花纹的连衣裙。)
(Conchita enters. She’s dressed in a chiffon paisley dress.)
康奇塔:我没有陪你,你还喝酒吗?
Conchita: Are you drinking without me?
Santiago :当然不是。来和我们喝一杯吧。你姐姐在哪儿?你穿那件裙子真漂亮,我的孩子。我从来没见过你穿过它。
Santiago: Of course not. Come have a drink with us. Where’s your sister? You look beautiful in that dress, my child. I’ve never seen you wear it.
碳onchita:爸爸,一个月前我才穿过它。我们被邀请去参加一个聚会。我记得就像昨天一样。(她看着妈妈)妈妈讨厌佩斯利花纹。
Conchita: Papá, just a month ago I wore it. We were invited to a party.I remember as if it were yesterday. (She looks at her mother) Mamá hates paisleys.
O felia:不,我不知道,我的孩子。
Ofelia: No, I don’t, my child.
C onchita:你说我上次戴它的时候看起来像个老太太。
Conchita: You said I looked like an old lady the last time I wore it.
O felia:说实话,你做这个发型的时候我并没有多想。但现在你剪了头发,看起来完全不一样了,其实很适合你。
Ofelia: Frankly, I just didn’t think much of it when you had it made. But now that you cut your hair and you look so different, it’s actually very becoming.
P alomo:你看上去确实很漂亮,我的爱人。
Palomo: You do look beautiful, my love.
O felia:我喜欢佩斯利花纹。
Ofelia: I like paisleys.
C onchita:他们让我想起吉普赛人和波西米亚人。
Conchita: They remind me of gypsies and bohemians.
P alomo:你看上去确实很波西米亚。
Palomo: You actually look very bohemian.
J uan Julian:是的。佩斯利花纹看起来很梦幻,仿佛来自一个漂浮的世界。
Juan Julian: It’s true. Paisleys look dreamy, as if they come from a floating world.
(帕洛莫看着胡安·朱利安。胡安·朱利安举起酒杯。
(Palomo looks at Juan Julian. Juan Julian lifts his glass.
帕洛莫把康奇塔拉近自己并用手臂搂住她。 )
Palomo brings Conchita close to him and wraps his arm around her.)
先生们,我有一个问题。作为一个局外人,作为一个在这个国家的外国人,我有一个问题要问。为什么美国人要禁止像威士忌和朗姆酒这样神圣的东西?
Señores, one question. As an outsider, as a foreigner in this country,I have something to ask. Why do Americans prohibit something as divine as whiskey and rum?
圣地亚哥:因为美国人喝酒就不是社会主义者。
Santiago: Because Americans are not socialists when they drink.
(人群笑声。)
(Laughter from the crowd.)
P alomo:我对你的问题还有另一个答案。这个国家禁止饮酒,因为酒精就像文学。文学会带出我们最好的一面和最坏的一面。如果你生气,它就会带出你的愤怒。如果你伤心,它就会带出你的伤心。而我们中的一些人……就这么说吧,不太开心。
Palomo: I have another answer to your question. Alcohol is prohibited in this country because alcohol is like literature. Literature brings out the best and the worst part of ourselves. If you’re angry it brings out your anger. If you are sad, it brings out your sadness. And some of us are … Let’s just say, not very happy.
(奥菲莉亚有点醉了,她敲着酒杯发表演讲。)
(Ofelia, who is a little tipsy, taps her glass to make a speech.)
O felia(跳着舞步):啊,但是如果你是个好舞者,朗姆酒会让你跳出最好的舞步。如果你笨手笨脚,最好不要跳舞。所以,让我们面对现实吧,先生们,美国人擅长制作电影、广播和汽车,但说到跳舞,最好是……当然,有色人种除外。他们有能力跳出舞蹈。这就是我认为酒精是被禁止的原因,因为大多数美国人不知道怎么跳舞。
Ofelia (Doing a dance step): Ah, but rum brings out your best steps if you are a good dancer. If you have two left feet, it’s better if you don’t dance at all. So let’s face it, señores, Americans are good at making movies, radios and cars, but when it comes to dancing, it’s better if … With the exception of the colored folks, of course. They’ve got what it takes to dance up a storm. That’s why I think alcohol is prohibited, because most Americans don’t know how to dance.
(抓住圣地亚哥的手)走吧,我想跳舞。
(Grabbing Santiago by the hand) Let’s go, I feel like dancing.
Santiago :不。我们现在还不能跳舞,因为我要宣布一件事。玛瑞拉在哪儿?
Santiago: No. We can’t dance yet, because I have an announcement to make. Where’s Marela?
O felia:她肯定正在穿上她的服装。
Ofelia: She must be putting on her costume.
年代antiago:好吧,女士们,今天我们抽空喝酒跳舞,庆祝我们即将推出的新雪茄品牌。(他从衬衫口袋里掏出一支雪茄)这支精心制作的雪茄用产自古巴岛尖端皮纳尔德里奥省 Vuelta Abajo 的优质烟叶包裹。这支新雪茄的长度为六又八分之一英寸。
Santiago: Well, señoras y señores, today we’ve taken time from work to drink and dance, and to celebrate the new cigar brand we are launching into the market. (He takes out a cigar from his shirt pocket) This well-crafted cigar is wrapped in the finest leaves from Vuelta Abajo in Pinar del Río, the tip of the island of Cuba. The length of this new cigar is six and one–eighth inches.
环径为 52。我坚信这是我们最好的公牛头犬。
The ring gauge is fifty-two. I truly believe this is our finest toro.
玛蕾拉在哪儿?她应该在这里。
Where’s Marela? She should be here.
(玛瑞拉身着优雅的黑色礼服入场。她就像舞会之夜的安娜。)
(Marela enters dressed in an elegant black gown. She is like Anna on the night of the ball.)
玛瑞拉:我在这里,爸爸。
Marela: I’m here, Papá.
圣地亚哥:让我看看你,我的小蓝天。
Santiago: Let me look at you, my little blue sky.
噢,菲莉亚:但是我的孩子,你看上去很漂亮。
Ofelia: But my child, you look beautiful.
Santiago :你来得正是时候……我正要说,由于大多数雪茄都是以女性和浪漫爱情故事命名的,今天我们将以安娜卡列宁娜的名字来命名我们的新雪茄!这种雪茄售价为 10 美分,我们希望这个新品牌能给我们带来财富和繁荣。所以现在我们都聚集在这里,我想请我亲爱的奥菲莉亚给我们这个荣誉,正式点燃第一支安娜卡列宁娜。
Santiago: You came just in time … I was just about to say that since most cigars are named after women and romantic love stories, today we are baptizing our new cigar with the name Anna Karenina! This cigar will sell for ten cents and we are hoping this new brand will bring us fortune and prosperity. So now that we are all gathered here, I would like to ask my beloved Ofelia to do us the honor of officially lighting the first Anna Karenina.
(人群掌声雷动。雪茄被递给奥菲莉亚。圣地亚哥用火柴点燃了它。奥菲莉亚吸了一口,喷出一圈烟雾。 )
(Applause from the crowd. The cigar is passed to Ofelia. Santiago lights it with a match. Ofelia takes a puff and blows out a ring of smoke.)
出色地?
Well?
O felia:这真是……这真是……啊啊!它像蓝色的梦一样燃烧。
Ofelia: It’s … It’s … Aaaah! It burns like a blue dream.
(人群鼓掌。)
(The crowd applauds.)
P alomo:好极了!好极了!
Palomo: Bravo! Bravo!
(奥菲莉亚将雪茄递给圣地亚哥,圣地亚哥又将其递给玛瑞拉。)
(Ofelia passes the cigar to Santiago and he gives it to Marela.)
圣地亚哥:还有我们家里最小的孩子,我们的安娜。
Santiago: And to the youngest one in the family, our very own Anna.
(马雷拉抽了一口,咳嗽了几声。她笑了。她把雪茄递给了另一个人。这个人又把雪茄递给了圣地亚哥。)
(Marela takes a puff, coughs a little. She laughs. She passes the cigar to another. This person presents it to Santiago.)
M arela:嗯!真棒!
Marela: Mhm! Lovely!
(圣地亚哥吸了一口烟。)
(Santiago takes a puff.)
Santiago :啊!太棒了。太完美了。
Santiago: Ah! It’s glorious. Perfecto.
(人群掌声。)
(Applause from the crowd.)
切斯特。
Chester.
(圣地亚哥把雪茄递给一个人,那人又把雪茄递给切切。切切抽了一口。)
(Santiago hands the cigar to someone, who passes it to Cheché. He takes a puff.)
碳heché:燃烧良好。香气宜人。我闻到一点樱桃味。我认为这是我们最好的马。
Cheché: Burns well. Pleasant aroma. I detect a little bit of cherry. I think it’s our finest horse.
(掌声。雪茄传给了帕洛莫。帕洛莫把它传给了康奇塔。她抽了一口。)
(Applause. The cigar is passed to Palomo. Palomo passes it to Conchita. She takes a puff.)
C onchita:啊!它讲的是森林和兰花。
Conchita: Ah! It speaks of forests and orchids.
(掌声。康奇塔把雪茄递给马雷拉。马雷拉把雪茄递给帕洛莫。他抽了一口。)
(Applause. Conchita hands the cigar to Marela. Marela gives it Palomo. He takes a puff.)
P alomo:嗯!太棒了!绝对像陈年朗姆酒。像芒果一样甜。
Palomo: Mhm! Magnifico! Definitely like aged rum. Sweet like mangoes.
(帕洛莫将其传递给圣地亚哥。)
(Palomo passes it to Santiago.)
圣地亚哥:你忘了胡安朱利安。
Santiago: You forgot Juan Julian.
帕罗莫:啊,是的,我们不能忘记我们的讲师,他给我们带来了安娜卡列宁娜的世界。
Palomo: Ah, yes we can’t forget our lector, who brought us the world of Anna Karenina.
(圣地亚哥将雪茄递回给帕洛莫。帕洛莫脱下帽子,把雪茄递给胡安·朱利安。这是犯规,因为雪茄绝不应该直接递给应该吸烟的人。必须有一个中间人来促进与神的交流。
(Santiago passes the cigar back to Palomo. Palomo takes off his hat and gives Juan Julian the cigar. This is an offense since the cigar should never be handed directly to the person that is supposed to smoke. There has to be a mediator to facilitate communication with the gods.
胡安·朱利安微笑。他闻了闻雪茄的味道,抬起头,向众神做了一个手势。 )
Juan Julian smiles. He smells the cigar, looks up and makes a gesture to the gods.)
胡安·朱利安:香气甜美。(抽了一口)它像日落一样叹息,还有一点可可豆和雪松的味道。我相信我们有雪茄,先生们!
Juan Julian: Sweet aroma. (Taking a puff) It sighs like a sunset and it has a little bit of cocoa beans and cedar. I believe we have a cigar, señores!
圣地亚哥:我们确实有雪茄,先生们!我们有冠军!
Santiago: We do have a cigar, señores! We have a champion!
奥菲莉亚(有点醉了) :我们确实有冠军!
Ofelia (A little tipsy): Indeed we have a champion!
Marela :爸爸,让我们走上街头,向全世界介绍我们的雪茄。让我们把我们的新雪茄送给人们。
Marela: Papá, let’s go out into the streets and tell the world about our cigar. Let’s give our new cigars to the people.
圣地亚哥:然后破产,我的孩子!不,我建议开枪!
Santiago: And go bankrupt, my child! No, I propose a gunshot!
奥菲莉亚:一声枪响!圣地亚哥,你喝醉了。别再喝酒了。
Ofelia: A gunshot! Santiago, you’re drunk. Stop drinking.
圣地亚哥:没有打破酒瓶或者没有发出枪声,就职典礼就不算圆满。
Santiago: No inauguration is complete without the breaking of a bottle or a gunshot.
M arela:那我提议开两声枪响!
Marela: I propose two gunshots then!
圣地亚哥:不能有两声枪响。必须有三声。
Santiago: Can’t have two gunshots. It’s got to be three.
Marela :那我就拍第三个。
Marela: Then I’ll shoot the third one.
(笑声)
(Laughter.)
Santiago :走吧,开枪吧!
Santiago: Let’s go. Let’s shoot!
O felia:只要确保你瞄准高处,但不要射击月亮!
Ofelia: Just make sure you aim up high, but don’t shoot the moon!
(大家都笑了。工人们把队伍带到了外面。康奇塔准备离开时,帕洛莫抓住了她的胳膊。)
(They all laugh. The workers bring the party outside. As Conchita starts to leave, Palomo grabs her by the arm.)
帕罗莫:你要去哪儿?
Palomo: Where are you going?
碳onchita:外面。
Conchita: Outside.
帕罗莫:你整晚都在看着他。你爱上这个男人了。
Palomo: You’ve been looking at him the whole night. You’re falling in love with this man.
C onchita:也许和你一样多。
Conchita: Maybe just as much as you are.
P alomo:我不喜欢男人。
Palomo: I don’t like men.
(庆祝枪声。笑声。)
(Sound of a celebratory gunshot. Laughter.)
康奇塔:那你为什么总是要我告诉你我和他做了什么?
Conchita: Then why do you always want me to tell you what I do with him?
帕罗莫:因为这是我们倾听的习惯。我们都是倾听者。
Palomo: Because it’s part of the old habit we have of listening. We are listeners.
康奇塔:不,还有别的事。
Conchita: No, there’s something else.
帕罗莫:你说得对,还有其他事情。有时这很糟糕。
Palomo: You’re right there’s something else. And it’s terrible sometimes.
康奇塔:那对我来说一切都没有意义了。
Conchita: Then nothing makes sense to me anymore.
(又是一声枪响。又是一阵笑声。)
(Another gunshot. More laughter.)
帕罗莫(抓住她的手臂):我要你回到他身边,告诉他,你想像刀子一样做爱。
Palomo (Grabbing her arm): I want you to go back to him and tell him you want to make love like a knife.
C onchita:为什么是刀?
Conchita: Why a knife?
帕罗莫:因为一切都必须被杀死。
Palomo: Because everything has to be killed.
(又是一声枪响。又是一阵笑声。奥菲莉亚、圣地亚哥、马雷拉和胡安·胡利安重新入场。)
(Another gunshot. More laughter. Ofelia, Santiago, Marela and Juan Julian reenter.)
O felia:先生们,我要坦白一件事。我 17 岁那年,也就是昨天,我被选中为一个叫 Aida 的雪茄品牌拍照,就像歌剧一样。当然,一想到我的脸会出现在雪茄环上,出现在那么多男人的手上和嘴唇上,我母亲就感到震惊。你知道,我们不是雪茄人,我们是做番石榴果冻生意的。所以当我母亲禁止我为这个品牌拍照时,我告诉她,我想要一张我的脸出现在一罐番石榴果酱上的照片。这很公平。所以,他们给我穿上了一件红色的裙子,耳朵后面还挂着一朵红色的康乃馨。他们让我坐在吊床上,看起来非常可爱,身边还有一只鹦鹉……
Ofelia: Señores, I have a confession to make. When I was seventeen, and that was yesterday, I was chosen to pose for a cigar brand that was called Aida, like the opera. And, of course, just the thought of my face being on a cigar ring and in so many men’s hands and lips, my mother was scandalized. You see, we weren’t cigar people, we were in the guava jelly business. So when my mother forbid me to pose for the label, I told her that I wanted a picture of my face on a can of guava marmalade. And it was only fair. So, they dressed me up in a red dress and I had a red carnation behind my ear. They had me looking lovely sitting in a hammock and a parrot by my side …
(众人大笑。)
(Everyone laughs.)
圣地亚哥:走吧,亲爱的。我们抽烟了,打了枪,你也喝多了。
Santiago: Let’s go, my dear. We have smoked, we have fired a gun and you’ve had too much to drink.
O felia:呸,你只是想利用我,因为我喝醉了。
Ofelia: Bah, you just want to take advantage of me because I’m drunk.
M arela(尴尬):妈妈!
Marela (Embarrassed): Mamá!
(圣地亚哥大笑。他牵着奥菲莉亚的手。他们开始退出。)
(Santiago laughs. He takes Ofelia by the hand. They start to exit.)
圣地亚哥:晚安!
Santiago: Good night!
M arela:晚安!
Marela: Good night!
哦felia:Marela,你和我们一起去吗?
Ofelia: Marela, are you coming with us?
M arela:我马上就到。
Marela: I’ll be there in a minute.
奥菲莉亚:别太久。(两人离开)
Ofelia: Don’t be too long. (They exit)
帕罗莫(握住康奇塔的手):我们回家吧。(对其他人说)明天见。
Palomo (Grabbing Conchita’s hand): Let’s go home. (To the others) We’ll see you tomorrow.
胡安·朱利安:再见!
Juan Julian: Adios!
康奇塔:再见!
Conchita: Adios!
(孔奇塔和帕洛莫退出,只剩下马雷拉和胡安·朱利安。)
(Conchita and Palomo exit, leaving Marela and Juan Julian alone.)
M arela:哦,我不想这个夜晚结束。我可以整晚不睡。我不想睡觉。我们睡得太多了。我们一生中超过三分之一的时间都在睡觉。黑暗降临,一切对我们来说都是个谜。我们不知道树木是否真的会在夜间行走,就像我在传说中听到的那样。我们真的不知道雕像和灵魂是否在广场上跳舞,而我们却不知道。我们怎么会知道我们是否睡着了?我们睡啊睡啊……
Marela: Oh, I don’t want this night to end. I could stay up all night. I don’t want to sleep. We sleep too much. We spend more than a third of our lives sleeping, sleeping. Darkness descends and everything is a mystery to us. We don’t know if trees really walk at night, as I’ve heard in legends. We don’t really know if statues and spirits dance in the squares unbeknown to us. And how would we ever know if we sleep? We sleep and sleep …
J uan Julian:哦,我想喝你喝的。你喝了什么?
Juan Julian: Oh, I want to have what you drank. What did you drink?
Marela :哦,我没喝酒。我只是感到高兴。
Marela: Oh, I didn’t drink. I just feel gladness.
爸爸非常开心。我喜欢看到他这样。妈妈也非常开心。(笑)她喝得有点多。
Papá was so happy. I like to see him that way. And Mamá was so full of joy. (Laughs) She’s the one who drinks a little too much.
J uan Julian:偶尔喝一点是有好处的。
Juan Julian: It’s good to drink a little once in a while.
(切切再次进入。他远远地注视着。)
(Cheché reenters. He stays at a distance, watching.)
M arela:是的,我们应该喝点东西。我们工作已经够努力了。我们值得拥有生活给予我们的一切,生活是由点点滴滴组成的。点点滴滴就像紫罗兰花瓣一样小。我可以把这些点点滴滴装进罐子里永远珍藏,就像现在和你说话一样。
Marela: Yes, we deserve a little drink. We work hard enough. We deserve all that life offers us, and life is made of little moments. Little moments as small as violet petals. Little moments I could save in a jar and keep forever, like now talking to you.
J uan Julian(调皮地):啊!所以你是个收藏家。除了这样的夜晚,你还喜欢收藏什么东西?
Juan Julian (Playfully): Ah! So you are a collector. And what sort of things do you like to collect besides a night like this one?
M arela:你第一次读书的时候,还有你送我去药店的那天。
Marela: The first time you read and the day you walked me to the pharmacy.
胡安·朱利安:所以我在你的一个罐子里。
Juan Julian: So I’m in one of your jars.
M arela:很多。
Marela: In many.
胡安·朱利安(微笑):很多。(停顿。温柔地看着她)你清澈如水。有人告诉过你这个吗?
Juan Julian (Smiles): Many. (Beat. Looks at her tenderly) You are clear and fresh as water. Did anybody ever tell you this?
玛雷拉:不,从来没有。
Marela: No, never.
J uan Julian:那么人们就是盲目的。
Juan Julian: Then people are blind.
M arela:盲人?你认为是吗?如何教盲人看见东西?
Marela: Blind? Do you think so? And how can one teach the blind to see?
胡安·朱利安:我不知道。我又没瞎。
Juan Julian: I wouldn’t know. I’m not blind.
M arela:但是在那些看不见的人眼里,我们都是盲目的。
Marela: But we are all blind in the eyes of those who can’t see.
胡安·朱利安:你说得对。
Juan Julian: You’re right.
米arela:我们只需要学会在黑暗中用眼睛看东西。我们必须学会通过文字和声音,通过双手看东西。(触摸他的手)
Marela: We just have to learn to use our eyes in the dark. We have to learn to see through words and sound, through our hands. (Touches his hand)
胡安·朱利安:我相信,那些盲人一摸你的脸,就会看到你的美丽。(温柔地抚摸她的脸)
Juan Julian: I’m sure those who are blind will see your beauty once they touch your face. (Touches her face tenderly)
我得走了。睡个好觉。
I must go now. Sleep well.
M arela:再见。
Marela: Adios.
胡安·朱利安:再见。
Juan Julian: Adios.
(就在胡安·朱利安即将退出时:)
(Just as Juan Julian is about to exit:)
Marela :胡安·朱利安……
Marela: Juan Julian …
胡安·朱利安:是的。
Juan Julian: Yes.
Marela :把书借给我。
Marela: Lend me the book.
胡安·朱利安(没有意识到自己拿着它):什么书?
Juan Julian (Not realizing that he is holding it): What book?
M arela:你手里的书。
Marela: The book in your hand.
胡安·朱利安:哦!
Juan Julian: Oh!
M arela:我保证不会抢先报道。
Marela: I promise not to get ahead of the story.
J uan Julian:明天早上把它带来,否则我就没有书可读了。
Juan Julian: Bring it tomorrow morning or I won’t have a book to read.
M arela:愿你梦见天使!
Marela: May you dream of angels!
胡安·朱利安(亲吻她的脸):“你也是。”
Juan Julian (Kissing her face): You, too.
(胡安·朱利安退场时,马雷拉仍旧远远地望着他。她把书放到胸前,然后打开阅读,仿佛是为了寻找安慰,那是人们在寂寞的夜里寻求的那种安慰。)
(As Juan Julian exits, Marela stays looking at him in the distance. She brings the book to her chest, then she opens it and reads, as if to find consolation, the sort one seeks in the lonely hours of the night.)
玛莉拉:
Marela:
安娜·卡列尼娜满怀喜悦和任性地准备着这次旅行。她用一双灵巧的小手打开一个红色的袋子,取出一个小垫子,放在膝盖上,然后关上袋子。
Anna Karenina prepared herself for the journey with joy and willfulness. With small, skillful hands she opened a red bag and took out a little cushion, which she placed on her knees before closing the bag.
(切切从阴影中走出来。他从口袋里掏出手帕擦干脸。他看着玛瑞拉。他的目光充满渴望。玛瑞拉看见了他。她合上了书。切切抓住了她的手臂。
(Cheché emerges from the shadows. He takes a handkerchief from his pocket and dries his face. He looks at Marela. His glance is full of desire. Marela sees him. She closes the book. Cheché grabs her arm.
停电。 )
Blackout.)
帕洛莫带着几个沉重的箱子走进工厂。康奇塔正在收拾昨晚的烂摊子。
Palomo enters the factory carrying a couple of heavy boxes. Conchita is clearing up the mess from the night before.
P alomo: Cheché 在哪儿?
Palomo: Where’s Cheché?
康奇塔:他还没有进来。
Conchita: He hasn’t come in yet.
帕罗莫:我希望有人能拿到保险箱的钥匙。送这些箱子的男孩就在外面,他想要得到报酬。
Palomo: I hope someone gets here with the keys to the safe. The boy who delivered these boxes is out there and he wants to get paid.
碳onchita:我要去她家问妈妈要钥匙。
Conchita: I’ll go to the house and ask Mamá for the keys.
帕罗莫:不。你得帮我清点一下这些箱子。(递给她一些文件)
Palomo: No. You got to help me take inventory of all these boxes. (Hands her some papers)
C onchita:我一完成这件事就这么做。
Conchita: As soon as I finish with this.
我很奇怪爸爸为什么不在这里。
I wonder why Papá isn’t here.
帕罗莫:他可能还在床上。他确实喝了……
Palomo: He’s probably still in bed. He did drink …
C onchita:是的,你说得对。妈妈肯定在他的额头上敷了冷敷布。这种事总是会发生。
Conchita: Yes you’re right. Mamá must be putting cold compresses on his forehead. It always happens.
(圣地亚哥和奥菲莉亚进来了。圣地亚哥正揉着额头试图摆脱宿醉。 )
(Santiago and Ofelia enter. Santiago is trying to get rid of his hangover by rubbing his forehead.)
O felia:早上好!
Ofelia: Morning!
C onchita:早上好!
Conchita: Morning!
帕罗莫:圣地亚哥,我需要保险箱的钥匙。我得付运费。
Palomo: Santiago, I need the key to the safe. I have to pay for this delivery.
圣地亚哥:奥菲莉亚有它们。
Santiago: Ofelia has them.
O felia:我只是把它们留在办公室的桌子上了。
Ofelia: I just left them at the office on top of the desk.
(帕洛莫退场。奥菲莉亚坐下并开始卷雪茄。)
(Palomo exits. Ofelia sits down and starts rolling cigars.)
S antiago:Cheché 在哪儿?
Santiago: Where’s Cheché?
康奇塔:他还没有到。
Conchita: He hasn’t arrived yet.
圣地亚哥:我不怪他。我自己也会待在床上。但你妈妈就像一只公鸡。当她起床时,没有人……
Santiago: I don’t blame him. I would’ve stayed in bed myself. But your mother is like a rooster. When she gets up from bed nobody …
O felia:我没有叫醒你。
Ofelia: I didn’t wake you up.
Santiago :我没说你这样做了。那是你在家里走路时穿的拖鞋。它们比火车开动时的声音还大。(发出噪音)嘘……嘘……到处都是……总有一天我要把它们扔出窗外。
Santiago: I didn’t say you did. It’s those slippers you use to walk around the house. They are louder than a running train. (Makes noise) Shoo …Shoo … Everywhere … One day I’m going to throw them out the window.
O felia:你这么做的话我就把你星期天穿的鞋送给烟囱清洁工。
Ofelia: You do that and I’ll give your Sunday shoes to the chimney cleaner.
圣·安提亚哥:瞧,现在疼痛加剧了!这个女人,她多喜欢烦我啊!哎!
Santiago: See, now the pain got worse! This woman, how she likes to bother me! Ay!
C onchita:爸爸,您想要我的那瓶烈酒吗?
Conchita: Do you want my bottle of spirits, Papá?
圣地亚哥:孩子,把你所有的东西都给我吧。你的妈妈不照顾我。
Santiago: Give me anything you have, my child. Your mother doesn’t take care of me.
(康奇塔把一瓶烈酒递给他。他闻了闻。
(Conchita gives him the bottle of spirits. He sniffs.
玛蕾拉穿着长外套进来了。她走到她的桌子旁开始卷雪茄。 )
Marela enters wearing the long coat. She goes to her table and starts to roll cigars.)
M arela:早上好!
Marela: Morning!
C onchita:Marela,你为什么穿那件外套?你不暖和吗?……
Conchita: Marela, why are you wearing that coat? Aren’t you warm? …
米arela:不。有些外套里面装的是冬天。穿上它们,你会发现口袋里装满了十二月、一月和二月。所有这些月份大地都被白雪覆盖,万物静止。这就是我想要的,层层叠叠,静止不动。
Marela: No. Some coats keep winter inside them. You wear them and you find pockets full of December, January and February. All those months that cover the earth with snow and make everything still. That’s how I want to be, layered and still.
O felia:我的孩子,你还好吗?
Ofelia: My child, are you all right?
M arela:我很好,妈妈。别担心我。
Marela: I’m fine, Mamá. Don’t worry about me.
(胡安·朱利安进场。)
(Juan Julian enters.)
胡安·朱利安:早上好!
Juan Julian: Good morning!
大家:早上好!
All: Good morning!
Marela :这是你的书。(把书递给他)
Marela: Here’s your book. (Hands him the book)
(胡安·朱利安注意到马雷拉的外套,并发现她似乎处于沮丧的状态。)
(Juan Julian notices Marela’s coat, and that she seems to be in a state of dismay.)
胡安·朱利安:谢谢。
Juan Julian: Thank you.
(帕洛莫重新入场。)
(Palomo reenters.)
帕洛莫: Cheché进来了吗?
Palomo: Has Cheché come in yet?
康奇塔:不,他只是迟到了。坐下。胡安·朱利安要给我们读书。
Conchita: No. He’s just late. Sit down. Juan Julian is going to readto us.
胡安·朱利安:今天我将从阅读《安娜·卡列尼娜》第 3 部分第 13 章开始:
Juan Julian: Today I’ll begin by reading Part 3, Chapter 13, of Anna Karenina:
安娜·卡列宁娜的丈夫年轻时曾对决斗的想法很感兴趣,因为他身体上是个胆小鬼,而且他很清楚这一点。年轻时,这种恐惧常常迫使他考虑决斗,想象自己处于必须冒生命危险的境地。
In his youth Anna Karenina’s husband had been intrigued by the idea of dueling because he was physically a coward and was well aware of this fact. In his youth this terror had often forced him to think about dueling and imagining himself in a situation in which it was necessary to endanger his life.
(切切悄悄地走了进来。他的脑子里充满了阴暗的想法。)
(Cheché enters unnoticed. His head is heavy with dark thoughts.)
这种根深蒂固的旧感觉现在又重新出现。假设我向他挑战。假设有人教我怎么做,他继续想。
This old ingrained feeling now reasserted itself. Let’s suppose I challenge him. Let’s suppose someone teaches me how to do it, he went on thinking.
(切切掏出一把枪。)
(Cheché pulls out a gun.)
他们让我们就位,我扣动了扳机,他自言自语道,结果我杀了他。他摇摇头,想摆脱这些愚蠢的想法。为了确定自己与女人的关系而杀死一个男人有什么意义……
They put us in position, I squeeze the trigger, he said to himself, and it turns out I’ve killed him. He shook his head to drive away such silly thoughts. What would be the sense of killing a man in order to define one’s own relations with a woman …
(切切向胡安·朱利安开枪,然后再次开枪。枪声不断回荡,胡安·朱利安倒在了地上。
(Cheché shoots Juan Julian. Then shoots again. The sound of the gun echoes and echoes as Juan Julian falls to the floor.
工人们都惊呆了。有些人抬头看枪声从何而来。当马雷拉伸手去触摸垂死的宣读者时,枪声仍然回荡在整个房间里。
The workers are shocked. Some of them look up to see where the shot came from. The shot still echoes throughout the room as Marela reaches out to touch the dying lector.
灯光渐渐变黑。 )
The lights fade to black.)
三天过去了。工厂工人们正在卷制雪茄,并根据大小和形状整理烟叶。玛蕾拉还穿着她的外套。
Three days have passed. The factory workers are rolling cigars and organizing the tobacco leaves by their proper size and shape. Marela is still wearing her coat.
O felia:多么寂静啊!我从来不知道寂静会有这么大的分量。有人能说点什么吗?有人能读点什么吗?我们是倾听者!我们是听众!我无法习惯我们周围的寂静。就好像一张金属毯子落在了我们身上。
Ofelia: What silence! I never knew that silence could have so much weight. Can someone say something? Can someone read? We are listeners! We are oidores! I can’t get used to this silence all around us. It’s as if a metal blanket has fallen on us.
帕罗莫:就像我们最后一位读者去世时一样,我们也保持着沉默。
Palomo: The same silence we had when our last reader died.
奥菲莉亚:不,这沉默更响亮。响亮得多。响亮得多。
Ofelia: No, this silence is louder. Much louder. Much louder.
圣地亚哥:这是因为胡安·朱利安英年早逝,年轻人的阴影更加沉重,像乌云一样笼罩着大地。
Santiago: That’s because Juan Julian died before his time, and the shadows of the young are heavier and they linger over the earth like a cloud.
M arela:我应该把他的名字写在一张纸上,放在一杯加了红糖的水中,这样他的灵魂就会知道他在这个工厂受到欢迎,他可以来这里喝甜水。最好不要有人告诉我,我这样做是不对的!你听我说,妈妈!(她第一次流下了眼泪。)
Marela: I should write his name on a piece of paper and place it in a glass of water with brown sugar, so his spirit knows that he is welcomed in this factory, and he can come here and drink sweet water. And nobody better tell me that it’s wrong for me to do this! You hear me, Mamá! (For the first time tears come to her eyes.)
圣地亚哥:你妈妈什么也没说,我的孩子。
Santiago: Your mother hasn’t said anything, my child.
Marela :我知道她没有。但我们必须照顾死者,这样他们才能感受到世界的一部分。这样他们就不会忘记我们,当我们到达彼岸时,我们才能依靠他们。
Marela: I know she hasn’t. But we must look after the dead, so they can feel part of the world. So they don’t forget us and we could count on them when we cross to the other side.
C onchita:我们应该继续读书,爸爸!
Conchita: We should continue reading, Papá!
Marela :是的,我们应该继续阅读这个故事来纪念他,这样他就不会觉得自己没有完成自己的工作。他应该知道我们仍然是他忠实的听众。
Marela: Yes, we should continue reading the story in his honor, so he doesn’t feel that he left his job undone. He should know that we’re still his faithful listeners.
C onchita:如果可以的话,我会读,但我知道,如果我打开那本书,我就会变得虚弱。
Conchita: If I could, I would read, but I know that if I open that book I’ll be weak.
马雷拉:我们不应该哭。眼泪是为那些为刀子和凶手哀悼的弱者而流的,还有从工厂流到他出生的房子的鲜血。
Marela: We shouldn’t cry. Tears are for the weak that mourn the knife and the killer, and the trickle of blood that streams from this factory all the way to the house where he was born.
O felia:有人可以读吗?
Ofelia: Could someone read?
(暂停。)
(Pause.)
帕罗莫: 我会读。
Palomo: I will read.
哦,菲莉亚:就这样,读书吧,这样我们就可以摆脱这种沉默和炎热。我们可以停下来,叹息几行,庆幸我们还活着。
Ofelia: That’s it, read, so we can get rid of this silence and this heat. And we can pause over a few lines and sigh and be glad that we are alive.
Santiago :但是读点别的东西吧。读点令人愉快的东西。
Santiago: But read something else. Read something cheerful.
马雷拉:故事应该讲完了,爸爸。让他把书讲完吧。
Marela: Stories should be finished, Papá. Let him finish the book.
康奇塔:她说得对。故事应该完结,否则它们会遭受和英年早逝的人一样的命运。
Conchita: She’s right. Stories should be finished or they suffer the same fate as those who die before their time.
(帕洛莫打开书。他看着康奇塔。)
(Palomo opens the book. He looks at Conchita.)
磷阿罗莫:安娜·卡列尼娜。第 3 部分,第 14 章:
Palomo: Anna Karenina. Part 3, Chapter 14:
到达圣彼得堡时,安娜·卡列尼娜的丈夫不仅下定决心要实现他的决定,而且已经在脑海里构思好了一封要写给妻子的信。
By the time he arrived in Petersburg, Anna Karenina’s husband was not only completely determined to carry out his decision, but he had composed in his head a letter he would write to his wife.
(他从书中抬起头来,注视着康奇塔。)
(He looks up from the book and stares at Conchita.)
他要在信里写下他想告诉她的一切。
In his letter he was going to write everything he’d been meaning to tell her.
(灯光开始暗淡。)
(The lights begin to fade.)
[2003 年]
[2003]
[生于 1962 年]
[b. 1962]
(西蒙妮的灯光亮了起来。)
(Lights up on SIMONE.)
S imone:穿得合适很重要。我想看起来漂亮。看起来时髦。看起来像个新人。我有信息。我就是信息。研究我吧,宝贝,因为十分钟后我就要离开这里了。
Simone: It’s important to dress right. I want to look slick. To look sleek. To look like a fresh thing. I’ve got a message. I’m the message. Study me, baby, because in ten minutes, I’m outta here.
(西蒙娜点燃一支香烟。点燃的烟头对准了露丝。她的桌子上放着一叠蓝色的考试作文书。)
(SIMONE lights a cigarette. Lights up on RUTH. A stack of blue exam composition books on her desk.)
露丝:你会为了什么问题而杀人?我喜欢在开学第一天问学生这个问题。我布置学生阅读小说,小说中的男主角或女主角杀人或被杀。我试图把这种感觉带回家。他们告诉我,他们会为了保护家人而杀人。他们会为了保护朋友而杀人。我问他们,如果他们愿意为了国家而杀人……为了自由……那需要付出什么代价?
Ruth: What are the issues for which you would kill? I like to ask my students this on their first day of class. I assign novels where the hero or heroine kills, or is killed. I try to bring it home. They tell me they would kill to defend their family. They’d kill to defend their friends. I ask them if they would kill for their country … for their freedom … what would it take?
S imone:我会拼了命去买一双深紫红色的 Prada 天鹅绒厚底鞋。那双鞋真是太好看啦。
Simone: I’d kill for a pair of Prada velvet platforms in deep plum. Those are to die for.
露丝:西蒙娜。我不知道她在我的课上干什么。显然她也不知道。(对西蒙娜说。)西蒙娜,你这个过渡不错;我们愿意为同样的东西去死吗?(出局。)她通常坐在后面,很少说话,涂了太多口红,穿着像《时尚》杂志里那样的服装。当她说话时,总是——扰乱秩序。
Ruth: Simone. I didn’t know what she was doing in my class. Neither did she, apparently. (To SIMONE.) Nice segue, Simone; would we be willing to die for the same things we’d kill for? (Out.) She usually sat in the back, rarely spoke, wore too much lipstick and some costume straight out of, what, Vogue. When she did speak, it was always — disruptive.
西蒙尼:我会为爱情而死,可惜没有罗密欧,至少我没见过;我会为我父亲挡子弹,但他已经死了;如果致命的话,我会因无聊而死,但我想它不是。
Simone: I’d die for love except there ain’t no Romeos, not that I’ve seen; I’d take a bullet for my daddy but he’s already dead; I’d die of boredom if it were lethal, but I guess it isn’t.
露丝:如果我不能激励她,我希望她离开。我让她来我的办公室。我问过她好几次。显然,她不及格。我会让她退课,但为时已晚。她从来没有来找我。直到期末考试的前一天。她希望我给她及格分数。(露丝转向西蒙尼。)西蒙尼,我怎么能那样做?你甚至还没有读过材料。你读过任何材料吗?
Ruth: If I couldn’t inspire her, I wanted her gone. I’d asked her to come to my office hours. I asked her several times. She was failing, obviously. I would have let her drop the class, but it was too late for that. She never bothered to come see me. Not until the day before the final exam. She wanted me to give her a passing grade. (RUTH turns to SIMONE.) How can I do that, Simone? You haven’t even read the material. Have you read any of the material?
S imone:我认为这没什么关系。
Simone: I don’t find it relevant.
鲁斯:如果你没读过,你怎么知道?你可能会感到惊讶。《安娜·卡列尼娜》很精彩。
ruth: If you haven’t read it, how do you know? You may find yourself surprised. Anna Karenina is wonderful.
Simone :很长。
Simone: It’s long.
露丝:为什么不尝试一下呢?
Ruth: Why not give it a shot?
S imone:你指定的书让人很压抑。我不想抑郁。为什么要读那些让你沮丧的东西?卡夫卡,耶稣基督——我先读的,好吗?那家伙太糟糕了。
Simone: The books you assign are depressing. I don’t want to be depressed. Why read stuff that brings you down? Kafka, Jesus Christ — I started it, okay? The guy was fucked up.
露丝:那么你至少被感动了。
Ruth: So you were moved at least.
S imone:决定合上书本,找一些更有趣的事情做。
Simone: Moved to shut the book and find something more interesting to do.
露丝:那太糟糕了;如果你坚持读下去,你可能会发现这些书中的某本让你很不舒服。难道你从来没有读过真正让你感动的东西吗?
Ruth: That’s too bad; you might have found one of these books getting under your skin, if you stuck with it. Haven’t you ever read something that’s really moved you?
西蒙尼:没有什么能打动我,露丝博士。
Simone: Nothing moves me, Dr. Ruth.
露丝:我得请你把那根香烟掐灭。
Ruth: I’m going to have to have to ask you to put out that cigarette.
西蒙:好吧,问吧。(但她把它拿出来了。)“看艺术”或“成为艺术”。我选择后者。
Simone: Okay, ask. (But she puts it out.) See art or be art. I choose the latter.
露丝:一定有人在为你支付教育费用。我想他们希望他们的钱能得到一定的回报。
Ruth: Somebody must be paying for this education of yours. I imagine they expect a certain return for their money.
S imone:你怎么知道付钱的人不是我?
Simone: How do you know I’m not the one paying for it?
露丝:我不相信有人会如此明目张胆地浪费自己的钱。
Ruth: I don’t believe someone who was spending their own money would waste it so flagrantly.
西蒙尼:好吧,爸爸也插话了。
Simone: Okay, Dad chips in.
露丝:那人就是你说的那个已经死去的父亲吗?
Ruth: Would that be the same father you said was dead?
西蒙尼:这是个玩笑还是谎言,你自己选择吧。
Simone: That was a joke or a lie, take your pick.
露丝:西蒙娜,你真是让我沮丧极了。
Ruth: You’re frustrating the hell out of me, Simone.
Simone :我不认为这是一种浪费。我喜欢社交部分。
Simone: I don’t consider it a waste, you know. I like the socialization part.
露丝:如果你从这所学校毕业的话,你将不会再进行任何“社交”。
Ruth: If you fail out of this school, you won’t be doing any more “socialization.”
西蒙尼:你认为我让其他人失望了。
Simone: You assume that I’m failing the others.
露丝:那么,你只是对这门课有意见吗?
Ruth: So it’s just this class, then? That you have a problem with?
S imone:(指她的语法。)悬而未决。(停顿。)你喜欢当老师吗?
Simone: (Referring to her grammar.) Dangling. (Beat.) Do you enjoy being a teacher?
露丝:是的,我同意。
Ruth: Yes, I do.
S imone:所以我为你的享受付钱。
Simone: So I’m paying for your enjoyment.
露丝:享受工作并不是罪过,西蒙娜。
Ruth: It’s not a sin to enjoy one’s work, Simone.
S imone:我只是认为你不应该向我收费,如果这是为了你的快乐而不是为了我的话。
Simone: I just don’t think you should charge me, if it’s more for your pleasure than for mine.
露丝:我没这么说。
Ruth: I didn’t say that.
Simone :您是否曾经想过在一所真正的学校任教,而不是在像这样的二流学校任教?
Simone: Did you ever want to teach at a real school, not some second-rate institution like this?
露丝:我喜欢我的工作。你无法改变我的主意。
Ruth: I like my job. You’re not going to convince me otherwise.
西蒙尼:四千二百九十八。
Simone: Four-thousand two-hundred and ninety-eight.
ruth :也就是说——?
ruth: That is — ?
S imone:美元。那是一大笔钱。你觉得你值得吗?你觉得这门课值得吗?因为我算了一下:这是一门四学分的课,我把它分解了。四千二百九十八。一大笔钱。好吧,你觉得你教给我的东西值这么多钱吗?来吧,开始说,我们会按每个字分摊。
Simone: Dollars. That’s a lot of money. Do you think you’re worth it? Do you think this class is worth it? Because I figured it out: this is a four credit class, I broke it down. Four-thousand two-hundred and ninety-eight. Big ones. Well, do you think that what you have to teach me is worth that? Come on, start talking and we’ll amortize for each word.
露丝:你显然是个聪明的女孩。你不能指望教育能用金钱来衡量。
Ruth: You’re clearly a bright girl. You can’t expect an education to be broken down into monetary terms.
S imone:你刚才说了。这可是一大笔钱,对吧?至少够第五世界国家一个饥饿家庭一年的食物。这是一辆车。嗯,反正也是二手车。减去保险。突然间,这个数字听起来没那么大了。最多也就是几套阿玛尼西装。我甚至不喜欢阿玛尼。嘿,拜托,你难道不能说“是的,Simone,我值两套阿玛尼西装。我可以给你……”
Simone: You just did. That’s a lot of money, right? It’s, like, food for a starving family in a fifth-world country for a year at least. It’s a car. Well, a used one, anyway. Minus the insurance. Suddenly this number doesn’t sound so huge. It’s a couple of Armani suits at most. I don’t even like Armani. So hey, come on, can’t you even say “Yes, Simone, I am worth two Armani suits. I have that to offer you …”
露丝:不,我不能这么说。
Ruth: I can’t say that, no.
S imone:这里没有什么有用的技能。
Simone: No useful skills to be had here.
露丝:顺便说一下,这些钱并没有进到我的口袋里。
Ruth: The money doesn’t go into my pocket, by the way.
S imone:我认为应该如此。这样会更直接;
Simone: I think it should. It would be more direct that way;
你会感到责任更大。对我而言。就我个人而言。你不这么认为吗,露丝博士?
you’d feel more of a responsibility. To me. Personally. Don’t you think, Dr. Ruth?
露丝:我希望你不要这么叫我。
Ruth: I’d prefer that you not call me that.
S imone:你这个医生选错了,老兄。你感兴趣的只是一百年前写的一堆书,以及关于这些书的书;你现在可能正在写一本关于一本书的书,这本书是关于一本书的,对吗?
Simone: Wrong kind of doctor, man. All you’re interested in is a bunch of books written a hundred years ago, and the books written about those books; you’re probably writing a book about a book written about a book right now, am I right?
露丝:如果你看不出书和生活之间的联系,那说明你的阅读能力不够强。我希望你尝试一下。你能做到吗?书甚至可能告诉你一种生活方式。
Ruth: If you don’t see the connection between books and life, you aren’t reading very well. I want you to try. Can you do that? Books might even show you a way to live.
西蒙尼:我已经活过来了,露丝博士。你呢?因为看起来你二十五年来都没有改变过发型。
Simone: I’m already living, Dr. Ruth. Are you? Because it looks like you haven’t changed your hair style in twenty-five years.
露丝:那时你还没有出生,西蒙娜。
Ruth: You weren’t even born then, Simone.
S imone:你最好的年华还没过去?因为我看到你留着短发,头发尖尖的。
Simone: Stuck in your best year? Because I see you in a close-cropped, spiky thing.
露丝:够了。
Ruth: That’s enough.
S imone: PS:你可能需要对你的穿衣方式做点什么。
Simone: P. S.: You might want to do something about the way you dress.
露丝:你接受过治疗吗?
Ruth: Have you been in therapy?
S imone:不要以为这是一个原创的建议。
Simone: Don’t think that’s an original suggestion.
露丝:我并没有提出什么建议。我只是想指出,这不是治疗。我是一名教师,不是你的治疗师。你不能随便走进我的办公室,说任何你想说的可恶的话。
Ruth: I’m not suggesting anything. I simply want to point out that this is not therapy. I am a teacher, not your therapist. You can’t just waltz into my office and say whatever hateful thing you please.
西蒙尼:我不知道怎么跳华尔兹。
Simone: I don’t know how to waltz.
露丝:我放弃了,西蒙娜。你不喜欢我的课,你不喜欢我,你想退学,我阻止不了你。(露丝回去干活。西蒙娜一动不动。)什么?
Ruth: I’m giving up here, Simone. You don’t like my class, you don’t like me, you want to fail out, I can’t stop you. (RUTH goes back to her work. SIMONE doesn’t budge.) What?
西蒙尼:德鲁·巴里摩尔会打动我的。
Simone: Drew Barrymore would move me.
露丝:谁?
Ruth: Who?
西蒙尼:我认为德鲁会这么做。去见见德鲁。
Simone: I think Drew would do it. Getting to meet Drew.
露丝:德鲁·巴里摩尔是谁?
Ruth: Who is Drew Barrymore?
S imone:该死,你真的应该知道这些事情。她非常出名。她从出生起就很出名。我昨天在电视上看到了她,她很真实。她很有感染力。你知道吗?如果你能更了解最新情况,你真的可以更好地与你的学生相处。
Simone: Damn, you really should know these things. She’s extremely famous. She’s been famous since she was, like, born. I saw her on TV yesterday and she was so real. She connected. You know? You really might relate to your students better if you got a little more up to date.
露丝:你说得也许对。但是如果你少花点时间看电视,你的学习成绩可能不会落后那么多。
Ruth: You might be right. But you might not be so behind in class if you spent a little less time watching television.
西蒙妮:德鲁是一位电影明星,她拍过很多电影。
Simone: Drew is a film star, she’s in films.
露丝:你说你在电视上见过她。
Ruth: You said you saw her on television.
S imone:你甚至都不去看电影吗?可能只去看那些完全是 L-Seven 的电影。我知道你不知道那是什么意思。(她用手指比出“L”和“ 7 ” 。 )正方形?无论如何,德鲁上电视是因为她正在接受采访。他们现在有这些日间脱口秀节目吗?
Simone: Don’t you even go to the movies? Probably only the ones that are totally L-Seven. And I know you don’t know what that means. (She makes an “L” and a “7” with her fingers.) Square? Anyway, Drew was on TV because she was being interviewed. They have these daytime talk shows nowadays?
露丝:我听说过他们。
Ruth: I’ve heard of them.
S imone:观众席里有个女孩开始哭泣。因为她不敢相信自己和德鲁在同一个房间里,德鲁一直都很有名,对吧?她就坐在那里哭泣。这个女孩,她把漂白的金发贴得很平,戴着一个水钻发夹,就像德鲁以前那样,但整个造型都很像老德鲁,很像十分钟前的德鲁。新的德鲁时髦、成熟、发型精致,而这个女孩,这个非常想成为德鲁的女孩,她甚至都不是新人。
Simone: And this chick was in the audience and she started to cry. Because she couldn’t believe she was there in the same room with Drew, who’s been famous forever, right? She was just, like, sitting there sobbing. And this chick, she had her bleached blond hair pasted down real flat, and she was wearing a rhinestone barrette just like Drew used to, but that whole look is so old Drew, so ten-minutes-ago Drew. The new Drew is sleek and sophisticated and coiffed and this girl, this girl who wanted to be Drew so bad, she wasn’t even current.
露丝:我认为我们不会取得任何进展。
Ruth: I don’t think we’re getting anywhere.
S imone:这太可悲了。因为德鲁总是在变。变化是她不变的特质。这就是你必须做的……继续前进,否则你就会死。德鲁知道这一点。如何一次又一次地塑造自己,这样你才能继续成为你喜欢的人,成为你想成为的人。一旦你成为那样的人,你就必须继续前进。现在你希望我们能到达哪里?
Simone: And that is so sad. Because the thing about Drew is, she’s always changing. It’s a constant thing with her, the change. And that is, like, what you’ve got to do… keep moving or you die. Drew knows that. How to invent yourself again and again so you can keep being someone that you like, the someone that you want to be. And once you’re it, you’ve got to move on. Now where was it you were hoping we’d get to?
露丝:考试时间是明天早上 9 点。如果你读了材料,任何材料,我可能真的能给你及格分数。但现在我觉得我们不需要再浪费彼此的时间了。
Ruth: The exam is tomorrow morning at 9AM. If you read the material, any of the material, I might actually be able to give you a passing grade. But right now I don’t think we need to waste any more of each other’s time.
西蒙:(开始说。)你可能会说我看电影的方式和你读书的方式一样。我会指出这一点的,露丝博士。
Simone: (Starts to go.) You might have said that I go to the movies the way you read books. I would have pointed that out, Dr. Ruth.
露丝:嗯,我怀疑我们的想法不太一样。
Ruth: Well, I suspect we don’t think very much alike.
(西蒙娜转过身。)
(SIMONE turns back.)
西蒙:我们的灵魂之间有一道墙?(露丝看着她,正要说些什么,正要伸出手。)如果我粗鲁了,我很抱歉。我相信很多人都喜欢你的课。也许我没有得到很好的教育。我相信有人应该为此负责。
Simone: A wall between our souls? (RUTH looks at her, about to say something, about to reach out.) I’m sorry if I’ve been rude. I’m sure a lot of people like your class. Maybe I wasn’t raised well. I’m sure somebody’s to blame.
(西蒙尼走开。)
(SIMONE goes.)
露丝:第二天她九点准时来。我感到有点自豪,因为我设法联系到了她,她终于要真正努力了,但几分钟后她就交了她的蓝皮书。我感到很恶心,就把它放在那儿,直到它上面堆满了一堆蓝皮书,上面满是我其他更热心或至少更尽职的学生从头到尾写的潦草字迹。后来我开始按照它们堆放的顺序从头到尾阅读它们。我并不期待西蒙娜的。
Ruth: The next day she showed up at nine on the dot. I felt a certain pride that I had somehow managed to reach her, that she was finally going to make a real effort, but she handed in her blue book after a matter of minutes. I was rather disgusted and let it sit there, until a pile formed on top of it, a pile of blue books filled with the scrawling, down-to-the-last-second pages of my other more eager, or at least more dutiful, students. Later I began to read them straight through from the top, in the order they were stacked in. I wasn’t looking forward to Simone’s.
在回答我关于小说《安娜卡列尼娜》如何不可避免地走向安娜最后的悲剧性行为的论文问题时,我的学生大部分都回答得透彻而准确。他们列举了导致安娜跳火车的所有事件,涉及许多平行情节和更广泛的社会背景。我很满意。我觉得我上学期教得很好。我的学生学到了东西。
In answering my essay question about how the novel Anna Karenina moves inevitably toward Anna’s final tragic act, my students were, for the most part, thorough and precise. They cited all of the events that led to Anna’s throwing herself in front of the train, touching on the many parallel plots and the broader social context. I was satisfied.I felt I had taught well this last semester. My students had learned.
在那本蓝皮书中,她写道:“幸福的人都相似,不幸的人各有各的不幸。”所以我猜她读过《安娜 K》;至少是读过开篇那句话。我的第一反应是纠正她那句小改动的语法。这一页上没有别的内容。我翻阅了这本书;她在最后一页又写了一行:“任何让我感到满意的世界都比我来自的世界更好。”我听说这是一首摇滚歌词。七十年代的歌词。《安娜》也是在七十年代写的,有趣的是,比这早了一个世纪。
In the blue book she had written, “All happy people resemble one another, but each unhappy person is unhappy in their own way.” So I guess she had read Anna K; the opening sentence, at least. My first instinct was to correct the grammar of her little variation. There was nothing else on the page. I flipped through the book; she’d written one more line on the last page: “Any world that I’m welcome to is better than the one that I come from.” I’m told it’s a rock lyric. Something from the seventies. Anna was written in the seventies, too, funnily enough, a century earlier.
我本来想给西蒙娜打 F,但我注意到她已经在书的背面自己标出了不及格分数。或者这个分数是给我的。
I would have given Simone an F, but I noticed she had already marked down the failing grade herself, on the back of the book. Or maybe the grade was for me.
当我读到它时,已经过去了好几天。我没有妄下结论。回想起来,安娜的自杀也总是让我措手不及,尽管我读过这本小说很多次,可以描绘出它不可避免的发展过程。
By the time I came to it, days had passed. I didn’t leap to conclusions. Come to think of it, Anna’s suicide always takes me by surprise as well, though I’ve read the novel many times and can map its inexorable progression.
(西蒙娜,和以前一样……)
(SIMONE, just as before…)
Simone :这可是一大笔钱。你觉得你值得吗?你觉得这门课值得吗?
Simone: That’s a lot of money. Do you think you’re worth it? Do you think this class is worth it?
(露丝转身面向她。)
(RUTH turns to her.)
露丝:我生活在一个由语言构成的世界里。在这个世界里,死者可以说话,对话可以重演,可以改变,直到后悔的时刻过去,可以不断重复,直到产生新的可能性。
Ruth: I live in worlds made by words. Worlds where the dead can speak, and conversations can be replayed, altered past the moment of regret, held over and over until they are bent into new possibilities.
(露丝试图伸出援手……)
(RUTH tries to reach out…)
S imone:你觉得我值得吗?我值得吗?我值得吗?
Simone: Do you think I’m worth it? Am I? Am I? Am I?
露丝:我住在那里,死亡就像麻醉一样无常,消亡的那一刻只不过是……一片昏厥。
Ruth: I live there, where death is as impermanent as an anesthesia, and the moment of obliteration is only… a black-out.
(西蒙娜在灯光熄灭时点燃了一支香烟。)
(SIMONE lights a cigarette as lights black out.)
西蒙妮:十分钟,时间到了——我告诉过你我现在已经走了,宝贝。
Simone: Ten minutes, time’s up — told you I’d be gone by now, baby.
(火焰照亮了她一会儿,然后又恢复了黑暗。)
(The flame illuminates her for a moment, darkness again.)
[1997年]
[1997]
[生于 1964 年]
[b. 1964]
人物
Characters
E van,非裔美国人,四十多岁
Evan, African-American, forties
杰森,德裔美国白人,21/29岁
Jason, white American of German descent, twenty-one/twenty-nine
C hris,非裔美国人,21/29岁
Chris, African-American, twenty-one/twenty-nine
Stan ,德国裔白人美国人,50 多岁
Stan, white American of German descent, fifties
O scar,哥伦比亚裔美国人,22/30岁
Oscar, Colombian-American, twenty-two/thirty
Tracey ,德裔美国白人,四十五/五十三岁
Tracey, white American of German descent, forty-five/fifty-three
辛西娅,非裔美国人,四十五/五十三岁
Cynthia, African-American, forty-five/fifty-three
杰西,意大利裔美国人,四十多岁
Jessie, Italian-American, forties
布鲁斯,非裔美国人,四十多岁
Brucie, African-American, forties
所有角色均出生在宾夕法尼亚州伯克斯县。
All of the characters were born in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
地点:宾夕法尼亚州雷丁市
Setting: Reading, Pennsylvania
时间:2000/2008
Time: 2000/2008
注意:(//) 表示重叠对话应该从哪里开始。
Note: A (//) indicates where overlapping dialogue should begin.
一般来说,对话应该具有酒吧谈话的自由流动速度:人们互相踩着想法,但偶尔也会发现沉默和内省的时刻。
In general the dialogue should have the free-flowing velocity of a bar conversation: people step on each other’s thoughts, but also occasionally find moments of silence and introspection.
2008 年 9 月 29 日
September 29, 2008
室外温度为 72°F。
Outside it’s 72°F.
新闻:第 63 届联合国大会召开。道琼斯工业平均指数下跌 778.68 点,创下股市历史上单日最大跌幅。雷丁居民在 Old Dry Road Farm 的年度秋季节上品尝新鲜苹果酒。
In the news: The 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly convenes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 778.68 points, marking the largest single-day decline in stock market history. Reading residents sample fresh apple cider at the Annual Fall Festival on Old Dry Road Farm.
音乐。灯光亮起。
Music. Lights up.
假释办公室。备用。机构。
Parole office. Spare. Institutional.
杰森(白人美国人,29 岁),头发剪得很短。他有一只黑眼圈,脸上有白人至上主义的纹身。埃文(非裔美国人,40 多岁),蓬松的脸。
Jason (white American, twenty-nine), hair closely shorn. He has a black eye and white supremacist tattoos inked across his face. Evan (African-American, forties), comfortably puffy.
埃van:那么,你找到工作了吗?
Evan: So, you got a job?
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
E van:我不会把一切都记录下来。你知道该怎么做。
Evan: I’m not gonna run down everything. You know the drill.
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
E van:那么,你在做椒盐脆饼吗?
Evan: So, you’re making pretzels?
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
E van:软吗?
Evan: Soft?
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
E van:住在同一个地址吗?
Evan: Living at the same address?
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
E van:任务?
Evan: The mission?
杰森:是的,终于在楼下有一张床了。
Jason: Yeah, finally got a bed downstairs.
E van:那太好了。我听说那个避难所很干净。
Evan: That’s real good. I hear that shelter’s pretty clean.
杰森:是啊,但他妈的男人都会偷东西。不能有好东西。不过,嗯,亨特神父让我保留我的乌龟。
Jason: Yeah, but fucking guys steal. Can’t have nice stuff. But, um, Father Hunt lets me keep my turtles.
(杰森坐立不安。埃文评估道。)
(Jason fidgets. Evan assesses.)
E van:那么,你能告诉我发生了什么事吗?
Evan: So. You gonna tell me what happened?
杰森:啥?
Jason: What?
E van:我知道你不想待在这里。我也不想待在这里。
Evan: I know you don’t wanna be here. I don’t wanna be here either.
杰森:是的,随便吧。
Jason: Yeah, whatever.
E van:别管我。我不是你的愚蠢朋友,这点我们要说清楚。
Evan: Don’t whatever me. I’m not one of your stupid friends, let’s be clear about that.
杰森:随便吧。
Jason: Whatever.
E van:试试我吧!我可没在玩他妈的游戏。我会把你打到明天,明白吗?不过,幸运的是,我不需要这么做,你知道为什么吗?因为我有这支笔,你知道这支笔是干什么的吗?
Evan: Try me! I’m not playing fucking games. I’ll knock you clear into tomorrow, understood? But, fortunately for you, I don’t have to, you know why? Because I got this pen, and you know what this pen does?
杰森:是的——
Jason: Yeah —
E van:它会写。而且,你知道如果你不给我超过一个或两个音节的答案,它会写什么吗?它会写你好斗、挑衅、不愿遵守礼仪。你明白这些话吗,杰森?
Evan: It writes. And, you know what it’s gonna write if you don’t give me more than one- or two-syllable answers? It’s gonna write that you’re belligerent, defiant, reluctant to observe protocol. You understand those words, Jason?
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
E van(声音慢慢渐强):它会写到你与权威之间有矛盾,这可能太具挑战性了。这支笔可能会让你的日子不好过,年轻人。你知道那些不合作的年轻人会怎么样吗?……嗯?……嗯?
Evan (Voice slowly crescendos): It’s gonna write that you have issues with authority that may prove too challenging. This pen could make things very difficult for you, young man. And you know what happens to young men that don’t cooperate? … Huh? … Huh?
杰森:你问我吗?
Jason: You asking me?
E van:你以为我在问什么——我自己?当然我在问你,白痴!你想让我再问一遍吗?
Evan: Whatcha think I’m asking — myself? Of course I’m asking you, moron! You want me to ask again?
杰森:不,我不需要你再问一遍。
Jason: No. I don’t need you to ask again.
埃van:非常好。一句话。我们在这里取得了一些进展。那么,发生了什么?
Evan: Very good. A sentence. We’re making some progress here. So, what happened?
杰森:我的意思是......我什么也没做。
Jason: I mean … I didn’t do shit.
E van:所以你什么都没做,但有人……做了什么。
Evan: So you didn’t do shit, but someone did … do shit.
杰森:呃——
Jason: Uh —
E van:而且,你弄伤了眼睛和嘴唇吗?
Evan: And, you gave yourself a black eye and busted lip?
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
发生了什么?
What happened?
杰森:我被偷袭了。
Jason: I got sucker-punched.
E van:因为——?
Evan: Cuz — ?
杰森:我不知道。
Jason: I dunno.
E van:有人突然出现并打了你。而你,你什么也没做吗?
Evan: Some guy just comes up and hits ya. And you, you didn’t do nothing?
杰森:不,其实没有。我当时在Loco的卫生间。
Jason: Nah. Not really. I was in the bathroom at Loco’s.
E van:疯子?
Evan: Loco’s?
杰森:是的,Loco’s 。
Jason: Yeah, Loco’s.
E van:对不起?是 Loco 的吗?
Evan: I’m sorry? Loco’s?
杰森:我不能去 Loco’s 吗?
Jason: I can’t go to Loco’s?
E van:我们已经讨论过 Loco 了。继续说。
Evan: We’ve talked about Loco’s. Go on.
杰森:这个他妈的骑车大哥,我不认识他,就像走到我身后一样。他就像你在看我的女朋友一样。我就是这样,伙计,我甚至不知道你的女朋友是谁。他戴着巨大的戒指,两只手都戴着,就像中世纪的骑车骑士一样。
Jason: This big fucking biker dude, I don’t know ’em, like steps up behind me. He’s like you were looking at my girl. I am so, like, dude,I don’t even know who the fuck your girl is. And he’s wearing these huge rings, both fucking hands, like medieval biker knight.
E van:嗯。
Evan: Hmm.
杰森:然后……他狠狠地打了我,打得我眼冒金星。砰!我整个脸都麻木了。斯帕基不得不把他从我身上拉开。
Jason: And … then he hits me hard, so hard that I swear to God I see stars. Like Bam! My whole face goes numb. Sparky had to pull ’em off of me.
E van:只是因为你看了他的女孩。
Evan: Just because you looked at his girl.
杰森:我没看他的女朋友,所以才这么糟糕。
Jason: I didn’t look at his girl, that’s why it’s so fucked up.
E van:如果我让你往这个杯子里撒尿,你会告诉我什么呢?
Evan: And if I ask you to piss in this cup, what’s it gonna tell me?
杰森:你不必相信我,但是我告诉你的是实话。
Jason: You don’t gotta believe me, but I’m telling ya the //truth.
E van:好的。这是杯子。
Evan: Okay. There’s the cup.
杰森:啥?
Jason: What?
E van:你什么意思,什么?
Evan: What do you mean, what?
杰森:来吧。
Jason: C’mon.
E van:杯子,拿起来。
Evan: The cup, pick it up.
杰森:我刚刚找到一份工作。你想要什么?
Jason: I just got a job. What do you want?
E van:我并不想要你们给我任何东西,但是国家需要,而确保你们遵守规定却是我不幸的职责。
Evan: I don’t want anything from you, but the state does and it’s my unfortunate job to ensure that you comply.
杰森:我们要这么做吗?
Jason: Are we gonna do this?
E van: 捡起来。
Evan: Pick it up.
杰森:你他妈的就是个混蛋。去你妈的,黑鬼!
Jason: You are a fucking asshole. Fuck you, nigga!
(片刻。埃文变得僵硬起来,久久注视着杰森。)
(A moment. Evan, stone, stares long and hard at Jason.)
(不太坚定)去你妈的!
(Less committed) Fuck you!
E van:捡起来!
Evan: Pick it up!
杰森:我找到工作了。我的意思是,拜托,让我休息一会儿吧。
Jason: I got a job. I mean, c’mon, give me a fucking break.
E van:把它捡起来!
Evan: Pick … it … up!
(杰森假装拿起了杯子。)
(Jason makes a show of picking up the cup.)
好的。你想告诉我什么?
Okay. What do you wanna tell me?
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
杰森:我不知道。
Jason: I dunno.
E van:我也不知道。
Evan: I dunno, either.
杰森:你看——
Jason: Look —
E van:啥?
Evan: What?
杰森:我不知道。
Jason: I dunno.
E van:是的,我们覆盖了那片肥沃的土地。发生了什么事
Evan: Yeah, we covered that fertile territory. What’s going on
杰森?
Jason?
杰森:哟,放松点。我在做我该做的事。
Jason: Yo, ease up. I’m doing what I am supposed to be doing.
E van:你这么想?你想回去吗?
Evan: You think so? You looking to get back inside?
杰森:…… !
Jason: … !
E van:也许应该把这些纹身去掉。我们已经讨论过了。它们会给你带来麻烦。也许会让你在内心深处成为一个硬汉……猜猜怎么着?每次看到它们,我都想揍你一顿。我实话实说。不过,你很幸运,我来帮你了。
Evan: Might wanna get rid of those tats. We’ve talked about it. They’re gonna cause you trouble out here. Might make you a tough guy inside, out here … guess what? Every time I look at them I wanna punch you out. That’s me being honest. But, lucky for you I’m here to help.
(杰森坐立不安。)
(Jason fidgets.)
杰森,发生什么事了?我不应该追踪你。
What’s going on Jason? I shouldn’t have to track you down.
(片刻。杰森翻了个白眼。)
(A moment. Jason rolls his eyes.)
杰森:我可以去吗?
Jason: Can I go?
E van:我们不必说话。这对我来说不是什么大事。我要把这一页留空。怎么样?留空页。你想要留空页吗?
Evan: We don’t have to talk. It’s no sweat off my back. I’m gonna leave this page blank. How about that? Blank page. You wanna blank page?
杰森:……
Jason: …
E van:你有麻烦吗?
Evan: You in trouble?
杰森:不。
Jason: No.
E van:我可以钓鱼一整天。我是一个渔夫。
Evan: I could fish all day. I am a fisherman.
(杰森在脑海里构思一个故事,决定是否要分享它。)
(Jason runs a story through his head, deciding whether to share it.)
杰森:我——
Jason: I —
E van:是的——
Evan: Yeah —
杰森:碰到了克里斯。
Jason: Ran into Chris.
(杰森对自己的情绪感到措手不及。)
(Jason is caught off-guard by his own emotions.)
E van:还好吗?你还好吗?我们知道可能会发生这种事。是吗?
Evan: All right? You okay? We knew this might happen. Yeah?
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
埃文:他就在那儿。他哪儿也不去。你打算怎么办呢?
Evan: He’s out there. He ain’t going nowhere. Whatcha gonna do about it?
杰森:我不知道。我不知道。在里面的时候,我一直把发生的事情,克里斯,所有的事情,都抛到脑后。然后他……我不知道,我只能想到这些,你知道——
Jason: I dunno. I dunno. The whole time inside, I pushed what happened, you know, Chris, all of it, outta my head. Then he was … I dunno, it’s all I can think, you know —
(埃文转过身,他正在和克里斯 [非裔美国人,29 岁] 说话。他穿着整洁,但相当烦躁和焦虑。)
(Evan turns around, and he’s now talking to Chris [African-American, twenty-nine]. He is very neatly dressed, but quite fidgety and anxious.)
E van:你还好吗,老兄?你看上去有些焦躁不安。
Evan: You okay, man? You seem antsy.
C hris:说实话,这很艰难。睡眠质量很差。
Chris: Not gonna lie, it’s been tough. Not sleeping so good.
仍在努力适应事物。
Still trying to get used to things.
E van:嗯,你离开很久了。河水一直流个不停。
Evan: Well, you been away a long time. The river keeps flowing.
C hris(焦虑):我想是的。人。嘘。人,他们就是一场旅行。你知道吗?以前……嗯……很容易,现在我每次谈话都像是在交通路线中绕圈,只是绕圈。我没什么可对任何人说的,也没有人对我说些什么。
Chris (Anxious): I guess. People. Psh. People, they’re a trip. You know? Before it was … um … it was easy, now every conversation I have, it’s like I’m circling in a traffic pattern, just circling. I don’t got shit to say to anyone, and nobody got shit to say to me.
E van:你找到地方住了吗……Chris?
Evan: You find someplace to stay … Chris?
C hris:是的。达克特牧师让我在牧师住宅里睡觉。
Chris: Yeah. Reverend Duckett lets me sleep in the rectory.
我做一些家务。现在还好。安静。试着站稳脚跟。
I do some chores. It’s all right for now. Quiet. Trying to find my feet.
E van:这种情况会持续一段时间。
Evan: It’s gonna be that way for a while.
C hris:是的,我很快就明白了!
Chris: Yeah, I’m figuring that out quickly!
E van:那工作呢?
Evan: What about work?
C hris:正在看。
Chris: Looking.
E van:你有跟进我给你的线索吗?
Evan: Did you follow up with the leads I gave you?
C hris:是的,我去了那里,填了一些申请表,但他们没有提供任何实质性的报酬,我说的都是废话,你知道……每小时七、八美元。
Chris: Yeah, went down there, filled out a few applications, but they ain’t offering nothing real, I’m talking bullshit, you know … seven, eight dollars an hour.
E van:总得从某个地方开始。
Evan: Gotta begin somewhere.
C hris:我想是的。我一直碰到那个框框。那个该死的问题就像一道带刺的铁丝网,无法越过它,无法绕过它。
Chris: I guess. And I keep hitting up against that box. That damn question’s a barbed-wire fence, can’t go over it, can’t get around it.
E van:我知道,我知道。但是,你要怎么做才能保持头脑清醒呢?
Evan: I know, I know. But, whatcha doing to keep your head?
C hris:参加祈祷会。每天都要这样做。
Chris: Going to prayer meetings. Doing it one day at a time.
达克特牧师对我非常友善。
Reverend Duckett has been real cool to me.
E van:很好。很好。那监狱计划怎么样?你缺少多少学分?
Evan: Good. Good. What about that prison program? How many credits you short?
C hris:八岁。但首先……我得攒点钱。让事情步入正轨,你知道的。然后,我就可以考虑完成我的学士学位了。
Chris: Eight. But first … I gotta throw a little money in my pocket. Get things on track, you know. Then, psh, I can think about finishing up my bachelor’s.
E van:我很高兴听到这个消息。
Evan: I’m really glad to hear that.
碳hris:你知道,这就是事情发生之前的计划。
Chris: That was the plan, you know, before the shit went down.
E van:你今天看上去有点紧张。
Evan: You seem a little on edge today.
克里斯:是的,有些日子就是这样。我真的很生自己的气。
chris: Yeah, well. Some days are like that. I get real mad at myself.
(片刻。克里斯突然陷入沉思。)
(A moment. Chris, suddenly introspective.)
E van:你还好吗?你需要呼吸新鲜空气还是其他什么?
Evan: You okay? You need some air or something?
C hris:不。我……我碰到了 Jason。没想到会这样。
Chris: Nah. I … I ran into Jason. Wasn’t expecting it.
E van:那感觉怎么样?
Evan: What was that like?
C hris:奇怪……奇怪。他看起来不一样了。
Chris: Weird … weird. He looked different.
埃文: 是吗?
Evan: Yeah?
C hris:他脸上有纹身。大纹身。他看起来很可笑。我不得不处理内心的那些胡说八道。你知道,雅利安兄弟会。但是,杰森……那玩意儿让我很惊讶。他看起来很老,像个男人。就像他爸爸去世前的样子。这让我有点害怕。
Chris: He had tats on his face. Big fucking tats. He looked ridiculous. I had to deal with that bullshit inside. You know, Aryan Brotherhood. But, Jason … that shit surprised me. He looked old, like a man. Like his dad useta, before he died. It kinda freaked me out.
E van:我敢打赌。
Evan: I bet.
C hris(情绪不断升级):我不知道。几分钟的时间,你的整个生活就改变了,就是这样。一切都过去了。我每天都在想,如果我没有……你知道……我一遍又一遍地播放着磁带。如果……如果……如果……如果。整个晚上。在我的脑海里。我无法关掉它。达克特牧师说:“依靠上帝来获得宽恕。依靠上帝来找到穿越可怕风暴的道路。”我正迎着风,我他妈的正依靠……并且。
Chris (Escalating emotions): I dunno. A couple minutes, and your whole life changes, that’s it. It’s gone. Every day I think about what if I hadn’t … You know … I run it and run it, a tape over and over again. What if. What if. What if. All night. In my head. I can’t turn it off. Reverend Duckett said, “Lean on God for forgiveness. Lean on God to find your way through the terrible storm.” I’m leaning into the wind, I’m fuckin’ leaning … And.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
然后是杰森。你知道,穿过宾夕法尼亚,我只是冷静下来,看着运动鞋别墅的窗户,什么都不想。他看见了我。我也看见了他。我们俩都一动不动……嗯,一秒钟都动不了。我们……那是……我一直在想我当时会怎么做。我会如何反应,我会说什么。我的意思是……去他妈的。我们做的事是不可原谅的……
And then there’s Jason. Crossing Penn, you know, and I’m just chilling, looking in the window of Sneaker Villa, not thinking about anything. He sees me. I see him. Neither of us could … um, move for a second. We … it was … I’ve been thinking about what I would do in that moment. How I would react, what I would say. I mean … fuck it. What we did was unforgivable …
E van:那么,什么——?
Evan: So, what — ?
C hris:接下来我便快速朝他走去,我不知道自己该做什么。但那种感觉就在我的胸口。拳头紧握着我。紧握着。我继续走着。我以为他会走开,做点什么,但他只是站在那里,好像这些年来一直在等我。然后……我们面对面。就像就在那里。我能闻到他的呼吸,我们就是这么亲密。我能看到他眼里的血管。我的拳头紧握。我的指甲深深地陷进手掌,然后就发生了……奇怪的……我们拥抱在一起。拥抱。我不知道为什么。八年来我第一次觉得我可以回家了。
Chris: Next thing I know I’m walking fast toward him, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. But the emotions are right there in my chest. A fist pressing right there. Pressing. And I keep walking. And I’m expecting him to walk away, do something, but he just stands there like he’s been waiting on me all these years. And … we come face to face. Like right there. I can smell his breath, that’s how close we are. I can see the fucking veins in his eyes. And my fists clench. My fingernails dig into the palms of my hands and then it just happens … weird … We’re hugging. Hugging. I don’t know why. And for the first time in eight years, I feel like I could go home.
(眼泪快要流出来了,但是却没有流出来。
(Tears are close, but they don’t come.
一阵响亮的音乐:桑塔纳的“Smooth”。过去在 2008 年回荡。 )
A loud blast of music: Santana’s “Smooth.” The past rips through 2008.)
2000 年 1 月 18 日
January 18, 2000
八年前。
Eight years earlier.
室外温度为 19°F。
Outside it’s 19°F.
新闻报道:美国智库报告称,股市的繁荣正在扩大美国最贫穷和最富有家庭之间的收入差距。雷丁通过了一项关于凶猛犬只的法令,以规范包括斗牛犬在内的某些宠物品种的饲养。
In the news: American think tanks report that the booming stock market is widening the income gap between the poorest and richest U.S. families. Reading passes an aggressive dog ordinance to regulate ownership of certain pet breeds including pit bulls.
自动点唱机里大声播放着桑塔纳的《Smooth》。
Santana’s “Smooth” plays loudly from a jukebox.
灯光亮起。酒吧。舒适宜人。喧闹的庆祝活动结束。音乐响起。
Lights up. Bar. Lived-in and comfortable. End of a raucous celebration. Music blares.
辛西娅(非裔美国人,45 岁)和特蕾西(白人美国人,45 岁)有点醉,正在跳舞。调酒师斯坦(白人美国人,50 多岁)站在吧台后面,面带微笑,欣赏着这场表演。杰西(意大利裔美国人,40 多岁)已经昏倒,脸埋在桌子上。
Cynthia (African-American, forty-five) and Tracey (white American, forty-five), just a little too drunk, are dancing. Stan (white American, fifties), the bartender, stands behind the bar, smiling, and enjoying the show. Jessie (Italian-American, forties) is passed out, face planted on the table.
特蕾西和辛西娅一起跳舞,就像一起经历过许多冒险的亲密朋友一样。
Tracey and Cynthia dance together with the intimacy of close friends who’ve shared many adventures.
辛西娅:来吧,斯坦。
Cynthia: C’mon, Stan.
Stan :不,别跳舞!
Stan: Nah, don’t dance!
辛西娅:我不相信你!
Cynthia: I don’t believe ya!
T racey:Stan,你这个男人!别让我失望!我知道你很有一套!
Tracey: Stan the man! Don’t fail me! I know ya got some moves!
Stan :不!
Stan: Nope!
(特蕾西跳起性感诱人的舞蹈。)
(Tracey does a sexy, enticing dance.)
不要破坏任何东西。
Don’t break anything.
(音乐结束。)
(The music ends.)
辛西娅和特蕾西:噢。
Cynthia and Tracey: Aww.
(辛西娅走到点唱机旁。特蕾西坐到杰西身边,喝完了她朋友的饮料。)
(Cynthia walks over to the jukebox. Tracey flops down next to Jessie and finishes her friend’s drink.)
圣:嘿。谁开车送她回家?
Stan: Hey. Who’s driving her home?
特蕾西:霍华德锁上门后就把她留在那里了。不知怎的,她总能按时上班。对吧,辛丝?
Tracey: Howard just locks up and leaves her there. Somehow she always manages to punch in to work on time. Right, Cynth?
辛西娅:洗完澡,穿好衣服。
Cynthia: Showered and dressed.
特蕾西:我们所有人早上七点就接到一个电话,那个人每天晚上都在外面喝酒到两点。
Tracey: We all got a seven a.m. call and that one’s out drinking until two every night.
圣坦:好吧,得有人开车送她。
Stan: Well, someone’s gotta drive her.
T tracey:不会的。我周四已经把车子内部清理干净了。
Tracey: Not happening. I got the inside of my car cleaned Thursday.
斯坦:嘿,辛西娅,你能开车送杰西回家吗?
Stan: Hey, Cynthia, can you drive Jessie home?
辛西娅:当然不是,她是指定司机。
Cynthia: Hell no, she was the designated driver.
(特蕾西大笑并推了推杰西。)
(Tracey laughs and nudges Jessie.)
T racey:杰西!
Tracey: Jessie!
(杰西醒了。)
(Jessie rouses.)
杰西:啥?!
Jessie: What?!
(她瘫倒在桌子上。笑声。)
(She slumps back onto the table. Laughter.)
斯坦:嗯,她不能留在这里。
Stan: Well, she can’t stay here.
(斯坦走路一瘸一拐,这是他以前受过的伤,很烦人,他一瘸一拐地走过去,从杰西的口袋里拿出她的钥匙。他把钥匙扔进架子上的钥匙罐里。)
(Stan, with a pronounced limp, an old bothersome injury, hobbles over, and takes Jessie’s keys from her pocket. He throws them into a key jar on the shelf.)
辛西娅:你收集了多少把钥匙?
Cynthia: How many keys you collect?
Stan :没有装满罐子,但夜还很长。
Stan: Didn’t fill the jar, but the night’s still young.
(斯坦在吧台上放了一瓶波旁威士忌。)
(Stan places a bottle of bourbon on the bar.)
再喝一杯吗?
One more drink?
(他给特蕾西倒了一杯饮料。)
(He pours Tracey a drink.)
T tracey:现在你真的想克服它了。
Tracey: Now, you’re really trying to get over.
Stan (诱惑地) :这是一次公开的邀请。
Stan (Seductively): It’s an open invitation.
T tracey:是吗?真的吗?
Tracey: Yeah? Really?
(斯坦对她露出迷人的微笑并抚摸着她的手臂。)
(Stan gives her a disarmingly seductive smile and strokes her arm.)
很好。这对你有用吗?因为,我什么感觉都没有。我的意思是我应该感觉到什么吗?
Nice. Does that work for you? Because, I’m not feeling anything. I mean should I be feeling something?
Stan :我肯定读了一些东西。
Stan: I’m definitely reading something.
T racey:滚出去!这种事已经发生过一次了,绝对不会再发生了。
Tracey: Get outta here! It was one fucking time, it’s definitely not happening again.
(斯坦继续施展他的魅力。)
(Stan continues to work his charm.)
Stan :两个。
Stan: Two.
T tracey:从技术上来说不是。
Tracey: Not technically.
Stan :哦,真的吗?
Stan: Oh really?
T tracey:真的吗!
Tracey: Really!
(特蕾西大笑。她是个爱笑的人,笑是她的避难所。
(Tracey laughs. She’s a laugher, it’s her refuge.
奥斯卡,这位 22 岁的哥伦比亚裔美国服务生,正在拖着一架玻璃杯。他擦拭着吧台。他忙着做自己的事情,除了斯坦,很少有人注意到他。)
Oscar, the Colombian-American busboy, twenty-two, hauls in a rack of glasses. He wipes down the bar. He goes about his business, rarely acknowledged by anyone except Stan.)
Stan :谢谢,奥斯卡。
Stan: Thanks, Oscar.
辛西娅:好吧。我爱你,但是
Cynthia: Okay. I love you, but
我已经正式醉醺醺了,这意味着我得走了。
I’m officially drunk-b-dunk, which means I gotta go.
特蕾西:不……
Tracey: No …
辛西娅:我要早班了。
Cynthia: Got an early shift.
T tracey:Frank 可以亲我屁股。天啊,你加班还不够吗?
Tracey: Frank can kiss my ass. Jesus, haven’t you done enough overtime?
碳英西娅:宝贝,无论发生什么,今年夏天我都要乘船游览巴拿马运河。
Cynthia: Babe, come hell or high water, I’m taking that cruise through the Panama Canal this summer.
T racey:再来一杯。一杯。今天是我的生日。来吧,来吧。斯坦,再给这个婊子倒一杯!
Tracey: One more drink. One. It’s my birthday. C’mon, c’mon. Stan, pour this bitch another drink!
辛西娅:好的。但是,如果我在工厂里丢了一根手指,那就是你的错。记住,都是她的错!
Cynthia: Okay. But, if I lose a finger in the mill, it’ll be your fault. Remember that. It’s her fault!
Stan :都是她的错!
Stan: It’s her fault!
(特蕾西拥抱了辛西娅。斯坦咯咯笑着给辛西娅倒了饮料。)
(Tracey gives Cynthia a hug. Stan chuckles and pours Cynthia’s drink.)
辛西娅:你要和我们一起喝一杯吗?
Cynthia: You gonna have a drink with us?
特蕾西:一个……
Tracey: One …
圣坦:当然。两位美女。这没什么不好。
Stan: Sure. Two pretty ladies. No downside to that.
特蕾西:看看他放了什么进去。上次我就是因此惹上麻烦的。
Tracey: Watch what he’s putting in there. That’s how I got into trouble last time.
Stan (诱惑地):哦,来吧,有麻烦吗?
Stan (Seductively): Oh, c’mon, trouble?
多么美好的夜晚!很多人都出来庆祝。
What a night! A lot of folks turned out to celebrate.
特蕾西:很有趣,对吧?从来没想过我能活到这个年纪。
Tracey: It was fun, huh? Never thought I’d make it to this age.
圣坦:跟我讲讲吧。有些家伙已经好久没见过了。
Stan: Tell me about it. Hadn’t seen some of those guys in ages.
我有点希望能够见到布鲁斯。
And I was kinda hopin’ I’d see Brucie.
(片刻。特蕾西看着辛西娅。)
(A moment. Tracey looks at Cynthia.)
辛西娅:好了,别太担心了。我把他打得落花流水了。
Cynthia: Well, don’t hold your breath. I put his ass out.
圣:哦不。发生什么事了?
Stan: Oh no. What happened?
辛西娅:我让他搬回来了。
Cynthia: I let him move back in.
T racey:// 告诉你了。
Tracey: // Told ya.
辛西娅:你知道布鲁斯,他可以像缎子一样光滑。一眨眼就能打开或关闭。一切都很顺利,然后圣诞节那天,我们喝了一瓶上好的夏布利酒。他看起来很帅气。我穿着危险的衣服。我们笑着,放松着,玩得很开心。然后……我们聊天。我是说,聊天。一切都很好。我们喝酒,再喝一些酒,然后我们做你喝太多酒后会做的事情。半夜——
Cynthia: You know Brucie, he can be as smooth as satin. Turn that shit on and off at the drop of a dime. Things were going fine, then Christmas Day, we’ve got this nice bottle of Chablis. He’s looking dapper. I’m dressed for danger. We’re laughing, chilling and having fun. And … we talk. I mean, talk. It’s all good. We drink wine, we drink some more wine, then we do what you do after you drink too much wine. Middle of the night —
特蕾西:听听这个——
Tracey: Listen to this —
辛西娅:我下楼了。圣诞树下的圣诞礼物不见了——
Cynthia: I go downstairs. My Christmas presents under the tree are gone —
S tan :// 离开这里。
Stan: // Get outta here.
辛西娅:还有我那养着昂贵的新热带鱼的鱼缸,都没了。
Cynthia: AND my fish tank with my expensive new tropical fish, gone.
Stan :别告诉我——
Stan: Don’t tell me —
辛西娅:一周后,新年前夜,我醒来。这个傻瓜在冰箱里翻找东西,好像他真的把什么东西放在那里。像他妈的风筝一样高高在上。什么也没说。没有道歉。什么都没有。我差点疯了。布鲁斯很幸运我没有拿着枪,因为现在他肯定在地狱里试图与魔鬼搏斗。
Cynthia: A week later, New Year’s Eve, I wake up. And this fool’s digging in the refrigerator like he actually put something there. High as a muthafucking kite. Says nothing. No apology. Nada. I damn near lost my mind. Brucie was lucky I wasn’t holding a gun, cuz right now he’d be in hell trying to hustle the devil.
年代谭:听起来不像是他。
Stan: That don’t sound like him.
辛西娅:见鬼,我告诉你,一旦他开始和那个傻瓜混在一起,我就认不出他了。我知道外面的世界很艰难,我明白。是的,是的,是的。当他的工厂把他拒之门外时,他经历了地狱般的折磨,我明白,但我无法接受。
Cynthia: The hell it don’t, let me tell you something, once he started messing with that dope, I don’t recognize the man. I know it’s tough out there, I understand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He went through hell when his plant locked him out, I understand, but I can’t have it.
T racey:更重要的是,你不必这么做。
Tracey: More importantly, you don’t // have to.
Stan :那么,什么—— ?
Stan: So, what — ?
辛西娅:我告诉那个小丑,该走了。再见。然后我们开始。警察来了,我被戴上手铐,拍照并按指纹,因为我在自己家里扰乱秩序。
Cynthia: I tell that joker, it’s time to go. Bye-bye. And we get into it. Police come down, chest-pumped, I get cuffed, photographed and fingerprinted for disorderly conduct in my own damn house.
圣坦:不可能。
Stan: No way.
辛西娅:是的……
Cynthia: Yes …
特蕾西:是的,你能相信吗?我不得不去那里救她出来。除夕夜。我穿着高跟鞋和亮片连衣裙。
Tracey: Yeah, can you believe it? I had to go down there and bail her out. New Year’s Eve. I’m wearing heels and a sequin dress.
圣:天啊。布鲁斯怎么办?
Stan: Jesus. What about Brucie?
辛西娅:问我是否在乎。
Cynthia: Ask me if I give a goddamn.
Stan :太难过了。我很遗憾听到这个消息。你们俩在一起很好。
Stan: Tough. Sorry to hear it. You two were good together.
辛西娅:是的,现在不再是这样了。
Cynthia: Yeah, well, not anymore.
Stan :哦,该死,说到逮捕,你们今天早上在报纸上读到有关弗雷迪的报道了吗?
Stan: Oh shit, speaking of arrests, did you guys read about Freddy in the paper this morning?
辛西娅:不,弗雷迪在报纸上干什么?
Cynthia: No, what was Freddy doing in the paper?
Stan :天啊,你没听到吗?
Stan: God, you didn’t hear?
特蕾西:不。发生什么事了?
Tracey: Nah. What happened?
Stan :他把他的房子烧毁了。
Stan: He burned his fucking house down.
辛西娅:什么?
Cynthia: What?
特蕾西:有人受伤吗?
Tracey: Was anybody hurt?
Stan :只是那只狗。
Stan: Just the dog.
辛西娅:佩珀?天啊——
Cynthia: Pepper? Oh my God —
Stan :是啊,很疯狂,不是吗?
Stan: Yeah, crazy, huh?
Cynthia :天啊
Cynthia: Oh my // God
特蕾西:玛吉怎么样?
Tracey: What about Maggie?
斯坦:我以为你知道,两周前她就走了。
Stan: I thought you knew, she walked out … two weeks ago.
辛西娅:什么?
Cynthia: What?
特蕾西:发生什么事了?
Tracey: What happened?
圣坦:是的。
Stan: Yeah.
(杰西清醒了一秒钟。)
(Jessie rouses for a second.)
Stan :走了。
Stan: Gone.
杰西:是的!
Jessie: Yeah!
辛西娅:这真是太糟糕了。
Cynthia: That’s some shit.
特蕾西:我们的弗雷迪?弗雷迪·布伦纳?
Tracey: Our Freddy? Freddy Brunner?
Stan :弗雷迪——
Stan: Freddy —
辛西娅:我不明白。为什么这个人要烧毁自己的房子?
Cynthia: I don’t get it. Why would the man burn down his own house?
年代tan://不知道。
Stan: // Dunno.
三级火灾。
Three-alarm fire.
沒有任何剩下。
Nothing // left.
T tracey:疯了。
Tracey: Crazy.
太糟糕了。
That sucks.
圣:星期六的时候他来过这里,喝得烂醉如泥。玛吉就离开了他——
Stan: He was in here on Saturday, got shit-faced. Maggie just up and left him —
特蕾西:那婊子会去哪儿?
Tracey: Where would that bitch go?
圣:他说过。不知道。报纸上说他试图朝自己的头部开枪。你能相信吗?但是,他太醉了,最后射掉了自己的右耳。
Stan: That’s what he said. Dunno. The paper says he tried to shoot himself in the head. Can you believe it? But, he was too wasted, and ended up shooting off his right ear.
特蕾西:哎哟。
Tracey: Ow.
辛西娅:快离开这里。
Cynthia: Get the hell outta here.
Stan :他们发现他躺在邻居家的草坪上,流着血——
Stan: They found him lying on his neighbor’s lawn, bleeding —
辛西娅:该死。我只能说这么多。//该死!
Cynthia: Damn. That’s all I gotta say. // DAMN!
T racey: 弗雷迪·布伦纳?
Tracey: Freddy Brunner?
Stan :结果发现他已经欠了巨额债务。
Stan: Turns out he was up to his neck in fucking debt.
Tracey :太糟糕了—
Tracey: Terrible —
斯坦:还有克拉伦斯——
Stan: And Clarence —
辛西娅: 克拉伦斯·琼斯?
Cynthia: Clarence Jones?
圣坦:他说他听说他们要削减工厂的生产线。他无法承受这种压力。
Stan: Says he got wind that they were gonna cut back his line at the plant. Couldn’t handle the stress.
辛西娅:这个谣言已经流传了好几个月了。没人去任何地方。
Cynthia: That rumor’s been flying around for months. Nobody’s going anywhere.
Stan :好吧,你一直这样告诉自己,但你看到了克莱蒙斯科技公司发生的事情。没人预料到会这样。对吧?你明天醒来,可能发现你所有的工作都在墨西哥,不管怎样,北美自由贸易协定就是个废话——
Stan: Okay, you keep telling yourself that, but you saw what happened over at Clemmons Technologies. No one saw that coming. Right? You could wake up tomorrow and all your jobs are in Mexico, whatever, it’s this NAFTAa bullshit —
T racey:北美自由贸易协定到底是什么鬼?听起来像泻药。北美自由贸易协定。
Tracey: What the fuck is NAFTA? Sounds like a laxative. NAFTA.
(特蕾西笑了。)
(Tracey laughs.)
Stan :你不看报纸吗?
Stan: You don’t read the paper?
T racey:你读过报纸吗?
Tracey: You read the paper?
圣坦:是的,我同意。
Stan: Yes, I do.
T racey:嗯,我不看报纸,好吗?我有诵读困难症,谢谢。
Tracey: Well, I don’t read the paper, okay? I’m dyslexic, thank you.
Stan :睁开眼睛。抵制知识不是一个好的哲学。
Stan: Eyes open. Not a good philosophy to resist knowledge.
特蕾西:你从哪里读到的这些废话?
Tracey: Where’d you read that bullshit?
Stan :我没有读过,我只是凭直觉理解。
Stan: I didn’t read it, I intuit it.
碳ynthia:随便吧。这只是谣言。管理层散布这些谣言是为了让我们紧张。
Cynthia: Whatever. It’s a rumor. Management // spreads that crap to keep us on edge.
圣坦:我只是说说而已。但这已经不是我的问题了。
Stan: I’m just saying. But, it ain’t my problem // anymore.
T tracey:嘿,烧毁自己的房子犯法吗?
Tracey: Hey, is it against the law to burn down your own house?
Stan :不知道。我认为你需要许可证。
Stan: Dunno. I think you need a permit.
(杰西再次醒来。)
(Jessie rouses again.)
杰西:火在哪儿?
Jessie: Where’s the FIRE at?
特蕾西:啥?!
Tracey: What?!
S tan:许可证。
Stan: A permit.
T tracey:真的吗?为了你自己的房子?
Tracey: Really? For your own damn house?
圣:没有许可证,你不能放那么大的火。
Stan: Ya can’t set a fire that big without a permit.
T tracey:等一下,你是说如果他得到了许可证他就可以合法地烧毁他的房子吗?
Tracey: Wait a minute, you’re saying if he got a permit he could legally burn his house down?
杰西:是的。
Jessie: Yeah.
辛西娅:妈的,我应该烧掉我的房子。真是个糟糕的金钱陷阱。
Cynthia: Shit, I should burn down my house. Crappy little money trap.
特蕾西:管他什么许可证,我要雇别人来办。
Tracey: To hell with the permit, I’d hire someone else to do it.
辛西娅:闭嘴,你认识谁?
Cynthia: Shut up, who do you know?
特蕾西:我不知道。
Tracey: I dunno.
(特蕾西大笑,然后向奥斯卡示意。)
(Tracey laughs, then gestures to Oscar.)
嘿。你呢?
Hey. What about you?
O刀疤:我?什么?你需要水吗?
Oscar: Me? What? Ya need water?
T racey:没有,但是...如果我想雇人烧毁我的房子我该去哪里?
Tracey: No, but … if I wanted to hire someone to burn down my house where would I go?
奥斯卡:我不知道。我怎么知道?
oscar: I dunno. How would I know?
T tracey:你不知道是什么意思?拜托。
Tracey: What do you mean, you don’t know? C’mon.
噢,刀疤:我不知道。
Oscar: I don’t know.
特蕾西:你们波多黎各人正在雷丁各处焚烧东西,你必须知道。
Tracey: You Puerto Ricans are burning shit down all over Reading, you gotta know.
O斯卡:嗯,我是哥伦比亚人。我不知道。
Oscar: Well, I’m Colombian. And I don’t know.
特蕾西(Tracey ) :是的,没错。
Tracey: Yeah, right.
辛西娅:别理她。她太蠢了。
Cynthia: Ignore her. She’s stupid.
特蕾西:他他妈的知道,他只是没说而已。
Tracey: He fucking knows, he’s just not saying.
辛西娅:算了吧!
Cynthia: Let it go!
特蕾西:他他妈的知道。
Tracey: He fucking knows.
Stan :放松点!放手吧!
Stan: Lighten up! Let it go!
O伤疤:Psh。
Oscar: Psh.
T racey:Psh。
Tracey: Psh.
(奥斯卡看了特蕾西一眼,走回酒吧。斯坦转移了特蕾西的注意力,缓解了紧张的气氛。)
(Oscar cuts his eyes at Tracey and walks back to the bar. Stan redirects Tracey, defusing the tension.)
斯坦:嘿,你知道吗,弗雷迪和我老爸通了电话。他训练了我。是的。
Stan: Hey, you know, Freddy was on the line with my old man. He trained me. Yeah.
碳辛西娅:真的吗?
Cynthia: Really?
斯坦:事实上,当我受伤时,是弗雷迪关闭了工厂。
Stan: As matter of fact, when I got injured, it was Freddy who shut down the mill.
特蕾西:我不知道。
Tracey: I didn’t know that.
圣坦:是的。如果不是他的话。我就会失去整条腿。
Stan: Yeah. If it wasn’t for him. I would have lost my entire leg.
(Jessie顿时警觉:)
(Jessie suddenly alert:)
杰西:嘿,斯坦,别再喋喋不休了,再给我拿一把手钻。
Jessie: Hey, Stan, quit yapping, get me another gimlet.
圣:你在开玩笑。绝对不是。
Stan: You’re joking. Absolutely not.
杰西:什么?你是今晚的调酒师吗?
Jessie: What? Are you the bartender on tonight?
Stan :不给你再喝了。
Stan: Not giving you another drink.
杰西:来吧!再给我一杯酒!你给她一杯酒,我为什么不能喝一杯?
Jessie: C’mon! Gimme another drink! You gave her a drink, why can’t I have one?
圣:因为事情就是这样的。你受够了。
Stan: Because that’s how it goes. You’ve had enough.
杰西:你有一个他妈的麻烦。
Jessie: You got a fucking problem.
Stan :不,你有一个他妈的问题。
Stan: No, you got a fucking problem.
杰西:你不能这样跟我说话。我的丈夫——
Jessie: You can’t talk to me that way. My husband —
Stan :你指的是你的前任。
Stan: You mean your ex.
杰西:我只需要打一个电话,他就会把你脸上的笑容抹去。
Jessie: All I gotta do is make one phone call and he’ll wipe that fucking smile off your face.
圣坦:是的,开始吧。来,用我的手机。叫醒他年轻漂亮的妻子,她叫什么名字,蒂芙尼?
Stan: Yeah, go ahead. Here, use my phone. Wake up his beautiful young wife, what’s her name again, Tiffany?
辛西娅:那没有必要。
Cynthia: That wasn’t // necessary.
杰西:你真是个混蛋!
Jessie: You are a asshole!
Stan :带她回家。
Stan: Take her home.
T racey:来吧。//别再这样了——
Tracey: C’mon. // Don’t start this again —
杰西:你这个该死的残疾人。
Jessie: You fucking cripple.
S tan: 很好的语言。
Stan: Nice language.
辛西娅:她喝多了。
Cynthia: She’s had a little too much to drink.
圣:所以她该回家了。晚安。
Stan: And that’s why it’s time for her to go home. Night-night.
杰西:我要踢你的屁股,瘸子!
Jessie: I’ll kick your ass, gimp!
(杰西挣扎着站起来。她试图走路,但却筋疲力尽。)
(Jessie struggles to her feet. She attempts to walk, but is completely wasted.)
辛西娅:杰西。//来吧。
Cynthia: Jessie. // C’mon.
杰西:瘸子!你这个该死的术士!
Jessie: Cripple! You fucking warlock!
辛西娅:冷静下来。
Cynthia: Calm down.
Stan :放松……
Stan: Relax …
辛西娅:好的。我们要庆祝……
Cynthia: All right. We’re celebrating …
杰西:混蛋。混蛋!!
Jessie: Fucker. Fucker!!
Stan :那太好了……太好了……
Stan: That’s nice … Nice …
辛西娅:你够了。好啦。冷静点。
Cynthia: You’ve had enough. Okay. Calm the fuck down.
杰西(Snaps ):别跟我说话!
Jessie (Snaps): Don’t talk to me!
辛西娅:别惹我,宝贝。
Cynthia: Don’t start with me, babe.
(辛西娅做出“我是认真的”的表情。特蕾西笑了。)
(Cynthia makes an “I mean business” face. Tracey laughs.)
杰西:哦,该死。
Jessie: Oh shit.
辛西娅:你还好吗?需要帮忙吗?
Cynthia: You okay? You need a hand?
(杰西挣扎着走向浴室,试图保持自己的尊严,但这是一项艰巨的任务。最后:)
(Jessie struggles to walk to the bathroom, attempting to maintain her dignity, but it’s a herculean task. Finally:)
Stan :嘿,奥斯卡,帮帮她吧。
Stan: Hey Oscar, give her a hand.
O scar:好的。
Oscar: Okay.
(杰西靠在奥斯卡身上。)
(Jessie leans onto Oscar.)
抓紧我。我抓住你了。
Hold onto me. I gotchu.
傑西:我們在一起嗎?
Jessie: Are we together?
噢刀疤:不!
Oscar: No!
辛西娅:给她拿一杯水。
Cynthia: And get her a glass of water.
特蕾西:你的意思是一加仑。
Tracey: You mean a gallon.
(奥斯卡领着杰西去浴室。)
(Oscar leads Jessie to the bathroom.)
O scar:就几步。好的。慢慢来。
Oscar: Just a couple of steps. Okay. Take your time.
Stan :天呐,太可悲了。
Stan: Jesus. Fucking pathetic.
辛西娅(对特蕾西说):我以为你要跟她说话!她上班时总是浑身散发着伏特加酒的味道。
Cynthia (To Tracey): I thought you were gonna talk to her! She keeps showing up at work smelling like a bottle of vodka.
特蕾西:没错,自从丹再婚后,她就一直处于崩溃的状态。
Tracey: No shit, she’s been a complete wreck since Dan got remarried.
辛西娅: // 和她谈谈!
Cynthia: // Talk to her!
特蕾西:我丈夫去世了,你没看到我泡在酒里。对不起,我实在受不了她再说他了。他是个怪人,而且今天是我的生日,你以为她能忍住吗?
Tracey: My husband died and you don’t see me bathing in booze. And I’m sorry, but I just can’t hear her go on about him one more time. He was a creep, and it’s my fucking birthday, you’d think she’d be able to hold it together.
辛西娅:我知道,但是认真地跟她谈谈吧。有人会受伤的。
Cynthia: I know, but seriously, talk to her. Someone’s gonna get hurt.
T tracey:你要举报她吗?
Tracey: You gonna report her?
辛西娅:听着,宝贝,他们总是找理由让我们走。特别是现在,发生了这种该死的震动——
Cynthia: Listen babe, they’re always looking for reasons to let us go. ’Specially now, with this damn shake up —
圣:那么传言是真的,嗯?巴茨要升职了?
Stan: Then the rumor’s true, huh? Butz is getting promoted?
辛西娅:是的。
Cynthia: Yeah.
特蕾西:他正前往州外的某个工厂。
Tracey: He’s heading to some plant outta state.
Stan :他们带了谁来?
Stan: Who they bringing in?
T tracey:他们正在讨论从现场雇一个人。
Tracey: They’re talking about hiring someone from the floor.
Stan :滚开。真的吗?你要申请吗?
Stan: Get outta here. Really? You gonna apply?
T tracey:我?不可能。
Tracey: Me? No fucking way.
(斯坦看了一眼辛西娅。)
(Stan glances over at Cynthia.)
圣坦:你太安静了,辛丝。
Stan: You’re awful quiet, Cynth.
辛西娅:谁知道呢?我可能会申请。
Cynthia: Who knows? I might apply.
电视racey:什么?!滚出去。
Tracey: What?! Get outta here.
辛西娅:为什么不呢?我已经在场上呆了二十四年了。
Cynthia: Why the hell not? I’ve got twenty-four years on the floor.
特蕾西:好吧,我比你差两分。1974 年入行,高中一毕业就入行。第一份也是唯一一份工作。管理是他们的事。不是我们的事。
Tracey: Well, I got you beat by two. Started in ’74, walked in straight outta high school. First and only job. Management is for them. Not us.
辛西娅:钱更多了。天气更热了。假期更多了。工作更少了。
Cynthia: More money. More heat. More vacation. Less work.
这就是我需要知道的一切。
That’s all I need to know.
Tracey :嘿,斯坦,受伤前你打了多少年球?
Tracey: Hey Stan, how many years did you put in before the injury?
Stan :二十八。
Stan: Twenty-eight.
特蕾西:在这二十八年里你见过有人离开地面吗?
Tracey: And in those twenty-eight years you ever see anyone move off the floor?
Stan :……嗯,不……等一下,等一下……有格里夫·帕克。
Stan: … Um, no … wait, wait … there was Griff Parker.
特蕾西:是的,但他离开了,去上大学,回来当了经理。他们没有把他从队伍里除名。不算数。
Tracey: Yeah, but he left, went to college came back as management. They didn’t pluck him off the line. Doesn’t count.
辛西娅:妈的,你想活到五十岁还每天站十个小时吗?乳房都快被机器挤塌了。我的拇囊炎跟苹果一样大。// 我的背 —
Cynthia: Shit, you wanna be fifty and standing on your feet for ten hours a day? Titties sagging into the machines. I got bunions the size of damn apples. // My back —
Tracey :废话。写本书吧。
Tracey: Bla … bla. Write a book.
辛西娅:不知道你怎么样,但我能感觉到我的身体每天都在变慢。我回家时,我的手都冻僵了,我甚至拿不动煎锅。我必须用它们摩擦一个小时,它们才能动起来。
Cynthia: Don’t know about you, but I can feel my body slowing down, a little every day. I go home and my hands are frozen, I can’t even hold a frying pan. I gotta rub ’em together for an hour before they even move.
T racey:不过认真点,这是巴兹的工作吗?
Tracey: But be serious, Butz’s job?
辛西娅:我了解机器。我了解人。
Cynthia: I know the machines. I know the people.
T racey:等等,等等。你真的要申请吗?别胡说八道。
Tracey: Hold on, hold on. You’re really gonna apply?! No bullshit.
辛西娅:他们唯一能做的就是说不,对吧斯坦?
Cynthia: All they can do is say no, right Stan?
圣坦:没错。
Stan: That’s right.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
T racey:嗯……如果是这样的话,也许我应该把我的名字也加进去。对吧?我需要休假。我和你有同样的经历。但是,我的意思是我们这些女孩都不会得到它,对吧?
Tracey: Well … If that’s the case, maybe I should throw my name into the mix. Right? I need a vacation. I got the same experience you got. But, I mean none of us girls are gonna get it, right?
辛西娅:自从奥尔斯特德的孙子接手以来,情况好多了——
Cynthia: It’s been a helluva lot better since Olstead’s grandson took over —
圣坦:饶了我吧。自从 1969 年我走进来,那个地方就没变过。没有灯泡,没有螺母或螺栓。事实上,自从 1922 年我祖父开始在那里工作以来,它并没有太大变化。祝你好运,亲爱的。我不认识他,但我可以告诉你,奥尔斯特德的孙子和他们所有人一样混蛋,只顾中饱私囊,不去改善地板。
Stan: Gimme a break. That place hasn’t changed since I walked in there in ’69. Not a lightbulb, not one single nut or bolt. As a matter of fact it hasn’t changed much since my grandfather began working there in ’22. Good luck, sweetheart. I don’t know him, but I can tell you that Olstead’s grandson is the same brand of asshole as all of ’em, stuffing his pockets, rather than improving the floor.
辛西娅: // 单词。
Cynthia: // Word.
圣:现在,这个老头子每天都躺在地板上。我不喜欢他,但我尊重他。你知道为什么吗?
Stan: Now, the old man, he used to be on the floor every single day. I didn’t like him, but I respected him for it. You know why?
Tracey :他是个混蛋,一个变态——
Tracey: He was a prick and a perv —
年代tan:因为他知道发生了什么,你只有亲临现场才能知道。他知道一台机器坏了。他知道一名工人遇到麻烦。你看不到那里的年轻人。他们觉得带着沃顿商学院的MBA学位坐在车间里很不礼貌。问题是他们不想弄脏自己的脚,不想让文凭沾满汗水……也不想了解制造劣质产品的真正成本,即人力成本。
Stan: Because he knew what was going on, and you can only know that by being there. A machine was broken, he knew. A worker was having trouble, he knew. You don’t see the young guys out there. They find it offensive to be on the floor with their Whartonb MBAs. And the problem is they don’t wanna get their feet dirty, their diplomas soiled with sweat … or understand the real cost, the human cost of making their shitty product.
辛西娅: 完全同意。
Cynthia: Amen to that.
杰西(下场):哦,该死。
Jessie (From off): Oh, shit.
(从关闭开始,发出撞击声和砰的一声。)
(From off, a crash and a thud.)
圣坦:嘿,也许你们当中有人应该去看看杰西。
Stan: Hey, maybe one of you should check on Jessie.
特蕾西:不,她很好。
Tracey: Nah, she’s fine.
辛西娅:你看她穿的什么衣服了吗?看起来像是她的舞会礼服。
Cynthia: Did you get a load of what she’s wearing? Looks like her prom dress.
特蕾西: 很有可能。
Tracey: Probably was.
(杰西再次入场,但没被人看见。她的裙子被内衣后面卷住了。)
(Jessie reenters unseen. Her dress is caught up in the back of her underwear.)
辛西娅:我爱那个女人,但她会拖累我们大家的。
Cynthia: I love that woman, but she’s gonna drag us all down with her.
杰西:谁?
Jessie: Who?
辛西娅:别担心,宝贝。
Cynthia: Don’t worry about it, babe.
杰西:你是在谈论我吗?
Jessie: Were you talking about me?
辛西娅:我们只是聊天而已。
Cynthia: We’re just talking.
杰西:好的。
Jessie: Okay.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
斯坦,我能再拿一份金枪鱼吗?
Stan, can I get another gim —
圣坦:不!不。
Stan: No! N-O.
杰西:你简直是胡说八道。
Jessie: You’re bullshit.
Stan :我可以接受这一点。
Stan: I can live with that.
杰西:胡说!
Jessie: Bullshit!
圣:够了,耶稣。
Stan: Enough already. Jesus.
特蕾西:来吧,杰西,放松一下。
Tracey: C’mon, Jessie, relax.
辛西娅:振作起来。弗兰克在找理由——
Cynthia: Get your shit together. Frank’s lookin’ for reasons —
Tracey :我们能不能别再这样聊了,这真的打扰到我了。二十年来我们一直在聊同样的话题。所以,我们别再抱怨了,找点乐子吧。
Tracey: Can we not have this conversation, it’s like seriously cutting into my buzz. We’ve been having the same conversation for twenty years. So, let’s stop complaining and have some fun.
(音乐。笑声。庆祝。)
(Music. Laughter. Celebration.)
a NAFTA:北美自由贸易协定,美国、加拿大和墨西哥之间的三边贸易协定。该协定于 1994 年生效,旨在减少贸易壁垒。
aNAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement, a trilateral trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It went into effect in 1994 for the purpose of reducing barriers to trade.
b沃顿商学院(沃顿商学院 MBA):指宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院。
bWharton (as in Wharton MBAs): Refers to the Wharton School, a business school at the University of Pennsylvania.
2000 年 2 月 10 日
February 10, 2000
室外温度为 44°F。
Outside it’s 44°F.
新闻:亿万富翁史蒂夫·福布斯在投入 6600 万美元个人资金后退出共和党初选。雷丁市中心市政会议中心开始动工。
In the news: Billionaire Steve Forbes drops out of the Republican Primary after investing $66,000,000 of his own money. Work begins on the Downtown Civic Convention Center in Reading.
灯光亮起。酒吧。年轻时的克里斯和杰森站在吧台,微醺。奥斯卡再次安静而显眼地出现在整个场景中,观察、倾听和工作。
Lights up. Bar. Chris and Jason, their younger selves, stand at the bar, tipsy. Once again, Oscar is a quiet but visible presence throughout the scene, watching, listening and working.
杰森:我跟车主谈过了。这辆车大概跑了两万三千英里。你敢相信吗?一位老人把它像纪念品一样放在车库里。车况极好。完好无损。
Jason: I spoke to the owner. It has something like twenty-three-thousand miles on it. Can you believe it? An old man kept it in his garage like a trophy. It’s in beautiful condition. Mint.
C hris:真厉害。你要做这事吗?
Chris: Phat. You gonna do it?
杰森:正在考虑。
Jason: Thinking about it.
C hris:哥们。
Chris: Dude.
(杰森自豪地展示了一张照片。)
(Jason proudly displays a picture.)
杰森:您觉得怎样?
Jason: What do you think?
Stan :很好。
Stan: Nice.
杰森:对。它和我爸爸的那辆一模一样,但状况更好。哟,看看侧面的标志。太棒了……
Jason: Right. It’s exactly like the one my dad had, but in better condition. Yo, check out the logo on the side. Dooope …
圣:哈雷?你妈妈觉得怎么样?
Stan: A Harley? What’s your mom think?
杰森:所以在我看来,如果她不付钱,她就无话可说。十月份,当我二十一岁的时候,她明确表示她的工作已经完成了。她换了前门的锁,却没给我钥匙。这传达了一个非常明确的信息,对吧?
Jason: So as far as I’m concerned, if she ain’t paying for it then she don’t got no say. In October, when I turned twenty-one, she made it dead clear that her work was done. She changed the locks on the front door and didn’t give me a key. That sends a pretty clear fucking message, huh?
C hris:哟。
Chris: Yo.
Stan :这听起来有点像 Tracey。
Stan: That kinda sounds like Tracey.
杰森:我只能说,当我看到这辆自行车时,我的第一个冲动就是操它。
Jason: All I can say is that when I saw the bike, my first urge was to fuck it.
(杰森模仿骑车的动作。)
(Jason simulates humping the bike.)
C hris:离开这里。
Chris: Get outta here.
(在整个场景中,奥斯卡一直在从桌子底部刮掉口香糖。这是一项令人不快的任务,但奥斯卡非常专注且决心坚定。)
(Throughout the scene, Oscar scraps gum from the bottom of the tables. It is an unpleasant task, but Oscar is focused and determined.)
Stan :是吗?还等什么?你为什么不买呢?
Stan: Yeah? Whatcha waiting on, why don’t you buy it?
杰森:我估计我还有(算算)一个月半的积蓄,这些钱就都是我的了。他妈的工会把我们的钱都用在福利和垃圾上了,没剩下什么好玩的了。
Jason: I figure I got another (Calculating) month and half of saving and it’s mine. Fucking union got all our money tied up in benefits and shit, don’t have nothing left for fun.
C克里斯:你没撒谎。我和新女友之间——
Chris: You ain’t lying. Between my new lady —
杰森:莫妮克!
Jason: Monique!
碳hris:——山姆大叔,钱总是会从你的口袋里流出来。没有人告诉你,无论你多么努力工作,你永远都没有足够的钱来休息。这是事实。这个事实应该教给每个孩子!看看我。我一直在努力为学校存点钱,对吧?但每次我把钱存起来,我都会听到“Nike Flight-posite”、“Air Jordan XV”的叫卖声,在 Olive Garden 吃一顿饭,看一场电影,这些都会让你损失两天的工作时间。
Chris: — and Uncle Sam, money got a way of running outcha pocket. Nobody tells you that no matter how hard you work there will never be enough money to rest. It’s fact. A fact that should be taught to every child! Look at me. I been trying to save a little something for school, right? But every time I tuck it away, I hear the cry of “Nike Flight-posite,” “Air Jordan XV,” a meal at the Olive Garden, and a movie will set you back two days’ work.
杰森:老兄,你的运动鞋比整个 76 人队的还要多。
Jason: Dude, you got more sneakers than the entire Sixers.
C hris:没有合适的踢腿,就没有炫耀。这就是我的风格。
Chris: No swagger without the proper kicks. It’s how I roll.
一个人总有一种恶习,使他一直饥饿。
A man gotta have one vice that keeps him hungry.
Stan :这是规则吗?
Stan: Is that a rule?
C hris:不,不,我的朋友,这是命令。
Chris: No, no my friend it’s a mandate.
杰森:还有,等一下,我…我听到你提到学校了吗?
Jason: And, wait a minute, did I … did I hear you say school?
C hris:是的。学校。学校!
Chris: Yeah. School. S-C-H-O-O-L!
杰森:谢谢你的澄清。
Jason: Thanks for that clarification.
C hris:我……我被奥尔布赖特的教学项目录取了。
Chris: I … I got accepted into the teaching program at Albright.
杰森:怎么?又来了?
Jason: What? Come again?
C hris:是的。从九月份开始。是的!计划上两班。存点钱,你知道,作为学费。
Chris: Yeah. Starting in September. Yup! Plan on working double shifts. Put away a little something, you know, for tuition.
Stan :你真棒!
Stan: Good for you!
杰森:等等……等等,不可能。哥们,你他妈的在说什么?你为什么不告诉我?
Jason: Wait … Wait, no way. Dude, what the fuck are you saying? Why didn’t you tell me?
C hris:因为,我知道你会取笑我。
Chris: Cuz, I knew you’d make fun of me.
杰森:当然会。你要做什么?在雷丁高中教二十年历史?
Jason: Of course I will. Whatcha gonna do? Teach history at Reading High for the next twenty years?
C hris:也许吧。
Chris: I might.
杰森:是吗?你真他妈的差劲。
Jason: Yeah? You’ll fucking suck.
C hris:你知道吗?你需要闭嘴,喝你的啤酒。这就是我什么也没说的原因。
Chris: You know what? You need to shut up an’ drink your beer. That’s exactly why I didn’t say anything.
杰森:随便吧。最多四年后,保证你会回来乞求在奥尔斯特德的工作。还有,你最近去过雷丁高中吗?那里就像监狱一样,关押着三十岁的新生。老兄,他们薪水一文不值,你得再找一份工作才能维持生计。
Jason: Whatever. In four years, max, guarantee you’ll be back begging for your job at Olstead’s. And yo, have you been up to Reading High lately? It’s like a prison yard, they got thirty-year-old freshmen. Dude, that don’t pay jack-shit, you’ll have to take a second job just to keep your lights on.
圣:他说得有道理。你知道现在的老师挣多少钱吗?
Stan: He’s got a point. Do you know what teachers make these days?
杰森:告诉他。
Jason: Tell him.
Stan :说真的,儿子,没有多少人会离开Olstead's,
Stan: Seriously, son, not many people walk away from Olstead’s,
因为你不会在那里找到更好的钱。你离开后就不可能再回来了。会有十个人排队等着抢你的工作。
cuz you’re not gonna find better money out there. You leave, it’ll be impossible to get back in. They’ll be ten guys lining up for your fucking job.
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yup.
圣:就是这样。我认识几个老家伙,他们每小时能挣四十多美元。
Stan: That’s the way it is. And I know a couple of the old guys who are bringing in close to forty-something dollars an hour.
J阿森:听着。
Jason: Listen.
Stan :教学,嗯——
Stan: Teaching, well —
C hris:那很酷。对他们来说很好。但是,我想做一些与我父母不同的事情。哟,我有抱负。就是这样。我不会道歉。
Chris: That’s cool. Good for them. But, I kinda wanna do something a little different than my moms and pops. Yo, I got aspirations. There it is. And I won’t apologize.
杰森:你有抱负吗?这是什么?黑人历史月?
Jason: You got aspirations? What is this, Black History Month?
C hris:事实上是的。你对此有意见吗?
Chris: As a matter of fact it is. You got a problem with that?
杰森:说实话,我对这些甜言蜜语的广告有点厌倦了。事实上,它不应该被称为黑人历史月,而应该被称为“让白人感到内疚月”。对吧,斯坦?
Jason: If we’re being perfectly honest, I get a little tired of the syrupy commercials. Actually, it shouldn’t be called Black History Month, it should be called “Make White People Feel Guilty Month.” Right, Stan?
Stan :别把我卷入这件事。
Stan: Don’t pull me into this.
杰森:那为什么没有白人历史月呢?
Jason: And how come there’s no White History Month?
C hris:嘘。我让你好好思考这个问题!
Chris: Psh. I’m gonna let you ponder that question! Which
我知道这对你来说可能有点困难,我很抱歉。
may be a little difficult for you, I know, and I’m sorry.
杰森:去你妈的。你甚至还没上过大学就已经是个混蛋了。
Jason: Fuck you. You haven’t even gone to college and you’re already an asshole.
C hris:无意冒犯,但我他妈的厌倦了手淫。砰。砰。砰。机器太吵了,我甚至无法思考。每天振作起来去上班越来越难了。
Chris: No offense, but I’m fucking sick of jacking. Phomp. Phomp. Phomp. The machines are so fucking loud I can’t even think. It’s getting harder and harder to pull myself up and go to work every day.
杰森:你绊倒了。
Jason: You’re tripping.
Stan :我了解你的意思,但诀窍是,你必须找到一种节奏并坚持下去,这就是你的管理方法。
Stan: I hear you, but the trick is, you gotta find a rhythm and stay inside of it, that’s how you manage.
C hris:嗯,这不是我想学的节奏。
Chris: Well, it ain’t a rhythm I wanna learn.
杰森:这是什么地板,对你来说还不够好吗?!
Jason: What the floor, it ain’t good enough for you?!
C hris:别误会,我不是这么说的。但是……
Chris: Don’t get it twisted, I’m not saying that. But …
杰森:啥?
Jason: What?
C hris:你没有注意到正在发生的糟糕的事情。
Chris: You ain’t noticed the shit that’s been going on.
杰森:你在说什么?
Jason: What are you talking about?
C hris:我不知道。算了吧。但是——
Chris: I dunno. Forget it. But —
杰森:别这样!拜托。什么?
Jason: Don’t do that! C’mon. What?
C hris:比如,记得,上周,他们有几个戴着白帽子的人在地板上走来走去。
Chris: Like, last week, remember, they had a couple of them white hats walking the floor.
杰森:是啊,那么呢?老兄,也许他们只是在升级设备。
Jason: Yeah, so? Dude, maybe they’re just upgrading the equipment.
C hris:好吧,他们现在有了按钮,BOOP,可以取代我们所有人。Boop。Boop。
Chris: Well, they got buttons now, BOOP, that can replace all of us. Boop. Boop.
杰森:得了吧,你太偏执了。
Jason: C’mon, you’re being paranoid.
C hris:哥们,你有没有想过,如果这件事不行的话,你该怎么办?
Chris: Man, you ever given any thought to what you might do if this don’t work out?
杰森:……不,不是这样的。敲敲木头。我打算在 50 岁左右退休,拿着丰厚的退休金和挥霍无度的钱,在默特尔比奇买一套公寓,开一家 Dunkin' Donuts,过上我的生活。对吧,斯坦?
Jason: … Nah, not really. Knock on wood. I plan on retiring from the plant when I’m like fifty with a killa pension and money to burn, buy a condo in Myrtle Beach, open a Dunkin’ Donuts and live my life. Right, Stan?
Stan :不错的计划。
Stan: Not a bad plan.
碳赫里斯:真的吗?唐恩都乐,这就是你的愿景,对吧?唐恩都乐 - 他妈的唐恩都乐?
Chris: Really? Dunkin’ Donuts, that’s your vision, huh? Dunkin’-Fuckin’-Donuts?
杰森:是的,所以呢?
Jason: Yeah, so?
C hris:上班下班,一天下来,你只剩下一盒甜甜圈和糖尿病。老兄,你的想象力哪去了?你需要坐上公交车去旅行。
Chris: Punch in, punch out, and at the end of the day you end up with a box of donuts and diabetes. My man, where’s your imagination? You need to get on a bus and do some traveling.
杰森:我们去牙买加的游轮怎么样?别再抱怨了。
Jason: What about our cruise to Jamaica? Quit whining.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
但是说真的,伙计,你为什么不告诉我?
But seriously, man, why didn’t you tell me?
C hris : 因为 —
Chris: Cuz —
杰森:妈的,我只是想我们退休然后一起开一家连锁店。我们是一个团队,你不能离开!!
Jason: Shit, I just kinda thought we’d retire and open a franchise together. We’re a team, you can’t leave!!
C hris:是的,我可以。
Chris: Yeah, I can.
杰森:那我呢?
Jason: What about me?
C hris:那你呢?
Chris: What about you?
杰森:你本可以告诉我的。
Jason: You coulda told me.
C hris:老兄,这只是我必须做的事。
Chris: Dude, it’s just something I gotta do.
杰森:是啊,没错!
Jason: Yeah, right!
C hris:啥?
Chris: What?
杰森:好的。
Jason: Okay.
C hris:啥?!
Chris: What?!
杰森:随便吧。嘿,斯坦,给这个婊子倒一杯,让他闭嘴。
Jason: Whatever. Hey Stan, pour this bitch a shot so he’ll shut the fuck up.
2000年3月2日
March 2, 2000
室外温度为 48°F。
Outside it’s 48°F.
新闻:共和党总统候选人辩论会上,艾伦·凯斯、约翰·麦凯恩和乔治·布什。在雷丁,一场彻夜大火导致一位有五个孩子的母亲无家可归。黄铜五金制造商鲍德温五金公司宣布计划在利斯波特开设一家占地 280,000 平方英尺的新工厂。
In the news: In the Republican Presidential Debate, Alan Keyes, John McCain and George Bush. In Reading, an overnight fire leaves a mother with five children homeless. Baldwin Hardware Corporation, a brass hardware maker, announces plans to open a new 280,000-square-foot facility in Leesport.
灯光亮起。酒吧。布鲁斯(非裔美国人,四十多岁)坐在酒吧里喝着酒。电视上正在播放共和党辩论(凯斯、麦凯恩、布什)。
Lights up. Bar. Brucie (African-American, forties) sits at the bar nursing a drink. The Republican Debate (Keyes, McCain, Bush) plays on the television.
Stan :你喜欢谁?
Stan: Who are you liking?
布鲁斯:没关系。到最后他们都会欺负我们。
Brucie: Don’t matter. They’ll all shit on us in the end.
圣:您对这个布什家伙有什么看法?
Stan: What do you think of this Bush guy?
布鲁斯:我不知道。他看上去就像一只小黑猩猩。但是,如果我必须选一个人,布拉德利是我的人选。我一直都很喜欢他,他能突破困境,接住球,把球投在空中。
Brucie: I dunno. He looks like a little fucking chimp. But, if I gotta go with someone, Bradley’s my man. Always liked him, cut through the bullshit, got to the ball, kept it up in the air.
圣:是的,当然,他是一名非常聪明的球员。就像他一样,我不知道他当总统会有多好,但我希望他能参加一场即兴比赛。你在看这个吗?
Stan: Yeah, for sure, a real smart player. Like ’im, don’t know how good a president he’d be, but I’d want him in a pickup game. You watching this?
乙rucie:不。
Brucie: Nah.
(斯坦换了好几个频道,觉得无聊,就关掉了电视。奥斯卡进来开始补充酒吧里的酒。他默默地、有条不紊地工作,积极地倾听着谈话。整个场景中都应该能感受到他安静而警觉的存在。)
(Stan channel-surfs, grows bored, then switches off the television. Oscar enters and begins replenishing the bar. He works silently and methodically, actively listening to the conversation. His quiet but alert presence should be felt throughout the scene.)
你看到加思了吗?
You see Garth?
Stan :没,有什么事吗?
Stan: Nah, what’s up?
布鲁斯:他开了一家 B&B 旅馆。
Brucie: He opened a B and B.
Stan :出去吧,你是第三个告诉我这个的人。
Stan: Get outta here, you’re the third person to tell me that.
B rucie:他总是说他要这么做。他以前总是在谈论这件事。“在洪都拉斯开一家提供住宿和早餐的旅馆。你们会觉得很棒。”我当时想,“什么?是啊,洪都拉斯他妈的在哪儿?” Garth 是个吝啬鬼。他从来都不会买单。现在,我明白了。
Brucie: He always said he was gonna do it. He used to talk about it all of the time. “A bed-and-breakfast in Honduras. It’s gonna be dope, y’all.” I was, like, “What? Yeah, where the fuck is Honduras?” Garth was a cheap-ass bastard. He would never buy a round. Now, I get it.
Stan :目光紧盯着奖品。
Stan: Eyes on the prize.
布鲁斯:是的。
Brucie: Yeah.
Stan :你在忙什么呢?
Stan: Whatcha up to?
布鲁斯:妈的,你知道——
Brucie: Shit, you know —
Stan :是的——
Stan: Yeah —
布鲁斯:在那儿。我不想后退。
Brucie: Out there. I don’t wanna go backwards.
Stan :我听说了,那么你们被锁在外面几天了?
Stan: I hear that, so how many days you guys been locked out?
布鲁斯:九十三周。
Brucie: Ninety-three weeks.
Stan :我也是这么想的。太难了。
Stan: That’s what I thought. Tough.
B rucie:是的。不想签新合同。做个该死的奴隶。这就是他们想要的。我们提出减薪百分之五十,他们不肯让步,他们想让我们放弃退休。这有什么意义?一辈子,一辈子,还是像我十八岁时那样。那是什么意思?
Brucie: Yup. Didn’t wanna take the new contract. Be a fucking slave. That’s what they want. We offered to take a fifty-percent pay cut, they won’t budge, they want us to give up our retirement. What’s the point? Full circle, a lifetime, and be the same place I was when I was eighteen. What is that?
Stan :他们带来临时工吗?
Stan: They bring in temps?
B rucie:是的,大部分是西班牙猫,随便什么。越过界限,他们就把猫累得筋疲力尽,然后在三个月内换一批新的。
Brucie: Yeah, mostly Spanish cats, whatever. Cross the line, they work ’em to the bone, then get a fresh batch in three months.
Stan :去他妈的,你可以做得更好。
Stan: Fuck ’em, you can do better.
布鲁西:我知道有几只猫已经离开了,但如果我们赢得纺织厂的这份新合同,就会有一大笔钱。这就是我坚持下去的原因。他们正试图破坏工会。
Brucie: I know a coupla cats have moved on, but if we win this new contract at the textile mill, there’s a big payout. That’s why I’m holding out. They’re trying to break the union.
Stan :不可能。我为你们感到骄傲。
Stan: Can’t be done. I’m proud of you guys.
布鲁斯:这毫无意义。
Brucie: It’s pointless.
圣:别这么说。
Stan: Don’t say that.
B rucie:我奋斗了多少年了?努力工作。对吧?有家庭。现在,我四十九岁了。
Brucie: I been on the hustle for how many years? Worked hard. Right? Had the family. Now, I’m forty-nine.
Stan :离开这里。
Stan: Get outta here.
乙rucie:是啊,他妈的四十九年,但是听着,前几天我还在想,我得继续干下去,什么?十五年——二十年。你知道的!很担心。伙计,我爸爸没有经历过这种狗屁事。我是说,他……他每天都打卡上班,直到他没有,然后带着一份不错的礼物出去了。去年十月,他参加了一次为期十八天的希腊群岛游轮之旅。我,妈的,我跑了一英里,我投入了时间,做了正确的事,别误会,我度过了几年美好的时光……但是,老兄,告诉我我做错了什么,嗯?
Brucie: Yeah, forty-fucking-nine, but listen, I was thinking the other day, I gotta do this for the next, what? fifteen — twenty years. You know this! Worrying. The hustle, man, my pop didn’t go through this shit. I mean, he … he clocked in every day until he didn’t, and went out with a nice package. He went on an eighteen-day cruise through the Greek Islands last October. Me, shit, I run the full mile, I put in the time, do the right thing, don’t get me wrong, I had some good years … But, dude, tell me what I did wrong, huh?
Stan :我明白你的意思。受伤是我一生中遇到的最好的事情。让我摆脱了那个漩涡。三代人都在车间工作。我非常忠诚,从未想过在其他地方工作。我受伤了。我在医院待了将近两个月。我不能走路。感觉不到我的脚趾。没有一个 Olstead 混蛋打电话来检查我的情况,说“我很抱歉没有修好机器。”他们知道那台机器有问题。Ramsey、Smitz —— 每个人都写了这件事。
Stan: I hear you. Getting injured was the best thing that ever happened to me. Got me out of that vortex. Three generations on the floor. Loyal as hell, I never imagined working anywhere else. I get injured. I’m in the hospital for nearly two months. I can’t walk. Can’t feel my toes. Not one of those Olstead fuckers called to check on me, to say, “I’m sorry for not fixing the machine.” They knew that machine was trouble. Ramsey, Smitz — everyone wrote it up.
布鲁斯:我知道那是怎么回事。
Brucie: I know how that goes.
斯坦:我唯一一次听到奥尔斯特德的消息是他们把那个强硬的律师送进医院,因为他们不想让我起诉。混蛋。二十八年了。那时我才明白过来。那时我才知道,对他们来说,我什么都不是。什么都不是!三代人都忠于同一个公司。这是美国,对吧?你会觉得那意味着什么。他们的行为就像是在帮你一个该死的忙。
Stan: The only time I heard from Olstead is when they sent their hard-ass lawyer to the hospital, ’cause they didn’t want me to sue. Fucking pricks. Twenty-eight years. That’s when I understood. That’s when I knew, I was nobody to them. Nobody! Three generations of loyalty to the same company. This is America, right? You’d think that would mean something. They behave like they’re doing you a goddamn favor.
布鲁斯:我听到了。
Brucie: I hear you.
Stan :归根结底,他们不明白人类尊严是一切的核心。我干了这么多年,他们说谢谢的次数屈指可数。管理层:看着我的眼睛,不时说声“谢谢”。“谢谢你,Stan,你早点来,周末还加班。干得好。”我热爱我的工作。我干得很好。干了 28 年的兼职。看看我的腿!这就是我得到的。
Stan: Bottom line, they don’t understand that human decency is at the core of everything. I been jacking all them years and I can count on my hand the number of times they said thank you. Management: look me in the eye, say “thank you” now and then. “Thanks, Stan, for coming in early and working on the weekend. Good job.” I loved my job. I was good at my job. Twenty-eight years jacking. And look at my leg! That’s what I get.
B rucie:我理解你的感受。但我能坦诚相待吗?……
Brucie: I feel you. But can I be real honest? …
Stan :是的,当然。
Stan: Yeah, of course.
B rucie(原始而诚实):“......我不知道该怎么办。”
Brucie (Raw and honest): … I don’t know what to do.
Stan :你是什么意思?
Stan: Whatcha mean?
B rucie:我不知道该怎么办?(意思是:“我的目的是什么?”)你知道……我已经不知道了。有什么意义?你知道吗?我是认真的。
Brucie: I don’t know what to do? (Meaning: “What’s my purpose?”) You know … I don’t know anymore. What’s the point? You know? I’m being dead serious.
Stan :你不能那么想。
Stan: You can’t think that way.
B rucie:这是我的真心话。我的意思是,这他妈有什么意义?啊?
Brucie: This is me being honest. I mean, what’s the fucking point? Huh?
圣坦:事情会好起来的。
Stan: Things’ll pick up.
B rucie(带着边缘):是啊,你这么认为吗?!
Brucie (With edge): Yeah, you think so?!
圣坦:我愿意。
Stan: I do.
乙rucie:我没有收到那条消息!上周,我在工会办公室报名参加一些狗屁培训,然后这个老白猫,不管是什么,冲我大喊我们抢了他的工作。我们?我问他在说谁,他指着我。我?所以我说,如果你没注意到我和你是一伙的。你好?!你以为这样他就会闭嘴。但是,不。他就像乙烯基上的划痕,喋喋不休地说我们来这里毁了一切。好像我刚下船什么的。他不知道我的传记。1952 年 10 月 2 日,我父亲采摘了最后一包棉花。他带上剃须刀和圣经,向北走去。十天后,他在 Dixon's Hosieries 找到了一份工作。他从院子的肮脏中爬到工会代表处,为像那只猫一样的混蛋而战。所以,我不明白。这种该死的互相指责的游戏,在我的婚姻中,我已经受够了。
Brucie: I’m not receiving that message! Last week, I was at the union office signing up for some bullshit training and this old white cat, whatever, gets in my face, talking about how we took his job. We?I asked him who he was talking about, and he pointed at me. ME? So I said, if you ain’t noticed I’m in the same fucking line as you. Hello?! You’d think that would shut him down. But, no. He’s a scratch in the vinyl, going on and on about us coming here and ruining everything. Like I’m fresh off the boat or some shit. He don’t know my biography. October 2nd, 1952, my father picked his last bale of cotton. He packed his razor and a Bible and headed North. Ten days later he had a job at Dixon’s Hosieries. He clawed his way up from the filth of the yard to Union Rep, fighting for fucking assholes just like that cat. So, I don’t understand it. This damn blame game, I got enough of that in my marriage.
圣坦:别担心。
Stan: Don’t worry about it.
(辛西娅、特蕾西和杰西在谈话中入场。)
(Cynthia, Tracey and Jessie enter, in the midst of conversation.)
特蕾西 (Tracey ):给她加满水,斯坦!
Tracey: Fill her up, Stan!
布鲁西:辛丝。
Brucie: Cynth.
辛西娅:你在这里干什么?!
Cynthia: What are you doing here?!
布鲁斯:和你一样,喝一杯。
Brucie: Same as you, getting a drink.
辛西娅: 这里?
Cynthia: Here?
布鲁斯:嘿,杰西,特蕾西。
Brucie: Hey Jessie, Tracey.
杰西: 布鲁斯。
Jessie: Brucie.
T tracey : 有什么事吗?
Tracey: What’s up?
B rucie:没什么。你们看上去不错。
Brucie: Not much. You guys look good.
特蕾西:你一直是个甜蜜的骗子。
Tracey: You’ve always been a sweet liar.
布鲁西:嘿,辛斯,你有时间吗?
Brucie: Hey Cynth, you got a minute?
辛西娅:不。
Cynthia: No.
B rucie:只是——
Brucie: Just —
辛西娅:不!
Cynthia: No!
(辛西娅和杰西、特蕾西一起坐下。)
(Cynthia plops down with Jessie and Tracey.)
今天真是漫长的一天。我不想开始。让我喝点东西。好吗?
It’s been a long day. I don’t wanna start. Let me have a drink. K?
特蕾西:别理他。
Tracey: Ignore ’im.
杰西:别担心,我们喝一杯然后就走。好吗?
Jessie: Don’t worry about it, we’ll get one drink and then go. K?
(布鲁斯走近那些女人。)
(Brucie approaches the women.)
B rucie:来吧,Cynth——
Brucie: C’mon, Cynth —
辛西娅:你想要什么?
Cynthia: What do you want?
布鲁斯:我可以和你谈谈吗?
Brucie: Can I talk to you?
辛西娅:不。
Cynthia: No.
B rucie:我可以和你谈谈吗?!
Brucie: Can I talk to you?!
辛西娅:不!
Cynthia: No!
布鲁斯:我可以和你谈谈吗?
Brucie: CAN I TALK TO YOU?
辛西娅:不!
Cynthia: NO!
(布鲁斯猛地拍打桌子。声音很震撼。女人们齐声站起来,形成了一个统一战线。)
(Brucie slams the table. It’s jarring. The women stand in unison, a united front.)
圣坦:来吧,布鲁斯。坐下。你还想喝点什么吗?
Stan: C’mon, Brucie. Sit down. You want another drink?
特蕾西:她不想和你说话。
Tracey: She doesn’t want to talk to you.
布鲁斯:你别管这件事!
Brucie: You stay outta this!
Stan :嘿,嘿,来吧——
Stan: Hey. Hey. C’mon —
特蕾西:我们走吧。
Tracey: Let’s go.
辛西娅:我不去。这是我的地方。
Cynthia: I’m not going. This is my place.
杰西:没错。
Jessie: That’s right.
布鲁西:我们就聊聊吧。
Brucie: Let’s just talk.
辛西娅:我知道你想要什么。不要它。
Cynthia: I know what you want. Don’t have it.
(辛西娅把她的口袋翻了过来。)
(Cynthia turns her pockets inside out.)
布鲁斯:表演真棒。我听说你——
Brucie: Nice show. I heard you’re —
辛西娅:什么?
Cynthia: What?
B rucie:我们要在大家面前做这件事吗?
Brucie: We gotta do this in front of everyone?
辛西娅:我们根本没必要这么做。我不记得有什么事要跟你说。
Cynthia: We don’t gotta do this at all. I don’t recall having anything to say to you.
T tracey:放松,别理他。
Tracey: Relax, ignore him.
杰西:别听,别听!
Jessie: Don’t listen, don’t!
Stan :来吧,我给你买一杯……没关系。你喝什么?
Stan: Come on, let me buy you one … It’s okay. What’re you drinking?
(缓和局势。)
(De-escalating.)
B rucie: 一样。
Brucie: Same.
圣坦:来吧,坐下。别再想了。别担心。
Stan: C’mon, sit. Let it go. Don’t worry.
(紧张。斯坦给布鲁斯倒了一杯饮料。)
(Tense. Stan pours Brucie a drink.)
布鲁斯(对斯坦说):她在玩游戏。
Brucie (To Stan): She’s playing games.
圣坦:别担心。
Stan: Don’t worry about it.
辛西娅:他准时准点。星期四。发工资。
Cynthia: He’s like clockwork. Thursday. Paycheck.
特蕾西:你想让我和他谈谈吗?
Tracey: You want me to talk to him?
辛西娅:不会的。这只会让他更疯狂。
Cynthia: Nah. It’ll just make him crazier.
(布鲁斯盯着辛西娅。)
(Brucie stares at Cynthia.)
特蕾西:别看他。
Tracey: Don’t even look at him.
辛西娅:他坐在那儿只是为了跟我做爱。
Cynthia: He’s gonna sit there just to fuck with me.
杰西:坚强起来!
Jessie: Stay strong!
(布鲁斯试图引起辛西娅的注意,但女人们却故意忽视他。他最后说道:“辛西娅。”)
(The women actively ignore Brucie as he tries to get Cynthia’s attention. He mouths, “Cynthia.” Finally:)
(对布鲁斯)你为什么不让她一个人呆着?!
(To Brucie) Why don’t you leave her alone?!
B rucie:你怎么不放松一下嘴巴?!
Brucie: Why don’t you relax your mouth?!
辛西娅:别那样跟她说话!
Cynthia: Don’t talk to her that way!
(布鲁斯示范性地将双手放在心上。)
(Brucie demonstratively places his hands over his heart.)
乙rucie:辛斯?宝贝?
Brucie: Cynth? Babe?
Stan :布鲁斯……
Stan: Brucie …
布鲁斯:你不公平。
Brucie: You’re not being fair.
辛西娅:谁不公平?!布鲁斯,我的鱼在哪儿?啊?
Cynthia: Who’s not being fair?! Where are my muthafucking fish, Brucie? Huh?
(辛西娅突然从桌边站起,向布鲁斯走去。)
(Cynthia suddenly gets up from the table and marches toward Brucie.)
特蕾西:不要。
Tracey: Don’t.
杰西(对布鲁斯说):你还真有胆量!
Jessie (To Brucie): You got some nerve!
布鲁斯:我只是想聊聊。
Brucie: Just wanna talk.
辛西娅:我在这里!说话吧!
Cynthia: Here I am! Talk!
(布鲁斯轻轻地握住她的手。)
(Brucie gently takes her hand.)
特蕾西:辛西娅!
Tracey: Cynthia!
布鲁斯:嘿,大嘴巴,给我们一点时间。
Brucie: Hey, mouth, give us a second.
T tracey:你根本不尊重女人。
Tracey: You don’t have any respect for women.
布鲁斯:不,我不尊重你。所以闭嘴吧!
Brucie: No, I don’t have no respect for you. So shut up!
特蕾西:你想知道为什么你的妻子不跟你说话。
Tracey: And you wonder why your wife won’t talk to you.
B rucie:……你能给我们留点空间吗?
Brucie: … Can you just give us some room?
辛西娅(对特蕾西说):我明白了。
Cynthia (To Tracy): I got this.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
你想要什么,布鲁斯?
What do you want, Brucie?
B rucie:我一直试图解释。
Brucie: I keep trying to explain.
(布鲁斯拿出一张纸。)
(Brucie produces a piece of paper.)
辛西娅:那是什么?
Cynthia: What’s that?
(他把它递给辛西娅。她读了起来。)
(He hands it to Cynthia. She reads.)
布鲁斯:我正在参加一个项目。
Brucie: I’m in a program.
辛西娅:喝酒也是该计划的一部分吗?
Cynthia: And is having a drink part of that program?
布鲁斯:不一样。
Brucie: It’s not the same.
辛西娅:我不敢苟同。
Cynthia: I beg to differ.
布鲁西:你就说这些吗?
Brucie: That’s all you gotta say?
辛西娅:你想让我说什么?
Cynthia: Whatcha want me to say?
B rucie:我只是想让你知道我正在努力。
Brucie: Just wanna show you I’m trying.
辛西娅:K 。
Cynthia: K.
布鲁斯:然后呢?
Brucie: And?
辛西娅:我们做完了吗?
Cynthia: We done?
(布鲁斯将纸折起来并放进口袋。)
(Brucie folds the paper and puts it in his pocket.)
布鲁斯:是的。
Brucie: Yeah.
辛西娅:K。好漂亮的纸。如果这是工资单,我可能会很惊讶。你给你儿子打电话了吗?
Cynthia: K. Nice piece of paper. Maybe I’d be impressed if it was a pay stub. You call your son?
乙rucie:他怎么样了?
Brucie: How’s he doing?
辛西娅:很好。进化论。克里斯告诉你他的新闻了吗?
Cynthia: Good. Evolution. Chris tell you his news?
布鲁斯:不。
Brucie: Nah.
辛西娅:他进了奥尔布赖特。
Cynthia: He got into Albright.
B rucie:呸,真的吗?
Brucie: Psh, for real?
辛西娅:你就说这么多?你知道,他真的希望你……算了,直接给他打电话就行。K。他九月份就要开始工作了。
Cynthia: That’s all you gotta say? You know, he really wants you to … Forget it, just call ’im. K. He’s starting in September.
布鲁斯:大学?谁出钱?
Brucie: College? Who’s paying for it?
辛西娅: 是的。
Cynthia: He is.
布鲁斯:你打算让他放弃工厂的稳定收入吗?问我吧,他真是个傻瓜——
Brucie: You gonna let him walk away from that steady money at the plant? Ask me, he’d be a damn fool to —
辛西娅:好建议。你觉得这个建议怎么样?
Cynthia: Good advice. How’s that working out for you?
布鲁斯:……
Brucie: …
辛西娅:听着,如果你跟他说话,帮我个忙,说你为他感到骄傲,然后就这样吧。别给他灌输任何其他想法。因为如果你这么做了,上帝保佑我……这是件好事。你应该为他感到骄傲。
Cynthia: Look, if you speak to him, do me a favor, say you’re proud of ’im and leave it at that. Don’t put any other ideas in his head. Cuz if you do, so help me God … This is a good thing. And you should be proud of him.
特蕾西:没错,辛思,他一直很聪明。
Tracey: That’s right, he’s always been smart, Cynth.
B rucie:我只是说——
Brucie: I’m just saying —
辛西娅:换个方式,什么都别说。
Cynthia: Say nothing for a change.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
布鲁斯:你还好吗?
Brucie: You doing okay?
辛西娅:是的。我很酷。
Cynthia: Yeah. I’m cool.
布鲁斯:斯坦说你正在考虑升职。
Brucie: Stan says you’re being considered for a promotion.
辛西娅:是的。仓库主管。不只是我。特蕾西、克拉伦斯和胖亨利。我们都在竞争。
Cynthia: Yeah. Warehouse Supervisor. Not just me. Tracey, Clarence and Fat Henry. We’re all in the running.
布鲁斯(对特蕾西说):真的吗?
Brucie (To Tracey): That true?
Tracey :是的。很快就要做出决定了。但我并不抱太大希望,他们只是在吹牛,因为一些花哨的顾问告诉他们,把事情搞砸是个好主意。
Tracey: Yeah. Deciding soon. But, I’m not holding my breath, they’re just blowing smoke up our asses, because some fancy consultant told ’em it would be a good idea to chum the waters.
辛西娅:来吧。你和我一样想要这个。你不会拥有它,但我知道你会拥有它。
Cynthia: C’mon. You want this as bad as I do. You won’t own it, but I know you do.
杰西:当然了,特蕾西就喜欢发号施令。
Jessie: Of course she does, Tracey likes giving fucking orders.
特蕾西:离开这里。
Tracey: Get outta here.
辛西娅:但是,如果我们中有人得到了这份工作,那该有多好啊?
Cynthia: But, c’mon if one us gets this job, how sweet’ll that be?
(辛西娅给了特蕾西一个热情的拥抱。)
(Cynthia gives Tracey a warm hug.)
布鲁斯(幽默风趣):如果他们考虑你们,那他们肯定手头很拮据。
Brucie (Humor with edge): They must be hard up if they’re considering you guys.
辛西娅:别跟我争吵。听着,我很高兴你把事情处理好了。但是,我得——
Cynthia: Don’t start with me. Listen, I’m glad you’re getting things together. But, I got —
乙rucie:等一下,等一下。别走开。求你了。
Brucie: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Don’t walk away. Please.
我对 12 月发生的事情感到难过。那不是我的错……我很抱歉。听着,我正在戒掉毒瘾。好吗?不会再发生了。太丢脸了。你了解我。嘘。我曾经取笑过像我这样的猫。
I feel bad about what went down in December. It wasn’t me … I’m sorry. Look, I’m getting clean. Okay? It’s not gonna happen again. It’s too embarrassing. You know me. Psh. I useta make fun of cats like me.
(他握住她的手。很温柔。辛西娅很容易被他的魅力所折服。)
(He takes her hand. Smooth. Cynthia is vulnerable to his charm.)
对不起。K,宝贝?你看上去不错。你穿着工作服总是看起来很性感。
I’m sorry. K, babe? You look good. You always looked sexy in your work clothing.
杰西:特蕾西,做点什么吧。
Jessie: Tracey, do something.
布鲁西:我到家的时候,忍不住注意到排水沟需要重新安装。我可以过来帮你安装。我们把事情简单化,你知道,谈谈。我觉得如果我们关系好的话,我就会更容易恢复。
Brucie: I couldn’t help but notice when I was by the house that the gutter needs to be rehung. I can come by and do it. We’ll keep things simple, you know, talk. I feel like if things was good with us, it would be easier to get back on my feet.
辛西娅:不这么认为。你可以打电话给克里斯……别再吸毒了,但别过来。
Cynthia: Don’t think so. You can call Chris … Get off that dope, but don’t come by.
B rucie:当我重新回到工作岗位时——
Brucie: When I get my job back —
辛西娅:如果。如果。我完全支持你们坚强起来,宝贝,但到了一定时候你得想想这会对我们造成什么影响。
Cynthia: If. If. I’m all for you guys standing strong, babe, but at some point you gotta think about what this is doing to us.
B rucie(一切顺利):我可以亲一下吗?
Brucie (All smoothness): Can I get a kiss?
辛西娅:什么?
Cynthia: What?
布鲁斯:至少我可以得到一个吻吗?
Brucie: Can I at least get a kiss?
(他上前亲吻,辛西娅投降了。亲密的一刻。然后特蕾西跳了起来。)
(He goes in for a kiss, Cynthia surrenders. An intimate moment. Then Tracey jumps to attention.)
T tracey:我觉得你最好走了!
Tracey: I think you better go!
布鲁西:我不跟你说话,嘴巴!
Brucie: I’m not talking to you, mouth!
特蕾西:你在跟她说话,也在跟我说话。
Tracey: You’re talking to her, you’re talking to me.
布鲁斯:作为一个白人女孩,你真是勇敢啊。
Brucie: You got a lotta moxie for a white girl.
T racey:我可不只是胆量!试试我吧!别再管她了。
Tracey: I got more than moxie! Try me! Leave her alone.
还好吗?她现在过得很好——
Okay? She’s doing really well —
杰西:别把这事儿给她搞砸了!
Jessie: Don’t fuck this up for her!
T racey:你想为 Cynthia 做点什么吗?戒掉毒瘾或者滚蛋。这是你能为她做的最好的事。
Tracey: You wanna do something for Cynthia? Get clean or get lost. That’s the best thing you can do for her.
B rucie:你别告诉我该做什么!我知道该做什么!
Brucie: Don’t you tell me what I need to do! I know what I need to do!
圣:布鲁斯,也许你最好——
Stan: Brucie, maybe you better —
(布鲁斯突然情绪激动。他试图恢复镇定,但他却像在与一场海啸搏斗。)
(Brucie is suddenly emotional. He tries to pull it together, but he’s battling a tsunami.)
布鲁西:辛西娅!求求你——
Brucie: Cynthia! Please —
辛西娅:不!!
Cynthia: No!!
2000 年 4 月 17 日
April 17, 2000
室外温度为 60°F。
Outside it’s 60°F.
新闻:科技泡沫破裂,道琼斯指数三天前创纪录下跌 617 点。华盛顿特区抗议者扰乱世界银行和国际货币基金组织会议。一名 26 岁男子在雷丁伍德沃德街离开一家酒吧时遭枪击。
In the news: Three days after a record 617-point drop in the Dow Jones as the tech bubble bursts. DC protesters disrupt the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meeting. A 26-year-old man is shot leaving a bar on Woodward Street in Reading.
酒吧外景。特蕾西站在外面抽烟。奥斯卡走出去,站在门口。
Bar exterior. Tracey stands outside, smoking a cigarette. Oscar steps outside and stands in the doorway.
O scar:嘿。
Oscar: Hey.
特蕾西:嘿。
Tracey: Hey.
O scar:我可以抽根烟吗?
Oscar: Can I bum a cigarette?
特蕾西(不屑一顾):不。
Tracey (Dismissive): No.
噢,斯卡:没什么可谢谢你的。
Oscar: Thank you for nothing.
特蕾西:别客气。
Tracey: You’re welcome.
(停顿。奥斯卡仍然站在门口。)
(Beat. Oscar is still standing in the doorway.)
你没什么事要做吗?
Don’t you got something to do?
O scar:这是我的休息时间。
Oscar: It’s my break.
(尴尬的时刻。)
(An awkward moment.)
你知道他们在里面等你吗?
Did you know they’re waiting for you inside?
特蕾西:是的,我知道。
Tracey: Yeah, I know.
哦,斯卡:你想让我告诉他们你在这里吗?
Oscar: Do you want me to tell ’em you’re out here?
T tracey:我看上去像是需要你管我的事情吗?
Tracey: Do I look like I need you to mind my business?
O scar:好吧,随便你。只是想帮忙。
Oscar: Okay, whatever. Just trying to help.
T racey:你能给我一点空间吗?
Tracey: Can you, like, give me my space?
O scar:严格来说,这是我的空间。这是我放松的地方。这是我的地盘。但是,我是个绅士。
Oscar: Technically, this is my space. This is where I chill. This is my spot. But, I’m a gentleman.
T racey:你真棒。现在滚开。
Tracey: Good for you. Now, fuck off.
噢,斯卡(低声说):贱人。
Oscar (Under his breath): Bitch.
T tracey:混蛋。
Tracey: Asshole.
噢刀疤:去你妈的。
Oscar: Fuck you.
T tracey:不,去你妈的!
Tracey: No, fuck you!
(短暂的对峙,双方都不肯屈服。)
(A brief standoff, neither will surrender ground.)
… 什么?
… What?
噢刀疤:啥?!
Oscar: What?!
(最后,特蕾西心软了,给了他一支香烟。)
(Finally, Tracey melts and gives him a cigarette.)
T tracey:开心吗?
Tracey: Happy?
O scar:谢谢。
Oscar: Thank you.
(她点燃了他的香烟。他们吸烟。)
(She lights his cigarette. They smoke.)
… 你 -
… You —
T tracey: 嗯?
Tracey: Yeah?
O scar:嗯。嗯,呃,呃——
Oscar: Um. Um, uh, uh —
特蕾西:你是弱智吗?什么?
Tracey: Are you retarded? What?
O scar:你在工厂工作,对吗?
Oscar: You work at the plant, right?
特蕾西:和所有进来的人一起。哎呀!,。
Tracey: Along with everyone else who comes in here. Dah! ,.
O疤痕:这样可以吗?
Oscar: It awright?
特蕾西:没关系,这只是一份工作。稳住。随便吧。
Tracey: It’s okay, it’s a job. Steady. Whatever.
O scar:他们付的钱多吗?
Oscar: They pay good?
特蕾西:我付了账单。为什么问这么多问题?
Tracey: I pay my bills. What’s with all the questions?
O scar:我之所以问这个是因为我在 Centro Hispano 看到了一个帖子。
Oscar: I’m just asking cuz I saw a posting down at the Centro Hispano.
特蕾西:那他妈是什么?
Tracey: What the fuck is that?
O scar:拉丁裔社区中心。
Oscar: The Latino Community Center.
T racey:你看到帖子是什么意思?
Tracey: What do you mean you saw a posting?
O scar:一个招聘启事,一个招聘启事。奥尔斯特德的?钢管?那是你的地方,对吧?
Oscar: A posting, a job posting. Olstead’s? Steel Tubing? That’s your place, right?
特蕾西:这不是我的地方,这是我工作的地方。
Tracey: It’s not my place, it’s where I work.
O scar:是的,好的......他们正在招聘员工,我知道那里的薪水肯定比这里高。
Oscar: Yeah, okay … they’re looking to hire folks, and I know it gotta pay better than here.
T tracey:你在说什么?Olstead 不招人了。
Tracey: What are you talking about? Olstead’s isn’t hiring.
O scar:我听说的不是这个。他们正在培训包装工、托运人……我得到了这个信息。
Oscar: That ain’t what I heard. They’s looking to train packers, shippers … I got the info.
(奥斯卡从口袋里掏出一张折叠的传单。)
(Oscar takes a folded flyer from his pocket.)
特蕾西:让我看看。
Tracey: Let me see that.
(特蕾西接过传单。)
(Tracey takes the flyer.)
我只能读到“Olstead's”。其余的都是胡言乱语。
All I can read is “Olstead’s.” The rest is gibberish.
O scar:不是,是西班牙语。你看,上面写着你去工厂填写培训申请表的时间。
Oscar: No it’s Spanish. See there, it gives times when you go down to the plant to fill out an application for training.
特蕾西:这是个玩笑。我不这么认为。不。不。首先,你必须加入工会。
Tracey: This is a joke. I don’t think so. No. No. First off, you gotta be in the union.
O scar:根据传单说的不是。
Oscar: Not according to the flyer.
T tracey:嗯,你错了。
Tracey: Well, you got it wrong.
O scar:好的。
Oscar: Okay.
T tracey:你错了!
Tracey: You got it wrong!
噢刀疤:好的!
Oscar: Okay!
特蕾西:但事实并非如此。无论如何,你得认识某个人才能进去。我爸爸在那里工作,我也在那里工作,我儿子也在那里工作。这就是那种商店。一直都是。
Tracey: And that’s not how it works. Anyway. You gotta know somebody to get in. My dad worked there, I work there and my son works there. It’s that kinda shop. Always been.
噢,刀疤:我认识你。
Oscar: I know you.
电视racey:你不认识我。
Tracey: You don’t know me.
O scar:别人是怎么进来的?
Oscar: How does someone get in?
Tracey :问够了。你妈妈没教你尊敬长辈吗?
Tracey: Enough with the questions. Your mother didn’t teach you to respect your elders?
O scar:那里的灯光很明亮。
Oscar: They’re getting pretty lit in there.
T tracey: 嗯?
Tracey: Yeah?
O scar:那么,他们在庆祝什么呢?
Oscar: Sooo, what are they celebrating?
特蕾西:你认识辛西娅。
Tracey: You know Cynthia.
O scar:是的。
Oscar: Yeah.
T tracey:嗯,她上周刚升职。他们给了她一份工作,一份靠背椅。我希望她现在就闭嘴。
Tracey: Well, she just got promoted last week. They gave her a frigging cushion of a job. A recliner. And I wish she’d just shut up about it already.
O scar:我以为你们是朋友。
Oscar: I thought you guys was friends.
T tracey:是的,我们是朋友。那么,你有时不会厌倦你的朋友吗?
Tracey: Yeah, we’re friends. So? You don’t get sick of your friends sometimes?
(特蕾西抽了一口香烟。)
(Tracey draws on her cigarette.)
你知道我在工厂工作了多久吗?算了吧……算了,这不重要……但是,我和辛西娅一样熟悉车间。我懂。你想知道真相,我没得到这份工作的唯一原因是因为巴兹想操我,我不让他干,他告诉管理层的每个人都说我很不稳定。我并不是很不稳定。我就像——
You know how long I been working at the plant? Forget it … Never mind, it’s not important … But, I know the floor as good as Cynthia. I do. You wanna know the truth, the only reason I didn’t get the job is because Butz tried to fuck me and I wouldn’t let him, and he told everyone in management that I’m unstable. I’m not unstable. I’m like —
O scar:这真是太糟糕了。
Oscar: That’s some shit.
Tracey :是的。这很糟糕。而且我猜他们想要的是少数族裔。
Tracey: Yeah. It sucks. And, I betcha they wanted a minority.
我不是有偏见,但如今的情况就是这样。我有眼光。他们得到减税或类似的待遇。
I’m not prejudice, but that’s how things are going these days. I got eyes. They get tax breaks or something.
O scar:我对这些都一无所知。
Oscar: I dunno know about all that.
T tracey:这是事实。事情就是这样。我不是有偏见,我说,你就是你,你知道吗?我对每个人都很好。但是,我的意思是……拜托……你们来这里,可以比——更快地找到工作
Tracey: It’s a fact. That’s how things are going. And I’m not prejudice, I say, you are who you are, you know? I’m cool with everyone. But, I mean … c’mon … you guys coming over here, you can get a job faster than —
噢,斯卡:我出生在这里。
Oscar: I was born here.
特蕾西:不过……你不是在这里出生的,伯克斯。
Tracey: Still … you wasn’t born here, Berks.
O scar:是的,我是。
Oscar: Yeah, I was.
电视racey:是吗?好吧,我家已经在这里住了很久了。从二十年代开始,好吗?他们建造了我住的房子。他们建造了这个小镇。我的祖父是德国人,他可以建造任何东西。橱柜、精美家具,任何东西。他有一双神奇的手。坚固、多肉、非常结实。你不能握住他的手而不感觉到他的存在,感觉到他的力量。而且,让我告诉你,那双手是坚实的工人之手,你知道,他们真的知道如何制造东西。美丽的东西。我现在不是在说,你是如何找到这些能用腻子修补洞并自以为是的人的。我的祖父是真正的工匠。一个工匠……我记得当我还是个孩子的时候,我是说八九岁的时候,我们会和爷爷一起去宾夕法尼亚市中心。边走边看商店的橱窗。那时候市中心真的很好。你会盛装打扮去购物。你知道,波默罗伊、惠特纳,什么的。我觉得自己很特别,因为他身材魁梧,人们给他让座。但我真正喜欢的是,他会带我去办公楼、银行……随便什么,他会指出木工活。如果你离他很近,他会给我看他为我雕刻的一些细节。一朵苹果花。真的。这就是我要说的。以前,如果你亲自动手工作,人们会因此而尊重你。这是一种天赋。但现在,宾大什么都没有了。你走进大楼,墙壁上覆盖着石膏板,木头漆成灰色或某种不雅的颜色,这让我很难过。这让我……随便吧。
Tracey: Yeah? Well, my family’s been here a long time. Since the twenties, okay? They built the house that I live in. They built this town. My grandfather was German, and he could build anything. Cabinets, fine furniture, anything. He had these amazing hands. Sturdy. Meaty. Real firm. You couldn’t shake his hand without feeling his presence, feeling his power. And those hands, let me tell you, they were solid, worker hands, you know, and they really, really knew how to make things. Beautiful things. I’m not talking about now, how you got these guys who can patch a hole with spackle and think they’re the shit. My grandfather was the real thing. A craftsman … And I remember when I was a kid, I mean eight or nine, we’d go downtown to Penn with Opa. To walk and look in store windows. Downtown was real nice back then. You’d get dressed up to go shopping. You know, Pomeroy’s, Whitner’s, whatever. I felt really special, because he was this big, strapping man and people gave him room. But, what I really loved was that he’d take me to office buildings, banks … you name it, and he’d point out the woodwork. And if you got really, really close he’d show some detail that he’d carved for me. An apple blossom. Really. That’s what I’m talking about. It was back when if you worked with your hands people respected you for it. It was a gift. But now, there’s nothing on Penn. You go into the buildings, the walls are covered over with sheetrock, the wood painted gray, or some ungodly color, and it just makes me sad. It makes me … Whatever.
O scar:你还好吗?
Oscar: You okay?
特蕾西:听着,你手里的那张纸是一种侮辱,它没有任何意义,奥尔斯特德不适合你。
Tracey: Listen, that piece of paper that you’re holding is an insult, it don’t mean anything, Olstead’s isn’t for you.
2000 年 5 月 5 日
May 5, 2000
室外温度为 84°F。
Outside it’s 84°F.
新闻:美国失业率降至 30 年来最低水平 3.9%。雷丁市因担心出现 10,000,000 美元的赤字而解雇了 12 名员工。艾伦·艾弗森和费城 76 人队备战东部半决赛第一场比赛。
In the news: The U.S. unemployment rate tumbles to a 30-year low, 3.9%. The City of Reading fires a dozen employees, fearing a deficit of $10,000,000. Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers prepare for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
点亮灯光。酒吧。斯坦准备了一支吉姆雷特香烟。杰西坐在吧台边盯着生日蛋糕。奥斯卡在吧台后面玩着便携式视频游戏。
Lights up. Bar. Stan prepares a gimlet. Jessie sits at the bar eyeing a birthday cake. Oscar is behind the bar, playing a portable video game.
S tan:手钻,摇晃但不搅拌。
Stan: A gimlet, shaken but not stirred.
(斯坦把鸡尾酒放在吧台上。)
(Stan places the cocktail on the bar.)
杰西:这次你真的放了酒在里面吗?
Jessie: Did you actually put some alcohol in it this time?
Stan :我违背自己的判断,做了——
Stan: Against my better judgment, I did —
杰西:非常有趣。
Jessie: Very funny.
(杰西抿了一口,细细品味。)
(Jessie takes a sip, savoring.)
圣:你坐那把椅子很久了。女士们要来吗?
Stan: You been warming that seat for a long time. Are the ladies coming?
杰西:他们这么说,但现在谁知道呢?
Jessie: That’s what they say, but who knows at this point?
Stan :他们应该什么时候和你见面?
Stan: What time were they supposed to meet ya?
杰西:正式的?一个多小时前。
Jessie: Officially? Over an hour ago.
圣:天啊。有什么事是我应该知道的吗?
Stan: Jesus. Is something going on that I should know?
Jessie:不知道。辛西娅。升职。随便吧。特蕾西假装这没什么大不了的。但我看得出来她不喜欢听从辛西娅的命令。别把这件事说出去,但他们之间的关系一直不太好。
Jessie: Dunno. Cynthia. The promotion. Whatever. Tracey pretends like it ain’t a big deal. But, I can tell she don’t like taking orders from Cynthia. And don’t spread this, but things haven’t been so good between them.
圣:这就是这个镇上人们的作风。抱怨和发牢骚,想要过得更好。但是,一旦有人做得很好,就忘掉这一切。
Stan: That’s the way people are in this town. Bitch and moan, want something better. But, then the minute someone does well, forget it.
杰西:跟我说说。特蕾西一直在城里四处散布谣言,说辛西娅得到这份工作的唯一原因是她是黑人。两个月前她还不在乎,突然——
Jessie: Tell me about it. Tracey’s been going around town whispering that the only reason Cynthia got the job is cuz she’s black. Two months ago she couldn’t give a shit, and suddenly —
Stan :得了吧。胡说。辛西娅赢得了这次晋升。
Stan: C’mon. Bullshit. Cynthia earned that promotion.
杰西:当然,但我知道事实上这激怒了很多人。
Jessie: Sure, but I know for a fact that it pissed off a lot of people.
圣:算了吧。人们不喜欢改变。我不会为此失眠的——
Stan: Gimme a break. People don’t like change. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it —
杰西:你说得对,去他妈的,我受够了夹在中间。我们切蛋糕吧。
Jessie: You’re right, fuck ’em all, I’m sick of being in the middle. Let’s cut the cake.
圣坦:你确定吗?
Stan: You sure?
杰西:是的!
Jessie: Yeah!
斯坦:嘿,奥斯卡。
Stan: Hey, Oscar.
噢斯卡:嗯?
Oscar: Yeah?
圣坦:你能给我拿把刀吗?
Stan: Will you get me a knife?
(奥斯卡从吧台上拿出一把刀。)
(Oscar retrieves a knife from the bar.)
你有什么特别的生日祝福吗?
You got any special birthday wishes?
杰西:当然可以。不过你知道什么会更好吗?一个吻。
Jessie: Hell yeah. But, you know what would be nice, a kiss.
我今天只想被亲吻。
I just wanna be kissed today.
(杰西吹灭了蜡烛。)
(Jessie blows out the candles.)
Stan :亲爱的,生日快乐。
Stan: Happy birthday, sweetheart.
O scar:生日快乐。
Oscar: Happy birthday.
杰西:谢谢。
Jessie: Thank you.
(杰西切蛋糕。辛西娅气喘吁吁地冲进来。)
(Jessie cuts the cake. Cynthia rushes in, winded.)
辛西娅:我很抱歉,宝贝。
Cynthia: I’m so sorry, babe.
杰西:老板来了!
Jessie: Here comes the boss!
辛西娅:真头疼,我被困在一场会议上了。
Cynthia: What a headache, I got stuck at a meeting.
杰西:一切都还好吗?
Jessie: Everything okay?
辛西娅:别担心。今天是你的生日。祝你生日快乐。
Cynthia: Don’t worry about it. Today is your day. Here. Happy birthday.
(辛西娅递给杰西一张雪儿的 CD。)
(Cynthia passes Jessie a Cher CD.)
(唱歌:)
(Singing:)
你相信爱情之后的生活吗?
Do you believe in life after love?
(辛西娅拥抱杰西。她们一起唱:)
(Cynthia hugs Jessie. They both sing:)
碳ynthia 和J essie:
Cynthia and Jessie:
我感觉内心有话要说
I can feel something inside me say
我实在认为你不够坚强。
I really don’t think you’re strong enough.
杰西:我差点就原谅你了。
Jessie: I almost forgive you.
辛西娅:我绝对不会错过这个,但我无法离开那里。我被困在一个“主管”的房间里,他们所有人都对如何提高车间的运行效率有着热情的想法,但这些蠢货中没有一个人真正操作过机器。
Cynthia: There’s no way I’d miss this, but I couldn’t get out of there. I was trapped in a room of “supervisors,” all of ’em had passionate ideas about how the floor could be run more efficiently, yet none of those donkeys have actually operated a machine.
杰西:别胡说。
Jessie: No shit.
辛西娅:有个白痴真的以为五个半人就能管理好这个工厂。
Cynthia: There’s this one idiot who seriously thinks that the plant can be run by five and a half people.
杰西:哈!你要去哪儿找半个人?
Jessie: Ha! Where are you going to find half a person?
圣坦:威士忌?
Stan: Whiskey?
辛西娅:双倍,宝贝。
Cynthia: Double, babe.
Stan (讽刺地):天哪,新工作怎么样?
Stan (Sarcastically): Jeez, how’s the new job?
辛西娅:太累了。
Cynthia: Exhausting.
杰西:只要他们今年夏天能修好空调,我就很高兴了。
Jessie: As long as they fix the air-conditioning this summer, I’m happy.
辛西娅:这是我很长的单子上的第十六项,宝贝,别太担心。
Cynthia: It’s number sixteen on my very long list, babe, don’t hold your breath.
圣坦:瞧瞧你。你有名单吗?
Stan: Look at you. You got a list?
辛西娅:我还有一张桌子和一台电脑。
Cynthia: I also got a desk, whoa, and a computer.
圣坦:啥?!
Stan: What?!
杰西:我看见了,她没有说谎。
Jessie: I seen it, she ain’t lying.
Stan :我是说,他们整整一年都在地板上度过。那滋味一定很甜蜜。
Stan: I mean shit, all of them years on the floor. That must taste sweet.
辛西娅:甜美得无法形容,宝贝。第一天,我停车。下车后立即走向楼层,这是一种条件反射。我照做,走到门口,和往常一样,我闻到油和金属灰尘的味道,听到机器转动的声音,感受到房间的能量。我走到我的站位,说:“嘿,兰斯,贝基”,做好准备,我的身体知道它在那里收拾管子。这就是我所做的。
Cynthia: Sweet don’t even begin to describe it, babe. First day, I park. Get out, and immediately head for the floor, it’s a reflex. I just do it, get to the door, same as usual, I smell the oil and metal dust, I hear the machinery churning and feel the energy of the room. I go to my station, say, “Hey Lance, Becky,” get ready, my body knows it’s there to pack tubes. That’s what I do.
Stan ://这就是你要做的。
Stan: // That’s what you do.
辛西娅:我启动了机器,但大家都看着我,特蕾西说:“你他妈的在这里干什么?”然后我想起来了。我可以坐下来了。
Cynthia: I fire up the machine, but everyone is looking at me, and Tracey says, “What the fuck you doing here?” Then I remember. I can go sit down.
杰西:// 是的,你可以。
Jessie: // Yes, you can.
辛西娅:我不穿我的 Carhartt,也不打算站十个小时,我松开我的支撑带,我不用担心我的手指抽筋或左脚上的血泡。我可以不再出汗,因为该死的办公室有空调。这些混蛋有空调。
Cynthia: I’m not wearing my Carhartt,a not gonna be on my feet for ten hours, I loosen my support belt, I don’t have to worry about my fingers cramping or the blood blister on my left foot. I can stop sweating because goddamn the office has air-conditioning. These muthafuckers got air-conditioning.
Jessie:当然了。
Jessie: Of course they do.
辛西娅:二十四年了,除了处理文书工作,我不记得和办公室里的任何人交谈过。我的意思是,有些人在这里工作的时间和我们一样长,但他们就像坐在公交车上你旁边的陌生人一样陌生。
Cynthia: Twenty-four years, and I can’t remember talking to anyone in the office, except to do paperwork. I mean some of these folks have been working there as long as us, but they’re as unfamiliar as a stranger sitting next to you on a bus.
杰西:那是肯定的。
Jessie: That’s for sure.
Stan :是的——
Stan: Yeah —
辛西娅:这就像看着地图,发现你离海洋只有几英里。但你不知道,因为它在该死的山的另一边。
Cynthia: It’s like looking at a map, and discovering that you’re only just a few miles away from the ocean. But you didn’t know because it was on the other side of the damn mountains.
杰西:我为你感到骄傲。你从地板上爬了起来。
Jessie: I’m so proud of you. You got off the fucking floor.
(克里斯和杰森兴致勃勃地冲进来拥抱杰西。突然,聚会变得热闹起来。)
(Chris and Jason sweep in with energy and hug Jessie. Suddenly it’s a party.)
C hris:怎么了?!
Chris: WHASSUP?!
杰森:我们错过聚会了?!
Jason: We miss the party?!
杰西:不。你来得正是时候,我们正在切蛋糕。
Jessie: Nah. You’re just in time, we’re cutting the cake.
杰森:看上去不错。
Jason: Looks good.
(杰森用手指抹去糖霜。)
(Jason swipes frosting with his fingers.)
Stan :嘿,出去吧。
Stan: Hey, get outta there.
杰森:生日快乐!
Jason: Happy birthday!
C hris(唱歌):“祝你生日快乐!”
Chris (Singing): “Happy birthday to ya!”
杰西:谢谢!
Jessie: Thank you!
辛西娅:你们从哪里来?
Cynthia: Where you guys coming from?
C hris:刚刚骑了杰森的新自行车。
Chris: Just took a spin on Jason’s new bike.
圣坦:不!
Stan: No!
杰森:是的!
Jason: Yes!
Stan :恭喜你!
Stan: Congratulations!
辛西娅:我希望你戴着头盔。
Cynthia: I hope you were wearing a helmet.
C hris(对 Stan 说):你有什么打算吗?
Chris (To Stan): Whatcha got on tap?
Stan :你还需要问吗?
Stan: You need to ask?
C hris:保持希望。这就是我要说的。
Chris: Keep hope alive. That’s all I’m saying.
杰森:哥们。
Jason: Dude.
(杰森扫视了一下房间。)
(Jason scans the room.)
妈在哪儿?
Where’s Ma?
杰西:我不知道,你告诉我吧。
Jessie: I dunno, you tell me.
杰森:别担心。她会来的。你认识她。
Jason: Don’t worry. She’ll be here. You know her.
杰西:是的。
Jessie: Yeah.
克里斯(对辛西娅说):你看上去很重要。
Chris (To Cynthia): You look all important.
辛西娅:必须穿得适合这个角色。
Cynthia: Gotta dress the part.
(克里斯拥抱了辛西娅。)
(Chris gives Cynthia a hug.)
杰西:你一定为你的妈妈感到骄傲吧?
Jessie: Betcha proud of your ma?
C hris:她没事。
Chris: She’s aight.
(辛西娅开玩笑地戳了克里斯一下。)
(Cynthia gives Chris a playful jab.)
杰西(对辛西娅说):嗨,辛西娅,你还记得我们第一次见面的情景吗?当时你留着爆炸头,脚穿厚底鞋,我以为你不可能在路上走得开心。
Jessie (To Cynthia): Hey Cynth, you remember the first day we met? You were sporting an afro and platforms and I thought there’s no way you were gonna make a day on the line.
辛西娅:你戴着头带,头发垂到屁股,看上去就像是乔尼·米切尔。
Cynthia: And you looked like fucking Joni Mitchell with a headband and hair down to your butt.
杰西:斯坦,猜猜我开始的时候多大了?
Jessie: Guess how old I was when I started, Stan?
Stan :十九岁——
Stan: Nineteen —
杰西:十八岁。十八岁!你敢相信吗?我入学那年夏天,我比你们年轻几岁!
Jessie: Eighteen. Eighteen! Can you believe it? The summer I started, I was a couple years younger than you guys!
杰森:我敢肯定你很热。
Jason: Betcha were hot.
杰西:你知道,我就是这么做的。
Jessie: You know, I was.
斯坦:是的。
Stan: She was.
杰西:天哪,那真是个夏天,对吧?非常有趣。什么也没想,我想我最多会在奥尔斯特德家呆六到八个月。你相信吗?我整年都在收集绿色邮票,还记得绿色邮票吗?我打算用它们换一个背包、一个帐篷。我有大约一万张。我打算和我的男朋友菲利克斯搭便车穿越全国。
Jessie: God, that was a summer, huh? A lot of fun. Wasn’t thinking about anything, I figured I’d be at Olstead’s for six to eight months max. Can you believe it? I was collecting Green Stampsb the whole year, remember Green Stamps? I was gonna trade ’em in for a backpack, a tent. Had like ten thousand of ’em. I was going to hitch my way across the country with my boyfriend, Felix.
辛西娅:菲利克斯。我记得菲利克斯,他是一名音乐家,对吧?
Cynthia: Felix. I remember Felix, he was a musician, right?
杰西:他有一把口琴。我们计划最后去阿拉斯加,我爸爸在那里的一家罐头厂工作。科迪亚克。
Jessie: He had a harmonica. And we planned to wind up in Alaska where my dad worked in a cannery. Kodiak.
斯坦:我认识你的父亲,菲尔·隆巴尔迪,他看上去像,嗯——
Stan: I knew your dad, Phil Lombardi, he looked liked, um —
杰西:詹姆斯·加纳。
Jessie: James Garner.
Stan :是的。没错。
Stan: Yeah. That’s right.
杰西:我十三岁时,他离开家去了阿拉斯加。那年夏天,很多人都去了那里。还记得吗?
Jessie: He split for Alaska when I was thirteen. A lotta folks went up there that summer. Remember?
Stan :当然了。
Stan: Sure.
Jessie:上帝。我。Felix。那是很久以前的事了。我们原本要去阿拉斯加,露营,过着清贫的生活,你知道,然后攒够钱去印度。在修道院住一段时间,然后沿着嬉皮士之路流浪。伊斯坦布尔、德黑兰、坎大哈、喀布尔、白沙瓦、拉合尔、加德满都。这些地方。我还记得。我以前每天晚上都像念咒语、祈祷词一样念着它们:伊斯坦布尔、德黑兰、坎大哈、喀布尔、白沙瓦、拉合尔、加德满都。我把整个地方都画了出来。是的,我们有这个,嗯,世界地图,是 Felix 从图书馆的一本地图册上撕下来的。世界之书。上帝……这就是计划。
Jessie: God. Me. Felix. That was so long ago. We were gonna do Alaska, camp, live clean, you know, and save enough money to get to India. Live in an ashram for a while, then bum along the hippie trail. Istanbul, Tehran, Kandahar, Kabul, Peshawar, Lahore, Kathmandu. Places. Still remember ’em all. I used to say ’em every night like a mantra, a prayer: Istanbul, Tehran, Kandahar, Kabul, Peshawar, Lahore, Kathmandu. I mapped the whole thing out. Yeah, we had this, um, world map, that Felix had ripped outta an atlas in the library. The World Book. God … That was the plan.
杰森:那么,你为什么不去呢?
Jason: So, why didn’t you go?
杰西:开始工作,遇见丹,我想我被卷入了激流,无法回到岸边。就是这样。
Jessie: Started working, met Dan, I guess I got caught in the riptide, couldn’t get back to shore. That’s how it is.
C hris:你后悔过吗?
Chris: You ever sorry?
(问题的重心落在了杰西身上。)
(The weight of the question lands on Jessie.)
杰西:我想,我希望……我能看看这个世界。你知道,离开伯克斯,哪怕只有一年。这就是我后悔的。不是工作,我后悔的是,有一段时间,我感觉,我不知道,还有可能。我想到了杰西在世界的另一边,她会看到什么。
Jessie: I guess, I wish … I had gotten to see the world. You know, left Berks, if only for a year. That’s what I regret. Not the work, I regret the fact that for a little while it seemed like, I don’t know, there was possibility. I think about that Jessie on the other side of the world and what she woulda seen.
(令人惊讶的情绪。)
(Surprising emotions.)
哇哦。对不起。我没想到会这样。
Whoa. I’m sorry. I didn’t see that coming.
圣:听着,越南战争之后我见识了一点世界。坏事会跟着你到处跑。从某种意义上说,你最好什么都不知道。
Stan: Look, I got to see a little of the world after ’Nam. Shit follows you everywhere. In some ways you’re better off not knowing.
杰西:是吗?你不知道你不知道什么,直到你想知道,对吧?然后就太晚了。伊斯坦布尔、德黑兰、
Jessie: Yeah? You don’t know what you don’t know, until you wanna know, right? And then it’s too late. Istanbul, Tehran,
坎大哈、喀布尔、白沙瓦、拉合尔、加德满都。
Kandahar, Kabul, Peshawar, Lahore, Kathmandu.
(特蕾西精力充沛地登场。)
(Tracey enters with a flurry of energy.)
圣:她就在那儿!
Stan: There she is!
T racey:派对可以正式开始了!
Tracey: The party can officially begin!
辛西娅:看看谁终于出现了。
Cynthia: Look who finally showed up.
(特蕾西和杰西拥抱。)
(Tracey and Jessie hug.)
杰西(微笑):谢谢您给我们腾出座位。
Jessie (Smiling): Thank you for making room for us.
辛西娅(随口说道):是啊!你迷路了吗?
Cynthia (Offhanded): Yeah! You get lost on your way over?
T racey:别再说了,我在这里。好吧。我很抱歉。别再说了!
Tracey: Gimme a break, I’m here. Okay. I’m sorry. Get over it!
(特蕾西狠狠地看了辛西娅一眼。)
(Tracey gives Cynthia a cutting glance.)
杰西:来吧,伙计们。我们来这里是为了庆祝!你们俩都别介意。好吗?冷静点。今天是我的生日。我很高兴我的好朋友在这里。
Jessie: C’mon, you guys. We’re here to celebrate! Both of you get over it. Okay? Calm down. It’s my birthday. I’m just happy my besties are here.
辛西娅:她的态度很端正。我很冷静——
Cynthia: She brought the attitude. I was chill —
特蕾西:你有什么问题?放松点。杰森,给你妈拿杯啤酒。
Tracey: What’s your problem? Relax. Jason, get your ma a beer.
杰森:妈?!!
Jason: Ma?!!
特蕾西:来吧,来吧。
Tracey: C’mon, c’mon.
(她拥抱了他。)
(She hugs him.)
我爱你!!!
I love you!!!
(杰森走向酒吧。)
(Jason walks over to the bar.)
杰森:一品脱。
Jason: A pint.
(斯坦倒了一杯啤酒。)
(Stan pours a beer.)
杰西:你还好吗?
Jessie: You okay?
T tracey:我怎么会不行呢?
Tracey: Why wouldn’t I be okay?
杰西:我不知道,你只是——
Jessie: I don’t know, you just —
T tracey:什么?我很好。我们庆祝一下吧。雅虎!
Tracey: What? I’m fine. Let’s celebrate. Yahoo!
杰西:突然间,感觉不再像是一个庆祝的日子。
Jessie: Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like a celebration.
(克里斯在点唱机上搜索一首歌曲。杰森吃了一块蛋糕。)
(Chris searches for a song on the jukebox. Jason digs into a slice of cake.)
T tracey:你干嘛这么小题大做?我迟到了。抱歉。我来了。
Tracey: Why are you making such a big deal? I’m late. I’m sorry. I’m here.
(稍等片刻。杰森把啤酒递给特蕾西。特蕾西明显避免坐在辛西娅旁边。)
(A moment. Jason gives Tracey the beer. Tracey visibly avoids sitting next to Cynthia.)
辛西娅:嘿,特蕾西。我们好吗?因为自从这一切发生以来,我确实感到有些紧张。也许是我编造的,但是……我们是朋友很久了,你一直对我直言不讳。你有问题,告诉我。
Cynthia: Hey, Tracey. We good? Cuz since all of this went down I definitely feel some tension. Maybe I’m making it up, but … We’ve been friends a long time, you’ve always been straight with me. You got a problem, tell me.
T tracey: 嗯?
Tracey: Yeah?
辛西娅:对不起,我不知道我为什么会感到阴暗?怎么回事?
Cynthia: I’m sorry, but I don’t know why I’m catching shade? What’s up?
特蕾西:现在不是做这个的时候。K 。
Tracey: Now’s not the time for this. K.
辛西娅:我接受这次晋升是因为我认为这对我们所有人都有好处。
Cynthia: I took this promotion cuz I thought it would be good for all of us.
T tracey:是啊,对吧?
Tracey: Yeah, right?!
辛西娅:我不配听你这么说。你一直都很酷。生气就生气吧,但别把这事闹得这么大……(指着手背上的皮肤)看着我,特蕾西。你不会想走那条路的,我们之间有太多历史了。你有问题,当着我的面告诉我。
Cynthia: And I don’t deserve the things you’ve been saying. You’ve always been cool. Be angry, but don’t make it about this … (Points to the skin on the back of her hand) Look at me, Tracey. You don’t want to go down that road, we’ve got too much history between us. You got a problem, you tell me to my face.
T racey:我只是觉得,嗯……我……我看到你和“他们”变得很亲密……而且……那天在地板上我叫了你,但你不理我。
Tracey: I just feel like, um … I … I see you getting pretty chummy with “them” … And … The other day on the floor I called out to you, but you brushed me off.
辛西娅:我得看起来很忙,这就是工作的一半,宝贝。
Cynthia: I gotta look busy, that’s half the job, babe.
特蕾西:我知道,但这就是你做事的方式。
Tracey: I know that, but it’s the way you did it.
辛西娅:好吧,我很抱歉!我正在学习。给我点宽容,好吗?我现在压力很大。// 他们在看着呢。
Cynthia: Well, I’m sorry! I’m learning. Cut me some slack, okay? There’s a lotta pressure on me right now. // They’re watching.
T tracey: 嗯?
Tracey: Yeah?
碳辛西娅: 是啊!
Cynthia: Yeah!
杰西:拜托,伙计们,我们不要这样做。
Jessie: C’mon guys, let’s not do this.
T tracey:...还有什么事你没告诉我们吗?
Tracey: … And is there something you aren’t telling us?
辛西娅:你是什么意思?
Cynthia: What do you mean?
特蕾西:我不知道。
Tracey: I dunno.
辛西娅:来吧,别玩游戏了。
Cynthia: C’mon, don’t play games.
T tracey:他们会裁员吗?
Tracey: Are they gonna be laying people off?
杰森:哇哦!
Jason: Whoa!
C hris:再来一次?
Chris: Come again?
T tracey:回答我。
Tracey: Answer me.
辛西娅:你从哪儿听来的这些废话?
Cynthia: Where’d you hear that bullshit?
T tracey:一只小鸟。
Tracey: A little bird.
(他们都看着辛西娅。)
(They all look at Cynthia.)
辛西娅:……
Cynthia: …
T tracey:是吗?
Tracey: Are they?
辛西娅:听着,有人在谈论削减开销,但总是有——
Cynthia: Look, there’s been a little talk about trimming overhead, but there always is —
Stan : // 谈谈?我们拭目以待。
Stan: // Talk? We’ll see about that.
辛西娅:我知道什么是重要的,不要以为我上楼了就看不见地板上的沙砾。我和你们一样有同样的疼痛。我不会——
Cynthia: I know what’s important, don’t think because I went upstairs that I can’t see the grit on the floor. I got the same aches and pains as you guys. I wouldn’t —
特蕾西:你会告诉我们,对吧?
Tracey: You’d tell us, right?
辛西娅:当然了。
Cynthia: Of course.
T tracey:答应吗?
Tracey: Promise?!
辛西娅: 是的。
Cynthia: Yes.
(特蕾西从口袋里掏出一张传单。)
(Tracey pulls a flyer out of her pocket.)
T racey:你们看过这张传单吗?
Tracey: Have you guys seen this flyer?
杰西:不。
Jessie: No.
辛西娅:不。
Cynthia: No.
杰森:什么事?
Jason: What is it?
特蕾西:我第一次看到它时,还不相信。但一周前,我在加油站看到几张贴在上面的纸条。你知道上面写的是什么吗?
Tracey: When I first saw it I didn’t believe it. Then a week ago, I saw a couple of these taped up at the gas station. Do you know what it says?
(特蕾西向辛西娅展示传单。)
(Tracey shows Cynthia the flyer.)
辛西娅:这是西班牙语的。我看不懂。
Cynthia: It’s in Spanish. I can’t read it.
特蕾西:嘿,奥斯卡。
Tracey: Hey Oscar.
噢斯卡:嗯?
Oscar: Yeah?
(特蕾西举起传单。)
(Tracey holds up the flyer.)
T racey:你想读这个给 Cynthia 听吗?
Tracey: Do you wanna read this for Cynthia?
a Carhartt:一家美国服装公司,以生产靴子和工作服等劳动者服装而闻名。
aCarhartt: An American apparel company known for manufacturing clothes for laborers such as boots and overalls.
b绿色邮票:美国最早的客户忠诚度奖励计划之一。绿色邮票由 Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) 公司于 1896 年推出,在 20 世纪 80 年代逐渐衰落。零售商会从 S&H 或其竞争对手处购买邮票,并将其作为购物奖励分发给客户。客户会保存、收集和兑换邮票,以换取 Sperry & Hutchinson 目录中的商品。
bGreen Stamps: One of the first customer loyalty reward programs in the United States. Green Stamps were introduced by the Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) company in 1896 and declined in popularity in the 1980s. Retailers would purchase stamps from S&H or its competitors and distribute them as rewards to customers for purchases. Customers would save, collect, and redeem the stamps in exchange for merchandise in the Sperry & Hutchinson catalog.
2000 年 7 月 4 日
July 4, 2000
室外温度为 84°F。
Outside it’s 84°F.
新闻:《职业女性》杂志报道称,美国某些行业的男女薪资差距正在缩小。雷丁警方严厉打击犯罪率高的社区,以应对近期暴力犯罪的增加。雷丁市购买了一些破旧的建筑,并计划将其拆除,以应对城市衰败。
In the news: Working Woman magazine reports that the salary gap is narrowing between men and women in some U.S. industries. Reading police crack down on high-crime neighborhoods in response to a recent rise in violent crime. The City of Reading purchases a number of run-down buildings with plans to demolish them in an effort to combat urban blight.
酒吧外。布鲁斯抽着烟,显然是吸了大麻。克里斯和杰森从他身边冲出酒吧。远处传来火箭弹爆炸的声音。
Outside the bar. Brucie smokes a cigarette, clearly high. Chris and Jason rush out of the bar, past him. Bottle rockets explode in the distance.
B rucie:克里斯!克里斯!你妈妈在里面吗?
Brucie: Chris! Chris! Your mom inside?
C hris:不,但是给她一些空间,她不想和你说话……
Chris: No, but give her some space, she don’t want to talk to you …
布鲁西:稍等一下。你有时间吗?
Brucie: Hold up. You got a minute?
C hris:不,我得跑了。
Chris: No, gotta run.
布鲁斯:这么急干什么?
Brucie: What’s the rush?
C hris:工厂里发生了一些事情。
Chris: Something’s going on down at the plant.
杰森:来吧,克里斯。 // 我们走吧。
Jason: C’mon, Chris. // Let’s move.
布鲁斯:只需一分钟。
Brucie: It’ll only take a minute.
杰森:哟!
Jason: Yo!
C hris:快 —
Chris: Quick —
B rucie:我只是想知道你是否能认出我——
Brucie: I was just wondering whether you could spot me —
C hris:现在不是好时机。
Chris: Now’s not a good time.
杰森:哟!让我们——
Jason: Yo! Let’s —
布鲁斯(微笑):明白了,但把手伸进你的口袋只需要五秒钟。
Brucie (Smiling): Gotcha, but it only takes five seconds to reach into your pocket.
C hris:是的,花了整整一周的时间来替换里面的东西。
Chris: Yeah, and a whole week of work to replace what’s in there.
布鲁斯:杰森,你怎么样?
Brucie: What about you, Jason?
杰森:对不起,布鲁斯。
Jason: Sorry, Brucie.
布鲁西:我下周会领到一些福利。支票还没到。
Brucie: I’m getting some benefits next week. The check hasn’t come.
杰森:做不到。
Jason: Can’t do it.
B rucie:好吧,我明白了。但是……等等,等等,等等。克里斯?拜托?
Brucie: All right I hear you. But … Wait, wait, wait. Chris? C’mon?
(克里斯拥抱了布鲁斯。)
(Chris gives Brucie a hug.)
C hris:十个。我只能给这么多了。
Chris: Ten. That’s all I can spare.
B rucie:轻松愉快,没有抱怨,谢谢。
Brucie: Easy breezy, not complaining, thank you.
C hris:听着,我们真的得走了。
Chris: Listen, we really gotta go.
布鲁西:你这么着急干什么?发生什么事了?
Brucie: Why are you rushing? What’s happening?
杰森:不知道,但威尔逊说他们在长周末把三台磨机搬出了工厂。
Jason: Dunno, but Wilson says they moved three of the mills outta the factory over the long weekend.
布鲁斯:啥?
Brucie: What?
杰森:别问我。我只知道他大约一小时前路过那里,想从他的储物柜里取东西,但发现机器不见了。
Jason: Don’t ask me. All I know is he passed by there about an hour ago to pick up something from his locker, and the machines were gone.
碳hris:走了……
Chris: Gone …
杰森:混蛋。他正在给所有人打电话。
Jason: Fucking assholes. He’s calling everyone.
布鲁斯:你在说什么?
Brucie: What are you talking about?
C hris:消失了。已移除。//消失了。
Chris: Gone. Removed. // Gone.
杰森:就像不在那里一样。
Jason: Like not fucking there.
C hris:他们在门上贴了一张告示,明天早上之前谁也别想看到它。
Chris: They posted a sign on the door, nobody was supposed to see it until tomorrow morning.
杰森:一份名单。我和克里斯的名字都在里面。
Jason: A list of names. Me, Chris — our names are on it.
B rucie:你认为这意味着什么?
Brucie: What do you think it means?
杰森:我不知道,但我会弄清楚的——
Jason: I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out —
B rucie :狡猾的家伙——
Brucie: Sly muthafuckas —
C hris:让你想打别人。
Chris: Makes you wanna hit somebody.
杰森:我们要去工厂,我想亲眼看看。
Jason: We’re going by the plant, I wanna see it for myself.
B rucie:那你妈妈呢?她知道这事吗?
Brucie: And your mom? She know about this?
C hris:天哪,我希望她没有这么做。
Chris: Man, I hope she didn’t.
(布鲁斯会意地笑了。)
(Brucie laughs, knowingly.)
有什么好笑的?
What’s funny?
B rucie:我不是在嘲笑你,我只是很遗憾听到这个消息。我知道我不是提供建议的最佳人选,但这只是第一步。他们会来找你的。我的意见是,做出小小的让步。
Brucie: I’m not laughing at you, shit I’m just sorry to hear it. I know I’m not in the best position to give advice, but this is just the first step. They’re gonna come at you. My two cents, take the small concessions.
C hris:你在说什么?
Chris: What are you talkin’ about?
B rucie:因为当我们满怀希望地走出纺织厂时,他们却把我们拒之门外,打击了我们的乐观情绪,让我们无法再回去。近两年过去了,我们对此无能为力。不要让他们招来临时工——反抗。因为一旦他们这样做,你就出局了。你听见了吗?六个月前我不会这么说,但我告诉你的是实话。
Brucie: Cuz when we walked out of the textile mill thinking big, they locked us out, beat down our optimism and we couldn’t get back in. And nearly two years later there ain’t a damn thing we can do about it. Don’t let them bring those temps in — fight it. Because once they do, you’re out. You hear me? I wouldn’t have said that six months ago, but I’m telling you truth.
杰森:伙计,我祈祷事情不要发展到那一步。
Jason: Man, I pray it don’t come to that.
布鲁斯:儿子,跪下来……
Brucie: Get down on your knees, son …
杰森:……来吧,克里斯,我们走吧。
Jason: … C’mon, Chris, let’s move.
(布鲁斯拿出十美元。)
(Brucie holds out the ten dollars.)
B rucie:好了,我来凑合一下。相信我,你会需要这个的。没有机器,就没有工作。这是很简单的算术。
Brucie: Here, I’ll make do. Believe me, you’re gonna need this. No machines, no jobs. That’s pretty simple arithmetic.
杰森:操!
Jason: Fuck // that!
C hris:我们走吧。
Chris: Let’s move.
2008 年 10 月 13 日
October 13, 2008
室外温度为 79°F。
Outside it’s 79°F.
新闻:道琼斯指数上涨 936 点,创下有史以来最大涨幅,此前有消息称,全球批准了政府资助的银行救助计划。在宾夕法尼亚州伯克斯县,因拖欠公用事业费而停电的人数比上一年增加了 111%。
In the news: The Dow Jones gains 936 points, its largest gain ever, following news that the government-funded bank bailouts were approved around the world. In Berks County, Pennsylvania, power shutoffs for delinquent utility customers rise 111% over the previous year.
T racey:你要说话还是在等我为你跳舞?
Tracey: You gonna talk or are you waiting for me to dance for you?
杰森:我得鼓起很大的勇气才能按门铃。
Jason: It took a lot of nerve for me to ring the bell.
特蕾西:叮咚,这真的很难。
Tracey: Ding dong, that’s real hard.
杰森:我本来不想来的,但我想你见到我可能会很高兴。你有喝的吗?
Jason: I didn’t wanna come, but I thought you might be kinda happy to see me. You got anything to drink?
特蕾西:谁告诉你可以坐下的?
Tracey: Who told you, you could sit down?
杰森:我坐着是因为我累了。
Jason: I’m sitting cuz I’m tired.
T tracey:你为什么要这样对待自己的脸?
Tracey: Why the fuck did you do that to your face?
杰森:那只是纹身而已。别在意这些了。
Jason: They’re just tats. Get over it.
T racey:嗯,看起来很蠢。
Tracey: Well, it looks stupid.
(特蕾西递给杰森五美元。)
(Tracey hands Jason five dollars.)
杰森:这就是你所得到的全部吗?
Jason: This is all you got?
T racey:你知道吗,就让它留在那里吧。我现在不需要这些破玩意儿。你突然打电话给我:“妈妈,我需要钱!”我差点没接。如果我不接电话怎么办?啊?那你会怎么做?
Tracey: You know what, leave it there. I don’t need this shit right now. You call me up outta the blue: “Ma, I need money!” I almost didn’t answer. What if I didn’t answer? Huh? What would you do then?
(杰森检查了这张钞票。)
(Jason examines the bill.)
杰森:真的吗?五美元,什么?三支香烟和一杯思乐冰?我给你打电话的时候,你说你有钱。我大老远跑到这里就是为了这个?该死。
Jason: Seriously? Five dollars, what’s that, three cigarettes and a Slurpee? When I called you, you said you had money. I traveled all the way here for this? Fucking hell.
特蕾西:很抱歉给您带来不便。我有钱,但是——
Tracey: Sorry to inconvenience you. I had the money, but —
杰森:妈的,真的吗?
Jason: Shit. Really?
(片刻。很明显,特蕾西已经精神错乱了。)
(A moment. It becomes evident that Tracey is strung out.)
这种情况持续多久了?
How long has that been going on?
T tracey:多久?
Tracey: How long what?
杰森:别跟我开玩笑,你很清楚我在说什么。
Jason: Don’t fuck with me, you know exactly what I’m talkin’ about.
T racey:你这话说得可真够有意思的。把我的钱还给我,然后滚出去。
Tracey: That’s very rich coming from you. Gimme back my money, and get the fuck outta here.
杰森:你看上去糟透了。
Jason: You look like shit.
T racey:我看起来糟透了?你最近照过镜子吗?
Tracey: I look like shit? Have you looked in the mirror lately?
杰森:这就是你所得到的一切吗?
Jason: Is this really all you got?
电视racey:是的。我没在经营赚钱农场。
Tracey: Yeah. I’m not running a money farm.
杰森:当胖亨利说你精神恍惚的时候,我根本不相信。
Jason: I didn’t believe Fat Henry when he said you were strung out.
特蕾西:胖亨利需要管好自己的事。这是为了治好我的背痛。
Tracey: Fat Henry needs to mind his business. It’s for my back pain.
杰森:阿司匹林不管用吗?
Jason: Aspirin won’t do?
T racey:哈哈,真有趣。你根本不知道。你……有……
Tracey: Ha, ha. Very funny. You have no idea. You … Have …
没有…主意!
No … Idea!
杰森:好的!
Jason: OKAY!
特蕾西:完成了吗?
Tracey: We done?
杰森:……
Jason: …
T racey:我什么时候可以拿回来?
Tracey: When can I git it back?
杰森:你想把这五美元退还吗?
Jason: You want this five dollars back?
T tracey:是的。我想要它回来。明天?
Tracey: Yeah. I want it back. Tomorrow?
杰森:你知道吗,没关系。这太麻烦了。
Jason: You know what, never mind. This is too much trouble.
特蕾西:好的。把它给我。
Tracey: Fine. Give it here.
(她变得焦躁不安。她需要解决这一问题。杰森递给她钱,她绝望地从他手中夺过钱。)
(She grows antsy. She needs a fix. Jason extends the money, and she snatches it from him, desperate.)
杰森:耶稣,看看你。
Jason: Jesus, look at you.
特蕾西:啥?!
Tracey: What?!
杰森:这他妈是怎么回事?
Jason: How the fuck did this happen?
(辛西娅简陋的公寓。辛西娅既紧张又兴奋,她爬进房间。她穿着养老院维修工的制服。她捡起散落在地板上的几个外卖食品容器。)
(Cynthia’s sparse apartment. Cynthia, nervous and excited, scrambles into the room. She wears a nursing-home maintenance uniform. She picks up a couple of take-out food containers littering the floor.)
C hris:那么,这就是你住的地方吗?
Chris: So. This is where you live?
辛西娅:是的。这是我现在能做到的。你饿了吗?
Cynthia: Yeah. It’s what I could manage for now. You hungry?
C hris:不。我应该把我的东西放哪儿呢?
Chris: Nah. Where should I put my stuff?
辛西娅:任何地方都可以。
Cynthia: Anywhere.
(克里斯环顾四周。他放下了背包。)
(Chris looks around. He drops his backpack.)
C hris:你没有提到你搬家了。
Chris: You didn’t mention you moved.
辛西娅:不是吗?
Cynthia: No?
C hris:房子怎么了?
Chris: What happened to the house?
辛西娅:我落后了……你想喝点什么吗?
Cynthia: I got behind … You wanna drink or something?
C hris:不。
Chris: Nah.
辛西娅:你为什么不让我知道你出来了?我得从小道消息里听到这个消息。
Cynthia: Why didn’t you let me know you got out? I had to hear it from the grapevine.
C hris:我只是需要一些时间。仍在努力适应。让我恢复过来。
Chris: I just needed some time. Still trying to get adjusted. Get my head back.
辛西娅:你出去多久了?
Cynthia: How long have you been out?
C hris:六周?
Chris: Six weeks?
辛西娅:你为什么不给我打电话?我会来接你的。
Cynthia: Why didn’t you call me? I woulda picked you up.
C hris:我不知道,我不想打扰你。
Chris: I dunno, I didn’t wanna bother you.
辛西娅:别搞错了。你要留在这里。
Cynthia: Don’t get it mixed up. You’re staying here.
(克里斯摆弄着手中的圣经。)
(Chris fidgets with the Bible in his hand.)
那是什么?
What’s that?
C hris:这是我的圣经。
Chris: It’s my Bible.
辛西娅: 一本圣经?
Cynthia: A Bible?
C hris:是的,一本圣经。
Chris: Yeah, a Bible.
辛西娅:我听说你很热衷于教堂活动。
Cynthia: I heard you got all churchy.
C hris:我不知道你听到了什么,但这本书救了我的命。
Chris: I don’t know what you heard, but this book saved my life.
辛西娅:你为什么不坐下?你在那里徘徊让我很紧张。坐下。放松。你到家了。
Cynthia: Why don’t you sit down? You’re making me nervous just hovering there. Sit. Relax. You’re home.
(克里斯坐在沙发上。辛西娅微笑,试图打破僵局。)
(Chris sits on the couch. Cynthia smiles, trying to break the ice.)
你变得有点男人味了,是吧?自从我上次拜访以来,你又胖了。你看起来不一样了。
You got sorta mannish, huh? Put on weight since my last visit. You look different.
C hris:你也是。你还好吗?
Chris: So do you. You okay?
辛西娅:是的,是的。
Cynthia: Yeah. Yeah.
C hris:怎么样了?
Chris: How are things?
辛西娅:很好,很好。
Cynthia: Good. Good.
C hris:嗯,你工作吗?
Chris: You, um, working?
辛西娅:我在大学里花了一些时间做维护工作。
Cynthia: I got some hours over at the university, maintenance.
周末还要在养老院工作。把事情拼凑起来。你知道我,我是个工人。否则就会焦躁不安。
Also working at the nursing home, on weekends. Piecing things together. You know me, I’m a worker. Get restless otherwise.
C hris:是的。我走了一圈……看到 Snookie 的店关门了。
Chris: Yeah. I walked around … Saw that Snookie’s place closed.
辛西娅:是的。
Cynthia: Yeah.
C hris:遇到了…嗯…
Chris: Ran into … um …
辛西娅:谁?
Cynthia: Who?
C hris:大家好。
Chris: Folks.
辛西娅:很抱歉最近几个月我没能出去看你,因为花费太高了。
Cynthia: I’m sorry I couldn’t get out to see you the last couple months, it got too expensive.
C hris:嗯。
Chris: Um.
辛西娅:每个人都问我你什么时候出狱。但那些年里,你只是在日历上被划掉的X,这让我发疯。天啊……你知道这一切之后。我想说的是……
Cynthia: Everybody’s been asking me about when you was getting out. But all those damn years you’d just become X’s marked off on the calendar and it made me crazy. God … You know after everything.I wanna say that …
(辛西娅努力克制自己的情绪。)
(Cynthia fights back emotions.)
对不起。
I’m sorry.
C hris:为了什么?
Chris: For what?
辛西娅:只是,我应该……
Cynthia: It’s just, I shoulda …
(克里斯搂住辛西娅。)
(Chris places his arms around Cynthia.)
C hris:拜托。拜托。我不想把这当成什么大事。告诉我发生了什么。你听到老朋友说的话了吗?特蕾西?
Chris: C’mon. C’mon. I don’t want this to be a big deal. Tell me about what’s been going on. You hear from the old gang? Tracey?
辛西娅:去他妈的。在发生这些事情之后。我们真的不——
Cynthia: Fuck her. After what went down. We don’t really —
碳hris:你听见了吗,Jason 出局了。
Chris: You hear, Jason’s out.
辛西娅:是吗?什么时候发生的?
Cynthia: Yeah? When did that happen?
C hris:不知道。几个月前。
Chris: Dunno. A couple months ago.
辛西娅:那个小混蛋。他说了什么?他把你卷入了这种麻烦。如果不是因为他……你……我可能会杀了他。
Cynthia: That little bastard. What did he have to say? He got you into this shit. If it wasn’t for him … you’d … I coulda killed him.
C hris:完了,我不能再呆在那个地方了。
Chris: It’s done. I can’t stay in that place.
辛西娅:嗯,我还在想明白到底发生了什么,克里斯。发生了什么?
Cynthia: Well, I’m still trying to understand what happened, Chris. What happened?
2000 年 7 月 17 日
July 17, 2000
八年前。
Eight years earlier.
室外温度为 82°F。
Outside it’s 82°F.
新闻:联邦资格标准放宽,雷丁公立学校的更多家庭可以享受免费和减价学校午餐。3M、强生和通用电气等多家美国公司加强内部领导力发展,扩大少数族裔员工的机会。
In the news: Federal eligibility guidelines ease, allowing more families in Reading public schools to receive free and reduced school lunches. Several U.S. companies, including 3M, Johnson & Johnson, and General Electric, increase leadership development internally, expanding opportunities for minority employees.
酒吧。大声争吵。克里斯、杰森、杰西、特蕾西、辛西娅、斯坦和奥斯卡在酒吧里。
Bar. Loud arguing. Chris, Jason, Jessie, Tracey, Cynthia, Stan and Oscar in the bar.
Cynthia :别喊了!别喊了! //别喊了!
Cynthia: Stop yelling! Stop yelling! // Stop yelling!
T racey:告诉我们发生了什么事?//告诉我们真相!
Tracey: Tell us what’s going on? // Tell us the truth!
(克里斯、杰森和杰西都高声表示同意。一片混乱。他们继续责骂辛西娅。)
(Chris, Jason and Jessie raise their voices in agreement. Chaos. They continue to berate Cynthia.)
辛西娅:别对我大喊大叫!别大喊大叫。听着。听着。听着!我正在努力……我正在努力。
Cynthia: Stop shouting at me! Stop shouting. Listen. Listen. Listen! I’m tr … I’m trying.
T tracey: 到底发生什么事了?!
Tracey: What the hell is going on?!
辛西娅:我认为他们做的都是胡说八道。我向你保证。我不知道。我和你们同时发现……看……我在那里为我们而战。
Cynthia: I think what they did is bullshit. I promise you. I didn’t know. I found out the same time as you guys … look … I’m in there fighting for us.
T tracey:我们?你答应过的!!!
Tracey: Us? You promised!!!
辛西娅:……如果我知道他们要运出一半的机器,我会告诉你的。但直到接到威尔逊的电话,我才知道。
Cynthia: … If I’d known they were gonna ship out half of the machines, I woulda told you. But I didn’t know until I got the call from Wilson.
特蕾西:那你为什么一直躲着我们?
Tracey: Then why have you been avoiding us?
杰森:是的!
Jason: Yeah!
辛西娅:我没有躲着你!我在工作。顺便说一下,我是唯一一个愿意和你面对面交流的主管。
Cynthia: I’m not avoiding you! I’m working. And for your information, I’m the only supervisor who’s even bothered to give you real face time.
T racey:你真棒,但是我们该怎么办呢?啊?
Tracey: Good for you, but what are we gonna do?! Huh?
Cynthia :我也在试图得到和你一样的答案。我刚刚离开会议……
Cynthia: I’m trying to get answers same as you. I just left the meeting …
杰西:什么会议?
Jessie: What meeting?
辛西娅:我根本就不应该和你们说话。
Cynthia: I’m not even supposed to be talking to you guys.
T tracey:他们派你来的吗?
Tracey: Did they send you here?
碳ynthia:别傻了,我下班了,如果他们知道我在这里谈论这件事,我就会丢掉工作。
Cynthia: Don’t be an idiot, I’m off the clock, I’d lose my job if they knew I was here talking about this.
特蕾西:但是我不明白你在告诉我们什么。
Tracey: But I don’t understand what you’re telling us.
辛西娅:好吧,你不会喜欢的,但他们会利用这个机会重新谈判你的合同。
Cynthia: Okay, you’re not going to like it, but they’re going to use this opportunity to renegotiate your contracts.
特蕾西:什么?从什么时候开始的?
Tracey: What? Since when?
杰西:我他妈就知道。
Jessie: I fucking knew it.
辛西娅:有传言称,他们将要求真正的让步,并准备战斗。
Cynthia: And word is they’re gonna push for real concessions, and they’re prepared to fight.
杰森:去他妈的。
Jason: Fuck that.
Tracey :我们也是。你告诉
Tracey: So are we. You tell
C hris:不,他们不能这么做。
Chris: Nah. ’em no, they can’t do that.
特蕾西:我们不怕罢工。
Tracey: We’re not afraid to strike.
C hris:当然不行!
Chris: Hell no!
杰森:当然了。
Jason: Fuck yeah.
特蕾西:他们想要什么?他们运出机器还不够吗?他们最好不要要求我们延长工作时间。
Tracey: What do they want? Wasn’t it enough that they shipped out the machines? And they better not ask us to work longer shifts.
C hris:去他妈的。我不行。
Chris: Fuck that shit. I can’t.
特蕾西:我们不是骡子。
Tracey: We’re not mules.
不!我们不能……
No! We can’t …
杰西:没办法。
Jessie: No way.
杰森:绝对不可能。
Jason: No fucking way.
辛西娅:我告诉过他们,会有反弹。我已经三个晚上没睡了,一直在想这件事。关于你们。但我要坦白地告诉你们。他们正在盯着工作,你们中的一些人赚了很多钱。
Cynthia: I’ve told ’em there’d be blowback. I’ve been up three nights thinking about this. About you guys. But, I’m gonna be straight with you. They’re eyeing jobs and some of you are making a lot of money.
特蕾西:你在做什么?
Tracey: What are you making?
辛西娅:你在奥尔斯泰德公司待了很长时间了,他们不想再承担这个负担了。
Cynthia: You’ve been at Olstead’s a long time and they don’t want to carry the burden anymore.
(集体反应。)
(Collective response.)
杰西:噢,现在我们成了负担?
Jessie: Oh, now we’re the burden?
杰森:我们真是个累赘?
Jason: We’re the fucking burden?
C hris:哇哦!哇哦!
Chris: Woah! Woah!
辛西娅:有了北美自由贸易协定这套狗屁东西,他们明天早上就可以把整个工厂迁到墨西哥,而像你这样的女人只需站十六个小时,就能赚到他们付给你工资的一小部分。
Cynthia: With this NAFTA bullshit they can move the whole factory to Mexico tomorrow morning, and a woman like you will stand for sixteen hours and be happy making a fraction of what they’re paying you.
特蕾西:嗯,他们做不到。
Tracey: Well, they can’t do it.
杰西:为什么是现在?
Jessie: Why now?
杰森:工会不会容忍这种行为。
Jason: The union won’t stand for it.
C hris:Lester 在上面。
Chris: Lester’s on it.
(集体回应。)
(Collective response.)
辛西娅:你猜怎么着,工会对此没什么可说的。
Cynthia: Guess what, the union don’t got a lot to say about it.
杰西:啥?
Jessie: What?
C hris:这怎么可能?
Chris: How’s that possible?
辛西娅:那些机器已经消失了。它们不会再回来了。
Cynthia: Those machines are gone. They’re not coming back.
杰西:他们在哪儿?
Jessie: Where are they?
C hris:这太糟糕了。
Chris: That is fucked up.
(集体反应。)
(Collective response.)
辛西娅:但是,如果我们做得好,我们就能保护你们剩下的工作。这就是重点。我们谁也不想去别的地方。但是说实话,你以为你是孤独的吗?看看克莱蒙斯发生了什么。工会采取了强硬路线,看看他们发生了什么。你想加入那些失业的人,请便。但是,听着——
Cynthia: But, if we do this right we can protect the rest of your jobs. That’s the point. None of us wanna go anywhere. But be real, you think you’re alone? Look at what went down at Clemmons. The union took a hard line, and look what happened to them. You wanna join those folks on unemployment, be my guest. But, listen —
T tracey:来吧。
Tracey: C’mon.
杰西:我不明白为什么会发生这种事!
Jessie: I don’t understand why this is happening!
辛西娅:我正在努力——
Cynthia: I’m trying —
杰西:我们努力工作,我们的工厂正在赚钱。
Jessie: We work hard, our plant is making money.
杰森:如果他们遇到了问题,为什么不直接说出来!
Jason: If they got a problem, why won’t they be direct!
C hris:让她说话。让她说话。妈,他们是想排挤我们吗?
Chris: Let her speak. Let her speak. Ma, are they trying to squeeze us out?
辛西娅:你也看到了,当我们都在家睡觉的时候,他们是多么轻易地潜入并破坏那些机器。
Cynthia: You saw how easy it was for them to sneak in and break down those machines while all of us were at home sleeping.
杰西://机器在哪里?
Jessie: // Where are the machines?
辛西娅:我向你保证他们在墨西哥。
Cynthia: I guarantee you they’re in Mexico.
C hris:来吧,哥们。
Chris: Come the fuck on, man.
辛西娅:管理层说在这里经营成本太高了。我——
Cynthia: Management is saying that it’s too expensive for them to operate here. I —
杰森:如果他们想保住他们珍贵的工厂,为什么不减薪呢?
Jason: Why don’t they take a pay cut if they wanna save their precious plant?
C hris:确实如此!
Chris: Exactly!
辛西娅:因为他们不会,而且你知道他们的解决办法,如果你不和他们妥协,他们就会收拾东西逃跑。这样他们逃跑时甚至不必看到你的尸体。
Cynthia: Because they won’t, and you know their solution, if you don’t meet them halfway, they’ll pick up and run. That way they won’t even have to see your bodies as they flee.
杰森:这简直是胡说八道。
Jason: That’s bullshit.
辛西娅:我告诉你发生了什么。现在我不想做这份该死的工作,但如果我走开,你就没人了。我可能没有太多发言权,但我站在你这边。
Cynthia: I’m telling you what’s going on. Right now, I don’t want this fucking job, but if I walk away, then you got nobody. I may not have a lot of say, but I’m on your side.
特蕾西:那就假装成这样吧。你和他们一样在找借口。我们是朋友!
Tracey: Then act like it. You’re making the same sorry excuses that they do. We’re friends!
辛西娅:……我已经尽我所能了,宝贝。我不知道你还想让我做什么?
Cynthia: … I am doing everything I can, babe. And I don’t know what more you want me to do?
电视racey:为我们而战!
Tracey: Fight for us!
杰森:是的!
Jason: Yeah!
辛西娅:你认为就这么容易吗?
Cynthia: You think it’s that easy?
T tracey:我们所有人都在这条线上。保持正直!
Tracey: All of us are on that line. Be straight!
辛西娅:……
Cynthia: …
C hris:妈?!
Chris: Ma?!
特蕾西:辛西娅!
Tracey: Cynthia!
杰西:只管告诉我们真相!
Jessie: Just tell us the goddamn truth!
C hris:走开,听着。
Chris: Step off and listen.
辛西娅:这不会容易。我可以告诉你结果会怎样。他们会要求所有人减薪以保住工作岗位。减薪幅度为 60% 。
Cynthia: It ain’t gonna be easy. I can tell you how it’s gonna play out. They’re gonna ask for everyone to take a pay cut to save jobs. Sixty percent.
特蕾西:什么?
Tracey: What?
C hris:他妈的百分之六十?
Chris: Sixty fucking percent?
杰西:六十?!
Jessie: Sixty?!
杰森:怎么回事?
Jason: What the hell?
辛西娅:他们接下来会要求你在福利待遇上做出让步。我说得直白,不废话。他们会要求你增加工作时间。他们会给你一点谈判空间,然后他们会等到你崩溃的时候,那时你就会相信你取得了小小的胜利。
Cynthia: They’re gonna ask for concessions on your benefits package next. I’m being straight. No bullshit. They’re gonna ask you for more hours. They will give you a little bit of room for negotiation, and then they’ll wait until your breaking point, at which time you’ll be convinced that you’ve had a small victory.
T tracey:你在说什么?
Tracey: What are you talking about?
辛西娅:去问莱斯特吧,他是工会代表。他一直在和工会谈。
Cynthia: Ask Lester, he’s the union rep. He’s been talking to them.
(特蕾西强忍泪水。杰森安慰她。)
(Tracey fights back tears. Jason comforts her.)
杰森:他们不能这么做!
Jason: They can’t do this!
C hris:不!
Chris: No!
杰森:如果我们说不呢?
Jason: And if we say no?
C hris:是的!
Chris: Yeah!
辛西娅:你面对的是毒蛇。游戏变了!
Cynthia: You’re dealing with vipers. The game’s changed!
他们会把你锁在外面。而且一旦把你赶出去,就不会再让你进来了。
They’ll lock you out. And once they get you out, they’re not gonna let you back in.
T racey:好吧,去你妈的!去你妈的!我决不轻易屈服。你可以告诉那些混蛋,我宁愿烧毁这个工厂,也不愿让他们夺走我的性命。
Tracey: Well, fuck you! Fuck them! I ain’t going down without a fight. You can tell those bastards I will burn this factory down before I let them take my life.
杰森:太棒了!
Jason: Fuck yeah!
C hris:单词。
Chris: Word.
(一片不满的声音。)
(A chorus of discontent.)
辛西娅:现在你知道了。投票就要开始了!决定吧!
Cynthia: Now you know. The vote’s coming! Decide!
(沉默。)
(Silence.)
2000 年 8 月 4 日
August 4, 2000
室外温度为 80°F。部分多云,气候宜人。
Outside it’s 80°F. Partly cloudy and pleasant.
新闻报道:共和党总统候选人乔治·W·布什在大会后开始对中西部地区进行火车闪电战。
In the news: Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush begins a post-convention train blitz across the Midwest.
酒吧。辛西娅独自坐在一张桌子旁。斯坦给她倒了一杯酒。
Bar. Cynthia sits alone at a table. Stan pours her a drink.
辛西娅:乘游船游览巴拿马运河。我现在最想去的地方就是那里。在泳池边,手里拿着椰林飘香。兴奋又快乐。
Cynthia: On a cruise, Panama Canal. That’s where I’d like to be right now. Poolside, piña colada in my hand. High and happy.
Stan :水面上吹来阵阵微风,真是不错的生日庆祝方式。
Stan: A nice breeze blowing off the water. Not a bad way to spend your birthday.
你还好吗?这里很热吗?你想让我打开空调吗?
You all right? Hot in here? You want me to crank the air?
辛西娅:不,我没事。
Cynthia: Nah, I’m okay.
(辛西娅环顾四周。)
(Cynthia looks around.)
我有点希望他们会出现。这是我们一直一起做的事。
I was kinda hoping they’d show up. It’s the one thing we always do together.
圣坦:你能责怪他们吗?
Stan: Can you blame ’em?
辛西娅:就像我有一个选择一样。
Cynthia: Like I had a choice.
Stan :我只是说说而已。
Stan: I’m just saying.
辛西娅:拜托,别用那种眼神看着我。
Cynthia: C’mon, Don’t gimme that look.
圣坦:嗯,这并不容易。
Stan: Well, it can’t be easy.
辛西娅:不是……你知道什么是疯狂吗?当我开始在工厂工作时,感觉就像被邀请加入一个专属俱乐部。我们当中没有多少人在那里工作。不是我们。所以,当我穿上夹克时,我知道我完成了一些事情。我准备好了。当我拿到工会卡时,你什么也别告诉我。有时我在购物时会把它从钱包里滑到柜台上,这样人们就能看到它。我为此感到自豪。
Cynthia: It isn’t … You know what’s crazy, when I started at the plant it felt like I was invited into an exclusive club. Not many of us folks worked there. Not us. So, when I put on my jacket, I knew I’d accomplished something. I was set. And when I got my union card, you couldn’t tell me anything. Sometimes when I was shopping I would let it slip out of my wallet onto the counter just so folks could see it. I was that proud of it.
Stan :我记得那种感觉。
Stan: I remember the feeling.
(辛西娅微笑。)
(Cynthia smiles.)
辛西娅:是的。我家里没人能从地板下爬出来。
Cynthia: Right. No one in my family ever made it beyond the floor.
Stan :// 是的……
Stan: // Yup …
辛西娅:我非常想要这份工作。自从我走进工厂,看到白帽子们下班时穿着和进来时一样干净的衣服。他们似乎不可侵犯。
Cynthia: And, I wanted this job so bad. Ever since I stepped into the plant, and saw how the white hats left work in clothes as clean as when they walked in. They seemed untouchable.
Stan :你还好吗?
Stan: How are you holding up?
碳ynthia:该死。我把我的朋友锁在外面了,Stan。我解释,我抗争,我乞求。但是楼上那些胆小鬼仍然让我在门上贴张纸条,告诉他们不受欢迎。九十五度。我站在门口看着一个暴躁的胖子换锁。被拒之门外。你知道吗?我想知道他们是不是故意给我这份工作。把我当靶子,这样他们就可以呆在空调办公室里了。你知道对多年来与你共事的人说他们不再受欢迎是什么感觉吗?我已经一个多星期没有睡过头了……
Cynthia: Shit. I locked out my friends, Stan. I explained, I fought, I begged. But those cowards upstairs still had me tape a note to the door telling ’em they weren’t welcome. Ninety-five degrees. I’m standing in the door watching some irritable fat guy change the locks. Shut outta the plant. And you know what? I wonder if they gave me this job on purpose. Pin a target on me so they can stay in their air-conditioned offices. Do you know what it feels like, to say to the people you’ve worked with for years that they’re not welcome anymore? I haven’t slept in … in over a week.
圣坦:嗯,你并不孤单。
Stan: Well, you’re not alone.
辛西娅:我很害怕,斯坦。我得偿还抵押贷款、汽车贷款,还有布鲁斯,你也看到了失业对他的影响。我不会那样,我已经工作太辛苦了。我错了吗?
Cynthia: I’m scared, Stan. I got a mortgage to meet, car payments, and Brucie, you’ve seen what being outta work has done to him. I’m not going down that way, I’ve worked too hard. Am I wrong?
圣:耶稣。
Stan: Jesus.
辛西娅:我知道。我知道。但我能做什么呢?你告诉我!工厂向他们提出了一项协议。工会否决了。不是我!
Cynthia: I know. I know. But what could I have done? You tell me! The plant offered them a deal. The union voted it down. Not me!
圣:亲爱的,你想让我说什么?他们是我的朋友。
Stan: What do you want me to say, sweetheart? Those are my friends.
辛西娅: 我们的朋友。
Cynthia: Our friends.
圣坦:那想象一下他们的感受。有些人甚至不想让我给你倒杯饮料。
Stan: Then imagine how they feel. Some folks wouldn’t even want me to pour you a drink.
辛西娅:我人生的一半时间都住在那层楼里。我的儿子几乎就是在那里出生的。所以别跟我装腔作势。
Cynthia: I’ve lived half my life on that floor. My son was practically born in that place. So don’t get sanctimonious with me.
圣坦:好吧,我不会介入,但你知道人们总有他们想说的话。
Stan: Okay, I’ll keep out of it, but you know people will say what they say.
辛西娅:我以为他们会接受这个该死的交易。你以为我会高兴吗?我把自己的儿子锁在外面了。我自己的儿子。我看到了他脸上的伤痛。但你想知道真相,这就是真相,也许这是最好的,对吧?这最终会让他摆脱这个困境。
Cynthia: I thought they’d take the damn deal. You think I’m happy about this? I locked out my own son. My own son. I saw the hurt on his face. But you wanna know the truth, and this is the truth, maybe it’s for the best, right? It’ll finally get him out of this sinkhole.
(辛西娅没有说完她的想法,但她认为这一切都太难了。斯坦感觉到了这一点,又给辛西娅倒了一杯酒。)
(Cynthia doesn’t finish her thought, but she’s thinking it’s all too hard. Stan senses this, and pours Cynthia another drink.)
圣:事情发展成这样不是你的错。我和六个和你处境相同的人谈过。我的表弟在克莱蒙斯,他们裁掉了四百人。就这样,前一天生活还很好,第二天你就陷入困境。克莱蒙斯!我们这样的人不应该这样,但最近我喝了很多酒。生意很好。你不是唯一一个。
Stan: It ain’t your fault things shook out the way they did. I’ve spoken to a half dozen guys in your position. My cousin’s over at Clemmons, they laid off four hundred people. Just like that, one day life is good, the next you’re treading water. Clemmons! That’s not supposed to happen to folks like us, but I’m pouring a lotta drinks these days. Business is good. You ain’t the only one.
辛西娅:斯坦,到底发生什么事了?
Cynthia: What the hell is going on, Stan?
Stan :不知道。我不明白。但是,我看到这些政客在胡说八道,我感觉不到他们甚至不知道他们飞驰而过的汽车挡风玻璃后面发生了什么。但是,一个月前我决定不投票,因为无论我怎么投票,结果都令人失望。
Stan: Don’t know. Don’t get it. But, I watch these politicians talking bullshit and I get no sense that they even know what’s going on beyond the windshield of their cars as they speed past. But, I decided a month ago that I’m not voting, cuz no matter what lever I pull it will lead to disappointment.
辛西娅(动情地):阿门。你还记得七个月前的事吗?还记得弗雷迪·布伦纳烧毁他的房子吗?
Cynthia (Emotionally): Amen. You remember about seven months ago? Remember when Freddy Brunner burned down his house?
圣:当然了。
Stan: Of course.
辛西娅:我们以为他疯了。
Cynthia: We thought he was crazy.
圣坦:是的。
Stan: Yeah.
辛西娅:是吗?
Cynthia: Was he?
(特蕾西和杰西进来了。看到辛西娅后,她们突然停了下来。气氛非常紧张。)
(Tracey and Jessie enter. They stop short upon seeing Cynthia. The tension is palpable.)
特蕾西(低声说):他妈的叛徒。
Tracey (Under her breath): Fucking traitor.
辛西娅:你说什么?
Cynthia: What did you say?
特蕾西:我说你这个该死的叛徒。
Tracey: I said you fucking traitor.
杰西:对朋友不敬的感觉怎么样?
Jessie: How does it feel to shit on your friends?
(辛西娅站起来。)
(Cynthia stands up.)
辛西娅(对斯坦说):我要走了。
Cynthia (To Stan): I’m gonna go.
特蕾西:没错。走开。
Tracey: That’s right. Walk away.
辛西娅:我不是要走开,我是要离开。这是有区别的,别混淆了。你知道,你可以接受这笔交易。
Cynthia: I’m not walking away, I’m leaving. There’s a difference, don’t get it confused. You know, you coulda taken the deal.
特蕾西:什么交易?!我宁愿被关在门外,接受工会的施舍,也不愿放弃我辛苦挣来的一切。这是事实。
Tracey: What deal?! I’d rather get locked out, and take handouts from the union than let go of everything I worked for. That’s the truth.
杰西:你做的不对!
Jessie: What you did wasn’t right!
T racey:这么多年过去了,他们根本就没给我们任何选择。
Tracey: They didn’t even give us a fucking choice! After all of those years.
辛西娅:宝贝,我只是传达了这个消息。我没有制定这个政策。
Cynthia: I just delivered the news, babe. I didn’t make the policy.
杰西(喊道):你应该站在我们这边!
Jessie (Shouts): You’re supposed to be on our side!
辛西娅(大声回应):“是的!”
Cynthia (Shouts back): I am!
T racey:你知道当我走进那家工厂,被告知这么多年之后我不能进去时,那种感觉是什么吗?我甚至不能进入我的储物柜拿我的东西。里面有我丈夫的照片。我有我祖父的工具箱。
Tracey: Do you know what it felt like to walk up to that plant, and be told after all them years I can’t go in? I can’t even go into my locker and get my stuff. I have photos of my husband in there. I have my grandfather’s toolbox.
辛西娅:我会帮你拿来的,宝贝。
Cynthia: I’ll get it for you, babe.
特蕾西:我不想让你碰那个储物柜里的任何东西!
Tracey: I don’t want you to touch anything in that locker!
他们甚至没有礼貌地让我们体面地离开。门上贴着一张纸条,那是什么?然后看到你就站在那里。我以为我会发疯的。
They didn’t even have the decency to let us clear out with dignity. A note taped to the door, what is that? And then to see you just standing there. I thought I was gonna lose my shit.
辛西娅:我试图警告你。但我讨厌这样。
Cynthia: I tried to warn you. I hated it.
特蕾西:我寻找你的眼睛。给我点东西吧,辛斯。
Tracey: I looked for your eyes. Just gimme something, Cynth.
你稍微看了我一眼,让我知道没关系,但你甚至都不看我一眼。
A little look, to let me know it’s okay, but you wouldn’t even fucking look at me.
辛西娅:宝贝,我现在的处境很艰难。人们对我的态度让我心脏病发作。我正尽力保持镇定。
Cynthia: I’m in a tough-ass position, babe. I got enough attitude from folks to give me a heart attack. I’m trying to hold things together as best as I can.
T racey:我他妈该做什么?啊?你应该给我打电话。提前通知我一下。我是说,我该做什么?谁会雇用我?
Tracey: What the fuck am I supposed to do? Huh? You coulda called me. Given me a heads-up. I mean come on. What am I supposed to do? Who’s gonna hire me?
辛西娅:我知道这很痛苦,宝贝。接受这个交易吧。
Cynthia: I know it hurts, babe. Take the deal.
T tracey:不!你听见自己说的话了吗?
Tracey: NO! You hear yourself?
杰西:斯坦,我可以喝杯啤酒吗?
Jessie: Can I have a beer, Stan?
年代谭: 当然。
Stan: Sure.
T racey:前几天,我走到工会办公室。你知道他们给了我什么吗?一袋杂货和一些超市代金券。他们让我们坚持下去,他们会帮忙。是的,帮我付账单,这就是你能提供的帮助。但是,你知道有多少人来这里领取救济金吗?我看着你的眼睛。给我点东西,辛斯。这太丢脸了。
Tracey: The other day, I walked over to the union office. Do you know what they offered me? A bag of groceries and some vouchers to the supermarket. They asked us to hold out, they’re gonna help. Yeah, pay my fucking bills, that’s how you can help. But, you know how many people were there for handouts? I looked for your eyes. Gimme something, Cynth. It was fucking humiliating.
辛西娅:瞧,我很抱歉。
Cynthia: Look, I’m sorry.
T racey:我该怎么办?啊?你想让我怎么办?你知道吗?这是我一个星期以来第一次出门。你知道起床却无处可去是什么感觉吗?我从来没有过这种感觉。我是个工人。从我学会数钱开始我就一直在工作。那就是我。我想我不会出去了,你知道为什么吗?因为我不想花钱,因为当我的失业救济金用完时,我将一无所有。所以,我哪儿也不去。如果 Jessie 没有打电话给我,我现在还会坐在沙发上自怨自艾,抠着我该死的角质层。你来这里干什么?啊?你想干什么?
Tracey: What am I supposed to do with that? Huh? What do you want me to do with that? You know what? This is my first time outta my house in one solid week. Do you know what it’s like to get up and have no place to go? I ain’t had the feeling ever. I’m a worker. I have worked since I could count money. That’s me. And I’m thinking I’m not gonna go out, you know why? Because I don’t wanna spend money, because when my unemployment runs out I’ll have nothing. So, I don’t go anywhere. And if Jessie hadn’t called me, I’d still be sitting on my couch feeling sorry for myself, picking at my fucking cuticles. Why’d you come in here? Huh? What do you want?
辛西娅:今天是我的生日。我们总是在这里庆祝。
Cynthia: It’s my birthday. And this is where we’ve always celebrated.
(稍等片刻。特蕾西点燃一支香烟。)
(A moment. Tracey lights a cigarette.)
特蕾西:你还记得我们去大西洋城庆祝你二十五岁生日的情景吗?
Tracey: Do you remember that time we went to Atlantic City for your twenty-fifth?
辛西娅:是的,那是在汉克生病之前。
Cynthia: Yeah, it was before Hank got sick.
特蕾西:杰森和克里斯两个男孩还小。我们四个人。你、布鲁斯、我和汉克。我们花了不少钱,买了一套套房。
Tracey: The boys, Jason and Chris, were little. It was the four of us. You, Brucie, me and Hank. We splurged, got a suite.
辛西娅:当然记得……是为了打架。拉里·霍姆斯。
Cynthia: Of course I remember … It was for the fight. Larry Holmes.
特蕾西:没错。汉克有个朋友,是个赌徒,打完比赛后,他邀请我们去一个后屋俱乐部,非常豪华。有香槟、自助餐、海鲜喷泉,应有尽有,非常高档。
Tracey: That’s right. Hank had a friend, a high roller, and after the fight he invited us to one of those back-room clubs, you know very fancy. Champagne, buffet, seafood fountain, everything, really classy stuff.
辛西娅:特蕾西,你为什么要提起这件事?
Cynthia: Why are you bringing this up, Tracey?
T racey:布鲁斯在赌桌上玩得像个职业赌徒。运气很好。运气从他身上滴落下来。筹码飞快地落到他手里。如果我没记错的话,那天晚上他看起来也挺好的。
Tracey: Brucie was at the craps table rolling like a pro. Drenched in luck. It was just dripping off of him. The chips were leaping into his hands. And if I recall, he was also looking sorta fine that evening.
辛西娅:是的,他是。
Cynthia: Yes, he was.
特蕾西:还有这个小妞。
Tracey: And then this chick.
辛西娅:来吧,停下来——
Cynthia: C’mon, stop —
T racey:是的。这个小妞。腿、屁股、胸部、假发。她给人一种全方位服务的感觉,“走”过来,坐在布鲁西旁边——
Tracey: Yes. This chick. Legs, ass, boobs, weave. She was giving a full-service vibe, “walks” up and settles in next to Brucie —
杰西:“安顿下来”?
Jessie: “Settles”?
特蕾西:她的胸部巨大,令人震撼。她的衣服几乎看不见。我不是女同性恋,但我的目光无法从她的胸部上移开。
Tracey: Her breasts were enormous, epic. Her dress, barely visible. I’m not a lesbian, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of her boobs.
碳辛西娅:你为什么要讲这个故事?
Cynthia: Why are you telling this story?
特蕾西:这个小妞正处于发情期,她非常温柔地把手放在布鲁斯的肩膀上,就像这样。我看着辛西娅——
Tracey: This chick was in heat, and she ever so gently places her hand on Brucie’s shoulder, like this. I look over at Cynthia —
辛西娅:别——
Cynthia: Don’t —
特蕾西:还有——
Tracey: And —
辛西娅:不——
Cynthia: No —
特蕾西:她——
Tracey: She —
辛西娅:上帝啊,救救我吧——
Cynthia: Lord, help me —
T racey:穿着的造型:石器时代。史前时代。霸王龙。
Tracey: Is wearing the look: Stone Age. Prehistoric. T-rex.
我知道这意味着什么,布鲁斯也知道这意味着什么,但这个婊子不知道。波布斯俯身在布鲁斯耳边低声说了些什么。就这样。你只要抓住这个小妞的奶子,用指甲尽可能用力地抠进去就行了。
And I know what it means, Brucie knows what it means, but this bitch doesn’t. Boobs leans over and whispers something into Brucie’s ear. That’s it. You just grab this chick’s tits, and dig your fingernails in as hard as you can.
辛西娅:是的,我做到了。
Cynthia: Yes, I did.
Stan :哇哦。
Stan: Whoa.
辛西娅:我喝了几杯龙舌兰酒。我想把假胸放气。用指甲戳破它们。
Cynthia: I’d had a couple tequilas. I wanted to deflate those fake tits. Puncture them with my fingernails.
特蕾西:接下来我看到的是辛西娅在地上打滚。两个成年女性。太恶心了。你像职业摔跤手一样奋力反抗。
Tracey: Next thing I know, Cynthia’s on the floor rolling around. Two grown women. It was sick. You put up a fight like a pro wrestler.
圣:天呐。大西洋城。所以我才不去那里。
Stan: Jesus. Atlantic City. That’s why I avoid it.
特蕾西:但是,我记得当时我心里想:那是我的朋友。她非常坚强。别惹她。她会为她所爱的东西而奋斗,即使这意味着变得粗暴和丑陋。那是我的朋友,我很怀念那个理解这一点的辛西娅。
Tracey: But, I remember thinking: that’s my friend. She’s tough as hell. Don’t mess with her. She’ll fight for what she loves, even if it means getting scrappy and looking ugly. That’s my friend, and I miss the Cynthia who understood that.
辛西娅:特蕾西,你想让我做什么?
Cynthia: What do you want from me, Tracey?
特蕾西:跟我们一起出去吧。
Tracey: Walk out with us.
杰西:跟我们一起走吧。来吧。
Jessie: Walk with us. C’mon.
辛西娅:我不能。
Cynthia: I can’t.
杰西:来吧。
Jessie: C’mon.
辛西娅:我一直站在那条线上,自从我十九岁起就一直站在那条线上。
Cynthia: I’ve stood on that line, same line since I was nineteen.
我曾听从过危险的白痴,甚至更糟的是种族主义者的命令。但我站在队伍里,耐心地等待机会。我想你不明白,但如果我离开,我放弃的不仅仅是一份工作,我还放弃了我排队等待机会的所有时间。
I’ve taken orders from idiots who were dangerous, or even worse, racist. But I stood on line, patiently waiting for a break. I don’t think you get it, but if I walk away, I’m giving up more than a job, I’m giving up all that time I spent standing on line waiting for one damn opportunity.
T tracey:你想让我们为你感到难过吗?
Tracey: You want us to feel sorry for you?
辛西娅:……我没想到你会理解,宝贝。你不知道站在我的立场上会是什么感觉。这些年来,我承受了很多痛苦,但我努力让自己摆脱困境。说我自私,我不在乎,随便你怎么叫我,但请记住,我们中必须有一个人留下来战斗。
Cynthia: … I didn’t expect you to understand, babe. You don’t know what it’s been like to walk in my shoes. I’ve absorbed a lotta shit over the years, but I worked hard to get off that floor. Call me selfish, I don’t care, call me whatever you need to call me, but remember, one of us has to be left standing to fight.
2000 年 9 月 28 日
September 28, 2000
室外温度为 63°F。
Outside it’s 63°F.
新闻:第一夫人希拉里·罗德姆·克林顿在纽约参议员竞选中与里克·拉齐奥的民意调查结果强劲。美国选手维纳斯和塞雷娜·威廉姆斯在悉尼夏季奥运会女子双打网球比赛中获得金牌。三名墨西哥移民农场工人在雷丁因汽车撞树身亡。
In the news: First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton posts strong polling numbers in her New York Senate race against Rick Lazio. Americans Venus and Serena Williams win a gold medal in women’s doubles tennis at the Sydney Summer Olympics. Three Mexican migrant farmworkers are killed when their car crashes into trees in Reading.
酒吧。布鲁斯坐在桌边,斯坦在吧台。布鲁斯有点凌乱,精神不振。克里斯和杰森跌跌撞撞地走了进来,精力充沛。
Bar. Brucie sits at a table, Stan is at the bar. Brucie is slightly disheveled, strung out. Chris and Jason stumbled in, all energy.
杰森:我不想听。我不在乎别人说什么,艺术体操不是一项运动!
Jason: I don’t wanna hear it. I don’t care what anybody has to say, rhythmic gymnastics is not a sport!
C hris:你试着用脚趾接球,然后告诉我这不是一项运动。
Chris: You try catching a ball with your toes, and then tell me it’s not a sport.
Stan :克里斯。
Stan: Chris.
(斯坦指着瘫坐在桌边的布鲁斯。)
(Stan gestures to Brucie slumped at the table.)
克里斯(松了一口气):天呐。瞧瞧你。你去哪儿了?我是说,我一直在给所有人打电话。该死的,你去哪儿了?
Chris (Relieved): Jesus. Look atcha. Where’ve you been? I mean, I’ve been calling everyone. Goddamnit, where’ve you been?
B rucie:冷静。我在。怎么了?
Brucie: Chill. I’m here. Whassup?
C hris:哟,J。给我点一杯啤酒。
Chris: Yo, J. Order me a beer.
杰森:好的。(关切地)怎么了,布鲁斯?你还好吗?
Jason: Okay. (Concern) What’s up, Brucie? You all right?
布鲁斯:我为什么会不行呢?
Brucie: Why wouldn’t I be all right?
C hris: // 该死。
Chris: // Shit.
B rucie:你们还坚持吗?
Brucie: You guys hanging tough?
杰森:你知道的。怀念那种艰苦的生活。那种压力。但莱斯特说一切都会好起来的。
Jason: You know. Miss the grind. Feeling the pinch. But Lester says it’ll all work out.
布鲁斯:我以前听说过。
Brucie: I’ve heard that before.
(杰森走向布鲁斯。)
(Jason moves toward Brucie.)
杰森:哟,大家都已经——
Jason: Yo, everyone’s been —
布鲁西:我没事。退后一步。
Brucie: I’m fine. Take a step back.
杰森:好的,好的。
Jason: All right. All right.
(杰森走向酒吧。)
(Jason moves to the bar.)
C克里斯:你不能这么做。消失?看着我。你去哪儿了?
Chris: You can’t do that. Disappear? Look at me. Where’ve you been?
B rucie: 大约吧。
Brucie: Around.
C hris:妈妈虽然没说出来,但是她非常担心。
Chris: Mom won’t say it, but she’s worried as hell.
布鲁斯:嗯,她表达的方式真是太搞笑了。
Brucie: Well, she has a damn funny way of showing it.
C hris:一个月都没人见过你。发生什么事了?怎么回事?你不再走这条路了?
Chris: Nobody’s seen you in a month. What’s going on? What the hell? You stopped walking the line?
乙rucie:...是的。
Brucie: … Yeah.
C hris:爸爸!我在跟你说话!你去哪儿了?!!
Chris: Dad! I’m talking to you! Where’ve you been?!!
布鲁西:呃,现在在你克利夫叔叔的床上睡觉。
Brucie: Um, crashing at your Uncle Cliff’s crib, for now.
C hris:你需要振作起来!这种胡闹必须停止。
Chris: You need to pull yourself together! This bullshit’s got to stop.
B rucie:我正在努力。嘿,别用那种眼神看着我。我正在努力。好吗?
Brucie: I’m trying. Hey, don’t give me that look. I’m trying. Okay?
C hris:……
Chris: …
布鲁斯:我正在努力。
Brucie: I’m trying.
C hris:你嗨了吗?
Chris: You high?
布鲁斯:我是个成年人了,我不需要向任何人汇报。尤其是你,小子!所以走开。
Brucie: I’m a grown-ass man, I don’t gots to report to nobody. Especially you, boy! So step off.
C hris:你就这么想给我?那你就去当僵尸吧,我才不在乎呢。
Chris: That’s all you got for me? Then go be a zombie, I don’t give a shit.
(克里斯走到吧台坐下。)
(Chris goes to sit at the bar.)
杰森:算了。
Jason: Leave it.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
布鲁斯:得了吧,克里斯。我来这里不是为了这个。得了吧。
Brucie: C’mon. Chris. I didn’t come down here for this. C’mon.
克里斯:你怎么了?厄尔和桑德斯都给我打过电话。
Chris: What’s going on with you? Earl and Saunders, both of ’em called me.
B rucie:我不知道。我能告诉你几周前发生的一件事吗?
Brucie: I dunno. Can I tell you something that happened a couple of weeks ago?
C hris:你知道吗,我不想听你的废话——
Chris: You know what, I don’t wanna // hear your bullshit —
布鲁斯:克里斯……求你了!克里斯!
Brucie: Chris … please! Chris!
(克里斯走向布鲁斯。)
(Chris walks over to Brucie.)
C hris:啥?
Chris: What?
布鲁斯:我正在轮流上场,和往常一样。
Brucie: I was doing my rotation on the line, same as always.
天开始下雨了,一下子就下起了倾盆大雨,人们都跑走了,但我……我只是站在那里……动弹不得。我浑身湿透了。我仍然动弹不得。最后……有人把我拉进帐篷,把我弄干,但我全身都在颤抖,停不下来。这太可怕了。自从我母亲去世后,我还没有过这种失控的感觉。
And it began to rain, all at once a downpour, folks fled, but I … I just stood there … couldn’t move. I got soaked through to my skin. I still couldn’t move. And … and finally someone pulled me into the tent to get dry, but my whole body was shaking, wouldn’t stop. It was scary. And I hadn’t had that feeling of being outta control since my mother died.
C hris:你还好吗?别让他们这样对你。
Chris: You okay? Don’t let ’em do this to you.
布鲁斯:……
Brucie: …
C hris:你听见我说话了吗?
Chris: You hear me?
B rucie:是的。是的。我没事。你能请我喝一杯吗?
Brucie: Yeah. Yeah. I’m okay. Will you buy me a drink?
C hris:...当然了。
Chris: … Sure.
布鲁斯:谢谢,谢谢。
Brucie: Thank you. Thank you.
(克里斯走到酒吧。斯坦倒了一杯啤酒。)
(Chris crosses to the bar. Stan pours a beer.)
那你们……你们还好吗?
And you … you guys awright?
C hris:情况很糟糕。伙计,他们在考验我们。人们变得非常愤怒。
Chris: It’s been rough. Man, they’re testing us. Folks are getting real hot.
杰森:跟我说说看!
Jason: Tell me about it!
碳hris:我看到那些家伙走进工厂,我就想打他们——
Chris: I see those dudes heading into the plant and I wanna smack’em —
杰森(握紧拳头): “混蛋!”
Jason (Clenching his fist): Fucking pricks!
B rucie:我听说了。但是怎么了?你开始上学了吗?
Brucie: I hear that. But whassup? You start school?
C hris:不,这个学期我没有报名。
Chris: Nah, I didn’t enroll this semester.
B rucie:为什么?你妈妈怎么看这件事?
Brucie: Why? What’s your mom think about that?
C hris:我们之间的关系有点紧张。所以——
Chris: Things have been a little strained between us. So —
布鲁斯:你得告诉她。
Brucie: You need to tell her.
C克里斯:为什么?我知道她会说什么。但是,你能理解我的意思,对吧?
Chris: Why? I know what she’s gonna say. But, you feel me, right?
布鲁斯:……
Brucie: …
C hris:对吧?而且由于发生了这些糟糕的事情,我没能交到学费。情况很紧张。我指望今年夏天能加班。
Chris: Right? And with the shit that’s going down I didn’t make tuition. Things are tight. I was counting on those double shifts this summer.
B rucie:听着,克里斯,我帮不了你 // 我——
Brucie: Look, Chris, I can’t help you // I’m —
C hris:我不需要你的帮助。好吗?我现在没心思考虑这件事。
Chris: I’m not looking for your help. Okay? My head’s not in it right now.
B rucie:你需要认真考虑一下。我去过那里,一切都是真的。你确定这是个好主意吗?
Brucie: You need to get your head in it. I’ve been out here, and shit’s real. You sure this is a good idea?
C hris:就是这样!你总是说——
Chris: It’s what it is! And you’re the one that’s always saying —
B rucie : 别在意 // 什么 —
Brucie: Never mind // what —
C克里斯:你教我如何扔石头。我还记得你第一次走上那条线的情景。
Chris: You taught me how to throw a rock. I remember the first time you walked the line.
布鲁斯:是的,我们已经分开将近两个月了。那又怎么样呢?
Brucie: Yeah, we were out almost two months. What about it?
C hris:有一天晚上,你们在家里举行了一次大型会议。
Chris: There was this one night you had a big meeting at the house.
B rucie:// 是的 —
Brucie: // Yeah —
C hris:大概有十到十五个人。声音很大,就像街头斗殴一样。
Chris: Like ten–fifteen guys. It was loud, like a street brawl.
我躲在门口,不知道你们在说什么,但感觉事情会变得很糟糕——
I was hiding in the doorway, I had no idea what you guys were talking about, but it felt like it was gonna get ugly —
布鲁斯:那是鲍比·霍尔顿在工厂里失去一只手的时候。
Brucie: It was when Bobby Holden lost his hand in the mill.
C hris:如果他们不满足你们的要求,你们都大声喊叫说你们要如何投票。
Chris: And you were all shouting about how you were gonna vote if they didn’t meet your demands.
布鲁斯:没错。
Brucie: That’s right.
C hris:突然间你站了起来,一瞬间你看起来像另一个人,更大,像一个变形金刚,当你说话时,每个人都变得非常平静,开始点头。你说,嗯……“我们……我们不会继续赤身裸体让他们打倒我们。”
Chris: And suddenly you stood up, and for like a second you looked like another man, bigger, like a Transformer, and when you spoke everyone got real calm and began nodding. You said, um … “We … we will not continue to bare our backs for them to strike us down.”
布鲁斯:我真的这么说吗?
Brucie: Is that really what I said?
C hris:或者类似这样。我不知道。但我记得你声音里的热情,以及它给我的感觉。放学后,我和我的朋友骑着自行车去工厂,看着你们在工厂里抗议。你们看起来像战士,手挽手,站在一起。
Chris: Or something like that. I dunno. But, I remember the fire in your voice and how it made me feel. And after school, me and my friends rode our bikes to the mill and watched you guys picketing. You looked like warriors, arms linked, standing together.
B rucie:他妈的鲍比·霍尔顿——
Brucie: Fuckin’ Bobby Holden —
C hris:你知道吗,昨天当我走在生产线上,听着 Lester 告诉我们为了维持工厂运转我们必须做出什么牺牲时,我脑子里想的全是你那天晚上说的话。是你!坚强意味着什么。
Chris: And you know, yesterday as I was walking the line, and listening to Lester tell us about what we’d have to sacrifice to keep the plant running, all I could think about was your words that evening. You! What it means to stand strong.
乙rucie:我很难说,我会支持联盟到最后,但这不一定是你的战斗。//你——
Brucie: It’s tough for me to say, I’m union to the end, but this don’t have to be your fight. // You —
C hris:但事实就是如此。我不想成为一个混蛋婊子!这就是他们想要的。
Chris: But it is. I’m not gonna be a punk-ass bitch! That’s what they want.
杰森:没错!
Jason: That’s right!
C克里斯:我不在乎别人说什么,我们会团结一致。他们不会打败我们!
Chris: I don’t care what anybody gots to say, we’re gonna stand together. And they’re not gonna break us!
杰森:当然可以!
Jason: Hell, yes!
B rucie:你以为他们会在乎你这个黑屁股吗?!我告诉你,他们根本就没看见你!
Brucie: You think they give a damn about your black ass?! Let me tell you something, they don’t even see you!
C hris:我要让他们看到我。
Chris: I’m gonna make’em see me.
布鲁斯:你这么想?!等到暴风雨来袭,尘埃散去,谁来接你?嗯?
Brucie: You think so?! After that storm hits, and all the dust clears, who’s gonna pick you up? Huh?
C hris:……
Chris: …
布鲁西:你拥有我没有的选择。学校总是让我害怕,这是实话。这就是我要说的。
Brucie: You got options that I didn’t. School always scared me, that’s the honest-to-God truth. That’s all I’m saying.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
你真的想知道我去哪儿了?
You really wanna know where I been?
C hris:...不。
Chris: … No.
布鲁斯:我不这么认为。不要退缩于你想要的东西。
Brucie: I didn’t think so. Don’t back away from what you want.
那条线会变细,然后会怎样?这就是我想弄清楚的——然后会怎样?!
That line is gonna thin out, and then what? That’s what I’m trying to figure out — and then what?!
2000 年 10 月 26 日
October 26, 2000
室外温度为 72°F。
Outside it’s 72°F.
新闻:在学校又发生一起枪击事件后,司法部长珍妮特·雷诺向公众保证“美国学校是安全的地方”。200 人在雷丁一家电子产品超市过夜,希望成为第一批购买价值 350 美元的索尼 PlayStation 2 的人。
In the news: After yet another gun incident at a school, Attorney General Janet Reno reassures the public that “American schools are safe places.” 200 people camp overnight at a Reading electronics superstore hoping to be the first to buy the $350 Sony PlayStation 2.
酒吧。电视屏幕。杰西瘫坐在桌边。斯坦正在检查库存。
Bar. Television screen. Jessie sits slumped at a table. Stan is checking inventory.
奥斯卡进来了。稍等片刻。
Oscar enters. A moment.
Stan :那么你什么时候告诉我?
Stan: So, when were you gonna tell me?
噢刀疤:啥?
Oscar: What?
Stan : ...你越界了。
Stan: … You crossed the line.
噢刀疤:谁告诉你的?
Oscar: Who told you?
圣: 尼尔森。
Stan: Nelson.
O scar:他们正在招聘兼职临时工来替代一些停工的工人。我可以在早上工作几个小时,也许还能得到一个完整的班次。
Oscar: They were hiring part-time temps to replace some of the locked-out workers. I can pick up a couple of hours in the mornings, and maybe get a full shift.
年代谭: 小心一点。
Stan: Be careful.
噢刀疤:为什么?
Oscar: Why?
Stan :为什么?!情绪高涨。这就是原因。
Stan: Why?! Emotions are running high. That’s why.
O scar:是的,他们提供每小时 11 美元。
Oscar: Yeah, well, they’re offering eleven dollars an hour.
圣坦:我知道。从你的角度来看这很好,但是这 11 美元会从很多好人的口袋里掏出来。他们不会喜欢的。
Stan: I know. Looks good from where you’re standing, but that eleven dollars is gonna come outta the pockets of a lot of good people. And they ain’t gonna like it.
噢,我很抱歉。但这不是我的问题。
Oscar: Well, I’m sorry about that. But it ain’t my problem.
两年来我一直想进那家店。每次我问他们,他们都会拒绝。所以现在我愿意稍微灵活一点,但他们却不肯。
I been trying to get into that shop for two years. And each time I asked any of ’em, I get nothing but pushback. So now, I’m willing to be a little flexible and they ain’t.
Stan :你想听听我的意见吗?
Stan: You want my opinion?
噢,斯卡:我有选择吗?
Oscar: Do I have a choice?
Stan :别这么做。
Stan: Don’t do it.
O刀疤:那是你的想法。你要给我加薪吗?嗯?
Oscar: That’s your opinion. You gonna give me a raise? Huh?
圣:这不由我决定,这是霍华德的决定。我只是把钱放进收银机,我不负责把钱取出来。不过,让我问问他。
Stan: It’s not up to me, it’s Howard’s call. I just put the money in the till, I ain’t responsible for taking it out. But, let me ask him.
O疤痕:他们给我的时薪比我在这里多三美元。三美元。他们提供的薪水比我高中毕业后接触过的任何东西都要好。所以,我并不害怕越界。让他们挺起胸膛,但这不会让我害怕,就像走过我的街区一样。我知道艰难。我不怕在泥土里打滚。
Oscar: They’re offering me three dollars more per hour than I make here. Three dollars. What they’re offering is better than anything I’ve touched since I got outta high school. So yo, I ain’t afraid to cross the line. Let ’em puff up their chest, but it don’t scare me no more than walking through my ’hood. I know rough. I ain’t afraid to roll in the dirt.
圣坦:不错,硬汉。但是,相信我,你会树敌的。你认识的几个人。
Stan: Fine, tough guy. But, trust me you’re gonna make some real enemies. Couple of folks you know.
奥斯卡:他们不是我的朋友。他们不会进我家,也不会给我的植物浇水。
Oscar: They ain’t my friends. They don’t come into my house and water my plants.
Stan :好吧。但就记录而言,我认为这是真的一团糟。六个月后,你看,他们会再找一批像你这样的人,他们会越界,你猜怎么着?他们会给他们十美元。你看。然后你就会失业,想要有人支持你。但没人会这么做。让我告诉你一件事。我老兄——
Stan: Okay. But for the record, I think it’s seriously fucked up. Six months, watch, they’re gonna get another set of guys like you who’ll cross the line, and guess what? They’ll offer them ten dollars. Watch. Then you’ll be outta a job, wanting someone to stand by you. But ain’t nobody gonna do it. And, let me tell you something. My ol’ man —
O scar:是的,是的——
Oscar: Yeah, yeah —
Stan :你别对我“是的,是的”。我爸爸花了 42 年的时间建造了那家工厂,那些福利、工资、你渴望的假期,你猜怎么着?当情况不太好的时候,他为它们而奋斗。没错。你以为你会在一天之内把它全部拆掉。有些人不会轻易倒下。
Stan: Don’t you “yeah, yeah” me. My dad put forty-two years into building that plant, those benefits, those wages, that vacation time you’re so hungry for, guess what? He fought for ’em when the going wasn’t so great. That’s right. And you think you’re gonna walk in and tear it all down in a day. There are folks out there that won’t go down easy.
哦疤痕:你为什么这样对我?我没有不尊重你。我只是想得到报酬,就是这样。三年来,我一直只搬运板条箱。我的墙上贴着二十美元的钞票,抽屉里装满了励志磁带。我从植物园买了一罐 buena suerte,还有一根我 24/7 点亮的蜡烛。我一直祈求好运。就是这样。一点钱。就是这样。我父亲在一家像奥尔斯特德的工厂里打扫地板——那些混蛋甚至不给他工会卡。但他每天早上四点起床……因为他想在钢铁厂工作,这是美国的方式,所以他扫着他妈的地板,想着,“总有一天他们会让我进去的。”我知道他的感受,人们每天都来这里。他们从我身边走过,却没有看到我。不:“你好,奥斯卡。”如果他们没看到我,我就不需要见他们。
Oscar: Why are you coming at me that way? I’m not disrespectin’ you. I’m just trying to get paid, that’s all. For three years I’ve been carrying nothing but crates. I’ve got twenty-dollar bills taped to my wall, and a drawer full of motivational tapes. Got a jar of buena suerte from the botanica, and a candle that I keep lit 24/7. I keep asking for some good fortune. That’s it. A little bit of money. That’s it. My father, he swept up the floor in a factory like Olstead’s — those fuckas wouldn’t even give him a union card. But he woke up every morning at four a.m. because he wanted a job in the steel factory, it was the American way, so he swept fucking floors thinking, “One day they’ll let me in.” I know how he feels, people come in here every day. They brush by me without seeing me. No: “Hello, Oscar.” If they don’t see me, I don’t need to see them.
Stan :我明白你的意思。但是,真的吗?去别处看看,别去 Olstead's。你不会想这么做的。
Stan: I hear ya. But, c’mon, really? Look elsewhere, not Olstead’s. You don’t wanna do this.
O刀疤:你知道我不想做什么吗?这个。
Oscar: You know what I don’t wanna do? This.
(奥斯卡故作姿态地穿上围裙,然后抬起一箱啤酒放到后面。
(Oscar makes a show of putting on his apron. He then lifts and carries a crate of beers into the back.
特蕾西跌跌撞撞地走进来,衣冠不整。她走到酒吧尽头。 )
Tracey stumbles in, untidy. She goes to the end of the bar.)
特蕾西:嘿,斯坦。
Tracey: Hey, Stan.
Stan :看看是谁。我已经占了一个位置,你想让我给你五十美元作为系列赛奖金吗?
Stan: Look who it is. I been holding a spot, you want me to put you down for fifty dollars for the Series’ pool?
特蕾西:不,这次不行。
Tracey: Nah. Not this time.
圣:你确定?两年前你就赢了。
Stan: You sure? You won two years ago.
特蕾西:这次不行。呃,我可以来一杯加冰的双份伏特加吗?
Tracey: Not this time. Um, can I have a double vodka on the rocks?
(斯坦倒了一杯饮料。)
(Stan pours a drink.)
Stan :你很忙吗?
Stan: You keeping yourself busy?
T racey:正在努力。早上排队。下午打电话。还没有结果。工会为学生提供重返学校的资金,但我从来都不喜欢上学,所以我只能接受他们提供的一点点资助,直到我能找到支付账单的东西。
Tracey: Trying. Been walking the line in the mornings. Working the phones in the afternoon. Nothing yet. Union’s offering money for folks to go back to school, but I never liked school, so I’m taking what little support they give until I can find something to pay the bills.
Stan :差不多三个月了。操。
Stan: Almost three months. Fuck.
特蕾西:谁会想到呢。
Tracey: Who woulda thought.
Stan :我仍然认为事情的发展是这样的——
Stan: I still think the way everything went down —
特蕾西:别这样。大家都把我们当成失去了肢体的人。我很好。好消息是我的背痛消失了。
Tracey: Don’t. Stop it. Everyone is treating us like we lost a limb. I’m fine. And the good news is, my back pain is gone.
Stan :很高兴听到这个消息。
Stan: Glad to hear it.
特蕾西:谢谢。把我的饮料记在账上。
Tracey: Thanks. Put my drink on the tab.
圣坦:不行。我得刷卡了。
Stan: I can’t. Gotta run your card.
T tracey:从什么时候开始的?
Tracey: Since when?
圣:霍华德。这就是他想要的。
Stan: Howard. That’s what he wants.
T racey:Stan!来吧。
Tracey: Stan! C’mon.
Stan :对不起。
Stan: Sorry.
T tracey:我没有信用卡。
Tracey: I don’t have a credit card.
年代谭:抱歉。太多人不付钱了。霍华德正在严厉打击。
Stan: Sorry. Too many folks not paying. Howard’s cracking down.
特蕾西:斯坦!是我。
Tracey: Stan! It’s me.
圣坦:不可以。
Stan: Can’t.
特蕾西(指着杰西):她怎么付款的?
Tracey (Pointing to Jessie): How’s she paying?
Stan :她付钱。
Stan: She pays.
特蕾西:她和她姐姐住在一起,我敢打赌她晚上会钻进她的钱包里。
Tracey: She’s crashing with her sister, betcha she goes into her purse at night.
(特蕾西喝完酒,然后把手伸进口袋,假装在吧台上数着零钱。)
(Tracey downs the drink. Then digs into her pocket. She makes a show of counting out loose change on the bar.)
圣:噢,看在上帝的份上。真的吗?
Stan: Oh, for God’s sake. Really?
特蕾西:是你改变了规则,不是我。
Tracey: You changed the rules, not me.
(特蕾西继续数着她的硬币。)
(Tracey continues to make a show of counting her coins.)
操他妈的霍华德。天啊,我来这儿就是为了出去放松一下。
Fucking Howard. Jesus, I just came down here to get outta the house to relax.
Stan :好吧,好吧。你太夸张了。今天是我的错,不过现在你知道了。
Stan: Awright, awright. You’re so dramatic. Today it’s on me, but now you know.
特蕾西:我知道。我知道。天啊,我已经知道了。谢谢你。我爱你。
Tracey: I know. I know. God, I know, already. Thank you. I love you.
圣坦:是吗?
Stan: Do you?
特蕾西:不去那儿。
Tracey: Not going there.
圣:我只是说说而已。如果你这么做的话,生活可能会轻松一点。
Stan: I’m just saying. Life might be a little easier if you did.
T tracey:我不确定你是真的很浪漫还是有点低俗。
Tracey: I’m not sure whether you’re being really romantic or a little bit sleazy.
圣坦:随便你怎么说。你知道我的立场。
Stan: Whatever turns you on. You know where I stand.
(奥斯卡重新入场,羞怯地看着特蕾西。)
(Oscar reenters and looks at Tracey, sheepishly.)
特蕾西:好吧,我没那么绝望。(对奥斯卡)你在看什么?
Tracey: Well, I ain’t that desperate. (To Oscar) What are you looking at?
噢,斯卡:这就是你打招呼的方式吗?
Oscar: Is that how you say hello?
T tracey:是的,对你这种混蛋来说。你就是个混蛋。
Tracey: Yeah, to a fuck-face scab like you. You’re a piece of shit.
Stan :嘿,得了吧。没那回事。
Stan: Hey, c’mon. None of that.
哦刀疤:如果你不是女人我就打你嘴巴。
Oscar: If you wasn’t a woman I’d slap you in your mouth.
你真幸运,我受到了良好的教育。
You’re lucky I was raised good.
特蕾西:呃,我没有。
Tracey: Well, I wasn’t.
Stan :嘿,嘿嘿!
Stan: Hey, hey hey!
(特蕾西向奥斯卡冲去。斯坦拦住她,并将她拉回。奥斯卡大笑。)
(Tracey charges toward Oscar. Stan intercepts, and holds her back. Oscar laughs.)
噢刀疤:你准备做什么?
Oscar: What are you gonna do?
圣:奥斯卡!休息一下。
Stan: Oscar! Take a break.
T racey:我看看当我儿子在这里的时候你还会不会这样跟我说话。
Tracey: Let’s see if you talk // to me that way when my son is here.
O刀疤:我对你没意见。这不是个人恩怨。
Oscar: I have no problem with you. This ain’t personal.
特蕾西:你最好相信这对我来说是私事。
Tracey: You better believe it’s personal … for me.
2000 年 11 月 3 日
November 3, 2000
室外温度为 66°F。
Outside it’s 66°F.
新闻:距离美国大选还有四天,乔治·布什和阿尔·戈尔在民意调查中势均力敌。雷丁市市长提议增加所得税的预算。
In the news: It’s four days before the U.S. election and George Bush and Al Gore are running neck and neck in the polls. The Mayor of Reading proposes a budget to increase earned income tax.
酒吧。克里斯和杰森冲进来,肾上腺素激增。杰西坐在一张桌子旁,醉醺醺的,但心满意足。
Bar. Chris and Jason burst in, adrenaline pumping. Jessie sits at a table, shit-faced but content.
C hris:他们最好别再来找我了!//因为——
Chris: They better not come at me again! // Cuz —
杰森:我准备好了!无论他们带来什么,我都准备好了!
Jason: I’m ready! I’m ready for whatever they got!
圣坦:到底发生什么事了?
Stan: What the hell’s going on?
杰森(兴奋):哎呀,有些人被伤疤划伤了。麦克马纳斯被划伤了,他的脸侧需要缝十针。
Jason (Amped up): Aw, some of the guys got into a scrape with the scabs. McManus got cut, he’s gonna need ten stitches on the side of his face.
圣坦:嗯?
Stan: Yeah?
杰森:有些人觉得我们不应该让事情这么轻易地跨越界限。
Jason: Some of the guys feel we shouldn’t make it so easy to cross the line.
Stan :我不喜欢听到这种声音。
Stan: Don’t like the sound of that.
C hris:有些狗屎,嗯?
Chris: Some shit, huh?
Stan :我以前就见过。这对你没用。
Stan: Seen it before. It’s not gonna help your cause.
(杰森偷偷地从口袋里拿出一小瓶威士忌喝了一杯。)
(Jason sneaks a drink from a small bottle of whiskey tucked in his pocket.)
C hris:还是那一套,没人让步。进来的工人感觉不那么临时。
Chris: Same shit, nobody’s budging. The workers coming in ain’t feeling so temporary.
Stan :太难了。你该怎么办?
Stan: Tough. Whatcha gonna do?
杰森:谁知道呢?斯塔布斯、戈德斯基等几个人都在谈论接受这笔交易,但我不知道,如果我们现在屈服,那似乎是在浪费时间。他们会打垮我们,而且没有回头路。我想我可以再坚持三个月。到了紧要关头,我会卖掉自行车。但说实话,我认为我们应该给那些家伙一些教训,你觉得呢?
Jason: Who the fuck knows? There’s a few guys, Stubbs, Godski, talking about taking the deal, but I don’t know, seems like a big waste of time if we give in now. They’ll break us, and there’s no going back. I figure I can hold out another three months. Push comes to shove, I’ll sell the bike. But me, honestly, I think we teach some of those guys a lesson, what do you think?
Stan :见鬼,你为什么问我?我不知道。你还年轻,我的意思是你可以做很多事情。也许是时候继续前进了,这个地方已经不像以前那样了。
Stan: Hell, why are you asking me? I dunno. You’re young, I mean there are a lotta things you could do. Maybe it’s time to move on, this place ain’t what it used to be.
杰森:去哪儿?
Jason: And go where?
Stan :任何地方。有时我觉得我们忘记了,当井干涸时,我们应该拾起东西离开。我们的祖先知道这一点。你待在原地太久,你会被一些东西压垮,这些东西是你不需要的。这是真的。然后你的生活就变成了一堆可悲的东西。情感和身体上的垃圾。你得问问自己,你在坚持什么,嗯?我认识你爸爸,他是个不错的人,但那个地方让他很年轻就离开了。当然,他赚了不少钱,但放弃很难——
Stan: Anywhere. Sometimes I think we forget that we’re meant to pick up and go when the well runs dry. Our ancestors knew that. You stay put for too long, you get weighed down by things, things you don’t need. It’s true. Then your life becomes this pathetic accumulation of stuff. Emotional and physical junk. You gotta ask yourself what you’re hanging on to, huh? I knew your dad, he was a good enough guy, but that place took him young. Sure he made decent money, but jacking’s hard —
C hris:单词。
Chris: Word.
Jason:好吧,如果事情变得太真实,我有一个在海湾钻井平台上工作的朋友,他说他可以在春天给我一些东西。
Jason: Well, if things get too real, I got a buddy who works on a rig in the Gulf, says he can get me something in the spring.
圣坦:是吗?我听说你一周能挣一千美元。工作半年,然后随便干点别的。
Stan: Yeah? I hear you can make like a grand a week. Work half the year, and then do whatever.
杰森:是的。我只要拿到卡,然后就过去。
Jason: Yeah. Just gotta get the card, and get down there.
Stan :为什么不呢?如果我年轻三十岁,我早就到那儿去了。这些裂缝里只剩下霉味。这地方简直糟透了。当然,它曾经很美好。但怀旧是一种疾病,我不会成为那种屈服于怀旧的人。你得到了什么?
Stan: Why the hell not? Me, if I was thirty years younger, I’d already be down there. Nothing but mildew lingering in these cracks. This place is for shit. Sure, it used to be something. But nostalgia’s a disease, I’m not gonna be one of those guys that surrenders to it. What do you get?
C hris:我不想考虑这些。我的下巴已经厌倦了这些该死的喋喋不休。我只想喝醉,抽根雪茄,放松一会儿。
Chris: I don’t wanna think about it. My jaw’s tired of the damn chatter. Just wanna get drunk, smoke a blunt and chill for a little while.
杰森:这是一个绝妙的计划。
Jason: That’s an excellent plan.
C hris:你知道……我看到我爸爸了——
Chris: You know … I see my dad and —
Stan :他正在经历一段困难时期。
Stan: He’s going through a rough patch.
C hris:太客气了。我不会,我可能会熬过失业期,也许会做一些重活,做些日常工作,然后明年九月开始上大学。工会提供一些经济援助。
Chris: That’s very polite. Not me, I’ll probably ride out unemployment, maybe pick up some heavy lifting, day stuff, then start college next September. The union’s offering some financial aid.
杰森:我可以告诉你他们会说什么:“操你,操你,还有—— ”
Jason: I can tell ya what they’re gonna say: “Fuck you, fuck you and — ”
(杰森开玩笑地跳到克里斯的背上。)
(Jason playfully jumps on Chris’s back.)
C hris 和J ason:“去你妈的!”
Chris and Jason: “Fuck you!”
圣坦:好吧,好吧。趁事情还没变得太古怪,赶紧分手吧。
Stan: All right, all right. Break it up before it gets too kinky.
C hris:你有什么打算吗?
Chris: Whatcha got on tap?
Stan :还是老样子!拜托,你为什么每次都问我这个问题?
Stan: The usual! C’mon, why do ya gotta ask me that every single time?
C hris:继续期待惊喜吧。
Chris: Keep hoping for a surprise.
圣坦:你来错地方了。(笑)
Stan: You’re in the fucking wrong town for that. (Laughs)
你的女孩怎么样了?我没见过她。
How’s your girl? I haven’t seen her around.
C hris:没成功。
Chris: It didn’t work out.
杰森:她的嘴巴容不下他的大鸡巴。
Jason: She couldn’t fit his big dick in her mouth.
C hris:闭嘴!
Chris: Shut up!
杰森:她是——
Jason: She was —
C hris:闭嘴!
Chris: Shut up!
杰森:她——
Jason: She —
C hris:我真是汗流浃背。
Chris: Was sweating me.
圣塔:是吗?你们在一起多久了?
Stan: Yeah? How long wuz you together?
C hris:不到一年。她一直想要更多。但是,我感觉不到,不管是什么把人们团结在一起,那种感觉。我感觉不到。所以我想,这是最好的。不是吗?
Chris: Just under a year. She was pushing for more. But, I wasn’t feeling it, whatever holds people together, that thing. I didn’t feel it. So I guess, it’s for the best. No?
Stan :你真棒。
Stan: Good for you.
碳hris:我告诉我的女孩,一段时间内情况会变得紧张。她会说,“这对我们意味着什么?”我把事情分解开来。事情会变得真实起来。她说,“好吧,你需要找另一份工作,花花公子。”我告诉她这就是我想做的。但她有那种老派的心态,她想要当下想要的东西,不能考虑明天。哟,对于一个失业的男人来说,她工作太辛苦了。当我有薪水、数字和漂亮的东西时,她很开心,但当我问她借二十美元给车加油时,她却把我当成我闯入了她的小窝。这是怎么回事?
Chris: I told my girl that things were gonna be tight for a little while. And she’s all like, “What does that mean for us?” I break it down. It’s gonna get real. And she’s like, “Well, you need to find another job, playa.” I tell her that’s what I’m trying to do. But she got that old-school mentality, she wants what she wants in the moment, and can’t be thinking about tomorrow. Yo, she was too much work for a man outta work. She was plenty happy when I was a paycheck, numbers and pretty things, but the minute I ask her to borrow twenty dollars to put a little gas in the car she treats me like I’ve broken into her crib. What’s that about?
Stan :正是因为这些原因,我才保持单身。
Stan: I remain unattached for those very reasons.
C hris:现在是时候了。你说得对,斯坦。也许我们应该继续前进。我们可以抱怨到天塌下来。等等等等。这些狗屁东西很快就让人厌烦了。我每天早上都在纠察线上。我对一群可怜的饥饿家伙大喊“去你妈的”。我对此感觉很好,很优越,大概五分钟,然后现实就来了。他们进来了。然后我想到我爸爸。谁想要这些狗屁东西?
Chris: Now is the moment. You’re right, Stan. Maybe we should move on. We can complain until kingdom come. Bla, bla, bla. That shit gets old real fast. I’m out there on the picket lines every morning. I shout “fuck you” at a bunch of pathetic hungry guys. I feel good and superior about it all, for like five minutes, and then reality hits. They’re inside. And then I think about my pops. Who wants that shit?
杰森:哟,如果我是——
Jason: Yo, if I was —
C hris:嘿,哟,闭嘴,老兄!别说话,杰森,因为我发誓我会揍你。让我把话说完!好吗?我以前总是担心如果我不想在工厂工作人们会怎么想。现在他们让我们为了残羹剩饭而争吵。但是,斯坦说,这是不祥之兆,而我们仍然在这里假装我们不会读书。
Chris: Hey, yo, shut up, man! Don’t say nothing, Jason, because I swear I will punch you out. And just let me finish! Okay? I used to worry about what people would think if I didn’t want to work in the factory. Now they got us fighting for scraps. But, Stan said it, the writing’s on the wall, and we’re still out here pretending like we can’t read.
杰森:女人是要花钱的。如今她们想要什么都得要,太过分了。你得把口袋缝起来。
Jason: Women cost money. All the shit they want these days, it’s too much. You gotta sew your pockets shut.
C hris:哇,真的吗,这就是你从我刚才所说的话中得到的启示?
Chris: Wow, really, that’s your takeaway from what I just said?
(杰西,突然:)
(Jessie, suddenly:)
杰西:不,你是个卑鄙的混蛋。
Jessie: No. You’re a cheap-ass bastard.
C hris:去康复中心!
Chris: Go to rehab!
杰森:但是,说真的——
Jason: But, seriously —
(特蕾西从浴室出来。)
(Tracey comes out of the bathroom.)
特蕾西:为什么你从来不带纸巾?
Tracey: Why don’t you ever have paper towels?
S tan:为环境贡献我们的一点力量。
Stan: Doing our little bit for the environment.
T racey:嘿 Jason,给你妈妈买杯饮料吧。
Tracey: Hey Jason, buy your mom a drink.
(特蕾西搂住杰森的肩膀并给了他一个吻。)
(Tracey drapes herself around Jason’s shoulders and gives him a kiss.)
杰森:真的吗?拜托。那意味着我不能再吃第二个了。
Jason: Really? C’mon. That means I won’t be able to have another one.
特蕾西:可怜的孩子,你对牺牲的观念怎么了?
Tracey: Poor baby, what ever happened to the notion of sacrifice?
Stan :Jason,来吧。
Stan: Jason, c’mon.
C hris:我明白了,T 夫人。
Chris: I got you, Mrs. T.
特蕾西:这是你妈妈的钱吗?
Tracey: Is it your mother’s money?
C hris:...不。
Chris: … No.
T tracey:那好吧。斯坦。倒吧!
Tracey: Then okay. Stan. Pour!
(杰西醒了。)
(Jessie rouses.)
杰西:嘿,趁瓶子还没打开,给我一瓶。
Jessie: Hey, gimme one while the bottle’s open.
(斯坦给杰西和特蕾西倒了饮料。)
(Stan pours Jessie and Tracey drinks.)
杰森:天啊,克里斯,你让我丢脸了。
Jason: Jesus, Chris, you’re making me look bad.
C hris:不必太努力。
Chris: Don’t have to try very hard.
T racey:好吧,我有一个故事要告诉你们——
Tracey: Okay, I got a story for you guys —
杰森:噢,不。
Jason: Oh no.
T racey:闭嘴,你得听听,你们都知道 Ronnie Golmolka,他被抓了——
Tracey: Shut up, you gotta hear it, you guys know Ronnie Golmolka, well he got caught —
(奥斯卡走进来。特蕾西看见他,便不再说话。奥斯卡想撤退已经太迟了。)
(Oscar walks in. Tracey sees him and stops talking. It’s too late for Oscar to retreat.)
O scar:嘿,斯坦。
Oscar: Hey Stan.
圣:奥斯卡。
Stan: Oscar.
哦,疤痕:我来取我剩下的东西。但是,如果现在不是个好时机……我想……
Oscar: I came to pick up the rest of my stuff. But, if now ain’t such a good time … I thought …
(杰森和克里斯盯着奥斯卡。斯坦缓解了紧张的气氛。)
(Jason and Chris stare down Oscar. Stan breaks the tension.)
圣坦:它在后面。你要我去拿吗?
Stan: It’s in the back. You want me to get it?
噢,刀疤:不,我会明白的。
Oscar: Nah, I’ll get it.
杰西(大喊): “他妈的痂!”
Jessie (Shouts): Fucking scab!
(奥斯卡走到后面。杰森站起来。)
(Oscar goes to the back. Jason stands up.)
Stan :别这样!
Stan: Don’t!
杰森:什么?
Jason: Don’t what?
圣坦:你知道吗?坐下。
Stan: You know what. Sit down.
杰森:那个该死的辣妹。
Jason: That fucking spic.
斯坦:嘿,嘿,拜托。这里没有那种事。奥斯卡是个好人。让他拿回他的东西,好吗?
Stan: Hey, hey, c’mon. None of that in here. Oscar’s a good guy. Let him get his stuff, okay?
杰森:我不在乎。
Jason: I don’t give a fuck.
Tracey :阿门。那混蛋知道自己在干什么。我不在乎他的悲惨故事。所以他有一套公寓,里面住着 17 个亲戚,他们得吃饭。我厌倦了他们的胡闹。我干了二十多年,他以为他可以继续干下去。
Tracey: Amen. That piece of shit knows what he’s doing. I don’t care about his sorry story. So what he’s got an apartment filled with seventeen relatives that gotta eat. I’m tired of their shit. I worked that line for over twenty years and he thinks he can push in.
Stan :够了,来吧。这是中立地区。
Stan: Enough, c’mon. This is neutral territory.
杰森:她说得有道理。我才不会让那个混蛋踩到我的脚趾头呢。这绝不可能发生。
Jason: She’s got a point. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let that fucker walk over my toes. It ain’t gonna happen.
C hris:J,你他妈的坐下,你跟他没什么矛盾。这里没有。他只是——
Chris: J, sit the fuck down, you don’t got a beef with him. Not here. He’s just —
杰森:啥?
Jason: What?
C hris:想赚点钱。好吗?和你我一样。
Chris: Trying to make a dollar. Okay? The same as you or me.
杰森:不,不一样。我们有历史。我们!我,你,他,她!他他妈的有什么,嗯?一张绿卡让他有权破坏我们为之奋斗的一切?
Jason: Nah, it ain’t the same. We got history here. Us! Me, you, him, her! What the fuck does he have, huh? A green card that gives him the right to shit on everything we worked for?
年代谭:你为什么不绕着街区走一走呢?
Stan: Why don’t you take a walk around the block?
C hris:好的,我们走吧。
Chris: Yeah, let’s go.
(克里斯试图把杰森拉出来。杰森挣脱了。)
(Chris tries to pull Jason out. Jason wrenches himself away.)
杰森:你听见自己说的话了吗?我就是问题所在?我他妈该坐下来?不可能。
Jason: Do you hear yourself? I’m the problem? I should sit the fuck down? No way.
C hris:别管了。去他妈的。现在还不是时候。那混蛋不值得。好吗?
Chris: Let it alone. Fuck ’em. Now, ain’t the moment. That muthafucka ain’t worth it. Okay?
T racey:你看到他看你们的眼神了吗?他正在吃你的晚餐,你的牛排和土豆,你的该死的甜点。
Tracey: Did you see the way he looked at you guys? He’s eating your dinner, your steak and potatoes, your fucking dessert.
杰西:好吃!好吃!
Jessie: Yum! Yum!
(杰西笑了。)
(Jessie laughs.)
Stan :闭嘴!
Stan: Shut up!
特蕾西:我不闭嘴!
Tracey: I’m not shutting up!
杰西:告诉他们。
Jessie: Tell ’em.
Stan (对 Jason 说):你听见了吗,这不值得。你为什么自找麻烦?
Stan (To Jason): You heard, it ain’t worth it. Why do you need trouble?
杰森:我只是想让他明白。简单说说。
Jason: Just gonna set him straight. Simple talk.
Stan :别做混蛋了。
Stan: Don’t be an asshole.
杰森:我是个混蛋?我做了什么?每小时十一美元?不用了,谢谢。如果我们让他们这么做,他们会把我们压到一无所有。“软弱的人不能干这种勾当!”但他们知道总能找到愿意为他们操心的人。他们是对的。总会有人愿意介入,除非我们说“不”!
Jason: I’m an asshole? What I done? Eleven dollars an hour? No thank you. They’ll work us down to nothing if we let ’em. “Jacking ain’t for softies!” But they know they can always find somebody willing to get their hands sweaty. And they’re right. There will always be someone who’ll step in, unless we say NO!
圣坦:听着。奥尔斯特德是个混蛋。如果他在这里,我不会阻止你。事实上,我会把他按住,让你好好揍他一顿,但奥斯卡……他不一样。他会离开这里,而你,你得闭嘴,否则我——
Stan: Look. Olstead is a prick. If he was here I wouldn’t stop you. In fact I’d hold him down for you to give him a proper beating, but Oscar … he’s another story. He’s gonna walk outta here, and you, you’re gonna keep your mouth shut or I —
杰森:什么?!我只是说他需要了解他桌上这顿晚餐的价格。
Jason: What?! All I’m saying is that he needs to understand the price of that dinner he’s putting on his table.
圣坦(大喊):你他妈的想让他干什么?啊?这不是他的错。去跟奥尔斯特德和他的亲信们谈谈。该死的华尔街。奥斯卡不会靠你的痛苦发财。
Stan (Shouts): What the fuck do you want him to do? Huh? It ain’t his fault. Talk to Olstead, his cronies. Fucking Wall Street. Oscar ain’t getting rich off your misery.
克里斯:杰森,他说得对。他很努力。我们都很努力。
Chris: Jason, he’s right. He’s hustling. We’re all hustling.
杰森:克里斯,你怎么了?他不在我们这边,否则他就会走上绝路。只有我一个人看得清楚吗?
Jason: Chris, what’s wrong with you? He ain’t with us otherwise he’d be walking the line. Am I the only one seeing this clearly?
特蕾西:不,你说得没错。他违反了规定,不是我们!
Tracey: No, you’re not wrong. He’s breaking the rules, not us!
圣:别让她影响你的心情。她喝醉了。
Stan: Don’t let her get into your head. She’s drunk.
T tracey:那又怎么样?这改变不了事实。
Tracey: So what? It don’t change the truth.
杰西://那是肯定的。
Jessie: // That’s for sure.
圣坦:你要么坐下来,要么离开。我是认真的。但是,你不能在这里惹麻烦。不能和奥斯卡惹麻烦!
Stan: You can either sit back down or you can leave. I’m dead serious. But, you’re not starting trouble in here. Not with Oscar!
杰森:噢,我知道这是怎么回事了。
Jason: Oh, I see how this is gonna be.
(斯坦用球棒猛击球杆。)
(Stan slams a bat onto the bar.)
Stan :坐下!
Stan: SIT DOWN!
(杰森不情愿地坐下,但里面的男孩占了上风。)
(Jason reluctantly sits, the boy inside prevails.)
C hris:哟,我们快点结束吧,然后开车过去看看吉布尼在做什么。
Chris: Yo, let’s finish up, and drive over to see what Gibney’s up to.
杰森(Moping):是的,也许吧。
Jason (Moping): Yeah, maybe.
C hris:玩几局牌。从他身上赢点钱。喝两杯酒,他就会变得邋遢,然后就会打开钱包。
Chris: Play some cards. Win some money off of him. Two drinks and he’s sloppy and he’ll open up his wallet.
杰森(微笑) :是的。
Jason (Smiling): Yeah.
C hris:去费城的一家俱乐部吧。
Chris: Hit up a club in Philly.
杰森:听起来不错。
Jason: Sounds good.
C hris:酷吗?
Chris: Cool?
杰森:酷。我没事。我只是,你知道——
Jason: Cool. I’m all right. I was just, you know —
C hris:好的——
Chris: Okay —
杰森:随便吧。我很好。
Jason: Whatever. I’m fine.
特蕾西(对杰森说):这就是问题所在。我们都会翻身,把屁眼献给任何想操我们的人。我们会被操的。克里斯,他们操了你爸爸,杰森,如果你爸爸在这里,我会告诉你他会怎么做,他会——
Tracey (To Jason): That’s the problem. We all just roll over, and offer up our assholes for anyone who wants to fuck us. We will be fucked. Chris, they fucked your father, and Jason, if your father was here, I’d tell you what he’d do, he’d —
(杰森握紧拳头。)
(Jason balls up his fist.)
Stan (对 Tracey 说):闭嘴!
Stan (To Tracey): Shut up!
杰森:嘿,注意你的言辞。别那样跟她说话。
Jason: Hey, watch your mouth. Don’t talk to her that way.
(奥斯卡背着背包重新入场。)
(Oscar reenters with a backpack slung over his shoulder.)
Stan :保重。
Stan: Take care.
O scar:谢谢你的一切。
Oscar: Thanks for everything.
Stan :告诉你妈妈,谢谢你送的aripa。
Stan: And tell your ma, thank you for the aripa.
噢,斯卡: Arepas。就这么做吧。
Oscar: Arepas. Will do.
Stan :不要成为陌生人。
Stan: Don’t be a stranger.
(他们握手。奥斯卡朝门口走去。)
(They shake hands. Oscar heads for the door.)
特蕾西:嘿杰森,他正出去兑现你的支票。
Tracey: Hey Jason, he’s heading out to cash your check.
Stan :哦,该死。
Stan: Oh shit.
(在奥斯卡走到门口之前杰森突然出现并挡住了他的去路。他们面对面站着,四目相对。这是一场胆小鬼游戏。)
(Before Oscar can get to the door Jason pops up and blocks his path. They stand face to face, eye to eye. A game of Chicken.)
噢,斯卡:不好意思。
Oscar: Excuse me.
(杰森一动不动。)
(Jason doesn’t move.)
我说,对不起。
I said, excuse me.
(杰森仍然一动不动。奥斯卡绕过他。杰森再次挡住了他的路。)
(Jason still doesn’t move. Oscar goes to walk around him. Again Jason blocks his path.)
年代谭:让他过去,杰森。
Stan: Let him pass, Jason.
(杰森挑衅奥斯卡。)
(Jason provokes Oscar.)
O scar:我对你没什么意见。
Oscar: I don’t have no problem with you.
杰森:太晚了
Jason: Too late for that
(克里斯站起来。)
(Chris stands up.)
C hris:哟,J,我们离开这里吧,好吗?
Chris: Yo J, let’s get up from outta here, okay?
(斯坦从吧台后面走出来。)
(Stan moves from behind the bar.)
杰森:我不能。我不知道为什么,但我不能让他离开这里。
Jason: I can’t. I don’t know why, but I can’t let him walk outta here.
圣坦:当然可以!这里没人会瞧不起你。
Stan: Sure you can! Nobody here is gonna think any less of you.
噢刀疤:动起来!
Oscar: Move!
杰森:或者?
Jason: Or?
(对视。杰森推了奥斯卡。
(A stare-down. Jason shoves Oscar.
斯坦介入,抓住杰森的手臂。杰森猛地把他推开。斯坦失去平衡,摔倒在地。奥斯卡前去帮助斯坦,但杰森先抓住了他。)
Stan intervenes, grabbing Jason’s arm. Jason shoves him away violently. Stan loses his balance and tumbles to the ground. Oscar goes to aid Stan, but Jason grabs him first.)
杰西:哦,该死!
Jessie: Oh shit!
(一场吵闹混乱的打斗随之而来。它从吧台上滚了过去。奥斯卡设法抵挡住杰森。奥斯卡挣脱了束缚,跑向门口。)
(A loud and untidy fight ensues. It tumbles across the bar. Oscar manages to hold his own against Jason. Oscar breaks free, and runs for the door.)
噢刀疤:去你妈的!
Oscar: Fuck you!
(杰森抓住奥斯卡。他们扭打起来。特蕾西拿起一个玻璃杯扔出去。克里斯抓住了她。然后杰森抓住奥斯卡。打斗仍在继续。克里斯试图阻止他们。奥斯卡用头撞向克里斯,鼻子流血。)
(Jason grabs Oscar. They tussle. Tracey picks up a glass to throw. Chris grabs her. Then Jason grabs Oscar. The fight continues. Chris tries to break it up. Oscar head-butts Chris, bloodying his nose.)
贱人!
Bitch!
杰西:别让他走。
Jessie: Don’t let him go.
(克里斯的怒火被点燃了。他锁住了奥斯卡的头,并朝他的肚子猛击数拳。奥斯卡跪倒在地。)
(Chris’s anger has been ignited. He puts Oscar in a headlock and punches him several times in the stomach. Oscar drops to his knees.)
C hris:混蛋!
Chris: Motherfucker!
(克里斯踢了他的肋骨。奥斯卡痛得不停地扭动着身子。杰森从球棒上抓起球棒。)
(Chris kicks him in the ribs. Oscar writhes in pain. Jason grabs the bat from the bar.)
杰森:抱住他!
Jason: Hold him!
(克里斯抓住奥斯卡,把他拽起来。特蕾西注视着这场打斗,脸上满是愤怒。)
(Chris grabs Oscar and yanks him to his feet. Tracey watches the battle, her face contorted with rage.)
圣:放他走吧!
Stan: Let him go!
(斯坦努力站起来,但为时已晚。杰森用球棒击中奥斯卡的腹部。奥斯卡倒在地上。杰森再次击中他。当杰森准备再次挥棒时,斯坦试图阻止,但球棒重重地击中了他的头部。斯坦向后倒下,头撞在了横杆上——血流满面。他瘫倒在地。杰西喘着粗气。杰森,然后是克里斯,意识到他们所做之事的严重性。他们逃跑了。)
(Stan manages to get to his feet, but it’s too late. Jason hits Oscar in the stomach with the bat. Oscar crumples to the ground. Jason hits him again. As Jason winds up for another swing, Stan tries to intervene, but the bat hits him hard in the head. Stan falls back, hitting his head on the bar — blood. He slumps to the ground. Jessie gasps. Jason, and then Chris, recognizes the weight of what they’ve done. They flee.)
T tracey: 斯坦?!
Tracey: Stan?!
2008 年 9 月 24 日
September 24, 2008
新闻:布什总统准备向美国人民发出非常可怕的警告。他将表示,除非国会批准向华尔街提供 7000 亿美元的救助计划,并且该计划将在短短几天内获得批准,否则整个美国经济和数百万美国人将面临不祥的后果。
In the news: President Bush prepares to present a very dire warning to the American people. He will suggest that unless Congress approves a $700,000,000,000 bailout for Wall Street, and it is approved within a matter of only a few days, there will be ominous consequences for the entire U.S. economy and for millions of Americans.
2008 年 10 月 15 日
October 15, 2008
室外温度为 77°F。
Outside it’s 77°F.
新闻:巴格达和华盛顿就一项要求美国军队在 2012 年前撤出伊拉克的条约达成最终协议。美国股市暴跌 733 点,创下历史上第二大跌幅。约翰·麦凯恩和巴拉克·奥巴马在纽约州汉普斯特德的霍夫斯特拉大学举行最后一次电视辩论。联邦检察官判处一个价值数百万美元的贩毒集团有罪,该集团将雷丁的几所房屋改建成室内大麻农场。
In the news: Baghdad and Washington have reached a final agreement on a pact requiring U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq by 2012. U.S. stocks plunge 733 points, the second biggest point loss in history. John McCain and Barack Obama hold their final televised debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Federal prosecutors convict a multimillion-dollar drug ring that converted several Reading houses into indoor marijuana farms.
埃文站在克里斯身边,克里斯刚刚讲述了他与杰森的遭遇。
Evan stands over Chris, who is finishing describing his encounter with Jason.
E van:地方不大,你们两个迟早会碰面的,我可不想让这成为问题。
Evan: It’s not a big place. You two were bound to run into each other sooner or later. I don’t want this to be a problem.
C hris:我花了很长时间对杰森生气,但是站在那里我甚至不知道自己当时的感受。
Chris: I’d spent so much time being angry at Jason, but standing there I don’t even know what I was feeling.
E van:没关系。这些事情并不简单。我有一个坏蛋,他在这里,硬得像石头一样。他出来了,弥补过失,跨过了很多桥梁,几乎走在水上。他发现宽恕是两条路中比较容易的一条。
Evan: That’s okay. These things ain’t simple. I had a ’banger who was up in here, hard as stone. He got out, made amends, crossed so many bridges he was practically walking on water. He found forgiveness to be the easier of his two paths.
C hris:不知道这些。妈的,我记得当我坐在酒吧时,我知道我不想喝斯坦总是倒的那种乏味的啤酒。我知道那天晚上我要开车去费城和几个朋友去俱乐部。第二天,我计划去奥尔布赖特。我感到自由,好像我第一次有了除了自慰和宿醉之外的选择。我可以走开,今天我会//——
Chris: Dunno about all of that. Shit, I remember when I sat down at the bar I knew I didn’t want the same flat-ass beer that Stan always poured. I knew I was gonna drive down to Philly that evening and hit a club with some friends. And the next day, I had planned to go over to Albright. I was feeling free, like for the first time I had an option other than jacking and a hangover. And I coulda walked away, and today I’d // be —
埃范:不要。
Evan: Don’t.
C hris:我讨厌现在人们看着我的样子。我觉得他们能看到我所做的一切。我为此祈祷。我请求宽恕。但每天早上我醒来时都感到同样的恐慌。我看到的只是一扇关闭的门,当我终于鼓起勇气打开它时,它却通向另一扇关闭的门。
Chris: I hate the way people be looking at me now. I feel like they can see what I done. I pray on it. I ask for forgiveness. But every morning I wake up with the same panic. All I see is a closed door, and when I finally get the courage to open it, it leads to yet another closed door.
(埃文转过身。他现在正在和杰森说话。)
(Evan shifts. He is now talking to Jason.)
E van:也许你们两个需要坐下来谈谈?
Evan: Maybe you two need to sit down and talk?
杰森:……是的。我明白你的意思。我一直在想。
Jason: … Yeah. I hear you. Been thinking.
(杰森微笑。)
(Jason smiles.)
E van:这很新鲜。听着,我知道你在回避什么,伙计,我不怪你,但是——
Evan: That’s new. Look, I know what you’re avoiding, and man, I don’t blame you, but —
杰森:我已经很久没有想起在酒吧的那天了。现在我无法摆脱它。我走过这座城市的每一个地方都会让我想起那一天,就好像整座城市都在那家酒吧里,和我一样被颠倒了。
Jason: I ain’t thought about that day in the bar in a long time. Now I can’t get away from it. Every place I walk in this city reminds me of that day, it’s like the whole city was in that bar and got turned upside down in the same way I did.
E van:接到电话说你在避难所打架。是真的吗?你最近睡在哪里?
Evan: Got a call that you were fighting at the shelter. That true? Where are you sleeping these days?
杰森:我妈妈家太压抑了,我一个朋友给了我一个帐篷和睡袋,所以我就和另外几个人一起在树林里露营。这很容易。
Jason: My mom’s place was too depressing, and a friend of mine gave me a tent and sleeping bag, so I’ve been camping in the woods with a couple of other guys. It’s easy.
E van:我需要一个地址。
Evan: I’m gonna need an address.
杰森:这不花我一分钱。这比在避难所玩音乐床要容易得多。没人会叫我出去。
Jason: It don’t cost me nothing. It’s easier than playing musical beds at the shelter. Nobody calls me out.
E van:很快就要变冷了。
Evan: It’s gonna get cold soon.
杰森:好吧,到时候再说吧。自从我遇到克里斯之后,我就没法集中注意力了。我试图弄清楚,你知道吗?发生了什么。我只记得愤怒。盲目的愤怒。我无法摆脱它。它就像一件我一直穿着的羊毛夹克。有人用异样的眼光看着我,我想打他们的脸,但我不知道为什么。
Jason: Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Ever since I ran into Chris I haven’t been able to focus. I’m trying to figure it out, you know? What happened. I just remember the fury. The blind fury. And I ain’t been able to shake it. It’s like a wool jacket that I wear all of the fucking time. Someone looks at me wrong, I wanna bash them in the face, and I don’t know why.
E van:伙计,你不会喜欢我说的话。但我还是要说。真可惜。
Evan: Man, you’re not gonna like what I have to say. But I’m just gonna say it. Shame.
杰森:啥?
Jason: What?
E van:我见过很多和你处境相同的人,我知道随着时间的推移,这种情绪会让人崩溃……让人崩溃。我不是治疗师,也不是谈论这一切的合适人选。但我知道,这不是一种有益的情绪。大多数人认为,最终摧毁我们的是内疚或愤怒,但我从经验中知道,是羞耻吞噬着我们,直到我们消失。你投入了时间。但听着,我们一直在谈论,我们可以继续谈论——但你现在该怎么做呢?你听见了吗?
Evan: I’ve seen enough guys in your situation to know that over time it’s … it’s crippling. I’m not a therapist, I’m not the right dude to talk to about all of this. But what I do know, is that it’s not a productive emotion. Most folks think it’s the guilt or rage that destroys us in the end, but I know from experience that it’s shame that eats us away until we disappear. You put in your time. But look here, we been talking, and we can keep talking — but whatcha gonna do about where you’re at right now? You hear me?
(灯光变换。我们回到克里斯身边。)
(Light shift. We’re back with Chris.)
杰森:是的。
Jason: Yeah.
C hris:是的,我听到了。
Chris: Yeah, I hear you.
2008 年 10 月 18 日
October 18, 2008
室外温度为 58°F。
Outside it’s 58°F.
新闻:随着美国建筑、园林绿化和餐饮业的就业机会减少,数以千计的拉丁美洲移民正在返回家园。宾夕法尼亚州共和党起诉社区活动团体 ACORN,指控该团体助长选民登记欺诈。费城费城人队准备在 2008 年美国职业棒球大联盟世界大赛中与坦帕湾光芒队对决。
In the news: Thousands of Latin American immigrants are returning home as U.S. jobs dry up in the construction, landscaping and restaurant industries. Pennsylvania’s Republican Party sues the community activist group ACORN, accusing the group of fostering voter registration fraud. The Philadelphia Phillies prepare to face off against the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 Major League Baseball World Series.
酒吧。它已经重新装修、打磨过了。奥斯卡年纪更大、更成熟了,站在吧台后面。克里斯走进来,不情愿地坐在一张桌子旁。片刻。奥斯卡考虑是否要说话。
Bar. It has been refurbished, polished. Oscar, older and more mature, stands behind the bar. Chris enters and reluctantly sits at a table. A moment. Oscar contemplates whether to speak.
O scar:你想让我打开游戏吗?
Oscar: You want me to turn on the game?
C hris:不。你还好吗?
Chris: Nah. You awright?
奥斯卡:是的。我听说你们出去了。
Oscar: Yeah. I heard you guys got out.
(稍等片刻。)
(A moment.)
C hris:奥斯卡,我——
Chris: Oscar, I —
O scar:我不知道你知道我的名字。
Oscar: Didn’t know you knew my name.
C hris:我——
Chris: I —
O scar:你喝啥?
Oscar: Whatchu drinking?
C hris:...你有什么打算吗?
Chris: … Whatcha got on tap?
O scar:这是手工制品。一个当地人做的。
Oscar: It’s this artisanal stuff. A guy, local, makes it.
C hris:你在开玩笑吧。
Chris: You’re joking.
O scar:不,还不错。
Oscar: Nah. It’s good.
C hris:嗯,好的。
Chris: Um, okay.
(奥斯卡倒了一杯啤酒。)
(Oscar pours a beer.)
这个地方看起来不错。
The place looks nice.
O scar:新客户。自从工厂关闭以来,我们迎来了很多大学生。我一直在努力保持这种势头,你知道——
Oscar: New crowd. We get a lot of college kids since the plant closed. I been trying to keep it up, you know —
克里斯:是的。霍华德怎么样了?
Chris: Yeah. How’s, um, Howard?
O scar:退休了。搬到凤凰城了。我是经理。
Oscar: Retired. Moved to Phoenix. I’m the manager.
C hris:真的吗?
Chris: Really?
O scar:是的。周末去当酒保。
Oscar: Yeah. Bartend on weekends.
C hris:那真是太酷了。
Chris: That’s real cool.
O scar:谢谢。
Oscar: Thanks.
C hris:我……
Chris: I …
哦刀疤:听着。不管你说什么——
Oscar: Look. Whatever you gotta say —
C hris:听着——
Chris: Listen —
(杰森进来了。奥斯卡很吃惊,并且有点紧张。)
(Jason enters. Oscar’s surprised, and grows a little on edge.)
O scar:哇哦,这是怎么回事?
Oscar: Whoa, what’s going on here?
(杰森突然停下,惊慌失措,然后转身离开。)
(Jason stops short, panic, then turns to leave.)
C hris:杰森!
Chris: Jason!
噢,刀疤:我不想——
Oscar: I don’t want —
杰森:哟,我不能做——
Jason: Yo, I can’t do —
C hris:别走开。我没想到你会来。我们——
Chris: Don’t walk outta here. I didn’t think you’d come. We have —
(片刻。杰森考虑着是否要离开。然后,严重残疾的斯坦走了进来。他遭受了创伤性脑损伤。他行动极其困难;看着都让人心痛。最后:)
(A moment. Jason contemplates whether or not to leave. Then Stan, severely crippled, enters. A traumatic brain injury. He moves with extreme difficulty; it is painful to watch. Finally:)
嘿,斯坦。斯坦。
Hey Stan. Stan.
(斯坦没有注意到他们的存在。)
(Stan doesn’t register their presence.)
O scar:他的听力确实不太好。
Oscar: He can’t really hear good.
C hris:耶稣。
Chris: Jesus.
(斯坦开始擦桌子。大家都在看着。斯坦把抹布掉在地上。他挣扎着去捡。杰森跑过去把它捡起来。)
(Stan goes about wiping tables. They all watch. Stan drops his cloth. He struggles to get it. Jason runs over and picks it up.)
Stan (乱码):谢谢……你。
Stan (Garbled): Thank … you.
杰森:你照顾他真是太好了。
Jason: It’s nice that you take care of him.
噢,刀疤:本来就应该如此。
Oscar: That’s how it oughta be.
(他们眼中流露出歉意,但克里斯和杰森一时无法找到合适的词语。四个人心里忐忑不安,在支离破碎的团结中等待着下一个时刻。一片漆黑。)
(There’s apology in their eyes, but Chris and Jason are unable to conjure words just yet. The four men, uneasy in their bodies, await the next moment in a fractured togetherness. Blackout.)
[2017]
[2017]
[按字母顺序排列]
[Arranged Alphabetically]
金·阿多尼齐奥1954 年出生于华盛顿特区,父亲是前网球冠军,母亲是体育记者。她成年后大部分时间都住在旧金山湾区,在那里教授诗歌讲习班。阿多尼齐奥以其挑衅的风格而闻名,在多个流派中赢得了赞誉。最近的作品包括《我的黑天使》(2014 年)、《身穿太阳裙的布考斯基:写作生涯的自白》(2016 年)和《凡人垃圾》(2017 年)。阿多尼齐奥获得了古根海姆基金会和国家艺术基金会的奖学金。
Kim Addonizio was born in 1954 in Washington, DC, the daughter of a former tennis champion and a sportswriter. She has spent most of her adult life living in the San Francisco Bay area, where she teaches poetry workshops. Known for her provocative style, Addonizio has earned acclaim in multiple genres. Recent works include My Black Angel (2014), Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life (2016), and Mortal Trash (2017). Addonizio is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇(生于 1977 年) 出生于尼日利亚埃内古,在六个孩子中排行第五。高中毕业后,在身为大学教授的父亲的指导下,她报考了尼日利亚大学医学专业。十九岁时,她移居美国继续深造。在费城德雷塞尔大学学习后,她转学到东康涅狄格州立大学,并于 2001 年以优异成绩毕业,获得传播学和政治研究专业学位。此时她的计划已经明朗:2003 年,她在约翰霍普金斯大学获得创意写作硕士学位,2008 年在耶鲁大学获得非洲研究硕士学位,将她对写作的热爱和对非洲文化的了解结合在一起。阿迪奇是小说《紫木槿》(2003 年)、《半轮黄日》(2006 年)和《美国佬》(2013 年)的作者,以及广受好评的短篇小说集《你脖子上的东西》(2009 年)。她还创作了两本非小说类图书:《我们都应该是女权主义者》(2014 年)和《亲爱的伊杰阿韦尔,或十五条建议中的女权主义宣言》(2017 年)。
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (b. 1977) was born in Enegu, Nigeria, the fifth of six children. After high school, guided by her father, a university professor, she registered to study medicine at the University of Nigeria. At nineteen she moved to the United States to continue her education. After study at Drexel University in Philadelphia, she transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University and graduated in 2001 as a Communications and Political Studies major, summa cum laude. By now her plans had crystallized: in 2003 she completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University and in 2008 a master’s in African studies from Yale University, bringing together her love of writing and her understanding of African cultures. Adichie is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013), and the highly praised short-story collection The Thing Around Your Neck (2009). She is also the author of two nonfiction books: We Should All Be Feminists (2014) and Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017).
卡维·阿克巴尔 (Kaveh Akbar ) (生于 1989 年)出生于伊朗德黑兰,是Divedapper的创始人和编辑,他利用这个平台采访有影响力的当代诗人。阿克巴尔的诗歌出现在许多著名出版物中,包括《纽约客》、《诗歌》、《锡屋》、《APR》和PBS NewsHour。他是《Calling a Wolf a Wolf》(Alice James Books,2017 年 9 月)和小册子《Portrait of the Alcoholic》 (Sibling Rivalry Press,2017 年 1 月)的作者。Akbar 曾获得美国诗歌协会颁发的 Pushcart 奖和 Lucille Medwick 纪念奖,以及 2016 年诗歌基金会颁发的 Ruth Lilly 和 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg 诗歌奖学金。
Born in Tehran, Iran, Kaveh Akbar (b. 1989) is founder and editor of Divedapper, a platform he uses to interview influential contemporary poets. Akbar’s poems have appeared in many notable publications including the New Yorker, Poetry, Tin House, APR, and PBS NewsHour. He is the author of the collection Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books, September 2017) and the chapbook Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry Press, January 2017). Akbar is a past recipient of the Pushcart and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, as well as the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2016.
谢尔曼·阿莱克西 (Sherman Alexie)是斯波坎/科达伦美洲原住民后裔,1966 年出生于华盛顿州韦尔皮尼特的斯波坎印第安人保留地。他在普尔曼的华盛顿州立大学获得学士学位。他出版了 11 本诗集,最近一本是《脸》 (2009);四本小说,其中《飞行》 (2007) 是最新的一本;五本短篇小说集,包括《独行侠和托托在天堂的拳击》 (1993)、《十个小印第安人》 (2003) 和《亵渎》 (2012);以及回忆录《你不必说你爱我》 (2017)。他的第一部青少年小说《一个兼职印第安人的绝对真实日记》获得了 2007 年美国国家图书奖青少年文学奖。
Of Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Native American descent, Sherman Alexie was born in 1966 on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He earned his BA from Washington State University in Pullman. He has published eleven books of poetry, most recently Face (2009); four novels, of which Flight (2007) is the latest; five collections of short fiction, including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), Ten Little Indians (2003), and Blasphemy (2012); and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me (2017), a memoir. His first novel for young adults, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, received the 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
舍伍德·安德森 (Sherwood Anderson, 1876-1941)出生于俄亥俄州卡姆登,在精神崩溃后辞去了工厂经理的工作,开始从事写作。他于 1919 年出版的《俄亥俄州温斯堡》一书深入探讨了心理问题,书中的人物都变成了“怪人”。这本书开启了他的职业生涯,至今仍是他最经久不衰的作品之一。当时,这本书并不像人们想象的那么成功,他 1925 年出版的《黑暗的笑声》是他唯一的畅销书。整个 20 世纪 20 年代,安德森出版了各种作品,包括短篇小说集、小说、回忆录、散文集和一本诗集。他对威廉·福克纳、欧内斯特·海明威、约翰·斯坦贝克和托马斯·沃尔夫等后来的作家的影响是不可否认的,他对文学界的贡献令人印象深刻。
Born in Camden, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) left work as a factory manager after a nervous breakdown to pursue writing. His 1919 book Winesburg, Ohio, an in-depth psychological exploration featuring characters who became “grotesques,” launched his career and remains one of his most enduring works. At the time, it was not as successful as one might think, and his 1925 book Dark Laughter was his only bestseller. Throughout the 1920s, Anderson published a variety of works, including short-story collections, novels, memoirs, books of essays, and a book of poetry. His influence on later writers such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Thomas Wolfe is undeniable, and his contributions to the world of literature are impressive.
纪尧姆·阿波利奈尔(1880-1918)的父亲是波兰妇女,母亲是阿波利奈尔,但他从不知道父亲的身份。阿波利奈尔年轻时游历欧洲,对各种文化和研究领域产生了深深的钦佩和好奇心,这种好奇心后来反映在他作品主题和题材的独特范围和复杂性中。阿波利奈尔 18 岁毕业后定居巴黎,身边有一群热情支持先锋派的朋友,其中包括巴勃罗·毕加索、乔治·布拉克、亨利·卢梭和马塞尔·杜尚。阿波利奈尔喜欢挑战资产阶级社会,探索人类生存状况的起起落落,并在各种类型的作品中对技术进步发表评论。他的诗集《酒神:1898-1913 年的诗集》和《书法:战争和平之诗集》(书法)展示了这位作家的风格实验。阿波利奈尔被认为是影响未来主义、立体主义、达达主义和超现实主义发展的关键人物。
Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918) was son to a Polish woman and a man whose identity Apollinaire never knew. Having spent his youth traveling Europe, Apollinaire developed a deep admiration and curiosity for various cultures and fields of study — a curiosity that would later reflect in the unique range and complexity of his works’ themes and subjects. After graduating from school at age eighteen, Apollinaire settled in Paris and found himself surrounded by a group of friends who passionately supported the avant-garde including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Rousseau, and Marcel Duchamp. Apollinaire enjoyed challenging bourgeois society, exploring the highs and lows of the human condition, and providing comments on the advancement of technology in his various genres of work. His poetry collections Alcools: Poemes 1898–1913 and Calligrammes: Poemes de la paix de la guerre (Calligrams) showcase the writer’s stylistic experimentation. Apollinaire is considered a key figure in influencing the development of Futurism, Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.
马修·阿诺德(1822-1888) 出生于英国小村庄拉勒姆,在拉格比学校长大,他的父亲是该校的校长。他就读于牛津大学,并于 1857 年当选为牛津大学诗歌教授,任职十年,主要撰写文学评论。他还担任了 35 年的学校督察,并两次在美国巡回演讲。
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was born in the small English village of Laleham and raised at Rugby School, where his father was the headmaster. He attended Oxford University and, in 1857, was elected professor of poetry at Oxford, a position he held for ten years, writing mostly literary criticism. He also worked for thirty-five years as an inspector of schools and made two lecture tours of the United States.
法蒂玛·阿斯加尔(生于 1989 年) 是巴基斯坦、克什米尔、穆斯林美国作家。她的兴趣领域包括诗歌、编剧、教育和表演。她创作了诗集《如果他们来找我们》(One World/Random House,2018 年)和小册子《之后》(YesYes Books,2015 年)。此外,阿斯加尔还是艾美奖提名网络剧集《棕色女孩》的编剧和联合创作者。她的作品出现在许多新闻媒体上,包括 PBS、NPR、时代、Teen Vogue和赫芬顿邮报。阿斯加尔是 Dark Noise Collective 和 Kundiman 研究员的成员。她曾获得2017 年获得诗歌基金会颁发的露丝·莉莉和多萝西·萨金特·罗森伯格诗歌奖学金,并被列入福布斯30 位 30 岁以下精英榜单。
Fatimah Asghar (b. 1989) is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim American writer. Her areas of interest include poetry, screenwriting, educating, and performing. She has authored the poetry collection If They Come for Us (One World/Random House, 2018) and the chapbook After (YesYes Books, 2015). Additionally, Asghar is the writer and cocreator of the Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls. Her work has appeared on many news outlets including PBS, NPR, Time, Teen Vogue, and Huffington Post. Asghar is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and a Kundiman Fellow. She was a recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2017 and listed on Forbes’s 30 Under 30 list.
约翰·阿什伯里(1927-2017) 是一位美国诗人,他出版了超过 27 卷诗集,并获得了几乎所有美国诗歌大奖,包括普利策奖、美国国家图书奖、美国国家图书评论界奖以及麦克阿瑟基金会的资助。在职业生涯早期,阿什伯里的诗歌创作受到他与纽约学派的接触的影响,纽约学派是一群艺术家和诗人,他们对抽象表现主义的兴趣影响了阿什伯里的作品——尤其是他最著名的诗集《凸镜中的自画像》中的诗歌。
John Ashbery (1927–2017) was an American poet who published more than twenty-seven volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Early in his career, Ashbery’s poetry was informed by his engagement with the New York School, a group of artists and poets whose interests in Abstract Expressionism informed Ashbery’s work — especially the poems in his Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, his most famous collection.
玛格丽特·阿特伍德(生于 1939 年)出生于渥太华,在安大略省北部、魁北克省和多伦多长大。她在多伦多上高中时开始写作。她在多伦多大学维多利亚学院获得学士学位,在拉德克利夫学院获得硕士学位。她凭借私人印刷的诗集《双重珀耳塞福涅》(1961 年)获得 EJ 普拉特奖章,并出版了另外 16 本诗集。她最著名的作品可能是她的十三部小说,其中包括《使女的故事》(1983 年)、《强盗新娘》(1994 年)、《盲刺客》(2000 年;布克奖得主)、《女巫的种子》(2016 年)和《遗嘱》(2019 年;同样获得布克奖)。她还出版了十本短篇小说集、六本儿童读物和六本非小说类书籍,并编辑了多部选集。她的作品被翻译成三十多种语言,包括波斯语、日语、土耳其语、芬兰语、韩语、冰岛语和爱沙尼亚语。
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) was born in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She began writing while attending high school in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College. She won the E. J. Pratt Medal for her privately printed book of poems, Double Persephone (1961), and has published sixteen more collections of poetry. She is perhaps best known for her thirteen novels, which include The Handmaid’s Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), The Blind Assassin (2000; winner of the Booker Prize), Hag-Seed (2016), and The Testaments (2019; also winner of the Booker Prize). She has also published ten collections of short stories, six children’s books, and six books of nonfiction, and she has edited several anthologies. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic, and Estonian.
WH 奥登(1907–1973) 出生于英国约克。他曾就读于私立学校,后来进入牛津大学,并在那里开始写诗。他以教学和出版为生,根据自己在冰岛、西班牙和中国的旅行写书。他还与切斯特·卡尔曼 (Chester Kallman) 合作撰写了几部剧本,包括伊戈尔·斯特拉文斯基的《浪子的历程》(1951)。他从 1939 年起一直居住在美国,直到去世,并于 1946 年成为美国公民。他的作品融合了活泼的智慧、敏捷的才智、细致的工艺和社会关怀。
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) was born in York, England. He attended private school and later Oxford University, where he began to write poetry. He supported himself by teaching and publishing, writing books based on his travels to Iceland, Spain, and China. He also wrote (with Chester Kallman) several librettos, including the one in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (1951). He lived in the United States from 1939 until his death, having become a U.S. citizen in 1946. His work combines lively intelligence, quick wit, careful craftsmanship, and social concern.
吉米·圣地亚哥·巴卡1952 年出生于新墨西哥州圣达菲,拥有墨西哥裔和阿帕奇裔血统。两岁时被父母抛弃,他与祖父母一起生活了几年,后来被送进孤儿院。他年轻时流落街头,因持有毒品被判入狱六年。在监狱里,他自学读写,并开始创作诗歌。一位狱友说服他提交一些诗歌供出版。此后,他出版了十几本诗集、一本回忆录、一本故事和散文集、一部戏剧、一部剧本和一部小说。他住在阿尔伯克基郊外一栋百年老土坯房里。
Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in 1952 in Sante Fe, New Mexico, of Chicano and Apache heritage. Abandoned by his parents at the age of two, he lived with one of his grandparents for several years before being placed in an orphanage. He lived on the streets as a youth and was imprisoned for six years for drug possession. In prison, he taught himself to read and write and began to compose poetry. A fellow inmate convinced him to submit some of his poems for publication. He has since published a dozen books of poetry, a memoir, a collection of stories and essays, a play, a screenplay, and a novel. He lives outside Albuquerque in a hundred-year-old adobe house.
诺亚·巴尔迪诺(生于 1993 年) 是一位获奖诗歌和评论作家,其作品发表于各种出版物,如《肯扬评论》、《诗歌》和《黑武士评论》。他们在印第安纳州任教。
Noah Baldino (b. 1993) is a writer of award-winning poems and reviews that have appeared in a variety of publications, such as the Kenyon Review, Poetry, and Black Warrior Review. They teach in Indiana.
詹姆斯·鲍德温 (James Baldwin ,1924-1987)是一位复兴主义牧师的儿子,他出生于纽约市,在哈莱姆区贫困家庭长大,14 岁时,他成为 Fireside 五旬节教会的一名牧师。高中毕业后,他决定成为一名作家,并在黑人美国侨民作家理查德·赖特 (Richard Wright) 的帮助下获得了一笔资助,使他得以搬到巴黎,并在那里度过了余生的大部分时光。他在那里写了广受好评的《去山上讲述》 (Go Tell It on the Mountain,1953),这部小说讲述了一位 14 岁黑人青年的宗教觉醒。随后的作品集中于白人种族主义社会中黑人男性的智力和精神考验,包括小说《乔凡尼的房间》(1956 年)、《另一个国家》(1962 年),这两部小说当时都以同性恋主题而闻名;《告诉我火车开了多久》(1968 年)、《如果比尔街可以说话》(1974 年)、《就在我的头顶上》 (1979 年)和《哈莱姆四重奏》(1987 年);戏剧《献给查理先生的蓝调》(1964 年);以及强有力的非虚构评论《土生子的笔记》(1955 年)、《没人知道我的名字》(1961 年)和《下一次将是烈火》(1963 年)。鲍德温的短篇小说收录在《去见那个人》(1965 年)中。
The son of a revivalist minister, James Baldwin (1924–1987) was born in New York City and raised in poverty in Harlem, where, at the age of fourteen, he became a preacher in the Fireside Pentecostal Church. After completing high school, he decided to become a writer and, with the help of the black American expatriate writer Richard Wright, won a grant that enabled him to move to Paris, where he lived for most of his remaining years. There he wrote the critically acclaimed Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel about the religious awakening of a fourteen-year-old black youth. Subsequent works, focusing on the intellectual and spiritual trials of black men in a white, racist society, included the novels Giovanni’s Room (1956), Another Country (1962) — both famous at the time for their homosexual themes — Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), Just Above My Head (1979), and Harlem Quartet (1987); the play Blues for Mister Charlie (1964); and the powerful nonfiction commentaries Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Next Time (1963). Baldwin’s short stories are collected in Going to Meet the Man (1965).
托妮·凯德·班巴拉(1939-1995)出生于纽约市,在哈莱姆区长大,就读于皇后学院,在那里她创作了故事、诗歌、剧本和其他作品,并成为文学杂志的工作人员。她在城市学院攻读硕士学位期间继续创作故事。在她的短篇小说集《大猩猩,我的爱》(1972 年)出版后,她作为黑人作家的自我意识逐渐清晰和深化。她的其他短篇小说集包括《黑人妇女》(1970 年)、《黑人的故事和故事》(1971 年)和《海鸟还活着》(1977 年)。她的两部小说是《食盐者》(1980 年)和《如果祝福来临》(1987 年)。《深层目击和救援任务》是一部虚构和非虚构作品集,于 1996 年出版,当时她已过世。
Born in New York City and raised in Harlem, Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995) attended Queens College, where she wrote stories, poems, scripts, and other works and was part of the staff of the literary magazine. She continued writing stories as she studied for an MA at City College. After her story collection Gorilla, My Love (1972) was published, her sense of herself as a black writer gradually clarified and deepened. Her other story collections include The Black Woman (1970), Tales and Stories for Black Folks (1971), and The Sea Birds Are Still Alive (1977). Her two novels are The Salt Eaters (1980) and If Blessing Comes (1987). Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions, a collection of fiction and nonfiction, appeared posthumously, in 1996.
尼娜·贝伯(生于 1962 年) 创作了十多部戏剧,包括《共同愿景》 (2009 年)、《明日世界》 (2009 年)、《露点》 (2009 年) 和《跳跃/切入》 (2007 年)。她的戏剧《误读》被列入1996-1997 年最佳美国短篇戏剧。她曾在哥伦比亚大学和纽约大学任教。
Neena Beber (b. 1962) is the author of over a dozen plays, including A Common Vision (2009), Tomorrowland (2009), The Dew Point (2009), and Jump/cut (2007). Her play Misreadings was included in Best American Short Plays 1996–1997. She has taught at Columbia University and New York University.
Jen Bervin(生于 1972 年)是一位诗人和视觉艺术家,她与他人共同编辑了《华丽的虚无:艾米莉·狄金森的信封诗》(2012 年),该书入围了诗歌基金会 2014 年飞马批评奖决赛。她的其他著作包括《网》(2004 年)、《银书》(2010 年)和《丝绸诗》(2017 年)。她专攻诗歌、档案研究和大型艺术品。她目前的项目《丝绸诗》的研究包括联系实验室和图书馆以获取更多信息。Bervin 是佛蒙特艺术学院研究生课程的教师。
Jen Bervin (b. 1972) is a poet and visual artist who coedited The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems (2012), a finalist for the Poetry Foundation’s 2014 Pegasus Award for Criticism. Her other books include Nets (2004), The Silver Book (2010), and Silk Poems (2017). She specializes in poetry, archival research, and large-scale artworks. The research for her current project, Silk Poems, includes contacting labs and libraries to acquire more information. Bervin is on the faculty of the graduate program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
安布罗斯·比尔斯(1842–1914?)出生于俄亥俄州梅格斯县。他应征入伍参加了美国内战,之后从事编辑、记者和短篇小说作家的工作。在他的诗歌、短篇小说和报纸文章中,他详细讲述了自己的战争经历,对美国历史上最关键的历史时刻之一提供了深刻的见解。他的观点往往是讽刺性的,甚至是嘲讽性的,这为他赢得了“苦涩比尔斯”的绰号。1913 年,比尔斯前往墨西哥,受到潘乔·维拉领导的革命的启发。1914 年的某个时候,他失踪了,当时有传言说他和叛军一起旅行。
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) was born in Meigs County, Ohio. He enlisted to fight in the United States Civil War, and afterward he found work as an editor, journalist, and short-story writer. In his poems, short stories, and newspaper articles, he relayed his war experience in great detail, offering a visceral insight into one of America’s most pivotal historical moments in its history. His viewpoint was often satirical, even sardonic, which earned him the nickname “Bitter Bierce.” In 1913, Bierce traveled to Mexico, inspired by the Pancho Villa–led revolution. He disappeared sometime in 1914, while he was rumored to be traveling with rebel troops.
伊丽莎白·毕晓普 (Elizabeth Bishop , 1911-1979 年)出生于马萨诸塞州伍斯特,父亲去世,母亲被送进精神病院后,她由祖父母在加拿大新斯科舍长大。她进入瓦萨学院学习医学,但玛丽安·摩尔鼓励她成为一名诗人。1935 年至 1937 年,她游历了法国、西班牙、北非、爱尔兰和意大利。她在佛罗里达州基韦斯特定居了四年,然后在里约热内卢住了近二十年。她写作缓慢而谨慎,创作了少量技巧精湛、形式多样、诙谐而深思熟虑的诗歌,以精确、逼真的形象展现了她对物质世界的印象。1949 年至 1950 年,她担任国会图书馆诗歌顾问。1
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) was raised in Nova Scotia by her grandparents after her father died and her mother was committed to an asylum. She attended Vassar College intending to study medicine but was encouraged by Marianne Moore to be a poet. From 1935 to 1937, she traveled in France, Spain, northern Africa, Ireland, and Italy. She settled in Key West, Florida, for four years and then in Rio de Janeiro for almost twenty years. She wrote slowly and carefully, producing a small body of technically sophisticated, formally varied, witty, and thoughtful poetry, revealing in precise, true-to-life images her impressions of the physical world. She served as Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950.1
威廉·布莱克(1757–1827) 出生并成长于伦敦。他唯一接受过的正规教育是艺术——他在皇家艺术学院学习了一年,并师从一位雕刻师。后来,他成为了一名专业雕刻师,在妻子凯瑟琳·布歇的帮助下,负责委托和插图。布莱克从 11 岁开始写诗,后来他雕刻并手工印刷了自己的诗歌,每首诗都很少,还配有自己的插图。他的早期作品具有强烈的社会良知,而他成熟的作品则变得越来越具有神话和预言性。
William Blake (1757–1827) was born and raised in London. His only formal schooling was in art — he studied for a year at the Royal Academy and was apprenticed to an engraver. He later worked as a professional engraver, doing commissions and illustrations, assisted by his wife, Catherine Boucher. Blake, who had started writing poetry at the age of eleven, later engraved and handprinted his own poems, in very small batches, with his own illustrations. His early work was possessed of a strong social conscience, and his mature work turned increasingly mythic and prophetic.
安妮·布拉德斯特里特(1612-1672)出生于英国北安普敦,由家庭教师教育,主要阅读宗教著作和圣经。1628 年,她嫁给了西蒙·布拉德斯特里特,一位在剑桥接受教育的才华横溢的年轻清教徒。他们是 1630 年马萨诸塞湾殖民地最早的定居者之一,她的父亲和丈夫是该殖民地的领导人物。在马萨诸塞州忙碌而艰难的岁月里,她经常写散文和诗歌。
Born in Northampton, England, Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) was educated by tutors, reading chiefly religious writings and the Bible. In 1628, she married Simon Bradstreet, a brilliant young Puritan educated at Cambridge. They were among the earliest settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1630, and her father and husband were leading figures in its governance. She wrote regularly in both prose and verse throughout her busy and difficult years in Massachusetts.
格温多林·布鲁克斯(1917-2000)出生于堪萨斯州托皮卡,在芝加哥长大,七岁时写下了第一首诗。她开始在南区社区艺术中心学习诗歌。她的第二本诗集《安妮·艾伦》 (1949) 获得了首位获得普利策奖的非裔美国诗人。1985 年至 1986 年,她担任国会图书馆诗歌顾问,并在芝加哥的社区项目和诗歌研讨会上工作,鼓励年轻的非裔美国作家。
Born in Topeka, Kansas, Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) was raised in Chicago and wrote her first poems at age seven. She began studying poetry at the Southside Community Art Center. Her second collection of poems, Annie Allen (1949), earned the first Pulitzer Prize given to an African American poet. She served as Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress from 1985 to 1986 and worked in community programs and poetry workshops in Chicago to encourage young African American writers.
杰里科·布朗(生于 1976 年) 获得了迪拉德大学的文学学士学位、新奥尔良大学的艺术硕士学位和休斯顿大学的博士学位。布朗获得的奖项包括惠廷作家奖和哈佛大学拉德克利夫高等研究院、美国国家艺术基金会和古根海姆基金会的奖学金。他的第一本书《拜托》(2008) 获得了美国图书奖。他的第二本书《新约》 (2014) 被《图书馆杂志》评为年度最佳诗集之一,并获得了安斯菲尔德-沃尔夫图书奖。2019 年,布朗出版了他的第三本诗集《传统》 ,该诗集被评为入围美国国家图书评论协会奖决赛。他的诗作曾刊登在《国家》 、《新共和》、《纽约客》、《巴黎评论》、《时代》和多本《美国最佳诗歌选集》上。目前,布朗是亚特兰大埃默里大学的教授兼创意写作项目主任。
Jericho Brown (b. 1976) earned his BA from Dillard University, an MFA from the University of New Orleans, and a PhD from the University of Houston. Brown’s awards include the Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. His first book, Please (2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, The New Testament (2014), was named one of the best poetry books of the year by Library Journal and won the Anisfield- Wolf Book Award. In 2019, Brown published his third poetry collection, The Tradition, which was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His poems have been featured in the Nation, the New Republic, the New Yorker, the Paris Review, Time, and many volumes of the Best American Poetry anthologies. Currently, Brown is a professor and director of the Creative Writing program at Emory University in Atlanta.
Mahogany L. Browne是一位作家、教育家、活动家、导师和策展人,出生于加利福尼亚州,现居布鲁克林。她是《Black Girl Magic》(2018 年)和《Redbone》(2015 年)的作者,也是《The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic》(2018 年)的联合编辑。
Mahogany L. Browne is a writer, educator, activist, mentor, and curator born in California and based in Brooklyn. She is the author of Black Girl Magic (2018) and Redbone (2015) and is coeditor of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic (2018).
伊丽莎白·巴雷特·勃朗宁(1806-1861)出生于英国达勒姆,师从哥哥的家庭教师。她十三岁时出版了第一本诗集,很快便成为当时英国历史上最著名的女诗人。16 岁时,一场骑马事故使她成了半残疾人,住在她占有欲极强的父亲家中,父亲禁止他的十一个孩子结婚。39 岁时,伊丽莎白与罗伯特·勃朗宁私奔;二人住在意大利佛罗伦萨,15 年后伊丽莎白在那里去世。她最著名的诗集是《葡萄牙十四行诗》,这本诗集共 44 首十四行诗,记录了她对丈夫爱情的成长。
Born in Durham, England, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) studied with her brother’s tutor. Her first book of poetry was published when she was thirteen, and she soon became the most famous female poet up until that time in English history. A riding accident at the age of sixteen left her a semi-invalid in the home of her possessive father, who forbade any of his eleven children to marry. At age thirty- nine, Elizabeth eloped with Robert Browning; the couple lived in Florence, Italy, where Elizabeth died fifteen years later. Her best-known book of poems is Sonnets from the Portuguese, a sequence of forty-four sonnets recording the growth of her love for her husband.
罗伯特·勃朗宁(1812–1889) 是坎伯韦尔 (当时是伦敦郊区) 一名银行职员的儿子。1844 年,勃朗宁还是一名有抱负的诗人,他欣赏伊丽莎白·巴雷特的诗歌,并开始与她通信,这导致了世界上最著名的爱情故事之一。他和伊丽莎白的求爱一直持续到 1846 年,之后他们秘密结婚并逃往意大利,一直住在那里直到 1861 年伊丽莎白去世。在佛罗伦萨的岁月是他们两人最幸福的时光。他将《男人和女人》(1855) 献给她,其中包含了他最好的诗歌。虽然在他们在一起的时候她是最受欢迎的诗人,但在她去世后他回到伦敦后,他的名声越来越大,公众对他的同情也在一定程度上助长了这一点。19 世纪 60 年代末是他职业生涯的巅峰时期:他和丁尼生一起被誉为那个时代最重要的诗人。
Robert Browning (1812–1889) was the son of a bank clerk in Camberwell, then a suburb of London. As an aspiring poet in 1844, Browning admired Elizabeth Barrett’s poetry and began a correspondence with her that led to one of the world’s most famous romances. His and Elizabeth’s courtship lasted until 1846, when they secretly wed and ran off to Italy, where they lived until Elizabeth’s death in 1861. The years in Florence were among the happiest for both of them. To her he dedicated Men and Women (1855), which contains his best poetry. Although she was the more popular poet during their time together, his reputation grew upon his return to London, after her death, assisted somewhat by public sympathy for him. The late 1860s were the peak of his career: he and Tennyson were mentioned together as the foremost poets of the age.
拜伦——参见乔治·戈登·拜伦勋爵。
Byron — see George Gordon, Lord Byron.
刘易斯·卡罗尔(1832-1898),1832 年 1 月 27 日出生于英国达斯伯里,本名查尔斯·道奇森,从小就表现出对写作和创作的热爱。尽管他很害羞,但他设计游戏并开始写书,后来他出版了举世闻名的《爱丽丝梦游仙境》(1865 年)及其续集《爱丽丝镜中奇遇记》(1871 年)。到他去世时,《爱丽丝梦游仙境》已成为世界上最受欢迎的书籍之一。
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898), born Charles Dodgson on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, England, showed a love for writing and creating even as a child. He designed games and started writing books, even though he was shy, and he went on to publish the universally known books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871). By the time of his death, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was one of the most popular books in the world.
雷蒙德·卡佛(1938–1988)出生于俄勒冈州克拉茨卡尼,在华盛顿州安吉利斯港生活直至去世。这位短篇小说作家和诗人一生中获得的荣誉包括 1979 年古根海姆奖学金、两项国家艺术基金会资助以及当选美国艺术与文学学院院士。卡佛的作品以对当代生活的简洁、鲜明的描述而闻名,已被翻译成二十多种语言。他的短篇小说集《请你安静点好吗?》(1976 年)获得国家图书奖提名;她主演的《愤怒的季节》(1977 年);《当我们谈论爱情时我们谈论什么》(1981 年);《大教堂》(1983 年),获得普利策奖提名;以及《我的电话从哪里打来》(1988 年)。
Born in Clatskanie, Oregon, Raymond Carver (1938–1988) lived in Port Angeles, Washington, until his death. Among the honors accorded to this short-story writer and poet during his lifetime were a 1979 Guggenheim fellowship, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Carver’s writing, known for its spare, stark depiction of contemporary existence, has been translated into more than twenty languages. His story collections are Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? (1976), nominated for a National Book Award; Furious Seasons (1977); What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981); Cathedral (1983), nominated for the Pulitzer Prize; and Where I’m Calling From (1988).
亚历山大·奇(Alexander Chee )(生于 1967 年)毕业于卫斯理大学和爱荷华州作家工作室,著有《爱丁堡》(2001 年)、《夜之女王》(2016 年)和《如何写自传体小说》(2018 年)。他是惠廷奖和国家艺术基金会奖学金的获得者。他在达特茅斯学院英语系任教。
Alexander Chee (b. 1967) graduated from Wesleyan University and the Iowa Writers Workshop and is the author of Edinburgh (2001), Queen of the Night (2016), and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel (2018). He is the recipient of the Whiting Award and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches in the English Department at Dartmouth College.
约翰·契弗(1912-1982) 出生于马萨诸塞州昆西。他关于美国郊区生活的许多作品都发表在《纽约客》上。契弗有时被称为“郊区契诃夫”,他的许多作品都植根于对正在消失的生活方式的向往,例如现代郊区社区中正在消失的社区意识。他以短篇小说而闻名——《约翰·契弗的故事》为他赢得了 1978 年的普利策奖——但他也是一位多产的小说家,创作了《沃普肖特纪事》(1957 年)、《沃普肖特丑闻》(1964 年)和《猎鹰者》(1977 年)。
John Cheever (1912–1982) was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. Many of his pieces on life in suburban America appeared in the New Yorker. Sometimes called the “Chekhov of the suburbs,” many of Cheever’s works are rooted in a yearning for a vanishing way of life, such as the vanishing sense of community in modern suburban communities. He was known best for his short stories — The Stories of John Cheever earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1978 — but he was also an accomplished novelist, penning The Wapshot Chronicle (1957), The Wapshot Scandal (1964), and Falconer (1977).
安东·契诃夫(1860-1904)出生于俄罗斯南部海滨小镇塔甘罗格,父亲是杂货商,母亲是农奴。他在莫斯科大学学习医学期间开始写幽默故事来维持生计。1884 年,他获得了医学学位,并出版了他的第一本短篇小说集《梅尔波墨涅的故事》。其他早期作品集包括《杂色故事》(1886 年)、《黄昏》(1887 年)和《石头》(1888 年)。契诃夫除了是一位出色的短篇小说作家外,可能还是俄罗斯最受尊敬的剧作家。 1898 年,莫斯科艺术剧院上演了他的剧作《海鸥》,随后又于 1899 年上演了《万尼亚舅舅》 ,1901 年上演了《三姐妹》, 1904 年上演了《樱桃园》。契诃夫以其对人们无法沟通的悲伤和微妙的探索以及他的人道主义活动而闻名,他于 44 岁时因学生时期感染的肺结核去世。
Born the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf in Taganrog, a seacoast town in southern Russia, Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) began writing humorous tales to support himself while studying medicine at Moscow University. In 1884 he received his medical degree and published his first collection of short stories, Tales of Melpomene. Other early collections are Motley Tales (1886), At Twilight (1887), and Stones (1888). Besides being a masterful writer of short stories, Chekhov is probably Russia’s most esteemed playwright. In 1898, the Moscow Art Theatre produced his play The Seagull, followed by Uncle Vanya in 1899, The Three Sisters in 1901, and The Cherry Orchard in 1904. Chekhov, known for his sad and subtle exploration of people’s inability to communicate as well as for his humanitarian activities, died at age forty-four of tuberculosis, which he contracted in his student days.
特德·姜(生于 1967 年)毕业于布朗大学,获得计算机科学学位。虽然他的小说经常被归类为科幻小说,但它具有广泛的吸引力,他的作品获得了许多奖项,包括雨果奖、星云奖和世界奇幻奖。他的中篇小说《你一生的故事》于 2016 年被改编成电影《降临》。
Ted Chiang (b. 1967) graduated from Brown University with a degree in computer science. Though his fiction is frequently categorized as science fiction, it has a wide appeal, and his work has been honored with numerous awards, including the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the World Fantasy Award. His novella “The Story of Your Life” was adapted into the film Arrival in 2016.
玛丽莲·陈 (Marilyn Chin)是第一代美籍华人,1955 年出生于香港,在俄勒冈州波特兰长大。她著有五卷诗集:《矮竹》(1987 年)、《凤凰逝去,露台空无一人》(1994 年)、《纯黄色狂想曲》(2002 年)、《爱的苦涩》(2014 年)和《一个国家的自我画像:新诗和选集》(2018 年)。她还是《异见之歌:当代亚裔美国人选集》(1991 年)的合编者,并翻译了现代中国诗人艾青的诗歌和日本诗人吉松刚三的诗歌。她因诗歌创作获得过无数奖项,包括斯泰格纳奖学金、美国笔会/约瑟芬·迈尔斯奖、美国艺术与文学学院杰出文学成就奖和四次普希卡奖。她是圣地亚哥大学 MFA 项目的联合主任。
A first-generation Chinese American, Marilyn Chin was born in 1955 in Hong Kong and raised in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of five volumes of poetry: Dwarf Bamboo (1987), The Phoenix Gone, the Terrace Empty (1994), Rhapsody in Plain Yellow (2002), Hard Love Province (2014), and A Portrait of the Self as a Nation: New and Selected Poems (2018). She also is a coeditor of Dissident Song: A Contemporary Asian American Anthology (1991) and has translated poems by the modern Chinese poet Ai Qing and cotranslated poems by the Japanese poet Gozo Yoshimasu. She has received numerous awards for her poetry, including a Stegner Fellowship, the PEN/ Josephine Miles Award, the Academy of Arts and Letters Prize for Exceptional Accomplishment in Literature, and four Pushcart Prizes. She is co-director of the MFA program at University of San Diego.
凯特·肖邦(1851-1904)生于凯瑟琳·奥弗莱厄蒂,母亲是法国克里奥尔人,父亲是圣路易斯的一位富商,四岁时父亲去世。肖邦由母亲和曾祖母抚养长大,曾祖母将她送入天主教学校,并培养她进入圣路易斯社会。18 岁时,她嫁给了奥斯卡·肖邦,并随他来到新奥尔良,他在那里成为一名棉花经纪人。当丈夫的生意失败后,全家搬到了路易斯安那州北部的一个种植园,开了一家杂货店。1883 年丈夫去世后,凯特经营了这家杂货店一年。然后,她带着六个孩子回到圣路易斯,开始了现实主义小说作家的职业生涯。她的作品包括短篇小说集《河口居民》(1894 年)、《阿卡迪的一夜》(1897 年)以及小说《觉醒》(1899 年)。这部小说在当时因对通奸的坦率描绘而令人震惊,但如今却因对女性对独立和感官满足的需求的敏感描绘而受到广泛赞誉。
Born Katherine O’Flaherty, Kate Chopin (1851–1904) was the daughter of a French Creole mother and a prosperous St. Louis businessman, who died when she was four. Chopin was raised by her mother and a great-grandmother who sent her to Catholic school and trained her for a place in St. Louis society. At age eighteen, she married Oscar Chopin and accompanied him to New Orleans, where he became a cotton broker. When her husband’s business failed, the family moved to a plantation in northern Louisiana and opened a general store, which Kate managed for a year after her husband’s death in 1883. She then returned to St. Louis with her six children and began a career as a writer of realistic fiction. Among her works are the story collections Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897), as well as the novel The Awakening (1899), shocking in its time for its frank portrayal of adultery but widely praised today for its sensitive portrayal of a woman’s need for independence and sensual fulfillment.
桑德拉·西斯内罗斯(生于 1954 年) 在家里和她的墨西哥父亲、奇卡纳母亲和六个兄弟讲西班牙语。十岁时,她开始写诗,并很快尝试了其他文学形式。1977 年,当她在爱荷华大学作家工作室攻读艺术硕士学位时,她开始将自己视为奇卡纳作家。西斯内罗斯出版了三本诗集;一本相互关联的自传体叙事书《芒果街上的小屋》(1983 年,2005 年),该书获得了 1985 年哥伦布之前美国图书奖;一本短篇小说集《女人呼喊小溪和其他故事》(1991 年);一部小说《卡拉梅洛》(2002 年)。她还获得过许多其他奖项,其中包括两项国家艺术基金会小说和诗歌奖学金、一项兰南基金会文学奖、一枚德克萨斯艺术奖章以及约翰·D 和凯瑟琳·T 麦克阿瑟奖学金。为了积极鼓励和推广年轻作家,西斯内罗斯创立了马孔多基金会,该基金会于 2016 年庆祝成立 20 周年。
Sandra Cisneros (b. 1954) spoke Spanish at home with her Mexican father, Chicana mother, and six brothers. At ten she began writing poetry and soon experimented with other literary forms. In 1977, when she was studying for an MFA at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she came to see herself as a Chicana writer. Cisneros has published three books of poetry; a book of interrelated autobiographical narratives, The House on Mango Street (1983, 2005), which won the 1985 Before Columbus American Book Award; a short-fiction collection, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991); and a novel, Caramelo (2002). Among her many other awards are two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships for fiction and poetry, a Lannan Foundation Literary Award, a Texas Medal of the Arts, and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. To actively encourage and promote young writers, Cisneros founded the Macondo Foundation, which celebrated its twentieth year in 2016.
露西尔·克利夫顿(1936-2010) 出生于纽约州迪皮尤,就读于霍华德大学。她出版了许多诗集,包括《祝福船只:1988-2000 年新诗和精选诗》(2000 年),该书获得了美国国家图书奖。她还出版了一本回忆录和二十多本儿童读物。她曾在几所大学任教,在华盛顿特区教育办公室工作,担任马里兰州桂冠诗人,并担任马里兰圣玛丽学院杰出人文教授。她的诗歌通常反映了她的女权主义原则和种族意识。
Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) was born in Depew, New York, and studied at Howard University. She published many books of poetry, including Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988–2000 (2000), which won the National Book Award. She also published a memoir and more than twenty books for children. She taught at several colleges, worked in the Office of Education in Washington, DC, served as poet laureate for the state of Maryland, and was Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Her poems typically reflect her feminist principles and her race consciousness.
朱迪思·奥尔蒂斯·科弗(1952-2016)出生于波多黎各的霍米格罗斯,以创意非虚构文学和诗歌作品而闻名。奥尔蒂斯·科弗凭借小册子《Peregrina》(1986 年)赢得了 Riverstone 国际小册子大赛,之后她出版了其他几本诗集,包括《生存条件》(1987 年)、《抵达大陆》(1995 年)和《用西班牙语开始的爱情故事》(2005 年)。她的童年大部分时间都在波多黎各和美国本土之间往返度过,她的作品经常探索生活在分裂的文化传统中的复杂性,并通过她独特的多流派方式来表达,这种方式融合了小说、散文和诗歌。奥尔蒂斯·科弗的《拉丁熟食店》采用了这种多流派风格,并获得了普利策奖提名。她于 2010 年入选佐治亚州作家名人堂,并获得过各种奖项,包括维特·拜纳基金会、佐治亚州艺术委员会和国家艺术基金会颁发的奖金。
Born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, Judith Ortiz Cofer (1952–2016) is a writer known best for her works of creative nonfiction and poetry. Ortiz Cofer won the Riverstone International Chapbook Competition for her chapbook Peregrina (1986), after which she published several other poetry collections including Terms of Survival (1987), Reaching for the Mainland (1995), and A Love Story Beginning in Spanish (2005). Having spent much of her childhood traveling back and forth between Puerto Rico and the US mainland, her work often explores the complexities of living with split cultural heritages, expressed through her unique multi-genre approach that incorporates a combination of fiction, prose, and poetry. Ortiz Cofer’s The Latin Deli, which embraces this multi-genre style, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2010 and has won a variety of awards, including grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation, the Georgia Council for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治(1772-1834 年)出生于德文郡,父亲去世后,他被送往伦敦上学。1791 年,他进入剑桥大学耶稣学院,后两次辍学,未获学位。1798 年,柯勒律治和威廉·华兹华斯出版了《抒情歌谣集》,这部作品开创了英国诗歌的浪漫主义运动,也树立了两位诗人的声誉。1802 年后,柯勒律治染上了鸦片瘾,他用鸦片治疗身体不适和癫痫。他与妻子分居,与华兹华斯的友谊也结束了,他也不再创作诗歌。从 1816 年直到去世,柯勒律治一直生活在医生的监督下,但他仍然出版了日记,并撰写了几部戏剧、评论作品以及哲学和宗教论文。
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was born in Devonshire and sent to school in London after his father’s death. He went to Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1791 and dropped out twice without a degree. In 1798, Coleridge and William Wordsworth published Lyrical Ballads, which initiated the Romantic Movement in English poetry and established the reputations of both poets. After 1802, Coleridge became addicted to opium, which he used to treat physical discomfort and seizures. He and his wife separated, his friendship with Wordsworth ended, and he stopped producing poetry. From 1816 until his death, Coleridge lived under constant medical supervision and yet still published a journal and wrote several plays, pieces of criticism, and philosophical and religious treatises.
比利·柯林斯1941 年出生于纽约市,著有数本诗集。自罗伯特·弗罗斯特以来,也许没有一位诗人能够将极高的批评赞誉与如此广泛的大众吸引力相结合。柯林斯的诗歌通常以清晰而热情的语调开头,但很快就会出现意想不到的转折;以讽刺开头的诗歌可能会以抒情的惊喜收尾。柯林斯将自己的诗歌视为“一种旅行写作形式”,并认为幽默是“通往严肃的大门”。柯林斯著有众多诗集,最近出版的有《航行》(2014 年)和《葡萄牙的雨》(2016 年)。2009 年,他与插画家大卫·西布利合作编辑了《明亮的翅膀:鸟类诗图解选集》。他曾于 2001 年至 2003 年担任美国国会图书馆诗歌桂冠诗人顾问,并于 2004 年至 2006 年担任纽约州桂冠诗人。他曾在哥伦比亚大学、莎拉劳伦斯学院和纽约城市大学雷曼学院任教。
Born in 1941 in New York City, Billy Collins is the author of several collections of poems. Perhaps no poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. The typical Collins poem opens on a clear and hospitable note but soon takes an unexpected turn; poems that begin in irony may end in a moment of lyric surprise. Collins sees his poetry as “a form of travel writing” and considers humor “a door into the serious.” Collins is the author of numerous books of poetry, most recently Voyage (2014) and The Rain in Portugal (2016). In 2009, he edited Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds with illustrator David Sibley. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress from 2001 to 2003 and as New York State Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. He has taught at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Lehman College/City University of New York.
爱德华多·科拉尔 (Eduardo Corral )(生于 1970 年)是一位诗人和教师,曾就读于亚利桑那州立大学和爱荷华大学作家工作室。在出版首部诗集《慢闪电》(2012 年)后,他获得了耶鲁青年诗人奖。他将英语和西班牙语天衣无缝地融合在一起,为他赢得了许多奖项和大批热切的读者。他在北卡罗来纳州立大学任教。
Eduardo Corral (b. 1970), a poet and teacher, earned degrees from Arizona State University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. After his debut poetry collection, Slow Lightning (2012), he won the Yale Younger Poets Prize. His seamless blending of English and Spanish has earned him a number of awards and a legion of eager readers. He teaches at North Carolina State University.
尼洛·克鲁兹(生于 1960 年) 是第一位获得普利策戏剧奖的拉丁裔剧作家,他因《热带安娜》 (2003) 而获奖。克鲁兹出生于古巴,童年时移居美国。克鲁兹曾获得洛克菲勒基金会奖、肯尼迪中心新美国戏剧基金奖和美国艺术家奖学金。他常年生活在纽约市和迈阿密。
Nilo Cruz (b. 1960) is the first Latino playwright to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which he received for Anna in the Tropics (2003). Cruz was born in Cuba and moved to the United States as a boy. Cruz has been the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation grant, a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award, and a USA Artist Fellowship. He divides his time between New York City and Miami.
康蒂·卡伦(1903-1946) 出生于肯塔基州路易斯维尔、马里兰州巴尔的摩,或者如他自己所说,出生于纽约市。他被弗雷德里克·A·卡伦牧师和他的妻子收养,用他的话来说,他“在卫理公会牧师住宅的保守氛围中长大”。他曾就读于纽约大学和哈佛大学。他是哈莱姆文艺复兴运动的先驱,在20 世纪 20 年代,卡伦是美国最受欢迎的黑人文学人物。从 20 世纪 30 年代直到去世,他一直担任初中法语老师,写作较少。多年来,卡伦的名声一直被其他哈莱姆文艺复兴作家所掩盖,尤其是兰斯顿·休斯和佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿;然而,最近人们对卡伦的生活和作品的兴趣又重新燃起。
Countee Cullen (1903–1946) was born either in Louisville, Kentucky; Baltimore, Maryland; or, as he himself claimed, New York City. He was adopted by the Reverend Frederick A. Cullen and his wife and grew up, as he put it, “in the conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage.” He studied at New York University and Harvard University. A forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance movement, he was, in the 1920s, the most popular black literary figure in America. From the 1930s until his death, he wrote less while working as a junior high school French teacher. For many years, Cullen’s reputation was eclipsed by that of other Harlem Renaissance writers, particularly Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston; recently, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in Cullen’s life and work.
EE 卡明斯(1894-1962)出生于马萨诸塞州剑桥,他的父亲是一位一神论派牧师,也是哈佛大学的社会学讲师。他毕业于哈佛大学,然后在第一次世界大战期间担任救护车司机。《巨大的房间》 (1922 年)记录了他在战争期间被关押在法国战俘营的经历。战后,他住在康涅狄格州农村和格林威治村,经常去巴黎。在他的作品中,卡明斯对形式、标点、拼写和句法进行了彻底的实验,放弃了传统的技巧和结构,创造了一种新的、非常独特的诗歌表达方式。1962 年去世时,他是继罗伯特·弗罗斯特之后美国第二大最受欢迎的诗人。
E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his father was a Unitarian minister and a sociology lecturer at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard and then served as an ambulance driver during World War I. The Enormous Room (1922) is an account of his confinement in a French prison camp during the war. After the war, he lived in rural Connecticut and Greenwich Village, with frequent visits to Paris. In his work, Cummings experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression. At the time of his death in 1962, he was the second most widely read poet in the United States after Robert Frost.
马哈茂德·达尔维什(1941-2008)出生于加利利的比尔瓦,是一位巴勒斯坦作家,著有三十多本诗集和八本散文集。达尔维什被认为是一位“反抗诗人”,他曾在 20 世纪 60 年代因未经许可在村庄间穿行并朗诵诗歌而被监禁,后来他的诗歌《身份证》作为一首抗议歌曲获得新生,他被软禁。达尔维什一生担任过许多编辑职位,曾为开罗的报纸《金字塔报》和《巴勒斯坦事务》杂志工作,最终创办并编辑了《Al-Karmel》杂志。他一生大部分时间生活在贝鲁特和巴黎,直到 1996 年他才被允许返回以色列和巴勒斯坦。达维什将古典阿拉伯诗歌形式与现代见解相结合的独特风格为他赢得了兰南基金会颁发的兰南文化自由奖、列宁和平奖以及法国颁发的艺术与纯文学骑士勋章。
Born in al-Birwa in Galilee, Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008) was a Palestinian writer of over thirty books of poetry and eight books of prose. Darwish was considered a “resistance poet,” having been imprisoned for traveling through villages — while reciting poetry — without a permit in the 1960s, and later was placed under house arrest after his poem “Identity Card” had found new life as a protest song. Darwish held many editorial positions in his life, working for the newspaper Al-Ahram in Cairo, the journal Palestinian Affairs, and eventually founding and editing the journal Al-Karmel. Much of his life was spent living in Beirut and Paris, as he was not permitted to return to Israel and Palestine until a trip in 1996. Darwish’s unique style of combining classic Arabic poetic forms with modern insights has earned him the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation, the Lenin Peace Prize, and the Knight of Arts and Belles Lettres Medal from France.
奥利弗·德拉帕兹(生于 1972 年) 出生于菲律宾,在俄勒冈州安大略长大。他获得了洛约拉马利蒙特大学的英语学士学位和生物学学士学位,以及亚利桑那州立大学的艺术硕士学位。目前,帕兹在圣十字学院和雷纳写作工作室任教。德拉帕兹的诗集包括《愤怒的摇篮曲》(2007 年);《后主题:寓言》(2014 年);《房屋上方的名字》(2001 年),该诗集获得了 Crab Orchard 奖;《果园安魂曲》(2010 年),该诗集获得了阿克伦奖。帕兹还与斯泰西·林恩·布朗共同编辑了选集《一张面孔:当代人物诗选集》 (2012 年)。
Oliver de la Paz (b. 1972) was born in the Philippines and raised in Ontario, Oregon. He earned a BA in English and a BS in biology from Loyola Marymount University, as well as his MFA from Arizona State University. Currently, Paz teaches at Holy Cross and in the Rainer Writing Workshops. De la Paz’s collections of poetry include Furious Lullaby (2007); Post-Subject: A Fable (2014); Names Above Houses (2001), which won the Crab Orchard Award; and Requiem for the Orchard (2010), winner of the Akron Prize. Paz also coedited the anthology A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poems (2012) along with Stacey Lynn Brown.
Toi Derricotte (生于 1941 年)出生并成长于底特律,在韦恩州立大学获得特殊教育学士学位,在纽约大学获得英语文学硕士学位。她是几本诗集的作者,也是回忆录《黑色笔记本》(1997 年)的作者。她与诗人 Cornelius Eady 共同创办了 Cave Canem,为非裔美国诗人提供讲习班、静修和出版机会。她获得的众多荣誉之一是美国诗人协会颁发的杰出艺术先驱奖黑人艺术家。德里科特在匹兹堡大学教授创意写作。
Born and raised in Detroit, Toi Derricotte (b. 1941) earned a BA in special education from Wayne State University and an MA in English literature from New York University. She is the author of several collections of poetry as well as a memoir, The Black Notebooks (1997). With the poet Cornelius Eady, she cofounded Cave Canem, which offers workshops, retreats, and publication opportunities for African American poets. Among the many honors she has received is the Distinguished Pioneering of the Arts Award from United Black Artists. Derricotte teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
朱诺特·迪亚兹(生于 1968 年) 六岁时从多米尼加共和国移民到美国。他通过加油、洗碗和做各种其他零工进入罗格斯大学。后来,他获得了康奈尔大学的艺术硕士学位。1996 年,他出版了他的第一部短篇小说集《溺水》,几年后,《纽约客》将他评为 21 世纪二十大作家之一。他的处女作《奥斯卡·瓦奥短暂而奇妙的一生》于 1997 年出版,广受好评,并获得了普利策奖。迪亚兹的作品经常涉及移民经历的紧张关系以及他必须协调的两种文化。他目前在麻省理工学院教授创意写作。
Junot Díaz (b. 1968) immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic at the age of six. He worked his way through Rutgers University by pumping gas, washing dishes, and performing a variety of other odd jobs. He later received an MFA from Cornell University. He published his first story collection, Drown, in 1996, and several years later the New Yorker named him one of the top twenty writers of the twenty-first century. His debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was published in 1997 to critical acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize. Díaz’s writing often deals with the tensions of the immigrant experience and the two cultures he has had to negotiate. He currently teaches creative writing at MIT.
娜塔莉·迪亚兹(Natalie Diaz) (生于 1978 年)出生于加利福尼亚州尼德尔斯的莫哈维堡印第安村,是诗集《当我的兄弟是阿兹特克人时》 (2012) 的作者。迪亚兹在欧洲和亚洲打过职业篮球,后来回到学校攻读艺术硕士学位。2018 年,她获得了麦克阿瑟“天才”奖。迪亚兹居住在亚利桑那州的莫哈维谷,与莫哈维语的最后使用者一起工作,并指导一项语言振兴计划。她在亚利桑那州立大学任教。
Born in the Fort Mojave Indian Village in Needles, California, Natalie Diaz (b. 1978) is the author of the poetry collection When My Brother Was an Aztec (2012). Diaz played professional basketball in Europe and Asia before returning to school to earn her MFA. In 2018, she was the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant. Diaz resides in Mohave Valley, Arizona, working with the last speakers of Mojave and directing a language revitalization program. She teaches at Arizona State University.
艾米莉·狄金森(1830–1886) 出生于马萨诸塞州阿默斯特,一生都生活在那里,很少离开。她曾短暂就读于一所女子神学院,但因想家而于一年内离开。狄金森终生未婚,晚年过得隐居,甚至放弃了她曾经享受过的乡村生活和狂欢。她写了 1,700 多首诗,但出版的很少;大多数都是为自己写的或为收录在她的许多信件中。直到 1955 年,她才出版了这些诗的完整版本,试图呈现它们的原始写作方式。
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and lived there her entire life, leaving only rarely. She briefly attended a woman’s seminary but became homesick and left before a year was out. Dickinson never married and became reclusive later in life, forgoing even the village routines and revelries she once had enjoyed. She published very few of the more than 1,700 poems she wrote; most were written for herself or for inclusion in her many letters. It was not until 1955 that a complete edition of the verses, attempting to present them as they were originally written, appeared.
凯蒂·迪登(生于 1974 年) 拥有华盛顿大学和马里兰大学的学位,以及密苏里大学的文学和创意写作博士学位。迪登获得的奖项包括 Bread Loaf 作家会议、Sewanee 作家会议、佛蒙特工作室中心、弗吉尼亚创意艺术中心、拉格代尔基金会、汉比奇中心和麦克道威尔殖民地的奖学金和驻留资格。她的第一本书《冰川的尾迹》 (2013) 获得了 Pleiades Press 颁发的 Lena-Miles Wever Todd 奖。目前,迪登是鲍尔州立大学的教授。
Katy Didden (b. 1974) holds degrees from Washington University and the University of Maryland and a PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Missouri. Didden’s awards include scholarships and residencies from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, the Hambidge Center, and the MacDowell Colony. Her first book, The Glacier’s Wake (2013), won the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize from Pleiades Press. Currently, Didden is a professor at Ball State University.
约翰·多恩(1572-1631) 出生于伦敦一个富裕的天主教家庭。虽然他在牛津大学学习了几年,但并未获得学位。他与W alter R alegh一起参加了两次对西班牙的海战。1601 年,多恩未经安妮·莫尔父亲同意就与她草率结婚,这彻底打乱了他前途光明的政治生涯。他曾短暂入狱,失去了托马斯·埃格顿爵士手下很有前途的职位,并花了数年时间寻找政治工作,最终在 1615 年被国王詹姆斯一世说服成为英国国教的牧师。艾萨克·沃尔顿在本世纪晚些时候将他的一生描述为分为两个部分。在第一阶段,他是林肯律师学院的“杰克·多恩”:年轻时,多恩运用了一种成熟的城市智慧,为他早期的诗歌增添了一种厌倦的语调。《告别:禁止哀悼》大概出现在他生命的这个阶段,是一首典型的形而上学诗。在第二阶段,他是圣保罗学院院长约翰·多恩:多恩在 1615 年接受圣职后,他的诗歌明显变得不那么多情,语调更加宗教化。他的《圣十四行诗》中的《死亡,不要骄傲》与他早期的作品一样密集和复杂,但指向探索他与上帝的关系。
John Donne (1572–1631) was born in London to a prosperous Catholic family. Although he studied at Oxford University for several years, he did not take a degree. He fought alongside Walter Ralegh in two naval strikes against Spain. In 1601, Donne’s promising political career was permanently derailed by his precipitate marriage to Anne More without her father’s consent. He was briefly imprisoned, lost a very promising position with Sir Thomas Egerton, and spent years seeking political employment before finally being persuaded by King James I in 1615 to become a priest of the Church of England. His life was described by Isaac Walton later in the century as having been divided into two parts. In phase one, he was “Jack Donne” of Lincoln’s Inn: when young, Donne employed a sophisticated urban wit that lent a sort of jaded tone to his earlier poetry. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” presumably appeared during this stage of his life and is a typical metaphysical poem. In phase two, he was John Donne, dean of St. Paul’s: after Donne took holy orders in 1615, his poetry became markedly less amorous and more religious in tone. His Holy Sonnets, of which “Death, be not proud” is one, are as dense and complex as his earlier work but directed toward an exploration of his relationship with God.
HD(希尔达·杜利特尔)(1886-1961)以笔名 HD 发表诗歌。杜利特尔的作品体现了文学现代主义的主题,不断创新,她与埃兹拉·庞德和理查德·奥尔丁顿等先锋意象派诗人关系密切。她的许多作品关注爱情与战争、生与死以及性。在她生命的最后一年,她出版了《海伦在埃及》,这是一部著名的诗歌重新诠释特洛伊战争的作品。
H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) (1886–1961) published poetry under the pen name H. D. Embodying the themes of literary modernism, Doolittle’s work was constantly innovative, and she closely associated with avant-garde Imagist poets including Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington. Many of her works focus on love and war, birth and death, and sexuality. In her final year, she published Helen in Egypt, a famous poetic reinterpretation of the Trojan War.
马克·多蒂(生于 1953 年) 著有十三本诗集和三本回忆录—— 《天堂海岸》(1996 年),讲述的是他失去伴侣沃利·罗伯茨的故事;《火鸟》 (1999 年),讲述的是同性恋成长故事,记录了在艺术中逐渐找到个人归属感的过程;《狗年》 (2007 年),讲述的是人类与他们所爱的狗之间的关系。他因《火与火:新诗和精选诗》 (2008 年) 获得美国国家图书奖。他曾在布兰迪斯大学、莎拉·劳伦斯学院、佛蒙特学院和爱荷华大学作家工作室任教。现在,他生活在纽约市和纽约州火岛两地,并在罗格斯大学任教。
Mark Doty (b. 1953) is the author of thirteen collections of poetry and three memoirs — Heaven’s Coast (1996), about the loss of his partner, Wally Roberts; Firebird (1999), a gay coming-of-age story that chronicles the gradual process of finding in art a place of personal belonging; and Dog Years (2007), about the relationships between humans and the dogs they love. He received the National Book Award for Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems (2008). He has taught at Brandeis University, Sarah Lawrence College, Vermont College, and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He now divides his time between New York City and Fire Island, New York, and he teaches at Rutgers University.
丽塔·多夫1952 年出生于俄亥俄州阿克伦,她的父亲是第一位打破轮胎行业种族障碍的研究化学家。她毕业于俄亥俄州牛津市的迈阿密大学,获得英语学位;凭借富布赖特奖学金在德国图宾根大学学习一年后,她进入爱荷华大学作家工作室,并于 1977 年获得艺术硕士学位。她曾在塔斯基吉学院和亚利桑那州立大学任教,目前在弗吉尼亚大学任教。1993 年,她被任命为国会图书馆的桂冠诗人顾问,成为获得这一荣誉的最年轻、也是第一位获得这一荣誉的非裔美国女性。她创作了许多诗集,包括《托马斯和贝乌拉》(1986 年),这是一本以她祖父母的生活为背景的系列丛书,并于 1987 年获得普利策奖。
Rita Dove was born in 1952 in Akron, Ohio; her father was the first research chemist to break the race barrier in the tire industry. She graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a degree in English; after a year at Tübingen University in Germany on a Fulbright fellowship, she enrolled in the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she earned her MFA in 1977. She has taught at Tuskegee Institute and Arizona State University and is now on the faculty of the University of Virginia. In 1993 she was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, making her the youngest person — and the first African American woman — to receive this honor. She is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Thomas and Beulah (1986), a book-length sequence loosely based on the lives of her grandparents, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1987.
保罗·劳伦斯·邓巴(1872-1906) 是第一位获得全国声誉的非裔美国人。他出生并成长于俄亥俄州代顿,父母都是前奴隶,是一名优秀的学生。他是班上唯一的非裔美国人,既是班长,又是班级诗人。虽然邓巴只活了 33 岁,但他的作品丰富,除了诗歌,他还创作了短篇小说、长篇小说、剧本、戏剧、歌曲和散文。邓巴的风格深受当时黑人和白人读者的喜爱,包含两种截然不同的声音——古典诗人的标准英语和 20 世纪初美国黑人社区的令人回味的方言。
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was the first African American to gain national eminence as a poet. Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, the son of former slaves, he was an outstanding student. The only African American in his class, he was both class president and class poet. Although he lived to be only thirty-three years old, Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs, and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. Popular with both black and white readers of his day, Dunbar’s style encompasses two distinct voices — the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn-of-the-twentieth-century black community in America.
伊迪丝·莫德·伊顿(笔名水仙花)(1865-1914 年)的父亲是英国人,母亲是中国人。她用这个笔名撰写报纸文章和短篇小说,讲述在对移民极度敌视的时代华裔美国人的困境。她是短篇小说集《春香夫人》(1912 年)的作者。
Edith Maud Eaton (pen name Sui Sin Far) (1865–1914) was the daughter of an English father and a Chinese mother. She adopted her pen name and wrote newspaper articles and short stories that addressed the plight of Chinese Americans during a time of extreme hostility toward immigrants. She is the author of Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912), a collection of short stories.
TS 艾略特(1888-1965)出生并成长于圣路易斯,在马萨诸塞州就读预科学校,之后进入哈佛大学,于 1910 年获得哲学硕士学位并开始撰写博士论文。他在巴黎索邦大学学习,1914 年前往德国马尔堡学习,但战争迫使他离开。搬到牛津后,他放弃哲学转而学习诗歌,并结婚。在银行任教和工作后,他成为费伯出版公司 (Faber and Faber) 的编辑,还担任过《标准》杂志的编辑。1927 年,他成为英国公民和英国国教教会成员。几十年来,他一直是英国诗歌的主导力量,并于 1948 年获得诺贝尔文学奖。他还创作了剧本和散文,以及一系列关于猫的诗歌,这些诗歌成为安德鲁·劳埃德·韦伯音乐剧的基础。这本选集收录的艾略特的诗展示了诗人运用拼贴技术来描述他所看到的当时文化和个人心理的分裂。
Born and raised in St. Louis, T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) went to prep school in Massachusetts and then to Harvard University, where he earned an MA in philosophy in 1910 and started his doctoral dissertation. He studied at the Sorbonne, in Paris, and then in Marburg, Germany, in 1914, when the war forced him to leave. Relocating to Oxford, he abandoned philosophy for poetry, and he married. After teaching and working in a bank, he became an editor at Faber and Faber, and he was an editor of the journal Criterion. He became a British citizen and a member of the Church of England in 1927. A dominant force in English poetry for several decades, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. He also wrote plays and essays as well as a series of poems on cats that became the basis of a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Eliot poem included in this anthology shows the poet’s use of collage techniques to relate the fragmentation he saw in the culture and individual psyches of his day.
伊丽莎白一世女王(1533-1603 年)是英国历史上在位时间最长的君主之一。伊丽莎白精通四种语言,是一位熟练的外交官和一位杰出的诗人,她在英国历史上最动荡的时期登基,并成功解决了宗教争端、统一了国家、遏制了敌人,并支持了王国中蓬勃发展的视觉、文学和表演艺术。1603 年她去世时,已经当了近 45 年的女王。
Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) was one of the longest-reigning monarchs England has ever known. Fluent in four languages, a skilled diplomat, and an exceptional poet, Elizabeth ascended the throne at one of the most tumultuous points in English history and managed to resolve religious disputes, unify her nation, keep enemies at bay, and support the flourishing visual, literary, and performing arts in her realm. When she died in 1603, she had been queen for nearly forty-five years.
拉尔夫·埃里森(1914-1994) 出生于俄克拉荷马城。他的父亲是一名冰和煤小贩,拉尔夫三岁时就去世了;他的母亲靠做家务来养活自己和儿子。在塔斯基吉学院学习音乐后,埃里森于 1936 年去了纽约市,在那里,在小说家理查德·赖特的鼓励下,他加入了联邦作家计划。他的第一部小说《隐形人》(1952) 获得了 1953 年美国国家图书奖,并成为美国小说中的经典。埃里森在巴德学院、芝加哥大学、罗格斯大学和纽约大学教授文学和写作。他的其他作品包括散文集《影子与行为》(1964) 和《前往领土》 (1986),以及约翰·F·卡拉汉准备的三部遗作:《拉尔夫·埃里森散文集》 (1995);《飞回家和其他故事》 (1996),一部短篇小说集;以及《六月节》(1999 年),这是一部由卡拉汉根据埃里森去世时未完成的手稿进行整理和编辑的小说。
Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma City. His father, an ice and coal vendor, died when Ralph was three; his mother supported herself and her son with domestic work. After studying music at the Tuskegee Institute, Ellison went to New York City in 1936, where, encouraged by the novelist Richard Wright, he became associated with the Federal Writers’ Project. His first novel, Invisible Man (1952), received a 1953 National Book Award and became a classic in American fiction. Ellison taught literature and writing at Bard College, the University of Chicago, Rutgers University, and New York University. His other works include the collections of essays Shadow and Act (1964) and Going to the Territory (1986), and three posthumous works prepared by John F. Callahan: The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison (1995); Flying Home and Other Stories (1996), a short-story collection; and Juneteenth (1999), a novel shaped and edited by Callahan from manuscripts left unfinished when Ellison died.
路易丝·厄德里奇1954 年出生,母亲是奇珀瓦印第安人,父亲是德裔美国人。她以在作品中探索美洲原住民主题而闻名。厄德里奇经常访问北达科他州的土地,那里是她祖先的聚会之地,她出版了三本广受好评的诗集:《杰克之光》(1984 年)、《欲望的洗礼》(1989 年)和《原火:新诗选》(2003 年)。尽管厄德里奇在诗歌创作方面取得了成功,但她最出名的身份是小说家,出版了七部小说,讲述了三个家庭在北达科他州虚构小镇阿格斯及其周边地区的生活故事。她多声部和非时间顺序的叙事方式使她与威廉·福克纳相提并论,她对美国原住民经历的探索是前无古人的。她最近的作品是反乌托邦小说《活神的未来之家》(2017 年)。
Louise Erdrich, born in 1954 to a Chippewa Indian mother and a German American father, is well-known for her exploration of Native American themes in her works. Erdrich often visits the North Dakota lands, the meeting place of her ancestors, and she’s published three critically acclaimed collections of poetry: Jacklight (1984), Baptism of Desire (1989), and Original Fire: New and Selected Poems (2003). Although Erdrich has had success in writing poetry, she is best known as a novelist, having published seven novels that tell the story of three families living in and around a reservation in the fictional town of Argus, North Dakota. Her multivoiced and nonchronological storytelling have earned her comparisons to William Faulkner, and her exploration of Native American experiences is like that of no author before her. Her most recent work is Future Home of the Living God (2017), a dystopian novel.
马丁·埃斯帕达1957 年出生于纽约布鲁克林,他的履历丰富多彩:尼加拉瓜电台记者、福利权利律师助理、精神病患者代言人、酒店夜间值班员、灵长类动物托儿所服务员、小联盟棒球场的场地管理员、印刷厂装订工、酒吧保镖,以及马萨诸塞州切尔西的执业律师。他是八本诗集的作者,最近出版的是《失败者的生命》(2016 年)。他的早期著作是《阿拉巴萨:1982-2002 年新诗选集》 。(2003 年),荣获帕特森文学成就奖,并被评为美国图书馆协会年度杰出图书。他是一位散文家、编辑、翻译家和诗人。他目前在马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校任教。
Martín Espada, born in 1957 in Brooklyn, New York, has an eclectic résumé: radio journalist in Nicaragua, welfare- rights paralegal, advocate for the mentally ill, night desk clerk in a hotel, attendant in a primate nursery, groundskeeper at a minor league ballpark, bindery worker in a printing plant, bouncer in a bar, and practicing lawyer in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016). His earlier book, Alabanza: New and Selected Poems, 1982–2002 (2003), received the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement and was named an American Library Association Notable Book of the Year. He is an essayist, editor, and translator as well as a poet. He currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Tarfia Faizullah(生于 1980 年)在弗吉尼亚联邦大学创意写作专业获得艺术硕士学位。她是《Seam》(2014 年)的作者,该书荣获 Crab Orchard 系列诗歌首部图书奖,以及《Registers of Illuminated Villages》(2018 年)。Faizullah 在密歇根大学任教。
Tarfia Faizullah (b. 1980) earned her MFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University program in creative writing. She is the author of Seam (2014), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award, and Registers of Illuminated Villages (2018). Faizullah teaches at the University of Michigan.
威廉·福克纳(1897-1962 年)出生于密西西比州新奥尔巴尼,少年时移居密西西比州牛津,并在此度过了余生。他完成了两年高中教育,并在密西西比大学学习了一年多。第一次世界大战期间,他曾在加拿大皇家空军短暂服役,之后从事过各种工作,最后成为一名作家。他的第一本书《大理石牧神》(1924 年)是一本诗集。1925年,福克纳在新奥尔良结识了作家谢尔伍德·安德森,在安德森的鼓励下,福克纳创作了他的第一部小说《士兵的报酬》(1926 年),这部作品广受好评。他的第三部小说《萨托里斯》(1929 年)首次以约克纳帕塔法县为背景,虚构地重现了牛津周边地区,而该地区的背景贯穿他后来的小说创作。三十年间,福克纳出版了十九部小说、八十多篇短篇小说、诗歌和散文集;他还撰写了几部电影剧本来补充收入。他的短篇小说集包括《走吧,摩西》(1942 年);《短篇小说集》(1950 年),该书获得国家图书奖;以及《大森林》(1955 年)。他最著名的小说包括《喧哗与骚动》(1929 年)、《我弥留之际》(1930 年)、《避难所》(1931 年)、《八月之光》(1932 年)和《押沙龙,押沙龙! 》 (1936 年)。福克纳于 1949 年获得诺贝尔文学奖;《寓言》(1954 年)和《掠夺者》(1962 年)分别获得普利策小说奖。
William Faulkner (1897–1962), born in New Albany, Mississippi, moved as a young boy to Oxford, Mississippi, the place he was to call home for the rest of his life. He completed two years of high school and a little more than one year at the University of Mississippi. After a brief stint in the Royal Air Force in Canada during World War I, he worked at various jobs before becoming a writer. His first book, The Marble Faun (1924), was a collection of poems. Encouraged by the writer Sherwood Anderson, whom he met in New Orleans in 1925, Faulkner wrote his first novel, Soldier’s Pay (1926), a work that was favorably reviewed. His third novel, Sartoris (1929), was the first set in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional recreation of the area around Oxford whose setting appeared throughout his later fiction. Over three decades Faulkner published nineteen novels, more than eighty short stories, and collections of poems and essays; he also wrote several film scripts to supplement his income. Collections of his short fiction include Go Down, Moses (1942); Collected Stories (1950), which won a National Book Award; and Big Woods (1955). Among his best-known novels are The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936). Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949; A Fable (1954) and The Reivers (1962) each won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
凯西·菲什(Kathy Fish )(生于 1960 年)在丹佛瑞吉斯大学的 Mile-High MFA 课程任教。她以短篇小说而闻名,由于她注重线条和意象,我们将她在本书中的作品归类为诗歌。她是《野生动物:作品集》(2018 年)的作者。
Kathy Fish (b. 1960) teaches in the Mile-High MFA program at Regis University in Denver. Known for her flash fiction, we categorize her work in this volume as poetry, due to her attention to lineation and imagery. She is the author of Wild Life: Collected Works (2018).
Carolyn Forché于 1950 年出生于底特律,就读于密歇根州立大学大学毕业后,福尔谢在鲍林格林州立大学获得艺术硕士学位。她作为一名作家立即获得了成功,并于 1976 年获得耶鲁青年诗人奖。在获得古根海姆奖学金前往萨尔瓦多工作一年后,她的作品发生了显著变化,当时她与人权活动家奥斯卡·温贝托·罗梅罗大主教和国际特赦组织合作。在目睹了中美洲发生的无数暴行后,福尔谢开始写作她所谓的“见证诗”。《我们之间的国家》(1981 年)因其明显的政治主题和主题而引起争议。她是四本诗集的作者,最近的一本是《蓝色时间》(2004 年),她编辑了《反对遗忘:二十世纪见证诗歌》(1993 年)。她还翻译了几本诗集。她是乔治城大学的教员。
Carolyn Forché was born in 1950 in Detroit, attended Michigan State University, and earned an MFA from Bowling Green State University. She achieved immediate success as a writer, winning the Yale Younger Poets prize in 1976. Her work underwent a remarkable change following a year spent in El Salvador on a Guggenheim fellowship, when she worked with human rights activist Archbishop Oscar Humberto Romero and with Amnesty International. After seeing countless atrocities committed in Central America, Forché began writing what she calls “poetry of witness.” The volume The Country between Us (1981) stirred controversy because of its overtly political topics and themes. She is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Blue Hour (2004), and the editor of Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness (1993). She has also translated several books of poetry. She is a faculty member at Georgetown University.
罗伯特·弗罗斯特(1874-1963) 出生于旧金山,并在那里生活到十一岁。父亲去世后,全家搬到马萨诸塞州,罗伯特在学校表现优异,尤其是古典文学,但后来他从达特茅斯学院和哈佛大学辍学。直到 1913 年,他才首次在英国发表作品,那时他和妻子及四个孩子已经搬到了英国,他才被认可为诗人。回到美国后,弗罗斯特很快取得了成功,出版了更多作品,成为二十世纪中叶美国最著名的诗人。他曾在阿默斯特学院任教,获得许多荣誉学位,并受邀在约翰·肯尼迪的就职典礼上朗诵诗歌。尽管他的作品主要与新英格兰的生活和风景有关,尽管他是一位传统诗歌形式和韵律的诗人,但他也被认为是一位典型的现代诗人,因为他坚持使用真实的语言,他的肖像具有心理复杂性,并且他的作品充满了层层的模糊性和讽刺意味。
Robert Frost (1874–1963) was born in San Francisco and lived there until he was eleven. When his father died, the family moved to Massachusetts, where Robert did well in school, especially in the classics, but he later dropped out of both Dartmouth College and Harvard University. He went unrecognized as a poet until 1913, when he was first published in England, where he had moved with his wife and four children. Upon returning to the States, Frost quickly achieved success with more publications and became the most celebrated poet in mid-twentieth-century America. He held a teaching position at Amherst College and received many honorary degrees as well as an invitation to recite a poem at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Although his work is principally associated with the life and landscape of New England, and although he was a poet of traditional verse forms and meters, he is also considered a quintessentially modern poet for his adherence to language as it is actually spoken, the psychological complexity of his portraits, and the degree to which his work is infused with layers of ambiguity and irony.
理查德·加西亚1941 年出生于旧金山,是第一代美国人(他的母亲来自墨西哥,父亲来自波多黎各)。还在读高中时,加西亚就曾在《城市之光》杂志的《垮掉的一代》选集中发表过一首诗。然而,在 1972 年出版了他的第一本诗集后,他有 12 年没有再写诗,直到奥克塔维奥·帕斯的一封主动来信激励他重新开始写诗。从那时起,加西亚的作品广泛出现在《肯扬评论》、《帕纳索斯》等文学杂志上和《葛底斯堡评论》以及后来的三本合集:《Rancho Notorious》(2001 年)、《物体的持久性》(2006 年)和《Chickenhead》(2009 年)。他也是双语儿童读物《My Aunt Otilia's Spirits》(1987 年)的作者。十二年来,他一直是洛杉矶儿童医院的驻院诗人,在那里他为住院儿童举办诗歌和艺术研讨会。他在安提阿克大学洛杉矶分校 MFA 课程和查尔斯顿学院教授创意写作。
Richard Garcia was born in 1941 in San Francisco as a first-generation American (his mother was from Mexico, his father from Puerto Rico). While still in high school, Garcia had a poem published by City Lights in a Beat anthology. After publishing his first collection in 1972, however, he did not write poetry again for twelve years, until an unsolicited letter from Octavio Paz inspired him to resume. Since then Garcia’s work has appeared widely in such literary magazines as the Kenyon Review, Parnassus, and the Gettysburg Review, as well as in three later collections: Rancho Notorious (2001), The Persistence of Objects (2006), and Chickenhead (2009). He is also the author of the bilingual children’s book My Aunt Otilia’s Spirits (1987). For twelve years he was the poet-in-residence at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he conducted poetry and art workshops for hospitalized children. He teaches creative writing in the Antioch University Los Angeles MFA program and at the College of Charleston.
加布里埃尔·加西亚·马尔克斯(1927-2014)是哥伦比亚阿拉卡塔卡小村庄一个贫穷家庭的 12 个孩子之一。他就读于波哥大大学,放弃法律学习,开始从事作家职业,在哥伦比亚报纸《观察家报》担任记者和电影评论家。他的第一部短篇小说《女巫》 (1955 年;在 1960 年被译为《落叶风暴》 )1972 年出版的《百年孤独》 (1967 年)是他最著名的作品。其他小说还有《族长的没落》(1975 年)和《霍乱时期的爱情》(1988 年)。作为一名政治活动家,加西亚·马尔克斯于 1954 年移居墨西哥,1973 年移居西班牙巴塞罗那,1970 年代末返回墨西哥。1982 年,他获得了诺贝尔文学奖。该奖表彰他的小说和短篇小说“将奇幻与现实主义结合在一起,形成了一个丰富的想象世界,反映了一个大陆的生活和冲突。”他的最后一本书是《我忧郁的妓女的回忆》 (2005 年)。
Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) was one of twelve children born into a poor family in Aracataca, a small village in Colombia. He attended the University of Bogotá and gave up studying law to pursue a career as a writer, working as a journalist and film critic for El Espectador, a Colombian newspaper. His first short novel, La Hojarasca (1955; translated as Leaf Storm in 1972), was followed by One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), his most famous work. The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1988) are other novels. A political activist, García Márquez moved to Mexico in 1954, to Barcelona, Spain, in 1973, and back to Mexico in the late 1970s. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. The award cited him for novels and short stories “in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent’s life and conflicts.” His last book was Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2005).
罗斯·盖伊1974 年出生于俄亥俄州扬斯敦,父亲是黑人,母亲是白人。他著有《欢乐之书》(2019 年)、《毫不掩饰的感恩目录》(2015 年)、《拿起铁锹》(2011 年)和《反对哪》(2006 年)。他的诗歌发表在许多文学期刊和杂志上,包括《美国诗歌评论》、《哈佛评论》、《哥伦比亚:诗歌与艺术杂志》、《玛吉:美国诗歌杂志》以及《亚特兰大评论》。无所畏惧的感恩目录曾获美国国家图书评论协会奖和金斯利·塔夫茨诗歌奖。他目前在印第安纳大学任教。
Ross Gay was born in 1974 to a black father and white mother in Youngstown, Ohio. He is the author of The Book of Delights (2019), Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2015), Bringing the Shovel Down (2011), and Against Which (2006). His poems have been featured in numerous literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry, and Atlanta Review. Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. He currently teaches at Indiana University.
杰克·吉尔伯特(1925-2012) 是一位美国诗人,出生并成长于宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡的东自由区。在匹兹堡大学读书时,他对写作产生了浓厚的兴趣。1962 年,吉尔伯特凭借《危险边缘》获得耶鲁青年诗人奖。他与诗人琳达·格雷格有过一段恋情,后来与雕塑家野上美智子结婚,但婚后 11 年她就去世了。吉尔伯特的大部分作品都与这些关系和损失有关,尤其是他的第四本书《拒绝天堂》 (2005)。这本书获得了美国国家图书评论界奖,吉尔伯特的作品还获得了兰南文学诗歌奖和美国国家艺术基金的资助。
Jack Gilbert (1925–2012) was an American poet, born and raised in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, neighborhood of East Liberty. It was at college at the University of Pittsburgh that he developed a serious interest in writing. In 1962, Gilbert won the Yale Younger Poets prize for Views of Jeopardy. He had a relationship with fellow poet Linda Gregg and was later married to sculptor Michiko Nogami, who died eleven years into the marriage. Much of Gilbert’s writing concerns these relationships and losses, especially his fourth book Refusing Heaven (2005). This book won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Gilbert’s work also received a Lannan Literary Award for Poetry and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼(1860-1935) 出生于康涅狄格州哈特福德后不久,她的父亲就离开了家庭,此后只提供了少量的支持。吉尔曼就读于罗德岛设计学院,并曾短暂担任商业艺术家和教师。这位哈里特·比彻·斯托的侄孙女在很小的时候就开始关注社会不平等和女性角色受限的问题。1884 年,她与查尔斯·斯特森结婚,但四年后,在生下孩子并患上严重抑郁症后,她离开了他并搬到了加利福尼亚。离婚后,她嫁给了乔治·吉尔曼,两人一起生活了 35 年。1935 年,她因癌症自杀。夏洛特·吉尔曼写了许多关于社会问题的有影响力的书籍和文章,包括《女性与经济》(1898 年)。从 1909 年到 1917 年,她出版了自己的期刊。 《黄色壁纸》创作于 1890 年左右,取材于她与精神疾病抗争的经历,因其洞察力和大胆性而受到称赞。
Shortly after Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, her father left his family and provided only a small amount of support thereafter. Gilman studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked briefly as a commercial artist and teacher. This great-niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe became concerned at quite a young age with issues of social inequality and the circumscribed role of women. In 1884 she married Charles Stetson but left him and moved to California four years later after the birth of a child and a severe depression. Divorced, she married George Gilman, with whom she lived for thirty-five years. In 1935, afflicted by cancer, she took her own life. Charlotte Gilman wrote many influential books and articles about social problems, including Women and Economics (1898). From 1909 to 1917, she published her own journal. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written about 1890, draws on her experience with mental illness and has been praised for its insight and boldness.
艾伦·金斯堡(1926-1997)出生于新泽西州纽瓦克,在多次停学后,于 1948 年毕业于哥伦比亚大学。几年后,他离开家乡前往旧金山,加入“垮掉派”其他诗人的行列。他的诗作《嚎叫》是该运动最著名的诗歌,1956 年由劳伦斯·费林盖蒂的城市之光出版社出版;随后的审查审判的公开化使“垮掉的一代”受到了全国的关注。金斯伯格与安妮·沃尔德曼共同创立了科罗拉多州博尔德市那洛巴学院的杰克·凯鲁亚克无形诗学学校。晚年,他成为布鲁克林学院的杰出教授。
Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) was born in Newark, New Jersey, and graduated from Columbia University, after a number of suspensions, in 1948. Several years later, he left for San Francisco to join other poets of the Beat Movement. His poem Howl, the most famous poem of the movement, was published in 1956 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books; the publicity of the ensuing censorship trial brought the Beats to national attention. Ginsberg was cofounder with Anne Waldman of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In his later years, he became a distinguished professor at Brooklyn College.
达纳·乔亚(b. 1950) 出生于洛杉矶郊区。他毕业于斯坦福商学院,在为通用食品公司工作期间,职业生涯的前 15 年都是晚上写作。1991 年,他在《大西洋月刊》上发表的论文“诗歌重要吗?”引起了广泛关注,此后乔亚辞去了日常工作,开始全职写作。乔亚在哈佛大学获得了比较文学硕士学位,并积极翻译拉丁语、意大利语、德语和罗马尼亚语诗歌。乔亚的诗集包括《每日星座运势》(1986 年)、《冬之神》(1991 年)、《怜悯美丽的人》(2012 年)和《正午的审讯》(2001 年),后者获得了美国图书奖。2016 年出版了新诗和选诗集《99 首诗》。虽然乔亚的诗体是自由诗,但他主要以正式作品而闻名。 2003 年至 2008 年,他担任国家艺术基金会主席,增加了预算并发起了多项成功计划,其中包括“回家行动”,该计划为美国士兵及其配偶提供写作研习班。2015 年,乔亚被任命为加州桂冠诗人。
Dana Gioia (b. 1950) was born in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He graduated from Stanford Business School and spent the first fifteen years of his career writing at night while working for General Foods Corporation. After his 1991 essay “Can Poetry Matter?” in The Atlantic earned him widespread attention, Gioia quit his day job to pursue writing full-time. Gioia completed an MA in comparative literature at Harvard University and is an active translator of Latin, Italian, German, and Romanian poetry. Gioia’s poetry collections include Daily Horoscope (1986), The Gods of Winter (1991), Pity the Beautiful (2012), and Interrogations at Noon (2001), which won the American Book Award. A collection of new and selected poems, 99 Poems, was published in 2016. Although Gioia writes in free verse, he is known primarily for his formal work. When he served as chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2008, he increased the budget and launched several successful initiatives, including Operation Homecoming, which provides writing workshops to US soldiers and their spouses. In 2015, Gioia was named Poet Laureate of California.
Aracelis Girmay(生于 1977 年)毕业于康涅狄格学院,获得文学学士学位,后在纽约大学获得艺术硕士学位。Girmay 的诗集包括《牙齿》(2007 年)、《动物王国》(2011 年)和《黑色玛丽亚》(2016 年),后者被《出版人周刊》和《O 杂志》评为“最佳诗歌精选”和图书馆杂志。她也是拼贴画图画书《改变,改变》(2005 年)的作者。Girmay 尝试创新的混合诗歌形式,追踪城市和身体之间转变和损失的联系。2011 年,她获得了美国国家艺术基金会的奖学金。2015 年,她获得了怀廷诗歌奖。作为 Cave Canem 研究员和 Acentos 董事会成员,Girmay 领导了青年和社区写作研讨会。她是汉普郡学院的教授,住在纽约市。
Aracelis Girmay (b. 1977) earned a BA from Connecticut College and an MFA from New York University. Girmay’s poetry collections include Teeth (2007), Kingdom Animalia (2011), and The Black Maria (2016), which was named a “Top Poetry Pick” by Publisher’s Weekly, O Magazine, and Library Journal. She is also the author of the collage-based picture book changing, changing (2005). Girmay experiments with innovative, hybrid poetic forms, tracing the connections of transformation and loss across cities and bodies. In 2011, she was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2015, she received a Whiting Award for Poetry. As a Cave Canem Fellow and an Acentos board member, Girmay led youth and community writing workshops. She is a professor at Hampshire College and lives in New York City.
苏珊·格拉斯佩尔(Susan Glaspell )(1882-1948 年)在爱荷华州出生、长大并接受教育,后来移居马萨诸塞州,她和丈夫乔治·克拉姆·库克 (George Cram Cook) 在科德角创立了普罗文斯敦剧团。这家小型剧团对几位严肃剧作家(最著名的是尤金·奥尼尔)的创作产生了深远影响,并在感伤喜剧和情节剧仍占据舞台主导地位的时代推广了现实主义戏剧。格拉斯佩尔的写作生涯始于出版短篇小说和长篇小说,包括广受好评的《忠诚》(1915 年)。格拉斯佩尔的最初几部戏剧,包括《琐事》(1916 年),都是独幕剧,从这些作品开始,她开始了对写作女性生活和特殊环境的终生兴趣。她还创作并制作了许多长篇戏剧,其中最著名的是《继承者》(1921 年)和《艾莉森的房子》 (1930 年),后者大致改编自艾米莉·狄金森的生平,并获得了普利策奖。尽管有些格拉斯佩尔的作品大部分都是轻松愉快的,其中很多都涉及当时的严肃问题。格拉斯佩尔的作品在当时备受推崇,但后来逐渐过时,直到 20 世纪 60 年代才被女权主义学者和评论家“重新发现”。
Susan Glaspell (1882–1948), born, raised, and educated in Iowa, came to be associated with Massachusetts, where she and her husband, George Cram Cook, founded the Provincetown Players on Cape Cod. This small theater company was influential in giving a start to several serious playwrights, most notably Eugene O’Neill, and promoting realist dramas at a time when sentimental comedy and melodrama still dominated the stage. Glaspell began her writing career publishing short stories and novels, including the critically acclaimed Fidelity (1915). Glaspell’s first several plays, including Trifles (1916), were one acts, and with them she began her lifelong interest in writing about the lives and special circumstances of women. She went on to write and produce a number of full-length plays as well, among the best known being The Inheritors (1921) and Alison’s House (1930), which was based loosely on the life of Emily Dickinson and won a Pulitzer Prize. Though some of Glaspell’s work was light-hearted, much of it dealt with serious issues of the day. Respected in its own time, Glaspell’s writing fell out of fashion until it was “rediscovered” by feminist scholars and critics in the 1960s.
路易丝·格吕克(生于 1943 年) 是一位美国诗人。格吕克的诗歌以精准、敏感和洞察力而闻名,被许多人认为是美国最有才华的当代诗人之一。2003 年,她被任命为美国桂冠诗人。她曾获得普利策奖、博林根奖、洛杉矶时报诗歌图书奖和美国国家诗歌图书奖。她是 16 本诗集的作者,最近出版了《忠诚而有德的夜晚》(2014)。
Louise Glück (b. 1943) is an American poet. Known for precision, sensitivity, and insight in her poems, Glück is considered by many to be one of America’s most talented contemporary poets. In 2003, she was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. She has won the Pulitzer Prize, the Bollingen Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry, and the National Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of sixteen books of poetry, most recently Faithful and Virtuous Night (2014).
乔治·戈登·拜伦勋爵(1788– 1824)是伟大的浪漫主义诗人之一,以轻松幽默的诗句而闻名,例如《唐璜》。他出生于伦敦,在苏格兰长大,在哈罗公学和剑桥大学三一学院学习。十岁时,他继承了第六代拜伦男爵的头衔(连同遗产)。他生命的最后几年是在意大利度过的,但在加入希腊独立战争后死于希腊。
One of the great Romantic poets, George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788– 1824) is best known for his light-hearted and humorous verse, such as Don Juan. Born in London and raised in Scotland, he studied at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He inherited the title of sixth baron Byron (with estate) at age ten. The last few years of his life were spent in Italy, but he died in Greece after joining the Greek forces in their war for independence.
乔里·格雷厄姆(生于 1950 年)是一位美国诗人,著有众多诗集,包括普利策奖获奖作品《统一场之梦:1974-1992 年精选诗集》(1995 年)、《海变》(2008 年)、 《地点》(2012 年)和《快速》(2017 年)。格雷厄姆的母亲是雕塑家,父亲是记者,她的作品深受视觉艺术、神话、历史和哲学的影响。现代主义的影响在她的诗歌中显而易见,尤其是在其形状和流畅性方面。她是哈佛大学博伊尔斯顿演讲和修辞学教授,也是第一位担任该职位的女性。
Jorie Graham (b. 1950) is an American-born poet and author of numerous collections of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Dream of the Unified Field: Selected Poems 1974–1992 (1995), Sea Change (2008), Place (2012), and Fast (2017). With a sculptor as a mother and a journalist as a father, Graham has been influenced by visual art, mythology, history, and philosophy in her work. The influences of Modernism are apparent in her poems, especially in regard to their shape and flow. She is the Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric at Harvard University — the first woman to hold that position.
托马斯·格雷(1716-1771) 出生于伦敦,在伊顿公学和剑桥大学接受教育,在剑桥大学学习文学和历史。1741 年 11 月,父亲去世后,格雷与母亲和姑妈搬到了白金汉郡的斯托克波吉斯村,在那里他创作了第一首重要的英文诗歌《春之颂》、《伊顿公学远景颂》和《逆境赞歌》,并开始创作他的杰作《乡村墓地挽歌》,这首诗被称为所有墓地诗中最著名、最多样化的诗。这些诗巩固了他作为十八世纪最重要诗人之一的声誉。1757 年,他被任命为桂冠诗人,但他拒绝了这一职位。1762 年,他被剑桥大学拒绝担任现代史皇家教授,但在 1768 年,成功候选人被杀后,他被授予了这一职位。他是一个极其害羞和内向的人,从未以教授的身份发表过任何演讲。
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) was born in London and educated at Eton and at Cambridge University, where he studied literature and history. When his father died in November 1741, Gray moved with his mother and aunt to the village of Stoke Poges, in Buckinghamshire, where he wrote his first important English poems, “Ode on the Spring,” “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” and “Hymn to Adversity,” and began his masterpiece, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” called the most famous and diversified of all graveyard poems. These poems solidified his reputation as one of the most important poets of the eighteenth century. In 1757, he was named poet laureate but refused the position. In 1762 he was rejected for the Regius Professorship of Modern History at Cambridge but was given the position in 1768 when the successful candidate was killed. A painfully shy and private person, he never delivered any lectures as a professor.
琳达·格雷格森(生于 1950 年) 是一位文艺复兴学者、受过古典训练的演员和多产诗人。她拥有欧柏林学院、西北大学、爱荷华大学作家工作室和斯坦福大学的学位。格雷格森获得的奖项包括美国艺术与文学学院文学奖、美国诗歌协会颁发的康苏埃洛·福特奖、三项普希卡奖和莱文森诗歌奖。她还获得过古根海姆基金会、梅隆基金会和斯坦福大学颁发的奖学金。基金会、洛克菲勒基金会贝拉吉奥中心、高等研究院、国家人文中心和国家艺术基金会。2014 年,格雷格森被任命为美国诗人学院院长。
Linda Gregerson (b. 1950) is a Renaissance scholar, a classically trained actor, and a prolific poet. She holds degrees from Oberlin College, Northwestern University, the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and Stanford University. Gregerson’s awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the Consuelo Ford Award from the Poetry Society of America, three Pushcart Prizes, and the Levinson Prize from Poetry. She has also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Humanities Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2014, Gregerson was named as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
乔伊·哈乔1951 年出生于俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨,母亲是切罗基裔法国人,父亲是克里克人。哈乔搬到美国西南部,二十出头就开始写诗。她在新墨西哥大学获得学士学位,在爱荷华大学作家工作室获得艺术硕士学位。哈乔出版过许多诗集,包括《疯狂的爱与战争》(1990 年),该书获得了美国图书奖和德尔莫尔·施瓦茨纪念奖。她与自己的乐队 Poetic Justice 一起表演诗歌并演奏萨克斯管。她是新墨西哥大学阿尔伯克基分校的英语教授。
Born in 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a mother of Cherokee-French descent and a Creek father, Joy Harjo moved to the Southwest and began writing poetry in her early twenties. She earned her BA from the University of New Mexico and her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Harjo has published numerous volumes of poetry, including In Mad Love and War (1990), which received an American Book Award and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award. She performs her poetry and plays saxophone with her band, Poetic Justice. She is professor of English at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
纳撒尼尔·霍桑(1804–1864) 出生于马萨诸塞州塞勒姆的一个新英格兰清教徒后裔家庭,1825 年毕业于缅因州鲍登学院。在接下来的十二年里,他相对隐居地住在塞勒姆,读书、观察新英格兰的风景和人民,并写下了他的第一部小说《范肖》(1828 年匿名出版)和第一系列《两次讲述的故事》(1837 年)。(第二系列出版于 1842 年,由埃德加·艾伦·坡评论并引起一些关注。 )为了养活自己,霍桑在波士顿海关找了一份工作,1841 年辞职,住在马萨诸塞州西罗克斯伯里的乌托邦社区布鲁克农场。第二年,他离开布鲁克农场,与索菲亚·皮博迪结婚,搬到马萨诸塞州康科德,他的邻居包括拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生和亨利·戴维·梭罗。在那里,他创作了《老宅里的青苔》(1846 年)中的故事。回到塞勒姆后,他担任海关检查员,并开始全职创作他最著名的小说《红字》(1850 年)。随后,他根据布鲁克农场的经历创作了小说《七个尖角阁的房子》(1851 年)和《幸福谷传奇》(1852 年)。此外,1852 年,他还写了一部竞选传记,讲述了霍桑的大学好友富兰克林·皮尔斯,皮尔斯在当选总统后任命霍桑为驻利物浦美国领事。霍桑随后在欧洲的旅行为他的最后一部主要作品《大理石牧神》(1860 年)做出了贡献。
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, into a family descended from the New England Puritans, and graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine in 1825. For the next twelve years, he lived in Salem in relative seclusion, reading, observing the New England landscape and people, and writing his first novel, Fanshawe (published anonymously in 1828), and the first series of Twice-Told Tales (1837). (The second series, published in 1842, was reviewed by Edgar Allan Poe and won some notice.) To support himself, Hawthorne took a job in the Boston Custom House, resigning in 1841 to live at Brook Farm, a utopian community in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. The following year he left Brook Farm, married Sophia Peabody, and moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where his neighbors included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. There he wrote the stories collected in Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). Returning to Salem, he took a position as a customs inspector and began full-time work on what was to become his most celebrated novel, The Scarlet Letter (1850). The novels The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and The Blithedale Romance (1852), based on his Brook Farm experience, quickly followed. Also, in 1852, he wrote a campaign biography of Franklin Pierce, a former college friend who, on becoming president, appointed Hawthorne US Consul at Liverpool. Hawthorne’s subsequent travels in Europe contributed to the novel The Marble Faun (1860), his last major work.
罗伯特·海登(1913-1980) 在底特律的一个贫困社区长大,童年的情绪波动很大。由于视力受损,他无法参加体育运动,而是把时间花在阅读上。1932 年,他高中毕业,就读于底特律城市学院 (后来的韦恩州立大学)。他的第一本诗集《尘埃中的心形》出版于 1940 年。在为报纸和其他项目工作后,他在密歇根大学的研究生创意写作课程中师从WH A uden,后来在菲斯克大学和密歇根大学任教。他的诗歌在 20 世纪 60 年代获得了国际认可;1966 年,他凭借《追忆之歌》一书荣获塞内加尔达喀尔第一届世界黑人艺术节诗歌大奖。1976年,他成为第一位被任命为国会图书馆诗歌顾问的黑人美国人。
Robert Hayden (1913–1980), who was raised in a poor neighborhood in Detroit, had an emotionally tumultuous childhood. Because of impaired vision, he was unable to participate in sports and spent his time reading instead. He graduated from high school in 1932 and attended Detroit City College (later Wayne State University). His first book of poems, Heart-Shape in the Dust, was published in 1940. After working for newspapers and on other projects, he studied under W. H. Auden in the graduate creative writing program at the University of Michigan, later teaching at Fisk University and the University of Michigan. His poetry gained international recognition in the 1960s; he was awarded the grand prize for poetry at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966 for his book Ballad of Remembrance. In 1976 he became the first black American to be appointed as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
特伦斯·海耶斯1971 年出生于南卡罗来纳州哥伦比亚市。在科克学院获得学士学位后,他因在运动和学术方面的成就而被评为全美学术明星,之后他又获得了匹兹堡大学的艺术硕士学位。他的第一本诗集《肌肉音乐》(1999 年)赢得了惠廷作家奖和凯特·塔夫茨发现奖。他的下一本诗集《时尚逻辑》(2002 年)赢得了国家诗歌系列奖。《Lighthead》获得了 2010 年国家图书奖诗歌奖。他最近的诗集是《美国十四行诗集,献给我过去和未来的刺客》(2018 年)。2014 年,他获得了麦克阿瑟“天才”奖。海耶斯在纽约大学创意写作课程任教。
Terrance Hayes was born in 1971 in Columbia, South Carolina. After receiving a BA from Coker College, where he was named an Academic All-American for his athletic and academic accomplishments, he earned an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. His first book of poetry, Muscular Music (1999), won both the Whiting Writers Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. His next collection, Hip Logic (2002), won the National Poetry Series award. Lighthead won the National Book Award in Poetry for 2010. His most recent collection is American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (2018). In 2014, he was the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant. Hayes teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.
HD — 参见希尔达·杜利特尔 (Hilda Doolittle)
H. D. — see Hilda Doolittle
谢默斯·希尼(1939-2013)出生于北爱尔兰德里郡卡斯特尔道森附近的一个小农场,曾就读于德里市的一所天主教寄宿学校圣哥伦布学院,后来又就读于贝尔法斯特女王大学。20 世纪 60 年代初,作为贝尔法斯特的一名年轻英语教师,他参加了一个诗歌研讨会并开始写诗,后来成为当代爱尔兰文学的一支重要力量。他著有多部诗集、翻译作品和散文,还创作了两部戏剧。1989 年至 1994 年,他担任牛津大学诗歌教授。1995 年,他荣获诺贝尔文学奖。
Raised on a small farm near Castledawson, County Derry, Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) was educated at St. Columb’s College, a Catholic boarding school situated in the city of Derry, and then at Queen’s University, Belfast. As a young English teacher in Belfast in the early 1960s, he joined a poetry workshop and began writing verse, subsequently becoming a major force in contemporary Irish literature. He is the author of many volumes of poetry, translations, and essays as well as two plays. He held the chair of professor of poetry at Oxford University from 1989 to 1994. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.
欧内斯特·海明威(1899-1961) 生于伊利诺伊州奥克帕克,从小就过着积极向上的生活,他曾随当医生的父亲在密歇根北部的荒野中度过夏天,在学校时练习拳击和踢足球。他作为作家的第一份工作是《堪萨斯城星报》的记者。第一次世界大战期间,他在意大利担任救护车司机,未满 19 岁便受重伤,因此获得意大利政府的嘉奖。后来,在巴黎担任《多伦多星报》记者期间,他结识了格特鲁德·斯泰因、埃兹拉·庞德、 F ·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德等对他的作品产生重大影响的艺术家和作家。海明威的第一本书《三个故事和十首诗》(1923 年)之后是著名短篇小说集《在我们的时代里》(1924 年;修订和增订版,1925 年)。他的小说《太阳照常升起》(1926 年)赢得了赞誉,也使海明威被公认为“迷惘的一代”的代言人。《永别了,武器》 (1929 年)以他在意大利的战时经历为基础,《丧钟为谁而鸣》(1940 年)则取材于他在西班牙内战期间担任记者的经历,这些作品为他赢得了持久的声誉。在第二次世界大战期间,他担任记者并获得铜星勋章。他经常旅行,去西班牙看斗牛,去加勒比海钓鱼,去美国西部和非洲狩猎。晚年,他的身体健康状况每况愈下,患上了严重的抑郁症,最终在爱达荷州凯彻姆的家中自杀。海明威于 1954 年获得诺贝尔文学奖。
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), born in Oak Park, Illinois, led an active, vigorous life from childhood, summering in the wilds of northern Michigan with his physician father and boxing and playing football at school. His first job as a writer was as a reporter for The Kansas City Star. During World War I, he served as an ambulance driver in Italy; severely wounded before he had turned nineteen, he was decorated by the Italian government. Later, while working in Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star, he met Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and other artists and writers who had a significant influence on his work. Hemingway’s first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923), was followed by the well-known story collection In Our Time (1924; rev. and enl. ed., 1925). His novel The Sun Also Rises (1926) brought acclaim as well as recognition of Hemingway as the spokesman for the “lost generation.” A Farewell to Arms (1929), based on his wartime experiences in Italy, and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), drawn from his time as a correspondent during the civil war in Spain, established his enduring reputation. During World War II, he served as a correspondent and received a Bronze Star. His frequent travels took him to Spain for the bullfights, on fishing trips to the Caribbean, and on big-game expeditions to the American West and to Africa. In his later years, he suffered from declining physical health and severe depression, which led to his suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
乔治·赫伯特(1593-1633) 是威尔士一个古老而富裕的家庭的第五个儿子,他在剑桥大学学习,以优异的成绩毕业,并被选为该大学的公共演说家。他在议会任职两年,但在失去政治支持后,他成为索尔兹伯里附近贝默顿的教区牧师。赫伯特是一位模范圣公会牧师和鼓舞人心的传教士。他的所有诗歌都是宗教性质的,于 1633 年在他死后出版。
George Herbert (1593–1633), the fifth son of an ancient and wealthy Welsh family, studied at Cambridge, graduated with honors, and was elected public orator of the university. He served in Parliament for two years, but after falling out of political favor, he became rector of Bemerton, near Salisbury. Herbert was a model Anglican priest and an inspiring preacher. All his poetry, religious in nature, was published posthumously in 1633.
维克多·埃尔南德斯·克鲁斯1949 年出生于波多黎各的阿瓜斯布埃纳斯,五岁时随家人移居纽约市。十七岁时,他出版了第一本诗集。一年后,他搬到加州湾区并出版了第二本书。1971 年,埃尔南德斯·克鲁斯访问了波多黎各,重新探寻祖先的传统;十八年后,他回到了波多黎各生活。现在,他生活在波多黎各和纽约两地。他著有五本诗集,包括《马拉卡:新诗与选诗,1965-2000》(2001 年)、《在安达卢斯的阴影下》(2011 年)和《西班牙之下》(2017 年)。他是纽约东哈莱姆古特剧院和哥伦布之前基金会的联合创始人,曾在加州大学伯克利分校、圣地亚哥分校、旧金山州立学院和密歇根大学任教。他的大部分作品探索了英语和他的母语西班牙语之间的关系,利用两种语言中的语法和句法惯例来创造他自己的双语习语。
Victor Hernández Cruz, born in 1949 in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, moved to New York City with his family at the age of five. His first book of poetry was published when he was seventeen. A year later, he moved to California’s Bay Area and published his second book. In 1971, Hernández Cruz visited Puerto Rico and reconnected with his ancestral heritage; eighteen years later, he returned to Puerto Rico to live. He now divides his time between Puerto Rico and New York. He is the author of five collections of poetry, including Maraca: New and Selected Poems, 1965–2000 (2001), In the Shadow of El-Andalus (2011), and Beneath the Spanish (2017). He is a cofounder of the East Harlem Gut Theatre in New York and the Before Columbus Foundation, and he has taught at the University of California at Berkeley and San Diego, San Francisco State College, and the University of Michigan. Much of his work explores the relation between the English language and his native Spanish, playing with grammatical and syntactical conventions within both languages to create his own bilingual idiom.
罗伯特·赫里克(1591-1674) 是一位富裕的伦敦金匠的儿子,他曾在其叔叔(也是金匠)手下当学徒,后就读于剑桥大学,然后在伦敦生活了九年,在那里他与一群诗人交往,其中包括本·约翰逊。在家庭压力下,赫里克成为了一名英国国教牧师,他被任命为德文郡迪安普赖尔的教区——他起初讨厌的农村地区——在那里,他悄悄地写下了关于想象中的情妇和异教仪式的诗歌(例如他著名的《科琳娜去参加舞会》)以及灵巧而虔诚的宗教诗句。1648 年,他被清教革命赶出了布道坛,返回伦敦后,他将自己的诗集出版成册,有两个标题:世俗诗歌的《赫斯珀里得斯》和神圣主题的《高贵诗集》。他最著名的诗可能是《致处女,珍惜时间》,这是一首关于传统及时行乐主题的短抒情诗(见词汇表)。
Robert Herrick (1591–1674), the son of a well-to-do London goldsmith, was apprenticed to his uncle (also a goldsmith), studied at Cambridge University, and then lived for nine years in London, where he hobnobbed with a group of poets that included Ben Jonson. Under familial pressure to do something more “worthwhile,” Herrick became an Anglican priest. He was given the parish of Dean Prior, Devonshire — a rural area that he hated at first — and there he quietly wrote poems about imagined mistresses and pagan rites (as in his well-known “Corinna’s Going A-Maying”) and deft but devout religious verse. When he returned to London in 1648, having been ejected from his pulpit by the Puritan revolution, he published his poetry in a volume with two titles, Hesperides for the secular poems and Noble Numbers for those with sacred subjects. Probably his most famous poem is “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” a short lyric on the traditional carpe diem theme (see the Glossary).
托尼·霍格兰(1953-2018) 出生于北卡罗来纳州布拉格堡,父亲是一名军医。他在南部的军事基地长大。他曾就读于威廉姆斯学院、爱荷华大学和亚利桑那大学。他的诗集《自恋对我意味着什么》(2003 年)入围美国国家图书评论界奖决赛。他最近的一本诗集是《从牧师变成治疗师对待对上帝的恐惧》(2018 年)。2002 年,他获得了美国艺术与文学学院颁发的奥斯卡文学奖,2005 年,他获得了诗歌基金会的马克·吐温奖,以表彰他对美国诗歌幽默的贡献。
Tony Hoagland (1953–2018) was born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the son of an army doctor. He grew up on military bases throughout the South. He was educated at Williams College, the University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona. His collection What Narcissism Means to Me (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent book of poems is Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God (2018). In 2002, he received the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2005 he was the recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Mark Twain Award in recognition of his contribution to humor in American poetry.
琳达·霍根 1947 年出生于丹佛,是一位诗人、小说家、散文家、剧作家和活动家,被广泛认为是当代美国文坛最具影响力和煽动性的印第安人之一。由于她的父亲来自奇卡索族,在军队服役,在霍根童年时期经常调动,所以她在成长过程中住过很多地方,但她认为俄克拉荷马州才是她真正的家。二十多岁时,在与儿童一起工作时因患有骨科残疾,她开始在午餐时间写作,尽管她之前没有写作经验,也几乎没有阅读文学作品的经验。她继续写作,在科罗拉多大学科罗拉多斯普林斯分校攻读本科学位,并于 1978 年在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校获得英语和创意写作硕士学位。她出版了十几本书——诗歌、小说和非小说——并因其作品获得了无数奖项,包括古根海姆奖学金。她是科罗拉多大学英语系名誉教授。
Linda Hogan, born in 1947 in Denver, is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and activist widely considered to be one of the most influential and provocative Native American figures in the contemporary American literary landscape. Because her father, who was from the Chickasaw Nation, was in the army and was transferred frequently during Hogan’s childhood, she lived in various locations while she was growing up, but she considers Oklahoma to be her true home. In her late twenties, while working with children with orthopedic disabilities, she began writing during her lunch hours, though she had no previous experience as a writer and little experience reading literature. She pursued her writing by commuting to the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, for her undergraduate degree and earning an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1978. She has published more than a dozen books — poetry, novels, and nonfiction — and received numerous awards for her work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a professor emeritus in the English Department at the University of Colorado.
杰拉德·曼利·霍普金斯(1844-1889) 出生于伦敦,是家中八个孩子中的老大。他的父亲是一名船舶保险商,还写了一本诗集。霍普金斯在牛津大学贝利奥尔学院学习,皈依天主教后,在伯明翰的一所学校任教。1868 年,他成为一名耶稣会士,烧毁了他所有的早期诗歌,认为它们“世俗”且毫无价值。他曾在伦敦、格拉斯哥和默西塞德郡的工人阶级社区担任牧师和教师,后来在都柏林大学学院担任古典文学教授。霍普金斯后来写了许多关于精神主题的诗歌,但在他有生之年发表的诗歌很少。他的诗歌传达了一种精神上的感性,在语言和节奏上都赞美了大自然的奇迹,霍普金斯称之为“跳跃节奏”(参见词汇表中的重音韵律),直到 1918 年他的好友罗伯特·布里奇斯出版了他的诗歌后,这些诗歌才广为人知。
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889), born in London, was the eldest of eight children. His father was a ship insurer who also wrote a book of poetry. Hopkins studied at Balliol College, Oxford, and, after converting to Catholicism, taught in a school in Birmingham. In 1868 he became a Jesuit and burned all of his early poetry, considering it “secular” and worthless. He worked as a priest and teacher in working-class London, Glasgow, and Merseyside, and later as a professor of classics at University College, Dublin. Hopkins went on to write many poems on spiritual themes but published little during his lifetime. His poems, which convey a spiritual sensuality, celebrating the wonder of nature both in their language and in their rhythms, which Hopkins called “sprung rhythm” (see accentual meter in the Glossary), were not widely known until they were published by his friend Robert Bridges in 1918.
AE Housman (1859-1936) 出生于伍斯特郡的福克伯里。虽然他似乎是牛津大学的一名有前途的学生,但他的期末考试不及格(因为情绪波动,可能是由于他对一个同学的同性恋爱被压抑所致),并在随后的十年里,一边在专利局担任职员,一边狂热地学习和撰写学术文章。Housman 被授予伦敦大学学院拉丁语系教授职位,后来又被授予剑桥大学拉丁语系教授职位。他的诗歌和他的学识一样,一丝不苟,语气冷漠,作品有限,包括两本薄薄的书—— 《什罗普郡少年》(1896 年)和《最后的诗》 (1922 年)——在他生前出版,还有一本名为《更多诗》 (1936 年)的小书,在他死后出版。他的诗歌经常以注定要失败的年轻人为主题,他们在农业社区和活动的背景下演绎他们短暂的一生,尤其是诗人所热爱的英国乡村和传统。
A. E. Housman (1859–1936) was born in Fockbury, Worcestershire. Although he seemed to be a promising student at Oxford University, he failed his final exams (because of emotional turmoil, possibly caused by his suppressed homosexual love for a fellow student) and spent the next ten years feverishly studying and writing scholarly articles while working as a clerk at the patent office. Housman was rewarded with the chair of Latin at University College, London, and later at Cambridge University. His poetry, like his scholarship, was meticulous, impersonal in tone, and limited in output, consisting of two slender volumes — A Shropshire Lad (1896) and Last Poems (1922) — published during his lifetime and a small book titled More Poems (1936) that appeared after his death. His poems often take up the theme of doomed youths acting out their brief lives in the context of agricultural communities and activities, especially the English countryside and traditions that the poet loved.
玛丽·豪(生于 1950 年) 在纽约州罗切斯特长大,曾于 2012 年至 2014 年担任纽约州诗人。她的第一部诗集《好贼》 (1988) 关注通过圣经和神话典故进行交流的演讲者。虽然她的一些诗歌是通过隐喻来表达的,但豪在哥哥约翰去世后远离了比喻性写作,用透明、悲伤的声音详细描述了她的损失。她的其他著作包括《生者做什么》 (1999)、《平凡时间王国》 (2008) 和《抹大拉的玛丽亚》 (2017)。她获得的荣誉包括国家艺术基金和古根海姆奖学金。
Marie Howe (b. 1950) grew up in Rochester, New York, and was the New York State Poet from 2012 to 2014. Her first collection, The Good Thief (1988), focuses on speakers who communicate through biblical and mythical allusions. While some of her poems are expressed through metaphor, Howe distanced herself from figurative writing after the death of her brother, John, and detailed her losses in a transparent, grieving voice. Her other books are What the Living Do (1999), The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (2008), and Magdalene (2017). Her honors include National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim fellowships.
兰斯顿·休斯(1902-1967)出生于密苏里州乔普林,在伊利诺伊州林肯市和俄亥俄州克利夫兰市长大。高中时期他开始写诗。在哥伦比亚大学学习后大学一年后,他做过助理厨师、洗衣工和餐馆服务员等零工,还曾作为海员前往非洲和欧洲。1924 年,他搬到了哈莱姆。休斯的第一本诗集《疲倦的蓝调》于 1926 年出版。三年后,他在宾夕法尼亚州的林肯大学完成了大学学业。他写过小说、短篇故事、戏剧、歌曲、儿童读物、散文、回忆录和诗歌,他还因对爵士乐世界的参与及其对他写作的影响而闻名。他的生活和工作对塑造 20 世纪 20 年代哈莱姆文艺复兴的艺术贡献至关重要。
Langston Hughes (1902–1967), born in Joplin, Missouri, grew up in Lincoln, Illinois, and Cleveland, Ohio. He began writing poetry during his high school years. After attending Columbia University for one year, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, a launderer, and a busboy and traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In 1924 he moved to Harlem. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, songs, children’s books, essays, memoirs, and poetry, and he is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing. His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿(1891-1960) 出生于阿拉巴马州诺塔苏拉的一个佃农家庭,在佛罗里达州伊顿维尔长大,这是一个由非裔美国人建立的小镇。1904 年母亲去世后,赫斯顿与各种亲戚住在一起。她从未读完小学。16 岁时,她加入了一个流动剧团,后来为一个白人家庭做家务。她为之工作的女老板安排她在巴尔的摩的摩根学院(现称为摩根州立大学)上高中。20 多岁时,她进入霍华德大学,在那里她发表了第一批短篇小说,发表在学生刊物上,后来又发表在报纸和杂志上。1925 年,她搬到纽约市,积极参与哈莱姆文艺复兴。她与兰斯顿·休斯合作创作了一部民间喜剧《骡骨》(1931 年)。她的第一本书《伊顿维尔选集》( 1927 年)引起了全国的关注。在巴纳德学院,她选修了人类学课程,研究了阿拉巴马州的传统民间传说和加勒比地区的本土文化。20 世纪 30 年代和 40 年代初,她在哥伦比亚大学完成了研究生学业,出版了四部小说和一本自传。赫斯顿出版的书籍比她那个时代的任何其他非裔美国女作家都要多——小说、短篇小说集、非小说类作品、一本自传——但她从写作中赚的钱很少,晚年几乎一贫如洗。20 世纪 70 年代中期,她的作品被重新发现,现在她被认为是一位重要的美国作家。
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) was born to a family of sharecroppers in Notasula, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida, a town founded by African Americans. After her mother’s death in 1904, Hurston lived with various relatives. She never finished grade school. At sixteen she joined a traveling theater group and later did domestic work for a white household. The woman for whom she worked arranged for her to attend high school at Morgan Academy (now known as Morgan State University) in Baltimore. In her twenties, she attended Howard University, where she published her first stories in student publications and later in newspapers and magazines. In 1925, she moved to New York City and became active in the Harlem Renaissance. She collaborated with Langston Hughes on a folk comedy, Mule Bone (1931). Her first book, The Eatonville Anthology (1927), gained her national attention. At Barnard College, she took courses in anthropology and studied traditional folklore in Alabama and native culture in the Caribbean. During the 1930s and early 1940s, she completed graduate work at Columbia University and published four novels and an autobiography. Hurston published more books than any other African American woman writer of her time — novels, collections of stories, nonfiction, an autobiography — but she earned very little from her writing and spent her final years in near poverty. In the mid-1970s, her work was rediscovered, and she is now recognized as an important American author.
亨利克·易卜生(1828–1906) 出生并成长于挪威希恩,尽管他也曾在意大利生活过很长一段时间,并在那里创作了大量作品,但他仍然主要与这个国家联系在一起。他最早的文学成就是诗剧《布兰德》(1865 年)和《培尔·金特》(1867 年),这两部剧原本是作为私下戏剧,但最终都被搬上了舞台。然而,他的真正突破是在 19 世纪 70 年代末,当时他开始创作现实主义戏剧,这些戏剧有时被称为问题剧,因为它们探讨社会问题。然而,易卜生选择描绘的一些问题对于当时的戏剧来说太有争议了—— 《玩偶之家》 (1879 年)中对婚姻中女性的屈从、 《群鬼》 (1881 年)中的性病和乱伦,以及《人民公敌》(1882 年)中个人对抗社会和政治压力的意志。这些剧作的主题导致挪威和其他地方的一些评论家反对公开演出这些作品。但尽管这些剧作具有争议性,或者也许正因为如此,它们为易卜生赢得了 19 世纪末最具影响力的剧作家之一的声誉。易卜生后期的重要作品包括《野鸭》(1884 年)、《海达·高布乐》(1890 年)和《建筑师》(1892 年)。尽管易卜生的许多戏剧都类似于结构严密、情节驱动的戏剧实体,即人们所熟知的“精心制作的戏剧”,但易卜生的作品在人物塑造和主题上都十分精妙,使其超越了普通的戏剧体验。
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was born and raised in Skien, Norway, and he is still principally associated with that country, though he also lived for an extended period in Italy, where he did much of his writing. His earliest literary successes were the poetic plays Brand (1865) and Peer Gynt (1867), which were intended as closet dramas, though both eventually were performed onstage. His real breakthrough, though, came in the late 1870s, when he began to write realistic dramas that are sometimes called problem plays because they explore social issues and problems. Some of the problems Ibsen chose to depict, however, were too controversial for the theater of his day — the subjugation of women in marriage in A Doll House (1879), venereal disease and incest in Ghosts (1881), and the will of an individual against social and political pressure in An Enemy of the People (1882). Their subject matter led some critics in Norway and elsewhere to protest against public performances of these works. But despite their controversial nature, or perhaps because of it, these plays secured Ibsen’s reputation as one of the most influential playwrights of the late nineteenth century. Important later works by Ibsen include The Wild Duck (1884), Hedda Gabler (1890), and The Master Builder (1892). Although many of his dramas resemble the tightly structured, plot-driven theatrical entity known as the well-made play, Ibsen’s work contains subtleties of characterization and theme that raise it above commonplace theatrical experience.
小林一茶(1763-1828)是俳句形式的伟大创新者之一。尽管他一生中经历了许多个人磨难——包括不幸的童年、经济困难、法律困难以及自己孩子的死亡——但一茶的俳句却充满智慧和优雅。
Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828) was one of the great innovators of the haiku form. Despite many personal hardships in his life — including an unhappy childhood, financial hardship, legal difficulties, and the death of his own children — Issa’s haiku are full of wit and grace.
雪莉·杰克逊(1919-1965)出生于旧金山,在纽约州罗切斯特长大,曾就读于罗切斯特大学和雪城大学,并创办了校园文学杂志并担任编辑。毕业后,她嫁给了作家兼文学评论家斯坦利·埃德加·海曼,定居在佛蒙特州北本宁顿。她以哥特式恐怖和神秘故事和小说而闻名。她的小说包括《吊人》(1949 年)、《鸟巢》(1954 年)、《山屋鬼魂》(1959 年)和《我们一直住在城堡里》(1962 年)。她的短篇小说集收录于《彩票》(1949 年)、《雪莉·杰克逊的魔法》(1966 年)和《跟我来》(1968 年)。1997 年,《平凡的一天:雪莉·杰克逊未收集的故事》出版。
Shirley Jackson (1919–1965), born in San Francisco and raised in Rochester, New York, was educated at the University of Rochester and Syracuse University, where she founded and edited the campus literary magazine. After graduation, she married the author and literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman and settled in North Bennington, Vermont. She is best known for her stories and novels of gothic horror and the occult. Among her novels are Hangsaman (1949), The Bird’s Nest (1954), The Haunting of Hill House (1959), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). Her short stories are collected in The Lottery (1949), The Magic of Shirley Jackson (1966), and Come Along with Me (1968). In 1997, Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories of Shirley Jackson was published.
兰德尔·贾雷尔(1914-1965) 出生于田纳西州纳什维尔,在范德堡大学获得学士和硕士学位。1937 年至 1939 年,他在凯尼恩学院任教,在那里他结识了约翰·克罗·兰塞姆和罗伯特·洛厄尔,之后在德克萨斯大学任教。二战期间,他在空军服役。1945 年,贾雷尔出版了第二本书《小朋友,小朋友》,从此他作为诗人的名声鹊起。这本书记录了年轻士兵的强烈恐惧和道德斗争。随后他出版了其他作品,均以高超的技艺、同理心和深刻的敏感性为特点。战后,贾雷尔开始在北卡罗来纳大学格林斯伯勒分校任教,除了偶尔请假去其他地方任教外,一直在那里任教,直到去世。除了诗歌之外,他还写了一本讽刺小说、几本儿童读物、大量诗歌评论(收录于《诗歌与时代》 (1953 年))以及歌德《浮士德》的译本。
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965), born in Nashville, Tennessee, earned his BA and MA at Vanderbilt University. From 1937 to 1939, he taught at Kenyon College, where he met John Crowe Ransom and Robert Lowell, and afterward taught at the University of Texas. He served in the air force during World War II. Jarrell’s reputation as a poet was established in 1945 with the publication of his second book, Little Friend, Little Friend, which documents the intense fears and moral struggles of young soldiers. Other volumes followed, all characterized by great technical skill, empathy, and deep sensitivity. Following the war, Jarrell began teaching at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and remained there, except for occasional leaves of absence to teach elsewhere, until his death. Besides poetry, he wrote a satirical novel, several children’s books, numerous poetry reviews — collected in Poetry and the Age (1953) — and a translation of Goethe’s Faust.
荣誉奖得主法诺内·杰弗斯(生于 1967 年) 是一位诗人、回忆录作家和小说作家。她是《烧烤福音》 (2000) 的作者,该书获得了 1999 年斯坦和汤姆·威克诗歌奖,并入围 2001 年帕特森诗歌奖;《异国情调》 (2003 年);《红土组曲》 (2007 年);和《荣耀》(2015 年)。她曾获得 2002 年朱莉娅·彼得金诗歌奖以及芭芭拉·戴明纪念基金和罗纳·雅菲基金会的奖项。她在俄克拉荷马大学任教。
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (b. 1967) is a poet, memoirist, and fiction writer. She is the author of The Gospel of Barbecue (2000), which won the 1999 Stan and Tom Wick Prize for Poetry and was the finalist for the 2001 Paterson Poetry Prize; Outlandish Blues (2003); Red Clay Suite (2007); and The Glory Gets (2015). She has won the 2002 Julia Peterkin Award for Poetry and awards from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund and the Rona Jaffe Foundation. She teaches at the University of Oklahoma.
珍妮·约翰逊(生于 1979 年)是《In Full Velvet》 (2017 年)的作者。她曾获得美国国家艺术基金会奖学金、惠廷奖和普林斯顿大学霍德奖学金。她是西弗吉尼亚大学的创意写作助理教授。
Jenny Johnson (b. 1979) is the author of In Full Velvet (2017). She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Whiting Award, and a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at West Virginia University.
本·琼森(1572-1637)出生于伦敦,是一名泥瓦匠的继子(他的父亲在他出生前就去世了)。他就读于威斯敏斯特学校,后参军。琼森后来当了一名演员,创作了《人人皆有趣》 (莎士比亚在其中担任主角)、《伏尔蓬》和《炼金术士》等喜剧。他写的诗清晰、优雅、“古典”,与同时代约翰·多恩和乔治·赫伯特的复杂、微妙、形而上学的诗歌(见词汇表)形成鲜明对比。他被任命为桂冠诗人,是一代英国作家的偶像,他们称自己为“本之子”。
Ben Jonson (1572–1637), born in London, was the stepson of a bricklayer (his father died before he was born). He attended Westminster School and then joined the army. Jonson later worked as an actor and was the author of such comedies as Everyman in His Humor (in which Shakespeare acted the lead), Volpone, and The Alchemist. He wrote clear, elegant, “classical” poetry that contrasted with the intricate, subtle, metaphysical poetry (see the Glossary) of his contemporaries John Donne and George Herbert. He was named poet laureate and was the idol of a generation of English writers who dubbed themselves the Sons of Ben.
A. Van Jordan(生于 1965 年,俄亥俄州阿克伦)著有《崛起》(2001 年)、《MACNOLIA》(2005 年)、《QUANTUM LYRICS》(2007 年)和《The Cineaste》(2013 年)。Jordan 曾获得古根海姆奖学金、惠廷奖和普希卡奖。他在密歇根大学英语系任教。
A. Van Jordan (b. 1965, Akron, Ohio) is the author of Rise (2001), M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A (2005), QUANTUM LYRICS (2007), and The Cineaste (2013). Jordan is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He teaches in the English Department at the University of Michigan.
艾莉森·约瑟夫1967 年出生于伦敦,父母是加勒比人,她在多伦多和布朗克斯长大。她在凯尼恩学院获得学士学位,在印第安纳大学获得艺术硕士学位。她是七本诗集的作者。她最近的一本诗集是《一个素颜女人的告白》(2018 年)。她的诗歌经常与女性和有色人种的经历相呼应,她被誉为传统形式和自由诗的大师。她是南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔分校的威廉·霍姆斯·库克法官捐赠教授,并指导创意写作艺术硕士课程,她还是《Crab Orchard Review》的编辑。
Born in 1967 in London to Caribbean parents, Allison Joseph grew up in Toronto and the Bronx. She earned her BA from Kenyon College and her MFA from Indiana University. She is the author of seven collections of poetry. Her most recent volume is Confessions of a Barefaced Woman (2018). Her poems are often attuned to the experiences of women and people of color, and she is known as a master of both traditional forms and free verse. She holds the Judge William Holmes Cook Endowed Professorship and directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and she is editor of the Crab Orchard Review.
詹姆斯·乔伊斯(1882-1941) 出生于爱尔兰都柏林,在耶稣会学校接受教育,为成为神父做准备。但在很小的时候,他就放弃了天主教信仰,并于 1904 年离开都柏林,前往他认为视野更广阔的欧洲大陆。在接下来的 25 年里,他住在巴黎、苏黎世和的里雅斯特,试图通过教授语言和唱歌来养活自己和家人。1912 年,他短暂返回都柏林,安排出版他的短篇小说。由于印刷厂担心审查或诽谤诉讼,该版本被焚烧,《都柏林人》直到 1914 年才在英国出版。第一次世界大战期间,乔伊斯住在苏黎世,在那里他写下了《一个青年艺术家的肖像》 (1916),这是一部部分自传式的青少年时期记录,介绍了他后来小说中的一些实验技巧。大约在这个时候,乔伊斯患上了青光眼;在他的余生中,他一直饱受剧烈疼痛和近乎失明的折磨。他的杰作《尤利西斯》(1922 年)以“意识流”风格而闻名,创作于 1914 年至 1921 年间,并在期刊上发表。由于淫秽指控,他的书的出版被推迟。《尤利西斯》最终由莎士比亚书店出版,这是一家由美国侨民西尔维娅·比奇拥有和经营的巴黎书店;美国出版物直到 1933 年才被禁止。《芬尼根的守灵夜》(1939 年)是一部同样具有实验性的小说,耗时十七年才写成。由于他的作品备受争议,乔伊斯获得的版税很少,经常不得不依靠朋友的支持。他在苏黎世因溃疡穿孔接受手术后去世。
James Joyce (1882–1941), born in Dublin, Ireland, was educated at Jesuit schools in preparation for the priesthood. But at an early age, he abandoned Catholicism and left Dublin in 1904 for what he felt would be the broader horizons of continental Europe. Living in Paris, Zurich, and Trieste over the next twenty-five years, he tried to support himself and his family by teaching languages and singing. In 1912, he returned to Dublin briefly to arrange for the publication of his short stories. Because of the printers’ fear of censorship or libel suits, the edition was burned, and Dubliners did not appear until 1914 in England. During World War I, Joyce lived in Zurich, where he wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), a partly autobiographical account of his adolescent years that introduced some of the experimental techniques found in his later novels. About this time Joyce fell victim to glaucoma; for the rest of his life he suffered periods of intense pain and near blindness. His masterpiece, the novel Ulysses (1922), known for its “stream of consciousness” style, was written and published in periodicals between 1914 and 1921. The publication of his book was delayed because of obscenity charges. Ulysses finally was issued by Shakespeare & Company, a Paris bookstore owned and operated by Sylvia Beach, an American expatriate; US publication was banned until 1933. Finnegans Wake (1939), an equally experimental novel, took seventeen years to write. Because of the controversy surrounding his work, Joyce earned little in royalties and often had to rely on friends for support. He died after surgery for a perforated ulcer in Zurich.
弗朗茨·卡夫卡(1883-1924 年)出生于布拉格,在波西米亚长大,父母是德国中产阶级犹太人,在布拉格德国大学学习法律。1906 年获得学位后,他受雇于卡夫卡生前曾是奥地利政府工伤赔偿部门的一名工作人员。由于写作速度很慢,他无法以写作为生。去世时,他几乎没有发表过什么作品,于是请朋友马克斯·布罗德烧掉他未完成的手稿。布罗德无视这一要求,安排在卡夫卡死后出版他的主要长篇作品《审判》(1925 年)、《城堡》(1926 年)和《美国》(1927 年),以及他的大量短篇小说,包括《审判》(1913 年)、《变形记》(1915 年)和《饥饿艺术家》(1924 年)。卡夫卡的小说以对个人在政治、司法和父权权威与权力面前无助的扣人心弦的描绘而闻名。
Franz Kafka (1883–1924), born in Prague and raised in Bohemia, the son of middle-class German Jewish parents, studied law at the German University of Prague. After earning his degree in 1906, he was employed in the workmen’s compensation division of the Austrian government. Because he wrote very slowly, he could not earn a living as a writer. At the time of his death, he had published little and asked his friend Max Brod to burn his incomplete manuscripts. Brod ignored this request and arranged posthumous publication of Kafka’s major long works, The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926), and Amerika (1927), as well as a large number of his stories including “The Judgment” (1913), “The Metamorphosis” (1915), and “A Hunger Artist” (1924). Kafka’s fiction is known for its gripping portrayals of individual helplessness before political, judicial, and paternal authority and power.
伊利亚·卡明斯基 (Ilya Kaminsky,生于 1977 年) 是一位乌克兰裔美国诗人。四岁时,医生将腮腺炎误诊为普通感冒,导致他失去听力。1993 年,他的家人获得美国政治庇护,定居于纽约州罗切斯特。卡明斯基后来获得了乔治城大学政治学学士学位和加州大学黑斯廷斯法学院法学博士学位。他还共同创立了“和平诗人”组织,该组织在全球范围内赞助诗歌朗诵,以支持救援工作。卡明斯基著有《敖德萨之舞》 (2004 年) 和《聋人共和国》 (2019 年)。卡明斯基获得过许多奖项和荣誉,包括惠廷作家奖、兰南基金会奖学金和美国诗人学院奖学金。自 2018 年以来,卡明斯基一直在佐治亚理工学院担任教授。
Ilya Kaminsky (b. 1977) is a Ukrainian American poet. At age four, he lost his hearing after a doctor misdiagnosed mumps as a common cold. In 1993, his family was granted political asylum by the United States and settled in Rochester, New York. Kaminsky went on to earn a BA in political science from Georgetown University and a JD at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law. He also cofounded Poets for Peace, an organization that sponsors poetry readings across the globe to support relief work. Kaminsky is the author of Dancing in Odessa (2004) and Deaf Republic (2019). Kaminsky’s many awards and honors include a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Lannan Foundation fellowship, and an Academy of American Poets fellowship. Since 2018, Kaminsky has worked as a professor at Georgia Tech.
约翰·济慈(1795–1821) 出生于伦敦。济慈的父亲是马厩工人,娶了雇主的女儿并继承了马厩生意,在济慈八岁时,父亲从马上摔下身亡。六年后,母亲因肺结核去世,济慈和兄弟姐妹被托付给监护人照顾。监护人是一个务实的人,济慈十五岁时,他便辍学,当了一名医生的学徒。但济慈在 1815 年获得行医资格后,便立即放弃医学,转而从事诗歌创作。两年前,他开始写诗。1818 年,也就是他自己染上肺结核的那一年,他还疯狂地爱上了一位美丽、活泼的年轻女子,名叫范妮·布劳恩,但由于贫穷、疾病和对诗歌的热爱,他无法与她结婚。在如此巨大的压力和情绪波动中,1819 年 1 月至 9 月间,他的杰作如雨后春笋般涌现:伟大的颂歌、许多十四行诗和几首较长的抒情诗。1820 年 2 月,他的健康状况迅速恶化;秋天,他去了意大利,希望温暖的气候能改善他的健康状况,并于 1821 年 2 月 23 日在那里去世。他的诗富有感性、抒情的美感和情感共鸣,既反映了他对生活的喜悦,也反映了他对生命短暂和艰难的认识。
John Keats (1795–1821) was born in London. His father, a worker at a livery stable who married his employer’s daughter and inherited the business, was killed by a fall from a horse when Keats was eight. When his mother died of tuberculosis six years later, Keats and his siblings were entrusted to the care of a guardian, a practical-minded man who took Keats out of school at fifteen and apprenticed him to a doctor. But as soon as he qualified for medical practice, in 1815, Keats abandoned medicine for poetry, which he had begun writing two years earlier. In 1818, the year he himself contracted tuberculosis, he also fell madly in love with a pretty, vivacious young woman named Fanny Brawne whom he could not marry because of his poverty, illness, and devotion to poetry. In the midst of such stress and emotional turmoil, his masterpieces poured out, between January and September 1819: the great odes, a number of sonnets, and several longer lyric poems. In February 1820, his health failed rapidly; he went to Italy in the autumn, in the hope that the warmer climate would improve his health, and died there on February 23, 1821. His poems are rich with sensuous, lyrical beauty and emotional resonance, reflecting both his delight in life as well as his awareness of life’s brevity and difficulty.
简·肯扬(1947-1995)出生于密歇根州安娜堡,在中西部长大。她在密歇根大学获得学士和硕士学位。1972 年,她与诗人唐纳德·霍尔结婚,直到 1995 年因白血病去世。在她一生中,她出版了四本诗集—— 《康斯坦丝》(1993 年)、《让夜晚来临》(1990 年)、《静谧时光之船》(1986 年)和《从一个房间到另一个房间》(1978 年)——以及一本翻译书《安娜·阿赫玛托娃的二十首诗》 (1985 年)。她去世后又出版了两本诗集:《否则:新诗和选集》(1996 年)和《一百朵白水仙:散文、访谈、阿赫玛托娃译本、报纸专栏和一首诗》(1999 年)。她去世时是新罕布什尔州的桂冠诗人。
Jane Kenyon (1947–1995) was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and grew up in the Midwest. She earned her BA and MA from the University of Michigan. She was married to poet Donald Hall from 1972 until her death from leukemia in 1995. During her lifetime, she published four books of poetry — Constance (1993), Let Evening Come (1990), The Boat of Quiet Hours (1986), and From Room to Room (1978) — and a book of translation, Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova (1985). Two additional volumes were published after her death: Otherwise: New and Selected Poems (1996) and A Hundred White Daffodils: Essays, Interviews, the Akhmatova Translations, Newspaper Columns, and One Poem (1999). At the time of her death, she was New Hampshire’s poet laureate.
Suji Kwock Kim是一位韩裔美国诗人和剧作家,1969 年出生于美国。她获得了耶鲁大学、爱荷华大学、斯坦福大学和加州大学伯克利分校的学位。作为富布赖特学者,Kim 曾就读于首尔国立大学和延世大学。她的诗集《分裂国家的笔记》(2003 年)赢得了美国艺术与文学学院颁发的艾迪森·梅特卡夫奖、美国诗人学院颁发的沃尔特·惠特曼奖和湾区图书评论家奖,并入围格里芬奖决赛。她还有一本即将出版的诗集《迷失方向》。作为一名剧作家,Kim 与他人合作创作了在爱丁堡艺穗节上演出的多媒体剧《私有财产》。
Suji Kwock Kim is a Korean American poet and playwright born in the United States in 1969. She earned degrees from Yale University, the University of Iowa, Stanford University, and the University of California–Berkeley. As a Fulbright Scholar, Kim studied at Seoul National University and Yonsei University. Her poetry collection Notes from the Divided Country (2003) won the Addison Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award and was a finalist for the Griffin Prize. She also has a forthcoming poetry collection titled Disorient. As a playwright, Kim cowrote Private Property, a multimedia play performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
牙买加·金凯德1949 年出生于安提瓜岛圣约翰,父母非常孝顺。她后来在美国上大学,但退学开始写作。她的短篇小说出现在著名刊物上后,她在《纽约客》任职。她的第一本书是短篇小说集《河底》(1984 年),获得了美国艺术与文学学院颁发的重要奖项。与之相关的短篇小说集《安妮·约翰》(1985 年)进一步探索了一位年轻女孩在英属西印度群岛的生活经历。金凯德现居住在美国,并继续创作有关祖国的作品,包括《一个小地方》(1988 年)、《露西》(1990 年)、《我母亲的自传》(1996 年)、《谈论故事》(2002 年)、 《波特先生》 (2003 年)和《朱庇特》( 2004 年)。她还创作了三本非虚构类图书:《我的兄弟》(1997 年)、《我的花园书》(2001 年)和《花丛中:喜马拉雅山漫步》(2005 年)。金凯德最近的一部小说是《看现在》(2013 年)。
Jamaica Kincaid was born in 1949 in St. John’s, Antigua, and raised by devoted parents. She entered college in the United States but withdrew to write. After her stories appeared in notable publications, she took a staff position on the New Yorker. Her first book, a story collection titled At the Bottom of the River (1984), won a major award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Annie John (1985), an interrelated collection, further explored life in the British West Indies as experienced by a young girl. Kincaid now lives in the United States and continues to write about her homeland in works including A Small Place (1988), Lucy (1990), Autobiography of My Mother (1996), Talk Stories (2002), Mr. Potter (2003), and Jupiter (2004). She is also the author of three nonfiction books: My Brother (1997), My Garden Book (2001), and Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya (2005). Kincaid’s most recent novel is See Now Then (2013).
高威·金内尔(1927-2014) 出生于罗德岛州普罗维登斯,曾就读于普林斯顿大学和罗彻斯特大学。他曾在美国海军服役,后来凭借富布赖特奖学金访问了巴黎。回到美国后,他为种族平等大会工作,随后游历中东和欧洲。他曾在法国、澳大利亚和伊朗以及美国的许多学院和大学任教。他出版了许多诗集,包括《精选诗集》(1980 年),并凭借此书获得了普利策奖和美国国家图书奖。他还出版了伊夫·博纳富瓦、伊凡娜·戈尔、弗朗索瓦·维庸和莱纳·马利亚·里尔克作品的译本。他曾担任纽约大学埃里希·玛利亚·雷马克创意写作教授。
Galway Kinnell (1927–2014), born in Providence, Rhode Island, attended Princeton University and the University of Rochester. He served in the US Navy and then visited Paris on a Fulbright fellowship. Returning to the United States, he worked for the Congress on Racial Equality and then traveled widely in the Middle East and Europe. He taught in France, Australia, and Iran as well as at numerous colleges and universities in the United States. He published many books of poetry, including Selected Poems (1980), for which he received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He also published translations of works by Yves Bonnefoy, Yvanne Goll, François Villon, and Rainer Maria Rilke. He was the Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Creative Writing at New York University.
埃瑟里奇·奈特(1931-1991)出生于密西西比州科林斯。他十六岁辍学,于 1947 年至 1951 年在韩国的美国陆军服役,回来时身上有弹片伤,服役期间染上的毒瘾让他更加深陷其中。1960 年,他因抢劫被捕,并被判处在印第安纳州监狱服刑八年。在此期间,他开始写诗。他的第一本书《狱中诗》(1968 年)在他获释前一年出版。这本书大获成功,奈特也加入了其他诗人的行列在后来被称为黑人艺术运动的这场运动中,他继续创作了几本诗集,并获得了许多享有盛誉的荣誉和奖项,包括国家艺术基金会和古根海姆基金会的奖学金。1990 年,他获得了印第安纳波利斯马丁中心大学的美国诗歌和刑事司法学士学位。
Etheridge Knight (1931–1991) was born in Corinth, Mississippi. He dropped out of school at age sixteen and served in the US Army in Korea from 1947 to 1951, returning with a shrapnel wound that caused him to fall deeper into a drug addiction that had begun during his service. In 1960 he was arrested for robbery and sentenced to eight years in an Indiana state prison. During this time, he began writing poetry. His first book, Poems from Prison (1968), was published one year before his release. The book was a success, and Knight joined other poets in what came to be called the Black Arts Movement. He went on to write several more books of poetry and receive many prestigious honors and awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1990 he earned a BA in American poetry and in criminal justice from Martin Center University in Indianapolis.
尤瑟夫·科穆尼亚卡1947 年出生并成长于路易斯安那州博加卢萨,曾在科罗拉多大学、科罗拉多州立大学和加利福尼亚大学欧文分校获得学位。他出版过多本诗集,包括《霓虹白话:新诗与选集,1977-1989》(1994 年),并因此获得普利策奖和金斯利塔夫茨诗歌奖;以及《天堂的盗贼》(1998 年),该诗集入围美国国家图书评论界奖决赛。他最近的诗集是《水钟皇帝》(2015 年)。其他出版物包括《蓝调音符:散文、访谈和评论》(2000 年)、《爵士诗选》(与 JA Sascha Feinstein 合编,1991 年)和阮光绍的《火之失眠》(与玛莎柯林斯合译,1995 年)。他曾在新奥尔良大学、印第安纳大学和普林斯顿大学任教。
Yusef Komunyakaa, born in 1947 and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana, earned degrees at the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of California, Irvine. His numerous books of poems include Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems, 1977–1989 (1994), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and Thieves of Paradise (1998), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent collection is The Emperor of Water Clocks (2015). Other publications include Blues Notes: Essays, Interviews and Commentaries (2000), The Jazz Poetry Anthology (coedited with J. A. Sascha Feinstein, 1991), and The Insomnia of Fire by Nguyen Quang Thieu (cotranslated with Martha Collins, 1995). He has taught at the University of New Orleans, Indiana University, and Princeton University.
马克辛·库明(1925-2014) 出生于费城,在拉德克利夫学院获得学士和硕士学位。她出版了 11 本诗集,包括《上乡:新英格兰的诗歌》(1972 年),并因此获得普利策奖。她还著有回忆录《光环内幕:复苏的剖析》(2000 年);五部小说;一部短篇小说集;二十多本儿童读物;以及四本散文集。她最近的作品集是《短暂的季节:诗歌》(2014 年)。她曾在马萨诸塞大学、哥伦比亚大学、布兰迪斯大学和普林斯顿大学任教,并担任国会图书馆诗歌顾问。
Maxine Kumin (1925–2014), born in Philadelphia, received her BA and MA from Radcliffe College. She published eleven books of poetry, including Up Country: Poems of New England (1972), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of a memoir, Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery (2000); five novels; a collection of short stories; more than twenty children’s books; and four books of essays. Her most recent collection is Short the Season: Poems (2014). She taught at the University of Massachusetts, Columbia University, Brandeis University, and Princeton University, and she served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
艾米莉亚·兰耶(1569–1645) 是第一位成为职业诗人的英国女性,她通过1611 年出版的诗集《Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum》实现了自己的这一梦想。她不仅是英国第一位女性职业诗人,也是最早出版作品的女权主义者之一。她的所有书籍都献给女性,兰耶用坚定不移、毫无歉意的声音来论证女性的美德。
Aemilia Lanyer (1569–1645) was the first Englishwoman to establish herself as a professional poet, doing so through Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, a collection of poems published in 1611. Not only was she the first female professional poet in England, but she was also one of the earliest published feminists. All of her books’ dedications are to women, and Lanyer argues the virtues of women with a voice that is unwavering and unapologetic.
李力扬(生于 1957 年)出生于印度尼西亚雅加达,父母是华人。李力扬曾就读于匹兹堡大学、亚利桑那大学和纽约州立大学布罗克波特校区。他曾在多所大学任教,包括西北大学和爱荷华大学。他著有五本诗集——《玫瑰》(1986 年),获得德尔莫尔·施瓦茨纪念诗歌奖;《我爱你的城市》 (1991 年),入选 1990 年拉蒙特诗歌选集;《我的夜晚之书》(2001 年);《我的眼睛背后》 (2008 年);和《脱衣》(2018 年)——以及一本回忆录《有翼的种子:一段回忆》(1995 年),获得哥伦布之前基金会颁发的美国图书奖。在他的诗中,我们常常能感受到一种深刻的流亡感、父亲存在的影响以及一种丰富的精神感性。
Li-Young Lee (b. 1957) was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. Lee studied at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Arizona, and the Brockport campus of the State University of New York. He has taught at several universities, including Northwestern University and the University of Iowa. He is the author of five collections of poetry — Rose (1986), which won the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award; The City in Which I Love You (1991), the 1990 Lamont Poetry selection; Book of My Nights (2001); Behind My Eyes (2008); and The Undressing (2018) — and a memoir, The Winged Seed: A Remembrance (1995), which received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. In his poems one often senses a profound sense of exile, the influence of his father’s presence, and a rich, spiritual sensuality.
丹尼斯·莱弗托夫(1923–1997) 出生于英国伊尔福德。她的母亲是莱弗托夫是威尔士人,父亲是俄罗斯犹太人,后来成为一名圣公会牧师。莱弗托夫在家中接受教育,她说她在五岁时就决定成为一名作家。她的第一本书《双重形象》(1946 年)使她成为被称为“新浪漫主义”的诗人群体中的一员——她的诗歌经常将客观观察与精神探索者的感性融合在一起。在与美国作家米切尔·古德曼结婚后移居美国,她转向自由诗,并凭借她的第一本美国书《此时此地》(1956 年)成为美国先锋派的重要声音。20 世纪 60 年代,她参与了抗议越南战争的运动。莱弗托夫后来出版了 20 多本诗集、四本散文集和三卷翻译诗集。1982 年至 1993 年,她在斯坦福大学任教。她在西雅图度过了生命的最后十年。
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was born in Ilford, England. Her mother was Welsh, and her father was a Russian Jew who had become an Anglican priest. Educated at home, Levertov said she decided to become a writer at the age of five. Her first book, The Double Image (1946), brought her recognition as one of a group of poets dubbed the “New Romantics” — her poems often blend objective observation with the sensibility of a spiritual searcher. Having moved to the United States after marrying the American writer Mitchell Goodman, she turned to free-verse poetry and with her first American book, Here and Now (1956), became an important voice in the American avant-garde. In the 1960s, she became involved in the movement protesting the Vietnam War. Levertov went on to publish more than twenty collections of poetry, four books of prose, and three volumes of poetry in translation. From 1982 to 1993, she taught at Stanford University. She spent the last decade of her life in Seattle.
菲利普·莱文(1928-2015)出生于底特律,毕业于韦恩州立大学和爱荷华大学。他创作了 16 本诗集,包括获得普利策奖的《简单的真相》 (1994 年)和获得美国国家图书奖的《工作是什么》。他还出版了一本散文集《时间的面包:走向自传》(1994 年),编辑了《济慈精选》(1987 年),并合编和翻译了西班牙诗人格洛丽亚·富尔特斯和墨西哥诗人海梅·萨宾斯的两本诗集。他曾在加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺和纽约市两地生活,并在纽约大学任教多年。
Philip Levine (1928–2015), born in Detroit, received his degrees from Wayne State University and the University of Iowa. He authored sixteen books of poetry, including The Simple Truth (1994), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and What Work Is, winner of the National Book Award. He also published a collection of essays, The Bread of Time: Toward an Autobiography (1994), edited The Essential Keats (1987), and coedited and translated two books of poetry by the Spanish poet Gloria Fuertes and the Mexican poet Jaime Sabines. He divided his time between Fresno, California, and New York City, where he taught at New York University for many years.
李翊云1972 年出生于北京,原本计划攻读免疫学博士学位,但最终决定成为一名作家。她的许多小说都刊登在《纽约客》上,该报将她评为美国最佳青年小说家之一。她的首部短篇小说集《千年祈祷》(2006 年)赢得了 PEN/海明威奖等多项奖项,她的处女作《流浪者》 (2010 年)也获得了评论界的一致好评。她目前是布鲁克林文学杂志《公共空间》的编辑,同时也是普林斯顿大学的英语教授。
Yiyun Li, born in 1972 in Beijing, originally planned to pursue a PhD in immunology but decided to pursue a career as a writer. Many of her stories have been featured in the New Yorker, which named her one of the Best Young American Novelists. Her debut collection of short stories, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2006), won the PEN/Hemingway Award and many others, and her debut novel, The Vagrants (2010), earned her critical acclaim. She is currently an editor for a Brooklyn-based literary magazine, A Public Space, as well as a professor of English at Princeton University.
Ada Limón(生于 1976 年)在纽约大学获得艺术硕士学位。她曾获得纽约艺术基金会、普罗文斯敦美术工作中心和肯塔基州妇女基金会的奖学金。她是《幸运周》(2006 年)、《这个虚假的世界》(2006 年)、 《河中的鲨鱼》(2010 年)和《明亮的死物》(2015 年)的作者,后者入围了美国国家图书奖和美国国家图书评论界奖。她的作品曾在《纽约客》、《哈佛评论》、《昴宿星团》等杂志上发表。和Barrow Street。目前,Limón 是夏洛特皇后大学低驻留 MFA 项目和普罗温斯敦美术工作中心 24PearlStreet 在线项目的教员。
Ada Limón (b. 1976) earned her MFA from New York University. She has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. She is the author of Lucky Week (2006), This Big Fake World (2006), Sharks in the Rivers (2010), and Bright Dead Things (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, Harvard Review, Pleiades, and Barrow Street. Currently, Limón is a faculty member of the Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency MFA program and the 24PearlStreet Online Program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.
帕特里夏·洛克伍德(生于 1982 年)曾在《纽约客》、《伦敦书评》、《锡屋》等杂志上发表过诗歌和诗歌。她最出名的作品是《强奸笑话》,这首诗最初发表在《The Awl》上。她的第一本诗集《Balloon Pop Outlaw Black》于 2012 年出版,并迅速成为有史以来最畅销的独立诗歌作品之一。她也是《祖国、祖国、国土、性取向》 (2014 年)和《Priestdaddy (2017)。她是《伦敦书评》的特约编辑。
Patricia Lockwood (b. 1982) has published poems in the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, Tin House, and Poetry. She is best known for “Rape Joke,” a poem originally published in The Awl. Her first poetry collection, Balloon Pop Outlaw Black, was published in 2012, and quickly became one of the best-selling indie poetry titles of all time. She is also the author of Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals (2014) and Priestdaddy (2017). She is a contributing editor to the London Review of Books.
Layli Long Soldier是小册子Chromosomory (2010) 和全集Whereas (2017)的作者,后者获得了美国国家图书评论界奖并入围了美国国家图书奖。她是 Kore Press 的诗歌编辑,也是Drunken Boat 的特约编辑。Long Soldier 于 2015 年获得了美国原住民艺术和文化基金会颁发的国家艺术家奖学金和 Lannan 文学诗歌奖学金。2016 年,她获得了惠廷作家奖。Long Soldier 是奥拉拉拉科塔族的公民,目前居住在新墨西哥州圣达菲。
Layli Long Soldier is the author of chapbook Chromosomory (2010) and the full-length collection Whereas (2017), which was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and finalist for the National Book Award. She is poetry editor at Kore Press and a contributing editor to Drunken Boat. Long Soldier was awarded a National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry in 2015. In 2016, she was awarded a Whiting Writer’s Award. Long Soldier is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
费德里科·加西亚·洛尔迦(1898-1936 年)是一位诗人和剧作家,出生于西班牙的 Fuente Vaqueros。1919 年,洛尔迦移居马德里,成为被广泛称为“27 一代”的前卫艺术家的一员,该群体的成员还包括艺术家萨尔瓦多达利和电影制片人路易斯·布努埃尔。洛尔迦在“27 一代”中首次接触超现实主义,这一运动后来成为洛尔迦作品的重要组成部分。洛尔迦最著名的作品包括《吉普赛歌谣》(1928 年)、戏剧《血婚》(1933 年)和《诗人在纽约》( 1940年)。《血婚》由洛尔迦共同创办的流动剧团 La Barraca 上演。洛尔迦也因拒绝隐瞒其左派政治观点和同性恋倾向而闻名,尽管西班牙崛起的法西斯运动给他带来了压力和危险。他在西班牙内战期间被暗杀,并被埋葬在一个没有标记的坟墓里。
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) was a poet and dramatist who was born in Fuente Vaqueros, Spain. In 1919, Lorca moved to Madrid, where he became part of a group of avant-garde artists widely known as the “Generation of ’27” that included artist Salvador Dalí and filmmaker Luis Buñuel. The “Generation of ’27” is where Lorca was first introduced to Surrealism, a movement that would later act as a component vital to Lorca’s works. Lorca’s best-known works include Romancero Gitano, or Gypsy Ballads (1928), his play Bodas de Sangre, or Blood Wedding (1933), and Poeta en Nueva York, or Poet in New York (1940). Blood Wedding was performed by the traveling theater company La Barraca, which Lorca cofounded. Lorca is also recognized for his refusal to hide his leftist political views or his homosexuality, despite the pressures and dangers that threatened him within Spain’s rising fascist movement. He was assassinated during the Spanish Civil War and was buried in an unmarked grave.
奥德丽·洛德(1934-1992) 出生于纽约市,父母是西印度人,她在曼哈顿长大,就读于罗马天主教学校。高中时,她的第一首诗发表在《十七岁》杂志上。她获得了纽约市亨特学院的学士学位和哥伦比亚大学的图书馆学硕士学位。1968 年,她辞去了纽约市镇学校图书馆馆长的工作,成为一名讲师和创意作家。她接受了密西西比州图加卢学院的驻校诗人职位,在那里她发现了自己对教学的热爱;出版了她的第一本诗集《第一座城市》(1968 年);并遇到了她的长期伴侣弗朗西斯·克莱顿。随后,她出版了许多诗集,其中几本获得了重要奖项。她还出版了四卷散文,其中包括《癌症日记》(1980 年),记录了她与癌症的斗争,以及《一束光》(1988 年),获得了国家图书奖。 20 世纪 80 年代,洛德和作家芭芭拉·史密斯创办了《厨房餐桌:有色人种女性》出版社。她还是南非姐妹互助会的创始成员之一,该组织致力于提高人们对种族隔离制度下女性的认识。1991 年至 1992 年,她担任纽约桂冠诗人。
Audre Lorde (1934–1992), born in New York City to West Indian parents, grew up in Manhattan and attended Roman Catholic schools. While she was still in high school, her first poem appeared in Seventeen magazine. She earned her BA from Hunter College in New York City and her MA in library science from Columbia University. In 1968 she left her job as head librarian at Town School Library in New York City to become a lecturer and creative writer. She accepted a poet-in-residence position at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, where she discovered a love of teaching; published her first volume of poetry, The First Cities (1968); and met her long-term partner, Frances Clayton. Many volumes of poetry followed, with several winning major awards. She also published four volumes of prose, among them The Cancer Journals (1980), which chronicled her struggles with cancer, and A Burst of Light (1988), which won a National Book Award. In the 1980s, Lorde and writer Barbara Smith founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She was also a founding member of Sisters in Support of Sisters in South Africa, an organization that worked to raise awareness about women under apartheid. She was the poet laureate of New York from 1991 to 1992.
罗伯特·洛厄尔(1917-1977) 出生于波士顿一个显赫的新英格兰家庭,就读于哈佛大学,之后进入凯尼恩学院,师从约翰·克罗·兰森。在路易斯安那州立大学,他师从罗伯特·佩恩·沃伦、克林斯·布鲁克斯和艾伦·泰特。他一直积极参与政治活动——一个尽职尽责的二战期间,他是一名反战人士,也是一名反越战人士,并患有躁狂抑郁症。洛厄尔很早就声名鹊起:他的第二本书《威瑞勋爵的城堡》于 1947 年获得普利策诗歌奖。20 世纪 50 年代中期,他开始更直接地从个人经历出发进行写作,并放松了对传统韵律和形式的坚持。其成果是《生活研究》(1959 年),这是一部“忏悔”派的分水岭集,改变了现代诗歌的格局,就像 TS E liot 的 《荒原》在三十年前所做的那样。他在 60 岁时突然因心脏病发作去世。
Robert Lowell (1917–1977), born in Boston into a prominent New England family, attended Harvard University and then Kenyon College, where he studied under John Crowe Ransom. At Louisiana State University, he studied with Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks as well as Allen Tate. He was always politically active — a conscientious objector during World War II and a Vietnam War protestor — and suffered from manic depression. Lowell’s reputation was established early: his second book, Lord Weary’s Castle, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1947. In the mid-1950s, he began to write more directly from personal experience and loosened his adherence to traditional meter and form. The result was Life Studies (1959), a watershed collection of the “confessional” school that changed the landscape of modern poetry, much as T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land had done three decades earlier. He died suddenly from a heart attack at age sixty.
米娜·洛伊(1882-1966) 出生于英国,其大部分诗作生涯都在巴黎和纽约度过。她的诗作以奇特的结构和词汇而闻名,受到埃兹拉·庞德、TS 艾略特和威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯等人的赞赏。洛伊游历广泛,与美国和欧洲先锋派的一些最具创新精神的艺术家和作家有过交流。
Mina Loy (1882–1966), born in England, spent most of her career as a poet in Paris and New York City. Her poems, admired by the likes of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and William Carlos Williams, were known for their eccentric structure and vocabulary. Loy traveled widely and engaged with some of the most innovative artists and writers of the American and European avant-garde.
阿米特·马吉穆达(生于 1979 年) 是印度移民的儿子,在克利夫兰地区长大。他的许多诗歌都涉及身份、历史、精神信仰和死亡等主题。他是三本诗集的作者,分别是《0°0°》 (2009 年)、《天与地》 (2011 年) 和《点头》 (2016 年),以及三本小说《分区》 (2011 年)、《丰裕》 (2013 年) 和《Sitayana》 (2019 年)。马吉穆达住在俄亥俄州都柏林,在那里他是一名诊断核放射科医生,业余时间写诗。2015 年,他被评为俄亥俄州桂冠诗人。
Amit Majmudar (b. 1979), the son of Indian immigrants, grew up in the Cleveland area. Many of his poems address themes such as identity, history, spiritual faith, and mortality. He is the author of three poetry collections, 0°0° (2009), Heaven and Earth (2011), and Dothead (2016), and three novels, Partitions (2011), The Abundance (2013), and Sitayana (2019). Majmudar lives in Dublin, Ohio, where he works as a diagnostic nuclear radiologist, writing poetry in his spare time. In 2015, he was named the poet laureate of Ohio.
泰勒·马里(生于 1965 年)是美国即兴诗人、幽默家和教师,已出版五本书:《学习留下的东西》(2002 年)、《我们最后一次这样》(2009 年)、《教师的成就:赞美世界上最伟大的职业》(2012 年)、《红旗束》(2014 年)和《磨刀石》(2017 年)。他曾七次加入全国诗歌即兴团队,其中六次获得冠军。马里在 K-12 年级教授英语、历史和数学九年。他现在在世界各地为教师和学生授课并举办讲习班。
Taylor Mali (b. 1965), an American slam poet, humorist, and teacher, has published five books: What Learning Leaves (2002), The Last Time As We Are (2009), What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World (2012), Bouquet of Red Flags (2014), and The Whetting Stone (2017). He’s been on seven National Poetry Slam teams; six of those teams won the championship. Mali spent nine years teaching English, history, and math at the K–12 level. He now lectures and conducts workshops for teachers and students all over the world.
凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德(1888-1923) 出生于新西兰惠灵顿,原名凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德·博尚。15 岁时,她说服身为银行家兼实业家的父亲送她去伦敦学习大提琴。在伦敦短暂停留后,她带着更多的零花钱返回新西兰,在结识 D H 劳伦斯和弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫后,她决定以写作而不是音乐为职业。她的第一本短篇小说集《在德国的养老金领取者》 (1911) 出版,同年她遇到了约翰·米德尔顿·默里,七年后她们结婚。短篇小说集《幸福和其他故事》 (1920) 和《花园派对》 (1922) 使她成为了一名重要作家。1918 年,她患上肺结核,发现经常写作很困难。她到法国的葛吉夫研究所接受治疗,但两个月后去世。她去世时年仅三十四岁,写了八十八篇已完成的小说和十五篇未完成的小说,与詹姆斯·乔伊斯和她的榜样安东尼·契诃夫一起被认为是现代短篇小说的主要奠基人。
Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp in Wellington, New Zealand. When she was fifteen, she persuaded her banker and industrialist father to send her to London to study the cello. After a brief visit to London, she returned to New Zealand with a larger allowance and decided, after meeting D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, that writing, not music, was to be her career. Her first book of stories, In a German Pension (1911), was published the same year she met John Middleton Murray, whom she married seven years later. The story collections Bliss and Other Stories (1920) and The Garden-Party (1922) established her as a writer of importance. In 1918, she came down with tuberculosis and found regular writing difficult. She sought treatment at the Gurdjieff Institute in France but died two months later. At her death, she was just thirty-four, author of eighty-eight finished and fifteen unfinished stories, and, with James Joyce and her model Anton Chekhov, considered a major architect of the modern short story.
克里斯托弗·马洛(1564-1593)与威廉·莎士比亚同年出生于坎特伯雷。他的父亲是一名鞋匠,靠奖学金进入国王学校学习。坎特伯雷大学和剑桥大学基督圣体学院。他是同时代叙事诗、抒情诗和戏剧方面最杰出的作家之一(他最著名的戏剧是《浮士德博士》)。据说他在酒吧斗殴中被刺死,当时他 29 岁,原因是他欠了酒钱。《热情的牧羊人对他的爱》是伊丽莎白时代最著名的歌曲之一。
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) was born in Canterbury the same year as William Shakespeare. The son of a shoemaker, he needed the help of scholarships to attend King’s School, Canterbury, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was one of the most brilliant writers of his generation in narrative poetry, lyric poetry, and drama (his best-known play is Doctor Faustus). He died after being stabbed in a bar fight, reportedly over his bill, at the age of twenty-nine. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is among the most famous of Elizabethan songs.
安德鲁·马维尔(1621-1678) 出生于约克郡赫尔,在剑桥大学三一学院接受教育。游历欧洲后,他担任过家庭教师,在政府办公室工作过(担任约翰·弥尔顿的助手),后来成为赫尔的国会议员。马维尔生前以粗俗的讽刺诗和散文作家而闻名。他的“严肃”诗歌,如《致他腼腆的情人》,是一部著名的关于及时行乐主题的探索(见词汇表),直到他去世后才出版。
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), born in Hull, Yorkshire, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. After traveling in Europe, he worked as a tutor and in a government office (as assistant to John Milton) and later became a member of Parliament for Hull. Marvell was known in his lifetime as a writer of rough satires in verse and prose. His “serious” poetry, like “To His Coy Mistress,” a famous exploration of the carpe diem theme (see the Glossary), was not published until after his death.
伯纳黛特·梅耶(Bernadette Mayer,生于 1945 年) 是一位美国诗人,以语言实验而闻名。她被比作格特鲁德·斯泰因、詹姆斯·乔伊斯和许多达达主义作家。她首次赢得赞誉是因为她的作品《记忆》(1972 年),该作品结合了摄影和叙事。《信中母亲取悦他人的愿望》(1994 年)由梅耶在第三次怀孕期间写的散文诗组成。她最近的作品集是《工作与日子》(2017 年)。
Bernadette Mayer (b. 1945) is an American poet known for her experimentation with language. She has been compared to Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and many Dadaist writers. She first won acclaim in her exhibit Memory (1972), which combined photography and narration. The Desire of Mothers to Please Others in Letters (1994) is composed of prose poems Mayer wrote during her third pregnancy. Her most recent collection is Works and Days (2017).
克劳德·麦凯(1890-1948) 出生于牙买加桑尼维尔,父亲是贫困的农场工人。他由哥哥教育,哥哥拥有一个藏书丰富的英语小说、诗歌和科学文献库。20 岁时,麦凯出版了一本名为《牙买加之歌》的诗集,用方言记录了他对牙买加黑人生活的印象。1912 年,他前往美国就读塔斯基吉学院。不久后,他离开学校,前往堪萨斯州立大学学习农业。1914 年,他搬到哈莱姆,成为哈莱姆文艺复兴运动中一位有影响力的成员。在 1922 年投身共产主义并前往莫斯科后,他在欧洲和摩洛哥生活了一段时间,写小说。麦凯后来放弃了共产主义,皈依罗马天主教,并返回美国。他出版了几本诗集和一本自传《离家很远》 (1937)。他写了许多十四行诗,抗议美国黑人生活的不公正,其中包括《美国》,这些诗之所以有趣,是因为它们使用了最具盎格鲁风格的形式来包含和强化诗歌语言所表达的意思。
Claude McKay (1890–1948), the son of poor farmworkers, was born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica. He was educated by his older brother, who possessed a library of English novels, poetry, and scientific texts. At age twenty, McKay published a book of verse called Songs of Jamaica, recording his impressions of black life in Jamaica in dialect. In 1912 he traveled to the United States to attend Tuskegee Institute. He soon left to study agriculture at Kansas State University. In 1914, he moved to Harlem and became an influential member of the Harlem Renaissance. After committing himself to communism and traveling to Moscow in 1922, he lived for some time in Europe and Morocco, writing fiction. McKay later repudiated communism, converted to Roman Catholicism, and returned to the United States. He published several books of poetry as well as an autobiography, A Long Way from Home (1937). He wrote a number of sonnets protesting the injustices of black life in the United States, “America” among them, which are of interest for the way they use the most Anglo of forms to contain and intensify what the poem’s language is saying.
梅勒·梅洛伊(生于 1972 年) 出生于蒙大拿州海伦娜。她著有三部小说—— 《骗子与圣徒》 (2003 年)、《家庭女儿》 (2006 年)、《不要惊慌》 (2017 年)——以及短篇小说集《半爱》 (2002 年) 和《两种方式都是我想要的唯一方式》 (2009 年)。她是古根海姆奖学金获得者,并获得了美国艺术与文学学院颁发的 PEN/马拉默德短篇小说杰出奖和罗森塔尔基金会奖。
Maile Meloy (b. 1972) was born in Helena, Montana. She is the author of three novels — Liars and Saints (2003), A Family Daughter (2006), Do Not Become Alarmed (2017) — and the story collections Half in Love (2002) and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It (2009). She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
WS 默温(1927–2019) 出版了 50 多本诗歌、翻译和散文集。默温获得过许多奖项,包括普利策奖、美国国家图书奖和美国诗人学院授予的最高荣誉之一坦宁奖。他最出名的作品是间接、非个人的风格,不考虑标点符号。
W. S. Merwin (1927–2019) published over fifty books of poetry, translation, and prose. Merwin garnered a number of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Tanning Prize, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets. He was mostly known for his indirect, impersonal style that disregards punctuation.
埃德娜·圣文森特·米莱(1892-1950)的诗被理查德·威尔伯称为“本世纪最优秀的十四行诗”,经久不衰,经久不衰。米莱于 1923 年获得普利策诗歌奖,当时她是第三位获得该奖项的女性。米莱积极的政治声音加上她引人入胜的诗歌朗诵和表演,帮助她确立了自己作为作家的遗产。她以女权主义活动而闻名,她采用了现代主义态度和传统形式的独特结合来表达自己。根据托马斯·哈代的说法,美国有两大吸引力:摩天大楼和米莱的诗歌。
The poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), declared “some of the best sonnets of the century” by Richard Wilbur, have proved to be long-lasting and resilient. Millay was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1923, when she was only the third woman to win the award. Coupled with her riveting readings and performances of the poems, Millay’s active political voice helped define her legacy as a writer. She was known for her feminist activism, and she employed a unique combination of modernist attitudes and traditional forms to express herself. According to Thomas Hardy, America had two great attractions: skyscrapers and Millay’s poetry.
切斯瓦夫·米沃什(1911-2004) 是波兰裔美国诗人、散文作家、翻译家和外交官。二十一岁时,他出版了他的第一本诗集《凝固的时间之诗》。1939 年第二次世界大战爆发,波兰被纳粹德国和苏维埃俄罗斯入侵,米沃什协助华沙的抵抗运动,撰写和编辑了几本在占领期间秘密出版的书籍。战后,米沃什成为波兰新共产主义政府的外交官,驻扎在法国巴黎,但在 1951 年他离开这个职位并叛逃西方。1960 年,他接受了加州大学伯克利分校的教职。多年来,米沃什的作品只有地下版本被印刷和传播。但 1980 年,米沃什获得了诺贝尔文学奖,波兰共产主义政府被迫让步。政府批准出版米沃什诗歌版本,销量超过 20 万册。诺贝尔奖也让米沃什的作品受到了更多美国读者的关注。作为纳粹对波兰的破坏和苏联对东欧的接管的见证人,米沃什的诗歌经常关注损失、毁灭和绝望。米沃什以悲剧和讽刺的风格描写过去,但最终肯定了人类生命的价值。
Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004) was a Polish American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. At age twenty-one, he published his first collection of poems, Poemat o czasie zastygłym, or Poem of the Frozen Time. When World War II began in 1939, and Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, Miłosz assisted the resistance movement in Warsaw, writing and editing several books secretly published during the occupation. Following the war, Miłosz became a diplomat for the new communist government of Poland and was stationed in Paris, France, but in 1951 he left this post and defected to the West. In 1960, he accepted a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley. For many years, only underground editions of Miłosz’s work were printed and circulated. But in 1980, Miłosz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Poland’s communist government was forced to back down. The government authorized an edition of Miłosz’s poems that sold over 200,000 copies. The Nobel Prize also brought Miłosz’s work to the attention of a wider American audience. As a witness to the Nazi devastation of Poland and the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, Miłosz’s poems often concern themselves with loss, destruction, and despair. Miłosz wrote about the past in a tragic, ironic style, but one which ultimately affirmed the value of human life.
约翰·弥尔顿(1608-1674)是伦敦一位富裕商人的儿子,曾在圣保罗学校接受教育,并在家中接受私人教师的教育。在剑桥大学基督学院获得文学硕士学位后,他在接下来的六年里一直在家读书。弥尔顿从大学时代就开始写诗,后来他开始为奥利弗·克伦威尔写散文集,后来他被聘为克伦威尔政府的一个部门负责人。为革命事业长时间阅读和写作的压力加剧了他的遗传缺陷,导致他在 1651 年左右完全失明。他最著名的作品—— 《失乐园》(1667 年)、《复乐园》(1671 年)和《力士参孙》(1671 年)——都是通过口述给女儿和其他文书写的。
John Milton (1608–1674), the son of a well-off London businessman, was educated at St. Paul’s School and at home with private tutors. After graduating with an MA from Christ’s College, Cambridge, he spent the next six years reading at home. Having written verse since his university days, Milton began to write prose tracts in favor of Oliver Cromwell, in whose government he was later employed as head of a department. The strain of long hours of reading and writing for the revolutionary cause aggravated a genetic weakness and resulted in his total blindness around 1651. He wrote his most famous works — Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and Samson Agonistes (1671) — by dictating them to his daughter and other amanuenses.
玛丽安·摩尔(1887-1972) 出生于圣路易斯附近,在宾夕法尼亚州卡莱尔长大。在布林茅尔学院和卡莱尔商学院学习后,她在卡莱尔的一所公立印第安人学校任教。她搬到布鲁克林,成为纽约公共图书馆的助理。她喜欢棒球,花了很多时间观看她喜爱的布鲁克林道奇队。她开始写意象派诗歌,并为著名文学杂志《The Dial》撰稿。1925 年至 1929 年,她担任《日晷》的代理编辑,之后又担任了四年编辑。摩尔的作品广受赞誉,获得了博林根奖、美国国家图书奖和普利策奖等荣誉。
Marianne Moore (1887–1972) was born near St. Louis and grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. After studying at Bryn Mawr College and Carlisle Commercial College, she taught at a government Native American school in Carlisle. She moved to Brooklyn, where she became an assistant at the New York Public Library. She loved baseball and spent a good deal of time watching her beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. She began to write Imagist poetry and to contribute to The Dial, a prestigious literary magazine. From 1925 to 1929, she served as acting editor of The Dial and then as editor for four years. Moore was widely recognized for her work, receiving among other honors the Bollingen Prize, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Cherrie Moraga(生于 1952 年)是一位奇卡纳裔作家、剧作家和散文家。她的作品主要关注性别、性取向和种族对有色人种女性生活的影响。她与 Gloria E. Anzaldúa 合编了《这座桥呼唤我的背:激进有色人种女性的著作》(1981 年)。该书促进了第三波女权主义的兴起,并于 1986 年获得了哥伦布基金会美国图书奖。目前,她在斯坦福大学教授创意写作、剧本创作、西卡纳-土著表演和艺术中的散居土著身份。她最近的作品是《心灵的故乡:回忆录》(2019 年)。
Cherrie Moraga (b. 1952) is a writer, playwright, and essayist of Chicana descent. Her works primarily focus on the effects of gender, sexuality, and race on the lives of women of color. She coedited This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981) with Gloria E. Anzaldúa. The text helped facilitate the emergence of third wave feminism and won the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award in 1986. Currently, she teaches creative writing, playwriting, Xicana-Indigenous Performance, and Indigenous Identity in Diaspora in the Arts at Stanford University. Her most recent work is Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir (2019).
哈里特·穆伦(生于 1953 年) 是一位美国诗人和短篇小说作家,也是加州大学洛杉矶分校的英语教授。她的一些作品,如《与字典共眠》(2002 年),涉足先锋派领域。穆伦的作品受到 20 世纪 60 年代和 70 年代非裔美国人、墨西哥裔美国人和女性的社会、政治和文化运动的影响,既是环境的产物,也是文学界的重要声音。她最近的一本书是《城市风滚草:短歌日记笔记》(2013 年)。
Harryette Mullen (b. 1953) is an American poet and short-story writer and a professor of English at the University of California in Los Angeles. Some of her work, such as Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002), ventures into avant-garde territory. Shaped by the social, political, and cultural movements of African Americans, Mexican Americans, and women in the 1960s and 1970s, Mullen’s writing is both a compelling, challenging product of environment and an important voice in the literary community. Her most recent book is Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (2013).
玛丽莲·纳尔逊1946 年出生于俄亥俄州克利夫兰,在众多军事基地长大。她的父亲是美国空军的塔斯基吉飞行员之一,母亲是一名教师。她还在小学时就开始写作。她获得了加州大学戴维斯分校的学士学位、宾夕法尼亚大学的硕士学位和明尼苏达大学的博士学位。《故乡》(1990 年)、《赞美之田:新诗与选诗》(1997 年)和《卡弗:诗中的一生》(2001 年)均入围美国国家图书奖决赛。除了她自己的许多成人和儿童诗集之外,她还翻译了丹麦哈夫丹·拉斯姆森的《数百只母鸡和其他诗歌》。她是 Soul Mountain Retreat 的创始人和总监,这是一个作家聚居地,旨在鼓励和支持属于代表性不足的种族或文化群体的诗人。她是康涅狄格大学英语名誉教授,并于 2001 年至 2006 年担任康涅狄格州桂冠诗人。
Marilyn Nelson was born in 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up on numerous military bases. Her father served in the US Air Force as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, and her mother was a teacher. While still in elementary school, she started writing. She earned her BA from the University of California, Davis, her MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD from the University of Minnesota. The Homeplace (1990), The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (1997), and Carver: A Life in Poems (2001) were all finalists for the National Book Award. In addition to many collections of her own poetry for adults and for children, she has translated from Danish Halfdan Rasmussen’s Hundreds of Hens and Other Poems. She is founder and director of Soul Mountain Retreat, a writer’s colony that encourages and supports poets who belong to underrepresented racial or cultural groups. She is professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut and was poet laureate of Connecticut from 2001 to 2006.
里卡多·埃利埃塞尔·内夫塔利·雷耶斯·巴索阿托,更为人熟知的名字是巴勃罗·聂鲁达(1904-1973),出生于智利南部。高中毕业时,聂鲁达已经在当地报纸和杂志上发表过作品,并赢得了几项文学比赛。1921 年,聂鲁达完成了广受好评的爱情诗系列《二十首情诗和一首绝望之歌》 ,这让他很快成为一位重要的智利诗人。在他的诗人生涯中,聂鲁达创作了多种风格,包括超现实主义诗歌、历史史诗、明显的政治宣言、散文自传和充满激情的爱情诗。在诗人疏离和绝望的时期,聂鲁达写下了《地球居所》,以英文出版为《地球上的居所》,为他赢得了国际认可。1935 年,当该诗集的第二卷出版时,聂鲁达正在西班牙担任领事。1936 年西班牙内战爆发时,聂鲁达是第一批支持共和事业的人之一——这一举动让他失去了领事职位。后来,他曾在法国和墨西哥任职。在随后的许多年里,聂鲁达的作品(包括诗歌和散文)都倡导社会变革。1971 年,聂鲁达获得了诺贝尔文学奖。
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, better known as Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), was born in southern Chile. By the time he finished high school, Neruda had published in local papers and magazines and had won several literary competitions. In 1921, Neruda completed his critically acclaimed cycle of love poems titled Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada, or Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which quickly marked him as an important Chilean poet. Throughout his career as a poet, Neruda would write in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems. During a period of alienation and despair for the poet, Neruda wrote Residencia en la tierra, published in English as Residence on Earth, which gained him international recognition. By the time the second volume of this collection was published in 1935, Neruda was serving as consul in Spain. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Neruda was among the first to support the Republican cause — a gesture that cost him his consular post. He later served in France and Mexico. For many of the following years, Neruda’s work, both poetry and prose, advocated for social change. In 1971, Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
艾米·内祖库马塔蒂尔 (Aimee Nezhukumatathil ) (生于 1974 年) 著有《奇迹果实》( Miracle Fruit) (2003 年),该书荣获《ForeWord 杂志》年度诗集奖和全球菲律宾文学奖;《在汽车影院火山》 (At the Drive-In Volcano) (2007 年),该书荣获巴尔科内斯奖;《幸运鱼》(Lucky Fish) (2011 年);以及《海洋》( Oceanic ) (2018 年)。她的菲律宾和马拉雅利人背景为她的作品提供了独特的视角,她的诗歌经常讲述爱与失落。内祖库马塔蒂尔是密西西比大学的英语教授。
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (b. 1974) is the author of Miracle Fruit (2003), winner of the ForeWord Magazine Poetry Book of the Year and the Global Filipino Literary Award; At the Drive-In Volcano (2007), winner of the Balcones Prize; Lucky Fish (2011); and Oceanic (2018). Her Filipina and Malayali background lends a unique perspective to her work, and her poems often speak of love and loss. Nezhukumatathil is an English professor at the University of Mississippi.
玛格丽特·努丁(Margaret Noodin ,生于 1965 年)是《Weweni:Anishinaabemowin 和 English 诗歌》(2015 年)的作者。除了作为诗人的工作外,努丁还是一位多产的学者,她的工作重点是土著语言、文学和文化,特别关注阿尼什纳阿贝莫温语(Anishinaabemowin)——奥及布威人和波塔瓦托米人的语言。她是威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校英语系教授。
Margaret Noodin (b. 1965) is the author of Weweni: Poems in Anishinaabemowin and English (2015). In addition to her work as a poet, Noodin is a productive scholar whose work focuses on indigenous languages, literatures, and cultures, with a particular focus on Anishinaabemowin — the language of the Ojibwe and Potawatomi people. She is a professor in the English Department at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
林恩·诺塔奇1964 年出生于布鲁克林,父亲是学校老师,母亲是儿童心理学家。她在纽约音乐与艺术高中就读期间创作了第一部戏剧,后来进入布朗大学和耶鲁大学戏剧学院学习。她的戏剧经常涉及非裔美国人和女性,并在百老汇和地区演出。她的戏剧《内衣》赢得了 2003-4 戏剧季的大多数主要戏剧奖项,《毁灭》(2007 年)和《汗水》(2017 年)均获得普利策奖。她曾获得麦克阿瑟基金会和古根海姆基金会的奖学金。
Lynn Nottage was born in 1964 to a schoolteacher and a child psychologist in Brooklyn. She wrote her first play while attending New York’s High School of Music and Art and went on to attend Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. Her plays often deal with African Americans and women and have been performed off-Broadway and regionally. Her play Intimate Apparel won the majority of major theater awards for the 2003–4 theater season, and Ruined (2007) and Sweat (2017) both won the Pulitzer Prize. She has been awarded fellowships from the MacArthur and Guggenheim Foundations.
纳奥米·希哈布·奈 1952 年出生于圣路易斯,父亲是巴勒斯坦人,母亲是美国人。她在美国和耶路撒冷长大。她在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥的三一大学获得学士学位,目前仍与家人居住在那里。她写过许多诗集,最近的一本是《你和你的》(2005 年),该书获得了伊莎贝拉·加德纳诗歌奖。她还为儿童写过短篇小说和书籍,并编辑过选集,其中几本关注儿童的生活,代表了世界各地的作品。她曾是兰南研究员、古根海姆研究员和维特·拜纳研究员,并因其作品获得了无数奖项和奖励,包括美国国家图书评论界终身成就奖。奈的作品常常证实一种普遍的流亡感——远离地方、家乡、爱和自我——并探讨人类精神面对它的方式。
Naomi Shihab Nye, born in 1952 in St. Louis to a Palestinian father and an American mother, grew up in both the United States and Jerusalem. She received her BA from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where she still resides with her family. She is the author of many books of poems, most recently You and Yours (2005), which received the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award. She has also written short stories and books for children and has edited anthologies, several of which focus on the lives of children and represent work from around the world. She has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Witter Bynner Fellow and has received numerous prizes and awards for her work, including a lifetime achievement award from the National Book Critics Circle Award. Nye’s work often attests to a universal sense of exile — from place, home, love, and oneself — and looks at the ways the human spirit confronts it.
乔伊斯·卡罗尔·奥茨1938 年出生于纽约州洛克波特。她从小就开始讲故事,甚至在学会写字之前就创作了图画故事。直到获得雪城大学文学士学位和威斯康星大学文硕士学位后,她才开始专注于写作。她的第一本书是短篇小说集《北门边》(1963 年)。从那时起,她后来成为她那个时代最多才多艺、最多产、最重要的美国作家之一,出版了一百多本书——小说、故事集、诗歌、戏剧、儿童读物和文学评论。她曾三次获得诺贝尔文学奖提名。她是普林斯顿大学罗杰·S·伯林德杰出人文教授。
Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938 in Lockport, New York. She began storytelling in early childhood, composing picture stories even before she could write. Only after earning a BA from Syracuse University and an MA from the University of Wisconsin did she focus on writing as a career. Her first book was a collection of stories, By the North Gate (1963). Since then she has gone on to become one of the most versatile, prolific, and important American writers of her time, publishing more than one hundred books — novels, story collections, poetry, plays, children’s books, and literary criticism. She has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University.
蒂姆·奥布莱恩 1946 年出生于明尼苏达州奥斯汀,曾就读于麦卡利斯特学院和哈佛大学。越南战争期间,他被征召入伍,晋升为中士,并被授予紫心勋章。他的许多小说和故事都取材于他在战争期间的经历。他的小说有《如果我死在战区,就把我装箱运回家》(1973 年);《北极光》(1975 年);《追寻卡奇亚托》(1978 年),该书获得美国国家图书奖;《核时代》 (1985 年);《在林湖中》(1994 年);和《七月,七月》(2002 年)。他的短篇小说集名为《他们携带的东西》(1990 年)。他住在德克萨斯州,在德克萨斯州立大学圣马科斯分校隔年教授创意写作课程。
Tim O’Brien, born in 1946 in Austin, Minnesota, studied at Macalester College and Harvard University. During the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the army, promoted to the rank of sergeant, and decorated with a Purple Heart. Many of his novels and stories draw on his experiences during the war. His novels are If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (1973); Northern Lights (1975); Going after Cacciato (1978), winner of the National Book Award; The Nuclear Age (1985); In the Lake of the Woods (1994); and July, July (2002). His short-story collection is entitled The Things They Carried (1990). He lives in Texas and teaches alternate years in the creative writing program at Texas State University, San Marcos.
弗兰纳里·奥康纳(1925–1964) 出生于佐治亚州萨凡纳,在佐治亚州米利奇维尔的一个农场长大,1945 年毕业于佐治亚州立女子学院,并参加了爱荷华大学作家研讨会,于 1947 年获得硕士学位。她从爱荷华州搬到纽约市开始写作生涯,但仅仅两年多后,因病被迫回到佐治亚州母亲的农场。奥康纳被诊断出患有狼疮,在生命的最后十四年里,她养孔雀并创作以佐治亚州农村为背景的小说。她的作品以不敬的幽默、经常怪诞的人物以及对宗教信仰挑战的强烈、近乎神秘的肯定而著称。她的作品包括两部小说《智血》(1952 年)和《暴力夺走它》(1960 年),以及两部短篇小说集《好人难寻》(1955 年)和《万物必将汇聚》(1965 年)。她 39 岁去世后,她的朋友萨莉和罗伯特·菲茨杰拉德编辑了一本散文选集《神秘与礼仪》(1969 年),萨莉·菲茨杰拉德编辑了一本书信集《存在的习惯》(1979 年)。 《完整故事》(1971 年)获得了国家图书奖。
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964), born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised on a farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, graduated from Georgia State College for Women in 1945 and attended the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, from which she received a master’s degree in 1947. From Iowa she moved to New York City to begin her writing career but, after little more than two years, was forced by illness to return to her mother’s farm in Georgia. O’Connor was diagnosed with lupus and spent her remaining fourteen years raising peacocks and writing fiction set in rural Georgia. Her works are distinguished by irreverent humor, often grotesque characters, and intense, almost mystical affirmation of the challenges of religious belief. Her work includes two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960), and two short-story collections, A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955) and Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965). After her death at the age of thirty-nine, a selection of occasional prose, Mystery and Manners (1969), was edited by her friends Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, and a collection of letters, The Habit of Being (1979), was edited by Sally Fitzgerald. The Complete Stories (1971) received the National Book Award.
弗兰克·奥哈拉(1926-1966) 出生于巴尔的摩,在马萨诸塞州长大,1941 年至 1944 年在波士顿新英格兰音乐学院学习钢琴,二战期间在南太平洋和日本服役。他在哈佛大学主修英语,1951 年在密歇根大学获得英语硕士学位。他搬到纽约,在现代艺术博物馆工作,开始认真写诗,并撰写关于绘画和雕塑的散文和评论。他的第一本诗集《冬日之城》出版于 1952 年,其中包含十三首诗和艺术家拉里·里弗斯的两幅画作。随后他与其他艺术家进行了合作。他的第一本主要诗集是《紧急冥想》(1957 年)。他的诗歌通常很随意,措辞轻松,充满了具体的细节,力求传达生活的即时性。他将自己的作品描述为“我做这个我做那个”的诗歌,因为他的诗歌读起来常常像日记中的条目,就像《女士去世的那天》的开头一样。他在纽约火岛度假时被一辆沙滩车撞倒身亡,终年四十岁。
Frank O’Hara (1926–1966), born in Baltimore and raised in Massachusetts, studied piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston from 1941 to 1944 and served in the South Pacific and Japan during World War II. He majored in English at Harvard and received his MA in English at the University of Michigan in 1951. He moved to New York, where he worked at the Museum of Modern Art and began writing poetry seriously as well as composing essays and reviews on painting and sculpture. His first volume of poems, A City in Winter, thirteen poems with two drawings by the artist Larry Rivers, was published in 1952. Other collaborations with artists followed. His first major collection of poetry was Meditations in an Emergency (1957). His poetry is often casual, relaxed in diction, and full of specific detail, seeking to convey the immediacy of life. He described his work as “I do this I do that” poetry because his poems often read like entries in a diary, as in the opening lines of “The Day Lady Died.” He was killed at forty when he was struck by a sand buggy while vacationing on Fire Island, New York.
莎伦·奥尔兹1942 年出生于旧金山,毕业于斯坦福大学和哥伦比亚大学。她写了九本诗集,最近出版的是《咏叹调》(2019 年),并获得了普利策奖、美国国家图书评论家协会奖和 TS 艾略特奖,以及美国国家艺术基金会和古根海姆基金会的奖学金。用伊丽莎白·弗兰克的话来说,“[奥尔兹] 和她的作品无非就是创造的乐趣——做爱、生孩子、写诗、理解爱、记忆、死亡、感觉——生命的实际身体质感。”她从 1998 年到 2000 年担任纽约州诗人。她在纽约大学的研究生创意写作课程中教授诗歌讲习班,并在纽约的戈德华特医院(一家为残疾人提供的公共设施)教授讲习班。
Sharon Olds was born in 1942 in San Francisco and educated at Stanford and Columbia universities. She has written nine books of poetry — most recently Arias (2019) — and is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the T. S. Eliot Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. In the words of Elizabeth Frank, “[Olds] and her work are about nothing less than the joy of making — of making love, making babies, making poems, making sense of love, memory, death, the feel — the actual bodily texture, of life.” She held the position of New York State Poet from 1998 until 2000. She teaches poetry workshops in New York University’s graduate creative writing program along with workshops at Goldwater Hospital in New York, a public facility for physically disabled persons.
玛丽·奥利弗(1935-2019) 出生于克利夫兰,毕业于俄亥俄州立大学和瓦萨学院。她创作了大约二十本诗集,包括《美国原始》(1983 年),并因此获得普利策奖,还创作了四本散文集。她出版的最后一本书是《灵修:玛丽·奥利弗诗选》(2017 年)。她担任本宁顿学院凯瑟琳·奥斯古德·福斯特杰出教学讲座教授,直至 2001 年,并住在马萨诸塞州普罗文斯敦。多年来。奥利弗是最受尊敬的关注自然世界的诗人之一。
Mary Oliver (1935–2019) was born in Cleveland and educated at Ohio State University and Vassar College. She was the author of some twenty volumes of poetry, including American Primitive (1983), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, and four books of prose. Her last published book was Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (2017). She held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching at Bennington College until 2001 and lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For many years. Oliver was one of the most respected of poets concerned with the natural world.
马修·奥尔兹曼(生于 1976 年) 是一位美国诗人、作家和散文家。他获得了密歇根大学迪尔伯恩分校的学士学位和沃伦威尔逊学院的艺术硕士学位。奥尔兹曼获得的荣誉包括 Kundiman、Kresge 艺术基金会、Bread Loaf 作家会议和 Kenyon Review 作家研讨会的奖学金。他的第一本诗集《Mezzanines》(2013) 获得了 Kundiman 诗歌奖。奥尔兹曼的作品以其深思熟虑的风格和广泛的主题而闻名。2012 年,奥尔兹曼被授予沃伦威尔逊学院的琼·比比教学奖学金。现在,他是Collagist 的诗歌编辑。
Matthew Olzmann (b. 1976) is an American poet, author, and essayist. He earned a BA from the University of Michigan–Dearborn and an MFA from Warren Wilson College. Olzmann’s honors include fellowships from Kundiman, the Kresge Arts Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. His first collection of poems, Mezzanines (2013), won a Kundiman Poetry Prize. Olzmann’s writing is known for its thoughtful style and wide-ranging subject matter. In 2012, Olzmann was awarded the Joan Beebe Teaching Fellowship at Warren Wilson College. Today, he works as poetry editor of the Collagist.
威尔弗雷德·欧文(1893-1918) 出生于什罗普郡奥斯沃斯特里,曾就读于伯肯黑德学院和什鲁斯伯里技术学校。由于经济原因,欧文被迫从伦敦大学退学,后来成为牛津郡邓斯登的牧师助理。在那里,他对教会产生了不满,离开教会前往法国任教。1915 年,他应征参军参加第一次世界大战,最终成为曼彻斯特军团的少尉。六个月后,他在爱丁堡住院,在那里遇到了西格弗里德·萨松,后者的战争诗刚刚出版。欧文被送回前线,在停战前一周阵亡。他是“战争诗人”中最广为人知的一位。“战争诗人”是一群第一次世界大战时期的作家,他们将战争的现实主义融入诗歌中。
Wilfred Owen (1893–1918), born in Oswestry, Shropshire, attended Birkenhead Institute and Shrewsbury Technical School. When forced to withdraw from London University for financial reasons, Owen became a vicar’s assistant in Dunsden, Oxfordshire. There he grew disaffected with the church and left to teach in France. In 1915, he enlisted as a soldier in World War I and was eventually made a second lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment. Six months later, he was hospitalized in Edinburgh, where he met Siegfried Sassoon, whose war poems had just been published. Sent back to the front, Owen was killed one week before the armistice. He is the most widely recognized of the “War Poets,” a group of World War I writers who brought the realism of war to poetry.
ZZ Packer(生于 1973 年)曾获得耶鲁大学、约翰霍普金斯大学和爱荷华作家工作室的学位。她是《在别处喝咖啡》(2003 年)的作者,该书被《纽约时报》评为杰出图书。她是古根海姆奖学金和惠廷奖的获得者,她的作品出现在《美国最佳短篇小说》系列中。她在旧金山州立大学创意写作课程任教。
ZZ Packer (b. 1973) has earned degrees from Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Iowa Writers Workshop. She is the author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (2003), which was a New York Times Notable Book. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Award, and her work has appeared in the Best American Short Stories series. She teaches in the creative writing program at San Francisco State University.
琳达·帕斯坦1932 年出生于纽约市,毕业于拉德克利夫学院,并获得布兰迪斯大学文学硕士学位。她出版了许多诗集,包括《轻装旅行》(2011 年)、《失眠症》(2015 年)和《一条狗穿过它》(2018 年),并因此获得了许多奖项,包括狄伦·托马斯奖。她深情的诗歌往往以悲伤为中心。她以写短诗而闻名,这些诗涉及家庭生活、家庭生活、母性、女性经历、衰老、死亡、失去和对失去的恐惧,以及生命和人际关系的脆弱性等主题。她于 1991 年至 1994 年担任马里兰州桂冠诗人,并在面包山作家大会担任工作人员二十年。她住在马里兰州波托马克。
Linda Pastan was born in 1932 in New York City, graduated from Radcliffe College, and earned an MA from Brandeis University. She has published many books of poetry, including Traveling Light (2011), Insomnia (2015), and A Dog Runs Through It (2018), and has received numerous awards for them, including a Dylan Thomas Award. Her deeply emotional poetry often has grief at its center. She is known for writing short poems that address topics such as family life, domesticity, motherhood, the female experience, aging, death, loss and the fear of loss, and the fragility of life and relationships. She served as poet laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1994 and was a staff member at the Bread Loaf Writers, Conference for twenty years. She lives in Potomac, Maryland.
罗伯特·平斯基1940 年出生于新泽西州长滩。他著有多本诗集,包括《花轮:1966-1996 年新诗和诗集》(1996 年),该书荣获 1997 年莱诺·马歇尔诗歌奖,并被提名为普利策奖。他还出版了几本评论书籍、两本翻译书籍、一本传记——《大卫的生活》(2005 年)、几本关于阅读诗歌的书籍,以及《心灵之轮》(1984 年),这是一本可用作互动电脑游戏的电子小说。1999 年,他与玛吉·迪茨合作编辑了《美国人最喜爱的诗歌:最喜爱的诗歌项目选集》。他在波士顿大学的研究生写作课程中任教,1997 年,他被任命为国会图书馆诗歌桂冠诗人顾问。
Robert Pinsky was born in 1940 in Long Branch, New Jersey. He is the author of many books of poetry, including The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems, 1966–1996 (1996), which won the 1997 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee. He has also published several books of criticism, two books of translation, a biography — The Life of David (2005) — several books on reading poetry, and Mindwheel (1984), an electronic novel that functions as an interactive computer game. In 1999 he coedited with Maggie Dietz Americans’ Favorite Poems: The Favorite Poem Project Anthology. He teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University, and in 1997 he was named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
西尔维娅·普拉斯(1932-1963)在波士顿的一个中产阶级家庭长大,早年便展现出作家的天赋,高中时期便在《十七岁》等杂志上发表过短篇小说和诗歌。在史密斯学院读书期间,她被选为《小姐》杂志的实习生,并于 1953 年夏天在纽约工作了一个月。回国后,她精神崩溃,企图自杀,并被送进精神病院。1954 年,她回到史密斯学院读大四,并获得富布赖特奖学金前往英国剑桥大学学习,在那里她遇到了诗人特德·休斯。他们于 1956 年结婚。他们住在美国和英国,普拉斯在波士顿大学师从罗伯特·洛威尔。她的婚姻于 1962 年破裂,从她的信件和诗歌来看,她当时正濒临另一次崩溃。1963 年 2 月 11 日,她自杀身亡。她一生中出版了四本诗集,她的《诗选》出版于 1985 年。她最著名的诗歌(包括“爸爸”)强有力的、心理强烈的诗歌是在 1960 年之后创作的,受到洛厄尔“忏悔”风格的影响(见词汇表中的忏悔诗)。
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963), who was raised in a middle-class family in Boston, showed early promise as a writer, having stories and poems published in magazines such as Seventeen while she was in high school. As a student at Smith College, she was selected for an internship at Mademoiselle magazine and spent a month working in New York in the summer of 1953. Upon her return home, she suffered a serious breakdown, attempted suicide, and was institutionalized. She returned to Smith College for her senior year in 1954 and received a Fulbright fellowship to study at Cambridge University in England, where she met the poet Ted Hughes. They were married in 1956. They lived in the United States as well as in England, and Plath studied under Robert Lowell at Boston University. Her marriage broke up in 1962, and from her letters and poems it appears that she was approaching another breakdown at that time. On February 11, 1963, she died by suicide. Four books of poetry appeared during her lifetime, and her Selected Poems was published in 1985. The powerful, psychologically intense poetry for which she is best known (including “Daddy”) was written after 1960, influenced by the “confessional” style of Lowell (see confessional poetry in the Glossary).
埃德加·艾伦·坡(1809-1849)出生于马萨诸塞州波士顿,父母是流动演员,一岁时被父亲抛弃,母亲不久后去世。坡由弗吉尼亚州里士满的约翰·艾伦抚养,他的姓氏成为坡的中间名。当家庭财富减少时,艾伦一家搬到爱伦·坡在那里接受了教育,回到里士满后就读于弗吉尼亚大学。尽管爱伦·坡是个优秀的学生,但他酗酒赌博,一年后艾伦就让他退学了。爱伦·坡去了波士顿,参军了,最终在艾伦的帮助下,被西点军校聘为军人。在进一步的放荡结束了他的军旅生涯后,爱伦·坡开始靠写作来养活自己。三卷诗集并没有给他带来多少收入,1835 年爱伦·坡担任了《南方文学信使》的助理编辑,这是他因酗酒而失去的许多职位中的第一个。他开始发表短篇小说。1836 年,他与 13 岁的表妹弗吉尼亚·克莱姆结婚,并承担起她母亲的赡养费用,这加剧了他的经济困难。他们去了纽约市,爱伦·坡在那里出版了《亚瑟·戈登·皮姆的故事》(1838 年),并汇集了他在杂志上发表过的最好的故事,编纂成他的第一部短篇集《怪诞故事集和阿拉伯风格故事集》(1840 年)。那时,他也开始写侦探小说,实际上发明了这一体裁。作为备受尊敬的评论家,爱伦·坡又以《乌鸦和其他诗》(1845 年)作为诗人而闻名。1847 年,在妻子去世后,爱伦·坡与比他大六岁的富有寡妇诗人萨拉·海伦·惠特曼订婚,但由于爱伦·坡的酗酒问题,她最终拒绝结婚。1849 年,爱伦·坡遇到了青梅竹马的恋人埃尔米拉·罗伊斯特·谢尔顿,现已成为寡妇,她同意嫁给他。在巴尔的摩与朋友庆祝自己命运的明显逆转后,他被发现昏迷在街上,不久后即去世。爱伦·坡的主要恐怖和侦探故事、主要诗歌以及关于写作技巧的主要评论文章在欧洲一直备受推崇,被视为美国经典。
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of itinerant actors, was abandoned at one year of age by his father; his mother died soon after. The baby became the ward of John Allan of Richmond, Virginia, whose surname became Poe’s middle name. When the family fortunes declined, the Allans moved to England. Poe was educated there and at the University of Virginia upon his return to Richmond. Although an excellent student, Poe drank and gambled heavily, causing Allan to withdraw him from the university after one year. Poe made his way to Boston, enlisted in the army, and eventually, with Allan’s help, took an appointment at West Point. After further dissipation ended his military career, Poe set out to support himself by writing. Three volumes of poetry brought in little money, and in 1835 Poe took a position as an assistant editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, the first of many positions he lost because of drinking. He began to publish short stories. In 1836 he married his thirteen-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, and took on the support of her mother as well, increasing his financial difficulties. They went to New York City, where Poe published The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838) and assembled the best stories he had published in magazines in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840), his first story collection. At that time, he also began to write detective stories, virtually inventing the genre. Already respected as a critic, Poe won fame as a poet with The Raven and Other Poems (1845). In 1847, after the death of his wife, Poe became engaged to the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, a wealthy widow six years his senior, who ultimately resisted marriage because of Poe’s drinking problem. In 1849 Poe met a childhood sweetheart, Elmira Royster Shelton, now a widow, who agreed to marry him. After celebrating his apparent reversal of fortune with friends in Baltimore, he was found unconscious in the street and died shortly thereafter. Always admired in Europe, Poe’s major stories of horror and detection, his major poems, and his major critical pieces on the craft of writing are considered American classics.
埃兹拉·庞德(1885-1972) 出生于爱达荷州,但在费城郊外长大;他在宾夕法尼亚大学就读两年,毕业于汉密尔顿学院。他在瓦巴什学院任教两年,然后离开欧洲,在伦敦生活了几年,在那里他编辑了《小评论》并创立了几个文学运动 — — 包括意象派和漩涡派。移居意大利后,他开始创作他的主要作品《诗章》,并参与法西斯政治。第二次世界大战期间,他从意大利进行广播支持墨索里尼,为此他在美国被控叛国罪。由于精神上被判定不适合受审,他一直住在华盛顿特区的一家精神病院,直到 1958 年指控被撤销。庞德在意大利度过了他生命的最后几年。他通常被认为是定义和推广现代主义诗歌美学最有责任的诗人。
Ezra Pound (1885–1972) was born in Idaho but grew up outside Philadelphia; he attended the University of Pennsylvania for two years and graduated from Hamilton College. He taught for two years at Wabash College and then left for Europe, living for the next few years in London, where he edited The Little Review and founded several literary movements — including Imagism and Vorticism. After moving to Italy, he began his major work, the Cantos, and became involved in fascist politics. During World War II, he did radio broadcasts from Italy in support of Mussolini, for which he was indicted for treason in the United States. Judged mentally unfit for trial, he remained in an asylum in Washington, DC, until 1958, when the charges were dropped. Pound spent his last years in Italy. He is generally considered the poet most responsible for defining and promoting a Modernist aesthetic in poetry.
海丝特·普尔特(1605-1678)生活在动荡的时代。1625 年,查理一世国王被斩首,英国分裂为保皇党和清教徒,前者希望继续维持君主制,后者希望废除君主制,建立一种全新的政府形式。在英国内战(1642-1651 年)期间,普尔特是坚定的保皇党,她在诗歌中探索了当时的政治气氛。她的诗还涉及疾病、死亡、悲伤、爱情以及 17 世纪的思想和文化变革。她在 1640 年代和 1650 年代创作的诗歌被存放在阁楼中,直到 1996 年才被阅读。是在利兹大学布拉瑟顿图书馆发现的。
Hester Pulter (1605–1678) lived during very turbulent times. In 1625, King Charles I was beheaded, and England became a nation divided between the Royalists, who wanted the monarchy to continue, and the Puritans, who wanted to abolish the monarchy and create an entirely new form of government. During the English Civil War (1642–1651), Pulter was a staunch Royalist, and she explored the political climate of her time in her poetry. Her poems also address illness, death, grief, love, and the intellectual and cultural changes of the seventeenth century. Her poems, which she wrote in the 1640s and 1650s, were stored in an attic and unread until 1996, when they were discovered in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds.
沃尔特·雷利(1554-1618) 出生于一个富裕的英国地主家庭,曾参与镇压数次爱尔兰叛乱,并最终于 1585 年获得伊丽莎白一世女王的爵士称号。雷利代表女王出发探索和殖民“新世界”,探索南美洲部分地区,并派遣一些追随者在北卡罗来纳州罗阿诺克岛附近建立殖民地,但这次尝试以失败告终。他写了很多诗,但并未以任何形式的汇编形式出版。有时,他的声音反映出对世俗事务的蔑视;在其他作品中,他的声音带有对历史的忧郁感。伊丽莎白的继任者詹姆斯一世指控雷利叛国罪,将他监禁,并最终于 1618 年 10 月处死。
Walter Ralegh (1554–1618) was born to wealthy English landowners and took part in the suppression of several Irish rebellions, eventually earning himself knighthood from Queen Elizabeth I in 1585. On behalf of the queen, Ralegh set out to explore and colonize the “New World,” exploring parts of South America and sending some of his followers to establish a colony near Roanoke Island, North Carolina, which was a failed endeavor. He wrote many poems, though they were not published in a compilation of any sort. At times, his voice reflected a contemptus mundi, or contempt for worldly concerns; in other writings, it carried a sense of melancholy toward history. Elizabeth’s successor, King James I, accused Ralegh of treason and had him imprisoned and eventually put to death in October 1618.
达德利·兰德尔(1914-2002) 出生于华盛顿特区,一生大部分时间在底特律生活。他 13 岁时在《底特律自由报》上发表了第一首诗。他先在福特汽车公司工作,然后为美国邮政服务工作,并在第二次世界大战期间在南太平洋服役。他于 1949 年毕业于韦恩州立大学,随后毕业于密歇根大学图书馆学院。1965 年,兰德尔创办了 Broadside Press,这是现代黑人诗歌最重要的出版商之一。《伯明翰之歌》是为回应 1963 年教堂爆炸案而创作的,当时有四名非裔美国女孩在爆炸中丧生,这首歌已被谱曲并录制成唱片。它成为民权运动中许多人的赞歌。
Dudley Randall (1914–2002) was born in Washington, DC, and lived most of his life in Detroit. His first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press when he was thirteen. He worked for Ford Motor Company and then for the US Postal Service and served in the South Pacific during World War II. He graduated from Wayne State University in 1949 and then from the library school at the University of Michigan. In 1965 Randall established the Broadside Press, one of the most important publishers of modern black poetry. “Ballad of Birmingham,” written in response to the 1963 bombing of a church in which four African American girls were killed, has been set to music and recorded. It became an anthem for many in the Civil Rights movement.
克劳迪娅·兰金(生于 1963 年)是牙买加裔,是一位诗人和剧作家,毕业于威廉姆斯学院和哥伦比亚大学。她曾获得美国诗人学院、美国国家艺术基金会和兰南基金会的奖学金。她的作品超越了流派,《别让我孤单》(2004 年)就是典型代表。在这本书中,她融合了诗歌、散文、抒情诗和电视意象。她最近的一本书《公民:美国抒情诗》(2014 年)赢得了美国国家图书评论界奖,并广受好评。2016 年,兰金获得了麦克阿瑟基金会的“天才”奖。目前,兰金居住在加利福尼亚州,担任南加州大学英语系的 Aerol Arnold 主席。
Claudia Rankine (b. 1963), of Jamaican descent, is a poet and playwright educated at Williams College and Columbia University. She has received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lannan Foundation. Her writing transcends genres, with Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (2004) as a prime example. In it, she blends poetry, essay, lyrics, and television imagery. Her most recent book, Citizen: An American Lyric (2014), won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was widely acclaimed. In 2016, Rankine was the recipient of a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Currently, Rankine lives in California and is the Aerol Arnold Chair in the University of Southern California English Department.
斯宾塞·里斯(生于 1963 年) 是《教士的故事》和《通往艾玛乌斯之路》的作者。他曾获得古根海姆基金会和美国国家艺术基金会的奖学金、国会图书馆的维特·拜纳奖学金、艾米·洛厄尔诗歌旅行奖学金和惠廷作家奖。他是一名在西班牙马德里工作的圣公会牧师。
Spencer Reece (b. 1963) is the author of The Clerk’s Tale and The Road to Emmaus. He is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA, a Witter Bynner fellowship from the Library of Congress, the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship, and a Whiting Writers’ Award. He is an Episcopal priest who works in Madrid, Spain.
阿德里安·里奇(1929-2012) 出生于马里兰州巴尔的摩。她出版了超过 16 卷诗集和 5 卷评论散文,包括《今夜无诗可作:2007-2010 年的诗集》(2010 年)、《迷宫中的电话铃声:2004-2006 年的诗集》(2007 年)和《人眼:社会艺术论文集》(2009 年)。她还编辑了Muriel R ukeyser 的《美国图书馆 诗选》。除了其他众多荣誉外,她还于 2006 年获得了美国国家图书基金会颁发的美国文学杰出贡献奖章。她的诗歌其文章被国际上广泛翻译和出版。
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She published over sixteen volumes of poetry and five volumes of critical prose, including Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007–2010 (2010), Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004–2006 (2007), and A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society (2009). She also edited Muriel Rukeyser’s Selected Poems for the Library of America. Among numerous other recognitions, she was the 2006 recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Her poetry and essays have been widely translated and published internationally.
莱纳·马利亚·里尔克(1875-1926)被公认为重要的现代德语诗人之一。里尔克的独特之处在于他通过新语法和意象的运用来拓展诗歌的领域,他采用了一种拒绝基督教戒律的美学哲学,努力调和美与苦难、生命与死亡。他最著名的作品是散文作品《给年轻诗人的信》,该作品对艺术家的生活意义进行了深刻的思考;他的诗集《杜伊诺哀歌》深入探讨了苦难和死亡的本质。里尔克一生饱受疾病的折磨,1926 年在法国生活期间因白血病去世。
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) is widely recognized as one of the important modern German-language poets. Rilke was unique in his efforts to expand the realm of poetry through new uses of syntax and imagery, employing an aesthetic philosophy that rejected Christian precepts and strove to reconcile beauty and suffering, as well as life and death. He is best known for his prose work Letters to a Young Poet, which provides a powerful meditation on what it means to live an artist’s life; and his Duino Elegies, a poetic sequence that delves into the nature of suffering and death. Rilke suffered from illness his whole life and died of leukemia in 1926 while living in France.
阿尔贝托·里奥斯1952 年出生于墨西哥边境的亚利桑那州诺加莱斯。他在亚利桑那大学获得了英语和心理学学士学位以及艺术硕士学位。除了 12 本诗集外,他还出版了四本短篇小说集和一本回忆录《卡皮罗塔达:诺加莱斯回忆录》(1999 年)。他的作品经常融合现实主义、超现实主义和魔幻现实主义。自 1994 年以来,他一直担任亚利桑那州立大学英语系主任教授,他自 1982 年以来一直在该校任教。他最近的一本书是《一本关于天空的小书》(2015 年)。
Alberto Ríos was born in 1952 in Nogales, Arizona, on the Mexican border. He earned a BA in English and in psychology, and an MFA at the University of Arizona. In addition to twelve books of poetry, he has published four collections of short stories and a memoir, Capirotada: A Nogales Memoir (1999). His work often fuses realism, surrealism, and magic realism. Since 1994 he has been Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 1982. His most recent book is A Small Book About the Sky (2015).
埃德温·阿灵顿·罗宾逊(1869-1935)出生于缅因州 Head Tide,在同样偏僻的缅因州小镇加德纳长大,他的大部分诗歌都是在这里创作的。两年后,由于家庭经济困难,他被迫离开哈佛大学。他在 1896 年和 1897 年出版了他的前两本诗集(“理查德·科里”出现在后者中)。在接下来的四分之一个世纪里,罗宾逊选择过着贫困的生活并写诗,依靠临时工作和朋友的施舍。在儿子克米特的敦促下,西奥多·罗斯福总统利用他的影响力,于 1905 年在纽约海关为罗宾逊找到了一份闲职,让他有时间写作。在接下来的十年里,他出版了许多平庸的诗集。随着《逆天之人》(1916 年),他的命运发生了转折;随后的众多诗集获得了高度赞誉并畅销不衰。他曾三次获得普利策奖:1921 年的《诗集》 、1924 年的《死了两次的人》和1927 年的《特里斯特拉姆》。罗宾逊是二十世纪第一位重要的美国诗人,他的独特之处在于他一生致力于诗歌创作,并心甘情愿地为贫穷和默默无闻付出代价。
Born in Head Tide, Maine, Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935) grew up in the equally provincial Maine town of Gardiner, the setting for much of his poetry. He was forced to leave Harvard University after two years because of his family’s financial difficulties. He published his first two books of poetry in 1896 and 1897 (“Richard Cory” appeared in the latter). For the next quarter century, Robinson chose to live in poverty and write his poetry, relying on temporary jobs and charity from friends. President Theodore Roosevelt, at the urging of his son Kermit, used his influence to get Robinson a sinecure job in the New York Custom House in 1905, giving him time to write. He published numerous books of mediocre poetry in the next decade. The tide turned for him with The Man against the Sky (1916); the numerous volumes that followed received high praise and sold well. He was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes: for Collected Poems in 1921, The Man Who Died Twice in 1924, and Tristram in 1927. Robinson was the first major American poet of the twentieth century, unique in that he devoted his life to poetry and willingly paid the price in poverty and obscurity.
西奥多·罗特克(1908–1963) 是密歇根州萨吉诺市一位商业温室经营者的儿子。小时候,他花了很多时间在温室里,他在那里对大自然的印象后来影响了他的诗歌主题和意象。罗特克毕业于密歇根大学,并在哈佛大学学习。他的八本诗集受到评论家的高度评价,其中一些评论家认为罗特克是他那一代最优秀的诗人之一。《觉醒》于 1954 年获得普利策奖;《风之语》(1958 年)获得博林根奖和美国国家图书奖。他在许多学院和大学任教,他的职业生涯因严重的精神崩溃而多次中断,并获得了杰出的诗歌写作教师的声誉。
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963) was the son of a commercial greenhouse operator in Saginaw, Michigan. As a child, he spent much time in greenhouses, and the impressions of nature he formed there later influenced the subjects and imagery of his verse. Roethke graduated from the University of Michigan and studied at Harvard University. His eight books of poetry were held in high regard by critics, some of whom considered Roethke among the best poets of his generation. The Waking was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1954; Words for the Wind (1958) received the Bollingen Prize and the National Book Award. He taught at many colleges and universities, his career interrupted several times by serious mental breakdowns, and gained a reputation as an exceptional teacher of poetry writing.
克里斯蒂娜·罗塞蒂(1830-1894 年)是十九世纪末英国艺术和文学中拉斐尔前派运动的重要贡献者。她是艺术家兼诗人但丁·加布里埃尔·罗塞蒂的妹妹,后者为她最著名的出版物《妖怪市场和其他诗歌》(1862 年)提供了插图。
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) was an important contributor to what was known as the Pre-Raphaelite movement in English arts and literature of the late nineteenth century. She was the sister of artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who provided the artwork for her most famous publication, Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862).
玛丽·鲁弗尔1952 年出生于匹兹堡附近,但作为一名军官的女儿,她早年在美国和欧洲各地辗转。她毕业于本宁顿学院,主修文学。她出版了许多诗集,包括《梅姆林的面纱》(1982 年)、《坚定者》(1989 年;1988 年爱荷华诗歌奖得主)、《小小的白影》(2006 年)以及最近的《傻瓜》(2019 年)。2008 年,她出版了第一本短篇小说集《大部分》。她获得的奖项包括古根海姆奖学金、美国艺术与文学学院文学奖和惠廷基金会作家奖。她住在佛蒙特州,是佛蒙特学院 MFA 项目的教授。
Mary Ruefle was born in 1952 near Pittsburgh but spent her early life moving around the United States and Europe as the daughter of a military officer. She graduated from Bennington College with a literature major. She has published many books of poetry, including Memling’s Veil (1982), The Adamant (1989; winner of the 1988 Iowa Poetry Prize), A Little White Shadow (2006), and, most recently, Dunce (2019). She published her first collection of short stories, The Most of It, in 2008. Among awards she has received are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a Whiting Foundation Writer’s Award. She lives in Vermont, where she is a professor in the Vermont College MFA program.
穆里尔·鲁凯泽(1913–1980) 是一位美国诗人和政治活动家。她的诗歌几乎全部聚焦于平等、女权主义、社会正义和犹太教等主题。鲁凯泽在《诗歌的生活》 (1949) 中的诗歌认为诗歌对于民主、生活甚至理解都至关重要。鲁凯泽将自己与沃尔特· W杀手相提并论,她坚定的声音激励并感染了许多读者和作家。
Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980) was an American poet and political activist. Her poems focus almost exclusively, on subjects such as equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Rukeyser’s poems in The Life of Poetry (1949) contended that poetry is essential to democracy, life, and even understanding. Rukeyser draws comparisons to Walt Whitman, and her strong voice inspired and compelled many readers and writers.
雅各布·桑兹 (Jacob Saenz )(生于 1982 年)出生于芝加哥,在伊利诺伊州西塞罗长大。他的首部诗集《Throwing the Crown》(2018 年)荣获 2018 年《美国诗歌评论》/霍尼克曼首部图书奖。桑兹曾获得 Letras Latinas 驻留奖学金和露丝·莉莉诗歌奖学金。
Jacob Saenz (b. 1982), born in Chicago and raised in Cicero, Illinois, was awarded the 2018 American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize for his first collection of poetry, Throwing the Crown (2018). Saenz has been the recipient of a Letras Latinas Residency Fellowship and a Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.
乔治·桑德斯(生于 1958 年) 出生于德克萨斯州,曾担任过地球物理学家、门卫、屋顶工、便利店店员和屠宰场工人。桑德斯曾获得麦克阿瑟基金会、古根海姆基金会和兰南基金会的奖学金。他的小说《林肯在中阴界》(2017) 获得了享有盛誉的曼布克奖。他在雪城大学创意写作课程任教。
George Saunders (b. 1958) was born in Texas and has worked as a geophysicist, a doorman, a roofer, a convenience store clerk, and a slaughterhouse worker. Saunders has been the recipient of fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. His novel Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) won the prestigious Man Booker Prize. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.
安妮·塞克斯顿(1928-1974) 出生于马萨诸塞州牛顿,为了结婚从加兰初级学院辍学。在生下两个孩子后,她遭受了精神崩溃的折磨,随后被鼓励参加写作课程。在波士顿大学,她在罗伯特·洛厄尔( Robert Lowe) 的指导下学习,也是西尔维娅·普拉斯( Sylvia Plath)的同学。和其他“忏悔式”诗人的作品一样,塞克斯顿的诗歌是她对自己生活和情感的亲密观察。她将女性经历作为诗歌的核心问题,探讨了月经、堕胎以及吸毒等主题。她出版了至少十几本诗集——《生或死》获得了 1966 年普利策诗歌奖——以及与马克斯·库明 ( M axine K umin)合著的四本儿童读物。塞克斯顿的情绪问题持续存在,她对酒精和镇静剂的上瘾程度越来越大,于 1974 年自杀身亡。
Anne Sexton (1928–1974), born in Newton, Massachusetts, dropped out of Garland Junior College to get married. After suffering nervous breakdowns following the births of her two children, she was encouraged to enroll in a writing program. Studying under Robert Lowell at Boston University, she was a fellow student of Sylvia Plath. Like the work of other “confessional” poets, Sexton’s poetry is an intimate view of her life and emotions. She made the experience of being a woman a central issue in her poetry, exploring such subjects as menstruation and abortion as well as drug addiction. She published at least a dozen books of poetry — Live or Die was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1966 — as well as four children’s books coauthored with Maxine Kumin. Sexton’s emotional problems continued, along with a growing addiction to alcohol and sedatives, and she died by suicide in 1974.
威廉·莎士比亚(1564-1616) 出生于英国埃文河畔斯特拉特福,他的父亲是一名手套制造商和法警,他大概也在那里上过文法学校。1582 年,他与安妮·海瑟薇结婚,1592 年之前前往伦敦,成为一名剧作家和演员。莎士比亚加入了宫内大臣剧团(后来的国王剧团),这是一个表演公司,他为该剧团创作了三十七部戏剧 — — 喜剧、悲剧、历史剧和爱情剧 — — 他作为英语最优秀剧作家的声誉就是由此而来。他也可以说是当时最优秀的抒情诗人,他的戏剧中散布着歌曲、两首早期的非戏剧诗歌(《维纳斯与阿多尼斯》和《鲁克丽丝受辱记》)以及伊丽莎白时代所有杰出作家都期望创作的十四行诗。莎士比亚的十四行诗可能写于 16 世纪 90 年代,尽管它们直到 1609 年才以连载形式出版。莎士比亚于 1612 年左右退休到斯特拉特福德,到 52 岁去世时,他已被公认为伊丽莎白时期舞台的领军人物,并获得了足够的成功,为自己的家族住宅购买了家徽。
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, where his father was a glovemaker and bailiff, and he presumably went to grammar school there. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and sometime before 1592 left for London to work as a playwright and actor. Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s Men), an acting company for which he wrote thirty-seven plays — comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances — upon which his reputation as the finest dramatist in the English language is based. He was also arguably the finest lyric poet of his day, as exemplified by songs scattered throughout his plays, two early nondramatic poems (Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece), and the sonnet sequence expected of all noteworthy writers in the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written in the 1590s, although they were not published as a sequence until 1609. Shakespeare retired to Stratford around 1612, and by the time he died at the age of fifty-two, he was acknowledged as a leading light of the Elizabethan stage and had become successful enough to have purchased a coat of arms for his family home.
珀西·比希·雪莱(1792-1822) 出生于英国苏塞克斯郡的一个富裕贵族家庭,在伊顿公学接受教育,后来进入牛津大学,在牛津大学学习六个月后,他因撰写了一篇为无神论辩护的文章而被开除,这是他为不墨守成规和(在当时)激进的社会正义承诺付出的第一个代价。第二年,他与酒馆老板的女儿哈丽雅特·韦斯特布鲁克私奔,尽管他认为婚姻是一种暴虐和有辱人格的社会制度(她 16 岁,他 18 岁)。他成为激进社会哲学家威廉·戈德温的弟子;爱上了戈德温的女儿玛丽·沃斯通克拉夫特·戈德温(后来成为《科学怪人》的作者);并与她一起住在法国。两年后,哈丽雅特自杀身亡,两人结婚并搬到意大利,他们在那里辗转反侧,雪莱总是缺钱,身体也不太好。正是在如此艰难的环境中,他写下了他最伟大的作品。30岁时,他乘坐的船被一场突如其来的风暴掀翻,他因此去世。
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Sussex County, England, was educated at Eton and then went on to Oxford University, where he was expelled after six months for writing a defense of atheism, the first price he would pay for his nonconformity and radical (for his time) commitment to social justice. The following year he eloped with Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a tavern keeper, despite his belief that marriage was a tyrannical and degrading social institution (she was sixteen, he eighteen). He became a disciple of the radical social philosopher William Godwin; fell in love with Godwin’s daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (the author, later, of Frankenstein); and went to live with her in France. Two years later, after Harriet had died by suicide, the two married and moved to Italy, where they shifted about restlessly and Shelley was generally short on money and in poor health. In such trying circumstances, he wrote his greatest works. He died at age thirty, when the boat he was in was overturned by a sudden storm.
查尔斯·西米奇1938 年出生于南斯拉夫贝尔格莱德。1953 年,他与母亲和兄弟一起搬到了芝加哥与父亲团聚。21 岁时,他发表了第一首诗。1961 年,他被征召入伍,1966 年获得纽约大学文学学士学位。1967 年,他的第一本诗集《草儿说了什么》出版。此后,他出版了 60 多本诗集、译作和散文,其中包括《世界不会终结:散文诗》 (1990 年),他凭借该书获得普利策诗歌奖。1973年起,他一直住在新罕布什尔州,在新罕布什尔大学担任英语教授。2007 年,他被任命为国会图书馆诗歌桂冠诗人顾问。
Charles Simic was born in 1938 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1953, he, his mother, and his brother joined his father in Chicago. His first poems were published when he was twenty-one. In 1961, he was drafted into the US Army, and in 1966 he earned his BA from New York University. His first book of poems, What the Grass Says, was published in 1967. Since then he has published more than sixty books of poetry, translations, and essays, including The World Doesn’t End: Prose Poems (1990), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Since 1973 he has lived in New Hampshire, where he is a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. In 2007, he was named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. His most recent collection is Scribbled in the Dark (2017).
丹妮丝·史密斯 (Danez Smith) (生于 1989 年)出生于明尼苏达州圣保罗,著有《别叫我们死人》(Don't Call Us Dead ,2017 年),该书入围美国国家图书奖决赛。他们还凭借《[插入]男孩》(2014 年)荣获兰姆达文学奖和凯特·塔夫茨发现奖,并著有小册子《双手放在你的膝盖上》 (Penmanship Books,2013 年)。史密斯获得过许多奖学金,包括麦克奈特基金会、Cave Canem 和我们国家的声音 (VONA)。他们是 Dark Noise Collective 的创始成员,他们的作品发表在《诗歌》、《犁头》、《贝洛伊特诗歌杂志》等杂志和期刊上、和Kinfolks。史密斯还积极参加诗歌朗诵比赛,并曾是 2011 年个人世界诗歌朗诵比赛的决赛选手。
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Danez Smith (b. 1989) is the author of Don’t Call Us Dead (2017), a finalist for the National Book Award. They are also winner of the Lambda Literary Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award for [insert] boy (2014), and author of the chapbook hands on ya knees (Penmanship Books, 2013). Smith has been recipient of many fellowships, including from the McKnight Foundation, Cave Canem, and Voices of Our Nation (VONA). They are a founding member of the Dark Noise Collective, and their writing has appeared in such magazines and journals as Poetry, Ploughshares, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Kinfolks. Smith is also very active in poetry slams and was a 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam finalist.
玛吉·史密斯(生于 1977 年) 著有三本诗集—— 《好骨头》 (2017 年) 、《井自言自语》 (2015 年) 和《身体之灯》 (2005 年),以及三本获奖小册子。她的诗作《好骨头》在国际上广为流传,已被翻译成多种不同的语言。史密斯是国家艺术基金、俄亥俄州艺术委员会和可持续艺术基金会的奖学金获得者,同时也是一名自由撰稿人和编辑。
Maggie Smith (b. 1977) is author of three books of poetry — Good Bones (2017), The Well Speaks of Its Own (2015), and Lamp of the Body (2005) — as well as three prizewinning chapbooks. After claiming a viral international presence, her poem “Good Bones” has been translated into a wide variety of different languages. Smith is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, as well as a freelance writer and editor.
帕特里夏·史密斯1955 年出生于芝加哥。她是一名诗人、剧作家、教师、前记者和口语表演者。她是《应该是吉米·萨凡纳》(2013 年)的作者,该书获得了莱诺·马歇尔诗歌奖,以及《全能者的茶馆》(2006 年),该书获得了全国诗歌系列奖。许多人都注意到史密斯证明了文字的力量,这一点在她的作品中随处可见。史密斯还是四届全国诗歌大赛冠军。她最近的作品是《煽动性艺术:关于埃米特·蒂尔的诗》(2016 年)。
Patricia Smith was born in 1955 in Chicago. She is a poet, playwright, teacher, former journalist, and spoken-word performer. She is the author of Shoulda Been Jimmy Savannah (2013), which won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Teahouse of the Almighty (2006), a National Poetry Series Prize winner. Many have noted that Smith is a testament to the power of words, as is evident throughout her body of work. Smith is also a four-time National Poetry Slam champion. Her most recent work is Incendiary Art: Poems about Emmett Till (2016).
特蕾西·史密斯(生于 1972 年) 是一位美国诗人,出生于马萨诸塞州,在加利福尼亚州北部长大。她获得了哈佛大学学士学位和哥伦比亚大学创意写作硕士学位。1997 年至 1999 年期间,她是斯坦福大学的斯泰格纳研究员。史密斯出版了四本诗集,包括《身体的问题》(2003 年),获得 Cave Canem 最佳非裔美国诗人处女作奖;《Duende》(2007 年),获得詹姆斯·劳克林奖和 Essence 文学奖;《火星生活》(2011 年),获得普利策诗歌奖;以及最近的《涉水而过》(2018 年)。2015 年,她出版了回忆录《平凡的光》,入围美国国家图书奖非小说类决赛。史密斯于 2017 年至 2019 年担任美国桂冠诗人。目前,她是普林斯顿大学的创意写作教授。
Tracy Smith (b. 1972) is an American poet born in Massachusetts and raised in northern California. She earned her BA from Harvard University and her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. Between 1997 and 1999, she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Smith has published four poetry collections, including The Body’s Question (2003), winner of the Cave Canem prize for the best first book by an African American poet; Duende (2007), winner of the James Laughlin Award and the Essence Literary Award; Life on Mars (2011), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; and, most recently, Wade in the Water (2018). In 2015, she published her memoir titled Ordinary Light, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for nonfiction. Smith served as the United States poet laureate from 2017 to 2019. Currently, she is a professor of creative writing at Princeton University.
Cathy Song 1955 年出生于夏威夷,拥有韩裔和华裔血统,在欧胡岛的瓦希阿瓦小镇长大。童年时期,她就受到鼓励写作。她离开夏威夷前往东海岸,在韦尔斯利学院获得英语学士学位,在波士顿大学获得创意写作硕士学位。1987 年,她回到檀香山,继续写作和教学。她的第一本书《Picture Bride》被理查德·雨果选入 1982 年耶鲁青年诗人系列。此后,她又出版了四本诗集。她与岛上诗人 Juliet S. Kono 共同编辑了《Sister Stew》(1991 年),并贡献了诗歌和散文。她的作品获得了夏威夷文学奖和雪莱纪念奖。
Cathy Song was born in 1955 in Hawaii of Korean and Chinese ancestry and grew up in the small town of Wahiawa on Oahu. She was encouraged to write during her childhood. She left Hawaii for the East Coast, earning a BA in English from Wellesley College and an MA in creative writing from Boston University. In 1987, she returned to Honolulu, where she continues to write and teach. Her first book, Picture Bride, was chosen by Richard Hugo for the Yale Series of Younger Poets in 1982. Since then she has published four other books of poetry. With island poet Juliet S. Kono, she coedited and contributed poetry and prose to Sister Stew (1991). Her writing has earned the Hawaii Award for Literature and a Shelley Memorial Award.
索福克勒斯(约公元前 496 年 - 约公元前 406年)并不是戏剧中出现的第一位重要人物,但作为古希腊悲剧的代表,很难想象索福克勒斯是一个更重要的人物。事实上,他的作品被认为是手艺的典范,亚里士多德的大部分《诗学》都是基于对《俄狄浦斯王》的分析。索福克勒斯出生于一个富裕的雅典家庭,作为一名士兵、牧师和政治家,积极参与公民生活的方方面面。然而,今天,人们主要记得他作为剧作家的成就。在漫长而杰出的职业生涯中,他比其他任何作家都更经常获得希腊戏剧比赛的一等奖。虽然有证据表明他写了 120 多部戏剧,但只有七部完整地流传了下来,还有许多其他戏剧的片段。在他的戏剧中,索福克勒斯与他那个时代乃至所有时代最重要的一些问题作斗争——命运与自由意志之间的冲突;公共道德与私人道德之间的冲突;以及对家庭、国家和神的责任之间的冲突——使他的作品具有持久的吸引力。《俄狄浦斯王》(俄狄浦斯王),于公元前 430年首次演出)是索福克勒斯的三部底比斯剧作之一,另外两部是《安提戈涅》(公元前 441年)和《俄狄浦斯在科罗诺斯》(公元前 401年,首次演出于公元前 430 年)。
Sophocles (c. 496–c. 406 bce) was not the first important voice to emerge in drama, but as a representative of classical Greek tragedy, it is hard to imagine a more important figure. Indeed, his works were considered such models of the craft that Aristotle based much of his Poetics on an analysis of Oedipus Rex. Sophocles was born to a wealthy Athenian family and became active in many aspects of civic life as a soldier, a priest, and a statesman. Today, however, he is remembered principally for his achievements as a playwright. During a long and distinguished career, he won first prize in Greek drama competitions more often than any other writer. Though there is evidence that he wrote more than 120 plays, only seven have survived in their entirety, along with fragments of many others. In his plays, Sophocles wrestled with some of the most important issues of his time and indeed of all time — the conflict between fate and free will; between public and private morality; and between duty to one’s family, the state, and the gods — giving his work enduring appeal. Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King, first performed in 430 bce) is one of Sophocles’s three Theban plays, the other two being Antigone (441 bce) and Oedipus at Colonus (401 bce, first performed posthumously).
加里索托(生于 1952 年) 在加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺长大,在加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校获得学士学位,在加州大学欧文分校获得艺术硕士学位。他靠采摘葡萄和砍甜菜等工作完成大学学业。他的大部分诗歌都来自并反映了他的工作背景——南加州田野中的移民工人和佃农,并提供贫民区家庭的生活一瞥。索托的语言来自粗犷、原始的日常美国口语。他的第一本书《圣华金元素》获得了 1976 年国际诗歌论坛美国奖。他出版了十一本诗集、八部小说、四本散文集和许多青少年和儿童书籍,并编辑了四本选集。他住在伯克利和加利福尼亚州的弗雷斯诺。
Gary Soto (b. 1952) was raised in Fresno, California, and earned his BA from California State University, Fresno, and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. He worked his way through college doing such jobs as picking grapes and chopping beets. Much of his poetry comes out of and reflects his working background, that of migrant workers and tenant farmers in the fields of southern California, and provides glimpses into the lives of families in the barrio. Soto’s language comes from gritty, raw, everyday American speech. His first book, The Elements of San Joaquin, won the 1976 United States Award from the International Poetry Forum. He has published eleven collections of poetry, eight novels, four essay collections, and numerous young adult and children’s books and has edited four anthologies. He lives in Berkeley and in Fresno, California.
威廉·斯塔福德(1914-1995) 出生于堪萨斯州哈钦森,就读于堪萨斯大学,之后进入爱荷华大学作家工作室。在此期间,他在二战期间是一名拒服兵役者,并在劳工营工作。1948 年,斯塔福德搬到俄勒冈州,在刘易斯和克拉克学院任教,直到 1980 年退休。斯塔福德 48 岁时,他的第一本重要诗集《穿越黑暗》出版。该诗集于 1963 年获得美国国家图书奖。他后来出版了 65 多卷诗歌和散文,并成为一位非常有影响力的诗歌教师。1970 年至 1971 年,他担任国会图书馆诗歌桂冠诗人顾问。
William Stafford (1914–1995) was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, and studied at the University of Kansas and then at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. In between, he was a conscientious objector during World War II and worked in labor camps. In 1948, Stafford moved to Oregon, where he taught at Lewis and Clark College until he retired in 1980. His first major collection of poems, Traveling through the Dark, was published when Stafford was forty-eight. It won the National Book Award in 1963. He went on to publish more than sixty-five volumes of poetry and prose and came to be known as a very influential teacher of poetry. From 1970 to 1971, he was Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
华莱士·史蒂文斯(1879-1955)出生于宾夕法尼亚州雷丁,在哈佛大学读了三年。他尝试了新闻学,然后进入纽约大学法学院,之后担任法律顾问。他一生大部分时间都在哈特福德意外和赔偿公司担任高管,晚上则写一些当时最富有想象力和影响力的诗歌。虽然现在被认为是二十世纪美国最主要的诗人之一,但直到他去世前一年出版了他的诗集后,他才得到广泛认可。
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955), born in Reading, Pennsylvania, attended Harvard University for three years. He tried journalism and then attended New York University Law School, after which he worked as a legal consultant. He spent most of his life working as an executive for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, spending his evenings writing some of the most imaginative and influential poetry of his time. Although now considered one of the major American poets of the twentieth century, he did not receive widespread recognition until the publication of his Collected Poems just a year before his death.
阿德里安娜·苏(生于 1967 年) 著有四本诗集:《中王国》 (1997 年)、《避难所》 (2006 年)、《一无所有》 (2009 年) 和《生活区》 (2015 年)。苏是美国国家艺术基金会奖学金获得者。她在迪金森学院教授创意写作。
Adrienne Su (b. 1967) is the author of four books of poems: Middle Kingdom (1997), Sanctuary (2006), Having None of It (2009), and Living Quarters (2015). Su is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches creative writing at Dickinson College.
阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生勋爵(1809-1892) 出生于林肯郡萨默斯比,在父亲不幸的牧师住宅的紧张氛围中长大。他曾就读于剑桥大学三一学院,但由于家庭和经济问题被迫离开,他回到家乡学习和练习诗歌技巧。他的早期作品发表于 1830 年和 1832 年,评论不佳,但他的《悼念》( 1850 年)是一首悼念因脑卒中去世的好友亚瑟·哈勒姆的挽歌,赢得了赞誉。丁尼生无疑是他那个时代最受欢迎的诗人(“人民诗人”),可以说是维多利亚时代最伟大的诗人。他接替威廉·华兹华斯成为桂冠诗人,从 1850 年起一直担任这一职位,直到去世。
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, grew up in the tense atmosphere of his unhappy father’s rectory. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge, but when he was forced to leave because of family and financial problems, he returned home to study and practice the craft of poetry. His early volumes, published in 1830 and 1832, received bad reviews, but his In Memoriam (1850), an elegy on his close friend Arthur Hallam, who died of a brain seizure, won acclaim. Tennyson was unquestionably the most popular poet of his time (the “poet of the people”) and arguably the greatest of the Victorian poets. He succeeded William Wordsworth as poet laureate, a position he held from 1850 until his death.
狄伦·托马斯(1914-1953) 出生于威尔士斯旺西,在文法学校毕业后成为一名记者,并以写作为生。他的第一本诗集《十八首诗》出版于 1934 年,随后出版了《二十五首诗》(1936 年)、《死亡与入口》(1946 年)和《诗集》(1952 年)。他的诗歌通常富有质感的节奏和意象。他还写散文,主要是短篇小说,合称为《艺术家作为一只小狗的肖像》(1940 年),以及一些电影剧本和广播剧。他最著名的作品《牛奶树下》是一部有声剧,于 1953 年 5 月 14 日在纽约首次演出。托马斯的广播节目以及他在美国巡回演讲和诗歌朗诵为他带来了名声和人气。酗酒是他 1953 年英年早逝的原因之一。
Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) was born in Swansea, Wales, and after grammar school became a journalist, working as a writer for the rest of his life. His first book of poetry, Eighteen Poems, appeared in 1934 and was followed by Twenty-Five Poems (1936), Deaths and Entrances (1946), and Collected Poems (1952). His poems are often rich in textured rhythms and images. He also wrote prose, chiefly short stories collectively appearing as Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940), and a number of film scripts and radio plays. His most famous work, Under Milk Wood, written as a play for voices, was first performed in New York on May 14, 1953. Thomas’s radio broadcasts and his lecture tours and poetry readings in the United States brought him fame and popularity. Alcoholism contributed to his early death in 1953.
阿德里安·托米内(Adrian Tomine,生于 1974 年) 的父母都是日裔美国医生,二战期间,他们的部分童年时光都在日裔美国人拘留营中度过。他创作了多部图画小说,包括《夏日金发女郎》 (2002 年)、《缺点》 (2007 年) 和《杀戮与死亡》(2015 年)。他是《纽约客》的定期撰稿人。
Adrian Tomine (b. 1974) is the child of two Japanese American physicians who spent part of their childhoods in the Japanese American internment camps during World War II. He is the author of a number of graphic novels, including Summer Blonde (2002), Shortcomings (2007), and Killing and Dying (2015). He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker.
娜塔莎·特雷斯威1966 年出生于密西西比州格尔夫波特。她拥有佐治亚大学、霍林斯大学和马萨诸塞大学的学位。她的诗歌作品曾多次获奖,包括她的第一部诗集《家务活》(2000 年)获得的首届 Cave Canem 诗歌奖。她的第二部诗集《贝洛克的奥菲莉亚》(2002 年)获得了 2003 年密西西比艺术与文学学院图书奖,并入围美国诗人学院詹姆斯·劳克林奖和莱诺·马歇尔奖。2007 年,她的诗集《本土卫士》获得了普利策奖。她曾在奥本大学、北卡罗来纳大学和杜克大学任教。2009 年至 2010 年,她是耶鲁大学贝内克珍本手稿图书馆非裔美国人研究詹姆斯·韦尔登·约翰逊研究员。她目前在西北大学任教,担任该校董事会英语教授。
Natasha Trethewey was born in 1966 in Gulfport, Mississippi. She has degrees from the University of Georgia, Hollins University, and the University of Massachusetts. She has won many awards for her poetry, including the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize for her first collection, Domestic Work (2000). Her second collection, Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002), received the 2003 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize and was a finalist for both the Academy of American Poets’ James Laughlin and Lenore Marshall prizes. In 2007, her collection Native Guard received the Pulitzer Prize. She has taught at Auburn University, the University of North Carolina, and Duke University. From 2009 to 2010, she was the James Weldon Johnson Fellow in African American Studies at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library. She presently teaches at Northwestern University, where she is the Board of Trustees Professor of English.
昆西·特鲁普1943 年出生于纽约市,在密苏里州圣路易斯长大。他是已出版十六本书,包括八卷诗集,最新出版的是《Errançities》(2011 年)。他凭借诗集《Snake-Back Solos》(1980 年)和非虚构作品《Miles: The Autobiography》(1989 年)两次获得美国图书奖。1991 年,他因编写和联合制作 1990 年在全国公共广播电台播出的七集“Miles Davis 广播计划”而获得了享有盛誉的皮博迪奖。 《Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems》(2002 年)获得 2003 年米尔特凯斯勒奖并入围帕特森诗歌奖决赛。特鲁普曾在加州大学洛杉矶分校、俄亥俄大学、斯塔顿岛学院 (CUNY)、哥伦比亚大学(研究生写作项目)和加州大学圣地亚哥分校任教。他现在是加州大学圣地亚哥分校创意写作和美国及加勒比文学名誉教授。他是《Code》杂志的创始编辑总监,曾担任圣地亚哥当代艺术博物馆阅读和表演系列活动“前沿艺术”的艺术总监。他是加利福尼亚州第一位官方桂冠诗人,于 2002 年被州长格雷·戴维斯任命为该职位。
Quincy Troupe was born in 1943 in New York City and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the author of sixteen books, including eight volumes of poetry, most recently Errançities (2011). He is the recipient of two American Book Awards, for his collection of poetry Snake-Back Solos (1980) and his nonfiction book Miles: The Autobiography (1989). In 1991, he received the prestigious Peabody Award for writing and coproducing the seven-part “Miles Davis Radio Project” aired on National Public Radio in 1990. Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems (2002) received the Milt Kessler Award for 2003 and was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. Troupe has taught at UCLA, Ohio University, the College of Staten Island (CUNY), Columbia University (in the graduate writing program), and the University of California, San Diego. He is now professor emeritus of creative writing and American and Caribbean literature at the University of California–San Diego. He is the founding editorial director for Code magazine and former artistic director of “Arts on the Cutting Edge,” a reading and performance series at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. He was the first official poet laureate of the state of California, appointed to the post in 2002 by Governor Gray Davis.
在美国陆军服役七年后,布莱恩·特纳(生于 1967 年) 创作了他的第一本诗集《Here, Bullet》 (2005),记录了他在伊拉克的时光。在巡演之前,特纳获得了俄勒冈大学的艺术硕士学位,并在韩国生活过。他的其他作品集包括《Phantom Noise》 (2010) 和《My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir》 (2014)。特纳曾获得美国国家艺术基金会奖学金、艾米·洛厄尔旅行奖学金和兰南基金会奖学金。
After a seven-year enlistment with the US Army, Brian Turner (b. 1967) composed his first book of poetry, Here, Bullet (2005), which chronicled his time in Iraq. Before his tour, Turner earned an MFA from the University of Oregon and lived abroad in South Korea. His other collections are Phantom Noise (2010) and My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir (2014). Turner has received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Amy Lowell Travelling Fellowship, and a fellowship from the Lannan Foundation.
Ocean Vuong(生于 1988 年)出生于西贡,在康涅狄格州哈特福德长大。他的诗歌经常探讨转变、欲望和暴力损失——他对形式和内容关系的关注和关注使这些主题更加突出。Vuong 凭借其诗集《带有出口伤口的夜空》(2016 年)赢得了 2018 年 TS 艾略特奖,并创作了小册子《 No》(2013 年)和《Burnings》(2010 年),后者被美国图书馆协会选入彩虹之上。Vuong 的作品已被翻译成多种语言,包括印地语、韩语、俄语和越南语。他获得了许多荣誉,包括伊丽莎白乔治基金会、诗人之家、Kundiman 和 Saltonstall 艺术基金会的奖学金。 Vuong 还获得了美国诗人学院奖、美国诗歌评论斯坦利·库尼茨青年诗人奖、普希卡奖和贝洛伊特诗歌杂志查德·沃尔什诗歌奖。此外,Vuong 还于 2014 年获得了诗歌基金会颁发的露丝·莉莉和多萝西·萨金特·罗森伯格诗歌奖学金,于 2016 年获得了惠廷奖,并于 2019 年获得了麦克阿瑟奖学金。他目前在马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的 MFA 项目中任教。
Ocean Vuong (b. 1988) was born in Saigon and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. His poems often explore transformation, desire, and violent loss — themes heightened by his care and focus on the relationship between form and content. Vuong has won the 2018 T. S. Eliot Prize for his poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds (2016), and has authored the chapbooks No (2013) and Burnings (2010), the latter of which was an Over the Rainbow selection by the American Library Association. Vuong’s works have been translated into many languages, including Hindi, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. He has been awarded a long list of honors, including fellowships from the Elizabeth George Foundation, Poets House, Kundiman, and the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Vuong has also earned an Academy of American Poets Prize, an American Poetry Review Stanley Kunitz Prize for Young Poets, a Pushcart Prize, and a Beloit Poetry Journal Chad Walsh Poetry Prize. Additionally, Vuong was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2014, a Whiting Award in 2016, and a MacArthur fellowship in 2019. He is currently on faculty in the MFA program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
爱丽丝·沃克1944 年出生于佐治亚州伊顿顿。她的父母是佃农。八岁时,她的一个哥哥不小心用 BB 枪射中了她,导致她一只眼睛失明。她是高中毕业班的毕业生代表。在老师和母亲的鼓励下,她在亚特兰大的一所黑人女子学校斯佩尔曼学院学习了两年,并从莎拉·劳伦斯学院毕业大学。从 20 世纪 60 年代中期到 70 年代中期,她住在密西西比州的图加卢。她积极参与 20 世纪 60 年代的民权运动,至今仍是一名积极活动家。她的第一本书是一本诗集《曾经》(1968 年)。她是一位多产的作家,后来出版了 30 多本诗集、小说、短篇小说和非小说类作品。她最著名的小说《紫色》(1982 年)获得了美国图书奖和普利策小说奖,并被改编成由史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格执导的电影和百老汇音乐剧。
Alice Walker was born in 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. Her parents were sharecropper farmers. When she was eight, she lost sight in one eye when one of her older brothers accidentally shot her with a BB gun. She was valedictorian of her high school class. Encouraged by her teachers and her mother to go to college, she attended Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, for two years, and she graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, she lived in Tougaloo, Mississippi. She was active in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and remains an involved activist today. Her first book was a collection of poetry, Once (1968). She is a prolific writer, having gone on to publish more than thirty books of poetry, novels, short stories, and nonfiction. Her best-known novel, The Color Purple (1982), won the American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was made into a motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg and a Broadway musical.
菲利斯·惠特利(1753-1784) 出生于西非,年幼时被卖为奴隶并被运往北美。她被波士顿的惠特利家族买下,他们教她读书写字并教她成为一名基督徒。在惠特利家族的鼓励下,她凭借《各种主题的诗歌,宗教和道德》(1773 年)成为第一位出版作品的非裔美国女诗人。她的主人约翰·惠特利死后,她从奴隶制中解放出来。在她的诗中,她表达了许多基督教主题,并写了几首向著名人物致敬的诗。仔细阅读惠特利的诗歌会发现她对奴隶制的矛盾看法,因为她认识到奴隶制的残酷性,但也认识到奴隶制在引导她皈依基督教方面发挥了作用。当时世界上许多著名人物,包括乔治·华盛顿和许多其他开国元勋,都对她给予了高度评价。
Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), was born in West Africa and at a young age was sold into slavery and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her how to read and write and to become a Christian. With the encouragement of the Wheatley family, she rose to become the first published African American female poet with her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). She was emancipated from slavery after the death of her master, John Wheatley. In her poems, she expressed many Christian themes, and she penned several tributes to famous figures. A close reading of Wheatley’s poems will reveal her conflicting views on slavery, as she recognized its cruelty but also its role in bringing her to Christianity. Many of the famous figures in the world at the time, including George Washington and many other founding fathers, gave her high praise.
沃尔特·惠特曼(1819-1892) 出生于长岛农村,父亲是农民,母亲是木匠。他在布鲁克林上文法学校,第一份工作是为《长岛爱国者》当印刷工。观看歌剧、涉足政治、参与街头生活,以及积累作为学生、印刷工、记者、作家、木匠、农民、海滨观察员和教师的经验,为他未来基于自我实现的理想社会的诗意愿景奠定了基础。尽管惠特曼喜欢将自己描绘为没有文化,但他广泛阅读詹姆斯王版圣经以及莎士比亚、荷马、但丁、埃斯库罗斯和索福克勒斯的作品。他在报业工作多年,直到 1847 年才开始写诗。1855 年,他自费出版了《草叶集》的初版,这是一本薄薄的十二首无题长诗。这部作品以极具原创性和创新性的自由诗体(见词汇表)写成,深受音乐影响,题材广泛,对大多数同时代诗人来说,这似乎很奇怪——尽管有些人确实认识到了它的价值:拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生在惠特曼寄给他一本副本后不久就写信给诗人,说:“我在伟大事业的开端向你致敬。”他余生的大部分时间都在修改和扩充这本书。如今,《草叶集》被认为是世界文学的杰作。
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was born in rural Long Island as the son of a farmer and carpenter. He attended grammar school in Brooklyn and took his first job as a printer’s devil for the Long Island Patriot. Attending the opera, dabbling in politics, participating in street life, and gaining experience as a student, printer, reporter, writer, carpenter, farmer, seashore observer, and teacher provided the bedrock for his future poetic vision of an ideal society based on the realization of self. Although Whitman liked to portray himself as uncultured, he read widely in the King James Bible as well as Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. He worked for many years in the newspaper business and began writing poetry only in 1847. In 1855, at his own expense, he published the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a thin volume of twelve long untitled poems. Written in a highly original and innovative free verse (see the Glossary), influenced significantly by music, and with a wide-ranging subject matter, the work seemed strange to most of the poet’s contemporaries — although some did recognize its value: Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote to the poet shortly after Whitman sent him a copy, saying, “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” He spent much of the remainder of his life revising and expanding this book. Today Leaves of Grass is considered a masterpiece of world literature.
美国诗人CK 威廉姆斯(1936-2015)的早期诗歌涉及政治话题,例如越南战争,而他后期的作品转向更内省的话题,例如异化和欺骗。在《焦油》(1983 年)中,威廉姆斯在诗歌中创作了非常长的文字行,这成为了他的标志性风格。在他的一生中,他获得了所有重要的诗歌奖项,包括普利策奖、美国国家图书评论界奖、普希卡奖和古根海姆基金会的奖学金。威廉姆斯1996年至2015年在普林斯顿大学任教。
The early poems of American poet C. K. Williams (1936–2015) covered political topics, such as the Vietnam War, while his later work saw a shift to more introspective topics, such as alienation and deception. In Tar (1983), Williams crafted unconventionally long lines of text in his poems, which became his signature style. In his lifetime, he earned every major poetry award, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation. Williams taught at Princeton University from 1996 to 2015.
田纳西·威廉姆斯(1911-1983 年),本名为托马斯·兰尼尔·威廉姆斯,出生于密西西比州哥伦比亚,小时候随家人搬到了圣路易斯。他的童年过得并不轻松:父母不和,家里没什么钱,他和他心爱的妹妹罗斯都患有抑郁症和疾病。威廉姆斯三次尝试上大学才毕业,最终在 24 岁时获得了爱荷华大学的剧本写作学位。他最早的写作尝试没有成功,但 1944 年,《玻璃动物园》在芝加哥上映,后来在纽约大获成功,赢得了著名的戏剧评论界奖。随后他又创作了其他作品,包括《欲望号街车》(1947 年),该剧获得了普利策奖,并帮助其年轻明星马龙·白兰度开启了职业生涯;《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》(1955 年);以及《去年夏天突如其来》(1958 年)。 20 世纪 40 年代和 50 年代的美国舞台尚未准备好接受公开的同性恋,因此威廉姆斯将自己在寻求性和情感满足时的痛苦经历转化为具有非常坦率的异性恋主题的戏剧。这种坦率和梦幻般的诗意语言是他风格的关键要素。在晚年,威廉姆斯深受毒品和酒精问题的困扰,并因这些和慢性抑郁症而偶尔被送进精神病院。尽管他后期的作品从未取得早期戏剧那样的受欢迎成功,但威廉姆斯在美国剧院的声誉是稳固的。
As a child Tennessee Williams (1911–1983), born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbia, Mississippi, moved with his family to St. Louis. His childhood was not easy: his parents were ill-matched, the family had little money, and both he and his beloved sister, Rose, suffered from depression and medical problems. It took Williams three attempts at college before he finished, finally earning a degree in playwriting from the University of Iowa at the age of twenty-four. His earliest efforts at writing were unsuccessful, but in 1944, The Glass Menagerie opened in Chicago and later began a very successful run in New York, winning the prestigious Drama Critics Circle Award. Other successes followed, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), which won the Pulitzer Prize and helped launch the career of its young star, Marlon Brando; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955); and Suddenly Last Summer (1958). The American stage in the 1940s and 1950s was not yet ready to accept overt homosexuality, so Williams transformed his own tortured searching for sexual and emotional fulfillment into plays with remarkably frank heterosexual themes. This frankness and dreamy, poetic language are key elements of his style. In his later years, Williams suffered from drug and alcohol problems and was occasionally institutionalized for these and chronic depression. Though his later work never achieved the popular success of his early plays, Williams’s reputation in the American theater is secure.
威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯(1883-1963) 出生于新泽西州的卢瑟福;他的父亲是英国移民,母亲是来自波多黎各的巴斯克混血儿。在纽约市读高中时,他决定成为一名作家和医生。他毕业于宾夕法尼亚大学医学院,在那里他是埃兹拉·庞德和 HD(希尔达·杜利特尔)的朋友。在纽约完成实习后,威廉姆斯在看病之余写诗,然后在卢瑟福从事全科医学(他是艾伦·金斯伯格的儿科医生)。他的第一本诗集出版于 1909 年,随后他发表了诗歌、小说、短篇故事、戏剧、评论和散文。威廉姆斯最初是意象派运动的主要诗人之一,后来他试图发明一种全新的——具有鲜明美国特色的——诗歌,其主题集中在日常生活环境和普通人的生活上。威廉斯与华莱士·史蒂文斯一样,成为二十世纪最主要的诗人之一,并对同时代以及后世的诗人产生了巨大的影响。
William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) was born in Rutherford, New Jersey; his father was an English emigrant, and his mother was of mixed Basque descent from Puerto Rico. He decided to be both a writer and a doctor while in high school in New York City. He graduated from the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a friend of Ezra Pound and H. D. (Hilda Doolittle). After completing an internship in New York, writing poems between seeing patients, Williams practiced general medicine in Rutherford (he was Allen Ginsberg’s pediatrician). His first book of poems was published in 1909, and he subsequently published poems, novels, short stories, plays, criticism, and essays. Initially one of the principal poets of the Imagist movement, Williams later sought to invent an entirely fresh — and distinctly American — poetic whose subject matter was centered on the everyday circumstances of life and the lives of common people. Williams, like Wallace Stevens, became one of the major poets of the twentieth century and exerted great influence upon poets of his own and later generations.
奥古斯特·威尔逊(1945-2005)出生并成长于匹兹堡的非裔美国人聚居区希尔区,他的许多戏剧都以这里为背景。他被视为当代美国舞台上最重要的声音之一。威尔逊是混血儿,在他成长的过程中,他的白人父亲并不在他家中。威尔逊高中辍学,但继续广泛阅读,从诗歌开始他的严肃写作,他的戏剧中可以听到诗歌的韵律。20 世纪 60 年代,他参与了黑人权力运动,并开始将他的写作才能运用到舞台上。他最著名的作品是他的历史系列剧作被称为“匹兹堡系列”,探讨了非裔美国人经历的重要元素,每部剧作对应二十世纪的十年。其中包括《蓝调天后》(1985 年)、《藩篱》(1987 年)、《来来去去》(1988 年)、《钢琴课》(1990 年)和《七把吉他》(1996 年)。这些剧作都获得了纽约戏剧评论界奖,系列剧的最后一部剧作《高尔夫电台》(2005 年)获得了托尼奖提名。《藩篱》和《钢琴课》也为威尔逊赢得了普利策奖。
Born and raised in the Hill District, an African American section of Pittsburgh that provides the backdrop to many of his plays, August Wilson (1945–2005) has come to be seen as one of the most important voices on the contemporary American stage. Wilson was the son of a mixed-race marriage whose white father was not in the household when he was growing up. Wilson dropped out of high school but continued to read widely, beginning his serious writing with poetry, the rhythms of which can be heard in his plays. In the 1960s, he became involved in the Black Power movement and also began to turn his writing talents to the stage. His best-known work is his cycle of historical plays, known as “The Pittsburgh Cycle,” which examines important elements of African American experience and consists of one play for each decade of the twentieth century. Among these are Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1985), Fences (1987), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1988), The Piano Lesson (1990), and Seven Guitars (1996). Each of these plays won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the final play in the cycle, Radio Golf (2005), received a Tony Award nomination. Both Fences and The Piano Lesson also earned Wilson the Pulitzer Prize.
弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫(1882-1941)出生于一个社会名流、经济宽裕的英国家庭。伍尔夫由父母抚养长大,父母教她语言、文学和数学,她经常使用父亲的大图书馆。童年的夏天,她在康沃尔郡的一间小屋里度过,小屋俯瞰着戈德雷维灯塔,这成为了《到灯塔去》(1927 年)的灵感来源。她是一位多产的作家,作品包括《远航》(1915 年)、《达洛维夫人》(1925 年)、《奥兰多》(1928 年)和《一间自己的房间》(1929 年)。伍尔夫是后来被称为布卢姆斯伯里派的核心人物,该派由一群艺术家和知识分子组成,其中包括利顿·斯特雷奇、多拉·卡林顿、克莱夫·贝尔、EM 福斯特、伦纳德·伍尔夫和约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯。 1917 年,伍尔夫与丈夫伦纳德创办了霍加斯出版社,夫妻俩陆续出版了伍尔夫的作品以及 TS E liot和 Vita Sackville-West 的作品。伍尔夫成年后大部分时间都在与精神疾病作斗争,并于 1941 年自杀身亡。伍尔夫对女权主义理论和文学批评的影响不可估量,尤其是她著名的散文《一间自己的房间》。此外,她的技术和美学创新——尤其是她在写作中对意识流的运用——是一项无与伦比的成就,有助于塑造现在所谓的现代主义。
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was born into a well-connected and financially comfortable British family. Woolf was educated by her parents, who tutored her in languages, literature, and mathematics, and she made frequent use of her father’s enormous library. Her childhood summers were spent at a cottage in Cornwall that overlooked the Godrevy Lighthouse, which became the inspiration for To the Lighthouse (1927). She was a prolific author whose works include The Voyage Out (1915), Mrs. Dalloway (1925), Orlando (1928), and A Room of One’s Own (1929). Woolf was a central figure in what became known as the Bloomsbury group, a coterie of artists and intellectuals that included Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington, Clive Bell, E. M. Forster, Leonard Woolf, and John Maynard Keynes. In 1917, Woolf founded the Hogarth Press with husband Leonard in 1917, and the couple went on to publish Woolf’s work as well as works by T. S. Eliot and Vita Sackville-West. Woolf struggled with mental illness through much of her adult life and died by suicide in 1941. One cannot overstate the influence that Woolf has had on feminist theory and literary criticism, especially with her famous essay “A Room of One’s Own.” In addition, her technical and aesthetic innovations — especially her use of stream of consciousness in her writing — were an unparalleled achievement that helped to shape what is now referred to as Modernism.
威廉·华兹华斯(1770-1850) 出生并成长于英格兰湖区。他十三岁时父母双亡。他在剑桥学习,徒步游历欧洲,并在法国大革命初期在法国生活了一年。他返回英国,抛下情人安妮特·瓦隆和他们的女儿卡罗琳,但不久后因英法战争而与她们断绝关系。他遇到了塞缪尔·泰勒·柯尔律治,并于 1798 年出版了《抒情歌谣集》 ,这是英国浪漫主义运动的第一部伟大作品。他决定在诗中使用普通语言而不是夸张的诗意措辞(见词汇表),从而永远改变了诗歌。1799 年,他和妹妹多萝西搬到湖区的格拉斯米尔,并在那里与儿时好友玛丽·哈钦森结婚。他最伟大的作品创作于 1797 年至 1808 年之间。他在接下来的四十年里继续写作,但他的作品再也没有达到他早期诗歌的高度。1843 年,他被任命为桂冠诗人,直到 1850 年去世,他一直担任这一职位。
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was born and raised in the Lake District of England. Both his parents died by the time he was thirteen. He studied at Cambridge, toured Europe on foot, and lived in France for a year during the first part of the French Revolution. He returned to England, leaving behind a lover, Annette Vallon, and their daughter, Caroline, from whom he was soon cut off by war between England and France. He met Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and in 1798 they published Lyrical Ballads, the first great work of the English Romantic movement. He changed poetry forever by his decision to use common language in his poetry instead of heightened poetic diction (see the Glossary). In 1799, he and his sister Dorothy moved to Grasmere, in the Lake District, where he married Mary Hutchinson, a childhood friend. His greatest works were produced between 1797 and 1808. He continued to write for the next forty years, but his work never regained the heights of his earlier verse. In 1843 he was named poet laureate, a position he held until his death in 1850.
詹姆斯·赖特(1927-1980)在俄亥俄州马丁渡口长大,就读于凯尼恩学院,在那里,约翰·克罗·兰塞姆的影响使他的早期诗歌走向了形式主义。在获得富布赖特奖学金后,他在奥地利度过了一年,然后回到美国,获得了文学硕士学位和他在华盛顿大学获得博士学位,师从T heodore Roethke和 Stanley Kunitz。之后他又在明尼苏达大学、麦卡莱斯特学院和亨特学院任教。他的工人阶级背景和大萧条时期的贫困激起了他对穷人和各种“局外人”的同情,这些都塑造了他诗歌的基调和内容。他出版了许多诗集,他的《诗集》于 1972 年获得普利策奖。
James Wright (1927–1980) was raised in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, and attended Kenyon College, where the influence of John Crowe Ransom sent his early poetry in a formalist direction. After spending a year in Austria on a Fulbright fellowship, he returned to the United States and earned an MA and a PhD at the University of Washington, studying under Theodore Roethke and Stanley Kunitz. He went on to teach at the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and Hunter College. His working-class background and the poverty that he witnessed during the Depression stirred in him a sympathy for the poor and for “outsiders” of various sorts that shaped the tone and content of his poetry. He published numerous books of poetry, and his Collected Poems received the Pulitzer Prize in 1972.
托马斯·怀亚特爵士(1503-1542)出生于肯特郡,毕业于剑桥大学圣约翰学院。他一生大部分时间都是朝臣和外交官,曾担任亨利八世国王驻西班牙大使,并多次参加意大利和法国的使团。在旅行中,怀亚特发现了文艺复兴盛期的意大利作家,并翻译了他们的作品,从而将十四行诗形式引入英语。他曾两次被捕并被指控叛国罪,被关进伦敦塔,并于 1541 年无罪释放。当时的贵族诗人很少出版自己的诗歌;以手稿和出版的诗集(“杂集”)形式流传的作品由印刷商收集。其中最重要的是理查德·托特尔于 1557 年出版的一本名为《歌曲和十四行诗》的书,但俗称《托特尔杂记》,其中包括怀亚特的九十七首十四行诗和令人愉悦的抒情诗。
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) was born in Kent and was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge. He spent most of his life as a courtier and diplomat, serving King Henry VIII as ambassador to Spain and as a member of several missions to Italy and France. In his travels, Wyatt discovered the Italian writers of the High Renaissance, whose work he translated, thus introducing the sonnet form into English. He was arrested twice and charged with treason, sent to the Tower of London, and acquitted in 1541. Aristocratic poets at the time rarely published their poems themselves; works circulated in manuscript and in published collections (“miscellanies”) were gathered by printers. The most important of these is a volume published by Richard Tottel in 1557 titled Songs and Sonnets, but more commonly known as Tottel’s Miscellany, which includes ninety-seven of Wyatt’s sonnets and delightful lyrics.
威廉·巴特勒·叶芝(1865-1939 年)出生于都柏林桑迪芒特的一个英裔爱尔兰家庭。1883 年高中毕业后,他决定像父亲一样成为一名艺术家,并进入艺术学校学习,但很快便放弃了学业,专心创作诗歌。他的第一首诗于 1885 年发表在《都柏林大学评论》上。叶芝生性虔诚,但无法接受东正教,他终其一生都在探索深奥的哲学,寻找一种可以取代失落的宗教的传统。他加入了神智学会和金色黎明会,这两个团体都对东方神秘主义感兴趣,后来他发展出了一套私人的符号和神秘思想体系。受作家兼文学推动者格雷戈里夫人的影响,他对爱尔兰民族主义艺术产生了兴趣,并帮助创立了爱尔兰国家剧院和著名的阿贝剧院。他积极参与爱尔兰政治,尤其是在 1916 年复活节起义之后。他继续写作并修改早期的诗歌,留下了大量诗篇,这些诗篇因其多样性和力量而使他成为 20 世纪最伟大的英语诗人之一。1923 年,他获得了诺贝尔文学奖。
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was born in Sandymount, Dublin, to an Anglo-Irish family. After leaving high school in 1883, he decided to be an artist, like his father, and attended art school, but he soon gave it up to concentrate on poetry. His first poems were published in 1885 in the Dublin University Review. Religious by temperament but unable to accept orthodox Christianity, Yeats throughout his life explored esoteric philosophies in search of a tradition that would substitute for a lost religion. He became a member of the Theosophical Society and the Order of the Golden Dawn, two groups interested in Eastern occultism, and later developed a private system of symbols and mystical ideas. Through the influence of Lady Gregory, a writer and promoter of literature, he became interested in Irish nationalist art, helping to found the Irish National Theatre and the famous Abbey Theatre. He was actively involved in Irish politics, especially after the Easter Rising of 1916. He continued to write and to revise earlier poems, leaving behind a body of verse that, in its variety and power, placed him among the greatest twentieth-century poets of the English language. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.
莫妮卡·杨(生于 1971 年)毕业于圣阿格尼丝学院、普林斯顿大学、耶鲁大学法学院,获得法学博士学位,并获得了牛津大学哲学硕士学位,还曾是罗德学者。她曾是一名律师,目前是普林斯顿大学的诗歌教授。杨曾获得过美国国会图书馆和斯坦福大学的奖学金以及其他奖项。她还是种族想象研究所的成员。杨的诗集包括《Blackacre 》 (2016 年)、《Barter》(2003 年)和《Ignatz》(2010 年),后者入围了美国国家图书奖决赛。她的诗歌发表在许多期刊和选集中,包括《纽约客》、 《巴黎评论》和纽约时代杂志。
Monica Youn (b. 1971) earned degrees from St. Agnes Academy, Princeton University, Yale Law School with a JD, and Oxford University with an MPhil, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Formerly an attorney, she’s currently a professor of poetry at Princeton University. Youn has been awarded fellowships from the Library of Congress and Stanford University, among other awards. She is also a member of the Racial Imaginary Institute. Youn’s collections include Blackacre (2016), Barter (2003), and Ignatz (2010), which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the New Yorker, the Paris Review, and the New York Times Magazine.
哈维尔·萨莫拉(生于 1990 年) 出生于萨尔瓦多的拉埃拉杜拉,但九岁时移民到美国,与父母一起住在加利福尼亚。萨莫拉是《无人陪伴》(Copper Canyon Press, 2017) 和小册子《九年移民》的作者,该书是 2011 年有机武器艺术大赛的获奖者。萨莫拉获得过许多荣誉,包括国家艺术基金奖学金、CantoMundo 奖学金、诗歌基金会颁发的露丝·莉莉和多萝西·萨金特·罗森伯格诗歌奖学金以及兰南基金会奖学金。
Javier Zamora (b. 1990) was born in La Herradura, El Salvador, but immigrated to the United States at the age of nine to join his parents in California. Zamora is the author of Unaccompanied (Copper Canyon Press, 2017) and the chapbook Nueve Años Inmigrantes/Nine Immigrant Years, winner of the 2011 Organic Weapon Arts Contest. Zamora has received many honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a CantoMundo fellowship, a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and a Lannan Foundation Fellowship.
1国会图书馆于 1937 年首次任命诗歌顾问。1986 年,该头衔改为诗歌桂冠诗人顾问。任期为一年,从九月份开始,有时会续聘第二年。
1 The first appointment of a Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress was made in 1937. The title was changed to Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in 1986. Appointments are made for one year, beginning in September, and sometimes have been renewed for a second year.
本词汇表提供了本选集中使用的重要文学术语的定义。个别条目中以粗体突出显示的单词和短语在词汇表的其他地方有定义。
This glossary provides definitions for important literary terms used in this anthology. Words and phrases highlighted in boldface in individual entries are defined elsewhere in the glossary.
金·阿多尼齐奥 (Kim Addonizio),《初吻》,摘自金·阿多尼齐奥的《爱是什么:诗歌》。版权所有 © 2004 金·阿多尼齐奥。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Kim Addonizio, “First Kiss,” from What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems by Kim Addonizio. Copyright © 2004 by Kim Addonizio. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇 (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie),《脖子上的东西》,摘自奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇 (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) 所著的《脖子上的东西》 。版权所有 © 2009 奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇 (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)。经 Wylie Agency LLC 许可和 Vintage Canada/Alfred A. Knopf Canada(企鹅兰登书屋加拿大有限公司的一个部门)许可,转载本声明。保留所有权利。
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Thing Around Your Neck,” from The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Copyright © 2009 by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Reprinted by permission of the Wylie Agency LLC and by permission of Vintage Canada/Alfred A. Knopf Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. All rights reserved.
卡韦·阿克巴,《重蹈覆辙的酒鬼画像》,摘自《直言不讳》 。版权所有 © 2017 卡韦·阿克巴。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表 Alice James Books 转载,www.alicejamesbooks.org。
Kaveh Akbar, “Portrait of the Alcoholic with Relapse Fantasy,” from Calling a Wolf a Wolf. Copyright © 2017 by Kaveh Akbar. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Alice James Books, www.alicejamesbooks.org.
Sherman Alexie,《寄往哥伦布的明信片》,摘自《旧衬衫和新皮肤》。版权所有 © 1993 Sherman Alexie。经作者许可转载。《这就是说凤凰城,亚利桑那州的意义》,摘自 Sherman Alexie 的《天堂里的独行侠和汤托拳击》。版权所有 © 1993、2005 Sherman Alexie。经作者和 Grove/Atlantic, Inc. 许可使用。除本出版物外,禁止任何第三方使用本材料。
Sherman Alexie, “Postcards to Columbus,” from Old Shirts and New Skins. Copyright © 1993 by Sherman Alexie. Reprinted by permission of the author. “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. Copyright © 1993, 2005 by Sherman Alexie. Used by permission of the author and Grove/Atlantic, Inc. Any third-party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited.
匿名,《妻子的哀歌》,摘自《盎格鲁-撒克逊诗歌选集》 ,由理查德·哈默 (Richard Hamer) 编辑和翻译(伦敦:Faber and Faber,1970 年)。译文 © 1970 年、2015 年,作者:理查德·哈默。经 Faber and Faber Ltd. 许可使用。
Anonymous, “The Wife’s Lament,” from A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse, edited and translated by Richard Hamer (London: Faber and Faber, 1970). Translation © 1970, 2015 by Richard Hamer. Used by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.
纪尧姆·阿波利奈尔,《下雨了》,罗杰·沙特克译,摘自《精选作品》。版权所有 © 1971 罗杰·沙特克。经新方向出版公司许可转载。
Guillaume Apollinaire, “It’s Raining,” translated by Roger Shattuck, from Selected Writings. Copyright © 1971 by Roger Shattuck. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
法蒂玛·阿斯加尔 (Fatimah Asghar),《冥王星在宇宙中拉屎》。首次发表于《诗歌》杂志 (2015 年 4 月)。版权所有 © 2015 法蒂玛·阿斯加尔。经作者许可转载。
Fatimah Asghar, “Pluto Shits on the Universe.” First published in Poetry magazine (April 2015). Copyright © 2015 by Fatimah Asghar. Reprinted by permission of the author.
约翰·阿什伯里 (John Ashbery),《他们知道自己想要什么》,摘自约翰·阿什伯里的《星图》。版权所有 © 2009 约翰·阿什伯里。经哈珀柯林斯出版社许可使用。
John Ashbery, “They Knew What They Wanted,” from Planisphere by John Ashbery. Copyright © 2009 by John Ashbery. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
玛格丽特·阿特伍德,《幸福结局》,摘自玛格丽特·阿特伍德的《好骨头》和《简单谋杀案》。版权所有 © 1983、1992、1994 OW Toad, Ltd。经 Nan A. Talese 许可转载,Nan A. Talese 是 Knopf Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于 Penguin Random House LLC,经 McClelland & Stewart 许可转载,McClelland & Stewart 是 Penguin Random House Canada Limited 的子公司。保留所有权利。
Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings,” from Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood. Copyright © 1983, 1992, 1994 O.W. Toad, Ltd. Reprinted by permission of Nan A. Talese, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and by permission of McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. All rights reserved.
WH Auden,《葬礼蓝调(停止所有时钟)》,摘自WH Auden 的《WH Auden 诗集》 。版权所有 © 1940 年,WH Auden 于 1968 年续订。经企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司兰登书屋许可使用,并经柯蒂斯布朗有限公司许可使用。保留所有权利。
W. H. Auden, “Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks),” from W. H. Auden Collected Poems by W. H. Auden. Copyright © 1940 and renewed 1968 by W. H. Auden. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, and by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. All rights reserved.
吉米·圣地亚哥·巴卡,《家庭关系》,摘自《黑梅萨诗集》 。版权所有 © 1989 吉米·圣地亚哥·巴卡。经新方向出版公司许可转载。
Jimmy Santiago Baca, “Family Ties,” from Black Mesa Poems. Copyright © 1989 by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
诺亚·巴尔迪诺 (Noah Baldino),《逝去》,摘自《诗歌》杂志,2018 年 5 月。版权所有 © 2018 诺亚·巴尔迪诺。经作者许可转载。
Noah Baldino, “Passing,” from Poetry magazine, May 2018. Copyright © 2018 by Noah Baldino. Reprinted by permission of the author.
詹姆斯·鲍德温,《桑尼的布鲁斯》。版权所有 © 1957,詹姆斯·鲍德温于 1985 年续订。最初发表于《Partisan Review》。收录于 Vintage Books 出版的《去见那个人》。经詹姆斯·鲍德温遗产委员会同意使用。
James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues.” Copyright © 1957 and renewed 1985 by James Baldwin. Originally published in the Partisan Review. Collected in Going to Meet the Man, published by Vintage Books. Used by arrangement with the James Baldwin Estate.
托妮·凯德·班巴拉 (Toni Cade Bambara),《The Lesson》,选自托妮·凯德·班巴拉 (Toni Cade Bambara) 所著的《大猩猩,我的爱》。版权所有 © 1972 托妮·凯德·班巴拉。经兰登书屋许可使用,兰登书屋是企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson,” from Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. Copyright © 1972 by Toni Cade Bambara. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Neena Beber,《误读》,摘自路易斯维尔演员剧院的《十分钟戏剧:第 4 卷》,由 Michael Bigelow Dixon 和 Liz Engelman 编辑。版权所有 © 1998。经 Concord Theatricals 许可转载。
Neena Beber, Misreadings, from Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville, edited by Michael Bigelow Dixon and Liz Engelman. Copyright © 1998. Reprinted by permission of Concord Theatricals.
Jen Bervin,《64》(删除了莎士比亚的 64 首十四行诗),摘自Jen Bervin 的《网》(Ugly Duckling Presse,2003 年)。经作者和 Ugly Duckling Presse 许可转载。
Jen Bervin, “64” (erasure of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 64), from Nets by Jen Bervin (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2003). Reprinted by permission of the author and Ugly Duckling Presse.
伊丽莎白·毕晓普,《鱼》和《一种艺术》,摘自伊丽莎白·毕晓普的《1927-1979 年完整诗集》 。版权所有 © 1979、1983,爱丽丝·海伦·梅特费塞尔所有。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish” and “One Art,” from The Complete Poems 1927–1979 by Elizabeth Bishop. Copyright © 1979, 1983 by Alice Helen Methfessel. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
格温多林·布鲁克斯,《母亲》和《我们很酷》,摘自格温多林·布鲁克斯的《黑人》 。版权所有 © 1991 格温多林·布鲁克斯。经 Brooks Permissions 同意转载。
Gwendolyn Brooks, “the mother” and “We Real Cool,” from Blacks by Gwendolyn Brooks. Copyright © 1991 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Reprinted by consent of Brooks Permissions.
Jericho Brown,《要点》,摘自《传统》 。最初发表于BuzzFeed(2016 年 3 月 20 日)。版权所有 © 2016、2019,Jericho Brown。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Copper Canyon Press 许可转载,网址:coppercanyonpress.org。
Jericho Brown, “Bullet Points,” from The Tradition. Originally published in BuzzFeed (March 20, 2016). Copyright © 2016, 2019 by Jericho Brown. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org.
Mahogany L. Browne,《黑人女孩魔法》,摘自Mahogany L. Browne 的《黑人女孩魔法:一首诗》。版权所有 © 2018 Mahogany L. Browne,插画师 Jess X. Snow。经 Roaring Brook Press(Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership 的一个部门)许可转载。保留所有权利。
Mahogany L. Browne, “Black Girl Magic,” from Black Girl Magic: A Poem by Mahogany L. Browne. Copyright © 2018 by Mahogany L. Browne, illustrated by Jess X. Snow. Reprinted by permission of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership. All rights reserved.
雷蒙德·卡佛,《大教堂》,摘自雷蒙德·卡佛的《大教堂》 。版权所有 © 1981、1982、1983,作者 Tess Gallagher。经 Alfred A. Knopf 许可使用,Alfred A. Knopf 是 Knopf Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于 Penguin Random House LLC。保留所有权利。
Raymond Carver, “Cathedral,” from Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Copyright © 1981, 1982, 1983 by Tess Gallagher. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
亚历山大·奇,《我的》,摘自《普通人:生活的颜色——短篇小说选集》,詹妮弗·贝克编辑。版权所有 © 2018 年西蒙与舒斯特公司汇编。经西蒙与舒斯特公司旗下 Atria Books 许可转载。保留所有权利。
Alexander Chee, “Mine,” from Everyday People: The Color of Life — A Short Story Anthology, edited by Jennifer Baker. Copyright © compilation 2018 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
约翰·契弗,《重聚》,现收录于《约翰·契弗短篇小说集》。版权所有 © 1977、1978,约翰·契弗所有。经 Wylie Agency LLC 许可使用。
John Cheever, “Reunion,” currently collected in Collected Stories by John Cheever. Copyright © 1977, 1978 by John Cheever. Used by permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.
特德·姜,《伟大的沉默》,摘自《呼气:特德·姜短篇小说集》。特德·姜编著版权所有 © 2019。经阿尔弗雷德·A·克诺夫出版社许可使用,该出版社是克诺夫双日出版集团的子公司,隶属于企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司。保留所有权利。
Ted Chiang, “The Great Silence,” from Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang. Compilation copyright © 2019 by Ted Chiang. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
玛丽莲·钦,《我的名字是怎么来的》,摘自《凤凰归去》、《空露台》。版权所有 © 1994 玛丽莲·钦。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Milkweed Editions 许可转载,milkweed.org。
Marilyn Chin, “How I Got That Name,” from The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty. Copyright © 1994 by Marilyn Chin. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Milkweed Editions, milkweed.org.
桑德拉·希斯内罗斯,《我的名字》,摘自桑德拉·希斯内罗斯的《芒果街上的小屋》 。版权所有 © 1984 年,桑德拉·希斯内罗斯。由 Vintage Books(企鹅兰登书屋的一个部门)出版,并由 Alfred A. Knopf 于 1994 年出版精装本。经纽约州纽约市和新墨西哥州拉米市的 Susan Bergholz Literary Services 许可转载。保留所有权利。
Sandra Cisneros, “My Name,” from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Copyright © 1984 by Sandra Cisneros. Published by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House, and in hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf in 1994. Reprinted by permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York, NY, and Lamy, NM. All rights reserved.
露西尔·克利夫顿,《在墓地,核桃林种植园,南卡罗来纳州,1989 年》,摘自《露西尔·克利夫顿诗集》。版权所有 © 1991 露西尔·克利夫顿。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 BOA Editions Ltd. 许可转载,www.boaeditions.org。《向我的臀部致敬》,版权所有 © 1980 露西尔·克利夫顿。最初发表于《双头女人》 (马萨诸塞大学出版社,1980 年)。现刊登于露西尔·克利夫顿所著的《露西尔·克利夫顿诗集 1965–2010》,由 BOA Editions 出版。经 Curtis Brown, Ltd. 许可转载。
Lucille Clifton, “at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989,” from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton. Copyright © 1991 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of BOA Editions Ltd., www.boaeditions.org. “homage to my hips,” copyright © 1980 by Lucille Clifton. Originally published in two-headed woman (University of Massachusetts Press, 1980). Now appears in The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965–2010 by Lucille Clifton, published by BOA Editions. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
朱迪思·奥尔蒂斯·科弗 (Judith Ortiz Cofer),《拉丁熟食店:诗学》,摘自朱迪思·奥尔蒂斯·科弗 (Judith Ortiz Cofer) 所著的《拉丁熟食店:散文与诗歌》。1992 年首次发表于《美洲评论》。版权所有 © 1992 Arte Público Press – 休斯顿大学。经许可转载。
Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica,” from The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry by Judith Ortiz Cofer. First published in 1992 in the Americas Review. Copyright © 1992 Arte Público Press – University of Houston. Reprinted with permission.
比利·柯林斯,《健忘》,摘自比利·柯林斯的《天使问题》 。版权所有 © 1991。经匹兹堡大学出版社许可转载。
Billy Collins, “Forgetfulness,” from Questions About Angels by Billy Collins. Copyright © 1991. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
爱德华多·科拉尔 (Eduardo Corral),《在科罗拉多州,我的父亲擦洗并堆放盘子》,摘自《诗歌》杂志,2012 年 4 月。经作者许可转载。
Eduardo Corral, “In Colorado My Father Scoured and Stacked Dishes,” from Poetry magazine, April 2012. Reprinted by permission of the author.
尼洛·克鲁兹 (Nilo Cruz),《热带安娜》。版权所有 © 2003 尼洛·克鲁兹。由 Theatre Communications Group 出版。经 Theatre Communications Group 许可使用。
Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics. Copyright © 2003 by Nilo Cruz. Published by Theatre Communications Group. Used by permission of Theatre Communications Group.
康蒂·卡伦,《事件》,摘自《我的灵魂高歌》。版权所有 © 1991 Anchor/Doubleday NY。最初由康蒂·卡伦以彩色形式出版。版权归 Harper & Brothers 所有,1925 年;版权由 Ida M. Cullen 于 1952 年续订。版权归路易斯安那州新奥尔良杜兰大学 Amistad 研究中心所有。许可由纽约布鲁克林的 Thompson and Thompson 管理。
Countee Cullen, “Incident,” from My Soul’s High Song. Copyright © 1991 Anchor/Doubleday NY. Originally published in Color by Countee Cullen. Copyright 1925 by Harper & Brothers; copyright renewed 1952 by Ida M. Cullen. Copyright held by Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. Licensing administered by Thompson and Thompson, Brooklyn, NY.
EE Cummings,《当然,上帝旁边是美利坚》,摘自EE Cummings 所著《完整诗歌:1904–1962》,由 George J. Firmage 编辑。版权所有 1926 年、1954 年,© 1991 年 EE Cummings Trust 受托人所有。版权所有 © 1985 年 George James Firmage 所有。经 Liveright Publishing Corporation 许可使用。
E. E. Cummings, “next to of course god america i,” from Complete Poems: 1904–1962 by E. E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage. Copyright 1926, 1954, © 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust. Copyright © 1985 by George James Firmage. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
马哈茂德·达维什,《身份证》,摘自《人肉音乐》,丹尼斯·约翰逊-戴维斯译(三洲出版社,1980 年)。版权所有 © 马哈茂德·达维什,翻译版权所有 © 1980 丹尼斯·约翰逊-戴维斯。经 Paola Crociani 和马哈茂德·达维什基金会许可使用。
Mahmoud Darwish, “Identity Card,” from The Music of Human Flesh, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies (Three Continents Press, 1980). Copyright © Mahmoud Darwish, translation copyright © 1980 by Denys Johnson-Davies. Used by permission of Paola Crociani and the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation.
奥利弗·德拉帕兹,《自闭症筛查问卷——言语和语言发育迟缓》,摘自奥利弗·德拉帕兹的《迷宫中的男孩》 。版权所有 © 2019 阿克伦大学出版社。首次发表于《诗歌》杂志,2017 年 7 月/8 月。经阿克伦大学出版社许可转载。
Oliver de la Paz, “Autism Screening Questionnaire — Speech and Language Delay,” from The Boy in the Labyrinth by Oliver de la Paz. Copyright © 2019 by the University of Akron Press. First published in Poetry magazine, July/August 2017. Reprinted by permission of the University of Akron Press.
托伊·德里科特 (Toi Derricotte),《我儿子脸上的一张纸条》,摘自托伊·德里科特 (Toi Derricotte) 的《囚禁》。版权所有 © 1989。经匹兹堡大学出版社许可转载。
Toi Derricotte, “A Note on My Son’s Face,” from Captivity by Toi Derricotte. Copyright © 1989. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
朱诺特·迪亚兹,《嘉年华,1980》,摘自朱诺特·迪亚兹的《溺亡》。版权所有 © 1996 朱诺特·迪亚兹。经 Riverhead 出版社许可使用,Riverhead 出版社是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
Junot Díaz, “Fiesta, 1980,” from Drown by Junot Díaz. Copyright © 1996 by Junot Díaz. Used by permission of Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
娜塔莉·迪亚兹,《当我的弟弟是阿兹特克人时》,摘自《当我的弟弟是阿兹特克人时》。版权所有 © 2012 娜塔莉·迪亚兹。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,代表 Copper Canyon Press 转载,www.coppercanyonpress.org。
Natalie Diaz, “When My Brother Was an Aztec,” from When My Brother Was an Aztec. Copyright © 2012 by Natalie Diaz. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.
艾米莉·狄金森,《因为我无法等待死亡》、《我死的时候听到苍蝇嗡嗡叫》和《疯狂是最神圣的感觉》,摘自《艾米莉·狄金森诗集》,由托马斯·H·约翰逊编辑,马萨诸塞州剑桥:哈佛大学出版社贝尔纳普出版社。《有一种光的倾斜》,摘自《艾米莉·狄金森诗集:附录版》,由拉尔夫·W·富兰克林编辑,马萨诸塞州剑桥:哈佛大学出版社贝尔纳普出版社。版权所有 © 1951 年、1955 年,哈佛大学校长及研究员。版权所有 © 1979 年、1983 年,哈佛大学校长及研究员更新。版权所有 © 1914、1918、1919、1924、1929、1930、1932、1935、1937、1942,作者 Martha Dickinson Bianchi。版权所有 © 1952、1957、1958、1963、1965,作者 Mary L. Hampson。经哈佛大学出版社许可转载。
Emily Dickinson, “Because I could not stop for Death,” “I heard a Fly buzz — when I died,” and “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” from The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. “There’s a certain Slant of light,” from The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, edited by Ralph W. Franklin, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Copyright © 1951, 1955 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1918, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965 by Mary L. Hampson. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press.
凯蒂·迪登,《拥抱他们所有人》,摘自《冰川的余波》 。版权所有 © 2013 凯蒂·迪登。经 Pleiades Press 许可转载。
Katy Didden, “ ‘Embrace Them All,’ ” from The Glacier’s Wake. Copyright © 2013 by Katy Didden. Reprinted by permission of Pleiades Press.
马克·多蒂,《鲭鱼展示》,摘自马克·多蒂的《亚特兰蒂斯》。版权所有 © 1995 马克·多蒂。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Mark Doty, “A Display of Mackerel,” from Atlantis by Mark Doty. Copyright © 1995 by Mark Doty. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
丽塔·多夫,《五年级自传》,摘自丽塔·多夫的《Grace Notes》。版权所有 © 1989 丽塔·多夫。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Rita Dove, “Fifth Grade Autobiography,” from Grace Notes by Rita Dove. Copyright © 1989 by Rita Dove. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
大英百科全书编辑,摘录自《威廉·巴特勒·叶芝》。版权所有 © 2019
Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, excerpt from “William Butler Yeats.” Copyright © 2019 by
大英百科全书公司。经大英百科全书许可转载。
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Reprinted with permission from Encyclopædia Britannica.
拉尔夫·埃里森 (Ralph Ellison),《第一章 [大逃杀]》,摘自拉尔夫·埃里森 (Ralph Ellison) 所著的《隐形人》。版权所有 © 1948 年,并于 1976 年由拉尔夫·埃里森 (Ralph Ellison) 续订。经兰登书屋 (Random House) 许可使用,兰登书屋是企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司 (Penguin Random House LLC) 的子公司和分部。保留所有权利。
Ralph Ellison, “Chapter 1 [Battle Royal],” from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Copyright © 1948 and renewed 1976 by Ralph Ellison. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
路易丝·厄德里奇,《印第安寄宿学校:逃亡者》,摘自路易丝·厄德里奇的《原火》。版权所有 © 2003 路易丝·厄德里奇。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。《红色敞篷车》,摘自路易丝·厄德里奇的《红色敞篷车:精选和新故事,1978–2008》。版权所有 © 2009 路易丝·厄德里奇。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Louise Erdrich, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways,” from Original Fire by Louise Erdrich. Copyright © 2003 by Louise Erdrich. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. “The Red Convertible,” from The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978–2008 by Louise Erdrich. Copyright © 2009 by Louise Erdrich. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
马丁·埃斯帕达 (Martín Espada),《阿拉班扎:对当地 100 人的赞美》,摘自《阿拉班扎:马丁·埃斯帕达 1982-2002 年新诗选》。版权所有 © 2003 Martín Espada。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Martín Espada, “Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100,” from Alabanza: New and Selected Poems 1982–2002 by Martín Espada. Copyright © 2003 by Martín Espada. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Tarfia Faizullah,《前往孟加拉国的路上,又一场信仰危机》,摘自Tarfia Faizullah 所著的《Seam》。版权所有 © 2014 Tarfia Faizullah。经南伊利诺伊大学出版社许可转载。
Tarfia Faizullah, “En Route to Bangladesh, Another Crisis of Faith,” from Seam by Tarfia Faizullah. Copyright © 2014 by Tarfia Faizullah. Reprinted by permission of Southern Illinois University Press.
威廉·福克纳,《献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰》,摘自威廉·福克纳的《威廉·福克纳短篇小说集》。版权归威廉·福克纳所有,1930 年,1958 年续订。经兰登书屋(企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司)许可使用,经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。保留所有权利。
William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily,” from Collected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner. Copyright 1930 and © renewed 1958 by William Faulkner. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, and by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
凯西·菲什 (Kathy Fish),《野生人类的集合名词》,最初发表于《水母评论》,2017 年 10 月 13 日;后来被收录于凯西·菲什的《野生动物:2003-2018 年文集》。版权所有 © 2017 凯西·菲什。经作者许可转载。
Kathy Fish, “Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild,” originally published in Jellyfish Review, October 13, 2017; later collected in Wild Life: Collected Works, 2003–2018 by Kathy Fish. Copyright © 2017 by Kathy Fish. Reprinted by permission of the author.
卡罗琳·福尔切 (Carolyn Forché),《船夫》,摘自《迟来的世界:卡罗琳·福尔切的诗集》。版权所有 © 2020 卡罗琳·福尔切。经企鹅出版社许可使用,企鹅出版社是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
Carolyn Forché, “The Boatman,” from In the Lateness of the World: Poems by Carolyn Forché. Copyright © 2020 by Carolyn Forché. Used by permission of Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
罗伯特·弗罗斯特,《熟悉黑夜》,摘自《罗伯特·弗罗斯特的诗集》 ,由爱德华·康纳利·莱瑟姆编辑。版权所有 © 1928、1969 亨利·霍尔特公司。版权所有 © 1956 罗伯特·弗罗斯特。经亨利·霍尔特公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Robert Frost, “Acquainted with the Night,” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1928, 1969 by Henry Holt and Company. Copyright © 1956 by Robert Frost. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved.
理查德·加西亚,《我为何离开教会》,摘自理查德·加西亚所著《飞翔的加西亚》 。版权所有 © 1993。经匹兹堡大学出版社许可转载。
Richard Garcia, “Why I Left the Church,” from The Flying Garcias by Richard Garcia. Copyright © 1993. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
加夫列尔·加西亚·马尔克斯,《长着巨大翅膀的老人》,摘自加夫列尔·加西亚·马尔克斯的《树叶风暴和其他故事》,格雷戈里·拉巴萨翻译。英文翻译版权 © 1972 Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 另加:Gabriel García Márquez,“Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes”,La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Erendira y de su abuela desalmada。 © 加夫列尔·加西亚·马尔克斯,1972 年,加夫列尔·加西亚·马尔克斯的传记。经 HarperCollins Publishers 和 Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells SA 许可使用
Gabriel García Márquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” from Leaf Storm and Other Stories by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa. English translation copyright © 1972 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Also: Gabriel García Márquez, “Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes,” La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Erendira y de su abuela desalmada. © Gabriel García Márquez, 1972, y herederos de Gabriel García Márquez. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers and Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells S.A.
罗斯·盖伊 (Ross Gay),《A Small Needful Fact》,摘自Split This Rock的《采石场:社会正义诗歌数据库》。版权所有 © 2015 罗斯·盖伊。经作者许可转载。
Ross Gay, “A Small Needful Fact,” from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database. Copyright © 2015 by Ross Gay. Reprinted by permission of the author.
杰克·吉尔伯特,《失败与飞翔》,摘自杰克·吉尔伯特的《拒绝天堂》。版权所有 © 2005 杰克·吉尔伯特。经阿尔弗雷德·A·克诺夫出版社许可使用,该出版社是克诺夫 Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司。保留所有权利。
Jack Gilbert, “Failing and Flying,” from Refusing Heaven by Jack Gilbert. Copyright © 2005 by Jack Gilbert. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
艾伦·金斯堡,《加州的一家超市》,摘自艾伦·金斯堡的《1947-1980 年诗集》。版权所有 © 1984 艾伦·金斯堡。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California,” from Collected Poems 1947–1980 by Allen Ginsberg. Copyright © 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
达娜·乔亚 (Dana Gioia),《多数》,摘自《99 首诗:新诗与选集》。版权所有 © 2012 达娜·乔亚。经作者许可和 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯的 Graywolf Press 转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
Dana Gioia, “Majority,” from 99 Poems: New & Selected. Copyright © 2012 by Dana Gioia. Reprinted with the permission of the author and with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
Aracelis Girmay,《西瓜颂》,摘自《牙齿:诗歌》。版权所有 © 2007 Aracelis Girmay。保留所有权利。经西北大学出版社许可转载。
Aracelis Girmay, “Ode to the Watermelon,” from Teeth: Poems. Copyright © 2007 by Aracelis Girmay. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Northwestern University Press.
路易丝·格吕克,《山梅花》,摘自路易丝·格吕克的《前四本诗集》 。版权所有 © 1968、1971、1972、1973、1974、1975、1976、1977、1978、1979、1980、1985、1995 路易丝·格吕克。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Louise Glück, “Mock Orange,” from The First Four Books of Poems by Louise Glück. Copyright © 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1995 by Louise Glück. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Jorie Graham,《祈祷》,摘自Jorie Graham 所著的《永不》 。版权所有 © 2002 Jorie Graham。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Jorie Graham, “Prayer,” from Never by Jorie Graham. Copyright © 2002 by Jorie Graham. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
琳达·格雷格森,《浪子》,选自《磁北:琳达·格雷格森的诗》。版权所有 © 2007 琳达·格雷格森。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Linda Gregerson, “Prodigal,” from Magnetic North: Poems by Linda Gregerson. Copyright © 2007 by Linda Gregerson. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
HD(希尔达·杜利特尔),《海伦》,选自《诗集》,1912-1944 年。版权所有 © 1982 希尔达·杜利特尔遗产。经新方向出版公司许可转载。
H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), “Helen,” from Collected Poems, 1912–1944. Copyright © 1982 by The Estate of Hilda Doolittle. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
乔伊·哈乔,《我还给你》(“恐惧诗”),摘自乔伊·哈乔的《她有几匹马》。版权所有 © 1983 年乔伊·哈乔所有。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Joy Harjo, “I Give You Back” (“Fear Poem”), from She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo. Copyright © 1983 by Joy Harjo. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
罗伯特·海登,《中间通道》,摘自弗雷德里克·格莱舍尔编辑的《罗伯特·海登诗集》。版权所有 © 1962、1966,作者:罗伯特·海登。经 Liveright Publishing Corporation 许可使用。
Robert Hayden, “Middle Passage,” from Collected Poems of Robert Hayden, edited by Frederick Glaysher. Copyright © 1962, 1966 by Robert Hayden. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
特伦斯·海耶斯,《谈话》,摘自特伦斯·海耶斯的《盒子里的风》 。版权所有 © 2006 特伦斯·海耶斯。经企鹅图书许可使用,企鹅图书是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
Terrance Hayes, “Talk,” from Wind in a Box by Terrance Hayes. Copyright © 2006 by Terrance Hayes. Used by permission of Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
谢默斯·希尼,《挖掘》和《期中休息》,摘自谢默斯·希尼的《开阔的土地:1966-1996 年精选诗集》。版权所有 © 1998 谢默斯·希尼。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 和 Faber and Faber, Ltd. 许可转载。
Seamus Heaney, “Digging” & “Mid-Term Break,” from Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966–1996 by Seamus Heaney. Copyright © 1998 by Seamus Heaney. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Faber and Faber, Ltd.
欧内斯特·海明威,《白象似的群山》,摘自欧内斯特·海明威的《没有女人的男人》 。版权归查尔斯·斯克里布纳之子所有,1927 年;欧内斯特·海明威于 1955 年续订版权。经 Scribner(西蒙与舒斯特公司下属部门)许可转载。保留所有权利。
Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants,” from Men without Women by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright 1927 by Charles Scribner’s Sons; copyright renewed © 1955 by Ernest Hemingway. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Victor Hernández Cruz,《飓风带来的麻烦》,摘自《马拉卡:新诗选集,1965–2000》。版权所有 © 2001 Victor Hernández Cruz。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Coffee House Press 许可转载,www.coffeehousepress.org。
Victor Hernández Cruz, “Problems with Hurricanes,” from Maraca: New and Selected Poems, 1965–2000. Copyright © 2001 by Victor Hernández Cruz. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
托尼·霍格兰,《欲望史》,摘自《甜蜜的废墟》。版权所有 © 1992 威斯康星大学系统董事会。经威斯康星大学出版社许可转载。
Tony Hoagland, “History of Desire,” from Sweet Ruin. Copyright © 1992 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Reprinted by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press.
琳达·霍根 (Linda Hogan),《乌鸦法则》,摘自《黑暗。甜蜜:新诗与精选》。版权所有 © 1993 琳达·霍根。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Coffee House Press 许可转载,www.coffeehousepress.org。
Linda Hogan, “Crow Law,” from Dark. Sweet.: New & Selected Poems. Copyright © 1993 by Linda Hogan. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
玛丽·豪,《死亡,最后一次拜访》,摘自《好贼》。版权所有 © 1988 玛丽·豪。经 Persea Books, Inc.(纽约)许可转载,www.perseabooks.com。保留所有权利。
Marie Howe, “Death, the last visit,” from The Good Thief. Copyright © 1988 by Marie Howe. Reprinted with the permission of Persea Books, Inc. (New York), www.perseabooks.com. All rights reserved.
兰斯顿·休斯,《哈莱姆》、《英语 B 主题曲》和《疲倦的蓝调》,选自兰斯顿·休斯所著的《兰斯顿·休斯诗集》 ,由阿诺德·兰佩萨德编辑,大卫·罗塞尔担任副主编。版权所有 © 1994 兰斯顿·休斯遗产。经阿尔弗雷德·A·克诺夫出版社许可使用,阿尔弗雷德·A·克诺夫出版社是克诺夫 Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司,经哈罗德·奥伯联合公司许可使用。保留所有权利。
Langston Hughes, “Harlem,” “Theme for English B,” and “The Weary Blues,” from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad with David Roessel, Associate Editor. Copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated. All rights reserved.
小林一茶,《我时刻向佛祖祈祷》、《别担心,蜘蛛》和《出去,/回来》 ,摘自罗伯特·哈斯编辑的《俳句精选》 。简介和选段版权所有 © 1994 罗伯特·哈斯。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Kobayashi Issa, “All the time I pray to Buddha,” “Don’t worry, spiders,” and “Goes out, / comes back,” from The Essential Haiku, edited by Robert Hass. Introduction and selection copyright © 1994 by Robert Hass. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
雪莉·杰克逊,《彩票》,摘自雪莉·杰克逊的《彩票》 。版权所有 © 1948 年、1949 年,雪莉·杰克逊。版权于 1976 年、1977 年续期,由劳伦斯·海曼、巴里·海曼、萨拉·韦伯斯特夫人和乔安妮·施努勒夫人所有。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery,” from The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Copyright © 1948, 1949 by Shirley Jackson. Copyright renewed 1976, 1977 by Laurence Hyman, Barry Hyman, Mrs. Sarah Webster, and Mrs. Joanne Schnurer. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
兰德尔·贾雷尔,《球形炮塔机枪手之死》,摘自兰德尔·贾雷尔的《完整诗集》。版权所有 © 1969,1997 年由玛丽·冯·S·贾雷尔续订。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Randall Jarrell, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” from The Complete Poems by Randall Jarrell. Copyright © 1969, renewed 1997 by Mary von S. Jarrell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
荣誉法农·杰弗斯 (Honorée Fanonne Jeffers),《身份不明的女学生,前奴隶(塔拉迪加学院,约 1885 年)》,摘自《异域蓝调》。版权所有 © 2003 荣誉法农·杰弗斯。经卫斯理大学出版社许可转载。
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, “Unidentified Female Student, Former Slave (Talladega College, circa 1885),” from Outlandish Blues. Copyright © 2003 by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press.
珍妮·约翰逊,《尾巴》,摘自《In Full Velvet》。版权所有 © 2017 珍妮·约翰逊。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,代表 Sarabande Books 转载,网址:sarabandebooks.com。
Jenny Johnson, “Tail,” from In Full Velvet. Copyright © 2017 by Jenny Johnson. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Sarabande Books, sarabandebooks.com.
A. Van Jordan,《来自》,摘自MACNOLIA:A. Van Jordan 的诗集。版权所有 © 2004 A. Van Jordan。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
A. Van Jordan, “From,” from M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A: Poems by A. Van Jordan. Copyright © 2004 by A. Van Jordan. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
艾莉森·约瑟夫,《被告知我说话不像黑人》,摘自《模仿生活》。版权所有 © 2003 艾莉森·约瑟夫。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表卡内基梅隆大学出版社转载,www.cmu.edu /universitypress 。
Allison Joseph, “On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person,” from Imitation of Life. Copyright © 2003 by Allison Joseph. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Carnegie Mellon University Press, www.cmu.edu/universitypress.
弗朗茨·卡夫卡,《变形记》,安·查特斯译。版权所有 © 2002 安·查特斯。经安·查特斯许可转载。
Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis,” translated by Ann Charters. Copyright © 2002 by Ann Charters. Reprinted by permission of Ann Charters.
伊利亚·卡明斯基,《战争期间我们过得很幸福》,摘自《聋人共和国》。版权所有 © 2018 伊利亚·卡明斯基。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市 Graywolf Press 转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
Ilya Kaminsky, “We Lived Happily during the War,” from Deaf Republic. Copyright © 2018 by Ilya Kaminsky. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
简·肯扬,《幸福》,摘自《诗集》 。版权所有 © 2005 简·肯扬遗产。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Graywolf Press 许可转载,graywolfpress.org。
Jane Kenyon, “Happiness,” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 2005 by The Estate of Jane Kenyon. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, graywolfpress.org.
Suji Kwock Kim,《占领》,摘自《分裂国家的笔记: Suji Kwock Kim 的诗》。版权所有 © 2003。经路易斯安那州立大学出版社许可转载。
Suji Kwock Kim, “Occupation,” from Notes from the Divided Country: Poems by Suji Kwock Kim. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press.
牙买加·金凯德,《女孩》,摘自牙买加·金凯德的《河底》。版权所有 © 1983 牙买加·金凯德。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl,” from At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid. Copyright © 1983 by Jamaica Kincaid. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Galway Kinnell,《做爱后我们听到脚步声》,摘自Galway Kinnell 所著的《凡人行为,凡人言语》 。版权所有 © 1980,2008 年 Galway Kinnell 续订。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。第 3 部分摘自 Galway Kinnell 所著的《当一个人独居很久时》 。版权所有 © 1990,Galway Kinnell。经 Alfred A. Knopf 许可使用,Alfred A. Knopf 是 Knopf Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于 Penguin Random House LLC。保留所有权利。
Galway Kinnell, “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps,” from Mortal Acts, Mortal Words by Galway Kinnell. Copyright © 1980, renewed 2008 by Galway Kinnell. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Section 3 from “When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone,” from When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone by Galway Kinnell. Copyright © 1990 by Galway Kinnell. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
埃瑟里奇·奈特 (Etheridge Knight),《硬石乐队从精神病罪犯医院重返监狱》,摘自埃瑟里奇·奈特 (Etheridge Knight) 所著的《埃瑟里奇·奈特精选》。版权所有 © 1986。经匹兹堡大学出版社许可转载。
Etheridge Knight, “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane,” from The Essential Etheridge Knight by Etheridge Knight. Copyright © 1986. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Yusef Komunyakaa,《面对它》,选自《霓虹白话》。版权所有 © 1993 Yusef Komunyakaa。经卫斯理大学出版社许可转载。
Yusef Komunyakaa, “Facing It,” from Neon Vernacular. Copyright © 1993 by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
马克辛·库明 (Maxine Kumin),《晨泳》,选自马克辛·库明的《1960-1990 年精选诗集》。版权所有 © 1965 年,马克辛·库明所有。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Maxine Kumin, “Morning Swim,” from Selected Poems 1960–1990 by Maxine Kumin. Copyright © 1965 by Maxine Kumin. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
李立扬,《独自进餐》,摘自《玫瑰》。版权所有 © 1986 李立扬。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 BOA Editions, Ltd. 许可转载,www .boaeditions.org。
Li-Young Lee, “Eating Alone,” from Rose. Copyright © 1986 by Li-Young Lee. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of BOA Editions, Ltd., www .boaeditions.org.
丹尼斯·莱弗托夫 (Denise Levertov),《婚姻的痛苦》,摘自《1960-1967 年诗歌》。版权所有 © 1964 丹尼斯·莱弗托夫。经新方向出版公司 (New Directions Publishing Corp.) 许可转载。
Denise Levertov, “The Ache of Marriage,” from Poems 1960–1967. Copyright © 1964 by Denise Levertov. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
菲利普·莱文,《工作是什么》,摘自菲利普·莱文的《工作是什么》。版权所有 © 1991 菲利普·莱文。经阿尔弗雷德·A·克诺夫出版社许可使用,该出版社是克诺夫 Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司。保留所有权利。
Philip Levine, “What Work Is,” from What Work Is by Philip Levine. Copyright © 1991 by Philip Levine. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
李翊云,《千年祈福》,摘自《千年祈福:李翊云的故事》。版权所有 © 2005 李翊云。经兰登书屋许可使用,兰登书屋是企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司和分部。保留所有权利。
Yiyun Li, “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” from A Thousand Years of Good Prayers: Stories by Yiyun Li. Copyright © 2005 by Yiyun Li. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Ada Limón,《如何像女孩一样胜利》,摘自《Bright Dead Things》。版权所有 © 2015 Ada Limón。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Milkweed Editions( milkweed.org)许可转载。
Ada Limón, “How to Triumph Like a Girl,” from Bright Dead Things. Copyright © 2015 by Ada Limón. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Milkweed Editions, milkweed.org.
帕特里夏·洛克伍德,《强奸笑话》,摘自帕特里夏·洛克伍德所著的《祖国、父亲、祖国、性取向》 。版权所有 © 2014 帕特里夏·洛克伍德。经企鹅图书许可使用,企鹅图书是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
Patricia Lockwood, “Rape Joke,” from Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals by Patricia Lockwood. Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Lockwood. Used by permission of Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Layli Long Soldier,《38》,摘自Whereas。版权所有 © 2017 Layli Long Soldier。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市 Graywolf Press 转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
Layli Long Soldier, “38,” from Whereas. Copyright © 2017 by Layli Long Soldier. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
费德里科·加西亚·洛尔迦,《黎明》,摘自费德里科·加西亚·洛尔迦所著的《诗人在纽约》。译本版权归 © 1988 费德里科·加西亚·洛尔迦遗产委员会以及格雷格·西蒙和史蒂芬·F·怀特所有。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Federico García Lorca, “Dawn,” from Poet in New York by Federico García Lorca. Translation copyright © 1988 by The Estate of Federico García Lorca, and Greg Simon and Steven F. White. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
奥德丽·洛德,《煤炭》,摘自奥德丽·洛德的《低沉的歌声:精选的新旧诗歌》。版权所有 © 1973、1970、1968,奥德丽·洛德所有。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Audre Lorde, “Coal,” from Undersong: Chosen Poems Old and New by Audre Lorde. Copyright © 1973, 1970, 1968 by Audre Lorde. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
罗伯特·洛威尔,《献给联盟的亡灵》,摘自罗伯特·洛威尔诗集。版权所有 © 2003 罗伯特·洛威尔。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Robert Lowell, “For the Union Dead,” from Collected Poems by Robert Lowell. Copyright © 2003 by Robert Lowell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
米娜·洛伊,《此外,月亮——》,摘自米娜·洛伊所著的《遗失的月球旅行指南》。米娜·洛伊作品版权归米娜·洛伊遗产所有,© 1996 年。简介和版本版权归罗杰·L·科诺弗所有,© 1996 年。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
Mina Loy, “Moreover, the Moon — ,” from The Lost Lunar Baedeker by Mina Loy. Works of Mina Loy copyright © 1996 by the Estate of Mina Loy. Introduction and edition copyright © 1996 by Roger L. Conover. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
阿米特·马吉穆达 (Amit Majmudar),《武器与人》,摘自阿米特·马吉穆达 (Amit Majmudar) 的《天与地》 。版权所有 © 2011 年,阿米特·马吉穆达 (Amit Majmudar)。经 Georges Borchardt, Inc. 代表作者许可转载。
Amit Majmudar, “Arms and the Man,” from Heaven and Earth by Amit Majmudar. Copyright © 2011 by Amit Majmudar. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author.
泰勒·马里,《教师的贡献》,摘自《学习留下的:泰勒·马里的诗》(Write Bloody,2013 年)。版权所有 © 2013 泰勒·马里。经作者许可转载。
Taylor Mali, “What Teachers Make,” from What Learning Leaves: Poems by Taylor Mali (Write Bloody, 2013). Copyright © 2013 by Taylor Mali. Reprinted by permission of the author.
伯纳黛特·梅耶 (Bernadette Mayer),《十四行诗(你这个混蛋,你没有给我打电话)》,摘自《伯纳黛特·梅耶读者》。版权所有 © 1968 伯纳黛特·梅耶。经 New Directions Publishing Corp. 许可转载。
Bernadette Mayer, “Sonnet (You jerk you didn’t call me up),” from A Bernadette Mayer Reader. Copyright © 1968 by Bernadette Mayer. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Maile Meloy,《Tome》,摘自Maile Meloy 所著的《半爱:短篇小说集》。版权所有 © Scribner。经 Scribner(西蒙与舒斯特公司旗下子公司)许可转载。保留所有权利。
Maile Meloy, “Tome,” from Half in Love: Stories by Maile Meloy. Copyright © Scribner. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
WS Merwin,《一只蝴蝶》,摘自《天狼星的影子》 。版权所有 © 2008 WS Merwin。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Copper Canyon Press 许可转载,www.coppercanyonpress.org。
W. S. Merwin, “One of the Butterflies,” from The Shadow of Sirius. Copyright © 2008 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.
切斯瓦夫·米沃什《奉献》,摘自切斯瓦夫·米沃什《1931-1987 年诗集》。版权所有 © 1988 Czesław Miłosz Royalties, Inc。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可使用。
Czesław Miłosz, “Dedication,” from The Collected Poems 1931–1987 by Czesław Miłosz. Copyright © 1988 by Czesław Miłosz Royalties, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Cherríe Moraga,《战争年代的爱》,摘自《战争年代的爱》/《Lo Que Nunca Pasó Por Sus Labios》。版权所有 © 1983、2000,作者 Cherríe Moraga。1983 年由 South End Press 首次出版。经纽约 Stuart Bernstein Representation for Artists 许可,受美国版权法保护。保留所有权利。未经明确许可,禁止打印、复印、重新分发或重新传输本内容。
Cherríe Moraga, “Loving in the War Years,” from Loving in the War Years/Lo Que Nunca Pasó Por Sus Labios. Copyright © 1983, 2000 by Cherríe Moraga. First published by South End Press in 1983. By permission of Stuart Bernstein Representation for Artists, New York, NY, and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. All rights reserved. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express permission is prohibited.
Harryette Mullen,《省略号》。经加州大学出版社许可,转载自Harryette Mullen 所著的《Sleeping with the Dictionary》。版权所有 © 2002 加州大学董事会;经版权许可中心授权。
Harryette Mullen, “Elliptical.” Republished with permission of the University of California Press from Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen. Copyright © 2002 by the Regents of the University of California; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
玛丽莲·纳尔逊,《埃米特·蒂尔的名字仍萦绕在我的心头》,摘自玛丽莲·纳尔逊所著的《献给埃米特·蒂尔的花圈》。版权所有 © 2005 玛丽莲·纳尔逊。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Marilyn Nelson, “Emmett Till’s name still catches in my throat,” excerpt from A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson. Copyright © 2005 by Marilyn Nelson. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
巴勃罗·聂鲁达,《女人的身体》,选自《二十首情诗和一首绝望之歌:巴勃罗·聂鲁达双语版》,WS Merwin 翻译。由 Jonathan Cape 在英国出版,版权所有 © 1976。英文翻译版权所有 © 1969,作者:WS Merwin。译自西班牙语的《Cuerpo du Mujer》,收录于《Veinte Poemas de Amor Y Una Canción Desesperada》中,1924 年首次在智利圣地亚哥出版,版权所有 1924 年巴勃罗·聂鲁达 (Pablo Neruda) 和巴勃罗·聂鲁达基金会 (Fundación Pablo Neruda)。经兰登书屋集团有限公司、Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells SA 和 Viking Books(企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司旗下部门企鹅出版集团的子公司)许可使用。版权所有。
Pablo Neruda, “Body of a Woman,” from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair: Dual Language Edition by Pablo Neruda, translated by W. S. Merwin. Published in the UK by Jonathan Cape, copyright © 1976. English translation copyright © 1969 by W. S. Merwin. Translated from the Spanish, “Cuerpo du Mujer,” in Veinte Poemas de Amor Y Una Canción Desesperada, first published in Santiago de Chile 1924, copyright 1924 Pablo Neruda and Fundación Pablo Neruda. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited, Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells S.A., and Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil,《扇贝自画像》,摘自《Oceanic》。版权所有 © 2018 Aimee Nezhukumatathil。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表 Copper Canyon Press 转载,网址:coppercanyonpress.org。
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, “Self-Portrait as Scallop,” from Oceanic. Copyright © 2018 by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org.
玛格丽特·诺丁 (Margaret Noodin),《窥视者说了什么》/《Agoozimakakiig Idiwag》,摘自《原住民新诗人》 ,海德·E·厄德里奇 (Heid E. Erdrich) 主编(Graywolf Press,2018 年)。版权所有 © 玛格丽特·诺丁。经玛格丽特·诺丁许可转载。
Margaret Noodin, “What the Peepers Say”/“Agoozimakakiig Idiwag,” from New Poets of Native Nations, ed. Heid E. Erdrich (Graywolf Press, 2018). Copyright © Margaret Noodin. Reprinted by permission of Margaret Noodin.
林恩·诺塔奇 (Lynn Nottage),《汗水》。版权所有 © 2017 林恩·诺塔奇。由 Theatre Communications Group 出版。经 Theatre Communications Group 许可使用。
Lynn Nottage, Sweat. Copyright © 2017 by Lynn Nottage. Published by Theatre Communications Group. Used by permission of Theatre Communications Group.
Naomi Shihab Nye,《A-4 门》,来自Naomi Shihab Nye 的《蜜蜂》 。版权所有 © 2008 Naomi Shihab Nye。经哈珀柯林斯出版社许可使用。
Naomi Shihab Nye, “Gate A-4,” from Honeybee by Naomi Shihab Nye. Copyright © 2008 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
乔伊斯·卡罗尔·欧茨,《你要去哪里,你去过哪里?》,摘自乔伊斯·卡罗尔·欧茨的《孤独高地:1966-2006 年新选短篇小说集》。版权所有 © 2006 安大略评论公司。经哈珀柯林斯出版社许可使用。
Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” from High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories, 1966–2006 by Joyce Carol Oates. Copyright © 2006 by The Ontario Review, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
蒂姆·奥布莱恩,《他们携带的东西》,摘自蒂姆·奥布莱恩的《他们携带的东西》 。版权所有 © 1990 蒂姆·奥布莱恩。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried,” from The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Copyright © 1990 by Tim O’Brien. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
弗兰纳里·奥康纳,《好人难寻》,摘自弗兰纳里·奥康纳的《好人难寻及其他故事》。版权所有 © 1953 年弗兰纳里·奥康纳所有,1981 年由雷吉娜·奥康纳续订。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” from A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor. Copyright © 1953 by Flannery O’Connor, renewed 1981 by Regina O’Connor. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
弗兰克·奥哈拉,《女士去世的那一天》,摘自《午餐诗》。版权所有 © 1964 弗兰克·奥哈拉。经 City Lights Books 许可转载。
Frank O’Hara, “The Day Lady Died,” from Lunch Poems. Copyright © 1964 by Frank O’Hara. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.
莎朗·奥尔兹,《我回到 1937 年 5 月》,摘自莎朗·奥尔兹的《金牢房》 。版权所有 © 1987 莎朗·奥尔兹。经阿尔弗雷德·A·克诺夫出版社许可使用,该出版社是克诺夫 Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司。保留所有权利。
Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937,” from The Gold Cell by Sharon Olds. Copyright © 1987 by Sharon Olds. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
玛丽·奥利弗,《夏日》,摘自玛丽·奥利弗所著《光之屋》,波士顿 Beacon Press 出版社出版。版权所有 © 1990 玛丽·奥利弗。经 Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency, Inc. 许可转载。
Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day,” from House of Light by Mary Oliver, published by Beacon Press, Boston. Copyright © 1990 by Mary Oliver. Reprinted by permission of the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency, Inc.
马修·奥尔兹曼,《切斯瓦夫·米沃什的两行开头的信》。最初于 2016 年 1 月 5 日由美国诗人学院在Poem-a-Day上发表。版权所有 © 2016 Matthew Olzmann。经作者许可转载。
Matthew Olzmann, “Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz.” Originally published in Poem-a-Day on January 5, 2016, by the Academy of American Poets. Copyright © 2016 by Matthew Olzmann. Reprinted by permission of the author.
ZZ Packer,《布朗尼》,摘自ZZ Packer 的《Drinking Coffee Elsewhere》。版权所有 © 2003 ZZ Packer。经 Riverhead 许可使用,Riverhead 是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
ZZ Packer, “Brownies,” from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer. Copyright © 2003 by ZZ Packer. Used by permission of Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
琳达·帕斯坦 (Linda Pastan), 《不完美的天堂》中的“爱情诗” 。版权所有 © 1988 琳达·帕斯坦。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用,经琳达·帕斯坦许可,由 Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. (permissions@jvnla.com) 保管。
Linda Pastan, “love poem,” from The Imperfect Paradise by Linda Pastan. Copyright © 1988 by Linda Pastan. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., and by permission of Linda Pastan in care of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. (permissions@jvnla.com).
罗伯特·平斯基,《衬衫》,摘自罗伯特·平斯基的《The Want Bone》。版权所有 © 1990 罗伯特·平斯基。经 HarperCollins Publishers 许可转载。
Robert Pinsky, “Shirt,” from The Want Bone by Robert Pinsky. Copyright © 1990 by Robert Pinsky. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
西尔维娅·普拉斯,《爸爸》和《晨歌》,摘自《西尔维娅·普拉斯诗集》,特德·休斯编辑。版权所有 © 1960、1965、1971、1981 西尔维娅·普拉斯遗产。编辑材料版权所有 © 1981 特德·休斯。经 HarperCollins Publishers 和 Faber and Faber Ltd. 许可使用。
Sylvia Plath, “Daddy” and “Morning Song,” from The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, edited by Ted Hughes. Copyright © 1960, 1965, 1971, 1981 by the Estate of Sylvia Plath. Editorial material copyright © 1981 by Ted Hughes. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers and Faber and Faber Ltd.
埃兹拉·庞德,《河商之妻:一封信》,原作者 Rihaku,摘自《人物》。版权所有 © 1926 埃兹拉·庞德。经 New Directions Publishing Corp. 许可转载。
Ezra Pound, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter,” original by Rihaku, from Personae. Copyright © 1926 by Ezra Pound. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
海丝特·普尔特 (Hester Pulter),《日食》(The Eclipse)(约 1640-1660 年),摘自温迪·沃尔 (Wendy Wall) 编辑的扩充版。这首诗以手稿形式发现;作为《普尔特计划:诗人成长》(The Pulter Project: Poet in the Making )(在线)的一部分出版,由利亚·奈特 (Leah Knight) 和温迪·沃尔 (Wendy Wall) 编辑,2018 年;http://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/poems/ee/the-eclipse/。经许可转载。(原始来源:海丝特·普尔特 (Hester Pulter),《诺贝尔哈达萨斯所作的诗》,利兹大学图书馆,布拉瑟顿收藏,MS Lt q 32。)
Hester Pulter, “The Eclipse” (c. 1640–1660), from the Amplified Edition, edited by Wendy Wall. Poem discovered in manuscript form; published as part of The Pulter Project: Poet in the Making (online), edited by Leah Knight and Wendy Wall, 2018; http://pulterproject .northwestern.edu/poems/ee/the-eclipse/. Reprinted by permission. (Original Source: Hester Pulter, Poems breathed forth by the nobel Hadassas, University of Leeds Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt q 32.)
达德利·兰德尔,《伯明翰之歌》,摘自《燃烧的城市》。版权所有 © 1968 达德利·兰德尔。经达德利·兰德尔文学遗产委员会许可转载。
Dudley Randall, “Ballad of Birmingham,” from Cities Burning. Copyright © 1968 by Dudley Randall. Reprinted by permission of The Dudley Randall Literary Estate.
克劳迪娅·兰金 (“你在黑暗中,在车里……”),摘自《公民:一首美国抒情诗》。原载于《诗歌》杂志。版权所有 © 2014 克劳迪娅·兰金。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可转载,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯的 Graywolf Press,graywolfpress.org。
Claudia Rankine, (“You are in the dark, in the car …”), from Citizen: An American Lyric. Originally published in Poetry magazine. Copyright © 2014 by Claudia Rankine. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
斯宾塞·里斯,《店员的故事》,摘自斯宾塞·里斯的《店员的故事:诗歌》。版权所有 © 2004 斯宾塞·里斯。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Spencer Reece, “The Clerk’s Tale,” from The Clerk’s Tale: Poems by Spencer Reece. Copyright © 2004 by Spencer Reece. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Adrienne Rich,《珍妮弗阿姨的老虎》,摘自Adrienne Rich 的《诗集:1950–2012》。版权所有 © 2016,Adrienne Rich 文学信托。版权所有 © 1951,Adrienne Rich。《潜入沉船》,摘自 Adrienne Rich 的《诗集:1950–2012》。版权所有 © 2016,Adrienne Rich 文学信托。版权所有 © 1973,WW Norton & Company, Inc。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Adrienne Rich, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” from Collected Poems: 1950–2012 by Adrienne Rich. Copyright © 2016 by the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust. Copyright © 1951 by Adrienne Rich. “Diving into the Wreck,” from Collected Poems: 1950–2012 by Adrienne Rich. Copyright © 2016 by the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust. Copyright © 1973 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
莱纳·马利亚·里尔克,《阿波罗的古代躯干》,摘自莱纳·马利亚·里尔克所著的《莱纳·马利亚·里尔克诗选》,由斯蒂芬·米切尔编辑和翻译。译文版权归斯蒂芬·米切尔所有,© 1982。经兰登书屋许可使用,兰登书屋是企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司和分部。保留所有权利。
Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” from The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke, edited and translated by Stephen Mitchell. Translation copyright © 1982 by Stephen Mitchell. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
阿尔贝托·里奥斯 (Alberto Ríos),《纳尼》,摘自《轻声细语欺骗风》。版权所有 © 1982 阿尔贝托·里奥斯。经作者许可转载。
Alberto Ríos, “Nani,” from Whispering to Fool the Wind. Copyright © 1982 by Alberto Ríos. Reprinted by permission of the author.
西奥多·罗特克,《我爸爸的华尔兹》,摘自西奥多·罗特克的《诗集》 。版权所有 © 1942 Hearst Magazines, Inc.,版权所有 © 1966 并于 1994 年由 Beatrice Lushington 续订。经 Doubleday 许可使用,Doubleday 是 Knopf Doubleday 出版集团的子公司,隶属于 Penguin Random House LLC。保留所有权利。
Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz,” from Collected Poems by Theodore Roethke. Copyright © 1942 by Hearst Magazines, Inc., copyright © 1966 and renewed 1994 by Beatrice Lushington. Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Mary Ruefle,《雨效应》,摘自《冷冥王星》。版权所有 © 1996 Mary Ruefle。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,代表卡内基梅隆大学出版社转载,www.cmu.edu/universitypress。
Mary Ruefle, “Rain Effect,” from Cold Pluto. Copyright © 1996 by Mary Ruefle. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Carnegie Mellon University Press, www.cmu.edu/universitypress.
穆里尔·鲁凯泽,《等待伊卡洛斯》,摘自《穆里尔·鲁凯泽诗集》。版权所有 © 2005 穆里尔·鲁凯泽。经 ICM Partners 许可转载。
Muriel Rukeyser, “Waiting for Icarus,” from The Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser. Copyright © 2005 by Muriel Rukeyser. Reprinted by permission of ICM Partners.
雅各布·桑兹,《蓝线事件》,摘自雅各布·桑兹的《扔王冠》(美国诗歌评论,2018 年)。版权所有 © 2018 雅各布·桑兹。经作者许可转载。
Jacob Saenz, “Blue Line Incident,” from Throwing the Crown by Jacob Saenz (American Poetry Review, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Jacob Saenz. Reprinted by permission of the author.
乔治·桑德斯,《棍棒》,摘自《十二月十日:乔治·桑德斯短篇小说集》。版权所有 © 2013 乔治·桑德斯。经兰登书屋许可使用,兰登书屋是企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司和分部。保留所有权利。
George Saunders, “Sticks,” from Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders. Copyright © 2013 by George Saunders. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
安妮·塞克斯顿 (Anne Sexton),《灰姑娘》,选自安妮·塞克斯顿 (Anne Sexton) 的《变形记》 。版权所有 © 1971 年,安妮·塞克斯顿 (Anne Sexton),琳达·G·塞克斯顿 (Linda G. Sexton) 于 1999 年续订。版权所有 © 1981 年,琳达·格雷·塞克斯顿 (Linda Gray Sexton) 和洛林·康纳特 (Loring Conant Jr.)。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company) 和 SLL/Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. 许可转载。保留所有权利。
Anne Sexton, “Cinderella,” from Transformations by Anne Sexton. Copyright © 1971 by Anne Sexton, renewed 1999 by Linda G. Sexton. Copyright © 1981 by Linda Gray Sexton and Loring Conant Jr. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company and SLL/Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. All rights reserved.
威廉·莎士比亚,《奥赛罗,威尼斯的摩尔人》(杰拉尔德·埃兹·本特利的注释和评论),摘自威廉·莎士比亚的《奥赛罗》,由杰拉尔德·埃兹·本特利编辑。版权所有 © 1958 年、1970 年,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司。经企鹅图书许可使用,企鹅图书是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的分部。保留所有权利。
William Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice (notes and commentary by Gerald Eades Bentley), from Othello by William Shakespeare, edited by Gerald Eades Bentley. Copyright © 1958, 1970 by Penguin Random House LLC. Used by permission of Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
查尔斯·西米克,《用别针固定的眼睛》,摘自查尔斯·西米克的《新诗选集,1962–2012》。版权所有 © 2013 查尔斯·西米克。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Charles Simic, “Eyes Fastened with Pins,” from New and Selected Poems, 1962–2012 by Charles Simic. Copyright © 2013 by Charles Simic. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
丹内兹·史密斯,《黑人男孩的别名》,摘自丹内兹·史密斯所著的《[插入]男孩》(YesYes Books,2014 年)。首次发表于《诗歌》杂志(2014 年 3 月)。版权所有 © 2014 丹内兹·史密斯。经许可转载。
Danez Smith, “alternate names for black boys,” from [insert] boy by Danez Smith (YesYes Books, 2014). First published in Poetry magazine (March 2014). Copyright © 2014 by Danez Smith. Reprinted by permission.
玛吉·史密斯,《好骨头》,摘自《好骨头:诗歌》。版权所有 © 2017 玛吉·史密斯。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Tupelo Press 许可转载,www.tupelopress.org。
Maggie Smith, “Good Bones,” from Good Bones: Poems. Copyright © 2017 by Maggie Smith. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Tupelo Press, www.tupelopress.org.
帕特里夏·史密斯,《光头党》,摘自《大城镇,大谈话:诗歌》。版权所有 © 1992 帕特里夏·史密斯。经斯蒂尔福斯出版社许可转载。
Patricia Smith, “Skinhead,” from Big Towns, Big Talk: Poems. Copyright © 1992 by Patricia Smith. Reprinted by permission of Steerforth Press.
特蕾西·K·史密斯,《宣言》,摘自《涉水而行》 。原载于《纽约客》 (2017 年 11 月 6 日)。版权所有 © 2017、2018 特蕾西·K·史密斯。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市 Graywolf Press 转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
Tracy K. Smith, “Declaration,” from Wade in the Water. Originally from the New Yorker (November 6, 2017). Copyright © 2017, 2018 by Tracy K. Smith. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
凯茜·宋,《天堂》,摘自《无框窗户,光之方块:凯茜·宋的诗》。版权所有 © 1988 凯茜·宋。经 WW Norton & Company, Inc. 许可使用。
Cathy Song, “Heaven,” from Frameless Windows, Squares of Light: Poems by Cathy Song. Copyright © 1988 by Cathy Song. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
索福克勒斯,《俄狄浦斯王》,大卫·格林译,摘自《索福克勒斯》第一卷。版权所有 © 1942 芝加哥大学。经芝加哥大学出版社许可转载。
Sophocles, Oedipus the King, translated by David Grene, from Sophocles I. Copyright © 1942 by the University of Chicago. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press.
加里·索托,《搬离》,摘自《新诗选》。版权所有 © 1995 加里·索托。经旧金山 Chronicle Books LLC 许可使用。请访问ChronicleBooks.com。
Gary Soto, “Moving Away,” from New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1995 by Gary Soto. Used with permission of Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco. Visit ChronicleBooks.com.
威廉·斯塔福德,《穿越黑暗》,摘自《问我:100 首必读诗歌》。版权所有 © 1962、1998,威廉·斯塔福德和威廉·斯塔福德遗产所有。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯 Graywolf Press 许可转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
William Stafford, “Traveling through the Dark,” from Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems. Copyright © 1962, 1998 by William Stafford and the Estate of William Stafford. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
Adrienne Su,《替代》,原载于《新英格兰评论》第 38.1 期(2017 年)。版权所有 © 2017 Adrienne Su。经作者许可转载。
Adrienne Su, “Substitutions,” originally published in the New England Review 38.1 (2017). Copyright © 2017 Adrienne Su. Reprinted by permission of the author.
迪伦·托马斯,《不要温和地走进那良夜》,摘自《迪伦·托马斯诗集》。版权所有 © 1952 迪伦·托马斯。经新方向出版公司许可转载。
Dylan Thomas, “Do not go gentle into that good night,” from The Poems of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1952 by Dylan Thomas. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Adrian Tomine,《Echo Ave.》,摘自Adrian Tomine 的《Sleepwalk and Other Stories》。版权所有 © 1995、1996、1997、1998、2004,Adrian Tomine 所有。经 Drawn & Quarterly 许可转载。保留所有权利。
Adrian Tomine, “Echo Ave.,” from Sleepwalk and Other Stories by Adrian Tomine. Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004 by Adrian Tomine. Reprinted by permission of Drawn & Quarterly. All rights reserved.
娜塔莎·特雷瑟威,《历史课》,摘自《家务劳动》。版权所有 © 1998、2000,娜塔莎·特雷瑟威所有。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市 Graywolf Press 转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
Natasha Trethewey, “History Lesson,” from Domestic Work. Copyright © 1998, 2000 by Natasha Trethewey. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
Quincy Troupe,《一首关于‘魔法’的诗》,摘自《Avalanche》。版权所有 © 1996 Quincy Troupe。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Coffee House Press 许可转载,www.coffeehousepress.org。
Quincy Troupe, “A Poem for ‘Magic,’ ” from Avalanche. Copyright © 1996 by Quincy Troupe. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
Brian Turner,《每个士兵都应该知道的事》,摘自Here, Bullet。版权所有 © 2005 Brian Turner。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 许可,代表 Alice James Books 转载,www.alicejamesbooks.org。
Brian Turner, “What Every Soldier Should Know,” from Here, Bullet. Copyright © 2005 by Brian Turner. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Alice James Books, www.alicejamesbooks.org.
Ocean Vuong,《燃烧之城的晨歌》,摘自《带有出口伤口的夜空》。最初发表于《诗歌》。版权所有 © 2016 Ocean Vuong。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 代表 Copper Canyon Press 许可转载,网址:coppercanyonpress.org。
Ocean Vuong, “Aubade with Burning City,” from Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Originally published in Poetry. Copyright © 2016 by Ocean Vuong. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org.
艾丽丝·沃克,《日常使用》,摘自艾丽丝·沃克的《爱与麻烦:黑人女性的故事》。版权所有 © 1973,艾丽丝·沃克于 2001 年续订。经霍顿·米夫林·哈考特出版公司和乔伊·哈里斯文学代理公司许可转载。保留所有权利。
Alice Walker, “Everyday Use,” from In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women by Alice Walker. Copyright © 1973, renewed 2001 by Alice Walker. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company and the Joy Harris Literary Agency, Inc. All rights reserved.
CK Williams,《地铁上》,摘自CK Williams 的《诗集》 。版权所有 © 2006 CK Williams。经 Farrar, Straus and Giroux 许可转载。
C. K. Williams, “On the Métro,” from Collected Poems by C. K. Williams. Copyright © 2006 by C. K. Williams. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
田纳西·威廉斯,《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》。版权所有 © 1954、1955、1971、1975 南方大学。经新方向出版公司许可转载。
Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Copyright © 1954, 1955, 1971, 1975 by The University of the South. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯,《这只是说说而已》,摘自《诗集:第一卷,1909-1939》。版权所有 © 1938 新方向出版公司。经新方向出版公司许可转载。
William Carlos Williams, “This Is Just to Say,” from Collected Poems: Volume I, 1909–1939. Copyright © 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
奥古斯特·威尔逊,《藩篱》(整部戏剧)。版权所有 © 1986 奥古斯特·威尔逊。经新美国图书馆许可使用,新美国图书馆是企鹅出版集团的子公司,企鹅兰登书屋有限责任公司的子公司。保留所有权利。
August Wilson, Fences (entire play). Copyright © 1986 by August Wilson. Used by permission of New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
詹姆斯·赖特,《躺在明尼苏达州派恩岛威廉·达菲农场的吊床上》,摘自《诗集》。版权所有 © 1971 詹姆斯·赖特。经卫斯理大学出版社许可转载。
James Wright, “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota,” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1971 by James Wright. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
威廉·巴特勒·叶芝,《丽达与天鹅》,摘自《威廉·巴特勒·叶芝文集》第一卷:诗歌修订版,作者:威廉·巴特勒·叶芝,编辑:理查德·芬纳兰。版权所有 © 1928 麦克米伦公司,续订 © 1956 乔治·叶芝。经西蒙与舒斯特公司旗下 Scribner 出版社许可转载。保留所有权利。
William Butler Yeats, “Leda and the Swan,” from The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Volume I: The Poems, Revised, by W. B. Yeats, edited by Richard J. Finneran. Copyright © 1928 by the Macmillan Company, renewed © 1956 by Georgie Yeats. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Monica Youn,《Goldacre》,摘自《Blackacre 》 。版权所有 © 2016 Monica Youn。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,代表明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市 Graywolf Press 转载,网址:graywolfpress.org。
Monica Youn, “Goldacre,” from Blackacre. Copyright © 2016 by Monica Youn. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, graywolfpress.org.
哈维尔·萨莫拉,《萨尔瓦多》,摘自《无人陪伴》。版权所有 © 2016 哈维尔·萨莫拉。经 The Permissions Company, LLC 授权,由 Copper Canyon Press 代表,coppercanyonpress.org转载。
Javier Zamora, “El Salvador,” from Unaccompanied. Copyright © 2016 by Javier Zamora. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org.
封底内页显示了按字母顺序排列的作者列表,如下所示。
The inside back cover shows the alphabetical list of authors as follows.
奇玛曼达·恩戈齐·阿迪奇
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
卡韦·阿克巴尔
Kaveh Akbar
谢尔曼·阿莱克西
Sherman Alexie
舍伍德·安德森
Sherwood Anderson
纪尧姆·阿波利奈尔
Guillaume Apollinaire
马修·阿诺德
Matthew Arnold
约翰·阿什伯利
John Ashbery
法蒂玛·阿斯加尔
Fatimah Asghar
玛格丽特·阿特伍德
Margaret Atwood
吉米·圣地亚哥·巴卡
Jimmy Santiago Baca
诺亚·巴尔迪诺
Noah Baldino
詹姆斯·鲍德温
James Baldwin
托妮·凯德·班巴拉
Toni Cade Bambara
妮娜·贝伯
Neena Beber
詹·伯文
Jen Bervin
安布罗斯·比尔斯
Ambrose Bierce
伊丽莎白·毕晓普
Elizabeth Bishop
威廉·布莱克
William Blake
安妮·布拉德斯特里特
Anne Bradstreet
格温多林·布鲁克斯
Gwendolyn Brooks
杰里科·布朗
Jericho Brown
红木 L. 布朗
Mahogany L. Browne
伊丽莎白·巴雷特
Elizabeth Barrett
勃朗宁
Browning
罗伯特·布朗宁
Robert Browning
刘易斯·卡罗尔
Lewis Carroll
雷蒙德·卡佛
Raymond Carver
亚历山大·奇
Alexander Chee
约翰·契弗
John Cheever
安东·契诃夫
Anton Chekhov
特德·姜
Ted Chiang
玛丽莲·陈
Marilyn Chin
凯特·肖邦
Kate Chopin
桑德拉·西斯内罗斯
Sandra Cisneros
露西尔·克利夫顿
Lucille Clifton
朱迪思·奥尔蒂斯·科弗
Judith Ortiz Cofer
塞缪尔·泰勒
Samuel Taylor
柯尔律治
Coleridge
比利柯林斯
Billy Collins
爱德华多·科拉尔
Eduardo Corral
尼罗·克鲁斯
Nilo Cruz
卡伦伯爵
Countee Cullen
康明斯
E. E. Cummings
HD(希尔达·杜利特尔)
H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
马哈茂德·达尔维什
Mahmoud Darwish
奥利弗·德拉帕斯
Oliver De La Paz
托伊·德里科特
Toi Derricotte
朱诺特·迪亚兹
Junot Díaz
娜塔莉·迪亚兹
Natalie Díaz
艾米莉狄金森
Emily Dickinson
凯蒂·迪登
Katy Didden
約翰·多恩
John Donne
马克·多蒂
Mark Doty
丽塔·多夫
Rita Dove
保罗·劳伦斯·邓巴
Paul Laurence Dunbar
艾略特
T. S. Eliot
伊丽莎白一世
Queen Elizabeth I
拉尔夫·埃里森
Ralph Ellison
路易丝厄德里克
Louise Erdrich
马丁·埃斯帕达
Martín Espada
塔尔菲亚·法伊祖拉
Tarfia Faizullah
水仙花(Edith Maud
Sui Sin Far (Edith Maud
伊顿
Eaton)
威廉·福克纳
William Faulkner
凯西·菲什
Kathy Fish
卡洛琳·福尔谢
Carolyn Forché
罗伯特·弗罗斯特
Robert Frost
理查德加西亚
Richard Garcia
加布里埃尔·加西亚·马尔克斯
Gabriel García Márquez
罗斯·盖伊
Ross Gay
杰克·吉尔伯特
Jack Gilbert
夏洛特帕金斯
Charlotte Perkins
吉尔曼
Gilman
艾伦·金斯堡
Allen Ginsberg
达纳·吉奥亚
Dana Gioia
阿拉塞利斯·吉尔迈
Aracelis Girmay
苏珊·格拉斯佩尔
Susan Glaspell
露易丝·格丽克
Louise Glück
乔治·戈登勋爵
George Gordon, Lord
拜伦
Byron
乔里·格雷厄姆
Jorie Graham
托马斯·格雷
Thomas Gray
琳达·格雷格森
Linda Gregerson
乔伊·哈乔
Joy Harjo
纳撒尼尔·霍桑
Nathaniel Hawthorne
罗伯特·海登
Robert Hayden
特伦斯·海耶斯
Terrance Hayes
谢默斯·希尼
Seamus Heaney
欧内斯特·海明威
Ernest Hemingway
乔治·赫伯特
George Herbert
维克托·埃尔南德斯·克鲁斯
Victor Hernández Cruz
罗伯特·赫里克
Robert Herrick
托尼霍格兰
Tony Hoagland
琳达·霍根
Linda Hogan
杰拉德·曼利·霍普金斯
Gerard Manley Hopkins
豪斯曼
A. E. Housman
玛丽·豪
Marie Howe
兰斯顿·休斯
Langston Hughes
佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿
Zora Neale Hurston
亨利克·易卜生
Henrik Ibsen
小林一茶
Kobayashi Issa
雪莉·杰克逊
Shirley Jackson
兰德尔·贾雷尔
Randall Jarrell
法诺纳荣誉奖
Honorée Fanonne
杰弗斯
Jeffers
珍妮约翰逊
Jenny Johnson
本·琼森
Ben Jonson
A.范乔丹
A. Van Jordan
艾莉森·约瑟夫
Allison Joseph
詹姆斯·乔伊斯
James Joyce
弗朗兹·卡夫卡
Franz Kafka
伊利亚·卡明斯基
Ilya Kaminsky
約翰·济慈
John Keats
简·肯扬
Jane Kenyon
金秀姬
Suji Kwock Kim
牙买加金凯德
Jamaica Kincaid
戈尔韦金内尔
Galway Kinnell
埃瑟里奇·奈特
Etheridge Knight
尤瑟夫·科穆尼亚卡
Yusef Komunyakaa
马克辛·库明
Maxine Kumin
钟芭·拉希里
Jhumpa Lahiri
艾米莉亚·兰耶
Aemilia Lanyer
李立扬
Li-Young Lee
丹尼斯·莱维托夫
Denise Levertov
菲利普·莱文
Philip Levine
艾达·利蒙
Ada Limón
帕特里夏·洛克伍德
Patricia Lockwood
费德里科·加西亚·洛尔迦
Federico García Lorca
奥德丽·洛德
Audre Lorde
罗伯特·洛厄尔
Robert Lowell
米娜·洛伊
Mina Loy
阿米特·马吉穆达
Amit Majmudar
泰勒·马里
Taylor Mali
凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德
Katherine Mansfield
克里斯托弗·马洛
Christopher Marlowe
安德鲁·马维尔
Andrew Marvell
贝尔纳黛特·梅耶
Bernadette Mayer
克劳德·麦凯
Claude McKay
梅勒·梅洛伊
Maile Meloy
默温
W. S. Merwin
埃德娜·圣文森特·米莱
Edna St. Vincent Millay
切斯瓦夫·米沃什
Czeslaw Milosz
约翰·弥尔顿
John Milton
玛丽安·摩尔
Marianne Moore
谢丽·莫拉加
Cherríe Moraga
哈里特·穆伦
Harryette Mullen
玛丽莲·尼尔森
Marilyn Nelson
巴勃罗·聂鲁达
Pablo Neruda
艾米·内朱库马塔蒂尔
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
玛格丽特·诺丁
Margaret Noodin
林恩·诺塔奇
Lynn Nottage
纳奥米·希哈布·奈
Naomi Shihab Nye
乔伊斯·卡罗尔·奥茨
Joyce Carol Oates
蒂姆·奥布莱恩
Tim O’Brien
弗兰纳里·奥康纳
Flannery O’Connor
弗兰克·奥哈拉
Frank O’Hara
莎朗·奥尔兹
Sharon Olds
玛丽·奥利弗
Mary Oliver
马修·奥尔兹曼
Matthew Olzmann
威尔弗雷德·欧文
Wilfred Owen
ZZ 包装机
ZZ Packer
琳达·帕斯坦
Linda Pastan
罗伯特·平斯基
Robert Pinsky
西尔维娅·普拉斯
Sylvia Plath
埃德加·爱伦·坡
Edgar Allan Poe
埃兹拉·庞德
Ezra Pound
海丝特·普尔特
Hester Pulter
沃尔特·雷利
Walter Raleigh
杜德利·兰德尔
Dudley Randall
克劳迪娅·兰金
Claudia Rankine
斯宾塞·里斯
Spencer Reece
艾德里安·里奇
Adrienne Rich
莱纳·马利亚·里尔克
Rainer Maria Rilke
阿尔贝托·里奥斯
Alberto Ríos
埃德温·阿灵顿
Edwin Arlington
罗宾逊
Robinson
西奥多·罗特克
Theodore Roethke
玛丽·鲁弗尔
Mary Ruefle
穆里尔·鲁凯泽
Muriel Rukeyser
雅各布·萨恩斯
Jacob Saenz
乔治·桑德斯
George Saunders
安妮·塞克斯顿
Anne Sexton
威廉·莎士比亚
William Shakespeare
珀西·比希·雪莱
Percy Bysshe Shelley
查尔斯·西米克
Charles Simic
丹妮兹·史密斯
Danez Smith
玛吉·史密斯
Maggie Smith
帕特里夏·史密斯
Patricia Smith
特蕾西·史密斯
Tracy Smith
蕾莉长兵
Layli Long Soldier
宋
Cathy Song
索福克勒斯
Sophocles
加里索托
Gary Soto
威廉·斯塔福德
William Stafford
华莱士·史蒂文斯
Wallace Stevens
苏
Adrienne Su
阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生勋爵
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
狄兰·托马斯
Dylan Thomas
阿德里安·托米内
Adrian Tomine
娜塔莎·特雷斯威
Natasha Trethewey
昆西剧团
Quincy Troupe
布莱恩·特纳
Brian Turner
王海洋
Ocean Vuong
艾丽斯·沃克
Alice Walker
菲利斯·惠特利
Phillis Wheatley
沃尔·惠特曼
Walt Whitman
CK威廉姆斯
C. K. Williams
田纳西威廉斯
Tennessee Williams
威廉·卡洛斯·威廉斯
William Carlos Williams
奥古斯特·威尔逊
August Wilson
弗吉尼亚伍尔夫
Virginia Woolf
威廉·华兹华斯
William Wordsworth
詹姆斯·赖特
James Wright
托马斯·怀亚特爵士
Sir Thomas Wyatt
威廉·巴特勒·叶芝
William Butler Yeats
李翊云
Yiyun Li
莫妮卡杨
Monica Youn
哈维尔·萨莫拉
Javier Zamora
封底分别显示书名和版本:文学:便携式选集;和第五版。
The back cover shows the title and edition of the book respectively as follows: Literature: A portable Anthology; and the fifth edition.
副标题是“物美价廉的优秀文学作品”。该书简介是:“本书尺寸适中,价格实惠,为文学入门或文学写作课程提供了均衡的古典和当代文学选集。40 个故事、200 首诗歌和 9 部戏剧按类型按时间顺序排列,并附有实用而简明的编辑材料,包括完整的文学阅读和写作指南、传记注释和文学术语表。第五版收录了 15 个新故事、54 首新诗歌和 3 部新戏剧,作者包括 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie、George Saunders、Federico García Lorca、Maggie Smith、Nilo Cruz 和 Lynn Nottage。”
A subheading reads, “Great literature at a great price.” The synopsis of the book reads, “With a handy size and a very affordable price, this collection offers a well-balanced selection of classic and contemporary literature for the introductory literature or literature for composition course. The 40 stories, 200 poems, and 9 plays are arranged chronologically by genre and supported by helpful and concise editorial matter, including a complete guide to reading and writing about literature, biographical notes, and a glossary of literary terms. The fifth edition features 15 new stories, 54 new poems, and 3 new plays by some of the best classic and contemporary writers, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, George Saunders, Federico García Lorca, Maggie Smith, Nilo Cruz, and Lynn Nottage.”
底部有一段写道:“通过 Gardner slash Diaz 实现,文学将学生的阅读、写作和修订置于课程的核心,包括互动式细读模块、书中选段的阅读理解测验以及专业作家和学生讨论文学作品的视频。专门的写作空间指导学生完成草稿、审阅、来源检查、反思和修订。有关详细信息,请访问 macmillanlearning dot com slash college slash us slash englishdigital。”
A section at the bottom reads, “Achieve with Gardner slash Diaz, Literature puts student reading, writing, and revision at the core of your course, with interactive close reading modules, reading comprehension quizzes for the selections in the book, and videos of professional writers and students discussing literary works. A dedicated composition space guides students through draft, review, Source Check, reflection, and revision. For details, visit macmillanlearning dot com slash college slash us slash englishdigital.”
底部有一条注释:“还有活页版和电子书可供选择”
A note at the bottom reads, “ALSO AVAILABLE AS A LOOSE-LEAF EDITION AND E-BOOK”
右下角是麦克米伦的标志和相关细节,文字为“macmillanlearning dot com”。后面是条形码,信息如下:ISBN 978-1-319-21503-3;9000。条形码下方的数字为“9781319215033”。上方的文字为封面照片:middelveld slash Getty Images。
The bottom right shows the Macmillan logo and related details as follows. A text reads, “macmillanlearning dot com.” It is followed by a bar code with the following information: I S B N 978-1-319-21503-3; 9000. The numbers below the bar code read, “9781319215033.” A text above it reads, Cover photo: middelveld slash Getty Images.